Sheltered Girl Meets World

Drank: Extreme Beer at Dogfish Head Brewery (Milton, DE)

Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, DE.

"Delaware? Why do you want to go to Delaware?"

"To go to a brewery, Dogfish Head.  Have you heard of it?  They were on a TV show on Discovery."

"No, what do they brew?"

"Ohh well, they do interesting beers.  There was one where they brewed a beer out of corn that had been chewed by their staff.  The saliva from the chewing let the starch break down into fermentable sugars."

"I.. see.."

That was the reaction when I told friend/co-workers I was taking a day off, driving 9.5 hours with two friends to visit a brewery that I had only seen on TV that brews beer with spit.  Surprisingly, they weren't interested in a souvenir.

Attended: Festibière d'Hiver (Gatineau, Quebec)

 

Serving hot 2009 BDT Messe de Minuit at the ice bar. Reminded me of hot apple cider.

 

As much of a beer lover that I am I have not tried many of the craft beers available in Quebec.  Which is why I jumped at the opportunity to attend Festibière d'Hiver, Winter Beerfest, hosted at the Château Cartier in Gatineau, Quebec.

Admission was free but beer samples and food required tickets which could be bought for 50 cents / ticket.  For the average 5% ABV (alcohol by volume) beer 4 tickets were required for a 120ml sample but if you wanted to be adventurous and try some of the higher ABV beers you could expect to shell out 6-10 tickets.  The food available seemed perfect for a beerfest - bison pogo, foie gras poutine, beer risotto to name a few and were sold in small portions for anywhere from 6-10 tickets.

 

Sipping on my Milk Stout by the bon fire.

I tried a wide variety of beers from a wheaty Blanche de Chambly from Unibroue to a creamy Vache Folle Milk Stout from Charlevoix to the oh so delicious aged Messe de Minuit from BDT served hot at the ice bar.  The latter being my favorite beer of the evening because enjoying it warm, huddled around the blazing bon fire felt perfect.

 

I want to learn more about Quebec breweries and their beer and will have to do my homework before the summer edition of the Gatineau Beerfest.  I just hope the summer event can top an ice bar and dog sled rides..

 

Lining up to get the beer that will save us from the cold.

 

 

Sipping high ABV beer by the bonfire makes a person feel very warm.

 

Go: 8th Annual Carefor Chocolate Brunch and Competition

(2011 Carefor Chocolate Competition Champ - Pasticceria Gelateria)

Last March I bought tickets to the Carefor Brunch and Chocolate competition.  I'd like to say I bought the tickets to support Carefor's home health care and community service work but the only thing I was supporting was my love for chocolate.  I wasn't disappointed either - chocolate was everywhere; mini chocolate bars were piled high in the center of each table, a chocolate fountain was flowing and this was before the ten competitors started serving their decadent chocolate desserts!

This year I am very excited to be joining Executive Chef Michael Blackie of Le Café, Chef Christian Faure of Le Cordon Bleu, Ottawa Citizen Food Editor Ron Eade and fellow bloggers Don and Claire from FoodiePrints to help judge the entries.  The competition will be tough as 2011 champions Sucré Salé and Pasticceria Gelateria look to defend their title from past competitors Fratelli, The Joy of Gluten Free, Todric's Fine Dining & Catering and new competitors Brookstreet Hotel and Hilton Garden Inn.

Tickets can be purchased online for $75 (adult) or $40 (child, age 4-12).  It is being held at the Centurion Conference & Event Centre located at 170 Colonnade Rd. on Saturday, March 10 from 10am to 2pm.  More information can be found at http://www.careforchocolate.com.

Not going but want to follow the event?  Check out #CareforChocolate on Twitter!

Eaten: Devilled Eggs, Brisket and Ribs @ Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

(I didn't know dinosaurs could ride motorcycles)

My New Years Resolution is to travel more but due to budget constraints I won't be able to go country hopping.  Instead, I'm planning several small trips to nearby provinces and states with one or two big trips in between.  To help me save as much money as possible when travelling to the USA I drove to Syracuse, NY to open a chequing account at Chase.  Using XE, a currency trading site, I'll transfer funds from my Canadian chequing account to my American chequing account and avoid nasty service fees when I do American transactions.  In theory, anyway.  After opening the chequing account and eating lots of free Hershey kisses at the bank, we drove to downtown Syracuse to the popular Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.

(The Swag Sampler Plate - Devilled eggs, wings, shrimp and fried green tomatoes)

Part biker bar, part southern BBQ restaurant Dinosaur Bar-B-Que is a local Syracuse favourite that has both the locals and tourists lining up around the corner for a table.  The boyfriend and I arrived shortly after the doors opened for lunch and we were seated without problem.  As we ordered and ate we watched the restaurant fill up - first it was the waiting area, then the bar, then the area near the washrooms, then the line started forming outside the restaurant.  As Dinosaur Bar-B-Que doesn't take reservations, you'll probably have to wait for a table - is it worth it?

YES.  GET IN LINE NOW.

(Tres Hombres - Pulled pork, 1/4 rack of ribs, beef brisket and two sides)

Since this was my first time at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que I shared the Swag Sampler appetizer plate and ordered the Tres Hombres as my main.  I was told by the waitress that it was a good introduction to their BBQ.  The appetizer sampler came with wings, fried green tomatoes, shrimp and devilled eggs.  It was good, I particularly enjoyed the devilled eggs and wings smothered in their Sensuous Slathering sauce but it was only a warm up for the main course.  The Tres Hombres, a beautiful trio of pulled pork, 1/4 rack of ribs, tender, tender beef brisket and two of their homemade sides (bar-b-que beans and mac 'n cheese for me) is what got me drooling.  The brisket is tender, moist; the ribs fall apart in your mouth when you bite into them and you can taste a slight smoke flavour thanks to the wood fuelled BBQ pit.  Even the sides, which sometimes aren't so good at BBQ restaurants, were delicious; the bar-b-que beans made with pulled pork and the mac 'n cheese moist and gooey with 5 different cheeses.  My least favourite thing on the plate was, surprisingly, the pulled pork which seemed a little dry compared to the other meat on the plate.

