Fall, a tribute.

Gosh, I love fall. Love love love love love it. I love the crispness in the air. The layers of clothing. The warm, spicy flavors. The football. The pre-season hockey. The plaid. The flannel. The wool sock and boot wearing. The colors. The red noses. Thanksgiving. The acceptableness of pumpkin being added to just about every food, or beer...like Dogfish Head Punkin Ale.

I wait all year, and although it won't be in stores, I keep my eye out for it at the very first hint of fall (like back to school sales, which are really at the end of summer). So you can imagine my delight when I popped into Whole Foods for a quickie shopping trip (for coffee and cheese) and saw the bright orange four pack shining bright on the beer display, begging passerby to give it a go.

It's expensive. The only downfall (@ $10.99/ 4). But seriously, it comes once a year. It's amazing. In my opinion, it is the BEST beer ever. No kidding. And the way I justify it (as if you even need to after you taste that punkin deliciousness in a bottle) is that $3.00 for a bottle of beer from the grocery is expensive, but if you go out to a bar, it's par for the course, so skip bar hopping and stay in to drink this (with friends of course, so you aren't too sketchy, or not, it's up to you).

Carve a punkin or two while you're at it. Or just hang out and watch football on the couch in your wool socks.

You're welcome.

Kitchen Lifesaver: Easy Morning Smoothies

Nick loves smoothies in the morning. And I love getting some fruits into the meat eater. To make mornings go smoother (haha, get it?), I have a system to get this breakfast beverage made in a jiffy.

First, I start with store bought frozen fruits. Whatever you like or is on sale at that particular time. Pineapples, mangoes, peaches, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and cherries - anything goes. Instead of storing each bag in the freezer separately (taking up a lot of awkward freezer real estate), I make easy two cup mixes on the weekend. It's the perfect serving size for two smoothies and allows you to mix and match the fruits so that your smoothie can be a different flavor each day of the week. It also allows for faster assembly in the am. I keep our fruit cups nested on the door so it's an easy grab when I need one.

I start by throwing two bananas (peeled) into a blender. I then throw the frozen fruit from the serving cup on the top of the banana. I top this with Acai juice until it is about half way up the side of the blender, or just about covering the bananas. Put the lid on and blend on low for about 30 seconds and then bumping up to high until everything is smooth.

Pour into glasses or travel cups (we picked these up at BBB) and you're all set for a quick and easy breakfast.

Beer Review - Bitches Brew (Dogfish Head)

We recently came across this beer at Whole Foods. We were so excited since Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale is probably one of my favorites of all time but I rarely can snag more than a 4 pack a year since it is sold in such limited quantities since it's seasonal *boo-hoo*, so I was thrilled to try another beer from Dogfish Head.

Yes, it was New Years, so we did, in fact, drink this out of our fancy wedding champagne glasses.

By the way, have you seen Brew Masters on Discovery? It's a pretty interesting show following Dogfish Head's beer making process. I was pretty tickled that they started this show, because I love their beers and it's been fun to see their behind the scenes conceptual process (and their antics of course!). Their first episode looked at how they make Bitches Brew - a collaboration with Sony for the re-release of the Miles Davis record of the same name. The concept for the beer, as explained on the show, was to have a fusion of a dark (Stout) and light beer (Tej), similar to how the record combines African and American music styles. The tej beer is a traditional Ethiopian brew using honey and gecho sticks and leaves.

The beer itself is very dark in color, as expected considering the 3 parts stout. But unexpectedly, the flavor is not heavy, syrupy or oppressive as it is with more common dark beers. I suspect that by combining the dark beer with the light beer, it lightened it's flavor enough to make it a quite drinkable dark beer. It has a bold, slightly sweet flavor, but is surprisingly light in mouth feel considering the color. You can also taste the gecho - I suspect this is where the woodsy flavor comes from. The flavors definitely hit you on the front end, but they don't linger too long - which is a plus in my book. Ours was sold in a 1 pint bottle, which was perfect when split between Nick and I. It has only 9% alcohol by volume, which is pretty low for Dogfish Head, but pretty high for a dark beer. This also makes it fabulous for drinking.

One other thing that helps this beers drink-ability is the carbonation. It is carbonated since it's beer obviously, but it's not so overly carbonated like some other beers. For me, this is a two-fold blessing. First, because it is that much nicer to drink and secondly, because it saves the sofa. Nick, not a fan of highly carbonated beers, holds his thumb over the top and shakes them to release the excess carbonation to make them easier to drink. Usually this works out okay; however, sometimes this leads to a beer explosion and it spews beer all over the place. And beer stains. (Thank You Dogfish Head!)

Be prepared for the price though, our one pint bottle cost about $15. Dogfish Head beers in general cost more than the average beer ($10-$12 for a 4-6 pack around these parts), but for a reason - these are not average beers. Personally, I would rather pay for one glass of a good beer than drink 3 glasses of a not so fabulous beer.

We thought of what foods we would pair it with if we have the opportunity to purchase this brew again and have thought to do something meaty, but spicy. Ribs came to mind, but the sweetness in the beer wouldn't go well with a sweet BBQ rib, so we were thinking a spicy dry rubbed rib, charred a bit on the grill or smoker. I think the combination would be fabulous. The spice would contrast the sweetness in the beer and the char would compliment the woodsy flavors in the beer. Click on this link to see Dogfish Head's recommendations.

Nikolas's Chai

 
For Christmas, my little brother had made me some chai tea mix. I love Chai tea, and buying a brewed cup at a coffee shop will run me around 4 bucks. A nice treat? Yes. Affordable? No.


I brew Nikolas's blend on days where I want a treat, but don't want to go out and pick up a cup. Plus, the flavor is actually better than the stuff you can get at a coffee shop. It takes some time to brew, so at our house it's made on a lazy Sunday morning or another day when we don't have to be anywhere.

Ingredients (for the chai mix):

3 oranges
1/2 c cardamom pods
12 cinnamon sticks, crushed
2 tbsp whole cloves
2 tbsp black peppercorns
2 tbsp allspice berries
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1/4 c. whole star anise

To make the tea mix, you'll need to dry the oranges. Line a baking sheet with parchment, and then place 1/8" slices of oranges on the sheet. Place the sheet in a 200 degree oven for 2-3 hours. Once dried and cool, combine with the rest of the spices. Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months. This makes enough for 36 2-cup servings.

Ingredients (for the cup of chai):

1 1/4 c. milk, I used vanilla Almond Milk
2 tbsp chai mix (above)
3/4 c. water
1 tbsp honey
1 1/2 tbsp loose black tea

To brew a cup, add the milk, chai mix, water, and honey in a pot. Simmer for 25 minutes. Add loose black tea and brew for 5 minutes. Strain and serve. This makes 2 cups.

This recipe is based on this recipe.