I really like every beer I have tried so far from Green Flash Brewing.

Of those I am especially fond of, their Le Freak is a pretty cool beer.

However, their West Coast IPA is probably their flagship beer.  “Extravagently Hopped”, is how they describe it on the website, and I’d agree, though not to the extent of some, cough, other Southern California brewers.

Still smarting from last week’s stew disaster, I decided to revisit, but with things I am comfortable with.  Like Pork.

And Rancho Gordo Yellow Indian Woman Beans. Soaked the beans for a couple hours and set them to cook with some garlic and herbs.

Groceries for the stew.

Mmmm, Got some awesome country style spare ribs at Avedano’s.  Check out that marbling!

And some kale and tatsoi from a friendly face at the Allemany Farmers’ Market.

Browned the pork, sauteed some aromatic vegetables, covered it with white wine, and put it in a 325 degree oven to simmer.

Also got some nice Chanterelles from Far West Fungii at the Allemany Farmers’ Market. Roasted those off.

When the meat was getting towards tender, I removed the meat from the bone, degreased the cooking liquids, and combined the now tender beans, braising greens, and roasted chanterelles. Covered again and returned to oven.

Yep.

That turned out tasty.  Walnut Bread from the Noe Valley Bakery.

Oh wait, I seem to have forgotten to take a picture of the beer.  Navarro Zinfandel with dinner this time, instead of Cabernet Sauvingon.

With my new schedule, it’s kind of weird, I’m out of sync with what seems like the rest of the working world. Thursdays are the new “Fridays” and Fridays are the new “Saturdays”, and Sundays are the new “Monday”.

On Friday, I usually sleep in and spend my day doing errands, walking the dog, and then making dinner so I can have something ready for Mrs. Flannestad when she gets home from work.

On New Years, while at our friends’ house, we had worked together on making an excellent version of the Cook’s Illustrated recipe for Hungarian Beef Stew.

It was rainy and a bit cold last “Saturday”, so it seemed like a good day for Stew.  Why not revisit the success of the Hungarian Beef Stew?

It turned out tasty, but a bit odd texturally. There was a gritty character I’ve never experienced with Paprika seasoned stews. Unpleasant. The only thing I can figure is that the Spicely Paprika, which I’ve never used before, is weird. Either that or the bottle was half sand.

Fortunately, the Broccoli Rabe from River Dog farms suffered no such textural problems. Sauteed/braised with chiles, anchovies, garlic, and raisins, it was quite delightful.

One of my favorite not too funky Saisons is Foret from Saison Dupont. It is truly a delightful beer.

To be honest, it has a double “nostalgia” factor which gives it extra resonance.

Back in the day, Slanted Door used to be on Church Street in San Francisco. One of Mrs. Flannestad and my favorite things was to go there and split a 750ml bottle of Saison Dupont (or two) with our dinner of shaking beef, spring rolls, etc.

Life has rolled on in the last decade or so. Slanted Door has moved (twice!) and gone on to tremendous success. Unfortunately, they no longer carry the 750ml bottles of Saison Dupont at Slanted Door, but we do carry the smaller bottles of Foret at Phan’s new Chinese Food and Cocktails venue Heaven’s Dog.

But why buy a small bottle, when you can buy a large one?  As far as I can tell, the big difference between Foret and Saison Dupont is that Foret is organically produced.  Stylistically they are quite similar, with all the wonderful hallmarks of a good Saison.

Not entirely a successful Friday Night Dinner, but the Foret from Saison Dupont and Cabernet Sauvingon from Navarro somewhat salved my failure with the stew.

Monk’s Blood (pdf link) was created for the BRU/SFO project and featured during a beer and food pairing dinner Sean Paxton, aka homebrewchef held at their restaurant.  Apparently this particular beer was so successful that they decided to brew and can a batch.

Though, even after reading Jesse’s praise of the beer on his blog, I was a little worried when I read the description, “Monk’s Blood is an 8.3% alcohol, dark Belgian-style ale brewed with eight malts, Belgian candi sugar, cinnamon, vanilla bean, dried local black mission figs and aged on oak.”  Oof!  That’s a lot of stuff!

While it is a bit on the sweet side, there is just a touch of sour character.  Enough, at least, for me not to be overwhelmed by its sweetness.  Nor are the potentially overwhelming spices, cinnamon and vanilla, overdone.

Fig, on the other hand, comes out loud and clear in both the nose and taste.

Great as an after dinner libation, or perhaps with a nice meaty duck leg as Sean did at the dinner, Monk’s Blood is definitely a beer worth searching out.

