Rye Apple Cider Cocktail

Want a super easy and seasonably appropriate adult beverage? Then keep on reading! 

Rye Apple Cider Cocktail:

- 2 parts Apple Cider (chilled is best)

- 2 parts Ginger Ale (chilled is best)

- 1 part Rye

Combine apple cider and rye in a shaker with ice and shake. Pour into an old fashioned glass over ice, add ginger ale, and enjoy! You can add a garnish if you like. I added cinnamon to the rim of my glass to give it even more of a festive taste. The ginger ale keeps it light and fresh, which is perfect for feasting with friends. 

Now, you can certainly substitute the rye for your favorite bourbon. I personally substitute a rye for bourbon when the recipe calls for combining with cold apple cider. I just find the slightly fruity flavor of rye pairs better with a cold apple cider. It's just crispier. Now, if the recipe is for a warm cider drink then by all means use a bourbon. That's just my personal preference. 

What's your favorite Rye recipe?

Caipirinha

Last week I mentioned to the hubs that we should drink those crazy sweet rum drinks we had in Brazil on our honeymoon. It took a few seconds for us to remember what they were called, but I don't think we'll ever forget how to make a Caipirinha now that we've made them once. I picked up a bottle of cachaça on my last liquor store run so that we could enjoy these during the World Cup.  These babies are so sweet, which means you definitely don't want to pair them with ice cream and they are made to be sipped and enjoyed at a leisurely pace. 

Cut up a lime into 8 wedges and muddle with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Add 1.5 ounces of  cachaça and enough ice to either fill your old fashioned glass (if you're a lightweight like me) or just enough ice to comfortably cover the other ingredients (if you're not a lightweight like my hubs). Sip slowly and enjoy the beautiful game! 

Beer and Bourbon Classic at Pimlico Race Course

There's just something about summer and festivals going hand and hand.  As the weather heats up it's always nice to get outside, have a few beverages, and see what's going on in the local community.  After having a ton of fun at last year's Brew and Bourbon Festival at Laurel Park, the hubs and I were looking forward to this year's festival at Pimlico. We were able to meet up with some friends and enjoy a few tasty brews. 

Please note: I left my camera at home (something I'm actually trying to do more of this year!) and all of these photos are from my iPhone 5. 

I have no idea what any of that information means! 

Oh yeah, a tropical storm was slowly rolling out which meant the day started with lots of mud and a few sprinkles.  In true form, I had NO IDEA what to wear!  I'm not kidding, but I had my rain boots in the car as a backup option. 

And then the sun came out.  Good thing I had SPF 100 in my purse. (not kidding)

Overall a great time was had by all.  There was plenty of free parking, the festival was indoors (thus protected from the departing tropical storm), lots of space to roam, and once the weather turned sunny it was nice to sit out on the grandstands and watch a few races. Oh, and there were over 60 types of beers, bourbons, and wines to try.  Minor detail. :)

Full disclaimer here, but I know absolutely nothing about horse racing.  This is somewhat of a shock because I actually have friends and family members who race horses. I understand win, place, show, but any other betting terms after that are completely foreign to me.  

You can imagine my surprise when the hubs bet something with the word, "box" in it and won $48.80 on that pretty grey horse above.  Seriously, I got nothing.  All I know is he bet on two races for a total sum of $8 and he won on the one race. All I know is I came home with $20 worth of premium chocolate form Parfections.  

Definitely a good investment in my book!  Dark chocolate, bacon and sea salt!

What festivals do you plan on going to this summer?

Also, please remember to drink responsibly and always designate a driver or take mass transit.  Drinking and driving is never cool. Ever.

Brew and Bourbon Classic at Laurel Park

A little over a month ago I saw on Groupon a sale on tickets for the first Brew and Bourbon Classic at Laurel Park.  The conversation I had with the hubs went something like this:

Me: Hey! I saw on Groupon tickets for some beer and bourbon festival at Laurel Park are $20 each. 

Hubs: I'm listening....

Me: Yeah, you get all the tastings of beer and bourbon you want for $20.

Hubs: Why are we still talking? Did you buy the tickets yet?

Mmmmm, beer. 

Unlike his winnings at Preakness, the hubs was a big ol' bust on the horse betting this time around. 

Just when you'd get done with tasty another beverage the horses would be ready to run again. 

Horses, beer, bourbon, and food trucks? Count me in! 

Okay, I wanted to take that outrider horse home. Such a cutie!

I had every intention of buying the hubs a to-do kit to make his own bourbon, but then once I saw what was on this barrel I just couldn't do it.  I like my liver and I hope we have a long and healthy partnership. 

Wood Chuck might be the most dangerous beverage of all time.  Oh, just drinking on some yummy apple juice.  Oh crap! There's alcohol in this apple juice!

Seriously, everywhere you looked there was beer, beer, bourbon, and then more beer. It was awesome. 

Oh wait, the horses are running again. 

The day wouldn't have been complete without a stop by the Jack Daniels table. 

