• beer,  cooking,  kitchen,  moms,  parenting,  peanut butter,  recipes

    Crock Pot Recipe: West African Spicy Peanut Stew

    I love to cook, but lately finding the time between work, writing and parenting has been a challenge. Enter, crock pot.  I’ve been trying out a lot of crock pot recipes lately for weeknight dinners. I prep the ingredients the night before, after my son is in bed, and stick them in a ziplock bag in the fridge overnight. Then, the next morning, I dump the bag into the crock pot, turn it on the “low” setting, and leave for work. When I get home, it’s ready to eat and there’s no need to hem and haw over what to make for dinner. This spicy vegetarian West African-style recipe is…

  • 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…

  • beer,  fashion,  holiday,  style,  writing

    So Much to Celebrate

    On New Year’s Eves past, I’ve stood with my toes in the sand on a Mexican beach, danced on a ballroom floor in San Francisco, bummed a seldom cigarette at a Chicago bar, cozied up with Fat Tires and football in a Colorado condo, and waved my arms on many a curbside, shivering and looking for elusive empty cabs. This year, I’ll be all of two blocks away from home, celebrating with close friends and a tribe of tots aged 3 months to 3 years. The gathering will be modest, but never have I had so much to celebrate in bidding farewell to a year. In 2011, I finished a…

  • 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…

  • beer,  blogging,  booze,  green living,  local,  microbrews

    Green Beer

    No, I’m not talking about the dyed stuff you drink on St. Patty’s Day. I’m blogging today about the benefits of buying locally-sourced and locally-brewed beer, over at Wisconsin Public Television’s Engage Wisconsin website. Luckily, where I live in Wisconsin, we have a lot of good options. You probably do, too. What are your favorite local beers where you live?

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