A Fun Family Activity...Beer Brewing!

Recently DD and I joined my DH and my Dad for one of their beer making trips.  I don't usually go along, but a friend of theirs was supposed to be coming and had to cancel at the last minute, so I said I'd be a sport and take the third "kettle".

This place they go is pretty cool - they allow you the use of their facility so you can brew a batch of the beer of your choice - they have a whole big book of "recipes" for every style of beer you could imagine.  Here's the one I "made" (I didn't choose it, DH and my Dad chose the beers to make - I just told DH to give me the one with the easiest recipe):

 

  

Here's a shot of the inside of the place we went - did you even know there was such a place where you can brew your own beer?

    

  

  

Each person has their own little station and their own kettle.  The process itself is very interesting - a cross between cooking and chemistry.  

   

We had to get the grains we needed, weigh them, then grind them.  DD loved the grinding.

 

  

Here is all the sugar we had to add:

    

DD weighing the hops:

 

  

And here's the kettle where I cooked it up!  

Not shown in the picture is a big paddle that you use to stir it. 

    

 
Right now the beer is fermenting.  In a few weeks it will be ready and we have to go back to bottle and cap it ourselves.  This recipe makes six cases of twelve 22oz. bottles of beer - usually more, however, with all the "quality control" the guys end up doing during bottling (ha ha), they end up taking home six cases of each batch they brew.  Between the three of us we made three different batches, so yes, that's a lot of beer.  (I told DH this wouldn't be a good thing to chit chat about next time he goes to get a life insurance quote!!)  Apparently the beer is very, very good.  (I am not a beer connoisseur I am sorry to say, so I can't really give a worthwhile opinion.)
 
I will leave you with a funny quote that is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin:
  
"Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy."
  
The end.
 

I Don't Know What Compels DD to Do This....

I buy toilet paper in bulk from BJs Wholesale Club.  DD decided to see how tall it would be stacked.  Note how she had to start a second tower because the first one made it to the ceiling!
 

 
The end.
 

Walked into the Room and Saw....

 

    

...DD got all our American Girl Dolls set up ready to watch an episode of Full House!  Do you see Moo Cow in the picture too?  Of course she could not be left out.

  

Did you watch the show "Full House" years ago?  It's become somewhat popular with the tween set, so I requested some episodes through the library for DD.  I watched a couple of episodes with DD and not only enjoyed the stories, but I marveled at 80s and 90s hair and fashion.  It's amazing to think even professionals like doctors and people in banking jobs had the giant hair, the huge jewelry, the shoulder pads and the blue eyeshadow too.  I remember it used to take me 45 minutes to properly curl my "feathered" hair with a curling iron and coat it with a helmet of Aqua Net hairspray.  Gosh it's a wonder I don't have scars from how many times I burnt my forehead with the curling iron.  And God help your hairdo if it was rainy or windy outside - can you say Destroyed In Seconds?

  

I do kinda miss the "slouch socks" though.  I liked those.  Is there anything you miss from the 80s?

  

The end.

 

Why I Have Dave Sayer's Business Card on my Fridge

I've already bemoaned my compulsion to enter Publisher's Clearing House every time I get a sweepstakes entry in the mail here.  Well one fateful day I was filling one out when I noticed that if you were not ordering, you could submit your entry online.  "Cool!" I thought.  "That will save time and a stamp." So I typed in the website and submitted my entry, that fateful day.

Now, not only do I get them in the regular mail, but I get entries almost EVERY DAY in my email!  That I feel compelled to complete!  What's worse is they have other ways to win like PCH Lotto, PCH Scratch Offs (little virtual scratch off tickets), and even PCH Search and Win (you have to go there and search at least once a day to get an entry. Half the time I just search for the first thing that enters my brain just to get my entry - "meatloaf recipes", "how to get rid of friendship bread starter", orange nj cosmetic dentist` - anything just to get my entry!)

This is so embarrassing, but I have Dave Sayer's business card on my fridge - because one of the entries I got in the regular mail said to save his card and if he shows up to award you a big prize and you show him the card, you get an extra $1,000!

I need help, I know, but all I can think is what if this is the winning entry??

The end.