I attended two events at the Shaw Conference Center this past month but am slow with posting. Life of a hobby blogger... it always comes last :)  But here's a recap.

I dragged my brother along to our first Winefest.  I have attended Rocky Mountain Wine & Food Festival before at the Shaw Conference Center but Winefest is strictly wine with light catering of food provided by the Shaw versus restaurant samplings to purchase.

A couple of months ago, the hubby and I, along with fellow foodies Phil and Robyn, attended the Amber's Brewing Company brewery tour.



Jim, the very animated owner, gave a lively tour.  We started by sampling the various grains then moved onto the different vats to talk about process, politics of the business and the importance of supporting local products.


And don't forget, to sample the beer! We tried a variety of beers as well as their Grog cooler.




Currently, the brewery is in process of relocating but I recommend the tour.  Educational and a good time.

Jim also sent us with a *beer sampler pack* to take home (*part of the groupon package we bought).  My hubby, Klaus, and I have since enjoyed every version and liked them all.

Klaus, was "lucky" enough to get an entirely different sample :)  Jim pulled a good one on him when he pulled open the tap and walked away leaving the Hubby a bit stressed :)  Don't worry, no spills!



He kept asking me when I was going to post this blogpost (attention hog, I think!) so feel free to surprise him by leaving a comment here or even better on his twitter account!!!

Update news on relocation: Amber's Brewing teams with Hog's Head Brewing Company in St. Albert

"Mom, I want one of those!" my son points at a yogurt drink in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.

"That is yogurt you can drink and it costs more than I want to spend" I tell him as I continue on with my shopping.

Later, it had me thinking to myself: Why don't I make some at home? It would be a great after-school treat for my kids and would help their grumbling tummies last until dinnertime. With all the good bacteria from the yogurt and vitamins from the fruit, this is a healthy alternative to many possible after-school snacks.

I have plenty of raspberries from my summer harvest in my freezer and who doesn't have bananas sitting on their counter? I really love simple recipes and with only 4 ingredients, I will definitely making this and other flavor variations more often.

I doubt my kids will be asking to buy the yogurt drinks at the store from now on!

...

The weather is beautiful today and on twitter, people are chatting about outdoor patios and drinks.

So, I thought I'd officially kick off the backyard get-togethers with a cocktail of my own.

A nice and easy drink to sip amongst friends.

...

Summer Splash Cocktail
makes 1 drink

2 ounces orange juice
1.5 ounces your favorite rum
1 ounce pineapple juice

Mix together and pour over ice filled glass.

If you live in the Edmonton area, you have dealt with the neverending insurmountable amount of falling snow this weekend. Add the wind, and your sidewalks don't ever look fully shoveled clean. My muscles decided on payback and I sit here typing, sore and knotted. Does anyone else get knots? I get them a LOT, it's painful and annoying.

Snowed in, between shoveling and nursing muscle knots, I drank a plenty of tea and it dawned on my that I could make chai latte with one of the teas. Any tea that has a spicy/cinnamon blend will work. It's very simple to make and it was really tasty.



And with all the snow, I decided to take pictures of my chai latte with a much more brighter and cheerier tone. I can at least pretend I'm in a tropical paradise with every sip. Where it's warm, free of snow, sunny and bright, oh Mr. Pool boy, why yes, you can slather some lotion on my back, why, yes, that is a painful muscle knot...

SNAP.

Oh.

Back to snow shoveling.

Don't forget to watch Top Chef Allstars tonight and join me for my recap tomorrow.

...

Easy Chai Latte
makes 2 cups

1 tea bag (I used tetley's cinnamon spice tea but any spicy/cinnamon blend will do)
1 cup boiling water
1 cup of milk, frothed or just heated
sugar to sweeten, to your taste

Steep the tea bag in 1 cup of boiling water for 5-10 minutes. Heat and froth 1 cup of milk.

Combine the milk and tea. Add sugar to you preferred taste.

Serve in 2 mugs. Add a dash of cinnamon on top.

When the blogger is down, so is the blog.

...

It took all the energy I could muster to go pick up my daughter at school.

"You're sick? Again?!?" a parent said to me in the hallway.

Made me think, am I the only one who gets ill this often? Or this bad? I'm at home with young children. I'm more likely to get beaten down with colds and flu's, right?

I first thought it was food poisoning but it has lasted longer than a day and I'm the only one who got it in the family. I didn't even pick it up from the kids this time. Maybe that parent was right, maybe, I'm just a magnet for picking up germs? Fever, chills, stomach cramps, oh my. I like to eat food, not bring it up again.

