Grab a copy of Coastal Virginia Magazine and check out my photos from the recent WHRO Strolling Supper benefit!
Chicken Piccata
Chicken Piccata
I stayed a little late at the office last night and I texted Shelby to figure out what we should have for dinner. She offered to cook; we're trying to eat at home more because we've been all over the place recently. You could probably guess that it gets expensive!
We had some chicken in the freezer and some mushrooms in the fridge--Shelby was feeling creative. She looked up several recipes and decided she's put together Chicken Piccata. She's made it before and it came out really good the first time but she worked it a little different this time around. After going through several recipes she melded together what she liked best out of all of them and started.
She kept seasoning the dredge until she was happy with it dry, then browned the chicken breasts. Adding whatever she figured would taste good (onion powder, garlic powder, red pepper) and saved the some of it for the sauce. The sauce was made up of wine, lemon juice, shallots, capers, lemon zest, garlic--the dredge had salt and pepper in it already.
She added the browned chicken to the sauce and let it simmer to finish off. She had me clip a little bit of our parsley in the garden to garnish. We ate it with some old bread we toasted and buttered.
Old and new design on the glasses
Hitachino Glasses
I didn't post our sweet Hitachino Nest Beer glasses we got at The Birch's St. Kiuchi Day the other week did I? Love these things. We got one of each!
Trip to the Bier Garden
Shelby and I recently had dinner at The Bier Garden in Portsmouth, VA. One of the first establishments to have an extensive beer menu in Hampton Roads. It's the "opa" in our craft beer scene!
We walked around a bit and check out the bar--warm, cozy--it reminded me of some the places we actually ate at in Germany when we lived there. We made our way to the dining area and ordered dinner. We both loved our food, I can't wait to go back. Of course, I had a nice Ayinger Weisse and Shelby had a Duchesse De Bourgogne sour. You're not taking in the whole experience without sipping a good beer while there.
I wrote about The Bier Garden in HR Growler. Please check out my article and leave a comment about your experience or anything related to the story and restaurant that comes to mind.
Read it here: Comfort Zone: The Bier Garden
Check out the rest of the photos here.
Prost!
O'Connor Brewing Turns Four
El Guapo!
Norfolk's O'Connor Brewing Company turned 4 years old today -- St. Patrick's Day! I remember hearing about the brewery first coming around through rumor and then opening. It's come a long way since then and it's only getting better: it'll be moving to a new location soon, they've been putting out great seasonals, and the crew is getting bigger.
Karnage Asada
Shelby and I didn't go out tonight but I did get a early St. Patrick's Day pull this past Saturday when the brewery celebrated its anniversary and three wins from the Dublin Craft Beer Cup. Turn-out was great and delicious food was being served by one of the newer food trucks in the area -- Karnage Asada. I'll write a little more about them in a separate post but I will say they're worth stopping for if you see them parked somewhere. I had a "full rack" of tacos and Kapow Kimchos, kimchi nachos. Seriously, it was good!
The weather was perfect. They had a couple of pouring station working on the inside and did a good job at keeping the glasses filled, growlers topped-off, and flights flying. Live music was being played by a three piece outfit and there was even some dancing going on. People were playing cornhole outside next to picnic tables occupied by merry-makers.
Happy Birthday O'Connor Brewing Co. and congratulations on the awards.
P.S. - You probably know this already, but in case you don't...the oak tree you see on the sign is part of the ancient, Irish crest of the O'Connor clan.
O'Connor's Brewers
Kevin O'Connor with the muscle
HR Growler - March 2014
Pick-up a copy of today's Virginian Pilot and check out HR Growler! My write-up of Bier Garden is in it and a photo of Shelby enjoying a Duchess.
