January’s nearing to a close, which is good time to reassess the resolutions of the New Year. Did you lose 5 pounds? Have you exercised daily? Don’t worry, neither did I.
There is one resolution that if you didn’t make, it’s a good one to adopt now: making family dinner a regular habit.
Statistics show that children who share a meal regularly with their families do better in school and have a better relationship with their parents. We all have to eat, so let’s do it together.
I may not have any advice about dieting or exercise, but this is one resolution that I can help with.
Until last year, Purple Asparagus’ mission was to bring families back to the table. With our burgeoning work in the schools (more than 22 and rising), we revised our mission in 2011 to educating children, families, and the community about eating that’s good for the body and the planet. Believe you me, with the number of parent cooking classes I teach, I still have some tips, five in fact, about how to make family dinner 2012’s healthy habit.
1. Be flexible: The greatest enemy to the family dinner is the unrelenting devotion to the clock. Dinner in my house may at 5:30, it might be at 7:30; it all depends upon our schedules, individual and collective. If my son doesn’t get a bath that night, so be it, I’d rather have that half hour for our family to reconnect at the end of the day.
2. Embrace convenience: Don’t be ashamed to use convenience foods. While I know many a food snob that will turn a nose up at the idea of prepared cereals or a tub of hummus. I’m not one of them. Even though I often prepare bread or pasta from scratch, these are weekend activities, not a project to undertake when I’m trying to get dinner on the table after a long day at work. When there are so many wonderful food artisans creating nutritious products with top quality and locally sourced ingredients, there’s no shame in incorporating them into your weekly routine.
3. Upcycle your leftovers: Leftovers, whether from my own kitchen or a restaurant meal, are in regular rotation in my kitchen. Not just meat scraps, like beef or chicken strips that can be laid onto salads or rolled into wraps, but everything. For example, transform your mashed potatoes into a tart crust. Cold rice can be folded with a lemony dressing and garnished with oil-cured tuna. Both her and on my personal blog Little Locavores, I detail these tricks and many more make short work of dinner.
4. Make a plan: Don’t just make a shopping list before entering a grocery or visiting a farmers’ market, but also a plan. Wine Braised Pot Roast served with roasted vegetables can on the day after be a delicious topping for whole grain pasta. Making meatloaf, double the recipe and stuff half into peppers. If you’re not used to this type of cooking, there are lots of terrific resources for meal planning, including The Scramble and Feed Our Families. About two years ago, I ran a few of these meal plans on Little Locavores, including my own.
5. One of the best pieces of advice about family dinner came from a powerful women partner at my former firm. While she was a terrific cook, she freely admitted that she wasn’t always the one cooking for her family. What was more important to her was that the family ate together. If the meal was at a restaurant or from the take-out section of Whole Foods, it was still family dinner. I wasn’t ready to hear the advice when she gave it, only a month after my son was born, and it likely hastened my departure from my Big Law job. Nowadays, I get it. Restaurant dinners and healthy take out are also among the tools at my disposal to get family dinner on the table.
To make this last tip even easier to follow, there’s a brand new initiative taking place at many Chicago restaurants: Healthy Fare for Kids. Spearheaded by Chef Sarah Stegner (a mom herself), Alderman Michele Smith, and former public health profession Diane Schmidt, the program is committed to providing parents with healthy options for their children at restaurants. The restaurants participating in the program will offer at least one delicious and healthy meal for kids on their menus.
Healthy Fare for Kids provided guidelines to chefs, including limiting the bread on the table before the meal and instead providing fresh vegetables. It also asks restaurants to ensure some lean protein with the meal and to use whole grain breads and pasta. Other suggestions are to use cooking methods that are lower in fat, incorporating and local and seasonal products (a goal close to this Little Locavores’ heart), controlling portion size and serving no-sugar beverages and small, if any, desserts.
For more information about the initiative and to learn which restaurants are participating, visit the initative’s website or watch Chef Stegner be interviewed by the Fooditude kids.
