After we’d perused the abandoned school, Commander Matt and I were prepared to continue right back to the highway. The one thing that was nagging my mind were those random decapitated palm trees that brought me here in the first place. Just down the road from the school, through the dead and silent town, we found the cabins.
About six or seven small cabins rest in the desert dust. One has already been burned to the ground, no doubt thanks to vandals.
The insides are completely destroyed with paint falling off the walls and furniture thrown everywhere.
Old yellowing newspapers and calendars were strewn all across the back bedroom floor.
1974
1968
This was the home of Carl Moser: born September 28, 1892 and died November 1, 1976.
All of his final payments still hang on the wall.
An old pop top Bud can.
The next house was in the same condition.
That might be a little expired…
These cans expired in 2009. I never thought I’d see an expired canned food.
Different trash and toys from all different decades. Some of these houses look like they’ve become a dumpster for the few remaining locals.
Almost mint condition. It hurt to leave this behind.
Slightly creepy and ominous. It fit the feel of the entire town.
Jeff Ragsdale, the son of “Desert Steve” Ragsdale, had trophies and certificates all across the floors in what I assume was the Ragsdale home.
This seemed to be the trophy house. Old memoirs that you’d think would want to be saved have been left here to rot.
You can see the decapitated palm trees that originally pulled me in.
After exploring and documenting every crevice, we returned to the highway and sped back to California and to population.
Desert Center
Filed under Abandoned buildings, Adventures, Travel
Desert Center School
Stephen “Desert Steve” Ragsdale founded the town of Desert Center in 1921 after having been Out in the middle of nowhere, this town was a watering hole for those traveling between Phoenix and California, giving the weary travelers some much-needed respite and shade. In the 1940s when Ragsdale’s children needed schooling, he built up Desert Center School which fell into complete disrepair after it shut down in 1983. Today, the few children who remain are bused 120 miles round trip to the closest school in Blythe, California.
Desert Center School.
Nothing more thrilling than trespassing in a state where a high percentage of landowners are armed with shotguns.
The auditorium.
A view of the stage.
The remains of one of the two pianos that used to stand tall – due to the elements or vandals, who knows.
Formerly known as piano keys.
The day the music died.
The remains of ceiling paint, thoroughly consumed by mold.
Walls melting in the desert heat.
You can hear the rats scurrying through the air ducts, even from across the parking lot.
Random awesome farming equipment rusted into the ground outside.
A man, a toothpick and his tractor.
Hauntingly, beautifully forgotten.
Coming up soon – the abandoned homes of Desert Center.
Filed under Abandoned buildings
A Visit from the Chive
It’s been a while, I know. I was kidnapped and taken to a ridiculously beautiful (not abandoned) hotel on the beach for my birthday, forced to consume lots of delicious foods and try new beers, then kidnapped again and taken to Arizona where I was forced to drive golf carts, eat more delicious foods and drink more beer. It was traumatizing and rough, but I escaped and now I’m back to reality. Sigh.
Sunset at Mandalay Bay.
A complimentary bottle of Barrel-Aged Kriek from Island Brewing Company on my birthday.
Just heard that one of my Island Brewing favorites, Little Island, is back! Who wants to bring me a bottle? Beer trade, anyone?
My happy place. Craft beers and the beach – could it get any better?
Grilled filet mignon, lemony risotto and garlic-lemon sauteed broccolini with Tempranillo for Hallmark Day.
John, Joe and Patty from The Chive came to Enegren Brewing Company to learn more about the brewing process and everything beer. KCCO beer – coming soon! Looking forward to it, guys!
Joe and Patty checking out the digs.
A little pouring training for John.
Success! Much better than his first attempt…
Yeah, about that…
After a rowdy two or three hours, John bought beers for 40 Chivers to Pay It Forward and they departed.
As of now only ten glasses are left on John’s tab and Brother Joseph “Bro-Joe” Belgian Strong Ale is on tap! Why aren’t you here yet?
After all that craziness, another kidnapping took place. We went to Arizona, played golf (well, I hit two drives and then drove the golf cart. Same difference…) drank more delicious local beer and enjoyed the warm summeresque evenings.
On the drive back to California, we stumbled across this abandoned beauty:
But that’ll have to wait until tomorrey…
Filed under beer
Casa Sirena
If you’ve met me or followed by blog over the past few years, you may have noticed that I absolutely adore abandoned things. If it’s bedraggled, desolate and haunting, I’m guaranteed to be enraptured by it. Today, I came across such a place.
It’s possible Casa Sirena was considered a nice, even beautiful hotel back in the day. Waaaaay back in the day. According to the reviews right before they closed in 2010, it looked to be in about the same condition then as it is now. Kind of reminds me EXACTLY of the hotel of death I stayed at in Indio.
Welcome to Casa Sirena.
