Booze Thursday: Green Lakes

Being in Portland, I feel an obligation to drink Oregon beer. Sure, I might desperately want that six pack of White Rascal that I see at John's Market, but I must resist until I have explored Oregon beer more. 

This particular beer was the first draft beer I had in Oregon. Deschutes' Organic Green Lakes Amber Ale. When I went to visit Portland with Jon we stopped in the pearl district in downtown. After walking around in the rain, we grabbed a beer at Deschutes' downtown brewpub location. This beer caught my eye. 

It did not disappoint. It was sweet, yet crisp. That sweetness combined with a lot of yummy malty-ness makes this a keeper for me! It's also got a little bit of nice dryness that perfectly counteracts the sweetness. In short, TASTY. 

Here's the shot from Deschutes so you can see what it looks like in the glass: 

Here's my shot of my bottle I will be enjoying later: 

The best organic beer I have ever had, by far. Take a look-see at your local liquor store and see if they carry it!

Good Eats Wednesday: LAAAAAATE! I'm sorry.

So yesterday involved multiple grocery store trips while I was probably the most sore I have ever been in my life from working out. I didn't get time to blog, since going to Costco and trying to pick up giant packages of things (when your legs just want to give out) takes a bit longer. I'm happy to have food in the house and be ready for our dear friends to come visit this weekend. I'm sure that there will be several posts about the fun times. 

You get TWO posts today! YAY! 

So now back to your regularly scheduled blogging. 

In my quest to bake more and buy less bread, I started looking into making sourdough bread at home. It really made me nervous at first. I mean, sure I will have this growing flour/water substance in a bowl on my counter that has to be FED....not weird at all.  

I did a lot of research about the starter, and I decided to go for it. 

Sourdough Home was the best source that I could find on the interwebs. It really explains in very simple language what is going on in that container on my counter. It will guaranteed do a much much better job than I am about to do. 

I used whole wheat flour for my starter, as the website says the flour will have more bacteria on it. Can I get a cheer for added bacteria! WHOOOOH! So I  mixed up my first flour/water substance and let it be. I fed it again 12 hours later. Nothing happening yet. When I went to do my third feeding, it was bubbly and smelled GROSS. Um, not like bread is supposed to smell at all. The website explains that it takes the good bacteria a while to take over an kill off the harmful bacteria and then it will smell better. Okay, I will continue feeding. 

Day three of consistent feeding was when the starter started looking great. Smells like sourdough bread, doubles itself consistently between feedings. In other words, ready to use.

This is what it looks like in the Tupperware: 

I picked a recipe to use with my starter.

Sourdough bread takes TIME. Like overnight time.  

 I will edit this post tomorrow after I get my bread all baked. Wish me luck! 

DIY Tuesday: Howdy Y'all!

My husband says "howdy" as a greeting. He's not country, just personable! I think that it's so incredibly adorable and I wanted to include that saying in our home. I did a quick DIY project with supplies that I already had on hand to create the letters. 

I didn't do a very good job taking progress pictures, but I am hoping that you'll forgive me since I am going to provide AWESOME instructions! 

First, I popped open word and found a font that I liked. It ended up being called "candy inc" (you can download it here). I typed out howdy in a LARGE size (What size you use depends on how large you want your letters, obviously.  I think I used 500.). I printed them out on scrap paper. Then I cut the letters out. I put them right side up on some cardboard and traced and cut them out. Now I had plain cardboard letters that spelled howdy, in a font that was super cute. I grabbed a fabric scrap and put the letters face down. Cut fabric to fit, leaving about 1/4" of room around I used double stick tape to secure the edges of the fabric around the outside, folding where needed to conform to the shape of the letter. Then, very carefully, I cut slits wherever I needed in order to fold the fabric and maintain the shape. For example, I cut a slit up the bottom on the h so that I could fold the fabric around the 'legs' of the letter. I taped as I went. You need patience here, but persevere and it will look great. Tape as much as you need to in order to make the fabric secure on the letters. 

After I had the letters looking the way that I wanted them to, I stuck them to the wall with a thumbtack. I stuck a thumbtack through the sticky side of the tape, so that the tape was stuck on the back of the letter and the side of the tape facing the wall (not sticky) had the thumbtack sticking through it. Stick it up on the wall and what do you get? 


