Beet Beer, Bears and Grad Party!!

So Handsome and I have been brewing quite a bit now for almost 2 years. I dont always post about it here because I dont always post. Also we have a blog for that (See Terrible Lizard Brewing Link) but this one was so cool I had to share. We brewed up a lovely batch of Beet beer! Thats right. With boiled and pureed BEETS! it sounds super crazy pants but I promise it actually turned out quite nice, and almost berry like with earthy undertones. Also it has the best red color you can imagine! We started with a basic pale ale recipe and added 2 lbs of beets to the boil. Then when we transfered into secondary we peeled, cubed and boiled 5 more lbs of beets. We then blended the mix and added it once it had cooled to the carboy. when we kegged it, we had to be careful of the 5 lbs of trube in the bottom. But totally worth it. We want to try letting it ferment longer too and try it with less sweetness, but for this party it was PERFECT!

 So as posted before in another post, I sleep with a bear every night. Mostly its my childhood bear Binky. But Bink is getting old, and I have been reading horror stories of comfort animals splitting in half from old age and use. I also sleep with Chutney my other childhood bear, and my "New Bear" whom my dad had got for me to take pressure off of Binky... But in 1994. So Chutney isnt a spring chicken either. With the stress of finals and graduating I have been needing a comfort animal more lately and so my search began for a new sleepy animal. I tried my awesome Anteater plush, Octopus and Giraffe, but Giraffes neck kept getting tweeked even after 2 nights, and anteaters nose was getting mushed after 4 nights, and octopus just was the wrong shape. I was using Handsome stuffed African Wild Dog Kunta, and Wolverine (the animal) Logan. Logan was the best shape but he's not mine.
So I did some research and found they still made a childhood bear of mine that my mom has kind of kidnapped. Snuffles the Bear by Gund. Most people will remember the polar bear, which is what I had had.

Stock image of Snuffles 

I then asked Handsome if I could have one since Im not working and am a broke bitch. So guess whos got a new bear!!

He's really super cute. And is the right size and squishyness to sleep on! Plus he looks like a sunbear. I named him Waffles. Im a grown ass woman.

On that note, this last weekend I threw my gradubirthday party. it was a ton of fun and a bunch of people came who i didnt think would and i was way to busy to take many pictures. But it was wonderful and my heart is full of love and wonder.

Moto G and Birthdays

Ok, so as you may remember from other ranting, I had to upgrade from my old trusty iPhone 4, and decided to get a Moto G from motorola. I like it, quite a bit actually, except for one thing, the screen goes BATSHIT CRAZY sometimes. Its like a ghost is tapping on the right side of my screen blindly, and it opens apps, dials my mother and Handsome Gentleman Friend and sends one letter texts and basically tries to kill itself. Lucky for me I keep the boxes for everything because Im a hoarder and so its getting mailed back and i get a new one under warranty. Until then Im sorry if I accidentally call you and or text you gibberish.

This weekend was my handsome sexy amazing man's birthday! (happy birthday Handsome). Saturday we had a great party, with a small but amazing group who brought more food and drinks then we could have ever asked for. We talked and laughed and had a good time, and Handsome drank 4 Liters of beer (a liter less then last year mind you). We had a great time. Also I made Scotch Eggs and Brownies, and if you never have made either of those then I recommend you do that. now.

Yesterday was his actual birthday but his girlfriend is a broke bitch so she couldn't do anything spectacular. We did go over to Berkeley to a new brewery Field Work, which is a cool little place who happened to be having a donut and beer pairing. Their New Orleans coffee stout is delightful!! After that we had some fast Chinese at Chef's then headed back to his place to hang out in our underpants and watch movies. One of the great movies we watched was for my italian class, called Demons. Its a 1980's horror movie, so if your into that sort of thing, make sure this is on your list!! Its about a group of people who go to a free movie, get locked in the theater and get killed and possessed by demons. the special effects are pretty awesome, and while there is some gore its 1980's gore... so i only covered my eyes like 4 times.

I feel guilty because Handsome is really amazing and so good to me, and Im not in a position to do the same. I mean, i am damned good to him sure, lol but he whisks me away on trips and pays my phone bill and all i can do is make him some art and some lunch with stuff he bought. soon. soon i wanna make enough to help out the people  love. 

School and life- it's Happening.

So this semester I'm taking 5 classes again.. Almost done! But I'm swamped in homework and life and everything else...

But things are looking good! I quit that hell hole of a job thanks to my Handsome Gentleman friend and my aunts, trying to free lance! Ya! 

I have also been trying to eat better. This is a constant struggle for me because I REALLY LIKE FOOD. I wish I were like some people (vegans..) and didn't like it, but I really do. To avoid getting sickly this winter I have been really into smoothies. Mostly for breakfast because I'm TERRIBLE at eating breakfast and occasionally for snacks. It's an easy way to increase my fruit and vegi consumption without having to pack nothing but salads for school.. Especially when I'm trying to pack multiple meals and my books and art supplies all in one backpack, it gets rough! But 2 bottle blenders (I'm in love!) and a trust pyrex and I'm set for a while.

