Not only is this Reese’s brownie ice cream cake from Bakers Royale delicious, it can be pretty simple to make. I used two boxes of brownie mix instead of making the brownie portion from scratch. I also baked the brownie layers in springform pans so they didn’t require cutting. Just mix the ice cream, stack and you’re done.

These pretzel-crusted brown butter bourbon blondies from Bakergirl were delicious. I made them with Angel’s Envy bourbon and dark and milk chocolate chips.

She was great, and we chatted on the phone for more than an hour one night. I finally got those notes formed into a story.

It turned into a post for our DC Homebrewers blog, but I also pitched it to our local beer blog, DC Beer. They liked the idea, too, so they ran it on their site as well. Check it out in one or both places!

This week’s farmers market baked goods were mini peach pies with brie. The recipe came from Cupcake Project, and I pretty much followed it exactly. I had some problems with the pie crust, though. It was way too sticky, and even after I refrigerated it extra long, it wouldn’t roll out and cut properly. So I did a lot of hand-patting dough into cupcake liners (and some rough decorating on the tops). All in all, they turned out fine, though.

This probably only makes sense if you know that Alabama had just become the last state to pass legislation to legalize homebrewing. (Yes, it was illegal to homebrew beer in Mississippi and Alabama until this summer.)

Sweet shirt, huh? You can find the Fuhmentaboudit! show here on the Heritage Radio Network.

I recently wrote a post for the website of my homebrew club, DC Homebrewers, about my experience at the National Homebrewers Conference from a female perspective. Feel free to hop over there and check it out.

Erich and I enjoyed this prohibition quote set up next to one of the speakeasy Club Night booths.

One of my big weekends in June was attending the 2013 National Homebrewers Conference in Philadelphia. I had a great time attending seminars on brewing techniques and ingredients (Preserving Hop Aroma, The Science of Beer Flavor, Alternative Fermentations, etc.), trolling the expo area to learn more about different brewing equipment and resources, and tasting so many great homebrews from around the country.

One highlight of the conference is Club Night, where homebrew clubs from around the country set up booths and serve their homebrew. With 85 clubs participating, there was PLENTY of beer to choose from.

The DC Homebrewers booth for Club Night was not as fancy as some, but ragtag fit well with our chosen them of protesting Fermentation Without Representation.

The Barley Legal club really shone as they assembled a small building for their Club Night booth. (Other club themes included speakeasies, train engines made out of beer kegs and more.)

This setup was from a seminar I attended on beer and cheese pairings. You can't beat an educational experience that includes some snacks!

Before the Grand Banquet on Saturday night, homebrewers fill the hallway outside the banquet hall to share homebrew.

The Grand Banquet included a menu by "homebrew chef" Sean Paxton. Each course was paired with one of four Rogue beers. We also snagged a few extra bottles of those, giving us this very full table. (Each of those bottles is 750 ml, too.)

See that pink color in my bangs? It stayed there for weeks, even though I was washing my hair twice each day.

In spring 2011, I visited India.  Those who read about the adventures might recall I was in New Delhi during the celebration of Holi, so I celebrated with my friends. Because of the nature of the day (lots of messy colored powder and water), my camera stayed packed away, so I didn’t have much evidence. But my friend Adam had a disposable camera he used that day.

He was very busy after that, so it took him a long time to get photos to the rest of us. And then it took me a long time to get these posted. Here, however, is a small look at my celebration of Holi in his neighborhood. Photos courtesy of Adam Jadhav.

Here's the group before we started "playing Holi."

Emily (right) and I smile for the camera as Adam throws more color at us.

The group takes a break for a photo with Adam's landlord (left).

Later in the day, we took some group photos with attitude.

What do you do when you have extra ricotta cheese? Why not buy some cannoli shells made at the Italian market and whip up some homemade cannoli cream? It’s so easy, you could do it every weekend!

I’ll admit that I can’t recall exactly which cannoli recipe I used since this was weeks ago. I just searched online and used a pretty basic one with ricotta, powdered sugar, a little cream and some mini chocolate chips.