I need your help. I’m somewhere around halfway done with this cookbook, and I need some feedback. I have about 50 recipes ready to go, but they have never been cooked outside of my kitchen. I want to know if they work for you, if you like them (or didn’t), if the directions make sense.… Read More
I was interviewed by a baking magazine a few weeks ago, because apparently I am the foremost expert on cooking with beer. This was the second interview I’ve done on the subject for a print magazine. One question always gets asked, so I figure some of you might have this same question: “Does the alcohol… Read More
Black and Tan cookies. This is the hybrid of that great New York Deli cookies, the Black & White, and the Grandfather of Beer Mixology, the Black & Tan. Although the Black & Tan, a mixture of stout and pale ale, most often brings to mind a Bass/Guinness marriage, it actually dates back to… Read More
I think I want my next cookbook to be The Chocolate Stout Cookbook. It really is my favorite beer to cook with. Not just for the Christmas Cookie of all Christmas Cookies, it’s also awesome for braising meat with. And even in the dead of summer, in the middle of the Mojave Desert, I’d still… Read More
I’m so glad I can share this recipe with you. I’ve been working like a crazy person to develop and test recipes that I fall in love with but I can’t share them with you because I need to save them for the cookbook. And, of course, I’m putting a tremendous amount of pressure… Read More
The best thing happened on Thanksgiving. Just about 18 hours prior to Turkey Tip-Off, my small gathering of 4 people more than tripled into a 14 person party that ended in cocktails, poker, and eating pie right out of the pan. How great is that? I was happy with the idea of a small gathering,… Read More
I have some news. If you Follow me on Twitter, you probably already know the Big News. I signed a book deal on Thursday. A publisher has actually decided to pay me to write a cookbook. How amazing is that? Writing a cookbook has long been on my list of goals, and as I somewhat… Read More
This is totally easy. I promise. At a beer event a few weeks ago, I had a guy call my recipes, “Foodie but accessible. They sounds hard and impressive, but once you read the recipe it’s actually really easy.” I like that. This recipe is the same way. It sounds really hard, making truffles… Read More
I hope you don’t mind my excessive use of stout over the past few weeks, but to be honest I’m really not sorry. I love stouts, I’m unreasonably excited about stouts being back “in season,” and we are only about 2 weeks away from International Stout Day. I’m geting you all stocked up on… Read More
Let’s talk about mint for a second. If you know me well, you know I have an issue with mint. Although it would be hard to tell, given that I’ve made you Chocolate Porter Brownies with Mint Frosting, Chocolate Mint Stout Ice Cream, and our neighborhood beer float hussy, The Dirty Girl Scout.… Read More
I spent a few days up in Napa last month. While I was hanging out at Bear Republic those guys were nice enough to show me around and even let me jump behind the bar. While I was behind the bar, most likely annoyingly in his way, the bar manager asked me what my… Read More
This isn’t a recipe. Not really, it’s more like assembly instructions for how to make a float that tastes like a Girl Scout Thin Mint, but with beer. Boozy, chocolatey, minty. But there really isn’t a recipe involved. Add more ice cream if that’s what you like. Add more beer, if that suits you.… Read More
There are two ways to look at this. It’s either the summer death rattle manifesting itself in an ice cream during the first week of fall, or it’s the nexus of the best of summer treats and the best of fall beers joining forces at the perfect moment. For this, I used Bison Chocolate Stout.… Read More
Clearly, I’m ready for fall. And in Los Angeles, that just means that Dodgers games are starting to end and I get to wear a light sweater. If I feel like it. Oh, and fall produce. If I haven’t mentioned to you before my favorite part of living in Southern California, its this:… Read More
If you live in the Los Angeles area, I’m going to need you to do me a favor. I’ve somehow been booked on CBS, Los Angeles mid-day news with a cooking segment this Friday, August 31st. They want me to do a quick Cooking With Beer segment on the news at noon. People will… Read More
It seems so wrong. This urge I have to continually make breakfast with beer. Probably reinforcement of the personality test I took in college in which I scored “surprisingly high” on the Inherent rebellion scale, as noted by the test administrator. Because we, as a society, have decided that we shouldn’t mix alcohol with pre-noon… Read More
I have some s’mores trivia for you. I have a fascination with useless mundane trivia, and tend to collect and expel said facts without provocation. So, here is the s’mores trivia I promised that you are undoubtably eager to get to: The recipe for s’mores was first published by the Girl Scouts in 1927. Further… Read More
Literary Grief. This is the term I use for the moment you finish a great book and realize that it’s gone. This sort of anchor to those free moments in your life is now spent and the characters that ran behind your consciousness during the busy moments of your day, beckoning you back to the… Read More