Winesday Wednesday

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Happy Winesday Wednesday, folks!! Man, these weeks sure do fly by–I feel like I’m always posting alcohol (well, because I AM).

This week, I am gonna share most of the drinks I had while in Chicago. Most all my bevies had me all:

Actually, pretty much all alcohol has that effect on me. Minus the super duper hoppy IPAs. Even then, I’m a sport and will drink it.

OK—here we go!

Fridays beers at the airport: Shock Top and Goose Island’s Green Line Pale Ale

You know, just your standard drink-in-the-airport beers. Helped pass the time. And relax me.

I ordered the Lakeshore when we went to the Signature Lounge. It was a really great drink to have for happy hour- especially when I had jest met up with friends and had an excellent view of the city from 96 stories up! The Lakeshare consisted of Belvedere vodka, sparkling wine and raspberry liqueur. Yum!

Margaritas were had with dinner. It’s pictured in the last post.I really love margaritas. Like, the real ones- not the ones with that yucky sour mix. I could drink them all the days. When our kitchen is done, I’m gonna have a party and make everyone a margie (or 2 or 3 or…)

Ole!

Then there was the terribly strong martini from the piano bar….

And rounding out the evening with a Revolution Brewery Bottoms Up Wit. Delish!

The 3 beers I chose to sample during our bike tour on saturday were:

Three Floyd’s Gumballhead- wheat ale with a tiny bit of citrus. I REALLY liked this one, but majority of the people in our group thought different. Weirdos.
Lagunitas PILS- on the hoppy side, but dang was it super refreshing as a bike-tour stop!
Bell’s Oberon Ale– another summery beer! Wheat ale that was a bit spicy and fruity and delicious all in one! PS: the sample for this one was entirely too small!

Dinner that night was accompanied by a delicious red: Estancia Reserve Meritage. It was PERFECT with our steak dinners. Plus, I’m pretty sure I can drink it on it’s own. I loved this wine!

We also managed to down another bottle. The second was Ramsay Cabernet Sauvignon. This was another good drinking wine that we enjoyed all too easily with conversation at the bar.

Noms.

Some of my other choices for the weekend were more Revolution beers and Goose Island beers- the places we went to had mostly IPA selections, which some times isn’t as appealing to me. Womp.

Ok, so that’s all the cool crap I’ve got to share! I hope maybe this helps for some suggestions 🙂

Michael shared some new stuff, too! He wrote:

So I went to Philadelphia again for the weekend and had some delicious brews and eats. Before going there, however, I had a strong IPA by Maui brewing company called Big Swell. Lots of hop flavor on this one. Good stuff for a Hawaiian made beer. In Philadelphia, my wife and I went to this restaurant with her former college roommate called Sbraga ownedand operated by the Top Chef. I had a Hof Dormaal there with my meal and it was fantastic. It is a strong Belgian blonde ale with hints of banana, clove, and other spices throughout that went perfectly with all of my tasting dishes. We then left and went to Nodding Head brew pub. I got a “Just Annuder Stout” which I wasn’t too impressed with but still decent enough to drink the whole pint. It was more dark chocolate/coffee flavor than I expected but with the addition of lactose sugar (not dissolvable by beer yeast), it was more than tolerable and had a creamy finish. The interesting thing about this brew pub is it is one of the smallest in Pennsylvania, yielding only 7 barrels of beer per year. Helps keep costs and alcohol taxes down I guess! I took a pic of their brewery equipment which I will include with this. What you see is exactly how much equipment they have.

I’m not a big-time lover of stouts, but there are a select few that I really like. I try to avoid getting them at restaurant or bars just in case they ruin a meal! Thanks, Michael!

For your entertainment:

Woman With No Pants Steals Two Boxes of Franzia. Sounds like my nightly college routine.
Easter themed cocktails. Let’s be honest. We’re all too lazy to buy and make this stuff. Prosecco and wine it is!

When I look at myself in the error after I’ve done my makeup (drunk):

How I professed my love (before Tyler):

How I picture all my nights out with friends:

See ya next week! (If you have anything you want to show off in future posts, send them my way!)

No giveaways here

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

You know what I hate? (not for reals hate, but maybe seriously dislike) I have never won a giveaway from any other blog! Ok that sounds selfish. But dude, I have no luck with these things. Therefore, I will not do one until I win one myself. The end.

