Adventures of an Urban Foodie

Happy 2020!

2020-01-01T13:51:00.002-06:00

After another long hiatus, I've decided to dust off my blog yet again! Don't worry- I've been doing a lot of cooking and eating during this hiatus, but just haven't been blogging about it!

My 2019 New Year's Resolution was to try out 50 new recipes, but I didn't really do a great job of keeping track, so I'm not actually sure if I made it or not! So this year, I'll try sticking to the same goal, but this time get a record of my recipe attempts through this blog.

And to start of 2020 with a bang, my sister and I are doing the Whole30 together starting tomorrow! So my first few recipes of 2020 will be Whole30 compliant. I'm also hoping that blogging about my Whole30 experience will encourage me to stick with it! It's a pretty restrictive way of eating, so I'm not sure how it'll go!

Another major update since the last time I've blogged on a regular basis: I started eating meat again! So while one of the major themes of this blog when I first started (in 2008??) was to transform non-vegetarian recipes into vegetarian and vegan-friendly versions, that will no longer be a top priority. However, I do still have vegetarian and vegan friends, so I will still experiment with veg-recipes from time to time. Now that there are so many more veg alternatives in the market, it's much easier to create vegetarian-friendly dishes than they were when I first started blogging!

Anyways, stay tuned as I start off 2020 blogging about my Whole30 experiences and recipes!

One Barrel Brewing Company

2015-11-10T08:30:00.000-06:00

After making a hasty post-dinner exit from Next Door, we decided to check out One Barrel Brewing Company, which was highly recommended to use by our Uber driver on our way to dinner. Since we had nothing to lose, we mapped it out and made the 1-mile walk over.

What a cute little place. We learned when we got there that they got their name because they are what they call a "nano-brewery". They only brew beers One Barrel at a time, so everything on tap is VERY limited.

By the time we got there, it was pretty late, so we didn't mess around with tasters. We each ended up getting our own drinks. I ordered the Chai Town brown ale, and my friends ordered a Greg Hull Raspberry Lambic (named after a bar regular) and a stout,which I unfortunately can't remember the name of! All were pretty good and unique!

I wish we'd gotten there earlier since their entire beer list looked interesting and considering their limited stock, I'd imagine the beer menu would be completely different the next time I visit! I would highly recommend making a stop there when in Madison!

Next Door Brewing Company: Skip

2015-11-06T08:30:00.000-06:00

We had high hopes for Next Door Brewing Company. It was a short Uber ride from our hotel, and it was highly recommended by one of my traveling companions' beer buddies. We had checked out the food menu and the beer list online, and it seemed like it'd be a good choice for dinner after we checked into our hotel in Madison.

We should have known this wasn't the case, when we first walked in!

For one thing, there wasn't a host at the host stand. Since we weren't sure if it was a restaurant-style brewpub (where the host seats you) or a bar-style brewpub (where you can sit wherever you want), we just stood there awkwardly until we were able to flag down someone who looked like they worked there.

We did get seated fairly promptly, and my friend asked about their $2 Badger shots that they had on special, as indicated by a prominent sign on the wall. We were told it was red and not very good. Huh. Interesting.

We then ordered a sampler of 4 of our choosing. We decided to go with a variety including an IPA, a Red Ale, an Oktoberfest, and a Stout. This is where Next Door broke a record: none of us liked any of them! They were all pretty mediocre tasting, to be frank.

Unfortunately for them, their food wasn't any better. My friend and I both ordered their Cauliflower Saffron soup. Just like the beer, it also tasted like nothing. I thought perhaps I was overcritical of the soup, until I saw that my friend was adding salt and pepper to hers like crazy.

In addition to the soup, I also had the world's smallest salad. Perhaps I'd been spoiled, having been served ginormous salads at Horny Goat and Milwaukee Ale House. I was definitely not impressed. Unfortunately for my friend, she ordered the mac and cheese and ended up seriously burning the inside of her mouth (even though she had eaten her entire soup prior to trying the mac and cheese).

Not a good experience all around. We ended up not finishing the little tasters and just going to a different bar down the street that our Uber driver had recommended.

Tyranena: A Fun Little Stop

2015-11-03T09:24:00.000-06:00

Once we left Sprecher, our next stop was Tyranena, which was on our way to Madison. Located in Lake Mills, WI, it's about 20 minutes from Madison with not much else around. They have a super cute tap room and beer garden, and feature live music on Saturdays.

Their tap room only serves beer, but you're free to bring your own food. They even have gas grills for folks to use! They're even dog-friendly, as long as they aren't too many dogs already there, and your dog gets along with the house dogs. They recommend calling ahead of time if you plan to bring your dog to verify the situation. It's a pretty cool set-up, especially if you happen to be from around there and want to plan a cookout or picnic.

As it was, we were just passing by, so we didn't bring any food or dogs ;-) We ended up getting their sampler, which featured 9 different beers (they choose which ones you get, unfortunately). There were 10 beers on tap, so for good measure, we ordered a full beer of the one that wasn't included.

In general, all the beers were pretty good. However, my friends and I all prefer boldly flavored beers, so we clearly weren't impressed with the lighter ones. My favorites were:

The Imperial Maple Porter Aged in Bourbon Barrels
This was the one not included in the sampler. And it was delicious! Glad we ordered it separately
Who's Your Daddy Imperial Oatmeal Porter
Deeply flavored, thick and strong!
Rocky's Revenge
Always a favorite of mine!

I also enjoyed their Bourbon Barrel Aged Suprise, the Bitter Woman IPA, the Chief Blackhawk Porter, and the Painted Ladies Pumpkin Spice Ale.

I would have preferred if they just sold taster portions of each beer, or at least let us pick which ones we wanted to try. I guess I understand the concept of making people buy "The Sampler" that includes all the regular beers and omits the special ones. But in our case, we really didn't drink the Three Beaches Honey Blonde, the Headless Man Amber Alt, and the Oktoberfest. I could have told you from the start we weren't going to like those.

