Beer of the Week: Wynkoop Chile Beer

Gosh, beer of the week is turning into beer of the month. I just can't keep up with a new beer every seven days. Maybe I'll turn April into beer month and, for your reading pleasure, make note of something new each week.

I had an really interesting beer last night at Wynkoop Brewery that deserves a note for originality. It's called Patty's Chile Beer and the brewery actually toss anaheim chiles into the beer as it's brewing.

This beer smells chile than it tastes, which is a good thing. The taste is really an afterthought and you get a little tingling in the throat as an aftertaste. And, it's definitely got a green chile nose, not a red. I think I would have liked it more if the chile were of a different variety. I'm not a huge fan of anaheim peppers, though I guess it would be harder to achieve this kind of taste with an habenaro or a serrano since they're much smaller and have more heat than flavor.

This is a beer that is definitely better with food. I had it with a buffalo burger and that was nice. So, while this chile beer wouldn't be my first choice for a night out carousing with friends, I do think this would make an excellent accompaniment to a bloody mary during Sunday brunch.

Cutest Thing Ever

Toes! So nice to see ya.

Errands are so much better when you can walk to do them...in sandals and sunshine. Even if you do get accosted by a few crazies along the way.

Tough Neighborhood

My neighborhood is tough with the parking inforcement. There's a lot I pay to park in on nights and weekends. If I end up leaving my car there at night, I have to wake up at 7:00 am to move it to the street or else I get the tow. It happened to me twice my first week here so I'm ultra paranoid about being in the right place now.

When I'm sitting at my office window in the morning, I see cars getting towed from the lots around my block. They temporarily store the cars on the street so they can tow as many from the lot as they can before the owners come to claim them. Then, one by one, the lost cars got to the impound lot. Sometimes I see the tow truck driver having trouble getting cars on or off the truck and I feel so grateful that it's not my car he's jostling and scraping around.

This morning when I was moving my car, I saw someone on my block getting the boot. I don't know what's worse, waking-up to find your car gone or waking-up to the boot. Either way it's not easy to be driver around these parts.

Coveting

Finally, Salomon has made a good looking trail runner. I've had issues galore with running shoes as I tend to buy them too small or they tend to fall apart. I finally tried a pair of Salomon trail runners a while back and I love them. They're buns-up ugly though and so I'm psyched to see Salomon finally catching-up with the curve in terms of style.

I'm loving the new style of these newbies and thinking about getting a pair for myself in the near future. The kind of resemble the North Face sneakers I had eons ago that were super cute but fell apart.

Memory Bank

To Remember:

• Apple butter and pumpkin picking
• Dancing on stage with the Allman Brothers
• Winning the Trap and Poach Lobster Freedom Fest Relay with the Sparkle Sisters
• Drinking from a glacial stream on top of the Tetons
• Sunday Dinners at Tim and Brit's
• Holding my niece for the first time
• The Pier in Santa Barbara
• New Year's on a frozen lake in Pittsburgh, NH
• Walking to work in Manhattan
• Learning about the amazing life my Grandma has lived
• Driving into Creseted Butte for the first time
• Walking on secret beach in the middle of the night
• Walti's igloo
• Swimming my heart out on Lake Tahoe
• Block Island marshes and ice cream
• Cuddling with Ole Red, our yellow lab
• The Liz game by the fireplace on Court St.
• Hiking around the Northwestern coastal rain forest
• Letting my Mom make everything better
• Rhyme circles and fly boys in Beverly
• Eating Kansas City barbecue
• Hiking in a snow covered desert
• Twirling with the DC lovelies
• Fishing with my Dad
• Walking in a fashion show
• Closing my first big business deal
• Learning the names of cacti
• Reading Anna Karenina
• Frosty mugs with Anna
• Trudging through mud at Coventry
• Driving cross country with PingPong
• Moving to Colorado
• Making Lists
  

C25

Delayed
Half-drunk
Exhausted
Braindead
Dehydrated
Misplaced


The story of my life on the road. Today it happens to be in the Vegas airport.

