Sheltered Girl Meets World

Monday Distractions: Coffee, Crafts, Wine and Photos..

Did this really need to be painted? (Courtesy NYC Municipal Archives)

Ottawa Events:

• I haven't been too successful in filling my passport with stamps but I might do better with a coffee passport.  The passport costs $14 and will give coffee lovers a free coffee, tea or espresso-based drink at each of the independent Ottawa coffee shops participating.  The trip starts on May 1 and goes for 7 months - you can buy your passport online or in store.
• Urban Craft - Ottawa's first and only monthly craft market is back!  Check out artisan food, home decor, hand made jewelery at The GCTC on May 5 between 10am and 2pm.
• Savvy Company has gone event happy in May and has several wine tastings and classes for you to eat, sip, learn and possibly buy.  I have attended one of the artisan cheese classes and the local craft beer class and can't say enough good things.  Use promo code 'BESAVVY' and get $10 the ticket price (for a limited time)!

Other Events:

• Do you like wine? Do you like to run? Then Terroir Run, a 10km jaunt through Prince Edward County's wine region, is for you!  The event takes place on Sunday, May 27 but best to pay your $75 registration fee and book one of the magnificent B&B's now because it will sell out.

Interesting Reads:

• Kraft Foods has a pasta architect to create best selling pasta shapes and holds patents to the pasta versions of high-rise buildings, dinosaurs and even the United States of America.
• Wolfgang Puck predicts the hotel food trends of 2013.  Seasonality, spruced up simplicity.. I may start enjoying hotel food.
• 30 things every traveler should do before they're 30.  I'm 31 and I haven't done a lot of these things.  I have been thinking more and more about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro though..
• I have a fascination with old photographs and am loving these photos newly released from the New York City Municipal Archive.  Here are the highlights.

Drank: Growlers and Growlers and Growlers of Beer

Beer and Bar-B-Que, natural pairing!

Growlers date back to the early 1900s when fresh beer was carried home from the local pub using a galvanized pail.  The term 'growler' was coined because of the rumbling noise of the escaping carbon dioxide through the lid.  Pails were switched with waxed cardboard containers in the 50s when it was illegal for liquor stores to be open on Sunday, so bars would sell growlers of beer to drink at home.  The modern day glass growler was born in 1989 as a way for the Otto Brothers Brewery to offer beer to go for their local customers without setting up a bottling line.  Now growlers are not only sold at breweries but in gas stations, supermarkets, restaurants and specialty stores.

I was introduced to growlers six years ago on my first visit to Beau's All Natural Brewing Co.  I bought a few filled with their seasonal offerings and loved it so much I made the trek back to Vankleek Hill to exchange my empties for more seasonal delights.  Thanks to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario growlers are regulated and only offered at breweries and brewpubs.  On a recent trip to New York City I explored some of the other places growlers are filled and marvelled at the amount of craft beer available.

Line up of growlers at The Filling Station.

 My first stop was in the Chelsea Market.  Hidden around stalls filled with fresh cheese and vegan juice bars was The Filling Station.  Though mostly specializing in oils, vinegars and salts they have an impressive craft beer menu filled with interesting brews local to New York.  Choose the traditional 1.89l growler or go smaller and enjoy your brew in a refillable 473ml mason jar.  I paid the $2 mason jar deposit, filled it with Captain Lawrence Freshchester Pale Ale and enjoyed the aromatic brew while watching Storage Wars in the hotel room.

The Growler Station is cool because the filling stations have lights.

My next stop was to 8th Street where employees of The Growler Station were busy filling growlers from their impressive 30 + tap list.  A typical growler stays fresh for a few days depending on the seal, The Growler Station has developed a system that purges oxygen from the bottle and replaces it with carbon dioxide before filling creating a fresher, longer lasting beer.  They even fill 2 litre plastic bottles using this method (no need for deposit or cleaning!).  I filled two 950ml jugs with Genesis Ale and Messiah Bold from Schmaltz Brewing Company.  They are resting in my fridge; I'm conducting an experiment to see how fresh it actually is (update: fresh but beer not so tasty).

I'll skip the ass kickin' paddle..

Any road trip through New York isn't complete without a stop to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.  Mostly known for their amazing ribs and brisket they also have an incredible craft beer menu that includes over 20 beers on tap and many more in bottle.  If you're picking up take away (a popular option when the wait is 2 hours long) grabbing a growler of your favourite craft beer to take with you is a great way not to miss out.  After a plate of wings and a Tres Hombres sampler I filled a jug with 8.2% ABV hoppy sweet Southern Tier 2XIPA to take back to Ottawa.

I will continue to buy and guzzle enjoy local brews by the growler full but when I want to try something different I'll clean out a growler and visit New York for a refill of something unique.

Do you buy growlers?  Would you buy more growlers if The Beer Store or LCBO offered growler fill stations?

Wordless Wednesday: The Flatiron Building (New York City, NY)

Made: Anxiety-Filled Beet Gravlax

Please enjoy. I didn't have a panic attack over this or anything.

Sharing food and cooking for friends is one of my favourite things to do.  Sometimes the pressure of perfecting a recipe can get under my skin and turn the fun of sharing into unneeded stress.  The stress turns into anxiety and then pasta dough flies through the air, bland cupcakes are crushed one fistful at a time and beet gravlax gets plated and replated with cries of reassurance from the boyfriend. 

Despite my cries that the world is ending, everything turns out okay.

The pasta is remade, sweet butter cream is piped onto the cupcakes and the beet gravlax is moved from a dull plastic tray to a colourful bowl.  Before I can start making excuses for the salmon it's half eaten and instead have to make excuses to the boyfriend for my world ending cries in the kitchen.