Red Hook

Funny thing about me and beer... I hated it for years and survived college on rum and Diet Coke in addition to the occasional night of tossing back approximately three shots of Jose Cuervo and I would be set for the evening. About six years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting the "microbrew" when I lived with my dear friend Leslie, whohas a passion for fancy beer. I quickly began my love affair with craft beers and have become a beer snob of sorts. Although I cant claim to be any kind of connoisseur, I do know what I like.

I have been on some fun brewery tours before with some great beer, and was super excited to finally head out to my neighborhood brewery and do the official tour at Red Hook. I have of course had Red Hook many times, but really didn't know much about the brewery. So, me and BF headed out to Woodinville Saturday night to meet our dear friend the Solinsky's to taste some beer. The tour costs $1.00 and with that hefty investment you get five samples, a commemorative mini glass and a good time. There isn't much of a tour per say, more like a gathering in an upstairs room with some random folks (our crowd was complete with a mullet and a baby), some tunes, a witty beer guide and a view of the brewing and containment rooms. We got to taste the signature brews, Blonde, ESB, Longhammer IPA, Copperhook Ale and my new favorite, Mud Slinger Spring brew. Our beer guide was so good, that she slipped us a sixth sample of our choice.

I preferred the Mud Slinger, which is a nut brown ale and not too overwhelming. Its very smooth; perfect amount of bitter and sweet; kind of a grainy flavor which I like. It went down very easy and was a great complement to my turkey burger. Really good beer and I love the packaging for it.

We had a great evening and I managed to awake headache free which is always a plus when the night before is filled with drinking delicious yet high alcohol content beers.

Happy beer tasting!

Savory Bread Pudding & a New Dinner Favorite

My new favorite magazine is 425. I love this publication and they have some great recipes by local Eastside chefs and personalities. This one in particular caught my eye... Savory Sundried Tomato and Chevre Pain Perdu. Translation: Bread Pudding with sundried tomatoes and goat cheese.

I've never had any kind of bread pudding before, but I've always thought it looked super yummy. So, I was inspired!

(One thing to note, this recipe needs a little prep time, so be sure to plan ahead when making this recipe.)

Savory Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

1 lb crusty loaf bread cubed in 1 inch pieces (I

used a round loaf of sourdough, cubed and tossed in the oven for a few minutes to get nice and crusty OR you can use day old bread)

4 large eggs

1.5 C of 1% milk

1 C heavy cream

5 ounces of goat cheese

1/2 C parmesan cheese, grated

6 ounces sundried tomato,

chopped (I used ones soaked in olive oil)

1/2 C parsley, chopped

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp pepper

Place the cubed bread in a baking dish, OR you can make individual servings in 3 inch ramekins.

Whisk milk, cream, cheeses, tomato, parsley, s and p, and pour on top of the dried bread cubes. Smash the bread down into the custard mixture so the bread is completely emerged. Place in refrigerator and let set over night.

The next morning, bake at 375 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. May take more or less time depending on how thick your baking dish is. Mine took about 45 mins to completely cook through. But, my oven also sucks...

I served with thick, center cut bacon and a hot cup of coffee. Deelish! Perfect for a brunch.

As for recipe #2, my lovely mother left me a stack of Bon Appetite's a few weeks ago and after sifting through them I stumbled on a fabulous recipe for lamb chops. I have never made lamb of any kind, so needless to say, I was nervous. I assumed the best place for lamb would be a butcher, so I went to our friends at Fisher Meats in Issaquah, but of course they only had leg of lamb. When I asked where I could find good lamb chops, they suggested QFC. Low and behold, my neighborhood QFC did indeed have some chops! I got the last 4, about 1.6 lbs for about $16 with my club card.

Lamb Chops with Mint Salsa Verde

Ingredients:

4 1 inch thick lamb loin chops

2 tbls plus 3/4 C extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

2 C loosely packed fresh mint, finely chopped

1/2 C flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped

2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh tarragon leaves

1 tbsp salt-packed capers, finely chopped

1/4 tsp crushed red chile flakes

6 oil-packed anchovy filets, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Put lamb into a small baking dish and rub with olive oil, s and p and set aside to rest for about 30 mins.