This video has been hanging around for a while, but I had never seen it until Stone pointed me to it. Greg Koch is out on site in January, 2005 at the new Stone site. Enjoy the flashback.
Hopefully it gives you some hoppy comfort that Troeg’s is hard at work in Hershey, PA today making 3 batches Nugget Nectar. It’s a hoppy mother of an red ale. That’s why it has cracked Beer Advocate’s Top 100 Beers on planet earth.
You read all of that right. Recently Lee Dickson of Brick Store Pub went up to Athens to brew with Spike of Terrapin Brewing. They made a Moo Hoo cask, and added banana and marshmallows. It’s yellow and black for a reason, they are both big Steelers fans. (I’ll look past that one.) I suggest today you hit the pub wearing either Stiller colors or opposing team colors. Let’s make the experience even more interesting.
Chandler, AZ – Kittens purr when you rub them just right and SanTan Brewing Company’s newest double chocolate porter, Sex Panther does just that. Craft beer fanatics and lovers of all things smooth and chocolate know that this annual seasonal brew brings the flavor while taming the panther within. SanTan Brewing Company, named 2011 Best [...]
Intuition Ale Works' cans are ready to go. Owner/brewer Ben Davis said his beers cans have been manufactured by the Ball plant down in Tampa. He ordered 90,000 each of the three styles he's canning first: Jon Boat, People's Pale and I-10 IPA.
He's got some in the warehouse today and the rest will be arriving next week. Canning should start the week of Feb. 6, then they'll be shipped out to bars, restaurants and stores.
Yesterday the Beer Nut wrote in comments: "Spare a thought for all the styles that didn't make it." I did a bit of that last week, but the Nut reminds me of one style I didn't mention--bière blanche de Paris. Of all the old styles Lacambre mentioned, this one sounded the most intriguing (far better than some of those lime-poisoned, 15-hour boil jobs they were making in Belgium).
It was a relatively new style to Paris at the time, and his information about it was incomplete (also partly because the brewers were secretive. It was made with wheat and followed the usually somewhat-convoluted mash procedure of the time. (The Franco-Belgian brewers were not big spargers.) It went through a trifling boil for the time-- 2 1/2 hours. Paris White was a pretty strong beer, weighing in at 1.066 and was made with coriander and elderflowers. Lacambre specifically mentioned that brewers used the finest floral hops--presumably to accentuate the spice. There was one offbeat ingredient--a starch syrup extracted from potatoes. Meant to be served fresh, it was available from the cask a week and a half after brewing or in bottles within three weeks.
Here's my cleaned-up version of a Google translate rendition of Lacambre's original (which is to say, consult the original if you want something more authoritative).
“It is very white that is to say, very little colored and very clear without being absolutely transparent, foam very strong and persistent and very pleasing to the eye and it moistens the palate pleasantly. This beer whose production has grown significantly and very significantly improved in recent years is very enjoyable, especially in summer, and deserves to be mentioned as one of the best known white beers.”
I have endeavored to entice Breakside's Ben Edmunds into brewing this beer and we have a tentative plan to put something together in June. I'm thinking maybe honey in place of the potato-starch syrup (however alluring that might otherwise seem) and of course, we both instantly thought of a saison yeast. More to come on that score.
So by the looks of it, this guy bought a case of Bell’sHopslam, marked the price up, and is selling it on Craig’s List. Case price is $125 dollars. Thats about $31 a 6 pack. Buyer beware. There are more shipments of this beer coming to Atlanta (and pretty much everywhere else.) Not to mention, kegs, casks, and mini kegs. My opinion, don’t buy from this douche. H/T @AtlantaBeer
Recently, our elected great and good organised a little beer tasting, supported by the BBPA. Tyson already referred to it in his post here, and like a lot of bloggers, I got a press release about it.Tyson's post is titled 'How Low Can You Go'. Judging by the views of one of the brewers invited to participate, low calumny in the form of a bit of wool-pulling over eyes was going on. The press
Ommegang has released its limited edition experiments quite liberally in the past two years, Ommegang and other brewers have adapted non-Belgian styles with Belgian yeast and spice. The only Belgian close was Sterkens Poorter, a strong Belgian ale that derives its name from the Flemish name the ending of serfdom (or something like that - but it isn't porter). Ommegang has free reign to experiment. As with recent limited brews like Aphrodite, Belgian-style porter goes far beyond adding a Belgian yeast strain to dark ale.