What a waste of beer. I would have preferred if we could just do a sampler of the ones we wanted to try, and then maybe pick one of them to have a full beer from. I'm guessing they would have sold us more beer if they did it that way, since we wouldn't have wasted our time tasting so many. By the time we were done with the tasters and the 1 full beer we shared, we'd been there long enough and it was time to move on.

The live music was a nice touch and it was a cool ambiance. I'd imagine it'd be hard to spend too much time here though, since there really wasn't much around. You'd have to be staying pretty close by to take full advantage of what they have to offer! I'd definitely come back, and maybe plan a cookout or picnic next time! At least I know what beers of theirs I like now, so I can just order full beers of the ones I like!

Sprecher: Worth the Tour!

2015-10-30T08:30:00.000-05:00

After lunch at Milwaukee Ale House, we checked out of our hotel then headed up to Sprecher. We had actually tried buying tickets to their 3:15 tour but it was already sold out! Since it was only a 15 minute drive from our hotel, we figured we'd still stop by, check out their tap room, and buy some beer.

WELL! When we got there, we were informed the taproom was only for people who went on the tour. You couldn't just go there and buy beer. Booo! But, the guy at the register told us to check ask the tour guide if there was still space on the tour (even though we knew it was sold out online).

Lucky for us he told us that! The tour guide sold us 3 tour tickets on the spot and closed the door behind us. I'm not sure if people didn't show up for the tour, or if we were just lucky he was lenient. In any case, an extra 3 people didn't make it overly crowded, so we were in! First thing he did was pour us all beers. Ha.

The tour was pretty cool and our guide was funny, entertaining, and informative. What more could you ask for? Of course the highlight of the tour was the end when we got to go to the taproom and get tasters of everything. They also had some light snacks for sale (which we took advantage of and bought cheese curds of course! #becausewisconsin).

The unfortunate part of going on the 3:15 tour is that it's around 4 when you're done with the tour, and the tap room closes at 5. Which means we didn't get to use all our beer tickets by the time it was last call. Which was ok with us since we still had 2 more breweries to visit that day! I would definitely go back and either drink faster or catch an earlier tour!

In any case, my favorite of the day was their hard apple pie, which I surprisingly enjoyed more than their Rye IPA and their stout! What?! Perhaps I'd been drinking a lot of beer that weekend already and found the Apple Pie light and refreshing? In any case, I ended up going home with a few bottles of that, in addition to my favorite (the Abbey Trippel) and some stouts.

Milwaukee Ale House: A Nice River View!

2015-10-27T08:30:00.000-05:00

Our 3rd stop on our 2015 Wisconsin Brew-venture was Milwaukee Ale House!

After our weird visit at Water Street Brewing the night before, we slept in on Saturday and walked over to Milwaukee Ale House around noon for some brunch. Unfortunately, it looks like they only serve brunch on Sundays, since they only had a lunch menu! Boo, negative one for them right off the bat!

They made up for it thought! We ordered cheese curds for starts again #becausewisconsin. And a round of beers. I had a squash stout, which was quite tasty! I forgot what my friends ordered since I was busy enjoying my own beer. I had another big ass salad for lunch, but this was admittedly quite a bit smaller than the one at Horny Goat the night before! It was quite enjoyable, in any case!

For dessert we shared this bottle of Barrel Aged Doppelvision. Truth be told, doppelbock's aren't really my thing, but I still enjoyed this one. Probably because I like bourbon, ha! I think it makes all beers taste better ;-)

I thought this was a cute spot overlooking the river. It was also quite entertaining since there was an event going on, and boats kept passing by full of people wearing various costumes. It was like a parade in the water!

As we were leaving, we noticed there was a sign saying they offered 4 tasters for $7 or something like that. If we had known, we would have ordered 2-3 of those so we could try more of the beers on the menu! Something to keep in mind for next time! I much prefer having smaller portions of more beers than a huge glass of one thing.

Stop 2: Water Street Brewery

2015-10-24T08:30:00.000-05:00

The second stop of our 2015 Brew-venture was Water Street Brewery in Milwaukee! This might not be a very fair review of the bar, since we arrived around 11:15pm, but for completeness sake, I wanted to share our experience.

The bar seemed like it had a fair number of people when we walked in, which was a good sign! We had just finished dinner at Horny Goat, checked into our hotel, and walked over. Seemed like a good place to go! We didn't order food since we'd already had dinner, but instead each got a ginormous beer.

My friend got the Raspberry Weiss, which was surprisingly mild-flavored considering the color. I thought for sure it'd be distinctly fruity. But it lacked overall flavor. My other friend and I ordered the Punch You in the Eye PA. Yes, I'm pretty sure it was all because of the name. Though I actually wasn't all that impressed with the selection, so that was the one that sounded the best to me. The other beers on draft were a lager light, a bavarian weiss, a raspberry weiss, that IPA, an amber, and an Oktoberfest. So, mostly things that don't taste like anything.

In any case, I think the IPA was overall pretty mediocre. I honestly couldn't even remember what I'd had until I took a look at a picture I took of the beer list. Thank goodness for smart phones!

Anyways, the weird part of the evening was when the waitress said she was getting off her shift so she closed out our tab. She said we could continue to order from the bar. Great! This always happens at other places, so we didn't think it was a big deal. The beers were huge so it would take us a while to drink anyways so no big deal. Until 15 minutes later we realized we were the only ones in the bar besides the bartender.

Um. Was the bar closed? Was it just so uncool that no one was there besides the poor saps from out of town? I think we were so weirded out about been the only ones there, we chugged our beers and go the heck out of there. The area seemed dead anyways, so maybe we chose wrong when we booked our hotel!

Anyways, I'd say the beer was ok, but if you want to check this place out, perhaps it's best to go during the daytime!

Horny Goat: Always a Good Time!

2015-10-20T08:29:00.000-05:00

Horny Goat has a special place in my heart. Honestly, any time I'm heading through Milwaukee, I always try to convince my car-mates to stop here! They have a really cool outdoor space (complete with firepits for when it gets cold out) along the river, and they're also dog-friendly! So perfect spot to stop when you're road tripping with your pooch. On top of their great ambiance and friendly service, their food's pretty delicious and so is their beer!

