beer

Feeling like a Superhero!!

/ foodsweatandbeers / 8 Comments

Good evening friends and neighbors!! It’s likely too late for most of you, other than the owls like myself (though let’s face it, despite my best wishes, I’m more of an early bird anyway).  For the few of you that are up, though, you’re probably doing something cool like I am.  Translation: streaming netflix and scanning the internet for stuff.

This evening, perhaps spawned by my after-work group fitness class, I was inspired when I came upon this classic gem:

Remember this fantastic Saturday morning cartoon?

My brothers and I used to watch this growing up and, like all good things do, it finally ended up on Netflix.  I’ll be honest, though, as I’m watching it, I can’t help but think that there were a few “X-Men” (and women) who really weren’t anything to write home about….

Nerdy and Hairy

Poor Beast aka Hank McCoy…  He’s just a big blue furball looking for some sort of acceptance.

I think Ocean City does this every year for Independence Day, just saying.

And Jubilee…. well, here’s the thing, I love fireworks just as much as the next girl.  But if that was my “superpower”, I think I’d just stick to New Years Eve shows.  Luckily, there are characters like Storm and Jean Grey to keep things interesting.

Badass Ladies repping it hard.

Anyway, tonight’s workout left me feeling kind of like a superhero myself!!

BodyCombat’s new release came out this past weekend at my gym, and it ROCKED!!

823 calories, one hour, heck yes!

The new release was AWESOME, and the track list was also top notch.

1a: In My Head (Kris McTwain Remix Edit) – Henry Blank
1b: Airplanes (Kris McTwain Remix Edit) – Groove Chasers
2: Smooth Criminal – Badlands Inc
3: We Dance On – Subz Project
4: Come In Hard (Don’t Like Rock ‘N’ Roll) – Hardknox
5: If I Were You – Breeze & Ritmen
6: Drummer Boy (MoDrums Remix) – Alesha Dixon
7: The Last Fight – Bullet For My Valentine
8: Everywhere (Breeze & UFO Remix) – Master Blaster
9: The Time (Dirty Bit) – Red Beans & Rice
10: The Silence (New Single Mix) – Alexandra Burke

My very favorite was probably the Drummer Boy remix, KILLER on the legs, lots of eskivas and lunges, but an awesome beat that kept me going.

I enjoyed it more than I do most BodyCombat classes, especially after the last time that I took it and twisted my ankle. But I took care to stay solid on my feet, and felt great throughout it.

After such a great workout, I was excited for a delicious meal with the beau and his father and step mother.

We went to Carolina Ale House and, despite the inconsistent service (she was incredibly attentive with drinks, much less so with food and the check), I enjoyed every bite!

Pickle chips for the table!

Blackened Mahi Mahi, my favorite way to eat fish!

I avoided the rice side, and paired the meal with a DELICIOUS couple of beers.  Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale (a beer I’d only seen before at festivals!) and the New Belgium Ranger IPA (one of my favorites from the Tour de Fat!) Good to the last drop, and paired so nicely with the fish!

Hop-TASTIC!

And now, after watching my Monday night cartoon fix…. it’s off to bed!

Do you ever wish you had superpowers? If so, what?! Did I ask this before?

No big, always a favorite question of mine.

I do, all the time.  I think I’d LOVE to be a shapeshifter, or have Storm’s ability to control the weather… If only.

Bridesmaid Help!!

/ foodsweatandbeers / 10 Comments

Happy Hump Day, y’all!!

The days are going very productive lately. They have to be when you have a short week, right?

  • Cranked out a good lesson at work (I develop lessons!)
  • Car’s at the shop getting oil changed and tires rotated
  • Laid out in the sun yesterday
  • Killer zumba yesterday, AbSculpt + BodyPump planned for today
  • Scheduled an eyebrow wax for tomorrow after work/before glass night!

On the agenda tonight (after working out):

Since that will pretty much take up my whole evening, I figured I’m going to send out a call to arms (aka the blogosphere!) since y’all were so helpful with my first post about how to be a good bridesmaid!

The plan, on the day of the wedding (aka SATURDAY AHHH!) is, after we get all dolled up, to ride around in a trolley through Pittsburgh and take pictures as a whole wedding party.  The trolley is BYOB so here’s my question:

What kind of B should I B?? Translation: What kind of booze shall we bring on this trolley?  Obviously nothing red so that rules out red wine. 

Merlot? More like Mer-NO!

Some possibilities: white wine, champagne (wooo!), and (how could we forget?) craft beer.

Any other recommendations?  It’s going to be hot, it’s going to be sweaty, and so that should be taken into account.  Let me know if you’ve got any ideas!

In other news, lunch was delicious.

