Summer Brewfest

Today we went Leesburg to attend the Northern Virginia Summer Brewfest. We had $10 tickets (half price on Living Social) which got us a 5 oz. souvenir tasting glass and four tasting tickets each. There were 57 breweries in attendance and each one brought two or three beers to taste. There were also food and craft vendors and live music. The weather was great - sunny and not very humid.

We used all eight of our tickets, but after we got home we could only remember six of the ones we tried. Here's my reviews of what we had. Mind you that I am not a real fan of beer, but we tried a lot of summer seasonal beers. This is what we look like after a lot of beer in the June sun. Toasty.

Brooklyn Brewery - Summer Ale: I really liked this one. It was a light, crisp beer with a touch of citrus. Very summery. Available April - July.

Flying Dog Brewery - Woody Creek Belgian Style Wit Beer: A traditional Belgian Wit beer with orange peel and coriander. Great with Asian flavors, light cheese and shellfish.

Smuttynose Brewery - Summer Weizen: This is a summer wheat beer brewed with Belgian wit yeast. Good for barbecues and picnics. Available May - August.

Red Hook Ale Brewery - Pilsner: A crisp, golden lager that is a Czech-style beer. A great all day drinking beer.

Magic Hat Brewing Company - Wacko: This was my favorite of the day. This beer is a beautiful red color, which it gets from beets, of all things. I thought it was cherries when I first tried it and had to go back and ask. It's slightly sweet and all around delicious.

Long Trail Brewing Company - Double Bag: This was one of Jim's favorites. A dark amber beer with a 7.2% alcohol content, so it packs a punch. Similar to a German strong ale and great with grilled and smoked meat.

Sampler Scarf

I am learning to knit. I have tried to learn several times in the past, but I think I finally have the hang of it now. It took some of the ladies at church actually showing me what to do before I figured it out. I am spatially challenged and trying to figure it out from just pictures wasn't going to cut it.

This is my third project, a scarf for Jim. My first two were a hat and a neck warmer, but the were just one stitch (garter stitch). This is the first thing I've done with a pattern. I managed to switch sides a couple of times in the pattern, but overall I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Now I'm ready to start working on Christmas presents!

S'mores Crumb Bars

If you ask Jim he will attest to the fact that I have had a small s'mores addiction. This has been going on all summer and I think he's getting tired of it. Since I make dessert every Sunday to take to my sister-in-law's, I thought I'd give this one a try and see if it would finally satisfy the craving.

I got this recipe from Allrecipes.com and adapted it slightly as I went along.

3 c. of graham cracker crumbs (I crushed my own graham crackers to make crumbs. It took 1 2/3 packages of crackers)
3/4 c. butter or margarine, melted
1/3 c. sugar (I used a little more than 1/3 c.)
3 c. mini marshmallows (I used the whole bag)
2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used half semi-sweet and half milk chocolate, since a Hershey bar is milk chocolate).

Preheat oven to 375*. Combine crumbs, sugar and butter. Press half (I only reserved 1/2 c.) into a greased 13x9 pan. Sprinkle with chips and marshmallows. Top with remaining crumbs and press down firmly. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press top with a spatula. Cool completely and cut into bars.

I was working with several different recipes, so I baked the graham cracker crust for about 8 minutes, then took it out and topped it with the chips, etc. and baked it for another 10 minutes. We haven't cut them yet, but I'll let you know how they turn out.

Edit: The crust was a little crumbly, but they tasted awesome. I think maybe a little more butter to hold it together would do the trick.

Checking in for a Good Cause

I know, I know, world's worst blogger, but I have a favor to ask.

In January, we got this 11 pound pile of fuzz from Lost Dog and Cat Rescue and can't remember what it was like before him. Lost Dog is a non-profit no kill shelter and they place about 2,000 pets a year that would otherwise be euthanized into loving homes. We absolutely adore Rex and would love to help the folks who helped him. Please take a minute and click through to help Lost Dog and Cat Rescue win $15,000.

Follies

Last night, we had a date and went to see Follies at the Kennedy Center. This was the first of several shows that we have tickets for this summer.

Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Goldman. The musical is set during a reunion of the Weismann's Follies performers in their old, crumbling theater, which is set for demolition. The story focuses on two couples, Buddy and Sally Durant Plummer and Ben and Phyllis Rogers Stone, both of whom are bitterly unhappy in their marriages.

Many of the former show girls perform their old routines, sometimes accompanied by the ghosts of their former selves. The ghosts or memories of the past are frequently on stage and drift through the action, often mirroring the action in present day. The show ends with a dreamlike sequence in the style of the old Ziegfeld Follies, in which each of the four principle characters act out their own follies.

I was not very familiar with this show before going, but as a general rule, I love Sondheim's work and this show did not disappoint. The cast includes the always lovely Bernadette Peters as Sally, Jan Maxwell (Phyliis), Danny Burstein (Buddy), Ron Raines (Ben), Linda Lavin as Hattie and Elaine Paige (Carlotta). The show runs through June 19th.

Vermont Weekend

This weekend, Jim and I ran away to Vermont. Yes, I know we spent almost as much time on the train round trip as we did in Vermont, but it was so worth it. Plus, I like taking the train. We were basically disconnected from technology for the whole weekend. There was no wi-fi on the train, but we had cell service; there was wi-fi in the Inn, but no cell service, and no television anywhere.