This stop on our 2015 Brew-venture was no exception. As our first stop of the trip, we got there for a late dinner, since we didn't leave Chicago after work (around 6:30pm) and of course had to traffic and construction! But it was all worth it when we got there!

We started with their cheese curd appetizer #becausewisconsin, which obviously we delicious. For dinner, I ordered a big-ass salad which was about the size of my head. It was huge! To go with my salad, I had the Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter. Which was AMAZING. It was rich and dark, like drinking a dark chocolate Reese's milkshake. In contrast, one of my friends had their Watermelon Wheat, which was quite refreshing. My other friend had their seasonal Hornacopia pumpkin ale, which was very festive!

For dessert, we had a giant cookie a la mode, and their Cereal Killer Breakfast Stout. They complemented each other quite nicely!

Normally I would highly recommend you going there, but I'm sad to say I found out they were closing their brewpub so they could focus exclusively on making good beer. I guess we'll just have to try out their beer at other bars now!

Thanks for the memories, Horny Goat!

Hello Old Friend!

2015-10-18T17:15:00.000-05:00

Sorry I've been deliquent in blogging. To be honest, I really haven't been cooking much at all. BUT I've still been eating, so that's not an excuse not to blog about my food! Now that the holidays are approaching, I'll plan to do some recipe experimentation in the future and give myself some good material to blog about!

To start, a couple of friends and I did a follow up trip to the Anti-Dark Lord Day trip we did a few years back. This time, we visited Wisconsin breweries instead of Michigan. We were able to visit 9 different breweries over the course of 48 hours! I'm excited to write a recap of each one! Stay tuned!

Faux Shamrock Shake

2015-03-17T14:05:00.001-05:00

Um, yeah. THIS happened. I was playing around with the idea if healthier versions if the Shamrock Shake. A bit of Googling gave me a bunch of recipes that seemed all too complicated. I thought I could come up with a quick and easy version.

Well, here you have it! The results of my experimentation. Unlike most of my culinary endeavors, I didn't base this off any existing recipe. I was flying completely by the seat of my pants, based on what I had in the kitchen:

After twiddling with the proportions a bit, here's the final version of the recipe. Obviously, it should be able to scale easily.

Herban Foodie Shamrock Shake

1/2 frozen banana

3 cups Greek yogurt

1 cup spinach

Maple syrup to taste, ~1 Tbsp

Peppermint extract to taste, ~1/4 tsp

Blend together until uniform. Yields 3 1-cup servings.

The proportions can be adjusted to taste, but here's what I found:

1/2 banana + 1 cup yogurt made it too banana-y. I wanted it to be more minty, so I upped the yogurt to cut the banana content.

Don't add too much peppermint extract, or it gets too bitter! This is another reason why I added so much extra yogurt.

I only used enough maple syrup to cut the tartness of the yogurt. Depending on how much you like the taste of plain Greek yogurt, you can increase or decrease this amount.

Oh, and in case your wondering, I put the leftovers back in the tub and stuck it in the fridge. I'll report back how it is as an ice cream.....

Picadillo Sin Carne

2015-03-11T18:59:00.001-05:00

This is my take on my mom's Picadillo con Carne recipe that she always made for us when I was growing up. Since I became vegetarian 8 years ago, it's been a while since I've had my mom's version! But I visited recently and was able to make this out of some things she had around the house.The key ingredient in vegan-izing the recipe is finding a suitable sub for the Carne de res (not that I'm vegan, but there aren't any animal products involved besides the beef!)

Serendipitously, my mom had recently gone grocery shopping, and when she knows I'm visiting, she usually picks up some sort of veg protein/ meat sub. This week, she had happened to buy Upton's Naturals Chorizo Seitan:

This ended up being the perfect sub and gave the dish a nice latino flair! It's a pretty simple recipe that's quick to prepare, and the macros are perfect for a post-workout meal!

Picadillo Sin Carne (Adapted from Mom's recipe)

olive oil

1 - 8oz package of Upton's Naturals Chorizo Seitan. Though I'm sure any veggie ground beef sub would work.

5 - small yellow potatoes, cubed. Or similar quantity of any other type of potato. Can adjust "beef":potato ratio to taste or to fit your diet/macros.

1/4 cup - onion, minced

1 - tomato, cubed

1 Tbsp - garlic, minced

pinch of salt

dash of black pepper

water

splash of Maggi seasoning (optional)

Saute potatoes and seitan with olive oil in large frying pan on medium-high heat, breaking up the seitan crumbles, until potatoes are lightly browned. Add onion and continue to saute until translucent. Add tomato, garlic, salt, and pepper, and saute until tomato and onions begin to caramelize. Add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan and season with a dash of Maggi seasoning. Cover and turn heat to low, simmering until potatoes are thoroughly cooked.

Shakeology Chocolate Mug Cake!

2015-02-26T11:31:00.002-06:00

I made this Chocolate Mug Cake with my mom, who's been doing the 21 Day Fix by the makers of Shakeology (which she's been using for years). She's a firm believer in their product ever since she became a Zumba instructor at the age of 53. She believes she wouldn't be able to do all that she does if it weren't for her daily dose of Shakeology every morning. In any case, I was intrigued by the product and she REALLY wanted to try out this mug cake recipe, so while I was visiting, we went for it!

Well, to be honest, I thought it was just ok. But to be fair, we only made the base recipe and didn't add any of the extra, including honey or peanut butter. I'm thinking it would have been better with a touch of honey to sweeting. However, I did eat it with some strawberry Greek yogurt, and it was AMAZING. So all was not lost!

But for a cake fix, it really can't be beat. 1 mugful is 2 servings (which is why my mom waited until I visited before trying the recipe), and each serving is only 130 calories, 12 g protein, 12 g carbs, and 4 g fat. Nice healthy alternative when the sweet tooth hits.

Depending on how much time I have (and how many calories I can spare), I may work a little to improve the taste of the recipe. In any case, yay for being able to fit cake into a healthy diet!