Plus, there’s probably some joke out there whose punch line is, “Monk’s Blood in a can”.  Just think how cool it will make you sound ordering it at the bar!  Though it does make me think of a friend who takes perverse joy in hearing her straight, male friends order Speakeasy Big Daddy IPAs, “I’d like a Big Daddy, thank you very much.”

First, I really like the spiffy Belgian Beer bottles that come wrapped in paper. They are just fun. Second, I am very fond of Maredsous’ Blonde Beer.

That said, Maredsous Brown was very good, but didn’t stick out in any particular way to me. There was no really interesting or unusual thing about it. Just a very good, well made beer. And that is fine, but I probably wouldn’t buy it again.

Port Brewing’s High Tide Fresh Hop India Pale Ale located at local bottle shop City Beer Store.  I can never pass up trying a Fresh Hop beer.

All about the grapefruit in the nose and taste.  Nicely balanced, though, and not sharp.  Very drinkable.

Experimental Roasted Pumpkin and Apple Risotto with sage.  Pretty tasty.  Salad of Arugula and Persimmons.  Portobello Mushroom Sausages.

My super hero wife was again away last weekend, this time in LA working on a ridiculously high profile project for what she calls “The Place”.

I had an evite to a fantastic party, but was feeling like I needed a bit of downtime.

Between B.A.R. certification, friends being in town, and birthday celebrations, recent events had gotten a bit off the rails.  Too many blurry nights.  I really needed a night at home with the dog and cats to regroup.

But I was just feeling too lazy to put together my usual bachelor dinner, a pot of jambalaya.  Fortunately, bone-in chicken breasts were on sale at Good Life.  I rubbed them with Gremolata, put a sage leaf under the skin, and draped some, (unfortunately not Boccolone,) Pancetta over the top and threw them in the convection oven at 375F.  Then I covered some potatoes with water and set them to boil.

La Goudale appeared this week at our local grocery.  Interestingly, the brewers claim La Goudale is based on, “…an original medieval recipe, Goudale is a historic name.”

I tend to like lighter Belgian Saisons and Singles, which seem to be relatively rarely brought into this country.  Just kind of tired of overly “big” beers.  You can keep your triples and your Imperials.  Just give me something nice that goes well with food and doesn’t hit me over the head with the hammer of sweetness and alcohol.  Goudale fits into this profile, being fairly dry, not overly sweet, or particularly strong.  Initially not seeming overly complex, it did show some enjoyable subtleties of flavor as it warmed.

Pulled the breasts out when they hit 145F.  Sauteed some sliced spring onions and spinach in butter.  Drained and smashed the potatoes.  Stirred the sauteed veg into them along with some sour cream.

Sliced the chicken breast and served it with the potatoes.  Shoulda maybe made a pan sauce, but like I said, this was a lazy, bachelor dinner, not an impress the significant other kind of thing.

Something, I dunno, peaceful, about being in the bar after a busy night. You’ve taken care of all your closing responsibilities and are waiting for your cab or ride. Between when the dishwashers finish and the cleaning crew shows up.

While you’re there and contemplating the universe, or at least the small portion of it you experienced that night, you might as well have a beer, if you haven’t had a shift drink. Maybe the Carnegie (aka Pripps’) Porter? Nice stuff, vintage dated and from Sweden.

This is another beer from the Plump Jack Beer Club.  I’ve belonged to this club for several years now, and the organizer never fails to find something interesting new for me to try.  Rauchbiers are an acquired taste for some.  Like Islay Scotch, the Malt is dried over an open fire, lending a smoky character.  Being very fond of Alaskan Brewing’s Smoked Porter and Stone Brewing’s Smoked Porter, I was quite looking forward to this beer from the Les Trois Mousquetaires Brewery in Quebec.

Interestingly, the Trois Mousequetaires Brewery started when Imperial Tobacco of Canada shut down its Montreal locations, sending the three founders into a quest for a new source of income and inspiration.

The beer is nice, not as smoky as some German Rauchbier, but enough to take notice.  According to the information I have, they use partly smoked malt and the beer is then cold aged and bottled unfiltered.  Pours with a healthy head and is a bit on the sweet side.  Nicely Porter-esque and a perfect accompaniment to a honking big slab of…

When I was heading home from work on Friday, I stopped at Avedano’s to pick up something to grill.  Like the Plump Jack Beer club, Avedano’s never fails to have something interesting which inspires me to cook.  It was truly far too hot outside to think of turning on the oven or even the stove top.  They had some beautiful dry aged ribeye that I just couldn’t resist.  Ribeye is just about my favorite easily available steak.  Well, OK, bone in, thick cut ribeye is my absolute favorite.  But since I was on my own for dinner, that would be a bit over the top.

