Monthly Archives: August 2013

by Becki | August 29, 2013 · 12:00 pm

Seared Sesame Ahi Tuna with Zucchini Salad

Now that I have access to a complete kitchen, I’ve had the chance to get back to one of the ultimate joys in my life – cooking! First up, I decided to recreate the delicious meal kindly prepared for me by the lovely Janelle, with a few tweaks inspired by our visit to LAB Brewing.

Seared Sesame Ahi Tuna with Zucchini Salad

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Seared Sesame Ahi Tuna with Zucchini Salad

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Serves	1
Prep time	10 minutes
Cook time	6 minutes
Total time	Warning: A non-numeric value encountered in /home/bitesn5/public_html/wp-content/plugins/getmecooking-recipe-template/recipe-template-functions.php on line 2723 Warning: A non-numeric value encountered in /home/bitesn5/public_html/wp-content/plugins/getmecooking-recipe-template/recipe-template-functions.php on line 2723 16 minutes
Allergy	Fish, Milk
Meal type	Main Dish

Simple, healthy and delicious - seared Ahi tuna with bright sesame flavors marry perfectly with tender strips of fresh zucchini marinated in white balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Ingredients

1/2lb sushi grade Ahi tuna (about 3/4in thick)
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1/2 Medium zucchini
1/3 tomato (seeded and chopped)
1oz Pecorino Romano cheese
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons olive oil

Directions

Step 1
First, prepare the zucchini salad. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the zucchini into strips and place in a small mixing bowl.
Step 2
Add the seeded and chopped tomato, white balsamic vinegar and olive oil and toss to coat.
Step 3
Next, take the Ahi tuna and massage with sesame oil.
Step 4
Sprinkle salt, pepper and sesame seeds on both sides of the tuna steak.
Step 5
Heat a non-stick skillet over medium high to high heat.
Step 6
Once the pan is hot, place the tuna in the pan and sear for 2-3 minutes on each side.
Step 7
Right before serving, use the vegetable peeler to peel the pecorino into strips and toss with the zucchini salad. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

I paired this with something I traditionally wouldn’t recommend, but it seemed necessary.

Our family homebrew Yeti clone!

Our pup, Barleywhine (yes, that is actually his name), seemed to think the recipe and pairing was good.

Last night I decided to immerse myself into more of the beer culture of Northern Colorado.
The Verboten Sisterhood meets weekly at the brewery in Loveland.
IN the brewery in Loveland, to be exact. I grabbed a pint of their Angry Banjo Kentucky Common and enjoyed the ambiance as the ladies filtered in, glasses in hand.
After beer nerd chatting and displays of how to pour the perfect beer, one of the Verboten founders, Angie, brought out this devil. I had a few sips and found it necessary to tamper the heat with another snifter of Yeti clone when I got home.
Also… found these on the shelves at a liquor store. No limit. Bought out the shelf. One for sipping now and three to age.

Have I mentioned that I love Colorado yet? Because I do. I really do.

3 Comments

Filed under recipe

Tagged as Seared Ahi Tuna, Verboten Sisterhood, Yeti clone, zucchini salad

by Becki | August 27, 2013 · 9:50 am

The Long Way Home

I made it to Colorado!
I love my new state and my new view! We took our time on the drive out east, leaving Friday morning and stopping many times along the way. I had a few favorite places to visit before I left the grand state of California.
A second final Golden Road brew – It’s Not Always Sunny in LA black IPA.
Enegren Langsamweizen and a Custom Salad at Custom Melt.
And on my very last night in town, Derailleur and tons of mac ‘n cheese with bacon and jalapeños at Ladyface Alehouse. I spent the rest of the night hanging out with my roomies and the new pup and then prepared myself for a morning of trying to stuff my life into my car.
After the game of car Tetris was complete (and everything fit!!!), we headed out to grab some elixer of life. Soy chai for me – I was going to treat the drive out like vacation!
We stopped for gas just inside Nevada…
And I was very successful at losing $1.25 on the slot machines at the gas station. When in Rome…
Since I wanted to drag out my vacation-trip, St. George, Utah was the first stop. We checked out the Brigham Young house, grabbed a bite to eat at one of the local Thai restaurants and headed back to the hotel for Cali brews and a movie.
Jubilee by Island Brewing Company with the new movie Drinking Buddies on in the background!
And a little bit of smoky Solidarity black mild by Eagle Rock Brewery.
The next day we curved through the vast expanses of canyons and red rocks in Utah before coming to the Colorado state line to take the obligatory state sign picture. Someone else was already there, sadly photographer-less, so I offered to take the border pic for him.
Mine wasn’t quite as epic…
But I was pretty freaking happy to be there! Bill F***in’ Murray and I enjoyed the first step into my new home.
We stopped in Grand Junction (again, taking our sweet time), and went to Rockslide Brewpub for a beer before passing out. On Sunday, I finally made it all the way home and was welcomed with local brews, Thai food, family, and an unexpected jam-packed plan for Monday.

