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2012 Decatur Beer Festival Hits and Misses

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The city


The husband and I had a wonderful time at the 2012 Decatur Beer Festival. For those of you who could not get tickets, They sold out in less than 30 minutes, you missed some good tastings.  A complete lists of participating vendors can be seen at www.decaturbeerfestival.org 

The weather


Our method is to first hit the vendors who are new to us and then hit our tried and true favorites. Local guys Blue Tarp Brewing was one of my favorite newbies. The brewery offered a taste of things to come from their new roost in Decatur and I must say that taste was a good one. They join the league of other local loves of mine and I look forward to buying their creations soon. 

The hubby

One of my usual beers Ommegang, from Cooperstown, New York,  brought in some great beers for the event and I fell in love with their Art of Darkness. It had the slight bite of most dark stouts but was still creamy with a warm chocolate finish. The day offered a few dark brews including…..



The beer

Taking my taste buds across the country to Boonville, California I found another dark option. Winter Solstice by Anderson Valley Brewing blew me off of my feet and made me linger at the table for a few more tastes. The carmel and vanilla notes in this one definitely make it a dessert beer without being sickly sweet like some Lambics and pumpkin ales can be. 

While I generally won’t turn my nose up at brews there was one offender at the event that I have to mention. Stoudt’s Scarlet Lady Ale was not a good one for me. In searching the web I have found several favorable reviews but the only way I could describe the taste it left on my palatte was “Off.” I’m not really sure what they were trying to do with this one but if I see it at another festival I will steer clear.

I hope you all had as good of time as we did. And I hope you all gained some new favorite brews for your future package and growler store excursions.

Cheers!

Peanut Soup? I’ll Give It a Try: Part 2

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I went to the store today and got all of the ingredients that I was lacking to make the peanut soup. Fresh ginger, yummy non-sweatshop shrimp, cilantro and spinach filled my cart. I was so excited to get started on this Thai sounding dish from Africa.

As luck would have it, when I walked through my front door a tantalizing smell greeted me. My husband had prepared a dinner of grilled salmon with dill and lemons. With a side of corn on the cob and green beans it was a very tasty meal and obviously I did not make the soup. My need for seafood had already been answered.

Today is only Tuesday though and the salmon is nearly done. I am pretty sure my better half will have finished it off for lunch. Unless I get to it first for breakfast. But for dinner…peanut soup you will be mine.

Peanut Soup? I’ll Give It a Try.

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Today a coworker sent me this relatively simple recipe for West African Peanut Soup. Although it has 13 ingredients, the total prep and cook time is only 30 minutes which I think is doable for most of us.

As the weather continues to become cooler I have been yearning more and more for some great soup and stew ideas. The fact that this one had some of my culinary favorites like ginger, peanuts and cilantro means it will be healthy as well as tasty.

Serves: 6

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

2 tablespoons canola oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
(or chopped ginger that comes in a little jar similar to garlic)
28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 quart (4 cups) chicken broth
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
4 cups baby spinach greens or chopped kale (if using kale, remove any tough stems)
1 pound raw shrimp, shells and tails removed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
1/4 cup crushed roasted peanuts, to garnish

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium high. Add the onion, garlic, red pepper and ginger. Saute until the onions are tender, about 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes, with juices, and chicken broth; bring to a simmer.
Add the peanut butter, stirring until it dissolves into the soup. Add the greens and simmer until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add the shrimp and simmer until cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper; stir in the cilantro. Ladle into serving bowls, then garnish.

I plan on making this one this week. If you beat me to it let me know how it goes for you.

One and Done!

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I have one child. One. If I had met my dreamboat of a husband earlier we probably would have had more, but now I am 41 and it is what it is.

This past weekend I had several girlfriends over for a baby shower. For the mom-to-be this is her first little one and her and her husband look forward to adding more to their family. However, for my other friends who are moms who attended the party they all say…”I have had one child and that is the only one I am going to have!” That sentiment, we all agreed, has brought nothing but eye rolls and judgement from anyone we have said it to.

Can we not just be happy with our little guys? (The four of us all have boys)

Even though the television show was called Eight Is Enough must we all be Duggers and go forth and birth as many young’ns as our child baring hips can stand? I think not.

As the discussion progressed we each had other tales of judgment by family and absolute strangers who felt it is was their job to tell us where we have gone wrong on this journey called motherhood. I for example was ridiculed by a checkout woman at the grocery store who saw my container of formula and asked why hadn’t I breastfed. When I told her I tried but my milk never came in she responded, “I’m sure you didn’t try hard enough.” I am not making this up folks, she honestly said this to me. A complete stranger who knew nothing about me. She didn’t know if I had survived cancer and it was the effects of chemo. She didn’t care if I had possibly been in a car accident where my chest had been injured. She definitely did not know that I sat hooked up to a pump day in and day out for a month with my final milk total being about…2 ounces. I left the store without telling this information to the clerk. I surmised that stupid is as stupid does. I needed to get home to spend time with my family. She obviously had other people to judge.

We had made this decision and knew it was best for our situations. Budgets, work and fertility led us to the choice we made to have only one child. Does having only one child make us less than amazing, hard working moms? Does not giving birth naturally or feeding your infant formula make you less of a mom?

No it does not. At the end of the day we will always be mothers. We still get hugs, love and snot on our clothes and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Except for the snot…we could all use less of that.