mind your b's and q's

we don't need to extol the joys and virtues of outdoor grilling to you all - you probably rocked the coals all summer long! well, to celebrate our recent move as well as the summer's end (oh, and what a summer it was), ryan and i threw a little bbq in our new backyard last weekend! our new place is small, so we couldn't host the rager of years past, but i still think it turned out pretty grand.

the best part? a few hours before the bbq was slated to start, a handful of friends (lauren, michael, halimah and stina) presented us with a wedding/housewarming gift that made our jaws drop: a brand new gas grill! what a generous, thoughtful and rad gift that truly will keep on giving. ryan and michael set it up right then and there, and we proceeded to use it all though the night! it was such a luxury to be able to fire it up for the 2nd and 3rd waves of guests, or when people wanted midnight snacks. that kind of spontaneity just isn't possible with the charcoal grill.

as for the food, we wisely kept it pretty simple: some chips, a few salads (green salad, pasta salad and a guest vegan potato salad from our brother steven!), and grillables. chicken and steak for the meat eaters, and homemade vegan sausages and bbq'd tofu for the vegetarians, featuring BBQ sauce that ryan whipped up from scratch. when that dude's southern roots shine through, they really shine! the sauce was killer, the beers were cold, the mood was high. we ate, drank, told jokes, watched baseball, played cards, and no doubt kept our neighbors up until saturday turned into sunday and we all fell into our beds.


dang, just look at those sexy grill marks! anyway, it really is time to let the summer go, isn't it? the autumn is here, so let's embrace it! unpack your leggings and sweaters, and expect some cozy recipes to come....

love,
emily

keep your fingers crossed

when you've somehow sucked it up and gone jogging for the last three nights and eaten mostly fruits and veggies (trying to clean that fridge out before we move!) it's easy to just give in to temptation. especially when temptation is battered and deep fried.

but let's start with the booze. i went to the POPE on tuesday for the tapping of the flying fish exit 11 firkin. this is part of flying fish brewery's "exit series" of beers, which celebrates their home state by brewing a set of beers as diverse as new jersey itself. according to the website:

Exit 11 is a confluence of styles and ingredients, just as exit 11 is the point in New Jersey where the Garden State Parkway, the New Jersey Turnpike and several other highways come together.

cute concept, great beer. i was a bit taken aback to find that the beer was room temperature, but i now see that is the way of the firkin, normally served at 55 degrees. i read that exit 11 is an american-style wheat beer, brewed with english ale yeast, three different kinds of hops and half belgian pale malt and half white wheat. i don't know what all that adds up to except a crisp, clean pint of beer with a tart, fruity finish. and it's a big beer, with a 6.2% abv, meaning at $5.50 a pint, i only ordered (and only needed) one.

then it was on to dinner. i haven't been to POPE since they launched their new menu and i've heard mixed reviews of the veggie burger, the seitan steak and the polenta napoleon. it was hot out and i wasn't in the mood for something super heavy, but damn if i'm not a sucker for junk once in a while. enter: seitan fingers and french fries. these are the veggie version of chicken fingers and they MIGHT fool your carniverous boyfriend if his eyes are closed. the fingers were crisp and hot with juicy tender seitan inside. thumbs up to the fries - and i recently figured out the trick to successful leftovers: eat all the fries while you're at the restaurant and take half the sandwich/fingers/whatever home because those fries just ain't the same on day 2. so i had 2 fingers leftover for tomorrow (or later - drunk midnight snack, don't judge me). oh, how could i forget the spicy bbq dipping sauce? it's like a citrusy spicy light bbq sauce and i shall forever regret not taking a little cup to go with my leftovers.

(you might not think it, but in that condiment cup is liquid gold)

my buddy ciarra basically went the complete opposite direction and ordered the st. pablo's watermelon special which was 3 big slices of watermelon with cayenne, lime juice and salt and a sad side salad (that should be your new band's name).

the bite i had was pretty banging, but i want watermelon when i'm on someone else's parents' backyard deck overlooking the pool i'm about to wash said watermelon juice off in (confusing, i know, but true to life). when i'm at a bar with a pint of strong beer, i want something fried, even if it is 88 degrees out. that's just how you give humidity the middle [seitan] finger.