Big Wave & Bacon Waffles

Who's to say that you can't have beer with breakfast?

Nothing screams "The weekend is here!" like putting beer and bacon in your Saturday morning waffles. You only need to look at a couple of my recipes to know that I'm a big fan of taking straggler bottles and turning them into something interesting.

And, whenever I need to find that something interesting, The Beeroness never seems to fail me. She's got Chocolate Stout Cherry Pie, Beer-Battered Avocado Tacos, and a whole bunch of other dishes that'll make you drool just by reading the titles. I found her recipe for Pilsner Waffles, which recommends using a blonde ale, and my lone leftover bottle of Big Wave Golden Ale seemed like it could fit right in easily.

Cherry Berry Beer Bread

Last week, the lovely Jaymee Sire posted a recipe for Oatmeal Cherry Chocolate Banana Bread. There are only a few foods that make me instantly buckle and go weak in the knees, and one of them is freshly baked bread. Especially banana bread. My mom used to bake it all the time when I was younger. (Plus, we're all aware of my love for bananas by now, right?)

I rummaged through my kitchen to collect the ingredients for this latest E is for Eat creation, but I was saddened to realize...I was out of oatmeal and chocolate chips, and Jacquelyn ate the last of the bananas. Another time, O.C.C.B.B., another time. But now I couldn't let go of this craving for freshly baked bread. So you know what I did find?

Cherries, berries, and beer.

I thought back to my recipe for Pumpkinhead Bread. It's one of the easiest breads to make, and as long as you've got a bottle of beer, you're good to go. This recipe gets a Summer makeover with the addition of Blackberry Tart Ale, fresh berries, and sweet red cherries!

Beer-Battered Chicken Bites with BBQ Sauce (Made with Guinness!)

The NBA playoffs begin on Saturday. If you can't be in the crowd or at a bar watching, you and your friends will most likely be huddled around a big screen and watching the game unfold from home. I've had a few friends reach out to me already and ask, "What's a good recipe if I'm hosting gameday??" (Everyone should know by now how much I love coming up with gameday recipes.)

Beer, barbeque, fried snacks, finger foods...all standards, all classics. My newest recipe is what happens when I decide to throw everything together into one dish.

Crispy, beer-battered chicken with a tangy barbeque dipping sauce!

Dolores Park & Pearl's Burgers

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte is a famous painting by Georges Seurat. (Or maybe you remember this scene from Ferris Bueller's Day off?) Whenever I walk through the middle of Dolores Park in San Francisco, I'm immediately reminded of this painting. The original is often called by the misnomer "Sunday in the Park", and depicts a crowd relaxing on a grassy riverbank. It's meant to portray ordinary people in the midst of "idle leisure", with blankets spread out on the grass, dogs running around, and very little else going on other than lounging. Last Sunday afternoon, this was particularly appropriate.

My sister, brother-in-law, and I went to Dolores Park to meet up with my cousin Miko and his friend Steve. Instead of Ile de la Jatte, the urban oasis was Dolores Park. And rather than a view of the Seine River, city dwellers have a panoramic view of downtown. But all the different types of personalities that you could come across, from groups of friends to couples...to families...to dogs? All still relevant. And the laying around on blankets while soaking up the sun? Definitely still relevant. The modern twists begin to show when you dig a little deeper, past the picturesque surface.