brewers CRAP

 I love cake.  This Mom I know was once telling me about her cake necessities during pregnancy.   I've had a hankering for cake ever since.  

I made these cakes......

I recently found a great source for pre-made cakes.  You have to order it ahead of time and pick it up at a certain time. If you live in Guelph.... College Heights School has a bake shop and makes a great cake  ($8 for a birthday cake....fully decorated.... the works..)  

H

I'm currently distracted by the Mona Lisa.  I'm rug hooking her and know that I should not be.  With Maker Faire pending (in less that two weeks), an OCB order, Hillside coming this summer and various other projects....... I should be sewing and scheming and blogging and shipping and ....and ...and..... but no I sit quietly with my Peppermint Green Tea, listening to Ed Lawrence and Sheila Rogers, hooking away.  I LOVE craft kits and can not seem to pull myself away from the Mona.  She calls to me, with her wicked little smile.  Taunting, me to keep going.  Encouraging me to forget everything else.  Oh Mona..... I can't wait to dig my toes into your warm, soft pile.

H

 Beer Man, Mr George and I took the kids for a little visit up to U of Guelph today.  Our quest to visit with our athletic Hockey playing beer producing friends was interrupted by very bored children, after a donut bribe (that worked for 3 minutes) I choose to abandon George and take the young home.  George is now on his way to Wellington Brewery with Katie and Ian from Amsterdam.... I love how the Micro industry in Ontario has so much togetherness.  It's like a family reunion.  They are a great crowd.  

  The Copper Kettle will be continuing all day. With some fine zambonie work between games, Muskoka and Steam Whistle will end the day at around 6ish...... Get out and support your fav.    

  H

And he brought me some terrific gifts......... California grows Olives.... George snagged a bottle of Apollo Olive oil "Mistral Organic" which claims to be Elegant and Buttery..... and some "Made In Napa Valley"  fig and roasted shallot Tapenade ........

My baby knows my so well.......... say Hello.....Kitty....... Hello Kitty riding on a Trolley Car...... that a nail file folks...... Love it..... may never use it.....

Sounds like fun was had in SanFran. .. Next year, Maybe I'll come and check out the conference too.... I'm glad that everyone made it home safe.

H

Beer Man (3rd from the right) is in San Fran for the Craft Brewers Conference this week....... with a whole whack of other Beer Men (Women) from Ontario. Looks like you're getting loads of work done.  

Things that I used to have...as a child are in a museum..... does that mean I'm old.  I still use a computer that looks like this......

seriously..... I've only had it for 12....13 years........

Remember these?

I don't have them anymore but I use to....... I'm not sure what the middle one was for....we would pretend it was a phone.

My mom used to have one of these......

We pretended it worked....... and we would go on camping trips.... and then one summer there was a bees nest and we never went in it again.... and then we moved and didn't take the non-working camper van with us. 

 Since then, I've always wanted a camper van....... 

H

A Week after the actual event and I'm still in awe of all the great things that we did in Detroit.  Rouge Factory Tour took us to a working auto factory.  This, I loved.  We started with a quick Historical Movie about Henry Ford and raise to an auto powerhouse...... Followed by a "Making of the F150" interactive Movie with moving seats, wind and spraying water....next the factory look out.  We gazed at the largest Green Roof in the world and learned how Ford was collecting fumes from the paint shop, compressing them into gas that was used to power a portion of the paint shop!!!!...  then onto the actual factory floor...... As Beerman and I marvelled at the windshield placing robot, encouraging the kids to "look look, its going to do it again"....they urged us forward with exaggerated faces of extreme boredom...... While we were clearly impressed with the repetitiveness they were clearly hungry and looking forward to having lunch at the Wiener-mobile. 

The Henry Ford Museum.......... two of the most notable things that I saw were this...... Wiener-mobile..... and the only existing Dymaxium House....... I want one...... (yes C, I know it's a Hippy Thing. I shall don my Birkenstocks, Macramé and smoke Pachouli.... and I shall live in my round, shiny, windowy house.......  :  )

H

 Fort Street Brewery........ home of the Lincoln Lager... (I love how things are named after cars)... Lincoln Lager was just as advertised, Clean, Crisp..... I wanted more......We tried Snowplowed, a winter ale made with Oats, Rye and Juniper...... thick and creamy...not too sweet...... SWeeeet.....George's fav.... Malcomson's Scotch Ale.

Fort Street boosts a new Cask every Thursday.  They have a massive collection of posters, one for each. 

Great Beer!!! and food........ We will be back.

Cheers

H

P.S.  Lincoln Lager was actually named after Lincoln Park were the Brewery is located in Michigan (very near Detroit).  It's a play on Lincoln Logs, which I personally love to play with.  AND I would recommend that you go out of your way to have a pint at Fort Street Brewery as we had a great time....lunch.... and beer.

 Yeah, sure there were building boarded up... empty lots.... but Detroit has so much more to offer.  Our first stop was Motor City Brewery.

  George discovered an alley which has been reclaimed into Detroit's first Green Ally.... a project that creates ally farms..... feed the community...... Urban Homesteading...Farming in the city!!!  very cool.....

At our next stop we were greeted by Eric at Hitsville USA....... Motown Museum.... 

 Everyone that we met in Detroit was so nice.  Eric created memories that I will carry with me forever.  My kids will have forever..... Eric's charisma made our visit to Motown. After a very informative and interactive Eric guided tour through Motown's galleries.....We stood in Studio one and watched our kids Moon Walk in the same spot that 7 year old Michael Jackson (yes folks 7 year old) Moon Walked.  We stood in the Studio one where Stevie Wonder recorded "Happy Birthday" while everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me. We sang "My Girl" with a group people from all over.    If you ever go to Detroit, go to the Motown Museum...... GO to the Motown Museum...... top ten....  Eric you make history Fun.