40 Ounces to Freedom

Oddly enough I've heard Sublime 3 times this morning randomly from different sources. I'm not sure what this coincidence means as I've not listened to this beloved band for a long while. Perhaps I should buy a 40oz or smoke two joints. More likely, I need someone to caress me down. Whatever the intention of the universe, I've definitely enjoyed a little Sublime infusion with my green tea this morning.

City Park

Some pictures from a sunny Saturday in the park.


My Favorite View of the Day


These little guys were huddled, standing on the last piece of frozen ice on the pond.


A grove of trees teeming with nests and birds.


All the geese sounded like dogs barking and yapping at each other.


A slightly disturbing, crumbly fountain.


Branches

Hey Brita

It never fails that when I get into a funk about things not going my way, I am reminded how surprising and beautiful this life is. I am a lucky, lucky girl for many reasons, but today it's because I absolutely have the best friends in the world. Even though most of them live millions of miles away from me, they lift me up and give me perspective on how blessed we are in this life. There really is no point in getting sucked in the aforementioned cycle of shit.

Just now, I was knocked way over backwards with a big, beautiful smile thanks to my dear friend Ms. Valerie March. If you haven't heard it yet, check out the kick-ass song she just posted. It's about yours truly. There are many other beautiful songs on her site and you will be enraptured. Val has the voice of angels and a spirit to match.

If your band would like to cover this tune, and I know they would, please get permission from the artist herself.

Thanks, Valerie. I love you dearly.

Vegan Scones

I made vegan scones last night with random ingredients I had in my pantry. They turned out pretty well--not too sweet and a little salty. This recipe was great because I didn't have dairy products handy. They went very well with lentil soup.

Banana Soy Scones

Wet Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas (one mashed, one chopped)
3 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs brown sugar
4-6 Tbs vanilla soy milk

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 tsp ground ginger
1.5 tsp baking powder
.25tsp salt

Garnish
sesame seeds


Mix wet and sift dry ingredients in separate bowls. Add dry mix to the wet and mix quickly. Lumps are okay here. The less you stir the batter, the lighter your scones will be. Add extra soy milk if the batter is dry.

Scoop 6-8 scones onto a non-stick baking sheet. Mix a little olive oil, brown sugar, salt and sesame seeds to drizzle on top before baking. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-16 minutes. Enjoy!


Now, this is not your traditional buttery scone served with cream. But, it's the next best thing. Some organic Maine blueberries would have made this even better. I'll remember that for next time.

This would be funny if it wasn't true.

I was sitting in the Santa Barbara airport last Wednesday afternoon having a beer and waiting for my flight. A guy wearing a black leather jacket with black painted fingernails and a shaved head came up the stairs to the restaurant and walked face first into the 'Please Seat Yourself' sign. The sign was your typical gold and brown post, reversible to note whether you should wait for a hostess or not. It didn't seem particularly dangerous to me, but what do I know. This guy was even further embarrassed when an elderly lady standing nearby asked him if he was alright. He shushed her off and went to his seat.

The man who ran into the sign certainly was of the opinion that this sign was unsafe and a violent affront to unsuspecting customers. I thought nothing of this incident until a few minutes later when baldy started yelling at the restaurant manager, telling him to file a report and xerox a copy. Minutes later, he was in the back taking a picture of the violent sign with his iphone.

I just felt so bad for that restaurant manager. I mean, here he is, working in an airport bar and some litigious asshole is causing a scene because he didn't look where he was walking. It astounds me sometimes that there are people in this world with such soft egos that they need to make other people miserable to make up for their own lack of self-esteem. It's very pathetic and also a little funny.

The People

They are driving me crazy. CRAZY I tell you. Why can't everyone just jump on my bandwagon? It's a nice bandwagon, comfy with shock absorbers and free beer and cookies. What's not to love?