Shakeology Chocolate Mug Cake
1 scoop Chocolate Shakeology
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 egg or 2 egg whites (I used 1 egg)
3 Tbsp almond milk (I used Almond Breeze Vanilla)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
dash of salt
OPTIONAL: honey or peanut butter

Combine dry ingredients into large mug. Incorporate wet ingredients (except peanut butter, if using) thoroughly until batter-like consistency. Can add more almond milk if necessary. If using peanut butter, drop 1 Tbsp into the center of the batter. Microwave for 1 minute 30 seconds.

Can eat out of mug, or transfer upside-down onto a plate. Serves 2.

Nutritional Info Per Serving
132 calories
4.1 g fat
11.5 g carbs
12.3 g protein

Obviously this will change if you add more almond milk, honey, or peanut butter.

When you’re walking in Memphis. . .

2013-07-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

For two city gals who’ve never really ventured south (except for the time I did the Mardi Gras Half Marathon in New Orleans!), we really knew nothing about Memphis except Graceland, and that song that everyone thinks was sung by Springsteen but wasn’t! Unfortunately, Graceland was a bit out of the picture since we were on a late traveling schedule and wanted to catch up. So we ended up just going to a few random spots that were near-ish to our hotel, while singing Walking in Memphis in the car. . . even though we were driving.

Anyways, as stop 2 of our Texas Road Trip, Memphis was *supposed* to be the stop we got to actually sight-see. However, after getting to Indianapolis late, and then having my friend’s parents abscond with the car for a while, we didn’t actually hit the road until about 5 or 6pm after a very late brunch! Which meant we pulled into our hotel in Memphis around 1am.

Being in a brand new city that neither of us had been to, crashing at the hotel when we got there just wouldn’t do. We had picked up some food on the road, so we weren’t particularly hungry. (Our on-the-road meal was clearly not memorable, since I have no photographic evidence of it. It might have been Cracker Barrel or some other place you only go to if you’re on a road trip!) But we wanted to experience Memphis at least a little, despite the fact that it looked totally dead when we arrived.

On a suggestion from my friend’s childhood buddy, who had joined us for our mid-afternoon brunch in Indy, we had checked into Gen X Inn in Memphis; it was a cute hotel with a contemporary vibe, and more importantly, it seemed pretty safe to be coming in at 1am. Once we were checked in, we headed to Lamplighter (at the suggestion of same friend), which was just a short drive from the hotel.

Yikes! Ok, total dive bar. Now, I don’t really mind dive bars, but there was really nothing to eat or drink there that we wanted. The beers were all crap (the fanciest one was probably PBR. Blargh!) We asked what spirits they had, and their booze list was equally crappy. Also, for a place with such poor food and drink selections, it was super bright. So not only were you eating and drinking crap, you could see the crap you were eating and drinking. After a long drive and another late night, that just wasn’t going to work for us.

Luckily, there was another bar nearby called Zinnie’s. Just for the outside, it looked a bit better. The bar itself was nicer and the lights were dimmer-- more appropriate for the late hour. After our experience of the day, we decided to order Manhattans. The bartender said that they actually don’t have all the ingredients to make a Manhattan, but he could try to mimic it with what they had. We figured if he was willing to be adventurous, so would we!

The faux-manhattans turned out pretty well! He actually didn’t have most of the ingredients: sweet vermouth, bitters, and cherries. . . I think the solution involved grenadine and an orange sugar lined rim. And something else. So clearly it wasn’t a manhattan, but what he did make definitely gave a manhattan-esque vibe. Props to him for trying despite lacking ¾ of the ingredients!! I’m pretty sure we both had about 3 of them- each! And since that part of Memphis was pretty clearly NOT hopping, there was only one other person at the bar with us, so we got to chatting with our awesome bartender. He gave some great suggestions as to what to do while we were in town.

Though since we were on a time limit, it was mostly suggestions for places to go before noon the next day. We definitely followed his suggestion to go to a local brewery the next day for brunch, which was a pretty awesome move. More on that next time!!!

Indy: The Start of Our Starbucks Mug Obsession

2013-07-10T08:02:00.000-05:00

The first leg of our Texas Road Trip was the shortest one- Chicago to Indianapolis. It was just supposed to be a short, starter-leg of our trip, where we would stop by her parents’ house in Indy to drop off some of her stuff she didn’t want to take with her to Texas.

However, it felt like the longest since my friend, who is perpetually running late, kept pushing back our departure time. First it was 2pm, then 4pm, then 8pm. I don’t think she actually picked me up at my apartment until after midnight! And of course we were both starving since we had expected to by in Indy by dinnertime!

I’m pretty sure we stopped by somewhere stupid like Wendy’s since it was the only thing open that we could find on the road that late! We finally arrived at her parents’ place in Indy at 3:30am and went straight to bed. Nothing special, so I won’t bore you with those details.

Funny story though. I woke up the next morning at 10am, which I didn’t think was all that late considering I didn’t fall asleep until 4am. However, when I went out of the guest bedroom to find my friend, who had crashed on the couch, I found she wasn’t there! I went out to the driveway and the car was gone! Of course, I had the unfounded fear that I had slept too late and she went on to Memphis without me. So I texted her asking where she was.

I had no response for 3 hours, while I just lounged around their huge empty house wondering what the heck was going on. Finally, my friend came sleepily down the stairs at 1pm. She’d mentioned that her mother had woken her that morning and offered to let her sleep in their bed since her parents were both up. When I mentioned that the car was missing, my alarmed friend ran to the driveway to verify I wasn’t going crazy!

Alas! We both decided that her mom’s suggestion of sleeping in the bedroom was just a ruse so that we wouldn’t notice they took the car! So, with no ride any nothing else to do, we decided to make breakfast.

We diced up a red onion and some bell peppers that my friend had brought from her apartment; she’d originally just intended to donate them to her parents since she knew they might not make it to Texas very well. So we decided to just use them in a frittata. Her parents also had a ton of potatoes and some pancake mix in the pantry, so we used those for breakfast as well. (IMO, I can make better pancakes than what comes from a mix, but since it was there, we just used it).

Halfway through cooking, her parents came home; apparently they had brought the car in for a tune-up and it took longer than expected! Her aunt, uncle, cousin, and grandma also came out of the woodwork as the smells of breakfast started wafting through the house (the seemingly empty house was apparently full of my friends’ visiting relatives!) Her childhood friend happened to also be visiting his parents’ house nearby, so he also stopped by for our mid-afternoon breakfast!