On Monday morning, I met with random dude from the Colorado sign in Boulder for some spicy iced Bhakti Chai, then we made our way to Denver and the British Bulldog to watch the Chelsea vs. Manchester United game with the Rocky Mountain Blues Chelsea fanatics.
Random guy from the Colorado sign is Landon Cooper, the founder of Miles 2 Give who just completed a 3,000 mile ultra-run from coast to coast to raise funding for Sarcoma cancer research. Their normal mileage was 30-40 miles per day, plus a few 60 mile days studded throughout, and they dedicated each run to a different patient, survivor or family. Completely insane. Completely amazing. Check out the site and donate to the cause!
In between loud chanting, singing and jeering the two Man U. fans that were surrounded by blue jerseys at the British Bulldog, we feasted on fish ‘n chips, Guinness and some local brews before heading over to Great Divide Brewery.
I’d seen this two blocks away as we drove into the city and knew I had to visit.
If I’d known we were to be so close, I would’ve planned ahead and gotten tickets for a brewery tour. And brought my nice camera.
Small tastes of Yeti, Espresso Yeti, Wolfgang and Rumble. Landon and Bret approved.
I’ll be going back here sooner than later so I can begin officially documenting the wonderful extravagant number of new (to me) breweries that keep appearing in my new, wonderful state.

It’s great to be home.

3 Comments

Filed under New Life

Tagged as British Bulldog, Colorado, Denver, Great Divide Brewery, Landon Cooper, Miles 2 Give, Rocky Mountain Blues

by Becki | August 22, 2013 · 11:06 am

The Last Day

Today is my last full day in California! Amidst the panic of last minute details and hoping that everything I own will somehow fit into my miniscule car, I’m thrilled beyond belief and can’t wait to close (and hopefully not have to strap down) the trunk of my car and get on the road!

I spent the past week saying wonderful and sad goodbyes to all of my favorite people and places. First up were the Ladies of Ladyface and a Vertical Epic tasting.
08.08.08 – Belgian Strong Pale Ale.
09.09.09 – Belgian Strong Dark Ale.
10.10.10 – Belgian Strong Pale Ale.
11.11.11 – Belgian Strong with chilies – This is still my favorite of them all. A hint of cinnamon and a lingering spice.
12.12.12 – Christmas in a bottle.
We then moved on to my favorite in the Eclipse Series – Elijah Craig barrel aged imperial stout. The night was absolutely amazing and full of laughter, juggling, videos of juggling which I am saving for blackmail in the future, and tons of kraut and pizza.
Without a doubt, the best way to spend my final Friday in California! I love you ladies!
A hello and farewell to my roommate’s new puppy, The Dude! The only thing missing is a rug that really ties the room together.
One last goodbye to the ocean and a visit to all of the artists I used to know while traveling on the gypsy circuit.
A final lunchbeer at Golden Road Brewing with the pops who was in town for business!

I kept the camera stowed away for the week so I could fully enjoy the last experiences with close friends, but it’ll be logging the trip home and then joining me overseas! Keep in touch through Twitter and Facebook for trip updates over the weekend!

Cheers and farewell, California!

4 Comments

Filed under Daily Life

Tagged as Farewell, Freedom!, Moving away, Vertical Epic Tasting

by Becki | August 16, 2013 · 12:35 pm

Unemployed!

Well, it’s done!
I am officially unemployed! To celebrate I took myself out to Pedalers Fork for a little breakfast pampering and awesome coffee.
It is an absolutely GORGEOUS day, made even better by the fact that I am now one gigantic step closer to moving to Colorado! I sold my bed last night to someone on Craigslist (and lived to tell about it, which is a bonus), and walking into that almost-empty room made it seem real. I’m actually doing this!
I am excited beyond belief and also terrified. So terrified that I figured a little comfort food should be in order.
Fried egg sammich with ham and roasted potatoes on the side, basking in the warm glow of the sun shining through the skylights. Bliss.
And the most amazing coffee in the world by 10 Speed Coffee. I’ll miss them. I suppose I’ll have to get my delicious coffee fix from Cranknstein from now on 😀

For now, I’m off to pick up some Custom Pie and head over to the lovely Janelle’s house for a Vertical Epic series tasting, pizza, kraut and most of my Ladies of Ladyface. Happy Friday!

