unruly things

a nice hot steaming cup of cocoa to warm me up. recipes here.
{image from nicamom}

here’s a few of my favorites this year:
• Moylans White Christmas – a zesty Belgium White Ale. it’s both spicy and fruity, with cinnamon, coriander, and orange peel.
• Full Sail Wreck the Halls – a hoppy holiday IPA. full and piney.
• Rogue Santa’s Private Reserve – a spicy American Strong Ale. lots of flavor, full of caramel malt and floral hoppiness.
• Bison Winter Warmer – a classic Abbey Dubbel, yum. sweet fruity character with a hint of toffee and chocolate. at 9% abv, it’s definitely a cheek warmer.

oh, so pretty for holiday.
{from west elm}

mmm mmm good! the other day when we were at Fresh Market, dlb and I decided to try zico coconut water. it is so good, and refreshing and packed with more potassium than a banana. it comes in three flavors, mango, passionfruit/orangepeel, and natural coconut.
I was craving a zico today, and to my surprise, they did not have it at Wild Oats. {I should’ve figured. I should still be boycotting that place…..} I even checked at the gas station, hoping they would have it. but that was wishful thinking. so, on the way home, dlb turned the wrong way on Mac Dill, away from our apartment, and I was like, where are you going?? I seriously thought that he was just lost, and forgot his way home. until we turned into Fresh Market…. for a zico!!!!! oh, the things you’ll do because of love. :)

it’s Saturday! and in my world that means sleeping in, yummy breakfast, and relaxation! I hope everyone had a great work week. I had……. an OK week. not the greatest, but not absolutely horrible.
now, events for today!! feel like drinking lots of beer? the Florida Brewers Guild Beer Fest is in Centro Ybor today from 2-6pm. over 100 craft beers, live music, food and fun! should be a good time, but I’m really going to have to work on pacing myself if I want to make it to round two of the events for today.
The Postmarks, just released their debut self titled album, and it’s already a chart topper. described as having heart swooning melodies, this is definitely a show not to miss before these guys make it big. the voice of leading female singer, Tim, is soft and meloncholy. should be a great show! 9pm at New World Brewery. above is a gig poster I created for the show.

I would consider myself to be an average connesuier of wine. I took a wine course in college, I have been to tastings, and I am able to pick a wine based on food parings. I know a lot about the characteristics of wine regions, but I could not, however, tell you that this wine is a 2002 vintage from from the Graves region of Bordeaux or that the Shiraz you’re drinking is from South Australia. it’s difficult to keep up with wine snobs and to feel accepted in a wine community full of over zealous wine freaks. that is why I choose to be a beer snob.
beer is much more complex than I ever thought. I used to wash my palate down with Miller Light after Miller Light, and actually enjoyed the taste. ask me my opinion two years ago, and I would tell you, Miller Light was my beer of choice and I hated the taste of Guiness. I could name enough beers to play the alphabet game with beer as a category, but I had no idea what IPA meant, or what a microbrewery was, or that Belgium beers came in 4 basic styles. I was content drinking can after can of Miller Light. now, I would consider myself to be somewhat of a beer snob. and it’s a whole hell of a lot cooler than being a wine snob. I’ve met beer snobs and they are much more laid back, flip flop wearing, shirts untucked, and messy hair people, as compared to the stuffy wine people who all remind me of Fraiser. being a beer snob, I go to bars where I know there is good beer, I can’t stand drinking anything “light”, and I actually ordered a Guiness at a bar on Saturday night. (guiness + frambroise = delightful)
now that our beer book has just over 60 beers in it, I think I’m well on my way to becoming a beer snob. a few of my favorites to date are: Duvel, Dunedin Apricot Peach Ale, Rogue Dead Guy Ale, Bells Hop Slam, and Great Lakes Holy Moses White Ale. check them out!

I have been wanting a sake set for awhile now. I found these really nice sets online after doing a Google search tonight. he wants the bodum set in the top left picture. I like the set from Pottery Barn, which is the simple white set in the bottom right. the other two are from the Kitchen Store.

after a one year hiatus, beer is back at Gasparilla. last year, Miller brewing pulled out in the last minute, leaving a parade route with tons of people, beerless. well, essentially beerless to the fact that there was no beer being sold on the parade route. this did not mean you couldn’t bring your own! so anyway, this year, Budweiser has signed up as a sponsor for Gasparilla. they have created a commemorative aluminum bottle for Budweiser and Bud Light. personally, I can’t stand either one of these choice beers, but I think it’s pretty cool to get the recognition of our Tampa parade by a beer company like Budweiser. too bad the aluminum can’t be put into our beer book.