Long Time, No See

So, it's been a while since I've had a chance to sit down and write something to go on here (mainly because I'm finally done with classes), but I decided that with Christmas and the other snowbound holidays approaching, it was time to return once again to the world of Beer.

The fact that I haven't been blogging should not in any way suggest that I haven't been partaking in tasty beverages lately. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Winter is my favorite time of year for beers. Something about the cold weather makes it the perfect time to smash as many dark ales as possible. To make up for the long Beer-Reviewless Draught, I will attempt to paint a word picture of the magical Beer Journey I have taken over the past months.

For the sake of this blog entry, I will touch on a few of the beers (both good and bad) that I have tried recently. They are (from most tasty to least tasty):

1. Sweetwater Festive Ale,

My Current favorite beer. So good! Caramel, Malt, and chocolate flavors as well as a sweet spiciness. Tastes like Christmas! The best part is that this beer isn't super hoppy which I expected from Sweetwater. AND it's 9% abv.

2. Lips of Faith Clutch

A really neat dark beer from New Belgium's Small Batch Lips of Faith series. The first time I actually had this beer was in Charleston, SC and I love it. Its dark brown in color and has a slightly sour kick at the back end. It's labeled a Dark Sour Beer, but is in fact a blend of dark beer AND sour beer.

3.Left Hand Fade to Black #3

A great porter from Left Hand Brewing's small batch Series Fad to Black. #3 is a pepper porter. Its dark, thick and has quite the peppery bite to it without giving too much of a burn.

4. Shiner Cheer

This is the beer I'm going to have at my wedding. Cheer is a Dunkelweiss with flavors of peach and pecan. Although different from the traditional dark and heavy winter brews, this light tasty beer is a great holiday option.

5. Breckinridge Vanilla Porter

Sweet. For those of you who don't like your beers to have a touch of sweetness, this beer is not for you. The flavor of the vanilla bean comes through very strongly. I personally loved it, but I could see how it could be too much for stout and porter purists.

6. Sweetwater Exodus

My current favorite of Sweetwater's non-seasonals. This is just a really good porter. Its not to much or too little of anything. It's got a thick head and a great aroma.

7. Red Brick Porter

Not as good as Exodus. Red Brick's Porter is easily the best beer that they produce year round; however, it's somewhat unremarkable.

8. Sweetwater Happy Ending

Not my favorite. Sweetwater's "Imperial Stout" should actually be labelled an American Stout. This is the happiest stout I've ever had. I bought the beer because I wanted a stout. Not an IPA.

9. Anchor Steam Christmas Ale

One of the weirdest beers I've ever tasted. The 2011 Christmas Ale smells and tastes like potpourri. If you love the smell and/or taste of potpourri, be my guest, but for me? No thanks.

10. Dogfish Head SahTea

Yuck. This beer was such a good idea. It smells amazing. And the idea of combining Tea and Beer? Brilliant. Too bad it tastes really nasty.

Quote of the Day after Thanksgiving 11/25/11

"I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land."

-Jon Stewart

Happy Turkey Shopping Hangover Day!

Quote of the Day 11/14/11

Thanksgiving is coming: only 10 days away! It's time for a little turkey inspiration!

"I love Thanksgiving turkey... it's the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts."

-Arnold Schwarzenegger (Thomas' personal idol)

Bourbon Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes

For those of you wanting to make your own seasonal milkshakes (as seen in those delicious photos in the previous posts), here is the recipe that The Hungry People followed. The original recipe can be found here on the How Sweet It Is blog.

Bourbon Pumpkin Pie Milkshakes

- 2 cups vanilla ice cream

- 1/2 cup milk

- 1/4 cup cream or half-and-half

- 1 tbsp vanilla extract

- 2/3 cup pureed pumpkin

- 1/2 tbsp pumpkin spice [or you can substitute nutmeg & cinnamon like ATHP]

- 2 to 3 oz of bourbon

- sprinkles for decorating the glass rims [ATHP used turbinado sugar]

Mix up all those lovely ingredients (minus the sprinkles) in a blender and garnish with a beautiful sugar rim! Enjoy!

