Category Archives: Daily Life

by Becki | April 15, 2014 · 8:22 am

Growing Pains

Good news/bad news.
The Craft Brewers Conference of 2014 was absolutely amazing!
I can’t wait to recap it for you…
…sometime next week. I’m in the middle of all the final walk-throughs, inspections and closing (!!!!) on my house! I’m growing up, turning into an adult and going to be a homeowner!
My days have been filled with nothing but visiting thrift stores (I found these almost brand-new brew-style stools for $12.95!) and ordering mattresses and kegerators. Well, not the kegerator part. I guess a place to sleep is slightly more important than a kegerator. Priorities, people.
With all the stress, it’s been nice to have a few seconds of down time here and there. I stopped at the brand new 1933 Brewing in Fort Collins to enjoy a short afternoon and taster flight with a friend before work.
I also found a night to sneak out to Mayor of Old Town in Fort Collins for the most amazing cream cheese-stuffed jalapeno pretzel with raspberry jam in the entire universe! Geez, I can’t wait to be living in Fort Collins so I can eat these every day! (or just stare longingly at the menu and sniff at the air since I have a mortgage to pay and won’t be able to afford to buy universally-delicious pretzels…)
I received some sanity-preserving gifts in the mail yesterday! My favorite chimichurri sauce in the whole world! I already have visions of relaxing outside of my new house, sipping a brew and grilling with these wonderful spreads and jams!
But first, I had to try some of that chimichurri sauce to make sure it tasted just as I remember. It does. Oh, Lordy, it does!

So bad news is that you guys will have to wait until next week for the CBC recap, but the good news is…
You also have some more time to enter for free Bhakti Chai!!! Head back to this post and leave a comment for your chance to win and I’ll choose the winner sometime next week after all the insanity has slightly waned!

Have you ever found anything good at a thrift shop? I will never doubt again!

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Tagged as losing sanity, Lourdes Gourmet, moving, thrift shop finds

by Becki | April 1, 2014 · 4:37 pm

Lately {+ Giveaway Winner}

Happy ~~Sunday~~ Tuesday, everyone! I’ve been enjoying my midweek weekend quite a bit – recaps of a special brewery tour will be coming later this week. Here’s what’s been going on in my life lately:
This magazine. It’s absolutely awesome.
My brother designed and built in the in-house brew system for Craft Beer and Brewing. I’m so very proud!
Monstas in the sunshine! Green for days!
Meatless Monday – organic kale and quinoa burger, fresh avocado sprinkled with lime juice and paprika and a pickle.
More monstas!
One of the top five business cards I’ve ever received.
Walked into a thrift shop while rocking out to Thrift Shop. Succeeded in embarrassing my mumsie quite a bit.
New Belgium’s Mint Mild at Cranknstein.
Bathroom floors are in at my house!
Lights are in at my house!
I am way too excited about a toilet in MY HOUSE!
Bhakti is gone 🙁
Bhakti is back 🙂
Grilled cheese with Schnapps-candied bacon and a saison.
An absolutely amazing sour gifted to me from Aaron.
I won a giveaway! BlogHer Visa card to pay for my new mattress!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Magic Bullet giveaway! The winner is….
Gwen Y! Check your e-mail, Gwen, and thanks for playing!

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Tagged as Craft Beer and Brewing, giveaway

