I FINALLY get to go to COMIC-CON here in San Diego! Six years of living here and never getting passes and I win two today. That’s the joke around here- no one from San Diego seems to get Comic-Con tickets, locals just can’t seem to get them unless they know someone.
I won our local news station’s daily drawing for two passes…Thank You Fox 5 Morning News!! Unfortunately, now my kids and husband are going to have to compete to see who gets the second pass, things might get ugly around here…
Just a short post about how I’ve wanted to see my friends daughters perform ever since we met at our children’s school six years ago…
Finally!
While we may have missed the opportunity to see one of their fabulous flamenco shows as they have moved on to a different dance company, we were rewarded with an outstanding show this afternoon.
Lovely young men and women, with these two my favorite stars!
One of the best Napa wine tours I ever attended ended the winery visit with not only samples of their cellars, but with foods paired with the wines. I will never forget how deliciously a sauvignon blanc pairs with bruschetta, or how lovely a dessert wine tastes with shortbread and strawberries. I am not a fan of sweeter wines, but a well made dessert wine can be heavenly. Even if you are a die-hard dry red lover like me, I bet you can find a dessert wine that you like, too.
The Husband is not too fond of sweet wines, but he had no choice. I made him try a Moscato D’Oro from Robert Mondavi Winery, along with a Mahón cheese and fresh peaches. Fresh peaches… aahhhh… is there any fruit better than tree ripened fresh peaches? I practically turn orange this time of year from eating so many peaches. If I don’t keep The Boy out of the most recent box, I won’t have enough to make another cobbler. I better hide them.
The Husband had no complaints about the wine. If he did, I would hide the next cobbler from him. I fight dirty. He didn’t care for the cheese pairing but nonetheless, we still ate all the cheese. I loved the fruity flavors of this wine- such rich peach and berry flavors. Maybe I’ll make that cobbler tomorrow and we will finish off the wine tomorrow.
It has been over twenty years since I’ve had a dessert wine, so I am counting this as something new. The last time was that Napa trip, our honeymoon. Thanks for being my wine buddy tonight, sweetie!
Is it “Feed a cold and starve a fever? Or the other way around?
A study by the Japanese beverage behemoth Sapporo suggests that inebriating the virus could help. Time Magazine had a article about this back in 2012 titled “Got a Cold? Have a Beer!” Unfortunately, one of the researchers admitted that you’d need to drink 30 12oz. cans to begin to do any good. Take heart, San Diego-style lovers! Your super high IBUs from triple hopped brews means your beer is packed with more of the anti-viral good stuff. (Wondering what IBUs are? Here is a great article from TheKitchn.com about decoding beer acronyms).
So, off to O’Brien’s Pub we went for spicy enchilada soup and a Thorn Street’s Castaway Coconut Porter. If the soup doesn’t clear me up, I have faith that the beer will restore my health. Don’t go pointing out the lack of healthy hops in my porter… it was good.
The Husband hadn’t heard of Thorn Street Brewery, and, surprise, it is one of our 100+ craft breweries here in San Diego. We found out that the North Park facility is a pub of activities for the whole family, including a Kids Eat Free Taco Tuesday with the Famoso Taco Truck, home brew classes, dance film fest and golf fundraisers, and other food trucks, too. Now that we have perused their web site, I think we need to check out this spot, soon.
And for a fun extra, here is a photo of one of the 21st Annual Great British & Belgian Christmas Beer Festival Tour! O’Brien’s Pub’s own Tyson and Kristina can take you on “the Ultimate Beer Geek Holiday” if you have a spare $3K laying about…
Thought I’d try a recipe that I’ve had for a while, one for home made cheesy crackers… kind of like Cheez-its. My kids love those crackers and whenever they eat a lot of something, I like to see how a home made version might turn out. ChewOutLoud.com had a super simple recipe- four ingredients: cheddar, flour, butter, and salt. That’s it. I didn’t want to mess with a lot of ingredients or kitchenware with this crummy cold I have, but I’ve been bored with just TV and reading, I needed to create something. And of course, I had to make a few changes, so my recipe follows-
Cheesy Crackers
Put all the ingredients into food processor bowl, and blend until the dough starts to come together- 30 to 60 seconds. Don’t overwork the dough, think of it as a cousin of pie crust and if it mixes too long the crackers will be tough.
Flatten dough into three disks, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Roll out the dough disks one at a time to about 1/8th of an inch thick and cut into squares of approximately one inch.
Place on baking tray, and poke the pre-crackers a couple of times with the flat end of a skewer (optional), and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until they start to brown lightly.
These were really tasty, but I think I still overworked the dough- 30 seconds was probably all the mixing it needed. Also, they are unbelievably greasy, until you think about how much cheese and butter there is to so little flour. Probably why they are so tasty, too!
If you have young kids, you really ought to try this recipe or a similar one. I bet they would really enjoy making their own cheesy crackers! Mine came out less crispy as store bought crackers, so I put them back in the oven for a bit longer- if you do this, watch out, they brown very fast.
branching out... on a limb 