Happy Birthday, Pete!

It's Pete's birthday! We had pizzas at Mer, Pete and Kate's house to celebrate.



Presents!






City of Athens flag!



Time for wishes.









YUM!!!!!! Mer made a delicious birthday cake.



Look at that bad boy!



Mmm.



Look at those gorgeous layers!



The yellow layer was LEMON buttercream. This cake was amazing. Happy birthday, Pete!

Happy Birthday, Cheryl!

To celebrate Cheryl's 65th birthday, which is tomorrow, the whole family gathered at Lake Hope for brunch and swimming! I've never been there for brunch before, but I've certainly heard about it. It's sooooo good! Here is a really full family:



After brunch, we swam in the lake all afternoon. There was a church group there and they did a mass baptism, and it was nuts! Probably 40 people got baptized, one at a time! I've never seen anything like it.

Thanks to Mer for the swimming photo! Family time!

Ohio Brew Week 2016

Ohio Brew Week 2016 has come to a close. It sure was a delicious week! Devil's Kettle was releasing one special beer each day, so Michele and I kicked things off Monday night with their Dirty Duke special release! Dirty Duke is their delicious Duke of Darkness porter, aged in bourbon barrels with coffee and chocolate. This beer was amazing!



On Wednesday, Abby, Billie, Sarah and I went out for some tasters. We started at Casa,where we tasted Mad Tree Dreamsicle, and Great Lakes Rackhouse Ale. The Rackhouse Ale is a bourbon barrel aged beer and it was one of my favorites of the day.



Next we headed to The Pub. We wore matching star tattoos to celebrate beer.



At The Pub we had Rocky River Brewing Company Blueberry Ale, and Oompaloompa Chocolate Stout. They recommended we try them mixed together too, which we did, and it was yum!



Next up, The Pigskin for the fan favorite Willoughby Brewing Company's Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter! We also tried Fifty West Brewing Company's Doom Pedal.



We ended things at Jackie O's. We started on the Brew Pub side, where we tried Oro Blanco, which has coffee, cinnamon, vanilla & hot peppers. This one was really special! We also had Cacao & Vanilla Cool Beans.



Then I did some unicorn pegasuses!



Abby!



Sarah!



Billie!



Then we moved over to the Public House side. They had Oro Negro, the black version of the delicious beer we had on the Brew Pub side, so I HAD to taste it. This one has is an American Double Stout, brewed with black walnuts and conditioned on oak, cacao nibs, vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks, and Habanero peppers. YUM!! We also tried Little Ghost, a delicious classic.

When I got home, Ben had plans to meet Michele at Devil's Kettle for the beer of the day! I joined them. The special beer was BB97: 97 Columbus, their Imperial Black Ale, aged in bourbon barrels. I had already consumed plenty of beer, so I only had a sip. I gave out some more unicorn pegasuses though!



Thursday night was the only night there was a SPECIFIC beer I needed to taste. Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald is Ben and my favorite beer, and it's always in our fridge. A 7 p.m., The Cat's Eye was tapping a firkin of "Lavender Fitz," which is Eddie Fitz infused with lavender and cocoa nibs. Eddie Fitz is Michele's favorite beer, TOO, so we all went! It was SO GOOD! Yum yum yum.



Friday night was the Brew BQ, and Emily's band was playing. It was hot and summery.



Charlotte cooled off with a popsicle!



Emily's rocking a baby bump these days. Hot mamma!



Dancing! The Honeybees warmed up as Emily made her way to the stage.



We danced a bunch! Happy Brew Week, til next year!

Cowboy Cooking Club

Summer hosted this month's cooking club, and the theme was COWBOY! Look at her cute bandana centerpieces.



We used the bandanas as napkins, and we each got to keep ours! Party favor!



Valerie made pan-fried, cornmeal crusted fish, using a cast iron skillet. It was so so so hot and flaky and delicious!



I made skillet cornbread with hot (HOT!) peppers!



Hey, cowgirls!






Utensils up!






Nancy made baked beans!



Emily made a salad with homemade ranch! (Get it, ranch??)



Mmm, minty tea with bourbon.



Yumi made a peach cobbler with lil' biscuits on top!



Brisby lingered under the table, hoping for us to drop something.



Summer made fry bread tacos!



Sausage, beans, salsa and slaw.



This was too good. That bread was naughty, fried deliciousness. I could definitely have this for every meal, every day.



Emily also made grilled corn with butter, chili, cilantro and cheese.



This is one of those dishes I see in magazines a lot and have always wanted to taste.



It was GREAT! Worth the hype!



Yumi's biscuits ended the night on a sweet note. Served with Jeni's ice cream, it was a delightful ending to our cowboy culinary adventure. Yee haw!