H

 Look out Motor City....... Mr Beer and I are going to be out touring your town this weekend.  We are excited to see what Detroit has to offer.  On top of several Micro Breweries, Motown Recording Studio and the Henry Ford Museum we will be searching for some of Detroit's "Better Made Snack Food"......chips in a can!!!! Love it.  

I tried to read "The girl with the Dragon Tattoo".  There was so much going on in the first chapter and everyone had funny names.... and it was a thick book...rather heavy..... I was getting a cramp from holding it up...... and after waking up with book on my face...twice..... I took it back to the library.  I have heard that it is a great story and gets better in the second half,  maybe I will try again if/when I get an eReader.  This is not the book that made me cry.

This is the book that made me cry.  

"Undergrounders"  by David Skuy...... I know some people that were homeless...street kids..... This book really made me think of them and my kids and all the what ifs.  It isn't formally based in Toronto but as the author is from Toronto..... as I was reading it I imagined St Lawrence Market and the parking lot behind, how the cool winter wind .... frigid it just gets you, pulls on your shopping bags, finds any exposed skin.  How much colder it feels when you are hunger or tired.   

I imagined the kids playing hockey on the outdoor rinks at Bathurst and College and Toronto's multitudes of Hotdog Vendors wafting Hot Dog smells that make you hungry, even if you have just eaten.   

This book was well written in a make you think sort of manner.  Thank-you David for making me cry.

H

I love reading historical fiction.  I know what is going to happen but the stories (mostly) are so well written that I just can't stop reading.  Greener Grass by Caroline Pignat didn't disappoint.... based in Ireland 1847, 14 year old Kit steps up when her family needs her most.  Battling lost crops, eviction and famine.  Caroline knits a great story about this part of Canadian history.

H

Anyone loose an Ipod at Georgapalooza???   If you know the person that did please pass this along.

email me......hannah@brewerscrap.com

H

Best ever!!!!

Thank-you to everyone that joined us for this year's Georgapalooza.  Thank-you to all that donated to our Raffle Bag contents....we raised $755 for Habitat for Humanity!!!!  (Up from last years $200).   

I'm always impressed at how many friends George has and how affectionate they are with each other....... (John)...... It's such a fun group to hang out with.

Let's go camping this summer.

H

I love making cakes. 

This sky cloud cake was for George's Birthday.....

 Yesterday, I was gifted some cheese.  My favorite..... Blue Benedictin.....cheese that I just want to hold in my mouth as to taste it longer....... Cheese that I don't want to stop breathing in, as to smell it longer.  Cheese that my kids now like.....Why oh why did I ever let them try it..........

I'm lucky enough to have a friend that works at Ouderkirk and Taylor.  It's a great little shop downtown Guelph with a wonderful selection of Canadian Cheeses and store baked breads.  

Thank-you Cheese friend for the Benedictin.

H

Last night while I was composing this Blog entry in my mind....... I had the best ideas.... they flowed like water from a kettle.... My blog would have been as great as ..... Oh I have it.....

Things that distract me.  January seems to pull me away to places of nothing happening but at the end of the day, I have actually done quite allot.

1.    Cheese...... Cheese distracts me.  I love when you open a pack of blue cheese. The pungent aroma seems to attack your nose.  I take a small bit in my fingers,  roll it around  and smell it again.  It's the kind of moment that I don't want to stop breathing in.   I hold the cheese on my tongue as to taste it as long as possible.  A cracker would get in the way of the "Blue".  
I've started making my own Cheese.  Thanks to son #1 and the New England Cheese Company.  They have a mozzarella kit and Son #1 gave it to me for Christmas.  Soooo good.

2.    Kittens..... or just a kitten distracts me.  Why do they have to be so darn cute?  and at the same time such a little pain.  Major Tom, climbs door frames......  He attacks Mr Pickles.  Nibbles on plants.  Jumps onto the table...grrrrr.   Eats string, thread and pretty much anything that drops to the floor.....Lego included.   AND then he curls up in his little hide-y hole basket and is SOOO cute.  

3.    Georgeapolooza....... if you are in the know....... Georgeapolooza is coming up..... if you are not...... brewersCRAP.com has a party every year to celebrate George and beer related people.  The whole thing is a fund raiser for Habitat for Humanity.  Last year we raised $200 for a "new door".... with invites to make and mail and make sure we haven't forgotten anyone....food stuff to plan....door prizes to gather.. nothing else seems to happen..... or does it??? 

4.    Taxes...... not that I have actually done anything about this yet..... It's there sitting in a huge pile on my desk...  

5.     Other Blogs......... Although robotaday.com only changes once a week.........somehow I need to check it every day.

6.    AND this one I am NOT proud of...... Facebook........ I recently had a facebook moment and now I check it every couple hours.....  Two of my real friends and I were discussing cookbooks.  We found that we all loved the same book and cooked from it often.  My Soap making buddie friend,  noted how cool it was, that although we are in different parts of our province, we are cooking and eating the same food....

7.    last one........ Snow........ I love the stuff and want to be outside in it skiing or snowshoeing or just sitting in my lawn chair in the backyard with it allllll around me.  Outside not inside......  

Distractions????? 

I always learn something new when I read historical fiction.  These three novels are great stories.  Martha Brooks takes a semi-caustic main character and makes you fall in love with her....... Anna Kerz's "The Gnome's Eye" is a coming to Canada tale that I couldn't put down....... And "Watching Jimmy"..... ...... I cried.  

Enjoy........... 

P.S.   I still have a copy of "Birdwing" that I would like to pass along.  If you would like....send me an email.