by Becki | March 18, 2014 · 9:00 am

Ups, Downs and Bhakti

It’s been quite a week of ups and downs. Bonus – mostly ups, but those few days of down can really put a sour spin on everything if you let it, and unfortunately, I let it. Working every weekend has thrown my weeks off, so happy Friday to me! These next two days of “weekend” couldn’t be more welcome.
My official week (last Tuesday) started off pretty well with two thick slabs of my vegan whole grain quinoa bread smothered with avocado, red pepper flakes, olive oil and goat cheese that was just starting to get past its prime.
I got a closing date for my house! This means furniture shopping! And since I’m poor and about to be mortgage-poor, this meant a trip to the relatively affordable IKEA (Disneyland for adults!) where I got two ten dollar side tables of questionable quality and a ton of pretty soft paper lights to glow up the new house.
We got caught in a snow flurry on the way back and pulled off for a hearty chicken ‘n cheddar potato lunch and a snake bite while watching the soft flakes plummet to the ground where they immediately melted.
It had warmed up a bit by the next day and I took the monumental photo of my car passing 18,000 miles! I don’t think you understand what a huge deal this is… I bought my car January of last year and had put 14,000+ miles on it by the time I left at the end of August. I’m so happy not to be driving hundreds and hundreds of miles every week!
The cabinets are in at my house! Well, they’re in the garage, but that’s pretty dang close!
On the drive back I passed Odell Brewing and said out loud, “If the Waffle Lab is there, I have to stop.” And it was. So I did. The Waffle Lab is a food truck with an incredible sounding menu that everyone raves about and I hadn’t had the opportunity to try. Go big or go home? I got the Front Range Chicken and Waffle smothered with rosemary gravy. I could’ve died of happiness. The softest, most flavorful savory waffle I’ve ever had with warming spices from the rich gravy and perfectly tender and crispy fried chicken. I paired that with a refreshing Leprechaun Session Pale (I couldn’t just go in to a brewery for the waffle – that would’ve been rude) and relaxed while enjoying the the ambiance of the bustling taproom.
I woke up to the most wonderful mail call anyone could ever hope for on Saturday morning. A huge box stuffed with a giant container of Bhakti Chai concentrate (I have been obsessed with this since I first discovered it at Crankstein last year), two gorgeous glasses, a cute hat and warm fuzzy sweatshirt greeted my day. I won part of this giveaway (the chai and glasses) on Lauren’s blog at the end of December and patiently waited for it to arrive. And waited. And waited. Finally last week, I sent Lauren a quick message asking if it might be on its way. Turns out they’d forgotten to send it over at Bhakti Chai, so they more than made up for it by including the adorable hat and sweatshirt! Thank you so much to both Lauren and the Bhakti Chai team!
I had my first mug right then and there. Half of the container is already gone. I LOVE BHAKTI CHAI!!!
Sunday was the St. Patrick’s Day celebration at the brewery. We opened at 10am to greet those people who needed an excuse to start drinking before noon and had a food truck/cart come in with corned beef and cabbage hash and fried eggs. Not the most visually appealing, but the perfect food to balance out a morning brew, I guess. I stuck with my mug of Bhakti.
The elk are back!!! Spring is really peeking its head around the corner, despite the blustery snow that’s on its way down from Wyoming right now. Oh wait… Yup, it just arrived. Flakes are flying right outside now.
I needed to blow off some angry steam I had after the last two days at work, so the archery range was in order. Apparently being pissed off really helps my aim.

Today has one final day of work on the books followed by a relaxing evening reading in front of the fireplace, and it couldn’t come soon enough.
Have I mentioned how much I love Bhakti Chai yet? Just checking.

Do you have any local food or drink companies that you’re obsessed with? Support local!

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by Becki | March 10, 2014 · 9:49 pm

Weekend Snapshots

Can you feel it? Spring is in the air! Here are a few snapshots from my weekend:
I spent Thursday afternoon on the patio of Odell Brewing up in Fort Collins with my friend/coworker. It was 64 degrees and absolutely gorgeous out!
Since I was in the area, it seemed like a good idea to check out my new house and jump around giddily after seeing that the drywall is in!
Hello, kitchen area!
Hello, beautiful view!!!
The next day, it was snowing and pretty gloomy out. The slush almost immediately melted and I joined my entire family at Mad Greens in Fort Collins for an absolutely incredible salad – Salvador Dali: mixed baby greens, goat cheese, Olomomo Maple Garam Masala almonds (absolutely in love with this spicy curry/sweet combo!), pomegranate seeds and citrus grilled chicken tossed in a molasses dressing.
LOVING. THIS. WEATHER. Odell Brewing’s Leprechaun Session Pale Ale on the patio on Sunday. This beer is wonderfully floral and full of sweet caramel maltiness. I want this beer forever.
Which brings us to today. I woke up to a beautiful 50 degrees outside and celebrated with an insane workout followed by a gigantic peach green monsta. Spring is definitely in the air!
I threw together a zucchini salad with white balsamic and goat cheese for a quick lunch before heading to work at the brewery.
It was a quiet Monday, so I was able to clock out early and enjoy a relaxing, warm jaunt over to Crow Hop to meet with my hockey buddy Paul and enjoy a half-pint of Rado’s Red after a handful of tasters. Have I mentioned yet how much I LOVE this weather?
Both Paul and my phones went off at the same time reminding us that the puck was about to drop for the Avs game, so we headed back to Loveland Aleworks for a pint of For the Love of Pale and a (edited to update) AWESOME WINNING GAME!