Close up on the d: 

Far away: 

It's not a super bold statement in the room, and I like that. It's subtle and personal to us. It would be perfect with a last name or baby's name. What's great about this idea is that you can adapt it to any use that you need. Get creative! 

Inspiration Monday: Positive Vibes

Warning: Picture Goodness OVERLOAD!

Pinterest is seriously the best. One of the things that is so so handy is that I can go back and look at everything that I have pinned on a particular board at the same time. I do this with clothing boards frequently, as it helps me refine styles that I like. With the same idea, I took a look at all of the seeming random inspirational photos that I have pinned relating to our house. As you will see, it was very helpful! 

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Okay, that's all of the inspiration pictures from my "for the home" board. It might be easy to dismiss them as totally random pictures, but I see a lot of trends after looking at them for a minute.

First, all of the pictures have a light and airy feel that I like a lot. Also, they all are relaxed and homey feeling, at least to me! 

Looking a little deeper, do you see the patterned rug trend? It's in 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, and 16. That's enough to tell me that it's something that I seriously love. And does anyone else see the similarities of the shelving in 14 and 6 to what I already have in my living room? 

With all of the inspiration pictures, I notice a special element. There's an interesting lamp, table, or accessory in each and every one. Having that type of house that makes people excited is important to me.

Moving forward with our house, I want to reference these photos frequently. Having a clear idea of where you want to end up is the surest best that you will actually get there eventually. 

If you haven't looked at inspiration pictures of whatever you are working on, you should! Whether it's your house, yard, style, or body that you are working on, it helps to see where you want to end up. 

Adventure Time Friday: Mooooooooooooooooooo!

I love the fair. I don't go to ride the rides (I would totally barf) or to eat a fried Oreo. It's all about the ANIMALS! I think that 4h is one of the greatest things kids can do to build work ethic and responsibility, and I wish I would have done it when I was little. But I didn't, and now I live vicariously once a year through the fair. So we went to the Washington County Fair this past weekend, and it did not disappoint. They had a huge reptile exhibit and TONS of super cute farm animals.

My favorite type of moo cow! Jerseys are so sweet. 

And this sweet babe was taking a nap in the sun. 

Make sure you go to your fair this summer! You will have a blast. 

Booze Thursday: Patron Saint of Unattractive Girls

I have mentioned St. Germain in a previous post, but today I want to show you how to make the most simple, delicious cocktail that you will ever have. St. Germain is an elderflower liquer from France, and it tastes like flowers, lychee, and pears. De-lish! I drink it mixed with soda water and a lime quarter. Here's what you need: 

In your glass of ice, pour a good two fingers of St. G: 

Then add soda water and a lime: 

I like how it looks layered when you pour the St. Germain first, then the soda water. It's a heavy liqueur, so I do give it a quick stir before serving.

It is the most refreshing summer cocktail that you will ever have, guaranteed!  

Next week I'll be back with more beer, but I was dying to share my favorite drink with you! 

Good Eats Wednesday: Tomatoes Everywhere!

Last week was a tomato recipe (marinara), and this week's recipe is tomato based too! Well, I guess I like tomatoes. 

My husband has always been very anti-tomato soup. Well, this made me sad because I really like tomato soup. Only until very recently did I realize that he was talking about this... 

And I was talking about something more like this... 

Fancy! 

My version of tomato soup is fresh, delicious, and minimal. 

Ingredients: Tomatoes, Garlic, Salt, Olive Oil, Basil...THAT'S IT!

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

First, grab some tomatoes (If you can grow them, use them in this please!)

Wash them, then cut them in half. Take off any stems, but you don't have to slice off the ends where the stems were. 

Stick them on a baking sheet. Grab a whole head of garlic and get peeling. Stick a clove of garlic in each tomato half. (Use half a clove if you have really big cloves) This allows the garlic to get that nice roasted flavor without getting burnt. Sprinkle generously with salt, then drizzle with olive oil. 

Stick them in the hot oven for one hour. They will make your house smell awesome! 

This is what they look like when they come out. 

You should be able to push a fork through them without any resistance. 

Let them cool for a sec, then toss them in a food processor. 

Add a generous handful of FRESH basil...

And pulse until mostly smooth. 

Then serve with a grilled cheese sandwich--preferably one made with sourdough bread and Tillamook vintage white cheddar. Perfection! 

Next week I'll have something not tomato based for you, promise!