I am actually eating some food today, without any major painful consequences. I tried yesterday and I paid for it, badly. Doesn't help that I spent my awake hours on my couch mostly watching the food network channel. I'm hungry! It's been a rough, rough week.

...

I've been dreaming about coffee all this week. I missed it.

I actually didn't really start drinking coffee until I got my first job in my career. You think all those years of staying up late at school, getting ready for mid-terms or final exams, would have gotten me addicted to java, but nay. I was tremendously sensitive to caffeine so I stayed away from it. Plus, I didn't even like the bitter taste of coffee.

But now, it's my daily love affair. I have professed, one too many times, to my mug-ful of coffee...

"Where have you been all my life?" or chanted "Must have my Precious".

We had an abundance of cranberry and grapefruit juices, so I looked around for a drink that might incorporate each. Couldn't exactly find one but this one came close. Though I'm not a big cooler fan, this wasn't too bad. A bit sweet for me but it goes down easy enough. I'd make it again. It would be really great on a hot summer day, hanging out with friends in the back yard. If that day ever comes...

...which leads me to this...


Yes, it's the first day of spring. While others in the world have flower buds coming in, I've got icicles. It's getting there but I really wish spring would hurry up!

(from front to back: Dark roast, light roast, unroasted (green) beans)

My husband had a conversation with some of his friends about getting a perfect cup of coffee. Of course, they talked on length on water temperature of your coffeemaker, the type of water one must use and to filter or not to filter.

Let's not forget about the coffee beans. These wannabe purists came to the conclusion that they must roast their own beans. That's when my hubby came home with some beans from Transcend Coffee, all excited to roast his own.

It started out ok as the smell of roasting coffee beans reached my nose.  Then it quickly went to overwhelming as the hubby kept opening and closing the oven door, allowing huge clouds of smoke to billow out.  The oils from the coffee beans produce quite a bit of smoke.  Who knew that the smoke would permeate my home furnishings and remain there for days to come.  

I think I jinxed the weather here.

I brought out our patio furniture a couple weeks ago and enjoyed one glorious weekend out of them and now it's payback. We've had blizzard warnings all weekend long and we've been dumped with a bunch of snow. I can't even see my lounge chairs in my yard as they are covered under a pile of snow. Merry Christmas!

So when your handed lemons oranges, make lemon-aid an orange mochacinno!

I love orange and chocolate together and I enjoyed this drink right down to the last drop. I have to admit, I also licked the sides of the glass to get every last bit of chocolatey-orange foam too. That's how much I liked this :)

...

orange mochacinno
serves 2

2 cups (500 mL) cold milk
2 oz. (60 grams) chocolate of your choice, chopped
4 oz (120 mL) fresh espresso
2 oranges, quartered
dash ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp grated orange peel

Froth milk and add chocolate. Blend until combined.

Pour espresso into 2 mugs. Squeeze juice from 2 orange quarters into the mug. Stir in dash of cinnamon.

Pour hot chocolate froth into espresso mixture. Garnish with more cinnamon and grated orange peel.

Adapted from: Orange-Kissed Mochaccino, Cappucino Cocktails Specialty Coffee Recipes and 'A-Whole-Latte' More!

It's pretty sad when you are too busy to even do simple fun stuff, like update your own blog!

This tends to happen, way too often actually. I wish I was better at putting myself first. Or at least balancing things in my life, especially when it gets super busy, so to include a little bit of me time. It always feels so very selfish to put my needs first. Why is it so easy for some folks to do that?

One thing that I do do for myself, is let my morning coffee be "me time". I usually love to read the morning paper or stuff on the internet while sipping coffee. I tend to tell the kids to "leave mommy alone" and usually no one is calling my house wanting things at that time so it works out. Usually.

We drink drip coffee around here on the weekdays. A few months ago we bought a little cappuccino machine and now we enjoy an occasional cappuccino or mocha latte on the weekends.

Feels fancy. Just upped the quality of my "me time" I guess. hehe.



Well, that was the end of that. Back to work!

...

mocha latte

shot of espresso
1 cup of frothed milk
2 -3 tsp of cocoa powder

I'm assuming you have an espresso machine

Prepare a shot of espresso. Add hot cocoa mix of your choice.

Froth up a cup of milk and add it to the espresso/chocolate mix.

Enjoy!