Oh, and did I mention the beer selection?  With great breweries like Southern Tier, Brooklyn Brewery and Sierra Nevada (to name of a few) part of a 22 draught and over 40 bottle list, it's a craft beer lovers dream!  The best part is that you can take any of those beers home in a growler for the cost of a growler ($4.50) and pitcher (cost varies beer to beer).

I'm looking forward to my next visit and highly recommend that if you're close to Syracuse that you get in line for a pint and a rack of ribs.

Introducing the Kegerator

(What would you like to drink?  Beer or ...beer?)

I have never been good at following instructions, recipes or directions.  Even when I  concentrate I tend to opt for my own wacky logic instead of following instructions.  The end result is quietly thrown away; shamefully eaten or, like most of my furniture, left semi-propped up waiting for it's next victim.

Things are changing though!

This Christmas my parents gave me a Kegerator - a gift so amazing that it makes me not only want to learn how to properly operate it but how to clean it and follow a proper maintenance schedule (my car is going to be jealous).

One doesn't learn how to pay attention to fine any details right away.  In my excitement to get the kegerator up and running for the holidays I made a few critical, simple mistakes.  

(The kegerator setup.. with an emergency bottle of Yuengling)

I didn't realize that my kegerator was set up for Cornelius kegs which are typically used to keg homebrews but some breweries still use them (Broadhead Brewery in Ottawa).  I bought a 20l keg from Beau's All Natural which uses commercial kegs and requires a different setup, including a coupler.  Not to worry!  Although that keg of Beau's is sitting in my dining room and not in my kegerator there is a way to go between homebrew (Cornelius) to commercial (Sanke) kegs!  It'll just require a switch, me following an instructional video and potentially a lot of swearing.  For the moment, after learning how to properly connect the beer and gas line to the Cornelius keg, I have Wildcard Ale from Broadhead Brewery on tap.

Next week I'll be travelling to Dogfish Head brewery in Delaware to see the popular brewery, sample many, many of their beers and possibly bring a keg across the border.  And if I can't get that switch installed I'll call the kegs collecting in my dining room an "art installment."

To be continued...

Renewing the Passport

(Sure, they are fake Checkpoint Charlie passport stamps but they are pretty cool)

I applied for my passport so I could attend a training session in Philadelphia.  No one from my department wanted to attend so I volunteered.  It seemed like a great opportunity – add a new skill to my resume, receive a per diem for my troubles and explore a new city.

The training was interesting but I didn't get to explore the city like I wanted to.  Since it was my first business trip I didn't realize that I was expected to socialize with my trainees and my Swedish trainers.  Instead of eating cheesesteaks and hoagies I found myself in themed chain restaurants ordering mushy pasta and (fake) laughing over work related stories.  When I did have a free evening I lost my courage to explore South Philly alone and opted for takeout and an early bedtime.  I took other trips over the years, all with similar results - no exploring but plenty of early bedtimes.

I’ve had more success with vacations taken with the boyfriend.  Together we’ve travelled to a resort in Mexico, driven across Israel, seen the highlights of Germany, France, Italy and road tripped across the United States.  Those vacations had schedules so packed that I had no time to think about courage or mushy pasta.

 Now that I’ve renewed my passport and I have 24 crisp new pages to fill with stamps I want to do more - see more!  My resolution for 2012 is not to become this epic world traveller but to be a little less sheltered than 2011 .. and get some cool passport stamps.

Eaten: 16 Course Eleven Madison Park Tribute

(..and what a tribute it was!)

I woke up at 4:30am feeling dehydrated, bloated and angry that morning had arrived too quickly.  Sure, it was my fault - I did eat everything and I shouldn't have drank most of that bottle of Sullyzwicker or accepted that glass of red or finished that large glass of cognac.. it seemed like such a good idea at the time though.  Staring at the clock, my eyes burning, I made the executive decision to reset the alarm to a much later hour.  I couldn't sleep though, the consequences of sleeping late (paying for both parking and a bad cafeteria lunch) weighed heavy on my mind.  I got up and made a healthy looking salad - going vegetarian for one meal will erase last night's indulgence, right?

Highly doubtful.

The indulgence was a 16 course tribute dinner to Eleven Madison Park (EMP).  Our hosts, Murray Wilson and Pej Vongpaisal, recreated the NYC experience using recipes from the newly released EMP cookbook.  I've had the privilege of eating at EMP years before it achieved it's Michelin Stars or ranking on the S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurant List.  It was also before I started taking photos at restaurants and writing about food so I don't remember exact details about the menu.  Although the wine pairing and pre-meal champagne cocktails might also explain why I don't remember.  I do remember that the meal exceeded all of my expectations and to this day is one of the best meals I've ever experienced.

Although we weren't in a chic New York City dining room and Chef Daniel Humm wasn't at the helm of the kitchen, Murray and Pej successfully recreated dishes that made me feel as if I had gone back to that high-ceilinged dining room.  Congratulations on a beautiful tribute!

(Gougeres)

(Carrot)

(Potato)

(Sea Urchin)

(Oyster)

(Pea)

(Avocado)

(Foie Gras)

(Chicken)

(Duck)

(Lamb)

(Cassis)

(Malt)

(Chocolate)

(Cranberry)

(Granola)