Time for a quickie

Well I have once again forgot to update this blog. Something that I actually love doing, but you would never know it. I am constantly taking pictures and making new and exciting foods that I really want to share, but there is so much that I have not shared yet that I feel like I can't share the new stuff without sharing the old.

So here is a quickie recap of old adventures and if anyone REALLY needs more info on any of them then please let me know and I will elaborate accordingly.

HONEYMOON!! These pictures are just a few of my faves. They include a steak salad that I had on our first night in Victoria, BC. Flowers from Buchart Gardens. Cody and I at afternoon tea at the Empress. Fish and chips from Barbs. The Empress the night of our ghost walk. Whale Watching!! And quite possibly the best food item that I had on the whole trip...a Belgian Waffle from a food cart.



























Wonderful soda from POP CULTURE here in Vancouver, WA. My Fave was the ginger ale and the Creamy Red Birch Beer from Boylan's.











GO COUGS!! This was our first attempt at tailgating. We had fun but we already have a long list of things that we will do differently next year. Maybe if we tailgate right the Cougies will win.
The GARLIC FRIES were good too.









GREEN DRAGON. This is one of Cody's favorites places!! I have no idea what beer he was drinking, but they have a huge selection and Cody always takes like 5 minutes oooing and ahhing over just the beer menu. And more fries. But these are serious fries. They have some kind of seasoning that I think makes them wonderful, but the guy would not tell me what it is. a secret i guess.












VOO DOO DOUGHNUTS!!! Yes that is a Bacon maple bar. The peanutbutter and jelly one was mine and was superb. I dream about it.












Last tomotoes of the season. Turned into Salsa and Guacamole.









Fingers. butternut squash. and the BEST SANDWHICH in the world-the goofyfoot from Surfer Sands in Long Beach, WA. I PROMISE there will be another long post about this sandwhich. Explaining exactly how to make it at home and what is actually in this veggie delight!!









Our first annual Halloween party was a total success and while there were many pictures taken that night I am only going to share this one of Code and I. Dracula and a witch.









For our next HUGE adventure Cody and I are going down a different path. We have desided to try out a pescatarian diet. No meat or meat products except for seafood. I have been cooking up a veggie storm in the kitchen and have lots of new dishes to share. But you will have to wait for next time for that.

Saturday Night Dinner

We picked up some soup from La Bottega in downtown Vancouver! It is a cheese and ale soup made with Laurelwood Amber Ale, chicken stock, mozzarella, fontina, parmesan, potatoes, and spices. The soup was amazing! Since the soup used beer from Laurelwood, I decided I would drink a Laurelwood beer with the meal! I picked up Prevale, an IPA brewed on behalf of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This beer was amazing! I don't know how Laurelwood does it. Their IPAs are so incredibly fresh and then they refresh! Amazing! We also bought a baguette, and sliced up some radishes, Shay's new favorite vegetable! We enjoyed our dinner while watching a classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller, Rope. One of my favorites. I don't think Shay liked it as much. Now I'm blogging while listening to Jazz! This is what Saturday nights are like after marriage. I love it!

Dinner and beers at Widmer

Shay and I went to the Widmer brewery on Friday night for dinner and some beers. We took some cool photos to document the evening!













I really respect what the Widmer Bros. have been able to accomplish in the field of brewing. They have been around for 25 years and are going strong. But I'm sorry to say that their beer is sub par to many other breweries in the Portland area. Don't get me wrong, on a national level they are probably still ahead of the curve, but it is tough to keep up here in Beervana. Although their beer set a benchmark for many other breweries I feel like they have gotten too big to consistently put out a good product. The other night I had their Oktoberfest beer and a specialty IPA they brewed. I was underwhelmed with both. And while their brewery configuration is amazing and their location is prime, the atmosphere of the pub is lacking. It just feels like I am in a Red Robin.

Their food on the other hand is very good. Shay and I had a delicious fondue appetizer and they also serve a mean steak salad. But I am afraid the food is not reason enough to make the trip. Despite the somewhat negative comments I will continue to enjoy a select few of their brews. Their Hef is a great summer beer. Broken Halo IPA is no slouch. And their winter warmer Brrr was quite enjoyable. I really don't mean to dog on Widmer. I recognize their importance in the microbrewing scene of Portland. They just don't stand out anymore.

Fall has officiall arrived!

How do I know Fall is here? Because I am drinking Pumking from Southern Tier Brewing Company! This is one of my favorite beers of all time! It is an imperial pumpkin ale that sits at a ghastly 9.0% abv. This ale is quite literally a dessert in a glass. The beer has an exquisite "biscuity" character to it that reminds me of pie crust! It finishes off with delicious pumpkin pie spice flavors! The beer has a sweet, thick aromatic quality to it. Makes you think the beer is much thicker than it really is.

A Beer Loyalist's Dilemma

DESCHUTES HAS RELEASED JUBELALE!!

This is one of my top ten favorite beers and I look forward to its release every fall! The dilemma is that they release it too early. I am weak so I buy it, but I wouldn't mind if they waited till at least October or early November. I am just now getting ready for fall and here come all of the delicious winter warmers. I would like to concentrate my efforts on more of the fall style beers before moving into winter. (Although at this instant I am enjoying a 2009 Jubelale in an elegant 2006 Jubelale pint glass!)




Another reason to look forward to this seasonal release is the fact that they pick a different local artist to design the label every year. I am enjoying this year's design, though it doesn't stand up to the classic labels of 2005 and 2006!
It isn't quite the same enjoying Jubelale in 80 degree weather, instead of a dark, frigid night in December. But I am excited that it has arrived and look forward to great fall/winter seasons and great beers!

MAKE THESE NOW!!!!!!

Sea salt caramels.

Who knew I could love something more than Cody?? Just kiddin' bear! But really these are so wonderful with the coarse salt and sweet buttery caramel. I just had to take a deep breath! I saw the recipe on Shutterbean awhile ago and I have had them in the back of my mind to make, but I just had one tiny problem. I did not own any sea salt. The original recipe calls for flur de sel but said sea salt would work fine. I looked all over and finally found some salt that was to my liking at HomeGoods of all places! (If you have never been there-it is definitely worth the trip! Lots of stuff for decorating and some just overall weird items)

With my new salts and a good hankering for caramel I went home and got to work.



I even took a few to each of my neighbors. I got many many thanks and yesterday was garbage day and when I got home my garbage can and recycling bins had already been pulled back under the carport! SCORE!!!!

WARNING- the recipe just says to wait until the sugar mixture is "the right color" and then add the milk. Well the second time I did this I waited until the mixture was a dark golden brown-Think deep beach tan-and the end result had a twinge of burned flavor. The first time I only let the sugar mixture get a light golden brown-Think sunkissed beach tan-and they turned out perfect!!

The only variation I made from the recipe is I added melted chocolate to the top of mine and then sprinkled them with the salt. Heaven.

Just For Fun!