The pool may need a little work, but with the weather as brisk as it is lately, why would you want to go swimming anyway?
And it’s not quite cold enough to need a hot tub either.
If your kids are into skateboarding, this makes for a great skate park! Just be sure they avoid any broken glass and used needes.
All of the offices are still full of furniture, paperwork and stripped of any remaining computers by vandals and looters. The walls make for fun potential arts and crafts if you can find any space among the graffiti.
The Lobster Trap restaurant also sits abandoned with tablecloths still carefully laid across each table, full salt and pepper shakers poised in the center, waiting for that shake that will never come. It closed a month after the hotel.
Bedraggled, desolate and haunting: Just the way I like it.
Filed under Abandoned buildings
Daniel Irons Oatmeal Stout French Toast
Superbowl Sunday morning. Lazy cups of coffee slowly sipped, pans gently warmed over the stove, a beer cracked open… Wait, what?
French toast soaked in oatmeal stout. It seriously doesn’t get any better than this!
I recently and belatedly came across The Beeroness and after perusing every single recipe on her site and subsequently wiping up the drool, I decided that it was time to start cooking. Since I happen to have anytime access to Enegren Brewing’s beers, I used their sweet rich, chocolatey oatmeal stout.
Daniel Irons Oatmeal Stout French Toast – Printable recipe available HERE.
(Lightly adapted from The Beeroness)
Ingredients:
1 loaf challah bread, left out overnight to slightly stale
1 cup almond milk
1 cup Enegren Brewing Company’s Daniel Irons Oatmeal Stout (or any rich, malty stout)
4 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
1 tsp pure almond extract
2-3 tsbp butter
1. Slice the challah bread into 1-inch thick slices.
2. In a large bowl, combine the almond milk, stout, eggs, brown sugar and almond extract and stir until all sugar is dissolved.
3. Pour the mixture into a large flat pan for easier dipping.
4. Places the slices of challah into the mixture for 1 minute on each side.
5. Heat 1 tbsp butter in a skillet over medium heat and place the soaked bread to cook, 2-4 minutes each side or until cooked through.
6.Place on a large plate, top with powdered sugar, maple syrup and pair with a beer coffee. Try to grab a slice before three hungry brewers devour the entire loaf.
Prost and bon appetit!
Superbowl Saturday
Enegren Brewing and Custom Melt joined forces today for a Superbowl Saturday Extravaganza!
Food and brews for six hours straight. We prepared for a heavy onslaught of hungry and thirsty revelers.
The menu was set – partly created by our very own Brianne Braun Enegren! She created these short ribs with Daniel Irons Oatmeal Stout for a brewery “family dinner” a few weeks ago, and the owners of Custom Melt decided to turn it into a sammich. Yes, please, thank you very much.
The food was prepped right outside the roll-up door behind the brewery and the smells were devastatingly tempting to all of the hungry souls inside.
About twenty minutes before Custom Melt officially began serving…
And this is what the brewery looked like for the rest of the day – a constant flow of brewery and Melt fans alike poured through the door. Those of us working behind the bar didn’t have a single chance to sit down, let alone enjoy a full dish from our in-house chefs. In between inhaling bites while hidden below the bar, I went around snapping pictures of other people’s food in order to have some sort of commemoration of what had graced our presence.
Mac ‘n cheese with parmesan crumbles.
Zesty chili paired with a Daniel Irons Oatmeal Stout.
Mac ‘n chili dog! My personal favorites of the day were a tie between the EBC short rib melt and the mac dog – both of which went unphotographed as they were being quickly consumed in between pouring glasses and washing said glasses.
It was an incredibly successful day full of happy, patient people, delicious foods and brews and incredibly sore feet. I’m attempting to heal with a Maui Brewing Sobrehumano Palena’ole. It’s not quite killing the ache yet.
Tomorrey is Superbowl Sunday! I’ve got a few recipes up my sleeve that I can’t wait to share with you!
I have it on good authority that Daniel Irons Oatmeal Stout French Toast might be on the menu in the morning. Stay tuned!
Filed under beer, beer pairing
Golden Road with Pops
My pops came into town for a business trip and was staying in Burbank, so I hopped into my new car and cruised down to pick him up for dinner.
Golden Road was only ten minutes away and we arrived right before the dinner rush.
Figueroa Mountain’s Stagecoach Stout for me…
Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout for my pops!
We split two dishes – slow cooked ribs with housemade balsamic, hefeweizen barbecue sauce and cornbread…
and cast iron lasagna full of tender noodles, ground chuck and piping hot cheeses alongside fresh garlic bread. Thick, warming stouts ended up being the perfect pairing for these rich dishes – espresso, chocolate and high alcohol (at least for the Yeti) enhanced the richness of both the ribs and the deep dish of cheesy goodness.
