Category Archives: New Belgium

by | February 16, 2011 · 11:24 pm

Homebrewers’ Meeting!

     I have been very lax with my camera use these past few days. By lax, I mean I haven’t touched it, so for today’s post I’m going to recycle a few from the past year.
     I had my first homebrewer meeting on Sunday and my beer, Dos Beckis, was kindly received. I informed them that it was bottle-conditioned right as they tipped the entire growler upside-down and let all of the yeast sediment mix together in the pitcher. Oops. I still enjoyed the taste, and I made everyone healthier by giving them an extra dose of Vitamin B thanks to all that mixed-in yeast. 
Goooooo HEALTH!
     
     We had a tasting of five beers from the San Francisco area, followed by TWENTY tastings of members’ beers. I got through ten of those tastings before I had to cover my glass. I just don’t have the stamina, or the body weight to handle all that! 
     Now I have to head to work, so I’ll leave you with my beautiful recycled pictures of…. BEER!
Wort – not quite beer, but getting there!
Redemption.
Efes.
Weasel-$#*& beer.
Old Monkeyshine by Nimbus. AKA “Face-punch” beer.
Longmont Milk Stout.
Muchas Cervezas.
Punkin Ale by Dogfish Head. 1554 by New Belgium.
Tasting with the boys. Old Rasputin, Napa Smith’s Amber, Moylan’s Porter, Boont Amber, and Franziskaner.
Good ole Anchor Steam – sponsor of my homebrew club 😀
A simple, and wonderful, kind of life.

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Filed under Anchor Steam, beer tasting, Dogfish Head Punkin Ale, Dos Beckis, Efes, homebrewing, Mikkeller Geek Brunch Weasel, milk stout, New Belgium, Old Monkeyshine, Redemption, Weasel Crap Beer, wort

by | December 16, 2010 · 5:28 am

Tucson: Part Three!

     My mornings in Tucson consisted of lunch for breakfast. Every day. I fell in love with the beautiful Sabine’s Cafe Passe, where I grabbed panini every morning.

Roasted bell pepper, avocado slices, fresh tomatoes, lettuce and a slice of pepperjack cheese piled on top of nine-grain bread and pressed until melted.
Something else I may have to recreate at home!

     During the festival on Saturday, I had some time to go and explore a little more. I stumbled across a dance studio that was advertising a free dance show. How could I not check that out? FREE!
CUTENESS OVERLOAD!!!

     All the dancing made me ravenous! I visited a local college hangout for lunch.
“We love your bum.” Definitely a college hangout.
It was packed inside, so I grabbed a New Belgium Abbey and grabbed the first seat I found.
I placed my order and spent AN HOUR waiting for it to arrive. Luckily they had plenty of photography on the walls to check out, and all of the patrons were incredibly trashed and rowdy and fun to watch.
This is the HALF-ORDER of their “Lady Madonna” sandwich. It is PILED with turkey, bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. I ate a quarter of it and was stuffed. I also demolished most of the sweet potato fries.
     We had an amazing day of sales and decided to celebrate with dinner and drinks at the hotel.
There were no complaints about the view.
We were nestled in a corner outside where we enjoyed the incredible scenery and were serenaded by acoustic guitar.
How could I not? Cadillac margarita with a sugar rim!
We started with guacamole, prepared fresh tableside with a mortar and pestle, that was full of avocado, fresh tomatoes, lime zest, jalapeno and onions.
I also can’t say no to salmon!
This nears the top of my “favorite salmon entree EVER” list. The salmon was delicate and crispy on the outside, set atop a bed of rich, flavorful steamed lentils and spinach, and covered with tangy Peperonata – caramelized bell peppers.
I might be drooling as I remember this right now. Or that could be the novocaine from my visit to the dentist…
We also split a vegan tamale pie that was filled with corn, black beans and elbow macaroni, and topped with a tamale dough, cabbage and tomatoes. This wasn’t quite as worthwhile.
I filled my plate and then cleared it completely. I also got seconds (and possibly thirds) of the salmon.

Becki was a happy girl.

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Filed under Abbey, Arizona, Bumsted's, Cadillac, grilled salmon, guacamole, Madonna, New Belgium, Sabine's Cafe Passe, Tucson, vegan

by | June 5, 2010 · 8:24 am

GREEN MONSTER!!!

I promised you that I’d finally have something other than a breakfast scramble for breakfast, so I give you…THE GREEN MONSTER!!!!
I used a recipe I got off of http://greenmonstermovement.com/. I chose the “fool proof” recipe for my first time. I’ll try anything once, but I’ll admit, I was nervous to try this baby. I had to go through with it though, because yesterday’s trip to Costco landed me a 2.5lb bag of fresh spinach! Check out what it looks like next to my gigantic blender!

And yes, that is my blender peeking out behind the gi-normous bag! Can’t believe that bag was only $3.99! YAY COSTCO!!!


Lucky for me, I had leftover flax meal from my homemade bread, and a bunch of fresh bananas, so it started like this:
It met its original end-point at this:
But, after the first sip, it was just too bland, so it went back into the blender with a handful of fresh blueberries, and came out as this:
After being passed around between the roommates, the general consensus was that it was STILL TOO BLAND! Still, for the first attempt, this was completely acceptable and drinkable, as this picture seems to show:
I think tomorrow morning I’ll throw in an Emergen-C or two for some extra tang. It was definitely missing something – maybe lemon or lime zest or something similar. I think I’ll also chuck in another cup or two of spinach. I might as well go big or go home :).

After chugging that gigantic, filling MONSTER, I headed off to work. I had an early shift and didn’t plan enough time to eat breakfast as well as drink the GM, plus I didn’t know if the GM was meant to be a replacement for breakfast or had in addition – it’s meant to be had in addition, as I found out :-/.