An ol' standby

Tuna sammy on a toasted sandwich thin with some lettuce for crunch, sugar-free jello cup, and steamed veggies with a heaping glass of water!

Very tasty, very healthy, and very filling.  Now it’s time to get back to work!

Can’t wait to hear your advice!!

Nothing’s Right, I’m TORN!

/ foodsweatandbeers / 12 Comments

(***WARNING: The following post is going to make me sound like a spoiled brat.  I promise that [most of the time] I am not, and I’m just being melodramatic because it’s Wednesday and I’m sleepy.  Take it with a grain of salt, as a fair percent of it is in jest.***)

Here’s the thing.  When you offhandedly tell your friends you’d be okay with playing one night for them in volleyball if they needed, you never really think that volleyball game is going to come.

Here’s the other thing: You’re wrong.

That game will come and it will, undoubtedly, be the night that you really wanted to/planned with folks to go to Woody’s City Market in Raleigh with all your friends from that Tri-Beer Meetup you talk about incessantly.

Not only that, but one game will really mean two games, scheduled at the least convenient times ever known to mankind.  6:30. 8:30.

Don’t worry, the games will “be conveniently” (those quotation marks imply the dripping sarcasm that’s coming out of my every pore) located about 30 minutes from your house, 3o minutes from the bar, and 30 minutes from any likelihood of you being able to participate in the Dogfish Head Tap Takeover you’ve waited for your whole beer life (which may only be a mere 2 years in the making, but it still means a lot because this never happens and Dogfish is NEVER on tap anywhere near you).  You know, in case you were worrying.

You will undoubtedly feel like a brat for wanting to play one game then dash, and you will also feel like a jerk for ditching your beer friends.  This is natural.  Be prepared to feel this way all day.

Here’s the thing: whatever happens, it’s going to make you feel lousy.

How is it only Wednesday?

To make up for this downer of a post, here are a few things that make me incredibly happy:

  • This one time, I went to a Lady Gaga concert.  This was my outfit:

    That's right. Those are birds in my hair.

    This was my inspiration:

    Yup, birds on his back.

  • Although mon frere, Hunter, thought it’d be patriotic of him to go to France during the Fourth of July and take pictures like this:

    Il est degoutante, non?

    … he’s back, stateside!  Which means that I will be showering him with all the American love I have to give in just a few days!!

    He's my twin, 7 years removed.

    Can’t wait.

  • Today is the Changing of the Sales.  Come on, Harris Teeter…. Mommy needs some new cheese!

Women and Chick Beer vs. Craft Beer: A Response

/ foodsweatandbeers / 20 Comments

Good Saturday morning, y’all!  Hope you’re already enjoying your weekend, and doing lots of amazing things.  So far, I’ve Body Attacked, had a fantastic double date with my workout buddy (and mistress of the killer workout, the  Death Deck, Melissa) and her guy, and snacked heavily on some froyo and some quality brewskis.  But more on that, later.  See, right now, I have something to talk about that’s been on my mind for the past two days but, as I was swamped at work/working overtime to make up for coming in late on Monday, I had little/no time to blog, tweet, facebook, gchat, or any other fun social media that I love.  But now it’s time.

A few days ago, an article came out and swam around the twittersphere.  The article, from New Zealand’s The Marlsborough Press, was entitled Women and Beer: The taste test results are in.  To sum up the article, a sort of experiment was conducted inviting women who don’t normally drink beer to come out and try two new beers which have been specifically designed to appeal to the ladies.

The two beers in question: Valkyrie Brynhild and Beltane Maiden Source

To expand: one, the Beltane Maiden, was flavored with lemon zest to give it a “sweet citrus flavor”, described as “light in body, low in bitterness, and with a velvety finish.” While some women found it refreshing, others were turned off by the cloudiness, yeastiness, and called it “absolutely disgusting.”

The next beer they tasted was called Valkyrie Brynhild golden ale, which was described as “gentle hopped” and flavored with “hokey pokey” (I have no clue what that means, but I heard that’s what it’s all about…) Again, mixed results ranging from “I’d choose this over a glass of wine” to “drinkable, not too much taste.”  No real winner here, either.

The author of this article, Geoff Griggs (who some of you may know if you spend a lotta time going to beer tastings in New Zealand) found that, when polling the women afterwards, and asking what it is about beer that women don’t like, the answers ranged from taste to the “bloated” and “gassy” feelings they get.  Others focused on the image of beer drinking, traditionally associated with young males getting obliterated at parties.

With the advertising culture of beer obviously geared towards males, with most featuring concepts like this one:

the women are merely accessories are prizes sought by the likes of (yuck) Carlos Mencia and friends.  It is no wonder that women find the image of beer drinking a bit off-putting. One beer manufacturer is even trying to combat this stereotype with “Chick Beer“.

