Dining and Opining

Last week, my husband JH marked the completion of another journey around the sun. But unfortunately, this year the birthday involved less celebration than is typical, because of a looming project deadline that has kept him almost chained to his desk for the last month. But, I reasoned, a man's gotta eat. So, the meals of the day became the moments to pause and reflect and make him feel special through food. I think it worked. The breakfast ingredients: basil and cherry tomatoes picked from our small garden moments before preparation; and eggs from our friend MH and her chickens Phoneix and Big Red. The resulting breakfast, served on a tray, breakfast-in-bed style: omelets with sauteed onions, basil, and tomato; fresh-baked baguette and focaccia and a bite of salty caramel brownie, all from Batch Bakehouse ; and juice and water and the ever-present sriracha . After a lunch of taco salad and a dinner of Vientiane , our Madison nearest and dearest joined us in a little park...

While I've been making my own seitan and my own cheese and planning to cater a wedding , Justin's been thinking about trying his hand at a DIY project of his own: Beer Brewing. The perfect opportunity arose recently when our friends HS and AS invited us over to their place for some conversation and brewing of beer.  Justin got just the right tutorial, so that now he's rarin' to go (stay tuned for a guest post from him on his first beer-brewing adventures?) The batch we worked on for this particular incarnation was the Sven's Oatmeal Stout recipe. You can see the basic ingredients here, all from the Wine & Hop Shop in Madison:   Some malt, oats, barley, hops, and water later, HS poured in the final ingredient--yeast--before leaving the whole mixture to ferment and get all yeasty and delicious: The other important parts of the afternoon were eating this chili that AS made, with all the trimmings: And eating this Gluten-Free Apple-Rhubarb Bread Puddi...