Roasted coffee and caramel textures coat the palate but leave room for the subtle but undeniable cherry twist. The inclusion of cocoa from Belgium's Chocolatier Callebut does not overload Seduction or turn it into a dessert beer. Aside from a few slivers throughout the body, the chocolate never challenges for dominance.As a result, Seduction avoids the artificial chocolate and cocoa powder flavors that sink many beers touting chocolate's inclusion.
The malt bill is long but interconnected (Pils, Caramel, Chocolate, Munich, Munich Caramel, Carapils). For bittering, Ommegang used just Perle hops. Liefmans Cuvee Brut Kriek gives the porter its cherry finish and complexity. Unless I've been staring at the sun too much, Seduction also sports a tiny bit of crimson in its frothy lace.The cherry flavor is mostly sublime. The blend kriek works as good if not better than fresh cherries. At moments, Seduction's fruit profile reminds me of Boulevard's conservative use of cherries in its Bourbon Barrel Quad from 2009 -- they applied just enough fruit to influence the flavor. In Seduction, the blended fruit beer is slightly more assertive. At 6.8 percent ABV, itis eminently drinkable andapproachable. I would take it over Chocolate Indulgence, where the stout thickness and chocolate character get overwhelming.
With the cherry and other flavors, I found myself wishing a finger or two of sour ale would emerge. I'll keep hoping. Judging Seduction on its own merits, it succeeds in bridging the North Sea, giving an English-style porter a plethora of Belgian turns.
Appearance: Pours a deep ruby red, some haze, tight off white head.
Aroma: big vanilla oak with chocolate and malt.
Taste: Big warming oak with hints of cocolate, finishing with some alcohol heat. No two sips are alike! Picking up orange peel once, sometimes chocolate. As it warms the orange and fruit comes out more. The warmth also brings out a roastier, tannic finish.
Mouthfeel: Low to moderate carb, incredibly drinkable at 12%. Noticable alcohol burn, but but nothing you wouldnt expect. The body is lean enough to keep sipping without thinking its maple syrup.
Overall: A big, drinkable, complicated beer that can probably use a year to develop and let the oak mellow out.
Listen up commuters of I-84. Full Sail has sent out a reminder that their monthly Brewmaster Dinner is coming, February 9th.
With a theme on retro classics, each course’s beer will be paired with dishes you’ve heard of, like the Waldorf Salad. Cost is $30 per person and it starts at 5:00 PM until the kitchen runs out of food.
For more information about the dinners call the Full Sail Tasting Room and Pub at 541-386-2247. And don’t forget to review the menu below.
First Course
Prawn Cocktail with Blood Orange Cocktail Sauce and Chiffonade paired with LTD 04
Second Course
Waldorf Salad with Grilled Ricotta Salata paired with Session
Third Course
Stout Marinated Beef Wellington with Roasted Broccolini and Bearnaise Sauce paired with Extra Special Barney
Our Brewmaster Dinners are held the second Thursday of the month during the fall, winter and spring. Our next dinner will be held Thursday, March 8th and will feature seasonal dishes paired with our award winning brews.