And thank you to Sydney for hosting our Pumpkin Extravaganza.

Westbrook Brewery

We drank a lot of beers. Some were better than others. But they were all, for the most part, delicious.

Here are the reviews from Christine:

Coffee Stout: "It kind of kicks you in the face with coffee flavor."
White Thai: "Christine had no comment"
Vanilla Tree: "So goooood! Very sweet, but not overwhelming. Awesome"
Citrus Ninja: The only IPA Sydney will ever drink.
Habenero Stout: AFTERRRBURRRRN
Saison: "Light, refreshing, no after taste. Easy to drink a lot of"
Imperial Stout: "A stout. Hooray."

These reviews were written while/after consuming mass quantities of alcohol, hence their brevity and strangeness.

PumpkinPalooza Part 1

 Bourbon and Pumpkin Spice Milkshakes!

 Fezzik is a fan.

Pumpkin Ravioli Recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

For The Filling:

• 1 Two To Three Pound Pumpkin
• 1 Tbsp Butter
• 1 Onion
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• 2 tsp Ground Sage, or 6-7 leaves fresh sage, chopped
• 2 Tbsp Honey
• 4 oz Goat Chevre
• Salt & Pepper, to taste

For The Pasta:

• 2¼ cups Flour
• ⅓ cup Water
• 2 Eggs
• Tablespoon Olive Oil
• Pinch of Salt

DIRECTIONS: 

Filling:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Quarter pumpkin and remove all seeds (set these aside and you can toast them!)Place pumpkin face down on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 30-60 minutes, or until a dull knife pierces the flesh easily (the skin may still be tough). When pumpkin is cooked, be sure to let it cool some so you don't burn yourself!

2. Meanwhile, pour yourself a cup of tea or glass of wine, and get started on prep work. Dice the onion finely, mince the garlic.

3. Cook onions and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. When Onions just start too look clearish, add sage, garlic and honey. Remove from heat

4. Using a large spoon, remove the flesh of the pumpkin from the skin. Mash pumpkin with a fork (or toss it in a food processor)and stir into the onion mixture.

5. While mixture is still slightly warm, stir in Goat Chevre and mix until everything looks creamy and delicious. Add Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and set aside.

Pasta:

6. Combine flour, water, eggs, olive oil and salt in a medium bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until it becomes too solid to stir.

7. Remove dough from bowl and knead on a clean, floured surface for a few minutes, until the dough has a smooth texture. You can use a pasta machine, or simply roll your dough with a rolling pin either way you want your dough to be thin enough that you can see the shape of your hand through it when you hold it.

Putting it all together:

8. Working on a floured surface, Start with two pieces of pasta, one slightly longer than the other. Using a spoon, place small dollops of filling in rows on the smaller piece of pasta - leave about 3/4" between drops of filling.

9. Starting at one side, gently lay the larger piece of pasta over the other, pushing it down onto the bottom piece of pasta in between each of the lumps of filling (if the pasta is too dry and won't stick, use a pastry brush and water to moisten it slightly). There is a bit of a learning curve here, but don't worry because this ravioli is always well received, even if it looks ridiculous!

10. Cut the ravioli apart from each other with a sharp knife, to be extra sure they'll stay together, and for a decorative touch, use a fork (or one of those fancy ravioli rollers) to crimp the edges

11. Put the ravioli in boiling water and remove with a slotted spoon as they begin to float.

 For the sauce, Sean and I went a little crazy. We browned some butter and sage and added some Alfredo sauce and these sundried tomato and garlic chicken sausages. It was pretty decadent.

 The final product, aka Pumpkin Overload

And then we carved some pumpkins.

 Pumpkin Carvings.

Of course, Ron Swanson has to make an appearance on the ATHP blog.


Happy (belated) Halloween!

Quote of the Day 11/8/11

Today's food quote is something I found a long time ago written on the wall of an airport Food Court (CLE, to be exact). I like it enough to ignore the fact that I don't really like Virginia Woolf. And the fact that she killed herself. I mean, who commits suicide by drowning? 
Obviously, she never read All The Hungry People.