Lots on the plate for tomorrey – a visit to Ikea, a visit to the house… which might be thrown off schedule by snow in the forecast. I’m keeping my spirits high though, since the following day will be back to the 60s! Happy Monday to all!

What’s on your plate for the week? Is Spring showing up early where you are?

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by Becki | March 6, 2014 · 9:07 am

Weekday Weekends {plus Giveaway Winners}

I work almost every weekend, so it’s nice to be able to treat Tuesdays like my Saturday.
After checking out the progress on my new house (the drywall is up!!!), I headed over to d’Vine Bistro in Old Town Fort Collins for a late lunch.
It’s my Saturday. Don’t judge me.
The restaurant is tucked away off of the main road on Mason Street. Quiet and spacious with lots of warm wood and a crackling fire for those snowy days.
Seeing that it was Fat Tuesday, I thought it would be best to get something ridiculously rich and found that in the goat cheese and artichoke dip.
Tangy, creamy and incredibly filling.
Smoked trout pate with clarified butter for my lunch date! I had another plate coming to me, so I decided to have just a small taste of this one.
Ahi tuna stacks were the incredible finale. Freshly seared ahi on top of a sweet strawberry and red onion salsa, topped with wasabi cream. That fruit salsa! I’ve been fixated on it ever since!
Must. Recreate.
Yesterday, I met up with my bestie Michelle for a tour at Celestial Seasonings in Boulder. The tour is completely free and consists of tons of free tea tastings, a walk around the factory, free hairnets and a stop in the famous Peppermint Room to sear your eyes and nostrils. Both of us have taken the tour before, but we realized that it’s been about twenty years since our last visit. TWENTY. We’re old.
But young at heart.
Very, very young at heart.
Those twenty years ago, I lived in a set of condos right across the street from the factory. At Christmas time, the air always smelled like cinnamon and peppermint, and during summer there was a distinct aroma of lemons that wafted through the warm breeze.
I brought back a box of Roastaroma and Sleepytime Extra. I gave up coffee for Lent, and this herbal infusion is a perfect caffeine free replacement for it! It’s made with roasted barley and chicory, and is like sipping a warm mug of wort pulled straight from the boil kettle. Blissful.

And now the winners for the rest of the Craft Beer for the Homebrewer books!
Josh, Dan H. and Jason H., I’ve sent you emails with further instructions! Congratulations!

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Tagged as Celestial Seasonings, d'Vine Bistro, giveaway

by Becki | March 4, 2014 · 6:00 am

The Dailies

Today is the last day to enter for the grande finale of the giveaway!
For serious. No more after this one! You guys have till 6pm MST! Check out this link and comment away!
I gotta be honest… There hasn’t been anything too exciting over here this past weekend. The dailies – work… archery…
Breakfast via Love and Olive Oil – avocado toast (THIS recipe for the bread) with goat cheese and red pepper flakes. I read this post and immediately went into the kitchen and made it minutes later. Absofrigginlutely delicious!
Pairing beer with housemade ranch popcorn. Delicious.
German pancakes with blueberry compote for Sunday pancakes. Also delicious.
Work, work, work.
Feeling binge-y.
Feeling regret-y.
And yesterday’s work, work, work. Yup. Nothing too out there or enthralling.