Cheers
About Full Sail Brewing Company
The independent and employee-owned Full Sail Brewery is perched on a bluff in Hood River, Oregon, overlooking the most epic wind and kite surfing spot in the world. At this very moment our specialists in the liquid refreshment arts are crafting barley and hops into your next beer. Among the company’s most popular brews are Full Sail Amber, IPA, Pale, LTD, Wassail, Session, Session Black, and Session Fest Premium lager. Founded in 1987, the Full Sail crew has been fermenting godlike nectar for 25 years. Committed to brewing great beer and sustainable practices their award winning brews are now available in 28 states.The Full Sail Tasting Room and Pub is open seven days a week. Swing by for a pint, grab a bite, tour the brewery, or just soak up the view. http://www.fullsailbrewing.com
About the photo’s author "Matt Wiater is a photographer covering the Portland beer scene for portlandbeer.org."
The Pantmawr is a bit difficult to find but luckily there are a few signposts pointing the way:
and another one:
arrived at last:
The Pantmawr is set in its' own extensive grounds and parts of this stone-built building date back to 1828, although it was rebuilt in 1898 and refurbished only recently.
The old buildings, built out of rough-hewn stone, were originally a farmhouse and associated farm buildings, it became a pub in 1960 when the local estate was built. The pub is a bit difficult to find, being at the centre of the estate and not on any main road but it is definetly worth seeking out. Originally a Hancocks/Welsh Brewers pub, ownership passed to Mitchells & Butlers who lease it to local pub company JW Bassett. A few years ago Mitchells & Butlers attempted to redevelop the site for housing but after an extensive campaign by the local community the Pantmawr Inn was saved and today the pub is a busy local serving the community.
The black and white exterior leads to to a large bare stone-walled interior, decorated with old breweriana and chalkboards advertising forthcoming events such as the annual mouse race.
The wooden bar features 5 gleaming brass handpumps serving Felinfoel Best Bitter, Double Dragon , Brains Bitter and two guests with beers such as Doombar from Sharp's in Cornwall or Red Castle Cream from nearby Newman's Brewery in Caerphilly. Another local beer that features regularly on the bar is Otley O1 from Pontypridd. The beers are served in branded glassware wherever possible.
The large bar area with its wooden beams on the ceiling also features a real fire and a huge old mirror advertising a long-gone Highland Whisky from Glasgow dominates one wall. Flat-screen televisions are mounted on the walls for major sporting matches.
To the side of the bar a passageway has been cut through the thick stone wall into what is called the 'Snug', with the pub dartboard and a retro games machine that features the old arcade classics such as PacMan and Millipede.
Outside, the Pantmawr features extensive parking as well as a patio area with seats that leads on to a grassed area with a slide for children. The Pantmawr Inn also features a function room with bar that is available for hire. Free WiFi is also available.
Food is served all day from a traditional pub menu and separate children's menu, with a carvery on Sundays, grills feature on the menu along with a healthy option section listing options with the calories displayed. Daily specials feature throughout the week with cheaper beer prices on Mondays, pizza deals on Tuesdays, curries on Thursday nights and an offer on children's meals on Fridays after 4.
60% of questions on University Challenge are unanswerable to me. Another 30% are there for the taking – Copernicus, Darwin, Tchaikovsky, Keats, all familiar names worth an educated guess. I’m being ambitious if I was so bold to say I actually know the answer to 10% of questions. So imagine my delight when the answer [...]
Living in Prague, there were many times when I could be found propping up one of the bars at Pivovarský klub. Often the choice depended on who was working in which bar, and if there was any space at that particular bar. Usually the main reason for my being in PK was to meet with friends, though of course the beer was also important - I could have met my friends in any of Prague's wonderful watering holes, but it was PK I preferred above all others. PK was also where I did most of my drinking with Evan Rail, author of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide to Prague and the Czech Republic and all round top notch person. To say I miss sitting in PK with Evan would be like saying a fish misses the sea once it has been caught.
Yesterday, Evan emailed me a copy of his new booklet, "Why Beer Matters", which is available through Amazon's Kindle Store, so when I got home from work I sat down with it and had a read. The booklet only takes about half an hour to read, though I imagine I will dip in and out of it often. One of the central themes of Evan's thesis is that beer matters because of it's essential egalitarian nature, that it is a drink enjoyed by the haughty as much as the hoi polloi.
