Beer Bread

Last year when we went to Laramie I came home with a case of Bitch Creek Beer (from the Grand Teton Brewing Company) and I shared several bottles with my friends. I thought the name was funny. The beer itself was quite unpleasant to my palate. bleck.

This year, I bought a variety of beer from Snake River Brewing Co. and was much more satisfied. My favorite was the OB-1 (site is in FLASH so I can't link you to the details) and the most retched of this lot was the "Zonker Stout."

My mom gave me a bottle of "Bitch Creek Beer Bread" over a year ago. I decided to make it today. I didn't have the specific beer called for so I used the nasty Zonkers.

And the bread came out pretty tasty. Far tastier than the nasty beer. But it still leaves a strange feeling on the back of the roof of my mouth. At least it doesn't foam in my mouth, like the beer did. Uck.

Abundance Of Thanks

Today we are going to my Canadian girlfriends home for Thanksgiving. My initial question is still unanswered (because I'm an egotistical ignorant American?) about what do the Canadians give thanks?
But, I've decided that it really doesn't matter. I am taking this day, as all days should be, to give Thanks for all of the ABUNDANCE we have in our lives.

• I have Mark for my husband, who as my Alison reminded me recently loves me like no one else


• I have two beautiful children, Josh and Alison, both in their appearance and character


• I have both of my parents alive today


• I have Lois, my mother-in-law from my first marriage


• I have my in-laws, Ian and Brucie, from this marriage too, for which I am truly grateful.


• I have three beautiful daughters, Amber, Natalya and Alyssa, through Mark


• Albeit cluttered, dusty and not terribly clean, I have a warm house to shelter me from the coming cold weather


• I work for an incredible boss


• I have enough money to pay all my bills, and stash some away for vacations


• I have the cool car in the family

And the biggest, saved for last because it's greatest:

• I have GOD

There is so much more I could add, but this is my foundation.

I am making some vegan delightful Thanksgiving foods for Alison, because Sheila will have an over abundance of food for the rest of us.

Positive Post Tuesday (a little late)

So my blog post is a wee late, which is what happens when you go on vacation for a week. An INTERNET FREE vacation no less. Not only internet free, but electricity free (and running water free ... hello long drop). I can't say electronic free because I did have my ipod (which, by the end of the week was on ration so that the battery would last until I could get back to civilization and charge it) to listen to music. We were in the Snowy Range Mountains, Medicine Bow National Forest of WYOMING, which made being internet free okay:


With no distraction of the internet (or even cell phone coverage to text people), I was left with only my husband and God to talk with. It was a glorious week of strengthening both relationships. We were at our family cabin, at elevation 10,400 feet. We went on a hike (passing the lake in the image above) and according to my gps (I really have a hard time being electronic gadget free), the highest elevation we hiked over was 11,075ft. You can't get much closer to God than that now can you?

There is a stream very much like this one, right near the cabin, and we've walked/hiked past this very stream on previous visits.



We kept waiting and hoping to see the moose that are often seen in the area, but alas we weren't so lucky. We did see one deer though, off in the distance. The Monday and Tuesday we were up there were gorgeous ... clear sunshiny days. Positive Post Tuesday found me hiking past the lake above - what a day. Wednesday brought a full day of rain and great appreciation for our efforts of installing the new wood stove on Monday. Thursday morning brought more rain - we packed up and headed back to civilization (Laramie, WY). My husband went back up to the cabin with his Dad and found snow covering the ground. It seems we made a good call to come down from the mountains. But that's my Positive Post for this week!

Life Is Good