Sunday Funday

I have really been enjoying the micro-brew scene in the San Diego area lately. This enjoyment has been spread across the board, anything from drinking local brews at home, visiting bars/restaurants that carry craft beers, and going to distribution hubs and on-site breweries.

I knew that San Diego had some local breweries, but it has only been within the last year that I have come to realize just how big the scene really is. The expanse of this culture has been brought to my attention not only by friends who are beer nerds, but also by local events and more recently by the 91X morning show and the Union-Tribune blog Brewery Rowe.

Every Thursday the 91X morning crew has a segment called Beer for Breakfast (note: the 91X morning show has since been cancelled). Each week a local brewer stops by the studio and for about 20 minutes the hosts drink the beer that was brought in and the brewer talks about what goes into the making of said beer and a little about the brewery it comes from. I have learned through this show that San Diego brewers don’t mess around. This is no Bud Light being brought into the 91X show. San Diego brewers are known for their robust, hoppy, high-percentage alcohol. Where beers such as Bud Light boarder on 4-5% alcohol content, San Diego beers typically reach into the 8% and higher categories.

One such local place is Stone Brewing in Escondido. Being a central San Diego gal myself, making the trek north to Stone is quite out of the way, but well worth it. Stone did a fantastic job of transforming their brewery into a destination location that caters not only to those who want to tour the facilities, but also to those who want to take the time to really sit and enjoy the beer offered over an extended period of time. No matter what your intentions are at Stone, they can be accomplished as a date, in a friendly group or as a family gathering.

Attractions at Stone include a gift shop, the brewery tour, a restaurant, an outdoor bar and a garden/picnic area. Stone is beautifully designed and inviting. In 2007 it even won The People’s Orchid, a local architecture award, for its “open and airy interior and the seamless indoor/outdoor connection via floor to ceiling glass doors. The element that drew the most attention of voters was the huge outdoor patio and garden animated by waterfalls and fire pits. Stone Brewing World is a destination very much in tune with Southern California living.”

But enough background information and on to the meat and potatoes of this blog: A Sunday Funday trip to Stone Brewery.

The other weekend a friend and I headed north to Stone. It was a very nice day in San Diego and the weather got even warmer as we headed north to Escondido. We opted to sit at a table in the outside bar area, because the surrounding garden area at Stone is so inviting and because of the sunshine.

We didn’t end up doing the tour on this trip. It’s recommended to get there early if you want to get a spot in one of the daily tours. Tickets are limited and very popular.

First thing was first, attack the massive beer list. I started with Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale, while my friend went with the Stone Ruination Ale. To curb the appetite for a while I got a side salad. I have to say that the only negative to our trip was the service. It took more than 20 minutes for my side salad to come out. It’s a good thing I had a tasty beverage in hand to hold me over.

Since we were in this visit for the long haul (it takes too long to drive up there to just get one beer and leave), we brought some games for us to play and amused ourselves with quite a few rounds of Phase 10 and Rook.

We also took the time for some more good food. We had the Wild Boar Baby Back Ribs, which were fall-off-the-bone tender and doused in an excellent Stone Red Imperial Ale Five Chili Agave glaze. Of course there were a few more beers thrown in. I had a Stone sampler, which was a small taste of their 4 most popular brews: Pale Ale, Smoked Porter, IPA and Arrogant Bastard Ale.

To finish off the night – for those of you who know me, you knew this was coming – we had some bacon. In this case, bacon came in the form of dessert. To be more specific we got the Stone Imperial Russian Stout Chocolate Bacon Torte. For someone who LOVES bacon, this was enjoyable, but I have to say the bacon may have been a little extreme. The cake was a bit dry for my liking, but it didn’t stop us from eating the majority of the concoction.

Five-hours later and despite the poor service (although it turned out our busboy was more helpful than our server) and the overly bacony dessert we had an overall great trip to Stone Brewery. On our next trip we hope to make it in time to go on one of the brew tours.

Art what?