Her mom made coffee and gave me her Starbucks mug to keep since I was a guest in Indy. So began our Starbucks City Mug obsession. Our impromptu brunch spurred the start of our respective collections!

Texas Road Trip

2013-07-08T08:52:00.000-05:00

Next up on my “Things I did on my Summer Vacation” Report (aka my “Blogging Hiatus” Report): Time to discuss my TEXAS ROAD TRIP! Lots of food-themed adventures during that trip that I’d like to share. Plus, it’ll be good to keep those places in mind in case I’m ever around that way again!

I embarked on this journey because one of my very good friends from college decided to move to Texas to go back to school. Definitely sad to see her go, but as part of my friend duty, I agreed to help her move down there. She got rid of most of her big furniture, so it was just the two of us in her parents’ SUV, with everything she kept that could fit inside.

We definitely checked out some awesome stops on our adventures from Yankee Country to the Deep South (Am I calling them the right things? Or do I sound like a Northerner trying to speak “Southern”? Y’all??) Our way southward tried to hit as many large cities as possible. Two city gals from the north were already out of our element crossing the Mason Dixon line, so we at least wanted to stick with metropolitan areas so we weren’t COMPLETELY out of place!

The route we ended up taking was from Chicago to Indianapolis to Memphis to Dallas, and finally to Austin. During the trip we also decided to start collecting Starbucks city mugs at each place we visited, so we both have nice food memories AND coffee mementos of the journey. Stay tuned for a recap of all the foodie things I did during this trip!

Greenbush: The Hidden Gem of the Trip

2013-07-03T09:07:00.000-05:00

I LOVE this place!

Nestled in the pretty nondescript town of Sawyer, Michigan about 12 miles from the Michigan/Indiana border, Greenbush Brewery is in fact, fairly surprising! I'm not sure what's more surprising- that it's in the middle of nowhere, or that is serves such good food and beer DESPITE being in the middle of nowhere. It's good enough that I convinced my parents to stop there TWICE on the way to/from visiting my sister in Ann Arbor. My travel buddy has also convinced his parents to lunch there on occasion so they can bring him back a growler of something when they do. The beer there is so good, he doesn't even have to specify what beer to bring since it's all good!

It's a tiny little facility with a small taproom to match. It's a one-room bar with less than 10 tables (probably closer to 5 that first time we went) and just the bar area. It doesn't matter much anyways, there aren't that many people in the area!

We stopped by there on our way home from Kalamazoo on our Anti-DLD Brew Tour to grab some lunch and perhaps a growler. We ordered a few appetizers to share as well as some sandwiches. It was all pretty good. You could tell everything was made fresh.

Since we were on the road, we split one taster tray (6 tasters) between the four of us. Everything was delicious! I definitely enjoyed the Anger black IPA, and its corresponding Imperial Black IPA (the Rage). Other favorites of the table included the Isole, which was a Belgian. I also enjoyed the Sunspot despite it being a fairly light-ish beer.

I've already been back twice since that first time during our Anti-DLD trip, and it never disappoints! The latest time I visited, the tap room had expanded, and they offered many of their beers to-go in bottles! I tried the Brother Benjamin, which their very delicious Imperial IPA. I still have a few more beers at my parents' house that I haven't tried yet. Perhaps it's time to pay them a visit soon and report back here! ;-)

Bells: Arguably Our Most Fun Stop!

2013-07-01T08:30:00.000-05:00

Third stop on our Anti-DLD Brew Tour was Bell's Eccentric Cafe in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Directly south of Grand Rapids, I had thought for a half minute that I might just bike down to Kalamazoo while my friends drove. Unfortunately, the beautiful bike path that heads directly north of Grand Rapids, does not go south :( So I would have been taking my chance at roads that I'm unfamiliar with. Not the best idea for a solo cyclist! Which is how I ended up on the bike path heading north while my friends slept in that morning!

But I digress! Once I was back to the hotel and showered, we made our way to Kalamazoo. There, we met a friend who had originally planned to join us, bailed last minute, then decided to come late after all! The restaurant area was super cute, with two outdoor beer gardens (one with tables, the other with grass). The interior was very cutely decorated. They must have named the cafe for the decorations, since they were quite eccentric, indeed!

They had an assortment of delicious food items to nosh on while you enjoyed your beverage (which I think they rotate, since I had gone back perhaps 2 months later and the menu looked different). Of course, since there was a large group of us, we ended up doing the thing where we ordered a pour of everything on the menu so we could try everything. At the cafe, not only do they serve seasonal favorites, but they also serve some of their experimental beers, which don't have names yet. If the experimental beers are popular in the cafe, then they look into mass-producing it for general distribution. Pretty cool to be able to "help" them pick their good beers!!

While we were there, we also took a tour of the facilities. Since the company has gotten so big, they actually do much of their brewing off-site now. But they do still have the original facilities as well. Our tour guide did a great job telling us about the awesome brewing process and the history of the company.

When we were done at the Eccentric Cafe, we went over to the General Store, which was on the other side of the building. There, you could purchase all sorts of Bells schwag, home brewing ingredients, and beer by the bottle, six-pack, or case! Since we were staying at a nearby hotel that evening, we bought assorted six-packs so that we can try everything in bottles, that they didn't have at the cafe. (As well as buying more bottles of the beers we liked from the cafe). Of course, I also had to buy a Bells cycling jersey since I was inspired by my ride that morning!

This stop also wins the prize of being our most fun stop. The atmosphere at the Eccentric Cafe and the tour was just a lot of fun. Of course, bringing random six-packs back to the hotel and drinking them in the hot tub sure helped as well! We were able to then stop back at the General Store on our way out of town to pick up more of whatever we decided were our favorites.

Between the beers we sampled at the Cafe as well as those we tried bottles of, I think my favorite was the Expedition Stout. It was quite rich and full-bodied. I also quite enjoyed the Kalamazoo Stout and, to my surprise, the White Winter, which is a fairly light beer. Usually I hate wasting calories on light beers, haha! It's also hard to go wrong with the Hopslam and Two Hearted. I definitely went home from there with a case of the Expedition, and assorted six-packs of my other favorite beers!

