Hey y'all! I'm on vacation, so I've asked some lovely ladies to babysit the ol' AC while I'm gone. And now, two of my favourite things: Dani and beer.
Hi everyone, I'm Dani! When Jess asked me if I would guest post during her vacation, I happily said yes of course duh. But I was even more stoked when she said I could talk about one of my favorite things ever, beer. So let's crack open a cold one and talk about how to host a beer tasting party for your friends, ok? And no worries, you don't have to know a single thing about beer to have a good party, just that it's tasty and gives everyone the warm fuzzies.
1. INVITE 'EM! To host your party, of course you'll first need to invite people. Facebook events, texts, or even handwritten, snail-mailed hipster invitations are all good ways to go. Since a beer can only be split so many ways, I'd aim for at least 4 people total, no more than 6. Or you could buy duplicates of your beers and have as many people as you want, whatever works for you. OR you can be really smart and make your friends bring along their favorite craft beers. That would give you total freedom with the guest list and save you some ca$h (and you'd get to skip the next party-throwing step).
2. FIND 'EM! If you're providing the party beers, try to find ones you've never heard of or ones you've never tried. It's more fun if you steer away from the Bud Lights of the beer aisle and go more for the Ugly Pugs or Hoppy Boys of the world. I've personally experienced that the sillier the name or more fabulous/ridiculous the label, the better the par-tay. To find such awesomeness, hit up your local alcohol stores and look for the section where you can buy single bottles. It usually costs about the same to get a six pack of amazing singles as it does to get a pre-made sixer of frat house party juice. If you have any breweries nearby, maybe stop in there as well, and don't forget to check your grocery store, too. Mine just started carrying a small, decent selection of craft beers, whut whut.
3. FEED 'EM! Omg, snacks. Salty but light munchables are my preferred beer pairing of choice, and since I work so hard finding great beer, I usually get kinda lazy and just mix up a bowl of hard pretzels, popcorn, and whatnot. Really though, you can do whatever you want as far as the food goes. Loaded potato skins, jalapeno poppers, or even just potato chips would be good. Keep it simple or go crazy, it's up to you, just make sure there is some kind of snack. Friends feed friends, y'all.
4. DRINK 'EM! Once you have your beer and your friends and your snackies, it's time to whip out the bottle opener and start pouring a bit for each person. Preferably into glasses, so pull out some smallish ones. Or relive the glory days of college with red cups. Things aren't super serious here, so whatever you drink out of is fine. Brewmasters might shoot me for saying that, but they aren't invited to your party and I am (right?) so oh wellsies on them. The important thing is to have fun! And getting a good head on your beer, that's important too, so pour down the side of the cup/glass to encourage just the right amount of foam. Watch THIS to see what I mean, then let's move on to numero 5.
5. RATE 'EM! Because you'll be drinking and having a grand ol' time with your friends, it's also important to rate your beers as you taste them. It'll be fun to conversate about who likes which beer best and why, plus you'll be a cooler human because there will be written proof of your beer judging qualifications and who doesn't want that? A side benefit to rating your drinks is that the next morning, after the fog clears, you'll be able to remember which beer was your favorite and which one you never ever want to drink again. I whipped up a printable beer tasting scorecard HERE in case you don't feel like making one yourself.
6. PLAY 'EM! Totally optional, but for a smaller-ish party, I recommend throwing a board game into the mix for added funsies. Or do as we Texans do and put on your poker face, your your poker face. Really though, a game of any sort will give y'all something to do other than stare at each other sipping beer. Because even though we're friends, that might be sorta awkward, yeah?
If you want to know more about beer or get more ideas about hosting a tasting party, well you're in luck because I've started a Pinterest board dedicated to all things beertastic. You can find it HERE. I've pinned recipes that look delicious and would pair great with beer, snazzy infographics about choosing the right beer for you, and beer humor that made me giggle. Enjoy, and drink responsibly, y'all! :)
xo, Dani
While the rest of America celebrated the biggest sporting event in the country (the Super Bowl, in case you didn't know), I mourned the lost of my beloved football for another season. I anxiously await the Combine at the end of this month and the Draft in April, and then I can start counting down to training camp. But anyway--T. and I made some food for the Super Bowl (I mean...who doesn't?) and here's what came of that.
Erin of Plus Sized Pretty saw a picture of these fried pickles on Instagram and asked for the recipe, so here it is! Neither the dip nor the crust for the pickles are vegan (Erin is, I think!) but the recipe can probably be easily altered with egg, milk, mayo and sour cream substitutes.