But then…
I got this awesome e-mail last night! I’ll be attending the Craft Brewers Conference this year in Denver as media! I went to the CBC in 2012 with Enegren Brewing Company and can’t wait to go this year in my {new} home state!

So yes, it’s been quiet on this front, but things are really starting to pick up and get crazy! Go and enter the giveaway for the Craft Beer for the Homebrewer before it’s too late, and I’ll be back with the winners and more thrilling things on Thursday!

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by Becki | February 19, 2014 · 7:54 am

WIAW 2: Tuno

I’ve been playing around in the kitchen a bit since coming back from California. A little detox was needed after the crazy amount of fried fish, buffalo chicken sammiches and good Cali brews that I enjoyed in the sunshine. Tuesday was the initiation of cleansing foods, which ended up being delicious! Go figure.
My breakfast before getting back into the intensive workout regimen (after a wonderful vacation full of lazy mornings sipping coffee on the beach) – a hot boiled egg and two giant cups of coffee in an ugly rooster mug.
My ugly rooster mug collection! I keep finding these awkward mugs at Home Goods and they look at me like they need a home. I love it. I’m weird.
After sweating my arse off with the workout, it was time for an icy cool down.
An entire box of spinach, half a frozen banana, 1 lime, a handful of frozen peaches and blueberries and a little almond milk whirled into a creepy looking brown beverage.
But dang, I love my monstas! No matter how unattractive, they’re always so delicious.
Lunch was an experiment with soba noodles. I’ve used them once before in a stir fry and wasn’t impressed. This time I mixed up a little sesame oil, tamari, lemon juice, minced garlic, powdered ginger, red pepper flakes and a dash of honey and tossed in freshly roasted broccoli and the noodles.
Soba noodles redeemed! Earthy noodles and a spicy, tangy dressing with fresh, slightly caramelized broccoli. Happiness.
Homemade trail mix on the way to Whole Foods – raw almonds, roasted walnuts and cashews mixed with a few dried cranberries. Simple and satisfying.
I saw this at Whole Foods and had to pick it up. Cherry Chia Kombucha. I used to drink Kombucha when I lived in West Hollywood and found it extremely weird. Add chia seeds to the mix and it becomes even weirder. I dig weird.
And then the back statistics made me feel all healthy and crap. Bonus! Does anyone brew (ferment) their own Kombucha out there? I might be joining you on the endeavor soon and would love to hear feedback!
Dinner: Tuno. It’s a little bit of a scary word… a frightening concept. Vegan tuna. Well, worry no longer: I put myself out there and experimented for you, and then took terrible pictures that don’t make it look appealing at all. *Hangs head in shame* Honestly though, this was absolutely amazing!
I tend to stray as far away from vegan foods as possible in rebellion of my 10+ year vegan bro and sis-in-law, but curiosity got the best of me. A blend of chickpeas, almonds, diced celery, red pepper, green onions, tofu (normally a blech for me, but unnoticable when blended into the “mayonnaise” portion of this), and kelp granules. Scary but good. I piled a good cup onto a bed of arugula and added sauteed asparagus to the side.
I felt like my meals for the day were almost too healthy, so I made sure to layer a bunch of this chimichurri sauce on a few slices of freshly baked crusty french bread. It’s all about balance.
Today is a day made for baking bread and enjoying the 60 degree weather we’ve been blessed with! Happy Wednesday!

Any Kombucha brewers out there who can offer suggestions/warnings?

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Tagged as chia kombucha, Green Monsta, Tuno, What I Ate Wednesday

by Becki | February 5, 2014 · 9:40 am

InstaCold

I’m on an Instagram kick lately. And it’s been cold here. Really, really cold.