I'll take sexist bottle designs for 800.

Allegedly, this beer won’t “weigh you down” with less than 100 calories per bottle, the flavor is “soft and smooth”, and it’s only “lightly carbonated” to avoid that “bloaty” feeling.  Also, from the site:

Chick Beer finally gives women a beer choice that suits their tastes and their style. The bottle is designed to reflect the beautiful shape of a woman in a little black dress.  The six-pack looks like you are carrying your beer in a hip stylish, purse.  Chick’s unique reflective bottle blings you up!  It’s fun, fabulous, and female!

Ok, we get it.  Lots of times, girls like to shop, to wear dresses, and to have jewelry.  But I have to admit, this beer makes me feel like my fondness for shiny things (Seriously, I’m like a raccoon around Swarovski ) is being mocked, and then sold back to me.  This beer truly just sounds like a flavorless, low carbonated light beer. And there are enough of them to go around.

As a lady of lager (pulled that one from the Girls Pint Out description!!) myself, I have to say that this was an incredibly interesting look into why my breed is a rare one indeed.

Too many women that I know have zero knowledge of the rich, diverse world of craft beers, of the subtle pairings of beers with foods, and of the fact that you don’t have to drink enough to get drunk to enjoy them (thus, avoiding that bloated feeling! I don’t know if I’ve ever been bloated off a single beer.)

Likely, many of them only remember beers from the days of college or partying, where they were hoisted up for kegstands of warm, cheap light beer or were tossed a can of some swill. It’s no wonder, then, that they shifted their interest to the more “refined” wine.

I'll have you know, this was a kegstand of Carolina Brewery Amber Ale. GET ON MY LEVEL!

I certainly don’t think that beers should be developed in order to appear “girly” (just like I didn’t think it was the best practice for Camel to introduce Camel No. 9 in hopes for more women smokers) but only because I think it creates a beerdrinker that will only want that kind of brew. Education can make a world of difference, and women may learn to embrace more beers if they realize what else is out there (and that it’s not all cheap, nasty cans or deep, dark stouts.)

Bottoms up to Craft Beer, ladies!

There’s a world of beer out there, just waiting for you to give it a try.  And even though the bottles may not look like little black dresses or “bling you out”, I promise there are some pretty ones out there that can match just about any outfit you put together.

Mez in Durham and a BEER REVIEW!

/ foodsweatandbeers / 10 Comments

Yesterday, thanks to a SaveMore deal (of the century!!) I finally went to get my hair done (done = cut and partial highlights) in Raleigh. For $49, I was able to get both done.  WELL worth the 30 minute drive to randomsville Raleigh when it normally costs me $110 at best (part of the reason I’ve been putting it off…)  I’d say it was a great success, going from this:

Lucky you, not able to see my 5 inch roots.

To this:

And you wonder why they call me "The Golden Child"...

Not the best pictures, as both were taken from within my car, but you get the idea.  With my fancy new hair, I only had one option. SEMI-FANCY DINNER DATE WITH THE BEAU AND FAM!  While I tend to eat at home or make my foods to eat elsewhere like, 75% of the time, every now and then, I pretend to be a fancy pants and head out on the town.  When my hair is polished to a high sheen, that is definitely one of those times.  On the Monday Menu was Mez, a “Contemporary Mexican” joint in Durham.  The table started with some shared guacamole and salsa.

GAUC-ATTAUC!

Salsas de la Casa

The Guacamole was described as “Made fresh daily with avocados, tomatoes, jalapenos, onions, cilantro, lime juice. Served with crispy tortilla chips” and the Salsas de la Casa as “A trio of fresh salsas served with tortilla chips. Salsa Mexicana, roasted tomato-chipotle and tomatillo-avocado.” My thoughts?

The guacamole was off the chain.  There was the right amount of spice and a perfect smoothness, and I felt like I could taste each of the ingredients listed, especially the jalapenos! The salsas, on the other hand, truly didn’t taste worth the $6 price tag.  The “Salsa Mexicana”  which is what I assume was the Pico de Gallo bowl, was almost flavorless, other than mostly just tomato. The tomatillo-avocado was pretty quality, but I felt like the dark red one on the left was a glorified mexican “sauce”. That being said, the beau inhaled it, so clearly it couldn’t have been too bad.

For my meal, I was feeling adventurous so, due to the recommendation of our server, I ordered the Roasted Tamarind Pecan Crusted Salmon Served with chipotle sweet potato gratin and sauteed Spinach. My plate looked like this:

Delicioso!

