Serenity & Spice

In the last few months, I have found that I have needed to rebuild my self-confidence from the ground up. It would help with some attention from the opposite sex. That has proven to be difficult as I need better self-confidence to attract the attention of the opposite sex. It’s a vicious cycle.  Welcome to the world of app dating! By now, most people have tried dating apps like Tinder and Bumble . It is a treacherous minefield trying to find someone to connect with. When you find someone that seems perfectly decent, you agree to meet. Sometimes it works out. Terry's Chocolate at Rock Town Distillery Available February 15th “A couple got married here,” said Stephanie at Rock Town Distillery . “They had their first date at the distillery.” The couple in question had met here as a midway point between where they lived. One was from Texas, and the other was from Alabama.  “We recommend taking the tour of the distillery or attending one of our cocktail classes,” she says.  Wh...

I remember years ago, one cloudy afternoon when my dad decided to take me to Vino’s Pizza and Brewery not too long after my 21st birthday. He ordered two beer samplers and then proceeded to go through each one with me. My dad had been a BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) Judge for years and he took this as the perfect opportunity to teach me about beer styles.  It was probably January or February of 2006, and I had recently returned from my first tour in Iraq. Growing up, he had given me tidbits but never gave me an actual class before. To him, a beer tasting was a rite of passage for me. Ken Haycook was determined that his daughter would go out into the world knowing how to drink beer. In honor of Father’s Day, I made I Love You, Dad Pizza . I made pizza crust with 6 Bridges Cream Ale from Vino’s. A few months back, I did a beer and cookie pairing but wasn’t able to include Vino’s in the mix. Given this memory, I felt it deserved something a little more special.  My d...

There was a time when the world thought eating alone was good for your mental and emotional well being. It gave you a break from constantly interacting with other people. You didn’t feel like you had to smooze or make conversation.  You could just enjoy your food. I have eaten alone roughly 700 times this year, give or take, and most of those meals were filled with stress and crushing isolation.  At any moment, I could lose my job, my apartment, my boyfriend, and I almost did. That’s why, for the last post of the year, I wanted to make something delicious.  Shrimp Fra Diavolo is quite possibly one of my favorite dishes.  Spicy tomato sauce with succulent shrimp on a bed of linguine, or any variation thereof, makes my tummy happy. I used the recipe from Chili Pepper Madness . As spicy red peppers are hard to find this time of year, I used a teaspoon of Italian Bomba Hot Pepper Sauce from Trader Joe’s.  A little goes a long way, but so worth it. Who else thought ...

Now that Thanksgiving has been canceled this year, this may be the perfect time to take off some of the pressure we tend to put on ourselves for our own emotional and psychological well-being. We don’t have to roast a turkey or talk about the election. Now that we can’t gather in groups, some of the normal holiday stressors are almost non-existent.  Maybe that in itself is stressful. This weekend, Lost Forty Brewing came out with their annual triple barrel aged Nighty Night Imperial Stout. Usually, there is a big festival with games and booths, but this year, it had all been extremely scaled down for obvious reasons.  The release had been delayed by a month.  As the festival and beer are zombie-themed, it usually takes place around Halloween. For this year, they rebranded and called it the Year From Hell.   Social distancing guidelines were strictly enforced with pre-sale available online beforehand.  I, like most people, picked up my order and went home....

I have decided recently that I am going to stop planning my future.  That’s not to say that I won’t save money for a rainy day or contribute to a retirement fund.  I’m going to stop trying to answer the question, “where do you see yourself in five years?” I’m going to stop chasing after jobs I will never get.  Stop looking up houses on Zillow and fantasizing about a future that might not happen. Let’s face it. It’s pretty risky for most people to be making big financial decisions right now. We could be living in a zombie apocalypse come January.  For right now, I think I will stay where I am and focus on what I can control.  It’s where I might need to be.  I think I will write a book this month. For those of you who don’t know, I will give the obligatory breakdown of what NaNoWriMo is. The goal is to write 50,000 words during November or one novel. This will be my first time participating even though I have never finished a book before. Usually, there is th...