Category Archives: lonelygirl15

Beer Tasting and Homemade Pizza!

     Last night, I went over to the boys’ place for beer tasting and homemade pizza! I stopped by BevMo on my way into town and was assisted by some incredibly knowledgeable, helpful workers who didn’t ignore me just because I look like I’m seventeen years old. Brownie points for that! I explained that I was trying to instill a sense of appreciation for beer in the minds of a certain gentleman who doesn’t like beer, and a certain gentleman who is satisfied drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon, and we picked out some hefeweizens, ambers, stouts and porters for the tasting.

From left to right: Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, Napa Smith Amber Ale, Chelsea Moylan’s Porter, Boont Amber Ale and Franziskaner.
     Dan was busy chef-ing so we set the brews in the fridge to chill while I documented the cooking process.
What is that, you ask? Let’s take a closer look.
SCISSOR-BACON OF COURSE!!! Dan got all fancy on us!
     Since the boys were busy chopping, cutting and sauteing, I decided to treat them to a little serenade.
That note I’m playing right there is an L-flat.
I have no idea how to play the guitar.
     We started our tasting with the Franziskaner.
I got a little excited and poured much too fast. Whoops.
I taught the guys how to fully appreciate a good beer. Let’s go through the steps:
  1. First, hold the beer up to a light so you can see the color. (Having 1. First is kind of redundant, isn’t it? My bad.)
  2. Second (see what I’m doing here? Calling back to my first mistake?), smell the brew and see what scents you can pick up right away.
  3. Third (okay, I’ll stop now…), give the beer a good swirl in the glass, just like wine. This opens it up and the carbonation helps release some other notes you wouldn’t have noticed before.
  4. Smell the beer one last time and see if you can distinguish anything new post-swirling.
  5. Take a sip. Let it flow over your tongue and notice the carbonation, the flavors and the finish.

     Malachi, the non-beer-enjoyer, actually liked the Franziskaner! He specifically said, “I like this!”. I was quite thrilled. Dan liked it as well, but I think he was just happy to have some free beer – he’s obviously not picky since he can drink PBR. Up next was the Boont Amber Ale.

This one was delicious! It had very strong notes of caramel in both the smell and flavor, and just a hint of sweetness.
     Dan finished his masterpiece pizza while Malachi julienned some mint to put atop our salads, and we sat down for feasting.
OH EM GEE PEET ZAAA!
Freaking delicious! This was made with Trader Joe’s Garlic & Herb Pizza Dough, and topped with alfredo sauce, chicken, bacon, and copious amounts of wonderful cheese.
Utter joy!
The Napa Smith Amber came next. This one wasn’t my favorite – a little too light and watery tasting, not very memorable at all.
     We moved ahead to the Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, one of my favorites, which was liked by Dan, but not by “I don’t like coffee OR beer. Bwaaaaaa!”-Malachi. After sampling the stout, we had some of the Chelsea Moylan’s porter – this one had the same espresso taste as the stout, but was a lot smoother to drink. That, or I’d already had the equivalent of a beer and a half and was starting to feel tipsy and not as studious as I should have been. That may have been it…
Yeah, that was definitely it…
On a random note, here’s a lamp that Malachi made!

     We played a rousing game of Pimps & Hoes (also known as Egyptian Ratscrew), then decided to head out to do some location scouting for a top-secret-insanely-awesome-epic film that Dan and Malachi are working on. DISCLAIMER: We did not drive after drinking. Every single place we went was on foot!!!