I am not going to go into a thorough review here, other to say that at many points while reading, I was nodding my head, mumbling agreement and generally wishing we'd been having this discussion sat in PK. What I will say though, is that if you love beer and the beer world, click on the link and buy the book, it is worth every penny.
It’s often claimed that there’s a singular lack of association between venues majoring on real ale and alcohol-related disorder, and indeed the experience of many beer festivals seems to bear that out. However, things seem to be rather different along the main Transpennine railway line:
Unruly real ale lovers searching for high-octane beer are losing their heads and giving fellow rail travellers and staff a hangover with anti-social behaviour.
Now British Transport Police have warned real ale fans taking the Transpennine Real Ale Trail from Batley to Stalybridge, stopping at Dewsbury, Mirfield and Huddersfield, to keep their celebrations on the right tracks or face prosecution.
They could end up walking home if banned from the railways.
The trail, featured on the BBC’s Oz and James Drink to Britain, is described as a “unique voyage to a selection of Yorkshire and Lancashire best real ale pubs”.
Some drunk trail-followers are running across crowded platforms and railway lines, compromising safety, say police.
Stag and hen parties are downing a range of strong ales, beer glasses are taken on trains, people urinate on platforms, train doors are held open, disrupting services, and trains damaged, added police.
In reality, I suspect to a large extent the Real Ale Trail is being unfairly blamed for this. Given that the line connects the nightlife capitals of Manchester and Leeds, and runs through a number of major urban areas, most of the bad behaviour is likely to be associated with the normal lads’ and girls’ nights out. Indeed, it’s not usually known for stag and hen parties to be swigging real ale. However, the problem is that mud is likely to stick...
Ci incontrammo nel 2008: io ancora in scuderia Birrificio Italiano, lui impegnato in un tour birrario di Lombardia e Piemonte, confluito poi nel famoso articolo apparso sul NY Times - articolo che contribuì non poco ad accendere i riflettori sullo stato della birra in Italia.
Ci rincontrammo nel 2009 a Praga, dopo essermi perso più volte nei meandri di quel gran blog che è Beer Culture, e dopo aver divorato la sua Good Beer Guide Prague & The Czech Republic: una serata al Pivovarsky Klub in cui mi guidò per mano alla scoperta di alcune misconosciute pivovar.
L'uomo esce ora con una nuova pubblicazione per Kindle, acquistabile via Amazon al ridicolo prezzo di $2.06: non l'ennesimo manuale birrario, non un gelido elenco di eccellenze da catalogare, bensì un personalissimo trattato di venti pagine svolto attorno alla domanda "Why beer matters?".
Perchè comprarlo?
E' nuovo, è fresco, diverso, scritto con spontaneità ed intimità senza per questo perdere in autorevolezza; mi ha mostrato un modo insolito di percezione del tempo e del luogo in relazione alla birra, mi ha incuriosito a quella perla dimenticata che è il Grodziskie. Sopra ogni cosa, mi ha fatto venire voglia di un pub, una pinta ed un vecchio amico, alle tre del pomeriggio.
***
Non ho Kindle ma ho seriamente pensato di comprarlo ieri, non fosse che il gentiluomo mi ha inviato una copia del lavoro via email. Se non avete Kindle ma possedete Iphone/Ipad, un'applicazione gratuita rende tutto più facile.
To the uninitiated it may have looked like I was enjoying a Sunday afternoon pint in an excellent Good Beer Guide listed pub. In fact I was hard at work checking the Copper Top was on form. It's a hard job being a brewer.
