Hurricanes, Beer, and Soup Oh My!

Well as I type this the East Coast is prepping for Hurricane Irene. She's a category 3 that has since dropped to a 2 as it hit the Carolinas. By the time it hits me up here in MD they say it'll be down to a category 1 with 80-90 MPH winds. This coming less then a week after the 5.9 earthquake felt down in VA just 70-80 miles away from me in MD. And there's tornado warnings here now too for Sunday. Seems mother nature has decided to leave the West Coast alone for a bit and focus on the East. Lucky us. And since my family and I live right on the Bay we'll get the brunt of it. So it's time to do the normal disaster prep. Pull in outside stuff and fill the tubs with water etc.

Another measure I often take is make some food up ahead of time so there's food to eat if we lose power. Better to cook it now then lose power and lose the food. When Isabel hit us years ago my dad and I spent an entire afternoon after the power went out grilling meat and veggies so we didn't lose them. Was fun actually. Back when we had the 2 blizzards in 2009/2010 though I figured making some soups would be a good idea. Easy to make and filling and they'd keep for a while. Provided they weren't milk or cream based obviously. So I made this big ole pot of veggie soup. Was delicious and about as easy as you can get. Keeps for a long time too.

All you do is take equal parts veggie stock and water and bring to a boil. I prefer lower salt broth myself. Added some spices like garlic, oregano, white pepper, sea salt, some bay leaves, and fresh parsley. Just drop in some veggies and simmer for a few hours until any "harder" ones are tender. I myself add a bunch of fresh kale and spinach, cut up carrots, nice thick sliced onions, cut up leek, fennel, and for a little depth some cut up red bliss potato chunks. Some sort of beans or barley also work quite well. Though you can use whatever you want. Hard to believe that simply veggies with stock & water could be so filling and good but they are.

Now as for the beer part of the title...well what better way to handle a natural disaster then to sit out front, have a cold beer, and shake your fist at the sky or ground. Or maybe that's just me heh. Never said I was a smart one. In all seriousness though part of what got me into the mind set of changing this blog around was an idea I had. A friend of mine Matt is a big movie buff and loves taking pictures and posting them. He does all sorts of Facebook things like "30 days of movies," or "365 days of photos." Well while I love movies I ma not the film buff nor the critic he is. I am however a diehard craftbrew/microbeer lover. So I figured I'd do my own little photo journey into the world of microbrews. I'll showcase the good, the bad, and the downright oddball beers I come across. If you want to follow the photo journey, and maybe find a new favorite beer to drink, just follow my photo album on Facebook. If you're not already a friend send me a request and just mention your love of beer lol.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150762449415075.720413.649535074&type=1

Psycho's Pub Re-Launch

I figured as your life changes so should what you write about. I mean what you post/tell people is a reflection upon yourself right? So I decided if I wanted more positivity in my life I should focus on that and not the bad stuff that angers me or makes me want to slap someone. There's enough of that out there without me adding to it. Besides, who wants to hear me rant about stupid people anyways? Not like anyone reading this can't just walk outside and see stupid people for themselves. So I figured as I have been trying to change this place should change too.

So what to put on the menu then? Well I had been thinking about turning my blog into a source of random idiocy on my part. Any reading this who know me know that I am quite adept at saying and doing simply ridiculous and funny/stupid things. Figured turn this from a angst ridden blog into one of funny stupidity to get some laughs. I figured though Facebook would do for that. I mean you're not anyone until you have at least 500 friends there right? So what then to write about? What should I pour out onto these digital pages? Then I looked up at the title of my own blog and I felt rather dumb for taking so long to consider it. I named this place Psycho's Pub originally. You eat and drink at a pub. I love food and drink and cook myself and have worked for many places in the restaurant industry. Rather obvious isn't it? Turn it into a culinary blog. Seems there's more and more of them out there now a days as well. I figured though for my friends and family who always hear about the dishes I cook, the new beers and wines I try, and all the other culinary related topics in my life I could put them down here and share them. I even gave the place a spiffy new name to lighten the mood.

So welcome to re-launch of my pub where there will now be actual food discussion. I figure I'll mention new recipes I try. Any new styles of food or gadgets I may come across. New restaurants I try or new beers or wines I might try. Heck maybe even just some pictures of Tuesday night dinner perhaps. If it's food related though it'll wind up here. Feel free to use any recipes or ideas I might stumble upon and mention here. If it's successful though please give me credit......if it kills anyone or puts them into a coma I was never here. o_O So sit back and enjoy. Maybe you might even get inspired yourself to try something new, or even heaven forbid learn a thing or two. Anything knowledge gained from here though is by sheer accident though lol.