The snow is back! Actually, it arrived and then never really left. And boy, my driveway just loves being shoveled multiple times in one day.
The snowy view from my new house. Windows are in! And it’s still as cold as a mothersomethinger inside.
Looking at my room from inside my gigantic closet!
After that visit to the house, we went over to Mainline for some hot butternut squash soup, chicken and dumplings and brews. I enjoyed a sip of my Red IIPA and was talking about plans for my birthday (which happens to be a week from today!) when I remembered something wonderful. Something incredible. I will be in the vicinity of a Nothing Bundt Cakes store on the day that I get extremely old. I threw my hands across the table in excitement and spilled the almost completely full glass of beer right into my lap. All because of Nothing Bundt Cakes. It’s that good.
For some reason, I wasn’t feeling too kindly towards that Red IIPA after my jeans were wet and cold, so I decided to get a Tripel for my replacement beer. I avoided thinking about bundt cake this time.
Then, after changing my jeans, it was time to head to work. A wonderful/terrible regular brought in a box of Samoas Girl Scout cookies for Nick and me (that is correct grammar, thank you very much), which I proceeded to pair with Coconut Porter. Pairing. It’s my thang.
The brewery was preparing for the Superbowl, and had a crapton of pork shoulders slowly roasting away on the new smoker. I wasn’t going to be able to get a taste of those, so I had to recreate my own at home.
Health was not in my vocabulary this past weekend.
Superbowl Sunday came and I made these buffalo chicken jalapeno poppers from Half Baked Harvest using half the cream cheese and topped them with panko flakes seasoned with paprika and cumin. To. Die. For.
Superbowl came and went. We won’t talk about that. I got yet another notification from 23 and Me that I don’t have any DNA and don’t actually exist, so my ancestry will always be a mystery. They refused to send me another sample, seeing that I never was born and there’d be no residence to send it to.
Unfortunately the IRS didn’t agree that I don’t exist, so I had to go file my returns still. Boo-yah refund, baby!
My cool new FitBit Force has resulted in a not-so-cool allergic reaction to the nickel plating on the backside. They offered me a full refund, but I’m going to give it a few more days and see if it resolves itself. Cuz I really like my FitBit.
I worked at the brewery last night after a harrowing ~~drive~~ slide through the snow. It was a little cold there. Please note that this is the inside of the doors.
Well would you look at that? My car does register the negatives! I didn’t know that before last night.
And then I woke up to this. NEGATIVE SIXTEEN DEGREES.

I’m gonna go curl up in a ball in front of the fire and cry a little now.

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Tagged as instagram, jalapeno poppers, winter

by Becki | January 31, 2014 · 12:30 pm

Butterflies and Beers

We’ve had an interesting weather pattern here in Colorado lately.
Every other day has been gorgeous – high 50s and sunny, and the next day it snows. When it snows, I start cooking.
My daily breakfast – a hot boiled egg, my recently baked (on a snowy day) Whole Wheat Sugarless Banana Cake Bread (subbed dates for raisins) and copious amounts of coffee.
I also made some raw oat date bars from this recipe but added chocolate chips and dried cherries to the mix. MASSIVE pain in the ass to make, but definitely delicious and probably worth it. Note: do NOT try to make this in your Vitamix! I burned out the engine and ended up needing to chisel all of the oat/date cement out of the bottom to transfer into a food processor. Luckily, the Vitamix lived. Le phew!

