• booze,  bourbon,  food,  recipes

    Cooking with Bourbon

    Last summer, I discovered that I like small-batch bourbon. But I also don’t have the tolerance to sit around sipping it, which I suppose is probably a good thing. The solution? To cook with it, of course. This is a super simple flank steak recipe that my husband and I made on a weeknight. It took less than 5 minutes to throw the marinade together, then just a few minutes on the grill after we’d given the marinade some time to soak in.   Flank Steak with Bourbon Marinade (adapted from a recipe from Fountain Prairie Inn and Farm) 1 flank steak (1 ½ pounds) 4-6 cloves crushed garlic 1/2…

  • beer,  blogging,  booze,  food,  local,  microbrews

    Craft Beer Week: Drink it in

    It’s craft beer week here in Madison, which means that there are tastings, dinners, and “meet the brewmaster” events all over town. It’s an embarrassment of riches, really, and I’d need a whole team of bloggers–and a string of babysitters–to be able to do justice to even a fraction of the flavors on tap throughout the week. Despite having neither, I’ve managed to sample a few things, and I’m noticing a theme emerge– I’ve been enjoying some things that I normally wouldn’t order. I tend to be an ale kind of girl, particularly IPAs. So it’s been good to sample some things out of my comfort zone. The best of…

  • art,  booze,  decor,  design,  modern,  style,  vintage

    Are You Ready for the Madness?

    I’m not talking about basketball. It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with Mad Men. My thirty-first birthday fell on the premiere night of the fourth season, and I somehow convinced my husband and friends to come dressed in costume. The start of the fifth season on Sunday doesn’t fall on my birthday, but that’s okay. I’m not sure I could wait any longer, anyhow. It’s already been a year and a half! In the meantime, I’ve been feeding my addiction for all things mod on Etsy and Pinterest. A peek at some of my favorite Mad Men-inspired items: Each row, left to right (all images from Etsy): 60s rocks glasses…

  • beverages,  booze,  bourbon,  food,  recipes,  seasonal

    Hot Toddy Time

    I hate to see summer end, but there are a few things I like about fall: football, tall boots, pumpkin bread, and hot drinks. My husband, son, and I recently visited an apple orchard near Lake Kegonsa just outside of Madison. Since our son is only 3 months old, we eschewed apple picking for simply buying a few bags of fresh McIntoshes and Empires and a half gallon of fresh cider. At our house, cider is the main ingredient in one of our favorite fall beverages. My husband modified his recipe for hot toddies from an episode of Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee that he caught while flipping through the channels. I wonder…

  • booze,  food,  local,  nature,  seasonal

    Last Scenes of Summer

    As September settles in with sweater weather and the smell of wood smoke from chimneys, I thought I’d offer here on my blog one last glimpse of summer. It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. I’ve been busy with a number of endeavors, including tending to a smiling but always hungry two-month-old and tackling another revision of my book. In all the busyness, summer has started to slip away, quietly, as it always does, like a guest leaving a party without saying good-bye so as not to interrupt the fun. A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to taste the spectrum of summer’s final, peak flavors at Milkweed, a private family farm…

  • beverages,  booze,  food,  local,  restaurants,  reviews

    Local Spotlight: Umami Ramen & Dumpling Bar

    It’s unfortunate that the grand opening of Umami Ramen & Dumpling Bar on Madison’s East Side occurred just a few weeks before dump trucks and fork lifts rolled in to tear up Willy Street in a major road construction project that won’t conclude until October. Umami is located at 923 Williamson Street in a building that, from the outside, just looks like a renovated house. Inside, though, the space is modern and I dare say hip… all this in a neighborhood where tie-died shirts and Crocs are considered appropriate dinner attire. You can still wear your Crocs there, but you might feel upstaged a bit by the sexy lighting, bamboo…

  • beer,  beverages,  booze,  cheese,  food,  local,  microbrews,  nerdiness,  recipes

    A Recipe for Wintry Weather

    It’s been snowing all day here in Madison. My daffodils and hyacinth are covered in glistening chunks of ice. There’s almost nothing good about winter weather in spring, except for the fact that it gives me an excuse to make just a few more hearty meals before turning to lighter, springtime fare. And nothing says hearty like beer and cheese. As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received a stipend from New Belgium Brewery to purchase their beer and create a recipe with it. Since I can’t drink beer these days (I’m 28 weeks pregnant), the next best thing is to cook with it. Most of the alcohol cooks…

  • beer,  blogging,  booze,  cheese,  food,  local,  nerdiness,  wine

    Cheese and Holiday Cheer

    One of my favorite things about blogging is that is provides me with a good excuse to do all of the nerdy, quirky things that I’ve secretly always wanted to do, but was too embarrassed to admit to anyone else. For example, I’ve always wanted to stop at one of the many souvenir stores that dot Wisconsin’s roadsides, selling things like cheese and moccasins. So, on my my way to visit a friend in Green Bay on Monday, I stopped on a whim at Schutlz’s Cheese Haus off of Highway 151. Schultz’s is everything you’d ever want in a roadside cheese store. It looks like a little house you’d find…

  • booze,  nerdiness,  scotch,  tastings

    Scotch Tasting for Beginners

    When I’m not blogging or writing, my day job is lawyering. And lawyers and scotch go together like… Denny Crane and cigars. I’ve never enjoyed scotch, or any type of whiskey for that matter, but I figured that, like golf, I might as well give it a real try before I put it in the column of “Things I Don’t Like.”  That column already includes Running, Insomnia, and People Who Say “Irregardless.” I recently attended a single malt scotch tasting at the The Malt House in Madison. Scotch, for those novices like me, is malt whisky that was produced in Scotland. Scotland has 89 operational malt whisky distilleries. “Single malt”…

  • booze,  chocolate,  food,  microbrews,  peanut butter,  sweets,  wine

    Pairing Drinks with Halloween Candy

    Halloween is upon us and, with it, bags and bags of grocery store sweets. Whether you swipe Fun Size Snickers from your kids’ plastic pumpkins or you scarf down the leftovers you bought for trick-or-treaters, chances are you’ll be indulging in some candy. And if you’re looking for an adult beverage to go with that candy, look no further. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups go great with beer. Although some might suggest a heavier brew, like Lake Louie’s Warped Speed Scotch Ale, these sweet and slightly salty little peanut butter cups also would go great with a light, caramely ale, like Furthmore’s Proper. In Food Network Magazine, restaurateur Tom Geniesse of…