About half an hour after clocking in, I felt the insistent groan of my raging stomach, so I ran to Subway to try one of their healthy new breakfast sandwiches. I brought along a coupon – (YAY coupons and saving money!) and lucky me, got the new girl. She ended up making me a sandwich with 3 pieces of spinach, a layer of turkey and ham, and a wheat bun that was toasted. At the end of the line, a very confused me handed over my coupon and they tried to charge me $4 for the piece of crap she’d put together! They finally realized their mistake – a breakfast sandwich includes egg and is on an english muffin – and gave me the sub for a buck. I’m still a bit pissed though… definitely didn’t want a hunk of hot bread with meat and wilted spinach :-/. I was going to take a picture, but it was just TOO pitiful!

Lunch turned around though! I went to the sushi place and got a mini spicy tuna roll with brown rice, sriracha with a little soy sauce and two huge cups of ice water. I’m working on increasing my H2O intake!
I ran into a friend I used to work with, enter Duck-Duck (my friend from high school), and had a “catch-up” lunch. After parting with Duck-Duck, I had just enough time to go to my usual cushy post-lunch couch and read a few chapters of my current book – Julie and Julia. I just want to point out, this book is a total bummer! I saw the movie a few months ago and thought it was very cute, but this book is just depressing! I’ve never read a book whose author had such a bad attitude! Sheesh! I needed a See’s candy to pick me up, so I got me a Tipperary bon-bon, and split an apple pie truffle with my mum who stopped by :).

FINALLY I got home and was treated by my roommates to a wonderful dinner of seared tilapia and steamed green beans tossed with garlic oil:
You must remember though, it is Friday night, so it was followed by this:
That Fat Tire is most definitely mine! As was the following one… :). I also have been looking into the Tour de Fat – October 23rd in Los Angeles! Anyone want to go? Please let me know!

After the sunset, I retreated back inside and finally got to try some So Delicious ice cream. I’ve been wanting to try the coconut milk So Delicious, but didn’t have the desire or ability to drive all the way to Sprouts, so I settled for this:
I gotta say, ice cream really needs a nice piece of cake to compliment it. Pepperidge Farm’s chocolate layer cake was actually SCREAMING at me to eat it! I had to obey!!!
There really is no better way to end a Friday night. I’m a total homebody, and while going out and getting trashed just isn’t my cup-o-tea, I’m all for a few beers, some cake and ice cream and some good conversation. Nothing better 🙂

Happy Friday and g’night all!

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Filed under beer, cake, Fat Tire, flax, green monster, love, New Belgium, Pepperidge Farm, roommates, so delicious, soy, spinach, sushi

by | May 27, 2010 · 12:30 am

New Beginnings

First post! After a few weeks of contemplation, I came up with a name that I hope suits my blog… What I’m aiming for is a fitness/nutrition blog as I go from soft around the edges to totally ripped – having to show my stomach in an upcoming film I’m shooting might be a big motivator, but in general I just love sweating like a pig and being completely exhausted from exertion.
Finally back after a long 8 days in Colorado for my brother’s wedding. Fort Collins, Colorado: an amazing place for biking outdoors, hiking through the mountains, jogging through the parks and drinking good beer from the New Belgium Brewery. Unfortunately, I only succeeded at the final task – the drinking of GOOD beer. My hopes of biking along the bike paths that are set next to roaring rivers were overtaken by drives up to Estes Park to check out the wedding location, picking up a freshly-pressed wedding dress, and meeting up with new members of the family. Oh, that and the three free mugs of Fat Tire that were provided each night by our amazing hotel. Whoops…
The wedding was absolutely beautiful. A nice brisk morning in an open field in the mountains with the sun shining and a gorgeous bride emerging from the limo to walk down the aisle and meet my beaming brother. I’ve never seen him look so happy in my entire life. Vows were said, tears were shed (a lot by me :-/) and they sped off in their little convertible. I can honestly say it was the PERFECT wedding, and seeing how in love they both are just made for a joyfully blessed day.
Overall, an amazing trip. I’m a little bummed I didn’t get (or didn’t make time) to go biking around Old Town Fort Collins or hike in the mountains, HENCE this blog! I’m finally back on track!
We got back last night, finished our week with sushi and more Fat Tire, and watched our Glee episodes that we missed. This morning I woke up headache-free and raring to go. Had my typical Emergen-C, mug of coffee with some Silk creamer and honey (it’s antibacterial and healthy! At least that’s what I’m telling myself) and a big-ass salad with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar and whole grain mustard. Normally I wouldn’t have salad for breakfast, but I was kind of craving it, plus our refrigerator was completely empty after being cleaned out for the trip. Lettuce is all that survived.
Next came the hike in the national park that we live next to – just a quick 44 minute climb since we haven’t been moving in over a week. The temperature was absolutely perfect and the views are incredible! I’m enraptured every time we go there.
Lunch was a grilled salmon filet with a homemade honey-mustard crust and some pre-cooked frozen brown rice from Trader Joe’s. Up next is a bike ride on my new Specialized Hardrock mountain bike that looks totally kick-ass, PLUS has this awesome Fat Tire sticker I got for free at New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins.

I’m still waiting to hear about a job that starts tomorrow, so that’ll determine my workouts for the upcoming week. My goal for this week is to get on my bike as often as possible after early morning hikes, and focus on lots of push-ups and crunches. I’m the kind of person who, if she doesn’t see results after two days, throws her hands in the air and says, “why bother?” Hopefully writing all this down will be a memory-jogger for me.
Aaaaand first post done! Signing off for a bike ride, and I’ll meet you all back here later! 🙂

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Filed under beer, bike, brewery, eat, fitness, hike, New Belgium, nutrition, salmon