Salads from Heads Up Hydroponic
Virginia Beach's Verticle Acres uses a hydroponic growing system that produces vegetables, fruits, and herbs petrochemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. Under the label Heads Up Hydrogreens, they provide local CSAs and markets with what they grow in their new facility. I've had their lettuce before and it tastes great, I like getting by their table to see what's new. At the last Old Beach Farmer's Market we stopped by the booth to say "Hi" and ended bringing home a few of their salads. This was new—at least to me—and I was excited to try them out.
The salads were package to stay fresh and included nice, sweet beets and cheery tomatoes. We were given three dressings to use, one being a Green Goddess that I liked. We ate two the night we brought them home and later that week I used one to make myself a nice BLT.
They'll be at the Old Beach Farmer's Market this weekend, Saturday 15 March. Please go down and support our local producers. Buy Fresh Buy Local too!
Jie Yu, Malia, and Ben
Italia Night at The Birch
Ben and Jie Yu Neidhart of B. United International, Inc. recently held a session at The Birch where they described their Connecticut operation—from international shipping, distribution, and specifically the budding craft beer scene in Italy. Their distribution company imports from all over the world and that night at The Birch was a celebration of Italian beers. Listed below are the breweries and the beers on tap for Italia Night:
Nora - Ginger Herb/Spice Ale and Al-Iksir – Belgian Dark Strong Ale
Chocarrubica – Carob Oatmeal Stout and Strada San Felice – Chestnut Ale
Rubus Lamponi – Raspberry Wild Ale
Verdi Zymatore – Granache Sour Chili Stout and My Blueberry Nightmare – Scotch Sour Blueberry Stout
TipoPils – German Style Pilsner and Nigredo – Hoppy Black Lager
Ben and Jie Yu handed out information on the breweries which included a little history, the stories brewer bios, and how the Italian breweries operate. It might be surprising to hear that the land known for millennia of wine making tradition has a very young craft beer scene. From what I've read from other sources it didn't start taking off till the 1990's. Today there are approximately 500 craft breweries in the old country.
It was nice going through the information Ben and Jie Yu passed around. Reading the stories behind each Italian brewery, the training/educational background of the brewers, and the passion behind why they dived into craft beer. Ben described the difference between cultured and wild yeasts used in beers and how introducing selected bacteria causes the sought after sour notes.
After the session ended Ben joined Jie Yu and Malia in sampling some of the beers The Birch had on tap. They invited me to sit with them and sample the line-up. I tried out the Verdi Zymatore Granache Sour Chili Stout and My Blueberry Nightmare, both are made with the same award winning Verdi Imperial Stout. Though they might have come from the same base, both beers had extremely different flavor profiles.
The Granache Chili was aged in Granache casks that were also used to age a chili mead. The imperial stout became a complex blend of lightly sweet and spicy tones that didn't overwhelm me, but I felt the chili in the back of my throat for sure. It had some weight, was sour and dark.
Even though it was made from the same stout base, the Blueberry Nightmare was very different from Granache Chili. Just as rich and darker, the intense fruit really came through with the tart.
I mentioned to them I was still trying to warm up to sours; I talked a little bit about the Duchesse De Bourgogne Shelby had ordered elsewhere. Jie Yu and Malia rattled off a few to see if I knew them and then we sampled some. I need some work on this but I'm getting there. We also talked about B. United and I found out Ben's father runs the distributor. They take their beer seriously and the effort that goes into moving this stuff from the far corners of the earth is respectable.
I enjoyed getting a little sampling of all the Italians (and a few extras) in addition to the one I bought. I stuck around to chat a little more, said my goodbyes, then I headed home.
Hit The Birch to and try some of this stuff before it's gone. Check out all the photos from the event here.
To read more about Italian craft beers try these links:
B. United's blog Nepenthiology has tons of great info
Italy's Craft Beer Awakening – The Beer Connoisseur Online
The Birch's Beer Education Wednesday cheat sheet on Zymatore
Lots of Photos!
Putting some write-ups together and should be posted soon. Make sure you check-out all the new photo sets here.