Back in July I had the opportunity to attend a beer dinner at my favorite local bar, Red’s Alehouse, feature my favorite Iowa brewery, Toppling Goliath. You can read about that event right here on our little corner of the interwebs. [...] [...] Read more →
Monday marked the beginning the nationally recognized American Craft Beer Week (ACBW). At The Ferm, we celebrate for the third straight year this great and substantial week dedicated to all things craft beer. But we aren't the only ones celebrating. Fo... [...] Read more →
Venerdì 28 presso La Vecchia Torre (via Modigliani 7, Centro Vico Expo, Vicopisano) la cucina pisana incontra le birre liguri del birrificio artigianale genovese Maltus Faber. IN ASSAGGIO: 'Ambrata’ - Belgian Ale, 7%, ambrata ‘Triple’- Belgian... [...] Read more →
K adventu roku 2011 jsme pipravili pivo, jak doposud dn prmyslov pivovar v R neuvail. Jednalo se o staroanglick styl India Pale Ale. Velmi, ale velmi ... [...] Read more →
We end our "Noel" beer roundup with an American entry from Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales. Brent, our esteemed director and editor, decided to have a little fun with the editing, being the end of a rather heavy ABV day of shooting. This is yet... [...] Read more →
Il periodo più pericoloso dell’anno per un vero appassionato di birra arriva con il Natale. Cene in famiglia ed appuntamenti gastronomici si susseguono a ritmo serrato, ed è impossibile, dopo una lunga teoria di spremute d’uva fermentate propinate da parenti ed amici, che proprio in questa occasione festiva si scoprono tutti degli epigoni di Veronelli, che [...] [...] Read more →
El pasado 16 de Septiembre se inauguró en Pamplona (calle iñigo Arista, 9) una nueva cervecería llamada Manneken Beer. Como podréis imaginar por el nombre, su carta se nutre de cervezas belgas, unas 140 para ser más exactos. En ella, se pueden enc... [...] Read more →
Session # 199 Odell | Deconstruction Ale American Wild Ale | Fort Collins, CO | 10.5% ABV One year ago: Odell India Pale Ale Over the course of the last year or so, Odell Brewing out of Fort Collins, CO has been making their fair share of barrel-aged beers. At least five that I can [...] [...] Read more →
My buddies at Brew England is once again helping out the “Cure Me I’m Irish” event scheduled for March to help raise money for the Friends of Will Cancer Foundation. Instead of regurgitating everything already posted on the site, I re... [...] Read more →
I’ve already reached my last pumpkin beer of the year. I found myself in an Oktoberfest beer mood this ear and I didn’t purchase many pumpkin beers. I think part of the problem is that every brewery seems to want to be the first to get their pumpkin ale out. I saw some in late [...] Related posts:
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know I have a soft spot in my heart for the little guys; the homebrewers and nano-breweries that are just starting out. This is also the sentiment of Chef Won Kim who, along with the members of local homebrewing cooperative Low Dive Brewing, wanted to [...] [...] Read more →
The final certified vote tallies from the Iowa GOP caucuses show Rick Santorum edging Mitt Romney by 34 votes, reversing the reported order of finish two weeks ago, when Romney was said to have won by just eight votes. [...] Read more →
Descripción:Esta cerveza artesanal Jagger, oriunda del distrito de mi familia paterna y por ende de mi provincia favorita, fue adquirida en la última juntada cervecera en Cervelar. Anteriormente había probado, en el ya bar mencionado, los estilos I.... [...] Read more →
After a bit of travail, caused by a power outage that disabled MAX and forced me to ride a bus in the general direction of downtown, I enjoyed several hours at the Holiday Ale Festival Thursday afternoon and evening. Beer fests are always a good ... [...] Read more →
Beer fans, Here's your chance to have some input. My beer fridge is looking a bit scarce, and I need to restock it. What should be the next beer(s) that I purchase? I'm interested to see what you come... [...] Read more →
A few months ago my pal Colin invited me and some other pals to visit his upstart new co-op brewing space in SoDo (South Seattle). He affectionately calls it The Home for Wayward Brewers. (More information here.) Another friend sugges... [...] Read more →
Wow - talk about fresh hop arouma it's very unique, after a bit it almost smells like fossil fuel, I know that it sounds odd, but its really something. This is as close as you get to hops on the... [...] Read more →
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