Well, hello Dan, with your fancy-schmancy camera standing in a dark creeper parking lot at 10:30pm beneath a ghetto street lamp.
We crossed back over the highway (my first time walking over a highway! I’m from Colorado, what do you expect?), and headed over to The Fox and Hound’s for some live music.
There was a Beatles cover band playing. It was pretty awful – after every song, they would drunkenly thank each other in character, “Thank you, Ringo. Paul, did you write that one? Cheers, mate!” until they realized that they should probably start playing another song.
We ignored them the best we could and started taking some more random pictures.
Malachi was not pleased with the bands’ creepy wigs and ramblings.
I also put my wristband to use! ID and credit card secure and no purse concerns!
Thanks, Banjees!
     We waltzed back over to the boys’ place and made an impromptu movie about magic card tricks.
You’ll have to wait for Dan or Malachi to edit this and blackmail me on YouTube. 
It was quite epic.
     We dug up some dirty laundry and watched a few films that Dan and Malachi had made in school, an old Lonelygirl15 video in which I carry a riding crop (!!!), and then Malachi took ownership over Dan’s Facebook and Google account and left comments for everyone in the entire world– one is viewable on my blog under yesterday’s post! We finally passed out around 3:30am.
It was a good night.
     I woke up this morning with only a slight headache, drank massive amounts of water and sat in on a pre-production meeting for the upcoming top-secret-insanely-awesome-epic film, then headed off to meet my friend Tanya for lunch.
Tanya recently became a vegan, so we went to Vegan World, a cute little hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the middle of a shopping center in Studio City.
I got the pad thai with mixed vegetables and a thai tea. The food was wonderful, but there was just too much on the plate! The waitress looked worried when she came to our table and asked us if there was anything wrong with the meal – we reassured her that it was wonderful and got doggie bags.
     I found a friend on my car after lunch! Everyone, meet Harris:
A PRAYING MANTUS!!! I think he read my recent blog post about putting him in hot dogs and came to threaten me. We talked it over and it’s all good now.
Don’t forget to enter the pottery giveaway! Just leave a comment saying why you need a piece of my deformed pottery, then link to my blog on your Twitter or Facebook 🙂

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Filed under beer, beer tasting, Dan, filming, lonelygirl15, Malachi, pizza, praying mantus, Studio City, The Fox and Hound's, Trader Joe's

Bar-Hopping and Thai Food!

     I am so tired. Last night was a late/early one for me. I went out with my friend Duck-Duck, Julia and Miles to a mini-dive bar around 10:30pm for a few drinks. We got to this dinky little place where everyone knew each other, and they had four beers on tap. FOUR. This was a problem. The beers on tap were as follows: Budweiser, Coors, Haywire and Firestone. Becki was not a happy camper, but after much deliberation, I got a glass of the Haywire Hefeweizen and settled in for a night of pool, friends and mediocre brews.

(There are no pictures because I’m not big on taking a purse with me to bars. I’m low-maintenance like that :-P)

     We got in one game of pool before the tables were taken, and decided that it would be best to move on, so we headed over to JJ Brewsky, where we split a pitcher of Fat Tire (Yay! Memories!), then hiked up to a ridge overlooking the city and sat talking for about an hour. It was a gorgeous night! You could smell the ocean and the spotlight at the airport lit up the marine layer with pink and purple flashes as it circled around. Mediocre beers aside, we all had an incredible time hanging out :).

     Things changed when I got home at 3:30am and realized that I had to be at work in 7 hours. I slept until about 7:45am, then woke up on my own (ugh) and settled down for a huge mug of coffee and breakfast.

We were out of spinach! AAAAAAAH! Instead, I made an omelette with one egg from the farmers’ market, and a few slices of real cheddar cheese.
I then attempted to round it out with half of a fresh peach. Tasted good, but not as good as an icy Monsta would have!
     I headed off for a few hours at work where I got to wear jeans, a rarity, and went out for Paciugo with Vicky. I got a child size with half amaretto chocolate chip and rocky road. Not much else happened…
     When I got home, the roommates and I decided to order some thai food for dinner.
This bowl had a little pad thai, pad kee mao, and some pineapple fried rice made with brown rice. A glass of Mirassou’s Pinot Noir topped it off.
     I devoured my meal, mopped my brow after the ridiculously spicy food, and sat out back admiring the view and the stars – I can see stars from my house: definitely not something you get living in the middle of LA!
     Tomorrey will be a very long day, but an amazing one! I’m headed to LA in the morning to take some new headshots with an up-and-coming photographer (who you LG15 fans just might recognize 😉 ), then meeting up with some wonderful friends for a Labor Day pool party! I have a feeling I’ll be staying out there, so you may have to wait until Tuesday to see the awesome pictures :).
Happy Labor Day! Relax, enjoy the company of your friends, and most importantly: EAT GOOD FOOD AND DRINK GOOD BREWS!

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Filed under beer, billiards, dive bar, headshots, JJ Brewsky's, Labor Day, lonelygirl15, Mirassou, pool, thai food