Discretion Brewery-Santa Cruz, California

My little sister turned 21 so while visiting me in Santa Cruz, we figured it would be appropriate to take her to the new local brewery for her first formal beer tasting.Discretion Brewery is located in Santa Cruz and feature several different beers, ranging from a light and refreshing Pilsner to a crisp and hoppy Rye IPA. My favorite during our tasting was their Saison beer, a farmhouse style beer, which was very refreshing and full of funky flavors. 

Discretion Brewery features a beer garden patio with hop plants trellised up the building and tomato plants in raised garden beds, designed and built by Loamstead. A great atmosphere to enjoy the warm summer night and a pint or to order a meal prepared by Main Street Garden Cafe.

Fluffy Marshmallows with Golden Graham Crackers

 Recent backyard bonfires brought some nostalgia and helped me to relalize how much I do love roasting marshmallows to make s'mores on warm summer nights. While shopping at Whole Foods I couldn't help but notice their fancy and flavored marshmallows, which run $6-$7 for a pack of 10. I swiftly went to my computer and checked Smitten Kitchen for a homemade marshmallow recipe. To my delight I found not only a recipe for Marshmallows but also for graham crackers! The combination was absolutely amazing!

Using cookie cutters to cut the graham crackers instead of the traditional graham cracker squares.

 Here are the two recipes I used, choosing to flavor the marshmallows with classic vanilla. Smitten Kitchen http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2009/06/springy-fluffy-marshmallows/ and http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2009/05/graham-crackers/. Since these marshmallows contain more than just gelatin and sugar, they have a beautiful texture and weight to them. Be careful roasting them because the cook much quicker than the store bought jet-puff.

A Piglet named Finn

Love at first sight in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Yosemite Falls Dinner

 This past week I went snow camping in Yosemite. It was my first time camping at this time of year and it was awesome. The above picture is Half Dome and was taken about half way up the Upper Yosemite Falls hiking trail.

At the campsite we had limited resources for cooking but we were still able to make a couple delicious meals. The above picture is a Mexican inspired stir fry which was delicious and super easy !

Ingredients:
Bell peppers
Jalapenos
Ginger
Red and white onions
potatoes
sweet potatoes
tomatoes
eggs

Guacamole- mash up 2 avocados, slice one white onion and add. Add lemon, pepper or a little salsa to taste and enjoy with chips, on top of stir frys  or on a slice of bread !

Chop all vegetables and mince ginger. Cook onions, ginger and potatoes first and add in the rest of the vegetables as the potatoes cook. When all vegetables are cooked stir in 2-4 eggs, depending on how many you are serving. The eggs cook very quickly so do this right before you are ready to serve. Serve in bowls or on corn tortillas with guacamole and salsa !

The above picture is me at the top of Upper Yosemite Falls after a 3.7 mile climb to the top. The first half of the hike was rock stairs and the second half was in the snow ! The views along the way were spectacular!

Voodoo Doughnuts.......Good things come in pink boxes...

Voodoo doughnuts, the final destination after a long adventurous Thursday in Eugene, Oregon. During my week in Eugene, visiting my wonderful sister Kristen, I had a lot of good experiences. Voodoo doughnuts is a local and very popular doughnut shop. We stopped in at 10 p.m. and they were still busy baking. It is a very cute shop in downtown Eugene, there are other locations throughout Oregon.

Kristen enjoying a Vegan M&M doughnut!

Me happily holding and indulging on a Vegan Glazed doughnut!