Overall - definitely worth the trip to Laurel Park.  The track and grounds underwent a massive renovation in the last year and everything looks great.  The Brew and Bourbon Classic was set up both inside and outside and that was a fantastic idea.  I know the organizers probably took a chance on the November weather and made the event so you could stay inside if you wanted to, but the weather was a nice 60 degrees.  There had to be over 50 different types of beer to sample and probably close to 20 different types of bourbons.  There was even a Barefoot wine setup if you weren't into beer or bourbon. 

I will say, going in the hubs and I thought, "Yay! We're going to try out some new bourbons!"

Reality set in after we sampled our first bourbon. We both looked at each other and thought, "there is no way we're going to be functional human beings if we stay here and sample bourbon for four hours straight." 

So we sampled the beers we had never had before, in addition to one or two local favorites and stayed away from the bourbons.  The hubs could have sampled more brews, but it was his turn to act as the designated driver and that meant he could only have a few small samples and act responsible.  

This is definitely an event I hope to attend again!  

Any other fall festivals coming up I should know about? 

Fall Seasonal Beers: Pumking please!

Just mention autumn to the hubs and he immediately thinks of all the delicious fall seasonal beers that are finally in season.  The first pumpkin flavored beverage I usually think of is Pumpkin Spice Lattes, but I've got to give it to the hubs... the pumpkin beers are pretty tasty. 

Pumking beer to be exact.  The Pumking Beer by Southern Tier Brewing Company is rumored to be the only beer that uses real pumpkin in its fall seasonal brew.  It's definitely apparent once you look at the beer because it has an amazing orange color to it. Better yet, it's from New York baby!

We try to stay localish with our seasonal brews.  Lots of Heavy Seas and DuClaw brews in our house, although I don't know if that can be said only during the fall season.  As a New York transplant I'm counting the Pumking as a local beer in my book.

The only downside to fall seasonal beers?  The limited quantities produced!  We're down to one last remaining bottle of DuClaw's 31 and completely out of the Pumking.  Clearly we need to go on a beer run this weekend!

Any other fall seasonals you recommend?  I'm a Blue Moon seasonal fan, loved their Agave Summer seasonal, but unfortunately the Blue Moon Pumpkin brew didn't hold a candle to the Pumking.

NFL Thursday Night Date Night

Thursday Night Date Night is a well-respected event in our house and I'm sad to say that it's going to go on hiatus for a few weeks until dodgeball season is done. Yeah, I play dodgeball and it's awesome!  However, last week the hubs and I headed over to M & T Bank Stadium for a low-key date night with 70,942 other people.

Story of that guy's life - waiting on me while I take a picture.  Thank goodness that man is the most patient person in the world.

Cheers! Too bad the beer cans aren't as big as the one's they serve across the street at Camden Yards.

 Purple fire works - don't mind if I do! 

It was a great night, even though it rained.  It was a bit warm for the end of summer, but thankfully 75 degrees and rainy is actually nice.  If it was even a few degrees colder or if the rain came down a bit harder then it would have been ugly.

Now if only someone would actually use the hood part of his rain coat he'd probably stay a bit dryer.  He's a weird one that amazing husband of mine.

Date Night at an NFL football game might not be for everyone, but it's right up our alley and we'll take it any day of the week.

Look, my hubs is a man's man. He plays sports, drinks whiskey, eats far too much red meat, smokes the occasional cigar, is friend's with a professional MMA fighter, drools over fast cars, etc. But he's also the kind of guy who will wrap up his wifey in a big kiss in the middle of a tailgate party and give cheers to Thursday Night Date Night.

I'm going to miss Thursday Night Date Night.  Although once Marine Corps is done at the end of October we can be a bit flexible and rotate date night onto any day of the week! That'll be pretty awesome. Five years of marital bliss in and we'll never stop going out on dates.

31 Beer Release at DuClaw

I love Thursday night date night!  This week the hubs and I headed over to DuClaw for the release party for their latest beer Spiced  Munich Dunkel called "31."  I'll be honest, I had no idea that a dunkel was a type of German beer until after we arrived, but if it deals with autumn and my German heritage, well then I'm in! 

I'm head over heels in love with these shoes (pun intended).  They were FREE at Target! Well, technically they were on sale for $14.99 and then I had a $5 off coupon and a $10 gift card. It's like Target paid me to take them home.  At least that's what I told the hubs.

Top: Old Navy // Jeans: Gap // Belt: Calvin Klein // Shoes: Target // Purse: Rebecca Minkoff // Sunnies: Cole Haan // Necklace: BaubleBar // Watch: Citzen's Eco Drive // Bracelets: BaubleBar, DERNG (won from Dooley Noted Style

Now onto the beer! 31 description's reads, "A crisp, medium bodied Spiced Munich Dunkel.  This German-style, copper-colored lager tricks you with its smooth, malty taste and moderate 5.7% abv, then treats your palate with a spicy finish of cinnamon and nutmeg for a brew that on a scale of 1 to 10 is easily a 31."

The hubs looked a bit disappointed when I didn't join him on the beer sampler.  I know part of the reason we went was because it's #31 aka the hubs' jersey number and a prime number. I'm not kidding  you... I was told it was a prime number during dinner (welcome to our nerd life). 