Founders: Bands, Bikes, and . . . Beer?

2013-06-28T10:40:00.000-05:00

After visiting New Holland and checking into our hotel, the second stop on our Anti-DLD Brew Tour was Founders Brewery in Grand Rapids, Michigan! Since we had gotten a fairly late start and had already made a stop for dinner, we didn’t get to Founders until fairly late. That evening they had a couple of bands playing, and it was pretty crowded inside.

I absolutely hate crowds, especially when I've been drinking. So I was in no mood to battle the crowds to the bar for beer. Though I had friends that were, so I was still able to taste what they were drinking! Unfortunately, the room was also quite loud due to the crowd and band, so I don’t think I ever learned what it was I drank :( I felt we didn't really get the full beer experience since it was so crowded, and I have no clue how many were on tap or how many I even tried. I guess the moral of the story is to come earlier in the day when it's not so crowded!

I also heard they weren't serving food, though they had some simple noms earlier in the day. I guess this isn't really a place for gourmands on a Saturday night!

In any case, we got to hear a couple of cool bands play. And we saw a pretty sweet guitar case:

And since I wasn't drinking all that much into the evening, I was able to take a nice long bike ride on a pretty sweet bike trail north of Grand Rapids. It was actually fairly easy to get to from downtown GR, and once I got on there, the riding was pretty smooth. It was a paved trail, probably an old railroad line. Most portions were heavily wooded, so it was nice and shady, and cool. You definitely don't see this type of scenery in Chicago! Especially not on a trail that's easily bike-able! (Ok, there are trails that are easy to bike to, but then when you get to them, you have to turn around since you've already gone 20 miles!)

Once I got back to the hotel, it was time to shower and check out. Definitely a fun segment of the trip, but I didn't feel like I got the most of the trip to the brewery! We got to listen to some nice bands, I sipped on some delicious beers my friends were drinking, and got a beautiful bike ride in for Half-Ironman training. But I didn't really get to taste the variety of beers I should have since I was AT the brewery! I get a bit too stressed out in crowds when there are drunk people around me, dropping their glass or elbowing me in the head (dangers of being short!) For next time, I'd like to get there earlier in the day, when they're serving food and you can sit and relax while drinking the beer. I think I'd enjoy the experience much better with less noise and fewer people!

New Holland: So Many Beers, So Little Time!

2013-06-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

First stop on our Anti-DLD Brew Tour was New Holland Brewery in Holland, Michigan! We went that Saturday, figuring is was "sort of kind of on the way" to Grand Rapids, where we had planned to spend the night. The plan was to grab dinner and a few brews at New Holland, drive to GR to check into our hotel, then spend the evening at Founders.

We ended up getting there later than expected, which meant we missed our friends who started eating/drinking without us! Whatever. We saw them on the street as they were leaving and we were going in. We didn't want to be rushed, so we ended up finding some seats at the bar and ordering some noms, as well as a taster of every beer on the ment. Yes, this menu:

Here's what "every beer on the menu" looked like. Yes, all three trays were ours. Plus one more since the number of beers on tap wasn't divisible by 6:

Please note: I was NOT the designated driver. So, as you can imagine, I can't really remember much about this beside that the beers were delicious! We went through each beer and tasted them from lightest to darkest, making notes on our sheets as to which ones we liked. Once we got through a taste of each one, then everyone just drank their favorite. It ended up working pretty well since we had a mix of folks that liked light and dark beers, so everyone got to drink a fair amount of what they liked.

I highly recommend coming with a group to test everything out, especially if you have folks with different tastes, or others that don't know what they like. Great way to taste the selection as well as to find what suits you personally!

I recall the food being decent, but you definitely don't come here for that! The beer is the showcase, and it's definitely a fun time getting to try them all. If I'd blogged about this immediately after the fact, I'd probably go through all my recommendations and descriptions.... Which of course I took note of! Unfortunately it's been over a year, so best to just go back and see what they have on tap now!

(Hmmm-- perhaps it's almost time for a follow-up trip??)

That said, the Dragon's Milk is always a goodie if you like them dark. They had a bourbon barrel aged one, as well as a nitro when we went... HEAVEN. I love IPAs as well, so the Imperial Hatter was one of my faves. Definitely looking forward to planning another trip in that direction to check out the new batches and remind myself which other ones I like! Perhaps next time we'll stay at a hotel nearby so we don't have to worry about sticking to a schedule and having one person be able to drive after!

Anyways, after dinner and tasters, the other non-DD and I were both fairly. . . Happy? :) We didn't have that much time to dilly dally since we wanted to make it to GR with enough time to actually hang out at our next stop. So we finished up fairly quickly then headed to Grand Rapids, checked into the hotel, then made our way to Founders. More on that next time!

Adventures of Anti-Dark Lord Day!

2013-06-24T07:14:00.000-05:00

My first adventure after dropping off the face of this blog was to commiserate not being able to get tickets to Dark Lord Day at Three Floyds, only one of the greatest days of the year for a dark beer fanatic like myself.

Last year, it was sadly impossibly hard to get tickets. I had about 10 friends waiting by their computers when tickets went on sale, and only 1 friend was able to get one. They only allow you to buy two in the first place, and my friend actually didn’t get one himself; his cousin was the lucky one who scored two! So the rest of us were left with nothing but sadness, jealousy, and a free weekend!

So my other friends and I decided we would take a trip to other breweries that weekend instead. If we weren’t able to buy the beer we wanted, we would at least be able to try out a variety of others. The group that went was really into craft microbrews, to actually getting to visit where the beers are made is pretty special. Even if they're not the beers we were looking forward to getting ALL YEAR! Of course to dark beer fans, Dark Lord is THE beer, so hard to top!

We ended up having a blast! We visited 4 breweries in Michigan and they were all pretty freaking fantastic. (You can probably guess 3 of them from the first picture above!) Plus, being in Michigan and training for a half ironman gave the perks of being able to enjoy some car-free trails on my bike! I’ll talk about each place we visited, in separate posts, but the pic below should be able to give you a clue as to the success of our trip!

