The Hubz and I are “beer aficionados” or at least we like to think we are (more the Hubz than me) ….if you aren’t laughing you should be. Anyways we really do love beer especially really good craft beer; we are lucky to live in Vermont where there are tons of craft breweries. Anyways so as many of you may have seen me tweeting the Hubz and I had a mini beer tasting on Monday night. So we rated the beers based on what we liked the best (5 being best and 1 being worst), however below is the order we drank them in:
Victory Storm King Stout- 3.5- great flavor and hoppyness which I love
Long Trail Harvest-2 this was just okay.
Dogfish Head Punkin Ale-4-loved this! it was not too sweet like some pumpkin beers are; it had great spice and overall flavor we will be purchasing this again!
Sierra Nevada Tumbler-3-this was alright but not my favorite, not my least favorite either.
We enjoyed the Sierra Nevada Tumbler with Squash and White Bean Soup & Sour Dough Bread - p.s. if you are interested in being a tester for my soup e-book e-mail me! More details soon!
Southern Tier Harvest (my favorite)- 5! This beer was delicious! A great fall beer with lots of hops!
Victory Festbier-1.5-this beer was pretty much a fail. Very boring and little flavor.
While we ate, drank and were merry the fur baby did this:
Calling all Soup Lovers! If you love soup as much as I do than this just might be the thing for you. I am looking for 15-17 people to participate in testing recipes for my new Soup Recipe E-Book. If you would like to learn more about being a tester please e-mail me at lindsay [at] cookingforaveganlover [dot] com.
Over the past few months I have been using my GlassDharma straws all the time and have added them to my OpenSky shop for you to get your own set. These straws are great and so easy to clean and are eco-friendly. Below is a little Q&A for the people at GlassDharama. Enjoy!
1. Why did you decide to partner up with OpenSky?
GlassDharma’s publicity began with Bloggers! Blog reviews of GlassDharma products brought about an appropriate forum. Not only to get the word out about a new idea (Glass Straws) but also to present the forward thinking that goes along with the creation of our products.
When Open Sky made it’s debut, Glass Dharma staff recognized an organization that could easily unite bloggers and product manufacturers in a way that gave bloggers opportunities for store fronts. After all, the bloggers promote the products, so why not sell to their own followings as well & increase their profits?
2. What is the inspiration behind GlassDharma?
GlassDharma has a mission – the power of a spiraling thought process goes with each product that leaves our manufacturing facility.
The thought process? REUSE!
Reuse it and you don’t have to throw it “away”.
Reuse it and you won’t have to “recycle” it.
Reuse and just say “no” to single use plastics.
Choosing a reusable straw is a small and simple act, but the decision leads to more decisions about much bigger things….
David Leonhardt, owner and founder, focuses his hard work and determination into creating quality products that have an impact on health and environmental issues. While caring for his customers with the highest level of integrity, David creates a product that benefits other people like himself and the quality of our world. His vision to create his own line of glass drinking straws stems from his 12 years of experience as a Lamp-worker.
In addition to becoming a part of the “green” movement with his product and his packaging, David also loves the elegance of glass.
GlassDharma is the result of a life long pursuit to follow “dharma” – that which upholds and supports the proper conduct of living.
3. Which is your favorite straw and why?
“I use every style and size of GlassDharma straws but my most used are the 10inch 9.5mm because I drink Iced Tea every day. At home I use tall Iced Tea glasses and on the go I use tall glass bottles. The 10 inch are the perfect size for both.
Every day I drink a fruit & veggie smoothie for breakfast and I always reach for a 12mm “smoothie size” Beautiful Bends Glass Straw.
Serving guests? The Decorative Dots are the favorite and the different colors help with drink identification.”
-Cheryl Newcomb (PR& Marketing Department at GlassDharma)
4. What are the benefits of GlassDharma straws?
There is the benefit of taste & feel when you use glass straws, the elegance of the fire polished glass…
The glass maintains a more constant temperature in both hot and cold beverages, there is not the condensation buildup and sweating that often occurs with stainless steel and aluminum straws.
The very best benefit is to reduce the need for single use plastics because of what plastic waste is doing to our Planet
5. How durable are GlassDharma straws?
GlassDharma Glass Straws are manufactured using a special annealing method:
6. Lastly, I see that you are involved in fundraising as well, could you tell me more about this?
GlassDharma knows that the giving back reaches far beyond the manufacturing of a product that is environmentally friendly.