We arrived in Bellows Falls, VT at about 6:00 Friday night and paid a ridiculous amount of money to be driven the 12 miles out to Grafton. I should be happy that there was, in fact, a taxi in Bellows Falls, but I swear that he charged an insane amount because he knows that we are out-of-towners and have no choice.

Anyway, this is the Old Tavern Inn in Grafton. We plunked our stuff upstairs in our room and then walked around a little bit before heading the Phelps Barn Pub for flatbread pizzas with local Vermont cheese (it was a cheese intensive weekend).

Saturday morning, we slept in and then had breakfast. This is my very favorite part about staying in a bed and breakfast. Jim had the omelet of the day (maple cured sausage and cheese) with toast and home fries. I had the bacon quiche (which incorrectly came with a salad - I ate it too. Bonus salad for me.) and a bowl of fresh fruit. They also put cranberry scones on the table.

After breakfast, we walked around town for a bit taking pictures of everything. We went up to the elementary school, which actually has a tower where a bell would go, and the forge. Then we took a nap. Yes, it was 11:00 in the morning. We don't care.

Grafton Elementary School

Then it was lunch time and cheese buying time, so we headed over to Mack's Place for sandwiches - I had a grilled turkey, bacon, tomato and cheese and Jim had a cheese steak. Yum! Then we decided to walk out to Plummer's Sugar House, which the town's website and the innkeeper said was about 1.5 miles out of town. We walk and walk forever and never find it so we turn back, with a detour to find our very first out-of-town letterbox. Once we got back, I plugged the address into Google Maps and found out it's really three miles out of town! We went about 2 miles before we gave up, so with our extra hike for the letterbox, it was about a 4.5 mile walk.


This is me stamping our book once we found the letterbox and the view from the site.

For dinner, we had a Vermont cheese board to start. I loved the jalapeno cheddar. Jim had the sweet pea and mascarpone ravioli and I had the salmon that was the special of the day. The fish was great, but the rice was over cooked. Neither of us was very impressed. After our late dinner, we went to the game room and played pool.

Sunday breakfast was omelet again for Jim (ham and cheese this time) and french toast for me. Then back to Bellows Falls and the train home. I've uploaded more photos to my photobucket account here.

Things I Learned in Vermont
1. Never trust the information on the website. Holy crap, my feet still hurt!
2. I still don't like blue cheese
3. I'm ok without two of three links to the outside world.

National Infertility Awareness Week

Myth: A higher-power is telling you that you should not be a parent.

Fact: Infertility is a disease of the reproductive system. It does not discriminate and affects all races, religions, men and women equally and people all over the world. Whether or not you resolve your infertility journey by choosing to become a parent is a function of your determination and not a higher-power.

Parenthood is attainable, if that is truly your goal. You may or may not be fortunate enough to have a biological connection to your child, but if you want the experience of being a parent, you can achieve that dream.

People who choose to be childfree after infertility have examined the avenues to parenthood, considered the advantages and disadvantages, and decided that being a family of two is also a blessing.

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This is National Infertility Awareness Week. I thought long and hard about making this post. I wrote it and then put it away. I rewrote it and then tweaked it some more. Those of you who know me in real life know that I will talk all day about almost anything as long as it’s not personal or emotional, so you know what a big deal this is.

We have been trying to become parents for 18 months now. We have been seeing a reproductive endocrinologist for unspecified infertility since July 2010. We have had four cycles of IUI, which resulted in one pregnancy in November, a missed miscarriage two days before Christmas and a D&C in January.

We are coming to a cross roads. My insurance will cover two more tries at IUI and that is all. No coverage for anything more aggressive, which is the norm for most insurance. I am lucky that it even covers the IUIs. If neither try is successful, anything else we do will be completely out of pocket. Fortunately, we do have options.

* Do nothing and accept that we will be a family of two (plus a furbaby) and enjoy our lives together.

* Adoption – domestic infant adoption is neither quick nor inexpensive. I’ve researched several local and national adoption organizations. At our age, placement can take up to 2 years or more and the costs range from $25,000 - $40,000.

* IVF – We could do IVF. This comes with a huge physical toll in addition to the expense, $20,000, with no guarantee of success. Our clinic’s success rate for those over 40 using their own eggs is 24%.

* Donor eggs – We could do IVF with donor eggs. This eliminates the all the meds and shots and monitoring and blood work that comes with IVF. It also increases the success rate to about 60%. We could do one cycle with donor eggs for $14,500, with no guarantee. We could participate in the shared risk program for $29,500, which gives you up to six IVF cycles with the guarantee of a take home baby or a complete refund.

So, that’s where we stand, here, at the beginning of IUI cycle #5. We are lucky that we have support from the family and friends that we have told and that we have the resources to make whichever way we decide to go viable. There are plenty of people for whom all of these options are out of reach.

We will gladly accept all your thoughts and prayers as we work together to decide what is best for us and we will happily share any good news, if and when we have some.

Understanding Infertility: http://www.resolve.org/infertility101

National Infertility Awareness Week: http://www.resolve.org/takecharge