Beerology @ The Museum of Man

Tonight some friends and I attended Beerology at the Museum of Man in Balboa Park. The event sponsored by Green Flash, Alesmith, Dog Fish Head and a number of other micro brews was a resounding success and not just because of the all you can drink samples from some of the -Iamnotbiased- best breweries in the country, cupcakes with stout icing, and the cool museum atmosphere.

At the end of the night I asked if I could bring some bottles home...Somehow it took myself, three strapping gentlemen, and 4 large boxes to carry the 60 silk screened bottles to car.

I'm especially pleased with these "Enlightened Buddha Beer" bottles, although I have no idea what to do with them...They cannot be cut on the bumpy surface. Any ideas? Anyone?

Have you heard that the largest shelf in your house is the floor?

The man running the Left Coast booth also threw these guys into the boxes...I like to think it's because I'm cute...although he probably just didn't want to carry everything back.

True Life: I'm a Bottle Hoarder

I knew I had reached a low when I caught my boyfriend trying to take a picture of me in my cute Friday night dress reaching into the recycling at Bottle Craft trying to fish out empty beer bottles...but you would do it too if you were making TRENDY tumblers, glasses, candles, and hurricanes out of beer bottles.

I've come to realize over the years that I have this tendency to overdo craft projects. One day I'm painting picture frames for my dorm room, 6 months later I'm applying for a seed capital loan to buy wholesale frames at Juniata. So it's really no surprise that every horizontal space in our apartment is occupied with beer bottles in various forms. I blame my friends and family for feeding my habits! YES, YOU READING THIS! It's probably YOUR FAULT! See just yesterday I got a Facebook comment from someone saying they had saved me a bunch of empties, including this 18 inch tequila bottle that wasn't yet entirely empty..so you know what that means.

Let's cut to the chase. Bottle cutting is a fantastic way to recycle or immortalize trendy bottles that you would otherwise just get rid of. The thought of bottles having a second life is appealing to me.

Get excited, tutorials to come.

Fried Quinoa Patties

I found this great recipe for Quinoa Patties the other day. Quinoa used to be a staple food for Nick before he met me because it's easy to make, relatively cheap, and healthy.

I think you'll like this recipe. 

Cook 1/2 box of Quinoa by boiling. Let cool.
Finely dice an onion
Chop 1/2 cup of chives
Shred a zucchini
Dice 4-6 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 cups Panko bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all together in it's yummy quinoa glory!

Beat 6 eggs in a bowl and add to mixture
Let everything absorb and let sit a few minutes

Form the mixture into palm size patties.

Heat oil in large skillet
Fry up and serve hot.

I also think this would be good with some kind of sour cream or tzatziki sauce.

Perfect Summer Days

The weather's been so lovely and wonderful lately we've been outside a lot enjoying the sunshine. We biked down to dog beach from our house this past weekend.
It's a fun 15 mile ride.

 

  

Look how blue that sky is! :)

 

We've finally started taking full advantage of Trolley Park within walking distance.

 We went stand up paddle boarding with the Kochs. It was the most 

awesome, sunny, glorious adventure!

The Perfect Day

 

Yesterday was a perfect day. It was already beautiful and sunny when Nick and I commuted to work together. After work I went body surfing for a little before picking Nick up and swinging down to La Jolla for an amazing beach yoga session. The breeze was refreshing and being able to hear the waves and smell the salt made it that much better. Julie joined us and I think it's going to become a regular activity. We made a nice dinner after and opened a bottle of wine which provided the perfect cap to a perfect day.

Heavy Causulties

Nick and I prepared for battle this morning. After laying siege to the fruit fly colony in the form of a suffocating trash bag for 6 days we were finally ready to inspect the damage.

HEAVY CASUALTIES HAVE BEEN SUSTAINED BUT THERE ARE MANY TROOPS STILL ALIVE.

When we removed the plastic bag hundreds of little corpses fell out but there was also many flies still alive. We haven't opened the lid yet so we won't know the full extent of the damage till tonight. Further exploration needed.

The War Continues

Even as I write this from the bunker three fruit flies enemy scouts are sitting on the top of my laptop. I have to admit Nick and I were incredibly pleased with how well our kitchen traps were working. We woke on Day 6 to find the hundreds were buzzing around stupidly in the organic salad trap, lured by the irresistible smell of rotting banana peel, balsamic vinegar, and a strawberry that had literally melted into the container. It looked uncannily like blood...

Nick was so pleased in fact that he had taken to making comments to the flies as he walked by.

"At this point there's a good chance there's a second generation trapped in there."
"God, they are so stupid but you have to hand it to the buggers they certainly are persistent."
"BOOYA."

Then he began to smush the ones that had crawled up into the lid lip leaving a war zone of bloody little fly bodies-a warning to the other.

"It's like bubble wrap."
"Only squishier..."


The war was going well! We were feeling great and in control until...

We woke day 8 to find all the traps missing and a swarm fruit flies in the kitchen, bedroom, and living room.