Showing posts with label craft beer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label craft beer. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Beer me, Baby!!


So. I'm pretty much the best girlfriend in the world at this point. Evan and his twin brother had their birthday this weekend and I have been planning an epic birthday cake for months now. Evan and Cam both really like beer. And I really like challenging myself. So I decided to make a "beeramid" cake.

As much as I would like to go into great detail here, I'm not feeling super hot today and I've got to work (7 days off and I've forgotten how cute these kids are!) so it's gonna be a short post with lots of pictures.

Here's the short-hand how-to...

Cut off the end of a can: 

Spray it with PAM and stuff it with rice krispie treats that you JUST made (don't let them cool down and harden!)

After you've made as many as you want (one batch of rice krispies will make about 4 cans), let them harden over night. 
Cali badly wanted to eat them. Mercedes did too, but she
was trying to be stealthy about it and was hiding
from the camera. Smart cat...

Mock-up of how they'd stack...looking good I think...

Put a ring of fondant around the top and use some fondant to fill in any weird holes or gaps in the treats. 

Then cover the whole thing with grey fondant. I also used a little darker grey to make the hole and the same light grey to make the pop top. :)

Make sure you are using cornstarch to keep the fondant from sticking to your rolling surface or itself. Please avoid getting cornstarch on your dog. She will not like it. 

Now you've got to figure out what you need to do for the labels. I talked to one of Evan and Cam's best friends, Andy, who just happens to know everything there is to know about craft beer. I asked him to send me a few pics of craft beers in cans that the twins liked. He recommended Brew Free or Die, Gordon, Dale's Pale Ale, Surly Furious and then I added in Yuengling because I know Cam likes it. 

I rolled out white fondant in the right size for a label and used edible markers to decorate. The lovely ladies at Cake Art also suggested this white edible food coloring that I used much like acrylic paint. It worked some of the time, but not all of the time. Might have been user error on that one. 

Anyway, I can't tell you how I made the labels look so awesome because I'm just talented like that...ok, I'm just really good at copying things. But I still can't help you get better at that. You have to do that for yourself. Anyway, I finished up the beer cans and decided to do some playing cards as well. Reason for this: anytime there ends up being a "beeramid" on the table, there has usually been a drinking game of some sort that involves playing cards. Simple enough. 

Anyway, the next day, Cam's girlfriend, Allie came over to help me do the grunt work. We made the cake (1/2 sheet red velvet...exciting, right?) and covered it in icing and fondant. She also had the great idea to make a playstation remote for the cake as well. Since I am lousy at sculpting on my own, I was glad she was there to do that part. She sculpted the remote and I made the buttons. Then we decided it was time to add everything to the cake. 


We used skewers to make sure the cans stayed where we wanted. That was harder than it looks.


Remote close-up

Crushed can: I carved some of the sides out and made it
look all crushed like that before I added the label.

The cake with all the candles.
There is a napkin in front of it for a reason.
Someone decided to put their finger in it. :(


Anyway, that's all she wrote. Hopefully y'all liked the cake. I sure enjoyed making it! :) Thanks for the help, Allie! Happy Birthday, boys! :) 

Chow down!!



Sunday, January 16, 2011

Domestic Bliss

Ok, so today's blog is not so much crafty, but it is creative! Evan (boyfriend) and I were planning on going out to dinner for a much needed date night, but the restaurant I had my heart set on was packed (with people celebration the end of Snowpocalypse Atlanta 2011, no doubt) and had an hour and a half wait...

Listen, I'm sure y'all know what it's like when you're hungry. Some stomachs just will NOT wait for an hour and a half! So we decided to run by Publix, pick up some supplies and play house tonight! :) Ok, so it ended taking longer than the time it would have taken us to wait at the restaurant, but it was WAY cheaper and a really fun bonding experience for us!

So here's what we got:

Our yummy ingredients! And if you're wondering where I got that FABULOUS cutting board,
it was a Christmas gift from my AMAZING Aunt Holly. She got it from Modcloth.com.
When I have an actual home, the kitchen will be based on this piece! Thanks, Holly!!

  • 4 small gold potatoes
  • Rosemary
  • Italian Seasoning
  • Garlic (minced)
  • Moore's Original Marinade
  • 1 lb of top round steak
  • Green Beans (sorry, I blanked out on how many we got, but just get enough for your group)
  • Olive Oil 
  • Salt 
  • Pepper
First, preheat the oven to 425 and cut the potatoes into small chunks. Toss them in a big bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper (I added a ton because E loves it!), rosemary and Italian seasoning. Swirl it around until everything is thoroughly coated. Then arrange them on a cookie sheet in a single layer and pop them in the oven for somewhere around an hour. Keep checking on them because I think my oven is a little funky and I don't think it should take quite that long. 

Evan was my superstar and took care of the steak, so I'm gonna let him take over and let you know how he did it...

Hey there... Evan here. First I marinated the steak for a little over a half hour.  Make sure to poke holes through the steak using a fork so that the marinade penetrates most of the steak. Shake off most of the marinade and then pan fry it with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a couple grinds of black pepper, and a pinch of  whole rosemary.  The top round steak isn't very thick so it will cook through very quickly. Maybe 3-5 minutes each side at most. Not the most tender steak but very good.

He's too sweet isn't he?! Can you see why we balance each other out? Not a single exclamation point in his whole thing...very cut and dry. HA! 

Anyway, green beans are pretty self-explanatory, so I'm gonna leave y'all pretty much on your own for this one. I just snapped the tips off the beans and boiled them. Pretty simple. 
Our finished creation! YUM!

I think Evan approves!
Overall, this meal was pretty fantastic! I was so pleased to spend so much time in the kitchen with Evan! It is nice to know we can work together in such tight quarters without killing each other! :) Haha! 

Now, Evan is super into brewing and craft beers, and he has been trying his hardest to get me excited about it too. I like wine. But I'm trying. For his sake. Anyway, he brought over some really yummy beer for us to have for "dessert." It's called Tripel Karmeliet and it's by Brouwerij Bosteels. It's a light and fruity Belgian blonde ale. Yum! I love how he knows what I like better than I do!

Of course, Mercedes had to make her presence known.
At least she waited until dinner was over! :) 
Side note: I have to give Evan extra props for, not only sitting through my taste in television, but, also actually adding his own commentary to David Tuttera's "My Fair Wedding." It takes a real man to genuinely comment on the hideous dresses the bride picked out for her bridesmaids. :)