birthday brewery crawl.

This year for my birthday, I headed down to Portland to spend the weekend with my family. My dad, my brother and I went for a Portland brewery crawl, 8 stops in all.

1. Upright Brewing
Flight of everything! 4, 5, 6, 7, Engleberg Pilsner, Monk and Mingus, Juane Quatre, Pure Wit

2. Hopworks Urban Brewery
Me: Velvet ESB, Brother: Survival 7-Grain Stout, Dad: ISB

3. Coalition Brewing Co.
Me: Hanso vs. Bullet Stout, Brother: Bumps Bitter ESB, Dad: Loving Cup Maple Porter

4. Migration Brewing Co.
Me: Old Silenus Ale, Brother: Luscious Lupulin IPA, Dad: PDX

5. Burnside Brewing Co.

Me: Alter Ego Imperial IPA, Brother: Sweet Heat, Dad: Burnside IPA

6. Lucky Labrador Brewing Co.

Me: Black Lab Stout, Brother: Solar Flare Ale, Dad: Superdog

Pit stop at the Slingshot at Waterfront Park!

7. Tugboat Brewing Company

Me: Coffee Porter, Brother: HayFork, Dad: Chernobyl Stout

8. Rock Bottom Brewery

Me: White Ale, Brother: Red Ale, Dad: IPA

The next day my mom, my brother and I scored tickets to the Timbers v. DC United game. It was a super exciting game, buuut we came out with a loss in the end.

We topped the weekend off with dessert from Papa Haydn on NW 23rd. Scrumptious!

Thanks to my family for a great birthday weekend! :)

-shauna

fashion up a cake stand.

So, I've been wanting a cake stand for awhile now. Not a plastic cake carrier, but a pretty stand, with a pedestal. Not that I make cakes often, but it would be nice to be able to present baked goods on something other than a plain dinner plate or tupperware container. So, I started looking around (meaning looking around online: Amazon, Willams-Sonoma, Crate and Barrel, Macy's, etc.) and realized that most decorative cake plates don't come with a cover (bummer) and are going to run about $40 (double bummer!).

I thought to myself "If I have to sacrifice a cover for the style I want, why can't I just fashion up a pretty little ditty on my own?" I headed down to my local Goodwill to check out some goods. I found a pretty flowered china plate and a nice little (albeit used and well loved, I'm sure) tea cup. The total came to a whopping $1.63 with tax.

All it took was a little Gorilla Glue, a fruit bowl for some weight, and viola! We have a cake stand!

Love it!

-shauna

where u brew.

Summer is near and that means warm days will be here (in about two months). This time of year always brings lazy days at the beach or park, barbecues, and fun with friends. Last year, some friends and I made a batch of wine at a local business, Gallaghers' Where U Brew. At Where U Brew, people can make wine and cider, but they are known as a place for making beer. They have quite the extensive beer list. This year, about six of us decided to brew a couple batches of beer for the summer.

Below are photos from the brewing process. It was fun! and easy! We made one summer blond called "Cut Your Grass". The other was an 8%-er called The Drunken Monk.

Malt.

Grains.

Gotta keep stirring!

The kettle for brewing.

Everyone pitches in!

Now, stir like mad!

And....Drain.

The "Silver Fox". One of the very helpful, energetic guys running around Gallaghers'.

Two weeks later, we all reconvened at Gallaghers' to bottle our brew. We had two 10 gallon batches of beer to bottle, cap, and separate among us.

Yellow bottle caps for the Cut Your Grass summer blond.

Dan and Emily hard at work!

Absolutely a team effort!

Boxes and boxes of beer.

All said and done, we ended up with about 250 bottles of beer, split between the six of us. I'd say we're all set for the summer!

basket makeover.

I have this basket, see. I'm not sure when or where I acquired it, but it has come to be a regular part of my daily routine. I pack it up each morning with my lunch and various reading materials for class. After work, it usually gets filled with needed items, books, notebooks, etc. and comes with me to class. Then, it gets carried home and emptied out, ready to do it all over again the next day.

Well, in the last few weeks, this basket has really started showing it's age. The handles started fraying and coming apart from the basket, the liner dingy. Just looking a little sad these days.

Sad. Really sad.

So, not wanting to just chuck my beloved basket, I decided to do a basket makeover. Of course I ended up making it more complicated than it needed to be, but everything worked out after some brainstorming with my momma, and some more troubleshooting.

May I present you with..... New and Improved Spring Basket!

-shauna