Homebrewing with Brewers

We recently had an amazing Saturday. We signed up for a homebrew demo at Eagle Rock Brewery. There were about 15 people there and two of the brewers, Lee and Andrew. We had a blast!

Dan already has brewed a handful of times at our various homes, but was never satisfied with his beers. I enjoyed them much more than he did. He also didn't like our old kitchen, so he only brewed their once. I thought this would be a great opportunity for him to learn somethings that would give him the kick he needs to get back to brewing.

The setup at the brewery is nice. They have a taproom out front and a big window looking into the brewery, which is pretty small. It was neat getting to go back there and feeling right at home. Some fun bit of info, most of their equipment turns out to be dairy machines converted to work with brewing. Pretty awesome. They actually got most of their equipment from AleSmith when they were upgrading.

Noël Jams

Noël Jams is my jam company!

While I'm still working it out, and it's not actually a business yet; I have a blog you might be interested in checking out. It talks all about my experiences creating jams, starting a business, and everything in between.

My jams, jellies and nut butters will all be as organic and as local as I can make them, vegan, and low (or no/alternative) sugar.

Please check it out and let me know what you think!

www.NoelJams.com

If you are interested in having me make you some jams, let me know! I can do wedding favors, individual jars, even mix and match batches, or custom flavors.

Also, if you know of any jam fans or someone who is looking for fun gift ideas, send them my way!

Follow my Twitter here: Noel Jams

Thanks for your support guys! Who knows, maybe I'll give you some jam! ;]

St. Patrick's

Dan's heritage escapes for a day. 

 I hope you had a nice Sunday with whatever you ended up doing. We had a grand ol' time this weekend.

We started our morning at the farmer's market to pick up our CSA box and found they have strawberries! And oh my are they juicy and delish. I bought a bunch and hopefully will be making a strawberry jam soon. I also picked up some oranges which I used to jam with when we got home. Find out more about my jam session here!

a.day.in.my.life.

Isis

Can't type. 

Can't Drink. 

Why? 

She's purring.

   

 

wednesday

Today is Wednesday. Looks like it's raining, possibly just fog misting outside.

Tonight I have a blogging class at SMC for work. Hopefully tomorrow my blogging skills will become exponentially better than today. Maybe I'll add links and such. Wish me luck at becoming more interesting.

#ExcitingTimes

Bad Religion & Pizza Port. Yes please!

So, we have been vegan for a week now. It was a little difficult for Dan this weekend, but he survived it and he doesn't seem deterred yet. Especially since today at work he got a peanut butter smoothie made with rice milk. I'm jealous!

This photo is actually from their 30th anniversary tour.
I hate being one of those people who hold their phone up the entire concert so my pictures aren't very good.

vegan

I am a vegan.

Holy moly, what a statement. I have been a vegetarian for 9 years, and what a better way to bring in my 10th year by going vegan. Now, this isn't really a new thing for me. I was vegan for about a year in college, but lost sight of my convictions and let peer-pressure and laziness take over. That followed with the years of, "I shouldn't eat dairy because I'm lactose intolerant, but I couldn't give up cheese!" argument. I even reached the point where I started to think eggs were good again. The last straw was that I started buying "humane" and "healthy" bacon for my husband, and cooking it myself. I don't know what came over me. But not anymore! A weight has been lifted off my shoulders, my soul has been cleansed, and I am relieved. Why?

I am a vegan.

It's Friday!

And what a lovely Friday it is! I started our CSA box again, now that I know we will be around to use it a lot. I've been listening to the Beatles all day which has put me in a great mood, and Isis is snoozing on my lap. What a doll.

So tomorrow we plan on going for a morning bike ride down to Cinnaholic for some amazing vegan cinnamon rolls. *drool* I can't wait. We also have potential renters coming over because WE ARE MOVING! Huzzah! Sadly our downstairs neighbors are moving away (all of three blocks, yay!) and we are moving downstairs to their two bedroom. We are both super excited.

This has added to our hectic schedule that seems to never give us a rest! Maria's wedding is coming up next month, and I have been busy looking for a venue for our wedding. I think we found an awesome place in the Oakland hills called the Joaquin Miller Community Center. It has a nice view of Oakland and is surrounded by trees. It's great and has the mountain feel that we both love, but reminds us that we are still in the amazing bay area.

Now I just need to find that perfect job. I wish I could get paid to cross-stitch. Then life would be perfect!