we are grownups.

tell it, goddaughters.

is two.

my little tank of a pup turned two on tuesday. her brother stole and ate her rawhide sushi (a christmas gift) and so we gave her his rawhide donut (which he also secretly stole and ate).

it's been cold all week. i've spent too much time in a car. now it's raining and i am (again) stuck inside working on dissertation proposal details, which are frustratingly complex. luckily, there's been lots of delicious coffee, consumption of the holiday beer, and a hot chocolate party(!) on the horizon.

on another note, i wrote a little thing about kale and my concern for its safety when consumed raw.

who's ready for spring already? this girl.

close-out.

the plan is to carve out more time for posts. for now, a glimpse into my winter travels: NC, VA, DC, WV, MD, PA, NY, OH, IN, and MI. lots of my favorite things.

1. my favorite dress on christmas--after a long-winded discussion on food stamps and food service wages with casey's uncle, fake lottery tickets, half a bottle of wine, eggplant parmesan, and candy canes.

2. a visit to bell's brewery in kalamazoo, michigan. we'd been to right proper brewery in DC and community brew works in buffalo and great lakes brewing in cleveland by this point. it was my first time in michigan--only 10 states left to visit!

 in order, that's a cherry stout, a black ale, trumpeter stout, a rye stout, a porter, a harvest ale, and a random guy in a beret.

3. my favorite lady and my favorite lady dog hanging out in south heaven (sic), michigan. what happens in south haven stays in south haven.

 4. but in holland, there's our brewing (slogan: men and women drink together) and new holland brewing (which also distills ryes and whiskys and other spirits). it's where we spent the afternoon of the last day of 2013. it was delicious. seriously. and so, so lovely.

 5. the long haul forward, complete with snow and concern from the lady dog (the gentledog in the backseat couldn't care less about the weather).

 6. the actual haul of beer home: 13 genessee cream ales (screamers), a corsendonk christmas ale (with santa covering), one howler (half-growler) of community beer works stout, one howler of our brewing dubbel, 2 bottles of great lakes (edmund fitzgerald porter and blackout stout), and 8 deschutes brewing black butte porters (my all-time, long-time favorite, brought to michigan from chicago by shira).

all the superlatives. 

periodic table of alcohol.

because, of course.

by mayra.artes.

the hour of hours.

 have i mentioned i love happy hour? the happiest hour: drinking delicious things for cheaper than usual AND it's still light outside. YES.

the above photograph is from the passenger. i don't remember what they called that rose-colored grapefruit gin cocktail with the cherries, but it was tasty. that bar is supposed to be amazeballs and this was our second visit. it was better than the first, which was late on a saturday night, and it's next to the bike shop, but amazing? not yet.

but! the best happy hour we've done so far is the one at the red derby. it's in petworth and an all-uphill bike ride, but all the beers are always in cans and the happy hour is $1 off all of them. that makes schlitz tall boys $3 and the following strohs and whisky shot special $5.

[the bag of spicy mangoes is from the fruit guy parked outside. i felt like i was on vacation with fruity spicy street treats. casey was less than impressed.]

divided.

totally into great divide over here. that's orabelle in the photo. and we picked up hades at the new, awkward bottle shop that might really want to be a bar. both belgian style ales.

bravely made.

casey brought me a 12-pack of black butte porter from deschutes brewery. we took these photos to send michelle but i thought i was share them here. we attempted to include the pup but she was not interested in the paparazzi. 

that beer is still delicious. a favorite from more than 10 years ago and it holds up. i think the label is different but maybe i just don't remember. it's totally a treat. i am trying not to drink them too fast. 

(and it says "bravely made" inside the cap. BIG FAT LOVE for that goodness.)

the martin jay.

as mentioned, casey and i spent the end of 2012 in a cabin in the adirondacks. without electricity. i had long thought that a cocktail made with porter and bourbon would be delicious and this was seemingly the time for experimentation. 

start with a small glass (likely, a rocks glass) with one ice cube. we used a chunk of icicle, but you might not have access to such whimsy. 

add about an ounce and a half of bourbon or whisky. we used buffalo trace, but since it's a mixed drink, you could probably use blue state or even jack, if you must.

fill the glass 2/3 of the way with  porter. we used port city porter (from DC) but any delicious porter will do. nothing too sweet. none of those vanilla ones.

add a splash of ginger ale--preferably a spicy one. we had reed's ginger ale with us in the cabin but blenheim would rock as well. 

stir with your camping knife. do it while wearing flannel. it's really quite delicious. we've named it the martin jay, after the owner of our cabin and the town nearest to it.

p.s. sorry the lighting in the photos is weird. we only had fire and candlelight and that teeny light you can see above and the photographs just did not do what i wanted.

p.p.s. this year, i am hoping to stop taking so many photos with my phone and go back to the camera. those photos are just no good when you look at them on any screen bigger than the phone. and the filters make it all worse.

cabin fever.

an update to come on our new year's cabin vacation in the adirondacks. pictured above are some of the many whisky and ginger ales (with icicles as ice!) we consumed.

but also, the year closed out with:

• christmas eve dinner with casey's entire family in a restaurant only to be followed by christmas day festivities with even more family and then christmas part 3.  what? 
• a trip to the genesee brewery for genny cream ales and other beer snacks. (and many more beers.)
• bowling (poorly) and greasy fries. 
• a surprising amount of italian food.
• loads of coffee (some from pods). 
• vegetarian chili from casey's mama.
• cheez-its and potato chips and trail mix and hard-boiled eggs and a million random things on the road.

i don't know what i ate for the last two weeks. i'll get on that cabin update. 

wisCONsin.

 

is there a song about wisconsin? i don't mean about things within in it, like beer or cheese or badgers, but i mean like "oklahoma" or "texas, our texas." 

after a night of deep-dish pizza in chicago, shira and i left for milwaukee, where i was catching a plane to DC (i know, it was a crazy month). wisconsin was another new state for me, not that i have caught up to casey yet. we arrived at the mars cheese castle, which was indeed a castle but not regal. 

yes, at 1130am, we consumed a couple of bottles of new glarus and a pile of cheese curds in a parking lot. a perfect conclusion.

canned.

we are trying all the beers in cans this summer. over the weekend, it was oskar blues old chub and mother earth sunny haze. and a little hangout on the pallet furniture in the yard.

friday night.

yes. i have an 18-pack of PBR in my basket, alongside a bag of goodies for 7-layer dip, and i am headed to watch basketball at alex's. how do you start your weekend?

the hot tasty.

have i mentioned i am putting mike's hot honey on everything? EVERYTHING.

this is homemade bread (made with beer!) and bananas and the hot honey. it really does improve everything you are eating. EVERYTHING.