Hello Seattle + Spicy Steamed Mussels in Beer

Photos in this post were taken in Seattle with vintage Polaroid cameras by my incredibly talented sister Kim van Groos

Check out her Flickr, it’s very impressive.

I told you last week that I’m in the process of saying goodbye to Los Angeles. A process made easier by the fact that it will end with a move to Seattle, a city that I’ve loved for years. A city with a vibrant love for food, people who are aware and grateful, plus a craft beer scene that is one of the best in the world.

I’ll get to discover a new city, fall in love with the local beer, cook with the incredible produce. I’ll also be near my sister who took all these photos, as well as my other sister who almost died with me in Morocco. I’ll be around the world’s best hops and the country’s best seafood. The idea of wandering around a new city, losing myself in the streets and the strangers is incredibly exciting. Especially a city like Seattle that has so much to offer.

I’m not limiting my explorations to Seattle. The entire Pacific Northwest, from Medford to Bellingham, has an incredible craft beer scene that I can’t wait to explore. The beer, the people, the pubs and the events, I plan to jump in with both feet, grab a pint, and become a part of what’s happening up North.

I want to share it all with you. Not just on the blog, but also on Instagram and Twitter. I want you to see the beer I find, the salmon I catch, the people I meet, the butcher shops, the breweries, the farmers markets, the coast and everything else that’s waiting for me up there.

As I pack the boxes and say goodbye to Los Angeles, I wanted to make something that has a bit of Seattle in it, a reminder of what I have to look forward to.

Seafood and beer it is. Can’t wait to dig in.

I start my trek North in two weeks. Join me, it’s going to be a big move and a big adventure. I’d love to have you along for the ride.

Instagram – Facebook – Twitter

Spicy Steamed Mussels in Beer

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Yield: 2 entre portions, or 4 appetizer portions

Ingredients

4 strips thick cut bacon
1 cup diced white onion
4 tbs unsalted butter
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 lbs diced tomatoes (about 2 large)
1 jalapeno, sliced
1 tbs red pepper flakes
½ cup pale ale
1 lime, juiced
1 ½ lbs black mussels, cleaned and de-bearded
¼ cup green onions, diced
Bread for serving

Directions

In a large pot or deep skillet cook the bacon over medium high heat. Remove the bacon from pot, chop and set aside. Pour off about half of the bacon grease, leaving about 1 tablespoon still in the pan.
Add the butter and cook until melted.
Add the onions, cook until slightly browned.
Stir in the garlic, then add the tomatoes, jalapenos, red pepper flakes, beer, lime juice and chopped bacon. Bring to a low simmer.
Add the mussels, cover and allow to cook until mussels have opened, about 5 minutes.
Discard any that didn’t open. Sprinkle the green onions over the pan.
Serve with crusty bread.

http://thebeeroness.com/2014/02/10/hello-seattle-spicy-steamed-mussels-beer/

Adapted from Epicurious

IPA Ceviche Lettuce Wraps

We tend to feminize or masculinize food. Beer is man food, as is bacon, grilled red meat and bourbon. While tea, lavender, scones and blueberries tend to been feminine. Chocolate seems to be neutral go-between, grabbing it’s gender label once the final product is presented. Chocolate Stout Cake with Maple Bacon Frosting: Man Cake. Chocolate Strawberry Mousse: Girly.

Although I don’t ascribe gender to my food, I can clearly see the lines drawn in the sanding sugar. These daintly looking no-cook treats will fool you like the little vixens they are. One look at these mango and shellfish filled lettuce cups and you firmly place these in the Chick Food category. But with a sharp bite of beer and a punch of spicy heat, they would beg to differ.

Along the lines of my I think now is a really good time to tell everyone minor motorcycle crash story, It’s past time to tell you that alcohol intensifies heat. While there is no way to tell the precise Scoville Units in any given jalapeno pepper, I can tell you that number will be dramatically increase after those suckers have spent an hour soaking in a high ABV IPA. So if you don’t want to turn on the oven, and don’t mind a little capsasin abuse to the mouth, this is a great meal.

If you’re man enough.