The piece of salmon was ENORMOUS and this plate could’ve EASILY been two meals.  As I was a Ravenous Rachel (not to be confused with a Negative Nancy), though, I wolfed down nearly every bite on the plate (duh, I’m the queen of the Clean Plate Club).  The salmon was cooked medium, and had a wonderful pink color all the way through. The spinach was fresh and the chipotle sweet potato gratin, while not tasting like chipotle, was AMAZING!  It was like a mille-feuille made entirely out of sweet potato layers (the literal translation of that French term is thousand-leaf, and I knew that without looking it up, and that proves that my education at Garnet Valley High School was entirely worthwhile.) My only complaint about the entire meal was that the pecans that crusted my salmon were a little overcooked (read: burnt).  I pushed a few off the salmon, and focused on the ones that weren’t burnt, which added a wonderful crunch to the fish.

I’d like to say I chose my beer to best pair with my meal but honestly, I just love this next beer.

Bell's Two Hearted Ale

When I used to work at some crummy Ameri-Mexican place while I was finishing out my senior year at UNC that served sub-par burritos and orgasmic sweet potato fries with a habanero mayo dipping sauce that I need to recreat, my favorite beer we served was Bell’s Two Hearted Ale.  When I’d serve it to a customer, I couldn’t help but sniff the bottle (yup, I’m a creep) because the aroma of this beer is heady, hoppy, and floral. This IPA poured a light amber color, and since I was already intensely familiar with the aroma, I dove right into the taste. The carbonation is delightfully bubbly and the taste hits the mouth with so many fruit flavors that I can’t make them out one by one, all I know is it’s a flavor explosion of AWESOME!  It’s pretty damn hoppy (just how I like it) and, at 7% ABV, not so boozy you’ll feel drunk after 1 or 2, but packs a reasonable punch if you’re throwing them back.

This beer is widely available and, if you’re a newbie to the beer world (or for some reason, haven’t tried it, and feel like you should redeem yourself for your foolish ways) GO GET A SIX PACK! Or even just try one in a pick-6, but bring it to a party and people will want to be your friend.  It normally costs around $10-11 at my grocery store in Durham, NC, so it’s definitely a step up from a sixer of PBR, without being a snobby craft beer.

Now I’m off to figure out what to eat TONIGHT! My prediction: Wanchai Ferry Kung Pao Chicken.

EDIT: CONFIRMED! KP CHICKEN IT IS!!

New Belgium Tour de Fat, Meet: DURHAM!

/ foodsweatandbeers / 16 Comments

As I mentioned yesterday, New Belgium Brewing‘s Tour de Fat made Durham, NC its first stop. Being a member of Durham’s unofficial Beer Welcome Wagon no I’m not I just totally made that up, I knew I had no option but to volunteer to work the heck out of this event! I’ve been a fan of their beer, Fat Tire, since I was in college, and considered it a nice few steps up from your standard cheap college beer, but didn’t really give it too much thought until recently.  Today changed all that!

After waking up at 7:30 am (entirely too early for a Saturday, but I was too excited to sleep in much later!  I whipped myself up a little smoothie, the picture of which was simply too ugly to post.  But inside, it contained strawberries (frozen and fresh), one scoop of 365 Everyday Value® Vanilla Flavor Whey Protein Powder from Whole Foods  (yay not stealing from the boyf!), spinach, a frozen nanner, and some Almond Breeze almond milk (just finished up the rest of the carton, not sure how much) and blended until perfect for a toothless wonder like myself.  After donning my outfit, I hit the road!

Don't worry, the car was not moving when I snapped this shot!

The event was held at the American Tobacco Campus, right in the heart of all my favorite Durham things (Tyler’s Taproom, Mellow Mushroom where we just had dinner, the beautiful Durham Bulls stadium that I have yet to visit!)  I was there early enough to start helping folks register for the bike parade, and to get a few pictures of the setup.

Registration... NO BREATHING!

Helping Julie out getting folks registered!

The parade itself started at 10 am, but we were all there before/around 9am to get folks signed up, have them sign their waivers, and request donations for Triangle Spokes Group, the amazing NPO that uses 100% of the money they raise to buy new bicycles and helmets for kids for Christmas.  Such a simple idea, but honestly, imagine the joy that comes into the heart of a kid when they get their first bike!! (I know, it’s almost too much joy to handle.)

The scene was awesome, they had everything from a giant Connect Four board to a hoop toss using bicycle tires, to epic circus tents set up ready for the day ahead!  The whole little grassy knoll was dressed to the nines, and I hardly recognized it.  Shortly before the parade, we also ran around checking people’s IDs after a nice little mini training course in how to tell who’s using a fake (I’m basically a bouncer now, so don’t try anything funny), but it was such a well managed event that I didn’t see anyone try to get in and drink who wasn’t legally able to.  People were more than happy to whip out their IDs for a giant bottle of Champagne to give them a wristband that allowed them to imbibe adult beverages, wouldn’t you be?