For the salsa, combine mint, parsley, tarragon, capers, chile flakes, anchovies and garlic into a medium bowl. Slowly drizzle in remaining olive oil while stirring with a fork until well combined. Set aside for later...

Set grill to medium heat. Add chops to grill and let grill for about 4 minutes or so and then flip to cook on the other side for another 4 minutes or so, or until browned and crusty. Let rest for about 10 minutes.

Once well rested and juices have redistributed, top with salsa verde, and serve! We cooked ours for exactly 4 minutes on each side and they were perfectly cooked, pink inside and very tender. So good.

I served these with roasted mix veggies including carrots, brussels and red potatoes. All chopped about the same size, tossed in olive oil and s and p, then hit with a little butter and fresh chopped herbs once out of the oven, including thyme and rosemary. Roast for about 40 minutes at 425 degrees on a lined baking sheet. You could do any veggie combo you like!

Maybe a good Easter dish? Enjoy!

Super Bowl XLV

It's a dirty job, but someones gotta do it...

I had the pleasure of co-hosting some clients this last weekend in Dallas for the mother of all sporting events, the Super Bowl.

We arrived Thursday evening at our fabulous hotel, the Palomar. Super trendy, boutique hotel that apparently my boy Snoop and Jamie Fox also stayed at (the bartender took a liking to our group and spilled the beans).

We then headed out to the Budweiser Hotel to hear Lifehouse and the Fray perform. They were both incredible live and we also had a few fun sightings...


Any Bachelor or Chelsea Lately watchers out there? Chris Harrison couldn't be more nice... he also told me who won...

Kidding, I wish.

We emerged from the party into a blizzard. No taxis available anywhere (Detroit all over again) so we opted for a choice ride of the 80's... a white stretch limo. Hey, you gotta do what ya gotta do to get to your next destination.

Due to the blustery weather, I was somewhat confined to the hotel, but managed to get a lot of rest and relaxation in before the big game.

Friday evening we headed out to the Commissioner's Ball. Mostly NFL people and a lot of yummy food. I had the pleasure of trying jalapeno mac and cheese... YUM. We also got to see Martina McBride perform. She is awesome live and so gorgeous. Following, we dropped in to the Axe Bar, no, not a bar sponsored by Axe deodorant, just Axe. Pitbull decided to show up about two hours late and hit us with some beats. He is pretty entertaining. I was the most clothed and the eldest person in the place. We had a few drinks, did little platform dancing and headed back to the hotel for a night cap.

Saturday, we took the group out to a local Mexican joint, Desperados, that caters for the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Mavericks. It was pretty damn good. I wore my brand new cowgirl boots to get into the spirit... they were hit! Now I just need to find more reasons to wear them. They are so comfortable.

Finally, Super Bowl Sunday. It always amazes me how these types of events happen... thousands of fans, hundreds of staff, team personnel, players, coaches, performers, etc. Its nuts. Cowboys Stadium is absolutely absurd. It's like the Nordstrom's of stadiums. Everything is over the top, but very beautiful. The jumbotron is ridiculous. You don't even need to watch the actual game occurring on the field. I could see the sweat dripping off of Aaron Rodgers face (and I liked it :)). Super cool.

Augi (aka Christina Auguilara) was amazing. Although she missed half the song, the parts she did sing were spot on and she literally brought tears to my eyes with her rendition. She did however look like a stuffed albino sausage. Bad outfit, bad, bad, bad.

Halftime was also a spectacle. Loved every minute of it minus Slash. He was unnecessary, but the BEP and Usher rocked it. Fergie is one hot mama.

It was great to see the NFC take it and especially the Pack. Well deserved and what a fabulous game. It was also great to see Big Ben single handedly lose the game for the Steelers. Karma is a you... know... what!

All in all, GREAT trip. I'm one lucky lady for being able to go on my boss's behalf. Would love to go back to Dallas and explore a bit more sometime, maybe look for Riggins and Seracin, and go line dancing.

Texas Forever!