Grilling steaks always reminds me of growing up in Wisconsin.  My parents would often buy half a cow from the local butcher and then freeze most of the meat, giving us steaks and summer sausage for a good portion of the year.  The old adage, “Dad Cooks Outside, Mom Cooks Inside,” always held true.  While Dad got the coals going, Mom would peel and slice potatoes, chop plenty of onions and wrap them in foil with plenty of butter, salt, and pepper.  These would then be cooked over the coals outside.  When they were done, they would be spooned into a bowl.  My favorite bits were always the browned and caramelized potatoes that stuck to the foil.

Nothing more than salt, pepper, and a little bit of olive oil, for a ribeye this nice! Not the best job of cross hatching, but not bad for cooking on a Weber!

Really that does seem like a lot of potatoes and a big steak.  I hope I can finish them!

OK, well, I finished the potatoes.  Half the steak will make a nice sandwich for lunch tomorrow!

Recently our local grocery has started carrying beer from a small Scottish Brewery called “Brew Dog”. Fond as I am of Stouts, I’ve been curious about their Rip Tide Imperial Stout.

Martin and James were bored of the industrially brewed lagers and stuffy ales that dominate the UK market. We decided the best way to fix this undesirable predicament was to brew our own beers. Consequently in April 2007 BrewDog was born.

Both only 24 at the time, we leased a building, got some scary bank loans, spent all our money on stainless steel and started making some hardcore beers.

We are dedicated to making cool, contemporary and progressive beers showcasing some of the world’s classic beer styles. All with an innovative twist and customary BrewDog bite.

Well, that’s cool.

With Mrs. Flannestad away for the weekend, I’d not done real well on the whole feeding myself front this weekend. Figured I should at least give it a go tonight.

Got some nice Salmon and Fingerling potatoes at Avedano’s. Fennel and Kale at Good Life. So… Thinly sliced fingerling potatoes, fennel, and chiffonade of tuscan kale. Some olive oil and cream. Idea is a quick gratin. Tossed in the oven at 400 F.

Salmon fillet, with a rub, garnish, I don’t know what you call it… Mustard, finely minced onion, thyme, tarragon, lemon zest, splash of vermouth, olive oil.  We used to make a main course something like this at a restaurant I worked in.

Hm. Rip Tide is tasty, but more of a UK style Porter than an Imperial Stout. OK. But doesn’t quite have the backbone to stand up to the alcohol level.

Salmon on top of the mostly cooked gratin. Oven at 425 F.

Sorry for the focus. Really this was one of the more successful and interesting dishes I’ve cooked recently. Nice textural contrast. Crispy potatoes and kale at the edges. Delicious rich salmon towards the middle.

Just hope I can make it again once Mrs. Flannestad gets back!

Recently it seems like there has been a lot of Belgian brewers who are attempting to adapt American beer styles to Belgian beers.

I guess it is sort of tit for tat, as so many American brewers are now attempting to brew Belgian style brews!

Buffalo Stout caught my eye at the local grocery. A cowboy-themed Belgian stout! Crazy!

No idea what the text there says. Ingredients, however, are, “water, malt, hops, yeast, and refermentationsugar.”

It’s on the sweet side, it must be admitted. But not cloying.  I had no problems finishing most of the bottle while making dinner, and I don’t have a huge tolerance for overly sweet beers. Probably less sweet than many of the Imperial Stouts made in the US.

Plus, the use of Belgian yeast strains plays out nicely in the late flavors, giving it a interesting complexity not usually found in American Imperial stouts.

Speaking of cross over attempts, a video was recently made public which showed Anthony Bourdain (Of the Travel Network’s No Reservations), Chris Cosentino (Of San Francisco’s Incanto restaurant), and Lance Winters (Of Hangar One/St. George) cooing over an experimental flask of foie gras vodka (Winters: “the distillation room looked like a lipo suction clinic while we were making this!”). If chef’s are gonna start getting all up in bartender’s grills, I figured I might as well do the same.

Stopped on the way home to pick up some chicken breasts to convection roast. Made a sort of paste or rub out of juniper berries, black pepper, lemon peel, rosemary, salt, and olive oil. Moistened it further with Anchor’s Junipero Gin.

Roasted at 400 F until cooked through.

Served with a porcini mushroom and summer squash risotto. Salad with capay farms heirloom tomatoes.

I don’t know about the “Foiedka” cross over, but I can say that both the Buffalo Stout and “Gin Marinated” roast chicken were both successes!