I topped off the meal with Golden Road’s Berliner Weisse with Woodruff syrup – dessert! Since I was designated driver of the night, I really appreciated the option of a 2.8%ABV brew. I was hoping to show my pops inside Chloe’s, the new semi-private beer industry space connected to the pub, but was told that they were having a private event.
“A private event… I recognize almost everyone going into Chloe’s right now… The L.A. Beer Blogger event was tonight!” – My thought process. Since I’d signed up to attend and completely forgotten that the blogger gathering was that evening, it worked out extremely well for me to be able to give my dad a glimpse of the cute little pub-like area.
Kip Barnes of Bierkast was the originator of the event which was kindly hosted by the PR peeps of Golden Road, Cambria and Frances.
It was almost as jam packed as the invitational grand opening night! Drew Beechum and John Palmer made guest appearances to give talks on writing about beer and homebrewing. After checking the place out we said a quick hello to blogger and beer friends before making our way down the street to Glendale Tap for a rousing game of billiards and more craft brews.
Tomorrey is Enegren Brewing’s Superbowl Saturday event with local deliciousness Custom Melt! Come down for some amazing grub and brews between 12pm-6pm!
SHORT RIB MELLLLLLLLT!!!!!
Filed under beer pairing
Ladies at Ladyface: 19
The ladies finally reunited after a long month away for a brown bag tasting.
It was the first night of the week-long Ladyface Alehouse third anniversary celebration! In addition to sips from the eight shrouded bottles, I grabbed a taster of their anniversary beer…
As well as a limited edition third anniversary glass, filled with Derailleur from the cask.
Happiness in a very large glass.
Janelle’s beautiful 6 month old, Avery, joined us again. She’s already devouring books. This is a smart little one.
Dinner was the duck confit salad with bacon (minus the egg. I stupidly forgot to request it so Lise let me take a picture of hers).
Surprisingly I got the majority of these right! They ranged from Coors Original to Green Flash Rayon Vert to Rogue’s Hazelnut Brown.
Sadly now, I’m suffering from the flu. I can’t seem to go for more than a month without getting some kind of illness. I think it may be time to start cheffing the healthy stuffs and finally giving my self a chance to heal (as well as creating more foodie material for the blog!). For now, I can look at pictures from my past week and reminisce on how happy it was and how it felt to be able to enjoy delicious food while I sip ginger ale and tea and nibble on flavorless wheat thins.
Seared ahi tuna with pickled watermelon radish in a sesame oil and butternut squash with pumpkin seeds and raisins in a dijon dressing from Lemonade – now in Westlake Village! So happy to have one of these close by!!!
And I already introduced you on my Twitter – this is Jezebel aka Wheezy, my lovely new Prius C! 53mpg city and 44mpg highway. I’ve owned her for a week and already put on 540 miles. That’s how this job rolls.
I’m off to sip some Nyquil and slowly fade into oblivion. Playing hooky from work tomorrey since I’ve got a 101.5 degree fever. Yay.
Filed under beer tasting
Trying to Breathe
Crazy. That’s what I can say about the past two weeks. I got back from Colorado and was a picture of health the next day (as is tradition), and then interviewed for a new position within my company.
I’m now the Craft Beer and Menu Pairing Specialist. That means you’ll be seeing gratuitous photos of deliciousness I consume and pair with even more delicious craft beer, events I’m lucky enough to be able to attend, as well as beer-food recipes I’m hoping to start making once the craziness subsides. I celebrated in the best way I know how – Ladyface Alehouse for mac ‘n cheese with bacon, jalapeno and salt and vinegar chips on top with a Sour Cherrie Brown ale. Topped THAT off with a Picture City Porter, of course.
On top of the new job, I’m also getting a new car (hopefully) if I get approved for financing (oh, I do hope so!)!
Charlie has been with me for over five years!
She kept me safe when two big scary guys tore off her siding with their big, bully car in the middle of LA.
I purchased her brand new shoes to make her feel a little more beautiful after the scars… Anyone want to buy her? She’s looking for a loving home within the LA area!
I’m also considering yet ANOTHER shift of homes. Hopefully this will be the last one for quite a while. Four moves in less than ten months is starting to slowly kill me from the inside out.
For now, thank you for having patience and bearing with me as I slowly go insane. The camera is coming back out, the recipes will start to flow and all of my fun times will once again be recorded for all to vicariously consume!
Filed under Daily Life
Christmas, Breweries and Beer
It is so incredibly hard to get back into the swing of real life after a glorious 11 days being spoiled and pampered by my parental unit.
Savory Christmas Bread Pudding aka Eggs Portugal. We have this every Christmas, Easter and birthday morning. Drool.
It snowed on Christmas Eve! I set a beer outside to let it chill and when I came back out, it was covered in a good half inch of this beautiful white stuff!