The Rhymanese Twins, MCs of the morning, dropped the beat beet and the riders were off!

They literally dropped a giant stuffed beet to start the race!!

In the meantime, I toured the facility a bit, saw some sites, and continued to check the IDs of stragglers or non-riders.

Can you see me?!

When the riders came back, that’s when the real fun kicked into high gear.  The musicians were rocking, the bikers were thirsty for some adult beverages, and costumes were grade-A. Durham is an amazing city, especially for events like this, where you realize just how wacky people will get when they have the chance.  Remember all the time and effort you used to spend on theme parties for college?  It was like REAL LIFE THEME PARTY! The theme? WHATEVER THE HECK YOU WANTED!

Wanna be a Native American Chief for a day? WHY NOT?!

My very favorite part of the whole day, though, started after my shift was over. This year’s the first year that Tour de Fat did mini beer education classes (Or “Beerducation”, see what I did there?) For a mere $5, the cost of one beer token, you could attend a 20-30 minute class where you got to try some of the beers that weren’t on tap and learn how to taste them.  The players?

Fat Tire Amber Ale, Super Cru, and La Folie

Our wise ol' teachers

Fat Tire is their classic Amber Ale, and the brew that New Belgium is arguably most notorious for, maybe even where all this pro-bike activism stemmed from?

Super Cru, from their Lips of Faith Series of small batch brews, was developed to celebrate 20 years in the biz!

La Folie, a favorite of my buddy Melissa’s, the sour beer queen, was definitely the most “out there” of the New Belgium beers, and appreciated more so following my excellent sour beers class on Monday.

The fellows that taught the session, dressed as professors in super legit lab coats, focused both on what was in the beer to make it the way it was, and four steps of tasting a beer that everyone should do to truly appreciate their beer.  Here, let me illustrate.

Appearance: Looks can be deceiving!

First off, appearance.  It’s great to look at your beer, describe it with a word. A color, maybe, or even an event.  One of my favorite descriptors was of the Super Cru, “Like the amber the mosquito was in during Jurassic Park!” Don’t feel like you have to use “beer” terms to describe your brew, just go for it!  If Crayola can make a billion color names, you can throw out a few of your own.

Aroma: So glad it's not barnyard!

Up next, aroma.  Again, describe it as you see fit.  “Smells good” doesn’t cut it, y’all.  Dig deep, think about what it really smells like.  Caramel topping on ice cream? Does it smell like wood? How about any fruits?  Aroma can make/break a beer for me.

Taste: Everyone's favorite

One awesome idea they taught us: Retroactive tasting (I THINK that was the term, correct me if I’m wrong.) EDIT: IT WAS WRONG!! Retronasal is the term!! Let the beer sit in your mouth for a second, warm up, get all around that tongue of yours, then breathe through your nose as you swallow. It allows you to get more of the flavor than if you just threw it back and gulped.

Mouthfeel: Tough to illustrate, I did my best.

I’ll admit, mouthfeel is probably the step I have the most trouble with.  Basically, how does your mouth taste after you drink the beer?  Does it taste try? Is there a lingering aftertaste? Something sweet?  With the sours, I hardly tasted much in the way of aftertaste, but with something like Magic Hat #9, I always taste a syrupy sweet aftertaste that reminds me I hate it every time.

Anyway, it was great to try some of New Belgium’s special beers, to learn about them, and to be a part of this fantastic, human-powered event!

Thanks for the Beerducation, fellas!

I can’t wait until next year, already thinking up my next costume. And all of this before 1pm?!  Heck yes!

Now that I’ve got my nap in, it’s dinner time, off to stroll to the Teet (aka Harris Teeter) for some dinner with the beau!

Do you like to taste your beer?

Do you follow the steps, or just throw it back?

Tri-Foodie Tweetup: Jujube Style

/ foodsweatandbeers / 6 Comments

Hey all you crazy dreamers out there….

So, I’m sure a few of you out there like to enjoy that wonderful social network of the Twitterverse.  And if you haven’t, you’re missing out on a lot (namely: following me!!) But honestly, Twitter’s given me the chance to go from just an onlooker of food, beer, and wine events in the NC Research Triangle to an active participant. And one of my big goals with this year, as well as this blog, was to become even more active in the awesome world of food and beer in this blossoming culture.

To sum it all up in layman’s terms: I wanna be more of a mover/shaker and less of a parasite sucking off the teet of the shakers and movers out there.