Yesterday turned out to be a nice day, so my bestie Michelle and I met up in Westminster at the Butterfly Pavilion!
I’ve actually been here once before about sixteen (holy crap, I’m old) years ago. It was one of the designated field trip locations for all of the local schools, and still is. We were surrounded by little halflings who were running around and shrieking at everything they saw.
We wandered into the big bug room first, glancing into all the cages and letting out our own little gasps of, “Ewwwww!” and “Look how big that one is!” and “EWWWW!”. We resort to ten year old status when we’re together. I love that about her.
Then we did what we haven’t done in sixteen years – WE HELD ROSIE!!!
We even got the traditional “I Held Rosie” sticker and wore them proudly for the rest of the day.
More squeals and gasps from us.
“It moved when I touched it!”
We went through the double doors into the butterfly section where it was a balmy 80 degrees and humid.
And now commences too many pictures of butterflies, flowers and other animals.
They have a glassed off section where all of the chrysalises hang protected.
Then it was time for the daily release of newly emerged butterflies. We joined the gaggle of kids to learn a little more about the flutterbys and watch them fly away.
Ah, Alex. So majestic.
After the release we headed through the gift shop where picked up necessities – cheap plastic friendship butterfly rings, honey sticks and glittery tattoos. I’m proudly sporting one on my wrist as I type.
Then we I pretended to be a spider. Just because. Oh, and that thing on my wrist?
That’s my early birthday present to myself! A FitBit Force. As I type this, I’ve walked 5,274 steps, burned 953 calories, climbed 4 flights of stairs and walked 2.37 miles.
When we finally emerged through the doors to the outside, it had started to get a little chilly, so we headed across the way to Tuk Tuk Thai (an old spot I used to go to when I was in middle school after seeing movies with my friends) for some hot Tom Kha Gai.
Then it was time for beer! Big Choice Brewing is located in Broomfield, my old hometown.
We brought in some Beef ‘n Cheddar sammiches from Arby’s cuz we’re healthy like that, and spent the rest of the afternoon sampling all ten brews, reminiscing on old times and laughing about our crazy current lives.
I ended up going home with a growler of their #42 Poblano Stout – rich and roasty with all of the smoky flavor of a Poblano chile without the spice. I tried this for the first time back at the Gnarly Barley Festival and absolutely adored it. AND I got to carry it home in this awesome Christmas present from Michelley!
She knows me so well! We parted ways and I almost made it home before the chilly rain turned into snow and coated our ground yet again.

Have you ever tried out any fitness toys like the FitBit? It might not be accurate, but it’s still fun!

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Tagged as #42 Poblano Stout, Big Choice Brewery, Butterfly Pavillion

by Becki | January 27, 2014 · 3:40 pm

InstaWeekend

We enjoyed a busy weekend over at the brewery! I’ve begun an educational training for the team to get everyone to the Certified Beer Server level of the Cicerone program!I brought in a huge selection of different study guides for everyone to look through and we went over a few basics – how to pour a beer, the three tier system and just grazed draught system maintenance. Everyone seemed really into the idea of learning even more about the craft. It’s so nice to be surrounded by beer enthusiasts who want to dive even deeper!
Hopefully they don’t get overwhelmed the way I did once I began studying for the actual Certified Cicerone level…
MY HOUSE! Remember how it was just a freaking cement foundation last Thursday? They had all of this up by Saturday.
I enjoyed the view out of my kitchen window. Oh, if only they decided to keep those other lots free – my view would be phenomenal!
Hello, kitchen! Hello, moving mural! (The trains change daily – new graffiti all the time!)
I was beyond excited after seeing that, and decided to take my mumsie out to celebrate. We hit up Mainline in Old Town Fort Collins for lunch. I grabbed a roasty Telluride Facedown Brown and gazed at the extensive menu for about a minute before settling on the best decision of my life.
Maybe not the best decision of my life, but a really, really good one. Fried chicken and waffles with roasted apples, candied walnuts and rum-butter syrup. Completely blissed out. Complete food coma.
I worked Sunday night and was greeted on my way out of the neighborhood with high winds and ominous skies. The warm brewery was very welcoming.
We have magazines for customers to look through when they stop by. This is the latest. Oh, Colorado.
We woke up this morning to a good two inches of powdery white stuff covering the ground. If you follow me on Instagram you’ll know that I already shoveled twice, and since it’s still coming down in blankets, I’ll be shoveling at least twice more before the day is over.
Until then, I’m doing my best to stay warm and cozy, which of course includes baking my Whole Wheat Sugarless Banana Cake Bread (subbing in dates for raisins) and throwing pork tenderloin, garlic, honey and balsamic vinegar into a crockpot for a hot dinner.
My first time being close to a full Medjool date. These things are ridiculously sticky! I’m looking for a good date/oat/nut bar recipe to make. Any suggestions?
The only way to grow herbs year round in Colorado. I’m digging this AeroGarden! I can’t wait to have fresh basil and sage in a few weeks!
I hope you’re all having a lovely start to the week! End it right with a craft beer and watch the Avs game with me!

Ever used Medjool dates before? Do you have any recipes to share?

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Tagged as Cicerone study, Mainline Fort Collins, Medjool dates, new house build