Check Out Those Cans

Beer!  Home beer.  In cans!

Coalition Brewing in SE Portland was hosting a canning event for homebrewers this past weekend.  Oregon Brew Crew got a discount.  $20 and you get your 5 gallon corny keg put into 16 oz cans.  Of course, we got two.  We signed up, paid, and got our time slot months ago.  Then, we decided to move.  The ideal time to get our brew on would have been moving day.  But, we were moving, which didn't lend itself well to making new batches of beer.  And we had paid.  So, we came up with a couple ales that would ferment fast after we got to Hood River and would be ready for canning in a few weeks.  We also wanted to make a couple beers that we had already done, and we knew were tasty, because, well... we were about to have a lot of cans of beer.  So,

Prepping for summer: home, river, and booze news

First time ever we live in a house and not a condo- no shared walls, no neighbors with windows looking into yours, and we have a lawn!

The weather has been phenomenal the past 2 weeks. It was in the low 80's but it was a dry, hot 80's and the breeze was warm too. We both got a little sun despite wearing sunscreen. On the drive to work there is a distinct weather line just west of Multnomah Falls and when the Portland area is clouded in this is where you seemingly go through a portal to another world... one with a 500' ceiling of clouds. Meanwhile east of there is nice and sunny. We've experienced this from both directions. We're so happy to be living in a sunnier region!

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

Yesterday I ventured into the meatloaf making world for the first time. I essentially combined two recipes. The original one where I got the idea from Jamie Eason here and the meatloaf recipe from our Cooking with Beer book by Paul Mercurio. Most recipes call for a cup of oats, but we don't have rolled oats in the house (just steel-cut), so I substituted short grain rice. 

Free form cooking is our general method and involves taking whatever veggies are in the fridge and spices that sound good and for the most part ignoring that part of the cookbook recipes. All of the ingredients below are approximate measurements and done to taste. Essentially this recipe is 2 pounds of ground meat, chopped veggies, and spices. Also, I suggest taking a bit of the mixture and frying it in a pan and adjusting the spices as you see fit. 

These turned out fantastic. I am glad I tested bits in the frying pan. I ended up adding more chipotle spice and some apple maple bbq sauce to balance the heat with sweet. They are pretty filling too. I had one for dinner last night and one for breakfast this morning. They heat up nicely in the microwave. [...]

First Anniversary

Pulled out the camera to play with it today and realized there are quite a few pictures from earlier this year that never got downloaded.

Our anniversary was way back in April- 9 months ago! We went to Hood River and stayed at a B&B. It was our first time exploring the area and it quickly turned into our favorite local getaway. I don't have my editing program on my laptop anymore, so they are unedited and uncropped.

The B&B

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Brewista

It's a slow week at work, so I have the pleasure to have a full week off for Thanksgiving including the weekend on either end. Yesterday I moped, finally forced/ guilted/ relented into doing a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout for 14 min. 10 minutes in, I thought I was going to either pass out or throw up. I managed to attempt to do the last two exercises before I collapsed in a sad, soggy heap on the floor praying for mercy. It has been too long since I last worked out. I think the last thing I did was run the Color Run with Suz at the end of September. For the rest of the day, I continued to read A Dance with Dragons and sip whiskey. 

Today, I went with Matt to BNI, a professional networking group. They are serious stuff there, but I have to say it was the liveliest, varied bunch of folks for 7am. It works well for small businesses, but there I am introducing myself as a guest and telling them... "Well, we our target market is with large entities, be that private, public, or government, where we can secure very large and multiyear contracts in landscape architecture, construction management, land surveying, and engineering services. But I do know several small land surveying firms who would greatly appreciate smaller scale business such as property surveys, as-builts, small construction management, and topographic surveys." **trying not to panic at totally not being the type of professional who could make use of this type of networking group** Quick stop by the municipal court for Matt's short hearing and then back home. 

I decided I was going to look for my steam curlers, so I can figure out new, not-so-boring things to do with my hair. Looked all over and can't find them. In the process of going through all those unpacked boxes in the guest closet, I decided now would be a good time to pull out the keyboard and try to play or learn a new song. I realized I have no idea where the power cord is. So, I decided I would try to take some pictures because I haven't done that in a long time and the battery was dead (it's charging). So, I was going to make gluten-free biscotti to take with us for Thanksgiving, but I found out it was already made (where's the fun in that?!). After deciding to finish the Daenerys chapter (she finally flies on Drogon! That earned her some very much needed cool points, because for a while she was so annoying I was hoping someone would kill her off.) I decided I might try my hand at brewing. [...]