There are many worthwhile causes in our world and GlassDharma would like to provide platforms and opportunities for Fundraising by providing a user-friendly Fundraising Package of our products to allow profits from sales to be used for worthy causes.
The Hubz and I headed downtown after dinner to relax and enjoy the nice weather. We talked about going to Stogo for vegan ice cream, but got a little lost, so we decided to try Lula’s Sweet Apothecary . I really wanted a sundae but didn’t think I could eat one on my own and the Hubz just didn’t feel it. I asked one of the staff members which flavor was her favorite and she said she really liked the lemon and chocolate fudge brownie, but her favorite was the soft-serve twist (cake batter & chocolate). After tasting a few of the hand-packed ice creams, I decided to go with the soft serve twist and the Hubz went with butterscotch.
Both of our choices were really good, but honestly, I enjoy Stogo’s ice cream more. However, Lula’s was a fun little place that had soft serve which made me happy as I have been wanting some for years.
Important: In order for you to use the coupon code and only when one of the netbook or laptop sleeves is added to the basket, will you be able to use the coupon code.
The coupon codes FREESLEEVE (for the U.S.) or CADFREESLEEVE (for Canada) are valid from September 6th through October 1st, 2010.
After the game we were all feeling a little hungry and loopy but no one as much as Ma….
So after a million a few last minute photos were taken we made our way to Candle Cafe for an early dinner.
I have always wanted to go to Candle Cafe, ever since years ago when my mom bought me the cookbook for kitchen. I have made many of the recipes myself but was ready to get the full experience. We all would have liked to visit Candle 79 but considering we had been at a ball game all day and weren’t staying the the city where we could head back to our hotel and shower and change, we decided casual would be better. However, after this visit to Candle Cafe we will for sure be heading to Candle 79 next visit.
After reviewing the menu about 30 times we all finally made decisions, since we couldn’t justify ordering one of everything we all got different things so we could get a little taste of a variety of items.
Mine: INDIAN PLATE tofu spinach saag, black-eyed pea masala, yellow basmati rice, date-raisin chutney, cabbage salad and parata bread.
Hubz: CAJUN SEITAN SANDWICH Pan-seared seitan, steamed greens, caramelized onions and avocado. Served on toasted focaccia with an ancho chili aioli and coleslaw.
Ma: GRILLED SEITAN BURGER Seitan burger on a seeded bun with fried potatoes, lettuce, tomato, onion, coleslaw and pickles.
PA: TUSCAN SEITAN PARMESAN SANDWICH Breaded seitan cutlet with melted tapioca cheese and roasted garlic tomato sauce on a potato onion roll. Served with a mesclun salad drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette and fried potatoes.
Everything was delicious however here is a run down of everyones favorites:
Ma: Seitan Burger
Pa: Seitan Burger
Hubz: Cajun Seitan and Tuscan Parm
Me: Cajun Seitan, Tuscan Seitan Parm or the date-chutney
I loved everything and now I am ready to go home and make some more recipes from my cookbook and hope that they taste as good.
The day that we have been waiting for all summer finally came our first trip to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees play the Jays.
Making Our Way to The Bronx
Ma and Pa
The Hubz and I
We got to the stadium early to get the most out of our day- we got to see the Jays batting practice but unfortunately got in too late to see the Yankees. After we checked out the field and a few stores we headed to the Memorial Park.
Hubz with his favorite players number
Me with my childhood favorite players number
Watching the Ball Game
We didn’t really eat much at the game as we had a sandwich earlier in the morning and were saving our appetites for Candle Cafe after the game. I did see however veggie burgers, veggie sushi, guacamole and chips and veggie noodle bowls along with your normal ballpark food like french fries, popcorn and pretzels.
Garlic Fries- debatably vegan- my sources say yes and others say no- oh well they were good
We also ran around the stadium trying to locate the Brooklyn Brewery beer because what is a ball game without a beer and I was not spending $9 on Bud or Miller-yuck. So we finally located the Brooklyn Lager after going to almost the top level of the ball field but it was worth it even if they were $9.
Brooklyn Lager
We sat back in our comfy seats and enjoyed the game.
