Pork Sabbatical

This afternoon Jen announced that she did not want "any more bacon or smoked pork items for a while." Naive readers may think that this has to do with her being pregnant. Experienced readers will recognize that this declaration could just as easily have come several years before Jen began to carry our twins.



For starters I threw together leftovers to make this kale salad with cantaloupe, pumpkin seeds, and feta cheese. I just added a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. Was it boring? Yes. Was it essentially free? Yes.

Overall: win.



For the main course I made this pizza with four cheeses. A quattro formaggi pizza if you will. Will you? Fantastic!

I used mozzarella, Emmenthaler, Gruyere, and Bella Lodi, a nice mix of Italian and Swiss cheeses. This pizza was intended to be a money-saving budget meal using only ingredients we had around the house. It turned out to be be quite delicious! The crust was paper thin and crispy, just like they like here in New York.

Thick crust pizza? Fuggedaboutit!



Yesterday we went to the Brooklyn Brewery where I had their new Oishi ale, a low alcohol (3.8% ABV) beer that was mild and extremely refreshing. It almost made up for having to spend time in the company of the world's most insufferable hipsters.

One sad fact about loving beer is that sometimes you have to be around other people that love beer. As a rule this is not a group I am terribly fond of.



Since Jen is not drinking I chose to make up for Jen's anti-swine stance by having a pork-themed beer, this Vapeur Cochonne (Cochonnette) from Brasserie à Vapeur.

This was part of my Valentine's Day gift from Jen, a beer that she was expressly warned against purchasing by the clerk at Beer Table Pantry. She purchased it anyway against his wishes because she knew, if there was one thing I enjoyed immensely, it was a beer that someone else has deemed too strange or unusual for consumption.

It turns out this was just a really, really nice Quadrupel style Belgian Strong Ale. Incidentally it also had the most lively carbonation of any beer I've ever had. After pouring it you could hear it from across the table. It sounded like a bowl of Rice Krispies.

While it was not a suitable accompaniment to pizza it was fantastic as a sort of beery dessert after the meal. This beer was far better than I'd expected given the poor review by the guy at the beer store. I would conclude every meal with a beer like this if I were a rich man.

Since we're on a budget you're going to have to settle for my upcoming reviews of beers like Coors Light and Milwaukee's Best.