You Say Goodbye…

Now begins the final week of my employment in California! It’s a crazy thought, but I am so excited to get to my land of craft beer, flannel shirts and snowcapped mountains. I began my farewells last week.
I started off at Story Tavern in Burbank with a Tarte Noir from Eagle Rock Brewery, and my friend from long ago, Yousef.
Blonde Becki, Jackson, Yousef, Lexie and Jess. We were on the internet series lonelygirl15 waaaaay back in 2007.
…which continued for a few years. Yousef was even kind enough to host/care for me on my 21st birthday. He stuck with me that night after a visit to Saddle Ranch, blue motorcycles and hiking around Hollywood. That’s the sign of a true friend.
Up next were my two favorite girlies. Janelle, Avery and I stopped by LAB Brewing to redeem a Living Social coupon and binge.
Augh, I’m going to miss these beauties so much!
I ordered the braised short ribs with mashed potatoes and was not disappointed at all. Fall-apart tender, dressed with a rich gravy on top of a soft bed of potatoes. I ate one of these rounds and got a box for the rest so I could enjoy even more.
Janelle showed me up by going healthy and got the sesame crusted seared ahi. I stole a bite and now have my sights set on recreating this.
I boxed half of my meal just so I would have space for this – peanut butter white chocolate puff pastry. This may be my favorite dessert of all time. Rich and thick chocolatey peanut butter filling cut by sweet vanilla ice cream and given a boost of antioxidants with fresh berries. Yeah, that’s how that works. We ended our evening with an Abyss clone that Janelle and her hubby aged in a barrel for four months. To. Die. For.
I also had some hello/goodbyes as well. I went to Island Brewing for a growler fill, got a wrist band slapped on my arm by a very generous friend at the brewery and went down to the Surf ‘n Suds beer festival that was happening across the railroad tracks. I finally got to meet Joseph, the new assistant brewer at Wolf Creek Brewery! Something tells me he has a slightly easier time hoisting the 55lb bags of grain into the mill than I did.
I finally finished the long trek up north to Santa Barbara and was greeted by Mangria – wine with orange liquer added and coming in at 20%. I sipped, wrinkled my nose and poured myself a glass of Jubilee Ale a la Island Brewing instead.
My boys! Matt and Grayson were my big brothers in college and took wonderful care of me and my roommates when we were freshman. They were also the bad influences, but they cared for us after those influences, and that’s what counts.
And we’ll end this with another hello! This is my new bow, yet to be named. She’ll be getting new limbs soon (they’re 35lbs right now and I pull 26lbs at the moment), and then will be making the trek cross country with me! I love her. I love her so.

And now I’m going to pour myself a Mission Street Brown Ale, serve up some lentil soup that’s been stewing away in the crockpot all day and fully soak in and appreciate my last few days as a California resident.

Life. Is. Good.

4 Comments

Filed under Daily Life

Tagged as Island Brewing Company, LAB Brewing, lonelygirl15, Mangria, saying goodbye

by Becki | August 6, 2013 · 6:25 pm

Two Weeks Notice

My life has been turned upside down. The past few months have been incredibly difficult for me, even though I’ve kept it light on the blog.

In the last few months I found out that someone I once considered a good friend was the exact opposite. Suddenly, I was no longer welcome into one of my favorite places where I’d enjoyed spending almost every day learning, helping, building. Because of this situation, I also lost my best friend, my appetite for over a week (disastrous for a food blogger) and way too much weight. Needless to say, it’s been a little rough.
I booked a trip to Colorado for a quick escape when all of this went down.
I flew in over the mountains as the sun gently set, sipping on my complimentary gin and tonic and contemplating life.
The first morning I was greeted with a green monsta and one of the most amazing views available to man. The parentals and I decided to start off healthy since we had the Gnarly Barley beer festival to attend.
#42 Poblano Stout by Big Choice Brewing out of my old hometown, Broomfield. This was my favorite of the day.
I was pleasantly tipsy thanks to the altitude and the wide varieties of tasters we got to try, and we ended up leaving at the perfect time.
The storm wreaked havoc on the remaining hours of the festival. Tents were destroyed, tornado warnings blared and I enjoyed the torrential downpour from inside a cozy restaurant, eating deep fried food and sipping pale ale on nitro.

Sitting there, I finalized my decision that I’ve been contemplating for over two years. I’m moving to Colorado.

This morning I put in my two weeks notice at my job. My last full day in California will be August 23rd and then I’ll be journeying cross country in my Wheezy little car and embarking on an amazing adventure called life. The initiation into this new life will be a trip to Munich, Amsterdam AND Scotland!
Breakfast at my new favorite place – Rainbow Restaurant in Fort Collins. Pumpkin bread french toast with rum butter and caramelized bananas. The appetite has returned.
Celebration with Consecration. And now, to pack up my entire life and go back to where I belong, wearing jeans and flannel in the mecca of craft beer!

17 Comments

Filed under Daily Life

Tagged as Big Choice Brewing, Colorado, Gnarly Barley Brew Fest