The main difference between the recipe and my end result is that I used pickle halves cut into slices, and I skinned the pickles. (I have a thing about skin on food.) I was a little worried the lack of skin would cause the pickles to lose their structure and they'd be all flopsy, but NOPE. They were delish, you guys. I cut up a whole jar of Claussen pickles, which may have seemed aggressive, but we ate them all. And still had a ton of dip leftover.
I also made crabby snacks, which may sound familiar if you've ever read/watched Silver Linings Playbook. I shred a ton of sharp cheddar instead of using Old English spread, and I also multiply the whole recipe (except the butter) by four, so there is plenty of crabby to go on each snack. I also don't cut mine up--we eat these suckers WHOLE. And they are amazing.
This is what the crabby snacks looked like last weekend for the Pro Bowl. With a salad! Classy.
T. made brussel sprouts. They weren't terrible. I guess even on Super Bowl Sunday, you have to have reach some modicum of good health.
This is either my face after the blackout had been going on for 22 minutes or a response to yet another subpar commercial. The best ones were the Leon Sandcastle NFL Network commercial, the Budweiser Clydesdale commercial--of course! I cry like a baby every year at these--and the Tide Joe Montana Miracle Stain commercial. Everything else was a waste. For a while there I thought the game was going to be a waste too, but as everyone else has pointed out, the power outage really did have a positive impact on the 49ers. I thought we were heading for snoozeville before the lights went out.
And here's who we watched the game with. Not pictured: my parents. We had a great time until the blackout, at which point James Brown's insistence that the lights would be on in 15 minutes started to wear on me. He said it four times! Al and Cris would have handled it way better, that's all I'm saying.
Have you all been wondering where I am? Ugh, you and me both. Physically, I know right where I am, but since Friday afternoon I've been wholly bowled over by a really, really bad flu/tonsillitis/ear infection. I was literally standing in line at Publix on Friday and suddenly my purse weighed 200 pounds and I wanted to lie down on the floor and sleep. And it's been a miserable edition of that ever since. But I'm back (sort of), better than ever (no, not really), and I wanted to share with you one of my straight up favourite recipes, especially now that it's grilling season.
If there's one thing I've learned from The Biggest Loser, it's that grilling is a seriously good thing. You can grill just about anything (grilled pasta is amazing!), and charcoal (or even gas) gives food an amazing flavour without adding sugar or fat or sodium or any of that mess. You can completely control the additives, and even just a chicken breast on the grill has awesome taste so you don't even need it! This recipe in particular is also vegetarian/vegan friendly and delicious as a side.
Balsamic onions and mushrooms
Serves 4ish
One large onion
6-8 white mushrooms (or however many you want)
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper (I like ground peppercorns but straight up black pepper works too!)
3 tbsp olive oil
3/4 c balsamic vinegar
Chop your onion into thin slices. I recommend vidalia onions if you can get them because they don't cause your eyes to tear as much. Or you can chop them underwater. Combine the balsamic vinegar, oil, salt and pepper in a bowl large enough to hold all your chopped vegetables. Beat the mix with a whisk for a few seconds so the salt dissolves, then put the mushrooms and onions in there. Let it sit for a few minutes so the veggies have time to absorb the marinade.
I highly recommend using a grilling tray like this one for anything small enough that you may worry about losing food to the flames. My mom just bought this basket and it's already revolutionized the way I grill! Once your grill is on and the basket is as hot as the grates, put your veggies in the tray. Save the marinade.
While the onions and mushrooms grill, ladle the marinade every couple of minutes over the veggies. With the mushrooms in particular, I like to grill them cap side down, so I can pour some marinade into the stem area. I also recommend not separating the onion rings and letting them come apart while they cook--if they're separate, they'll cook much faster than the mushrooms do.
Looks good, right? You'll know the onions are done when they wiggle and bend and don't maintain a firm circular shape, and you'll know the mushrooms are done when they're squishy and dark. Should be about 10 minutes on medium heat, so if you're grilling chicken, put the chicken on first. If you're grilling steak, put the veggies on first. Discard any leftover marinade and dump your veggies into a bowl...
...and eat it up! OM NOM NOM. I usually do double time with the balsamic marinade by marinading chicken in it, and then I'll top the chicken with blue cheese or brie. Perfect with a side of cucumber salad!
With any luck, I'll be back on Wednesday with outfit posts. Hopefully sooner--I was at the outlet mall on Thursday and found a couple really adorable skirts I want to share. (I think I either got sick from the mall or from a patron at work--fortunately I'm patient zero and I've stayed home so hopefully this won't spread at the library.) I'm also considering a 30 for 30 for the month of June. I feel up for a challenge. Anyone else interested?
