Babies and Leftovers

We purchased a ton of blueberries and other assorted ingredients for our barbecue last Sunday. In general, when guests come over, we tend to get ahead ourselves with the menu and usually have enough to make three or four meals instead of the one planned. So it was later in the week that we had to start using some of those ingredients up.


We started off by serving up the blueberries with honey, mascarpone, and angel food cake for a nice, summery dessert despite the cold, rainy weather.


Elliott's new game is fussing in the night and sneaking into bed with us. Okay, that's actually his old game. The new twist on it is that rather than going straight to sleep he likes to kick and punch for most of the light until we can't take it any more. In fact, this morning, he hit me so hard directly on my eyeball that I thought I'd be walking around with a shiner for the rest of the day. Thankfully there doesn't appear to be any long term damage to my face or optic nerve.



I was excited to finally get in my Spiegelau IPA glasses that I ordered back in March. I didn't really believe any of the hype surounding them. While I am surprisingly excited about appropriate glassware for beer I don't know if I actually buy too much into the affect it has on the flavor. That was, until, I read this article about the new vessel for IPAs written by my friend Gina, and talking to her about the taste test she'd done.

I was sold. Now I even had a better justification for buying yet another set of beer glasses. At least a personal justification. No justification will ever curb Jen's displeasure with my growing collection.


The maiden voyage for the new glass was this 2013 Hoptimum from Sierra Nevada. This was a very heavy double IPA so maybe not the best first beer to try for the glass. However, there is something to be said about actually making the beer the focus and not the glassware.

I'm still learning that.


After day care yesterday Elliott continued to practice his crawling while Martin sat and observed. He observed quietly instead of his normal non-stop whining that he has been engaging in lately.


Jen worked late and I wrangled the babies into baths and finally to bed. Martin, of course, fought it much more than his younger brother and decided to stay up and read a book for a while before finally kicking the book to the floor and going to sleep with a few more sips of his bottle.


After he went to sleep I was able to enjoy the beer I'd poured forty minutes earlier, this Saison from Captain Lawrence Brewing Company. It was a far more sour saison than I had been expecting but it was quite refreshing. The average temperature for this first week in June has probably been somewhere around 63 degrees so, while technically seasonally appropriate, I haven't been feeling the need for too many refreshing beers these days.


With precious little to work with in the fridge I made dinner almost entirely out of leftover food we'd made for the Wombats. I made a broccoli and cheddar soup with potato and bacon.


Today was particularly cold, dreary, and rainy. There were also threats of a flood which tend to get us a little nervous these days. I decided to have this Every Day IPA from Founders Brewing Co. even though it was not a very good match for the current weather. It was, however, nice and refreshing as I fed the babies their dinner.



After feeding them I was a bit shocked to find that the floor was cleaner than after any feeding I can remember. It barely required any clean up. I am optimistic that this is the sign of times to come. Perhaps they'll even start sweeping themselves.


Our dinner was even sadder than the previous night's with ingredients in the house dwindling at an alarming rate. All I could muster up was this rice and beans with garlic, onion, bacon, chorizo, and chicken, most of which was taken from the freezer.


To top off the evening I had this Old Antonia, brewed by Birra del Borgo in collaboration with Dogfish Head. This was the last of the beers Jen got me for Valentine's Day this year and it was quite enjoyable. The beer is barrel aged in calvados barrels and it certainly comes across with a very distinct apple flavor and coloring from the wood.

I am starting to believe that ABV listings are completely bogus. This was 11.2 ounces of 11.2% beer and I felt completely fine after drinking it. Recently I had 8.4 ounces of 11.5% beer and felt as though I'd been hit by a truck.

I'm wondering if the missing factor is sleep deprivation. I was a bit more rested before having this beer so perhaps the babies' sleep schedule is the missing factor.

Hear that, all you college-age kids? Stop trying to do shots in your eye or putting alcohol in your butt to get drunk faster. These are really trends, look it up! You should just have babies! You'll get messed up, dude!

The more you know.