Since I'm going to be drunk for the rest of the election cycle

I like beer, probably-over-priced beer, to be a little more specific. So, for my fellow beer lovers out there, here are two brief news items: A New York Times Dining article about American brewing styles and a Bryant Park Project blog post on the rising cost of hops. (Bonus: For those of us actually considering drinking everyday from now until the first week in November or playing the Feministing drinking game, it might be wise to check out this segment from today's Bryant Park Project.)

I have to say, the NY times article makes me feel silly about liking fancypants beer so much because apparently the American style of brewing involves making our beers, like, TOTALLY XTREME. Although perhaps I can take comfort in the fact, that my love of beer does not extend to actually knowing much about it. I drink what my local expert puts in front of me and then either I like it or I don't.

Still, I think it says something about me that I am more interested in knowing more about the rising cost of hops than I am in knowing about the subprime mortgage crisis.

Happy New Year!

Last night, I celebrated the end of 2007 with good food and drink. For dinner I used a recipe from the Better Homes and Garden Vegetarian Cookbook to make "Miniature Mexican Frittatas."

Ingredients:
1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 C cottage cheese, drained
1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese (2 oz)
4 eggs
1/4 C milk
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp pepper
2 TBS snipped cilantro or parsley
Salsa, warmed
Sour cream (optional)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a medium bowl stir together the spinach, cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, and cheddar cheese. In another bowl stir together the eggs, milk, cumin, pepper, and cilantro. Combine the two bowls. Spoon the mixture into 12 lightly greased 2.5-in muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 min or until eggs are set. Cool for five minutes. Top with salsa and sour cream.

Here's what the finished product looked like:














While I was on my lunch break yesterday, I stopped at the Market Street Wine Shop to pick up some fancy-smancy beer. I love that store so much. I am a bread-fiend and their bread always looks so amazing. I've heard that on Mondays you can get bread-ends there for free, but I have yet to try it. Here (minus the champagne, which my parents gave me) is some of what I picked up:









For dessert, I broke out the muffin tins again to make cupcakes (from the box). Those suckers were really tricky to frost. I have too many of them on my hands now:

I did make a resolution for the New Year, which I am planning on writing more about later today or tomorrow. I generally make specific, goal-oriented resolutions like "go the the gym everyday" or "start writing fiction again," but this year I've decided to do something different. My resolution for the new year is embodied in the word "Give." I want to give more. I'm not sure how yet and I don't plan on settling on one specific way to give more. I'd rather just focus the idea of giving and see where it takes me. I already have one idea of something I would like to do with this, but that's for another post.