Quote of the Day 10/10/11

Today's food quote simultaneously explains why Ron Swanson it so amazing and justifies Raina's pescatarianism (pesky pescatarian).

"Fish: for sport only, not for meat. Fish meat is practically a vegetable."

-Ron Swanson, NBC's Parks and Recreation

Grapefruit Ginger Martini

It's cocktail hour here at the Hungry People Apartment!

Thomas and Sean made a variety of grapefruit juice cocktails, but the Ginger-tini was the clear winner! Raina and Christine found the recipe here.

Ginger-tini

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 oz. Pomegranate Schnapps
• 1 1/2 oz. Vodka
• 1/2 oz. Grapefruit Juice
• 1/2 oz. Sour Mix
• 1/2 oz. Ginger Syrup*

*We did not have ginger syrup, but the boys improvised by mixing brown sugar into water, then adding fresh grated ginger, and muddling.


Preparations:

1. If necessary, make your own ginger syrup.
2. Shake all ingredients well with ice and strain into a martini glass.
3. Garnish with lemon zest (suggested by recipe), or imitate The Hungry People and rim the glass with a sugar-ginger mixture.

Quote of the Day 10/8/11

"You better cut the pizza in four pieces, because I'm not hungry enough to eat six."

-Yogi Berra

Our lives are macaroni dreams.

Video.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Autumn Sauce

aka 200 Ingredient Falltober Pasta

The boys have outdone themselves again. Tonight we decided to have some sweet potato gnocchi that we bought at World Market (Trader Joe's also has their own brand of sweet potato gnocchi, pictured).
Christine begged for an autumn meal, so Sean and Thomas raided the cabinets and fridge. The kitchen became a laboratory, and the ensuing process was very messy, though it yielded some pretty sweet results.
Below you can see the ingredients; they were basically dumped into a simmering pot together to cook. Good luck trying to recreate!


Sauce:
Butter
Olive oil
Garlic
Sundried tomato
Fresh tomato
Pecan
Dried Apricot
Dried Apple
Dried Cranberries
Curry
Pepper
Cumin
Salt
Yogurt
Milk
Vodka
Bourbon
Spiced Rum

Paired with some fish. Possibly the most delicious thing ever eaten.

Thirsty Thursday

The Hungry People have decided to institute a wonderful weekly ritual that you may know and love: Thirsty Thursdays. We stopped by Ale Yeah! to pick up a couple of growlers. Our first pick was Ode To Mercy, an imperial brown ale by Wild Heaven Craft Beers. This ale was bold and flavorful, but maybe a little acidic. Tastes of oak, coffee, and roasted malt.

Ode to Mercy
Label: N/A
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We filled the second growler with The Reverend, a Belgian Quadrupel Ale made by Avery Brewery out of Boulder, CO. This beer is packed with imported Belgian malts and dark candy sugar. It's got "hints of dark cherries, currants, and molasses, complimented by an underlying spiciness." Thank you, Avery Brewery Website, for summarizing that so well.



Avery The Reverend
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Two growlers is clearly not enough for All the Hungry People who live in this apartment, so we also picked up a make-your-own six pack (the best kind of six pack). The two clear note-worthy beers from this pack were Crown Valley Big Bison Ale and Hitachino Red Rice Ale. Both were amazing and delicious! Big Bison tasted strongly of raisins; more dessert-like than it is refreshing. The Red Rice Ale has a sake like flavor with a little strawberry thrown in. Yum!

Stay tuned, Hungry Friends, there's more to come!

Figs with Goat Cheese and Almonds

I needed something inventive to do with some Figs that I bought at the Dekalb Farmer's Market the other day. I saw a recipe online (I can't recall where. If I remember, I'll post the link) for Figs with Goat Cheese and Almonds. Halve the figs and place goat cheese on each half, then place an almond piece on top. Stick it under the broiler to brown and VIOLA: fancy figs.