IPA Ceviche Lettuce Wraps

Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients

1 lb raw shrimp, diced
½ cup lemon juice
½ cup lime juice
1 manila mango, peeled and diced
1 tomato, diced
½ red onion, diced
1 jalapeno, diced, seeds removed
¼ cup lime juice
¼ cup lemon juice
1 tsp sriracha
2/3 cup IPA beer
4 heads endive
1 head radicchio

Directions

Place the shrimp in a small bowl. Cover with ½ cup lime juice and ½ cup lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate until the shrimp have turned pink, about 2 hours.
In a separate bowl combine the remaining ingredients (except the radicchio and the endive), allow to marinate for at least one hour.
Just prior to serving, drain the shrimp, add to the mango bowl and toss to combine.
Scoop a few tablespoons of the ceviche into the leaves of the endive and the radicchio, serve chilled

Notes

For a lower heat level, reduce Sriracha to 1/4 or 1/2 tsp.

http://thebeeroness.com/2013/07/18/ipa-ceviche-lettuce-wraps/

Smokey Hot Beer Shrimp

None of us really know what we’re getting into when we launch that very first blog post, that Hello World! salute that enters us into the abyss of Blogland. We start these little cubbyholes in the internet Universe out of curiosity, desperation, boredom or just the hope that maybe our lives will take a dramatic tilt. We see the Holy Trinity of blog talent, the online mistress Trifecta we have to master when it comes to blog success: Food, Photos & Writing.

This by itself is a huge undertaking, the hope to be really fantastically,mind-blowingly amazing at three really specific careers, wrapped up in one title, delivered to you at our chosen URL. But that, unfortunately is just the perfectly placed cherry on top of the seasonally appropriate Sundae. Beneath that homemade cardamom whipped cream and strategically placed sprinkles melts an amalgamation of skills that we don’t just need to attempt, we need to master.

Of course we need to be a skillful recipe developer, photographer, food stylist, culinary-guru and engaging author. But that’s not all, your plate isn’t nearly full enough, pull yourself up to the buffet of online careers and load your platter. You will also need to add to the aforementioned list: SEO expert, web designer, social media darling, PR pro, marketing expert, branding aficionado, and business manager. After all, if you hired someone for each of those positions you’d be in the hole for over 200K.

But who else is going to register the LLC, build the website, apply for a trademark, get a PO box, take those gorgeous photos, not to mention edit them, write the posts, send DMCA take down notice, answer the emails, write the recipes, cook the food, do the interviews, fix that broken code, install the right plugin, promote the content, network with the right people and ohmygodican’tdoitall!

We need to give ourselves a break. These are ten really difficult jobs, ten careers for which colleges all over the land offer 4 year degrees. We can’t be good at them all and we can’t really afford to hire them all out.

We need to learn to make peace with it the things that aren’t were we want them to be. It’s a triage in a way, the biggest blood loss goes to the front, the rest can wait. In the midst of these panics, we need to remember the list of thing we are really good at is longer than the list of things we shame ourselves for. Because, odds are, there is someone out there wishing to be as good as you are at something.

Don’t forget that when you start to panic about creating a newsletter or figuring out copyright laws. You are really good at more that you are really bad at, the ship will float, it just takes time.

Smokey Hot Beer Shrimp

Ingredients

2 tsp smoked paprika
5 cloves garlic, grated with a microplane (or minced)
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp red chili flake
3 tbs tomato paste
1/3 cup wheat beer
4 tbs butter, cut into cubes
1 tbs honey
½ tsp black pepper
pinch salt
1 lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tbs olive oil

Directions

In a saucepan over medium high heat stir together the smoked paprika, garlic, cayenne, chili powder, red chili flake, tomato paste, beer, honey, pepper and salt. Add the butter and bring to a strong simmer, stirring frequently until reduced and thickened, about 5 minutes.
In a separate pan heat the olive oil until hot but not smoking. Add the shrimp and cook until ust starting to turn pink, about 2 minutes. Pour the sauce into the shrimp pan, cook until the sauce thickens and shrimp are cooked through.

http://thebeeroness.com/2013/07/05/smokey-hot-beer-shrimp/