Monday, October 24, 2011

A Night Out and Back in the Kitchen

Aaron and I met our friend out for Singapore cuisine a couple of nights ago.  It's probably a good thing we exercised hard that day because it was a night of full of calories!  Here are a few pictures... The fish and oysters were really great.

Poor Fish

Ready to Eat!

Me and Gig

I met Gig last January when I started nursing orientation.  She is from NYC and has a fantastic accent.  My southern drawl probably drives her absolutely crazy!  She has become one of our good friends here in the city.  We have such good times trying new restaurants and talking about life.  I am so glad she will be staying in the area for a while!  

I am trying to get back in the kitchen and cook more these days.  After a summer full of company and then various trips back east it has been hard to make myself prepare new recipes.  I whipped up a pumpkin casserole a couple days ago, and it tasted very similar to pumpkin pie filling.  Aaron gave it two thumbs up and managed to finish it in approximately 24 hours.  To rid of the leftover pumpkin, I prepared homemade pumpkin pancakes.  Aaron ate silently and asked for seconds, which I take as a good sign.  We are both off today, so I think I will try to make some type of ethnic cuisine this evening.  Hopefully it will be a delicious dining experience!  We'll see...

Friday, October 21, 2011

Our Apartment = Brewery

 Aaron has been interested in brewing beer for quite some time now, and in late August he finally started his new hobby in our very small kitchen.  There is a store down the street that sells everything beer, so he bought all needed supplies and got to work right away.  His friend Ryan came over to our place and taught him all of the necessary steps to becoming a brewmaster.  Two months and twenty gallons later, he has successfully made four batches of home brew.  We have sampled three out of the four, and the beer is really very good.

Here's what's on the menu:

Ole T-Shirt Pale Ale (Aaron steeped the grains in his very old t-shirt)
Frisco Soul Porter (just cause it's a cool name)
Apricot Jess Wheat (hmmmmm...)
Zuri's Honey Amber Ale (Zuri is the same color as this beer)

I have taken some pictures of the bottling process.  It would be nice to have captured the brewing experience, but the smell forced me to leave the apartment.  After Aaron brews the beer he places it into a large glass container and stores it in the closet for approximately a month.  Over the past few weeks I have frequently come into the living room and seen him on the closet floor admiring his precious concoction.  "Just come take a look Jess, please.  Can you hear the bubbling?  No, you can't hear it from the kitchen, you have to come closer."  Once bottling draws near I find him digging through the recycling downstairs to find old bottles.  "Jess just help me dig for a few minutes, please.  We really need more bottles."  Really?  We??  Oh well.  I helped him with bottling one morning after getting off night shift.  It wasn't a pleasant two hours, and there just might have been words exchanged.  Shocking.

Fortunately for the final bottling this morning, I have had four days off and am well rested, so we worked happily together.  It was really fun actually, and I just can't believe how much beer we have in our little apartment here in San Francisco.  If you're in the neighborhood and thirsty, come on by and have a beer (or two please)!  Cheers!

Preparation

The Brewmaster and His Wife

A Proud Momen

Hard Work

Ready to Go

Finished Product

A and J

Thursday, October 20, 2011

A Place to Call Home

We have made the decision to make San Francisco our home for now.  After a couple of months talking things over and considering our options, Aaron has signed on at The General.  We will be leaving for about three months at the beginning of December to enjoy the holidays with family and then travel through Europe.  Aaron will start back some time in March, and I plan to get a travel assignment and then find a permanent job in the city or surrounding area.

Settling down can be a little scary for nomads like us, but we have really enjoyed this area over the past year and it is starting to feel like home.  I have really wanted to become more involved in the community with volunteering and taking art and sewing classes.  There are so many more restaurants that we have to try when we get back in the spring.  Marin County is loaded with fantastic hiking and biking trails that we have only sampled since January.  We have made some pretty good friends along the way as well.  I love taking the muni and not worrying about driving everywhere.  I suppose I could go on and on...  Anyways, we're really looking forward to reopening our wedding gifts and putting them to good use.  And we will actually purchase a few furniture items along the way also.  It doesn't get much more exciting than this! 

Aside from the above news, the past couple of days have been really nice.  We revisited the climbing gym with a group of friends.  Overall I hung in there okay and managed to climb a 5.9, which is my best yet.  Yesterday we hiked in Marin at Mt. Tamalpais State Park.  It was a gorgeous day with temperatures in the low 70s and clear blue skies.  Zuri came along, and she enjoyed herself thoroughly.  Our hike was about nine miles, so we felt deserving of a beer afterwards.  We ended our outing at Marin Brewing Co. sampling beer and eating delicious bruschetta.  It was really a fine day...


Here are a few pics of Z.  She was so eager to catch a fly that she completely ignored her milk bone.  That's a first.