In other news, my parents are still here and we have been drinking like fish, it has been hotter than hell, and I’m pretty sure the scale would break if I even looked at it now. I have to remind myself: this is my vacation. I need to learn how to relax and take a few days off!

Even though I just wolfed some buttery scones my mom made this AM, I am forcing myself to go to the gym now before I have to schlep my cowboy boots back on and drink $7 beers. It’s a tough life. sidebar: I have been subtlety fitting in exercises where I can (kysh: remember on vacation we just take longer strides?!) I mean: I squat over the toilet seat at the stampede – and when you drink lots of beers, that’s a LONG time to hold a squat; bicep curls with the margarita mix; oblique twists while passing sh*t from the grill to the plate; oh, I could just go on and on.

Apparently this message is an ode-to-kysha ( ok her name is really Kristin but I call her kysha. STILL. From college. And she’s my best friend ever that lives in Seattle and is preg with my little flower girl! 🙂 ) because I just remembered that they now sell Shock Top downtown and I am so happy happy happy to drink them later. Ok, so, workout NOW, drink later. Got it. Oh boy do I hope I sweat a lot at the gym today. I need it.

By the way, does anyone else hate it when you just about remove a layer of skin off the backs of your legs when you stand up in the heat?!

Montana Road Trip

Posted on May 27, 2012 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

So we went to Montana on Friday night. The only reason was so that I could officially export my car from the US and import it into Canada. Really out of the way, but Tyler and I made a trip out of it.

It was about 4 hours of this view before we got to Cut Bank, MT for the night (we were able to export the car on Friday night, but the officer said we could still stay the night in MT since we had already made reservations).

So, Cut Bank is tiny. Like, population 4. Le woof. We managed to find a place called Charlie’s for dinner, where we gorged on pizza and beer. Meal of champions.

I had a Moose Drool

And Tyler had a Land Shark

Pizza was topped with pepperoni, pineapple and mushies. It was pretty good (but not good for you. Whatever, it was Friday and I was in AMERICA!!)

Our hotel was…well, a hotel. Nothing fancy. It was a Motel 8! The swankiest place the town had to offer. I wasn’t too impressed with the mirror headboard.

Yeah, that’s a face of happiness. Or something like that.

The view from our room:

Lots of nothing. BUT, we stopped at a gas station before getting to the hotel and we got a 6 pack of Shock Top and a 6 pack of Blue Moon. This American was in HEAVEN. Oh, how I’ve missed that beer. We enjoyed them while watching European Vacation. (We didn’t drink it all- we got to bring back most of them. Thank you border patrol lady for letting us!)

We woke up Saturday and got right on the road. Once we hit the border, we actually had to go in the office and get my car admitted and go through all the paperwork. It only set us back about 30 minutes, so it was actually quite easy!

Before making it back to Calgary, we made a detour at Buffalo Junction

And paid a visit to the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.

This site was where Blackfoot Indians would persuade Buffalo herds to stampede over a cliff to their deaths. They would use as much as they could from the Buffalo carcasses to survive until the next jump.

The museum itself was 6 stories and the top floor allowed you to go outside and stand at the site where the Buffalo would jump. It was really quite impressive.

Archeologists found that the jump was used up to 6000 years ago. At that point, the cliff was substantially higher, but as more and more jumps were completed, the remains of the Buffalo and dirt would accumulate at the bottom. Over time, the fall became less fatal, and more Indians had to man the base to kill the injured animals once they had fallen. It was important that no Buffalo escaped, because they believed that the escapee would warn other herds to stay away.

Ironically, once we left Montana and were in Alberta, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Montana’s.

And then, of course, Tim Horton’s for a caffeine boost

This barn made me laugh because of it’s large smiley face. So, I thought I’d take a photo to share

Dinner when we got back home were burgers and margaritas. Isn’t that how all road trips are supposed to end? I had the best chef(s).

Action shot

And I can’t forget the Tequila! (We were schooled at the liquor store about tequilas with 100% agave, silver vs. gold, and basically how crappy Sauza and Jose Cuervo were because they only had to make theirs with 51% agave and the other 49% could be made up of whatever sugars they want.