One of my favorite recurring events that goes on is called the #trifoodietweetup. In the past, they’ve been hosted by such fantastic Triangle locations such as Four Square, Six Plates, Fearrington Village, and (most recently) Jujube in Chapel Hill! Andrea Weigl and Johanna Kramer know how to get great venues, and set up some classy evenings.  Tonight’s theme: Asian Tapas and Artisan Rum Cocktails.  I believed, when I was going, it’d be more like a small sampling of cocktails and tapas all included in the cost (a bit more than $11) but when we showed up, the menu listed the food as included and the drinks were separate.  Also, nothing felt all that Asian (except some spring rolls they served later in the night, but that weren’t on the menu).

Tasty menu offerings!

I couldn’t resist one of the drinks, listed, a Traditional Daquiri with white rum, luxardo maraschino, lime, and cane syrup for $8. I have to agree, this was a delicious cocktail, and I was pretty happy to pay for it, I think it was worth it.

Close up on the drinkies!

I also saw there was a Dogfish Festina Pesche that I knew would be my last drink of the night.  But anyway, onto the foods.

First Course: salads

The pink salad on the right was a Watermelon Cucumber salad with piqant mint dressing and Johnston County country ham. This. Was. Brilliant. Seriously, I was so surprised by how well the watermelon paired with the ham. It was almost as if it drew out the natural flavor and maybe some sort of spice in the fruit. The cucumber was nice and crunchy (which actually was a wicked bummer with this tooth infection, but would’ve been enjoyed otherwise). The salad on the left was an Octopus-arugula salad with orange and sorrel. The octopus… was not worth writing home, in my opinion. Loved the orange and arugula mix though, good little wilted quality.

Won ton (and some progress on the cocktail in the back...)

Up next was a fried lobster-shrimp won ton with lemon, miso butter. The first batch of these were great. Alas, when I got another one a little later, it was more won ton and less filling, and was just too much crunch for my liking, like the flavor was fried right out of it.  The blend of lobster-shrimp inside was fantastic though, and left me very excited for the next offering.

Been spending most our lives living in a fried-stuff-paradise...

This is where the party really got started. Clockwise from the upper left: Tempura fried prawn (and okra, eaten already) with a little heirloom tomato conserve; Porcini and tellegio stuffed rice fritters (the tan fried balls of awesome); Shrimp-zucchini fritters with grilled chile aioli (cute pink phone… that’s mine.)  The breakdown: the tempura fried prawn was great, mostly because it was so simple. Just a prawn, covered in fried batter. hooty hoo. That being said, the fried okra was no bueno, just too dried out.

The rice fritters: ethereal! The tellegio cheese inside kept the fritters moist and delicious, and though I’m not normally a fan of mushrooms (pretty sure that’s what porcini is, right?) they just blended into the tastiness.

The shrimp-zucchini fritter might have been my very favorite, though. The chili aioli added the perfect amount of spiciness, and made me wanna guzzle down my daquiri (which I did. Classy.)

The star of my show

I’ll admit, I’d been waiting anxiously to try the Dogfish Head Festina Peche.  From the brewer:

It is delicately hopped with a pale straw color and served as an aperitif or summertime quencher. To soften the intense sourness, Berliner Weisse is traditionally served with a dash of essence of woodruff or raspberry syrup.  In our Festina Peche since the natural peach sugars are eaten by the yeast, the fruit complexity is woven into both the aroma and the taste of the beer so there is no need to doctor it with woodruff or raspberry syrup – open and enjoy!

I’ve said it before: I love summer seasonal ales, especially if they’ve got some fruit in there somewhere. And this was one of the finest I’ve tried. The peach was there and more reminiscent of a peach I had last year from the Durham Farmer’s Market, fresh and even a little earthy. Not all all like I imagined it would be (which would be like when a candy company tries to make a peach flavored treat… overly sweet and chemically). Coming from a bottle, I didn’t have a glass to check the color, but it had a nice medium amount of carbonation and was tart enough to compete with my fried frittery treats.  It rounded out this evening perfectly.

Big thanks to Jujube and the fine ladies who threw this event together (even though I didn’t win a cookbook) and it just goes to show you the moral of this story:

Even if you have an aggressive gum infection on your wisdom tooth, you can utilize half of your mouth to enjoy the flip outta some fried Asian tapas and badass cocktails/brews.

I’ll take my wine German and my cheese French…

/ foodsweatandbeers / 6 Comments

TGIF, bloggers and bloggettes! Hope everyone’s weekend started off with a BANG. Mine is currently starting off with more of a low rumbling as the thunder is finally catching up to the lightning that I’ve been seeing all night.

