Stout Mushroom Gravy and Chicken with Beer Biscuits I was once friends with a man who was 100 years old. We had a bit of an unlikely friendship, since he had reached retirement age long before I was even born. He was smart, funny, and seems to have no concept of the age… Read More
Honey Mustard Mushroom Stout Chicken: 30 minute, one pot chicken dinner. A few years ago I was stuck in a small town in south Italy on a 22 hour layover. While trying to figure out if sleeping in the tiny terminal was feasible, I met an Italian girl about my age. Her English was… Read More
Let’s say you and I get into it over pizza. We hash it out over the best pizza we’ve ever had. We talk about Naples, and LA, and both agree that New York beats Chicago, unless you want a casserole, then Chicago pizza will do. And then I tell you that the best Ray’s… Read More
I see how you get here. The keyword searches that bring you to this little blog of mine. Most of these keyword searches make sense, like “Beer recipes,” “Cooking with beer,” and even “The Beeroness.” This past year nearly 8,000 people came to my blog with the keyword “The Beeroness,” or it could have been… Read More
Chances are, if you’ve spent anytime within stumbling distance of a Craft Beer Lover, you’ve heard the word “hops” thrown around like a rag doll. You may have been leery asking the “What are hops?” question for fear that you’ll be subjected to the mad beer-geek ramblings of your semi-inebriated friend. So, here I am… Read More
I have two very distinct sides to my personality, dueling forces that pull me in opposing directions with near cartoon ideation. Although Devil and Angel would be easier to deal with, mine are more Old Lady and Free Spirited Gypsy. As much as I would like to tell you that Gypsy wins the battles, it’s… Read More
When I first got into food blogging I had this idea that I would just take pictures of my dinner and post the recipe online. Somewhere between installing Google Analytics and starting an LLC, I realized that I was cooking in order to develop content rather than just posting what I was eating. I… Read More
I’ve been wanting to make you some beer fried chicken for a while now, but it’s a bit intimidating. The best fried chicken comes from the south, it’s a fact of sorts. As is the fact that, other than a few weeks in Atlanta, I haven’t spent much time in the Southern states. And,… Read More
This needs to be made with an IPA. The buffalo sauce (which has to be Franks, let’s just get that out of the way) needs a big kick to the face. The only beer up for that job is an IPA. I made this with Ballast Point’s Sculpin, one of my favorite IPA’s on the… Read More
Today is November 6th, Election Day. As Americans spend the day thinking of little else, wedged firmly between Barack and a hard place, I wanted to give you a little motivation to get through this day. We will soon find ourselves at the end of this exhausting Election Season, our feelings of separatism… Read More
Although most of you are starting to pull out those wool sweaters you neatly packed away a few months ago, here in Los Angeles we are in the throws of a record heat wave that drug us into 108 degree heat yesterday. While most of the sane people of LA stayed indoors and avoided the… Read More
Last Friday I was able to visit the Los Angeles CBS studios. They even let me do a cooking segment. Originally slotted for 4 to 5 minutes, the loved me so much, they let me run to 6 1/2 minutes. Aren’t they great? A few questions threw me off, “Were you in a… Read More
Here it is, just like I promised. Beer Chicken Piccata, to go with those beer noodles I made. The first time I ever had Piccata I was a completely broke college student traveling through Italy. And it was cheap. It turned out to be one of the most memorable dishes I had on that trip,… 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
There’s a good chance that when you think about cooking with beer, a meat recipe comes to mind. Your Dad’s beer marinated ribs? Beer can chicken? Beer braised pork? There’s a good reason for that. Not just for the spectacular flavors that craft beer can impart on the meat, but because beer, especially high acid… Read More
In the food world you hear terms thrown around so casually. Words like confit, reduction, braise, semifreddo. I even see those words being used wrong so often, their meanings seem to change as more and more people republish inaccurate content. Braise is one of those terms. Maybe it’s ignorance, maybe it’s an attempt to fancy-up… Read More
This is the ultimate comfort food, combining three great comfort food players: Beer, Cheese, Warm Soup. Add to that a flaky pastry crust and you pretty much have pot pie perfection. I use Mission Street Blonde Ale for this, from the Mission Brewery out of San Diego. A really beautiful blend with the mild cheddar… Read More