Thomas had to improve upon the recipe, naturally, by creating a beautiful balsamic reduction to drizzle on top. He followed this with some jalapeño honey (AMAZING) as a finishing touch.

All in all, very delicious. The figs got a little lost in the rest of the flavors, but I don't think anyone minded very much!
-Christine

Yeungling B&T Vs. Trader Joe's Stockyard Oatmeal Stout

Last night, Thomas and I had the opportunity to sample several new (to us) tasty brews. Necessity being the mother of invention and money being tight, our choices were limited.

We had 3 requirements of our beer:

1. We wanted something dark.

2. We wanted enough of something dark to inebriate ourselves (and being the growing boys that we are, that's at least a 6-pack a piece).

3. We wanted enough of something dark to inebriate ourselves while paying no more than roughly $1.00 per bottle.

We hit the jackpot. Two six packs of fairly great beer for 12 bucks total.

I'm sure as this blog progresses, our beer rating system will improve, but as an intermediate system, I propose this. Categories - Label (Prettiness/Badassness), Tastyness (Flavor & Finish), Color & Head, Aroma, and Overall. The scale will be based on Beercaps out of ten.

Yuengling Black & Tan

Label: @@@@@@@@@@

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Color & Head: @@@@@@@@@@

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Stockyard Oatmeal Stout 

Label: @@@@@@@@@@

Tastyness: @@@@@@@@@@

Color & Head: @@@@@@@@@@

Aroma @@@@@@@@@@

Overall: @@@@@@@@@@

The Black and Tan was the clear winner, but a buck-a-bottle stout is a rarity anywhere. I will go into more detail soon, but for now I should probably get back to this deadly boring grad school class.

Cheers! Drink Your Beers!

-Sean

PSA: Grouper

Dear America,

Grouper should always be fried.

Not grilled.

Not baked.

Not seared.

Fried.

That is all.

-Sean

Pizza and Beer

Last night, Promethius created fire....in my mouth.

Home made pizza night! Store bought Pillsburry dough boy crust, enhanced sauce, freshly grated mozzarella, and savory salted meaty pepperonis combined to form a miracle. Topped the pizza off with some magical powdery stuff, (spices, not cocaine) and boom. It really was surprisingly good considering we used pretty basic ingredients. It's all in the loving tenderness you put into your food...that and again, the spices.

We would have taken pictures of our masterpiece, but we also sampled some beer, a lot of it. As you know, beer often leads to either taking a ton of pictures, or none at all. Latter for us. Sean has the exact names of all the beers we tried. They were all delicious and made a fine contribution to the night.

Speaking of contributions to the night, it wouldn't have been anything without the company.

Me and Sean knocked out some Mario on the Wii and Christine laughed at us every time we tried to knock over the coffee table. And then awed at our awesomely fast reflexes. Sean and Christine are quickly becoming painfully annoying, like a torn cuticle that gets worsened every time you reach into your pocket to grab your cell phone. By that I mean that they are quickly becoming even better friends. Thanks for making me feel at home guys.

OH, and can NOT forget the late night munchies. Sean and I double teamed some breasts, of chicken, and made some chicken philly sandwiches. Spiced up with Montreal Steak seasoning by McCormick, some garlic pepper, and this sauce that's extremely hard to spell by Lea & Perrins. Nestled between some hot dog buns with some american cheese and hot pepper relish...does it get any better? Not for two drunk dudes. Once again, not hard to make, very simple ingredients, but tasted better than chicken phillies I've had at some restaurants.

Until next time.

-Thomas

Upping Your Vocabulary

gnosh:
To noisily chomp on something.
"Last time I saw Felix, he was gnoshing on some gnocchi"

Welcome to my nightmare. Tonight Thomas aka MasterBrewMaster and I chowwed down on some polish sausage laced with sweet onion. Tasty. More to come.

-Sean

Quote of the Day 10/3/11

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."
- J. R. R. Tolkien

Welcome One and All!

We are just a few hungry people trying to represent the rest of the hungry people in the world. 

More to come soon.