My Cup Runneth Over

This weekend I got a chance to crack open some of my homemade beer. It was pretty damn good. It had a really nice hoppy taste and aroma, but not overly so. My one complaint is that for all of the stuff that I put in it (malt extract, crushed malt, molasses, maple sugar, brown sugar, etc.), it tastes fairly light. It is almost confusing, since there is a very light wheat beer kind of taste, but with a strong hops aroma that you would associate with a more dark ale kind of brew. I assume that this has to do with me using malt extract designed for wheat beer. Next time, I'll get some hardy dark malt extract and see what how it differs. But, with all of that said, it is a decidedly drinkable beer.

All in all, it was a great weekend for food. Friday we had dinner at our neighbors' apartment upstairs. We were treated to a fantastic fennel encrusted pork tenderloin, and some mac and cheese. Dessert was my favorite (which is unusual for me). Our friends had made Harvest Pear Crisp with Candied Ginger. Now, I'm not generally a big fan of dessert. I'd rather save room for more steak and vegetables. But the pear crisp was really awesome. It is the dessert for people who like savory flavors. My only push on the Bon Appetit recipe would be to use a little less ginger than is called for. Not because I don't like ginger. I actually love ginger. But only because the ginger has a tendency to take over the rest of flavors. It can get distracting.

On Saturday, we had some company of our own, so I whipped up a quick thing to snack on. Ok, it wasn't really quick. I actually baked a loaf of bread. Yes, really. No, I don't know bake bread for everybody. It takes a lot to get on my "getting bread baked for" list. To go with the bread, I made a nice bruschetta. It was delicious, if not beautiful. Not beautiful, of course, because the Mrs. and I ate half of it before our guests arrived. But not before taking a picture for you.



And tonight, after inspiration from our neighbor's mac and cheese. I attempted one myself. I'm not quite ready to share the recipe, because I think I need to tweak it a bit before directing others to follow me, but my main ingredients were: macaroni, fontina cheese, swiss cheese, thick slice bacon, a thick white gravy made from bacon drippings, chopped salted chilies, a dab of milk, and some breadcrumbs. It was good, but sooo salty. Too much so, I think. I'll work on perfecting it, and see what I come up with. Anyway, here's my mac and cheese. And that's it for my weekend in food.