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 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
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
Have you ever served on a jury? I have. A few years ago I was put on a federal case at the Los Angeles court house. The defendant was a smarmy little man who was, without a doubt, about a thousand percent guilty of smuggling 3 million dollars worth of Ecstasy into the country… 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
To be honest, I haven’t always loved IPA’s. It took me a while, although not as long as resolving my mint aversion, and now I can pretty firmly place myself in that Hop Heads category I used to shy away from. I discover that a dry hopped IPA gives me the delicate flavors… 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
You inspire me. You really do. One of my favorite moments of my day is reading emails from you, those of you who read my blog and like what I’m doing. And sometimes,the emails have a common theme. A thread that runs through out the world, across the internet, and remind me of how we… Read More
I conducted a very non-sientiffic study on my Facebook page about pumpkin beer. To be honest with you, I have always been a touch hesitant of fruit flavored beer. And although pumpkin is a squash, therefore not a fruit, it seems to fall under the same umbrella in my mind since I make pies out… Read More
Although most of you are in the giddy early stages of fall, here in Los Angeles it’s still over 90 degrees. So what the rest of the country is referring to as “Fall,” I am calling Pumpkin Season. And to curb my near constant urge to shove as much pumpkin into everything I consume, I… 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
When it comes to baking, I’m always intrigued by a new spin on an old favorite. Not to say that I don’t fully appreciate the simplicity and beauty of a perfect and well done classic recipe. I’ll never tire of a traditional, straight forward apple pie with a huge scoop of homemade vanilla bean ice… 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
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
(Chocolate Porter Strawberry Shortcakes With Beer Whipped Cream) I’m taking a huge risk here. You may have taken one look at this post and decided that I’ve lost my magic. Chocolate beer cake is as common as Nascar sweatpants in Walmart. But unlike motor sports fashion blunders in public, I loved this dessert. I’m combining… Read More