Bare feet in the snow on Christmas morning. I don’t recommend it.
Delicate crystals atop the table.
I snapped a few pictures before rushing inside to escape the 3 degree weather. The rest of the day was spent roasting in front of the fireplace.
My Christmas gift from my bro and his wife! He made this himself the night before. Quite awesome, if I do say so myself!
It also came with this – unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to brew out there with all of the brewery tours we had lined up, but I’m creating a recipe at this moment for my next visit!
IPA tastings. I am head over heels in love with Myrcenary and Mountain Standard by Odell Brewing. Le sigh. Please distribute to California, already!
My favorite nephew got to spend the day with us. Nothing like having the whole family there for Christmas!
A few days later we picked up Commander Matt from the airport and headed straight down to Boulder for the first brewery tour on our schedule.
Avery Brewing! We found the brewery hidden back in an industrial area – the true sign of a real brewery. Scouting out the locations is half the fun!
A beautiful beer list! I’ve only had one or two of Avery’s brews before, but as much as I wanted to try them all, the altitude was still making me a cheap date (read: tipsy after a taster), so I stuck with a taster of Out of Bounds Stout and…
MEPHISTOPHELES’. 16.2%ABV. I couldn’t NOT try that!
Out of Bounds on the left, Mephistopheles’ on the right. The Mephistopheles’ was full of rich bourbon flavors, thick roasted coffee, spicy dried fruits and bitter dark chocolate powder. We may or may not have taken a 12oz bottle home. And by may or may not, I obviously mean we did.
Jon Cross was kind enough to give us a tour of their 40bbl system. Avery is prepping to move up to a 120bbl system over in Gunbarrel in the upcoming year!
Perhaps they’ll allow diving in the new, gigantic mash tun. We visited two other breweries after, neither with beer worth talking about, and the next day we went to one of my old favorites.
Oh, Funkwerks, how I adore thee. Best small brewery of the year – well deserved! We tried the cask of the week – peppermint saison! Amazingly potent peppermint nose, but a surprising bite of black pepper, hints of light citrus and rounded out with a fresh, clean mouth. The first sip was a little odd, but after the second sip I was ready for a full pint.
Natalie was in the middle of lautering when we arrived, so she was able to give us a grand tour of the place and answer all our questions about sour beers, barrel aging, bottling and a zillion more things that kept coming up.
After an hour exploring the place, we headed over to New Belgium where we were scheduled to tour thanks to my job. Perks!
It was a much longer tour than the last time I took it – over three years ago. They’ve built many expansions since and turned a half hour tour into ninety wonderful minutes!
Brewhouse 1.
Not too much heavy lifting going on here except on the brain.
We moved upstairs and drooled over the tanks, checking out each progression from mashing all the way to the rolling boil they had going on. You couldn’t smell anything inside, but the air outside smelled lusciously of hop resin being released from the grips of its pellets.
The barrel aging room was next. Epic. I don’t know how many oak foeders they had in there, but I could’ve wandered for hours and been content.
We got many, MANY samples throughout the tour, but this was my favorite. I hated La Folie the first time I tried it three years ago on the same tour, but now it’s pure adoration. Sours have won me over.
The next part of the tour took us outside past the gigantic bright tanks and into a relatively new building where the bottling and canning line are.
Capturing the deliciousness happens in here!
The brewery is covered in random art. I’d love to see this chandelier lit up at night!
After the tour officially ended, Matt and I saw one of the brewery employees at the bar and asked him some questions about New Belgium’s pilot system and cask program. He happened to be JR, the cellarmaster. He also happened to say, “Wanna see?”
Um, yes.
8.5bbl system. They measure everything here in hectoliters. I spent a lot of the tour on my phone doing conversions from hectoliters to barrels. I’m cool like that.
Quite a colorful pilot room.
This system has one of the best views of the brewery. Look at all the pretty foeders!
Poor neglected Sputnik was empty. There were four fermentors that were full of experimentals. I spotted a stout, a dark set for release in fall of 2013, a light set also releasing in 2013 and a collaboration. I can’t get into any more detail than that – don’t want to give away the secrets!
The trip ended with the traditional – shooting range!
Fire! I shot this thing once and said no more. Not a fan of fire in my face and a kick that almost makes me drop the gun on top of my head.
Aaand an assault rifle rental from my bro. Kinda like a BB gun with laser sights.
We celebrated New Years Eve with my parentals and their best friends (who I consider my second parentals) playing five hours of the rousing game HedBandz, sipping champagne and rare beers like the Eclipse Series from Fifty Fifty Brewing, and flipping on the TV to catch the ball drop with three seconds to spare. All of this in a onesie. Again, I’m cool like that.
A belated Happy New Year to you all!
Filed under brewery, brewery tours