He doesn't look so bad for a guy who got called into work at 9:30pm Wednesday night and operated on Thursday with only 4 hours of sleep.  Hey, I said we could stay in, but the guy wasn't about to miss date night! 

 Why yes, my favorite local beer just happens to be called, "Misfit Red."  I swear I wasn't swayed by the name at all.  Okay fine, I tried it for the first time solely on the name, but it was the smooth amber ale taste with malt that won me over in the end.  31 was nice as well.  It was really smooth, yet filling.  You could definitely taste the nutmeg and cinnamon so it's a perfect autumn seasonal drink.  Yay beer!

2nd Annual Pig Roast

Dear vegetarian and vegan friends: Skip this post! There's a lot of meat here.

Just a few short weeks after the hubs and I moved into our house last summer the guy had a crazy idea to throw a pig roast.  It was kind of nuts considering we still had a lot of unpacking to do, but I'm a fan of parties so I went along with his crazy notion.

We had so much fun that we decided to throw a pig roast every August.  When it came time to pick the date for this year's festivities we kept hearing from folks that the second weekend in August was good for them.  That happened to be our five year wedding anniversary and we didn't want to throw an "anniversary party" and therefore we didn't market the pig roast as an anniversary party. 

Silly me forgot to take pictures during the party, but thankfully I have a few to share that a fellow party-goer took with my camera.  I was kind of busy hosting a party for 80 people! 

The festivities began with the hubs purchasing an 8lb brisket from Wegman's.  Apparently the cashier asked him, "you'd buy the whole cow if you could, wouldn't you?"  The hubs immediate response, "do you have one?"

He marinated the brisket and started cooking it at 8:30am! Dude has dedication. 

As a small nod to our wedding I made a desserts table.  The hubs and I had a blue and white candy buffet at our wedding and this time around I ditched the candy and the color scheme, but kept the sweets flowing. My dad's favorite dessert is pineapple upside down cake and I was more than happy to make it for him. Seriously, I think he ate about half of it. 

Red velvet cupcakes have kind of become my signature treat! I think it's because I'm a red head. 

I do happen to have a few vegetarian and vegan friends, so I thought I'd throw them one and make the easiest vegan cupcakes in the world.  Non-vegetarian friends thought they were yummy as well. 

The hubs has really been getting into his grilling this year and has been making his own BBQ sauces.  He made four of his more popular sauces to add to our condiment selection. Even better is I love it when the hubs asks, "can you go to the craft store and pick up mason jars?"  Don't mind if I do! And come home with a few other things! 

In addition to the pig and brisket, the hubs also manned the grill during the beginning of the party and made hot dogs, chicken wings, and hamburgers. Basically if it was a standard BBQ meat product the hubs grilled it! 

I bought bubbles and smores ingredients for the kids, but I guess I forgot that the main attraction for the adults was the pig! 

I haven't shared previously, but after making one too many rounds of Jack and Coke slushies this summer I bought a better blender! Thank goodness because the hubs and I stock piled frozen Coke cubes in freezer bags so I could mass produce Jack and Coke slushies for the pig roast.  I don't think my old blender would have been able to handle the work load.  

Things were going great at the party.  The weather was cooperating. The kids were being adorable playing with sticks, chasing each other, blowing bubbles, etc. The adults were having fun noshing, playing corn hole, and ladder golf.  Things were looking good.

Then mother nature said, enough of this!

And it started to POUR!  I've got to say, it was awesome because it was all hands on deck. Every single person grabbed something and pulled it into the house.  Thankfully it didn't start to rain until around 7pm, so by that time a lot of folks were getting ready to head out anyway.  

I knew once I saw the shots being poured inside that the party was taking a different turn.  The kids went home and the drinking games began!  I finally went to bed at 1:30am and told the guys outside that if they fell asleep with the fire pit still burning the fire would be the least of their worries!  Somewhere around 10pm it stopped raining and we went back outside and made smores.  I guess adults like smores just as much as kids.

The hubs and I had a great time and we were even glad to have a few friends crash at our house. Drinking and driving is NOT cool and we were more than happy to let a few guys sleep things off at the house.  They even appreciated me distributing bottles of water in the morning.  

Looks like we're going to continue to throw a pig roast every August. Hopefully, next year I remember to take a few pictures of all the little things the hubs and I did to make the party a good time. 

This year's pig roast will certainly always hold a special place in our hearts. Call us sappy, but it was amazing that so many of our friends and family came to our house.  Our family members knew it was our anniversary and I'm so grateful that so many members of my family made the trek down from New Jersey and New York.

The icing on the proverbial cake: the 80 guests we had.  At first we thought we had 79 guests and then the hubs thought that we should say 80 because two guests were very pregnant. His rational, two pregnant ladies eat enough for three people.  Turns out, I didn't write down one of our guests name and once we added him in that brought us up to 80 people.  (The hubs and I are total nerds and we track how many people come to a party versus how much food is consumed that way we can make adjustments, if needed, in the amount of food for the next party.)

80 people. The exact same number of people we had at our wedding five years ago.  Thankfully, the weather was a bit better on our wedding day, but we'll take a little rain during a pig roast over rain during our  outdoor wedding ceremony any day of the week.

Marital bliss it is.