Category: Beverages

Spooky Drinking: Pumpkin Beers 2013

I went to QFC tonight to pick up some pumpkin beer, and there was only one kind on the shelf. One. Normally I”m not overly concerned with Christmas decorations coming out before Halloween, but how am I supposed to celebrate the spooky season with no pumpkin beer? EDIT: I raided the local QFC a week…

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Kitchen Library 2013.06.11: Welcome to Seattle!

During my first week here, my friends took me out to some of their favorite brewpubs (and some new ones) and for once in my life, I’m grateful for the jet lag, since it’s the perfect “excuse” to drink all the coffee. Came to the right city for that! Six Arms/McMenamins I missed you, cheese!…

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Homemade Sakura “Latte” (Sakura Steamer)

    Nothing heralds spring like seasonal menu changes! Starbucks’ sakura latte (henceforth not italicized) is much like the pumpkin spice latte in the US: people line up for it and it sells out long before sakura season is over. Or, in Kanazawa and the rest of northern Japan, before it even starts. This year,…

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The Blanton’s Cake (Apple Bourbon Bundt Cake)

If you haven’t noticed yet, I like mental gymnastics. You’ve seen my critical analyses and a handful of translations here on the blog, but I also really enjoy sudoku, detectives/detective stories, and, apparently, creating nerdy/geeky/fandom birthday cakes that require research and some level of technical difficulty. After “The Great Game” cake, I needed a fix. Badly. How…

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I Did Not Order My Beer with a Side of Sexism

  While I’ve regrettably come to expect national-brand beers to perpetuate the stereotype of beer as a man’s drink and insult women in the process, what about craft beers? Caroline Wallace of  Bitch Beer recently discussed this in her article “How to alienate female beer drinkers in one easy step.” Bitch Beer is a Austin, Texas-based beer blog written by a…

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Kitchen Library – What I Read on New Year’s Break

I caught up on a lot of reading over the holidays, so I’m going to do a separate post on what I cooked and ate. In this edition of Kitchen Library: cupcakes in Tokyo, craft brewing designations, a review of one of Kirin’s “low-malt” drinks, cherpumple, and more!

What I Ate: Chicago

I haven’t had a fever in so long that I’ve forgotten what it’s like to feel like my brain is leaking out of my ears. While I’m holed up on the couch with obscene amounts of tea and a Sherlock marathon, I thought you all might like to see a handful of food photos of…

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Kitchen Library– 10.29.2012

Thanks to Jessica Goodfellow of Axis of Abraxis and Ashley of Surviving in Japan for featuring my kabocha purée recipe on their sites!

Halloween Taste-Testing: Starbucks Japan Autumn Menu 2012

Starbucks Crunchy Caramel Latte and Pumpkin Muffin One thing I love about living in Japan is trying the seasonal sweets and drinks in cafes, conbini, and grocery stores. “Seasonal food” is partially the function of the availability of the harvest, such as a café’s changing the menu from summer blueberry cake to fall fig tarts…

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