Even though I’m a MUCH bigger fan of beer than I am of wine, when opportunity rears its grape-squeezing head for a wine tasting of German wines with two German girls, who am I to not heed the call?  Knowing that I had to meet my resident fraulein friend at 5:45 and I got off work at 4:45, I decided that was plenty of time to squeeze in the second level of Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred. I haven’t completed the program, as I won the DVD in a giveaway long ago, but it’s always there for me if I need an intense workout in 20 minutes.  Considering I hadn’t done the Level 2 circuit before, and I hadn’t done heavy working out recently, it only made sense to dive right into it. The result?

Oh, hey sweaty crazy face. missed you!

I also decided that I could wear the workout clothes that got me through my 16 minutes of exercise on Monday because “they couldn’t have gotten that sweaty/smelly in 16 minutes, right?” Wrong. I was very happy that there was no one else in my “gym” aka “the space in between my tv and my couch in my one bedroom apartment” to enjoy the refreshing beads of sweat I flung left and right.

After a speed shower and a drive-by makeup application, I deemed myself ready to face the world.  Veronika and her pal from Germany, Jessica, were off to A Southern Season (my second time in less than a week: a new record!) in Chapel Hill for their fridays uncorked, special wine tastings on Friday nights always based around a theme (a country of origin, a type of wine, etc). Tonight’s featured wine style was “Rieslings from the Mosel River area in Germany.”  Translation: Riesling, and five pours of it.  Riesling would have to be my favorite type of wine, courtesy of an all-too-long fall break 2008 during which we drank only Riesling all the time. Since then, I’ve been hooked.  For $12 a person, this night seemed like a perfect deal.

Bottoms up, ladies! (Veronika, Jessica, Me!)

We grabbed our classes at the front and were ready to go.

#1 Peter Lauer Ayler Kupp "Senior" 2009

Our first and second wines were the dry type of Riesling.  #1 was a nice way to start the night, with a bit of a bite to the wine. We were supposed to be aware of the aromas of apricot and honey with a taste of pear and peach. While I definitely got the pear, the peach eluded me. I’m definitely not a sommelier by any means.

 

#2 Spaeter-Veit Piersporter Domherr Kabinett Trocken 2009

#2 , another dry Riesling, was a little smoother than the first, though we were all aware of a sort of acidic hint in there. Again, apricot was supposed to be in there, but I’m just not familiar enough with apricot to even know what that tastes like. The one cool part about this wine was that it came from the Veits, one of the Mosel’s oldest wine growing families. Even though it was a 2009, I felt like a very legit wine drinker sipping on it.

Prefere de Nos Motagnes - HELLA GOOD CHEESE!

With these wines, we were also supposed to pair them with the softer, spreadable cheese. It didn’t have a strong taste, but it was smooth and delicious.  We may or may not have taken enough of these little cheese samples to harvest the napkins and start our own cocktail bar.  (I’m going with we may’ve…)

 

 

Next on the agenda were the sweet wines.

 

 

#5 St. Urbans-Hof Piesporter Goldtropfchen Auslese 2007

 

#3 Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Kabinett 2009

Numbers 3 and 5 were both definitely sweet, with 3 smelling a lot like apple and tasting sort of peachy. It was delicious, and I’d love to have a bottle with me right now.  5 I’ll admit was a little… gosh, I want to say salty because the pourer mentioned salt, but salty’s not the word.

Allow me to show my classlessness for a moment by saying what I really mean.  You know that feeling you get when you get a REALLY cheap box of wine. I’m talking Fran-zia, a juice box of wine, something like that. And even if it’s not touching the cardboard, you think to yourself “maybe this wine tastes a little like there’s some cardboard in it.” THAT is the feeling I got with number 5 (which, ironically enough, was the most expensive wine of the night, normally sold for nearly $50 a bottle.)

And then we have the crown jewel of the party.

#4 Meulenhof Erdener Treppchen Spatlese 2009

This wine was everything I could ask for in a Riesling. It was sweet, but not like… pouring honey down your throat. It totally had the taste of a baked apple in there, and was smooth and paired perfectly with the harsher cheese of the night, a Sharfe Maxx. If this bottle of wine was not 25 dollars but, instead, 3 for 25 dollars… I would’ve bought one (ok, yeah. I’m cheap. Such is life.)

It was glorious to live like a rich gal for a little evening, and I even picked up a tasty 4 pack of beers for future reviews.

BEER HEAVEN!!

We finished the night off at City Beverage with some tasty foods and beers and friends.  And now I’m in my cozy bed, getting ready to nuzzle off for the night.

Do you ever like to do anything that makes you feel wealthier than you are?  If so, what is it?!

