finally.

my first growler of beer since i got to north carolina: aviator warthog wheat.

the rules governing the growlers are different here than in new york. they come already-bottled, with the name of the brewery emblazoned on the front. the beer inside must match the brewery on the bottle. you put a deposit and then just return it for another. or you get the deposit back.

of course casey and i drank it all in one night.

growler. of potatoes.

brett gave me a growler full of smashed potatoes for my birthday. that's 64 oz of potatoes, people!

i spent much of tonight trying to extract the potatoes from the growler. i ended up making a sort of double boiler to soften them so that they could be removed. above is an unfortunate photo of what was left after i ate a healthy serving, taken with my computer. silly.

a truly incredible gift. hard to beat.

up to date.

the last time i went to the farmers' market, i was too late to get a growler of my favorite yogurt from milk thistle. it was sold out. my yogurt was sold out! like a hannah montana concert.

so, i am eating butterworks farm yogurt, which isn't bad, but does not compare in creaminess to milk thistle or ronnybrook. it's more like conventional american yogurt: gelatinous in texture and not very sour. i ate it this morning with some blackberry jam and a slice of john walker's banana bread.

speaking of growlers, the nytimes published this article today about their popularity. i am obviously WAY ahead of the curve. years ahead.

yes, i got a keg.

i dream of having a kegerator, to have beer on tap in my home, to stop with the growler, which i love but it's hard to drink the 4 pints before it goes flat. it was better when blake was my roommate.

ray and i had been talking about getting a keg for months, when we began to randomly call blake and ask him questions about how many beers are in a keg. many. 150 or so. and yes, it comes to your house cold, and yes, the beer distributor will bring ice and a bin, and yes, a deposit is required. he is our personal keg information scientist.

since i am moving and losing the backyard, i decided to get a keg to say farewell to the apartment. it was supposed to be full of brooklyn weisse, which was only $10 more than amstel. but then, they couldn't get it so it soon became hoegaarden. and at the same price. yum.

this keg came with a slow, squeaky tap that sounded like people were having sex in an old bed when it was pumped. and you had to pump it while you poured it; it was a beer that came with a work-out. both awesome and ridiculous.

*we also brought out everything in the liquor cabinet for people to drink. it is part of the house-cleaning process. yes. and people did drink it. the backyard will be sad without our shenanigans.

**the photo is from the highline, but it seemed appropriate. dreams.

grrrr. growler.

some of you might have heard that we now have a growler. it's a 64 oz. jug that we use to transport beer. there is a story and history to the name and practice. why, you ask? we no longer have "beer waste," bottles for recycling. we take our growler to the bowery whole foods beer room and they fill it up with one of their lovely brews on tap. really, there are all kinds (some local, some organic). and they change them regularly so you don't get stuck in a beer rut. yum. and better for the earth.