Gochujang Beer Cheese Dip and Is Gochujang The New Sriracha? There are similarities, I’ll be honest. Spicy red sauces, with fermented ingredients, originally from the Far East. Americans “discovered” these sauces, that have been around for generations in other countries, and decide they are the hot “new” thing. Clearly, Sriracha and Gochujang have a lot in… Read More
I was at a brewery in Southern California early last year and a brewer handed me a small cup of warm wort to sample from a batch he was in the middle of brewing. “What is it?” I asked. He shrugged. “It was a bunch of left over bits from bags and batches. I just decided… Read More
Grilled Cheese & Gratitude I was standing in the kitchen of a group home, talking to a 15-year-old foster kid when I learned what gratitude really was. (Before I became a full-time food and beer writer, I worked with foster and probation kids in South Central LA, you can read more about that here and… Read More
IPA Sriracha Chicken Wings + How To Get The Crispiest Baked Wings You’ve got to dig a little deeper. At first blush, this seems like a cop-out. It’s beer and chicken wings, it’s such an obvious pairing you want to scratch your eyes out, scream “Milk and cookies, peanut butter and jelly, jalapeño and avocado!… Read More
Crispy Beer Battered Steak House Onion Rings I was on a southbound flight a few weeks ago, the guy sitting next to me not picking up on my “I don’t talk to strangers on airplanes” vibes. He asked me what I did for a living, which is always a bit of a strange conversation when… Read More
“You must be so glad to be out of LA!” I hear that all the time. Now that I’ve passed the One Year mark as a Seattleite, people assume I see the South Land the way they do, they way those who have never fallen in love with a dirty, beautiful, interesting, ever-changing, multifaceted city,… Read More
I’m in the middle of class 4 rapids, the yellow raft I’m in is pinned on the right side to a giant boulder, the impossibly fast current is rushing over the left side of the boat and the raft is quickly submerged. Seven of us are waist deep in cold water, trying desperately to… Read More
Roasted Herb Beer Mustard Potato Salad It’s easy to complicate what’s supposed to be simple. Add unnecessary steps, feel the need to suffer on behalf of the task, take things a little further than needed. Potato salad, the quintessential summer side dish needs a simple touch. I roast the potatoes, the process adds a nice… Read More
Beer Brined Pork and Pineapple Skewers with Apricot Chili Glaze The start of grillin’ season also ushers in the start of session beer season. A session beer, for those new to the brew, is a beer with lower alcohol content. Most session beers range between 3% and 5% ABV, making them easy to consume over… Read More
Beer Brat Cheese Dip A few years ago I is was at dive bar in Germany, perched at a pub table in the center of the room with two other people. We’d ordered beers, nameless, faceless pale lagers brewed close by. Through a thick accent the bartender suggested the sausage plate to go along with the… Read More
When I was hardly out of my teens I sat down at a white formica table in a prominent Jewish deli in New York. Just after I placed my order, pastrami on rye, obviously, the waitress set down a plate of pickles. I hesitated, I hated pickled. The only run ins I’d had with those… Read More
Sriracha Bloody Beer with Chili Sugar Bacon + New Years Resolutions For Beer People > > We do this too often. Spinning a resolution in a sacrifice that will ultimately give way to our guilt over lack of follow through. It’s not your fault, it’s the resolution. You can spend all year giving up coffee,… Read More
Football fries: Chipotle Beer Cheese Oven Fries When I was 17 I decided to sell vacuums door-to-door. It was a great plan, I’d met a guy who had made a few thousand dollars in just one day, it seemed like easy money. After a quick intro seminar in an office park in a bad area… Read More
I always a nice girl, polite, maybe a little shy in a way that made me seem unapproachable. Always a go-with-the-flow, don’t-rock-the-boat kind of person, never one to cause a riot. Until you put me in a red swim suit and give me a whistle, then I’m bossy and loud. The summer after high school… Read More
I spent the better part of the last two weeks throwing myself into my second book. Cooking at 1 am, editing photos at dawn, trying to pull sentences out of my weary brain that would actually be ones that you would want to read. Monday at 2 am I finally sent it off to my… Read More
When I was 22 I was recruited by a modeling agent while I was shopping for shoes on Melrose. I said no. Nothing about that interested me at all. At the time I was teaching anger management skills to gang members in south central LA, doing work that matter to me,… Read More
When I get to a new city, I always ask people what breweries they like. People answer this question in one of two ways: how much they like the beer, or how much they like the people. Sometimes, the judgement is clouded by a love for one spilling over into the other, the… Read More
I’ve always been a bit of a heat freak. I’ll always order the spiciest version of any dish on the menu, and then add hot sauce. I’ve had to tamp down the fiery ingredients when writing recipes for mass consumption, but when it’s just me and a few other capsaicin worshipers, I’ll triple the… Read More