Mushroom Stuffed Hoisin Stout Glazed Chicken Thighs It can be suffocating, really. This urge that has had a hold of me for so many years to please the people. A strangling grip on my throat that kept any words of disappointment from slipping out. Why is this? Why is someone else happiness (especially strangers) prioritized… Read More
Coconut Porter Tres Leche Cake (dairy + egg free) I can’t stay. I’m in a hotel in Copenhagen and I just found an open-air farmers market nearby and although it’s been about 22 hours since I’ve slept, I have to go see it. But I wanted to give this recipe to you first and tell you what… Read More
Korean Porter Skirt Steak (grill or oven) There is no substitution for this. I go through phases when I just want to eat plants all the time. I’ll make these enchiladas, or I’ll eat avocado smashed on tortillas with grilled corn, cooked like a quesadilla, and I’ll feel like a genius. Like a healthy genius.… Read More
Honey Stout Glazed Bacon Wrapped Asparagus Sometimes, I wonder how long it’ll last. I sat at dinner a few weeks ago, with someone who’s quickly become a great friend, and talked about the rough years we’ve had, similar in ways, and how we keep that hurtful past close to the vest. How those years help… Read More
Beer S’Mores: Stout Chocolate Bar and Belgian Ale Marshmallows There are foods I only like for nostalgic reasons. Fritos and bean dip, Jello-cake with whipped cream frosting, Taco Bell. It reminds me of growing up, in a house with ten people, and meal time was more of a defrost-and-feed triage. S’mores has one foot in… Read More
Stout French Onion Soup Beef Sandwiches I stick my finger in a hole in the side of the plane the size and shape of a bullet hole. The fact that it’s on the inside wall of the plane, from my seat somewhere in the middle of the tiny South American airliner, that causes the worry.… Read More
Grilled Beer and Brown Sugar Wings Food people mark the seasons in a different way. Sure, plant people mark it by what to plant when, and what to prune, what to seed. Fashion people pin the crap out of new wardrobes. The acting crowd doesn’t have weather seasons, they have “pilot season,” “award season,” “I… Read More
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Stout Brownies I was on a train, somewhere near midnight, traveling south trough Italy. I was 20-years-old, traveling with another girl my age who was hardly bigger than a middle schooler. We found a sleeping car, closed the door and latched it shut. These are the things you do when you’re a… Read More
Espresso Stout Chocolate Soufflé Cake I spent the weekend driving a loop around the Pacific Northwest. From Portland, to Hood River, up the middle of Washington, through Leavenworth and Suncadia, over to the coast with a long drive down the 101. It was fantastic. Maybe it was the company, maybe it was how gorgeous Washington and Oregon… Read More
Simple Make Ahead Chocolate Stout Pot de Crème It’s seems small, just a forgotten “5” that didn’t survive the mobile cut-and-paste before I hastily searched the subway app for the route to take me uptown. The minor detail landed me on the wrong train and 10 blocks from my destination, in heels, and a darkened… Read More
Coq au Ale: Drunk French Chicken I’m in a back room of a brewery a few minutes after delivering the keynote address at a beer conference and I settle in to listen to a presentation about glassware. I’m bracing for the typical arguments, still vaguely uncertain that a “proper” glass has anything more than… Read More
Stout Steak with Sriracha Beer Butter For Two I’m not going to tell you what to do. If I did, and you listened to me, you’d end up with a really weird life. Chances are you don’t want to teach anger management to gang members or almost die in Morocco so it’s a good thing… Read More
Porter Caramelized Onion and Brie Dip I have what people now refer to as a “creative brain” and what used to just be called “a behavior problem.” It’s done well over the years to lead me down some fascinating rabbit holes and land me in a job that makes me more grateful than I have… Read More
Chocolate Stout Truffle Mousse Bars with Pretzel Crust At a beer event in a crowded bar in Portland, Oregon last week I talked to a talented brewer about his participation in an upcoming brewing competition. “Really, I’m just going so that I can drink some more of their Yodo!” He laughs and talks about how… Read More
Mushroom Stout Skillet Chicken Pot Pie (with vegan option). One pot, thirty minutes, lick-the-pan-good. What I learned in 2015 If you lower your rates to accommodate someones budget they won’t appreciate you, they will devalue you. You’ll automatically be a bargain item, you’ll be on sale and worth less to them. I learned how to brew… Read More
Porter Caramelized Onion, Roasted Tomato and Goat Cheese Bites Best Beer Trends of 2015 Grapefruit: Grapefruit became the new bacon in 2015 making its way into nearly all styles of beer from IPA’s to sours. The tart-sour-slightly-sweet ingredient pairs perfectly with hops making it no surprise that brewers became fascinated with the citrusy addition. I… Read More
A few weeks ago I stopped a radio interview, mid-conversation, to correct the interviewer. I don’t ever do this. I love talking to people who don’t know beer, who want to ask questions. People who have genuine interest in learning about a subject they have only scratched the surface of. Sometimes I get someone who… Read More
Pecan Pie Smoked Porter Brownies I have these moments. These “how have I lived this long without this?” moments that seem to reveal an incompleteness prior to the revelation that I was unaware of. Beer was a big one. Realizing in the dawn of my beer drinking days that “imported” didn’t mean better, it meant,… Read More