Read about each stop here:
New Holland
Founders
Bells
Greenbush

Hey There Stranger!

2013-06-21T08:35:00.000-05:00

Hello again after another long hiatus! In my last entry, I was embarking on a Julie/Julia-esque project in which I had planned on try out various recipes from one of my many vegetarian cookbooks. Alas, that project got completely put aside in favor of tri and marathon training! And beer adventures!

I ended up doing a number of long-distances races last season and early this year, starting with a Half Ironman in August, a marathon in October, pacing a friend for a 100-mile run in November, and a cross country ski half marathon in February. Whew! If all that wasn’t enough, then I immediately started tri training again and completed another Half Ironman just last week! Needless to say, all that training left little time for cooking and experimenting.

The good news for all my blog readers is that I’ve decided to retire from long-distance racing for a bit to return to my *OTHER* interests.... Including martial arts, music, and of course FOOD!

With that, I intend to pick up where I left off last year and begin my recipe testing and experimentation from the Vegetarian Cookbook! I’ve already gone through the cookbook and marked which recipes seemed interesting to me. My goal is to do at least one recipe a week. This is a good project for me since it will at least ensure that I’m not eating out ALL the time :)

Per usual, I’m a bit of a persnickety cook, so I’m sure there will be modifications and substitutions galore. Hopefully if I still have readers out there, you’ll join me on this adventure!

While I’m busy brushing up on my cooking skills (it might take me a while to get the ball rolling!), I’ll try to keep your interest piqued in the meantime by doing a few summary posts of my food adventures of the past year! This blog was intended to document my entire FOOD life, not just my COOKING life, so I’d like to include some of the cool places I’ve been since I haven’t really been cooking! Stay tuned for that in my next post! In the meantime, here's a picture of my plate at my friend's wedding over a year ago :) Yes, it's been THAT long!

The Vegetarian Cookbook

2012-04-13T07:06:00.000-05:00

As part of my Great Recipe Challenge of 2012, I've so far only blogged about recipes I found online during my search for a potluck contribution. However, what originally got me into the idea of doing a recipe challenge was my friend's suggestion to watch Julie & Julia, a movie about a food blogger who tried every single recipe in Julia Child's first cookbook. My friend suggested I go in a similar vein for my own food blog, since I'm generally pretty sporadic about trying new stuff and posting about it. However, since I'm so picky with my food choices, going through a single cookbook didn't make sense for me, since most things wouldn't fit under my nutritional preferences!

So I've been going through several of my cookbooks and trying to flush out recipes I would like to blog about. I thought this might be a good time to start introducing which cookbooks I'll be blogging from, before I randomly start pulling recipes from them. Obviously I'd like to give the cookbooks their due credit!

The first cookbook I decided I would like to feature is The Vegetarian Cookbook: The Practical Guide to Preparing and Cooking Delicious Vegetarian Meals. This book was gifted to me several years ago by my aunt and uncle, a few years after I became vegetarian. Looking through it, I thought it was a good resource, as many of the recipes rely on natural ingredients that are commonly available at most grocery stores. I know with modern technology in the food sciences, there are now so many different products that many vegetarian/vegan cookbooks depend on. I like that this one keeps it simple without depending on too many things that require a trip to a specialty store!

Of course, whether any of these recipes are any good is still to be determined! I guess that'll be my task for the recipe challenge!

Emma's Salad

2012-04-11T07:45:00.000-05:00

I'm not even sure if I should include this "recipe" in my Great Recipe Challenge of 2012! This is a pretty simple salad that my mom calls "Emma's Salad" because my friend Emma brought it to her house once for dinner. It's fairly generic, but I'll give Emma the credit since it is frequently her contribution to dinner parties and potlucks. In any case, I'm blogging about it now, since we brought not one, but two versions of it at Easter this year. My mom couldn't decide if she wanted feta or mozzarella, so we did both and had two separate salads!

All measurements are approximate, since each iteration of the salad comes out well without having to overthink things! The best thing about the salad is that it's easy to scale up since most of the ingredients come pre-packaged in the indicated sizes!

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Emma's Salad

1 pound baby spinach or mixed greens
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes (halved if using cherry)
2-3 avocados, cubed
8 oz sliced white button or crimini mushrooms
6 oz crumbled feta cheese or mozzarella balls
generous pour of olive oil
generous pour of balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Toss ingredients together in salad bowl. Serve.

Sausage & Summer Vegetable Casserole w/Cheesy Polenta Crust

2012-04-09T07:29:00.000-05:00

The next entry in my Great Recipe Challenge of 2012 is another recipe I had considered trying for my potluck the other week (see original version of the recipe here). Even though I didn't end up picking it, I think it actually ended up tasting much better than the recipe I went with! I brought it to my family Easter party this weekend, and received several compliments on the dish! This is definitely a winner, and I have to put a star on this recipe as one that will make it on my rotating list of regular meals.

The reason I had originally NOT picked this recipe for the potluck I went to was because I was a bit suspicious of it. The original version had you throw a bunch of raw veggies in a casserole and warned the reader that:
1. it was very important to have a deep casserole dish (aka, spillover warning!), and
2. it would come out very watery and so you have to serve it with a slotted spatula.

Um, yeah... Not the kind of dish I wanted to try out for a bunch of foodies! I knew the recipe would need tweaking to resolve these problems, so I figured I would try it out for Easter. Since it was for a large family gathering, if it were a flop, there would be plenty of other food for people to eat.

I ended up pre-cooking the vegetables to get the water out before it went into the casserole. Most of the water came from the eggplant, zucchini, and mushrooms. My end product ended up only being slightly watery, so that's an improvement from the original recipe! The one downside was that since my casserole pan was so full (and it was a 9 x 13 x 2-in pan, so pretty standard size, and large), some of the egg mixture spilled over while it was cooking and covered the bottom of the oven. It ended up being ok, though I was quite unhappy at the big mess and burning smell it made! I can't even imagine what kind of mess it would have made if I had just thrown in the raw veggies in there, since the volume would have been about twice as big!

