beer obsession continued.

Lately I've been a bit obsessed with beer. Beer brewing, brewery hopping, and now beer has crept into my cooking adventures. Last year before the holidays, I came across a recipe for Beer and Pretzel Soft Caramel Candies on one of my favorite baking blogs, Brown Eyed Baker. Mom tried them out, and they were awesome, but I never got around to doing it myself.

Fast forward to Father's Day this year. What do you get for a dad who has everything? Food, of course. And since he had taken a liking to The Drunken Monk, I thought this would be a great opportunity to test out my beer caramel-making skills.

For my first time attempting caramel, I'd say things went as smooth as possible (except for realizing I was out of sugar after beginning to melt the butter - oops!). At Mom's suggestion I added sea salt to the bottom of the caramels, and I decided to use a little more beer than was called for too.

These suckers are tooooo tempting to keep around the house. And if you do, believe me, they won't last for long. I took a sampling to work and people were busting down my hypothetical-cube-door for a taste!

Then came the true test.... I sent them off to Dad and.... Drumroooooll... Dad loved them! We've got a winner here folks! I hear he even hid the 3 lb box of candies from everyone in house. I guess on Father's Day, you don't have to share.

I was on a baking roll, so later that week I decided to make some mini-cupcakes for a potluck at work. I happened upon this post by joy the baker and couldn't resist. I decided to make them mini, and went for cream cheese frosting instead of meringue marshmallow frosting (let's not get too crazy here...). Let's take a look...

Aw look at those cute little babies! And man oh man, were these delicious!

-shauna

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!