My favorite breakfast smoothie right now is a strawberry cheese cake smoothie!

Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie

1 cup of milk (I like enriched soy) 

1/2 cup cottage cheese (stay with me) 

8 frozen strawberries

That's it! You could use any berry really. I just got frozen strawberries cheap at costco, but toss it together and blend away! Filling, protein, fiber, carbs, all

Yum! Cottage cheese seems weird but it blends smooth and adds the savoriness it needs.

For snacks I have just started venturing into green smoothies. I have been skeptical. I don't- nay WONT eat lawn clippings. I won't chew my smoothie either.. But I found this really good recipe and tweaked it a tad to where you barely notice the greens! Except for the color...

It totally looks like lawn clippings for sure.

Weeeeiiiiirrrrd....

I just drank that...

Anywho- 

Green Thing You Wanna Eat Smoothie

1/2-3/4 cup water

2 cups kale/broccoli/spinach/romain (greens you have, or mix there of.)

Mix this together in your blender till its lawn trimmings. Don't eat this yet, it's horrible.

Add-

1/2 avocado

1 apple 

Blend this. It's good! But a little grassy..

Add to taste-

Orange juice/lemon juice

Or

Pineapple Chunks

Add a little till the acid takes care of the rest! It's really good. And only about 250 calories, and is a full serving of leafy greens, and 1 1/2-2 servings of fruit! 

Enjoy. I will post about handsome and I's crazy adventures soon! 

How to- Chocolate Stoup Cupcakes

So... Still working on Alaska pictures.. but I have a recipe that will satiate you till they come! How about Chocolate Stout Cupcakes? I was asked by the Handsome Gentleman Friend to make these cupcakes for this work. So yesterday I spent most of the day in the kitchen. I really love baking. especially when it involves cupcakes and mini cupcakes.

So this is the recipe that was sent to me... It was SUPPOSED to be for 2 dozen.. turns out its for 4 dozen... so i made 2 dozen regular cupcakes and 4 dozen minis, because who doesn't love mini muffin tins? Also watch out for Joannes Coupons because they have the CUUUUUTEST cupcake liners, and you can get 75-100 for $1.90 out the door.

Chocolate Stout Cake

Cake

• 2 cups stout (such as Guinness, I used out Choconut Stout homebrew)
• 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

• 4 cups all purpose flour

• 4 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/3 cups sour cream

Icing

• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1 pound bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

Preparation

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Line with parchment paper. For Cupcakes prep tins with liners

Butter paper. Bring 2 cups stout and 2 cups butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter equally among prepared pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cakes to rack; cool 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto rack and cool completely.

For full sized cupcakes bake 18-20 minutes and mini cupcakes bake 9-12

For icing:
Bring cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chopped chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Refrigerate until icing is spreadable, stirring frequently, about 2 hours.

Place 1 cake layer on plate. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with second cake layer. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with third cake layer. Spread remaining icing over top and sides of cake.

I didn't wait for it to cool completely, and ended up dipping the tops of the cakes in it. they came out looking REALLY nice, but i have a ton of frosting left

Busy Adventures

Hello all! So it's been a crazy few weeks! First we finished SF beer week. In that honor we got to open up and taste out bourbon barrel porter. Omg. It's amazing!!!! Look at that beauty!! 

Last weekend we went to the Toronado for the Barley Wine Festival. 50+ barley wines on tap. We met a sweet group of gals who shared some of their wine, and we shared ours.

We were going to head to Magnolia and check it out but it was paaaacked. Instead we headed to Berkeley to TRex BBQ! It was very good, not KC, but good

I then took handsome to the East Bay Vivarium! One of the best reptile specialty stores in the US

We then headed to the Bone Room, a curiosity shop

And Albany Aquarium, I love Goby's!!!

And we swung by Albany Tap room but they wanted $40 for 6 tastes... No thanks

We had quite the exciting day!! 

Trader Joes Chai Tea

So I have been CRAZY poor as of late. So this week with groceries, I decided to spoil myself with a $2 treat, this delightful spiced chai! I love TJ's, if it's bad they take it back, and usually it's awesome. So I made this up as soon as I got home.  Omg it's soooooo good!! I made it up with a little touch of sugar and soy milk. 

Ill have a full post soon, so much good things to share!! 

Sisters, Zoo and Bacon Day

Hello all! So I seem to be behind all the time. So here's a Mobil update! First off my lovely sister came to visit last week, and we got to hang! She got me a lovely pair of work shoes at goodwill for a whopping $4, as well as some stuff for herself, them came with GF and I to the homebrew club meeting! For dinner we had Goat Hill Pizza, and generally it was wonderful!! 

On wed before work I headed to the zoo, and checked out some of their wildlife. I love drawing animals, and so I did for like 4 hours, would have been 6, but the busses... Uuugghhhh....

This last weekend was another lovely event, BACON DAY! In honor of Sir Francis Bacon, we cooked up soooo many treats!! 

About 15 people or so came throughout the night, and the food was enjoyed my all! But the real star was GF an I's home brew! We went through a case and a half and none was wasted! All in all super successful!!