Sausage Fest

As funny as it sounds, a few weeks ago, Lizzie and I went to Sausage Fest! No, not that kind of sausage fest. This one was put on by the fine folks at the Red Hook Brewery at the actual brewery in Woodinville, WA. Mainly, it was Beer, Brats and Bands. Triple B!

The Red Hook Brewery is such a cool place. It consists of two enormous main buildings that look like Bavarian palaces on a finely landscaped property in the middle of Washington State wine country.

The food was shockingly good and consisted of authentic Bratwursts and sausages with a twist. I had the chorizo Brat and Lizzie had the French Onion Brat both of which were amazing. I haven't had brats that good since attending Oktober Fest in Munich. They also had a special hemp beer which yes, smelled like hemp without the effects. There were also a multitude of bands that played a big professional outdoor stage but I was mainly interested in Lizzie's company, beer, and food.

Although we only stayed for a few hours, it was a great time and I'd go back in a heartbeat. Maybe next year we'll get there in time for the tap room to be open.

Beer, Princesses, and Books

It's time for a little update on the Valentino family for a fun glimpse into some things coming up. While we've been in a sort of holding pattern on some things, we've also been gearing up for some really cool things in the future.

Beer

Everyone knows we love beer in this household. We're self professed (and official) Beer Knurds according to the Flying Saucer in Nashville. Adopting a snout to tail sort of attitude for beer, after drinking, we've been stripping and collecting the labels and caps on beer bottles for some fun art projects coming up. We then recycle the glass at a local collection center. If all works out as planned and the pieces turn out like we think they will, we might add these to a bazaar-style shop that we'll test out soon.

Princesses

 

Lizzie is a bad ass seamstress. She can make professional quality clothes in nearly every different style. After making a perfect replica Snow White and The Huntsman dress for Halloween for Kaya, we thought making princess dresses and kid's fashions would be a fun endeavour. So she's been working hard and perfecting her skills while building up some inventory for a clothing company which we'll reveal more about later. I thought it would be fun to have another you heard it hear first sort of post. So be on the lookout for kick ass kids clothes, and new original fashions. Also a kickstarter... gasp!

Books
I'm waiting for word on the dates for the reissue of Thomas Riley and the second book, Thomas Riley and the Maelstrom. I did get the almost finished cover art from the awesome Will Routon and I have to say I love it! It's an action packed piece that I feel like is a wonderful act 2 in the series. It has a darker feel than the first cover which fits the story nicely. I'm not allowed to show you yet and I was going to post a teaser but blogger isn;t recognizing my cropped image... Grrr. Sorry. As always, the second I hear anything about the books, I'll post it here first.

Drinks!

Today we're going to take a quick break from wonderful authors, music, and steampunk culture to talk about drinks. Homemade drinks at that! Lizzie and I are always on the search for wonderful and powerful new adult beverages that have yet to be discovered or have been sadly forgotten in the past. When we lived in Nashville one of our favorite places to go was the famous Patterson House which is a speak easy style place that serves drinks from the prohibition era along with seasonal offerings that you're not going to find at most other places.

So we've stumbled upon a few of our own really great and easy to make drinks that we'd like to share.

The Nikki Heat
Named after a fictional character in the show Castle, The Nikki Heat is a slight variation of a drink I tasted from John "Ichabod" Anderson at Dragon Con a few years ago. It's spicy, sweet and tastes like Christmas!
1.5 oz. Fireball Whiskey
3 oz. Cream Soda
.5 oz Grenadine
Serve over ice and enjoy.

The Valentino
Named after our surname, Lizzie constructed this drink that's smooth, a little sweet and can transport you to your favorite beach in one sip. Warning, you can probably drink ten of these if you're not careful.
2 oz. Coconut Rum
4 oz. Pomegranite/Cranberry Juice
1 sliver of lime
Serve over ice and enjoy.

Orange Hook
The Orange Hook (which I just named because we couldn't think of a great name before) was discovered by Lizzie when she had a beer in one hand yet was craving orange juice. With the beer flavor still in her mouth she took a sip of orange juice and wow... genius struck. It sounds gross but it's amazing! Think of a more robust mimosa. The measurements for this drink vary as you can drink a lot so it depends on the glass you're using.
1/3 glass of Copper Hook Beer (from the redhook brewing company)
2/3 Non pulp orange juice.
Serve cold (No ice) and enjoy and enjoy and enjoy.