So for my write-up, I'll suggest that rather going with a regular eggplant, use the smaller Japanese variety. Also, I'll reduce the number of zucchinis from four to three. That should reduce the volume in the casserole dish enough to solve the spillage problem, and since the zucchinis and eggplant were the biggest water culprits, these changes should also reduce that issue. I've included a note in my version of the recipe to place a cookie tray below the dish in case it spills in addition to the pre-cooking step, so that the next time I try it, I'm not re-inventing the wheel!

Once I try this version of it, I'll confirm or re-adjust the recipe to make sure that the wateriness and overflow/spillage are no longer a problem! But despite all its problems, it makes for a delicious casserole!

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Sausage & Summer Vegetable Casserole with Cheesy Polenta Crust

For the polenta:
1 cup coarse cornmeal
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock (I used Better than Boullion Chicken Style Veggie Broth)
1 additional cup water (optional)

For the casserole:
4 sausages, sliced (I used Field Roast Vegetarian Italian Sausage)
2 shallots, thinly sliced
3 leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced
1 fennel bulb, chopped
1/2 cup water
1 Japanese eggplant, chopped
3 medium-sized zucchinis, chopped
8 oz. assorted mushrooms

6 eggs
1 cup milk (I used soy milk)
1 cup chicken or veggie stock
1.5 tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
pinch salt
lots of freshly ground pepper

6 oz shredded Gruyere cheese

Directions:
In a small saucepan, combine cornmeal and stock over medium-high heat. Once it begins to boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. It may be necessary to add up to an additional cup of water while cooking, depending on the coarseness of the cornmeal. Set aside.

While the polenta is cooking, preheat the oven to 400°. Grease a large, deep baking dish.

In a large sauce pan or wok, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add sausages to brown, approximately 3 minutes; once cooked through, set aside. Add shallots, leeks, fennel and 1/2 cup water in same pan. Saute until cooked through, 5-10 minutes. Set aside with the sausage. Cook eggplant, zucchinis, and mushrooms in the same pan, 5-10 minutes. These veggies will release a lot of water, so remove from pan with a slotted spoon, or drain in a colander lined with paper towels. Place all the veggies and sausage in the baking dish.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, stock, thyme, salt and pepper. Pour over the vegetable/sausage mixture. Spread the polenta in an even layer over the vegetables, then spread the shredded cheese over the polenta in an even layer.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the top layer has formed a crust and the cheese has deeply browned. *NOTE: In case of spillage, place a foil-lined cookie tray on the rack beneath the casserole, just in case.*

Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 8-10.

Black Bean Lasagna

2012-04-06T07:58:00.000-05:00

Next up on my Recipe Challenge and Pantry Raid projects is a Black Bean Lasagna I stumbled across while looking for my potluck contribution that originally inspired these challenges! Though this recipe didn't make the original cut for the potluck, I did keep it in the back of my head as something I wanted to try out!

I also chose this recipe since I had a box of whole wheat lasagna noodles in my pantry that I'd inherited from a friend when she moved to Beijing almost two years ago! She'll shortly be moving back to the States, and I didn't want to still have all the food she'd donated to me to still be there when she gets back! I was also able to use half a bag of frozen onions that has been in my freezer since who knows how long. I don't know why I'd even bought them, since I usually always buy a fresh onion whenever I have a recipe that calls for it! I also still had some leftover parsley from last week's polenta casserole, so that was one more thing I didn't have to buy for this recipe! Sweet!

I did end up subbing 1% whipped cottage cheese (Friendship brand) instead of the ricotta since for some reason they only had full fat ricotta! Since I was on my bike, stops at multiple grocery stores would be inconvenient, so I just bought what I deemed was the next closest thing.

The VERDICT:
While I liked the idea of this dish, I thought it was lacking in the flavor department. I think I'll definitely make it again in the future, but maybe adding some cumin, chili powder, and oregano to increase the spice in the dish. It could also use a bit more cilantro, and perhaps some fresher ingredients like a green pepper or even poblano. As it is, it feels like it's still an Italian dish with some hints of latino flair. Adding a few extra ingredients could kick up the flavor without too much extra effort. I also gave the cottage cheese sub a thumbs-up. Since I'd used the whipped version, I think the consistency was pretty spot-on.

Another idea for future version is to use different types of carbs in the dish. I went with the lasagna this time around because I had it, but it's not something I generally buy. To go with a latino theme, I could opt for corn tortillas instead of noodles in the future, or perhaps choose a penne or ziti to make a general noodle casserole.

So, for this recipe, since I've linked the original version above, I'm going to go ahead and put in some of my additions in the re-print below. That way, when I come back to re-trying this, I'll remember the changes I want to make rather than re-inventing the wheel! This should be a good starting point. Also, for a future version, I may also play with the sauce- perhaps more diced tomatoes and less tomato paste, and even using fresh tomatoes rather than canned.

In any case, this looks like a win for in-season dinners. It's pretty easy to make, and the recipe is big enough that it should last for most of the work week. I can totally see this as a go-to type meal that I'd make on a Sunday night, and give me something to eat for the rest of the week! It would go great served with a side salad of tomatoes, avocado, mushrooms, and mixed greens. Nothing like coming home this sort of post-workout meal after my evening training sessions!

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Black Bean Lasagna
Ingredients
9 lasagna noodles or corn tortillas, or equivalent penne or ziti noodles
1 large onion, chopped (or ~1 cup of frozen)
1 green pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans (16 ounces each) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cans (6 ounces each) tomato paste
1 cup water
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 carton (15 ounces) reduced-fat ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley (or sub in more cilantro)
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend

Directions
Cook noodles according to package directions.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, cook onion and green pepper in oil until tender. Add cumin, oregano, chili powder, and garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add the beans, tomatoes, tomato paste, water, cilantro and pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes or until slightly thickened.

In a small bowl, combine the egg whites, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese and parsley.

Drain noodles. Spread 1/2 cup bean mixture into a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Layer with three noodles, a third of the ricotta mixture, a third of the remaining bean mixture and 2/3 cup cheese blend. Repeat layers twice.

Cover and bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes. Uncover; bake 10-15 minutes longer or until bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Yield: 12 servings.