 

Tastes like Summer: Fullsteam Summer Basil Ale

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Hello friends!  I greet you this evening with tasty beer in my belly and having spent a wonderful night with friends and even a few strangers (aka new friends)! Once a week, I host a Glass Night Meetup on behalf of the BEST meetup group in the Triangle area, Tri-Beer (seriously, if you like beer, and you live in the Triangle, join this sucker.)  We meet up at Rockfish Seafood Grill at Southpoint mall for $2 pints and free (or DEEPLY discounted) glasses dependent on the beer of the night, and almost all of their appetizers are half off until 7. It’s basically the primary reason I so look forward to Thursdays.

Tonight was a special occasion SUPER BONUS because, other than being a glass night, it was a glass night in honor of Fullsteam Brewery’s summer ale: Summer Basil Farmhouse Ale. I will precede this entry with the following. I am a HUGE Fullsteam fan.  Photographic proof:

Fullsteam, my love!

I also have a Marry Durham commemorative glass somewhere in this apartment, but it wasn’t easily findable.

So maybe that makes me a bit biased favorably, but I will be as objective as possible.

Light and Summery!

This beer, straight from the tap at Rockfish, is definitely a summer staple in my house. The growler in the above picture contains the Summer Basil ale, and I had two glasses of it tonight.  This cloudy beer honestly smells more like basil than it tastes like basil. As a huge basil fan (I have three adorable basil plants growing on my back porch in a pot), I was bound… nay, destined to like this beer.

At first sip, I was pleased with the amount of carbonation in the beer. It was  chock full of bubbles, and that got me all tingly. I think the picture to the left is an accurate portrayal of the golden color, and the oh-so-sexy glass that I bought with it. The taste was slightly sweet with a bit of spice in it. I didn’t taste the basil until it got to the back of my tongue. And it is totally drinkable. I definitely saw several people get 2-4 glasses of the beer in one night. Having purchased 2 myself, I can attest to drinkability. My plan for this weekend is to make a shandy in my NEW SEXY PITCHER FROM A SOUTHERN SEASON! This will basically contain a growler of the beer, some lemonade, and (if I can get my hands on it) ginger liqueur.

Basically, what I’m trying to say, is if you get this beer, and have access to a pool, combine the two. If you like beer with a bit of earthy flavor to it, this is the brew for you. (I PROMISE one day I’ll review a beer I don’t like.)

From the brewer:

A cloudy, rustic country beer brewed with local wheat and local whole-leaf basil. Summer Basil pours with a  creamy, white head and a bouquet of herbs and flowers, with a subtle basil finish. A refreshing thirst quencher that’s a lawnmower beer…if you mowed over your herb garden. This was the very first batch we brewed on our big brewing system, and we offer it only when basil is in-season.

Availability: MAY through NOVEMBER.5.4% ABV.

Feeling a little Good Juju

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Yesssss!!! A beer post!!!!

Definitely feeling some Good Juju!

Tonight’s beer was again courtesy of the GREATEST SALE ON EARTH at A Southern Season. We have a new girl at our office who I knew was from Denver so, in true “I have no clue what the heck I want… oooh pretty bottle!” fashion, I picked up a bottle of Good Juju from Left Hand Brewing Company.  I was not disappointed (only further supporting my belief that beautiful beer bottles tend to yield delicious brewskis).  I also noticed on the bottle that it mentioned it was a beer brewed with ginger and my love for ginger in new things knows NO BOUNDS!

I poured a glass into my fancy-pants Fullsteam commemorative glass from their Triangle Restaurant Week Kickoff Party this weekend. It looked sort of like a lovely light amber/copper color when I initially poured, with no real foamy head (which is indicative primarily of my expert poursmanship).

I could smell the ginger, but I think that was mostly because I had my eye nose out for it. Slowly savoring my first sip (like I do with my food) I instantly tasted the ginger in a way I would’ve even without the hint from the bottle. It wasn’t very carbonated, which was a bit of a bummer, but it was still light and totally drinkable, especially paired with the shrimp from my dinner. To be honest, I’d get this beer to share with some of my foodie friends who love weird flavor mixtures (i.e. beer and ginger). I don’t think I could’ve drank a lot, but perhaps one more would’ve been the perfect dessert for my dinner.  At only 4.5% ABV, too, I wouldn’t be buzzing after more than one and a light dinner (another bonus). All in all, I’d definitely buy it again, and would LOVE to share it at a dinner party with a crowd!

From the Brewer:

Fresh ginger kisses the lithe malty body, copulating with the hop in this pale ale ancestor. Emancipate yourself from the dead of winter, none but the vernal equinox can free the light. A refreshing frivolity. Hey mon. Shuccha fwangaa! Better a witch doctor than a trouble maker. Quit yor’ bitchin’ an’ get to witchin’.