Over the weekend I went down to Little Italy with my friend Amanda to the 26th annual ArtWalk. I've been living in San Diego for nearly 10 years now and this is an event I hear about every year, but one that I've never been to. Amanda had never been either, so it was the blind leading the blind.

We made our way downtown on Saturday just after the event started on the first day. The weather couldn't have been better. The sun was shining and there was a nice breeze to keep it cool. People were out in full force at this event. It was tough to squeeze into some of the smaller booths to even be able to see the art.

As stated in the title of the event there was some art. In fact, one of my former co-workers Dani Dodge was one of the featured artists this year and she had some great watercolor pieces of New York. But most importantly, there were food street vendors. Yes, please.

Amanda and I scanned the corners where the vendors were and settled on a particularly smoky stand that was selling tri tip sandwiches. The line was long, the sandwiches looked good, and we picked up a free sample of eau de campfire while waiting.

The $7 sandwich did not disappoint. I was a bit worried about the bun it was served on; it looked tough. In actuality, the bun was amazing. It was thick, but soft, like it had just been baked. The tri tip was melt in your mouth tender and to top it off, there was a great bbq sauce with just the right amount of kick to it. Amanda and I both gave the sandwich two thumbs up.

Due to the warmish weather, we couldn't leave Little Italy without a stop at Yogurtland. Plus, Amanda had never been, so I felt it was my duty to introduce her. I think every body else at the ArtWalk had the same idea -- I'd never seen so many people in a Yogurtland. Worth the wait? Of course!

Food flash mob

I'm now caught up on all four episodes of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Since the first episode, Jamie is continuing his program at the elementary school with a bit more success. He's still meeting resistance from the lunch cooks (who don't like to be called lunch ladies. Adam Sandler would be disappointed.) who say cooking from scratch is too much work, even if the food is fresh and tastes good.

Jamie also started a program at one of the local high schools. Not only is he cooking lunch meals, where students are given multiple lunch options, as opposed to the elementary school that only gets one, but he also gathered a few students who were interested in spreading the word and helping him with his project. Each of the kids involved has a personal connection to obesity or just really wants to help see their community make a change.

The best part of the fourth episode came when Jamie made a bet with the local deejay Rod Willis who is very opposed to the project. Rod told Jamie that he doesn't think people will want to come to the kitchen Jamie set up for free cooking lessons. As a response, Jamie said if he could get 1,000 people to come through the kitchen in 5 days time, the deejay would finally have to start backing Jamie's project (and buy him a beer, of course).

A thousand people in 5 days is a lot. So, along with going on a variety of TV and radio programs to help promote Jamie's Kitchen, Jamie set up a flash mob at local Marshall University. A flash mob is where a group of people collaboratively do something out of the ordinary in an ordinary setting. In this case, in the middle of campus among unsuspecting people gathering and walking around the center of campus, the flash mob busted out a choreographed dance making stir-fry. It was awesome.



During the week Jamie then set up a cook-a-thon where he had people out in the streets cooking stir-fry. He visited local factories where he taught workers how to cook in the middle of work.

"One person cannot change 50,000 people in the town of Huntington." - Rod Willis.

When Jamie came about 200 people shy of his goal, he turned to Rod Willis to help him reach his goal. To try to convince Rod to help, Jamie took him to a local funeral parlor. It was crazy. You never really think about what happens to obese people when they die. This segment was a real eye opener. With the increase in obesity, casket makers have had to expand their business to create, essentially, double-wide caskets. The morticians at the funeral home said because of their size, morbidly obese people cannot be cremated and to carry the casket, it has to go on a flatbed truck. That's for sure not the way I want to exit this world. "It ain't about cooking lettuce, the Food Revolution is about saving lives." Jamie said to Rod after leaving.

Jamie's plan worked. During the last day, Rod showed up to Jamie's Kitchen to help reach 1,000 people cooking. Rod finally broke down and said, "I've come to realize that it's not about Jamie Oliver any more, it's about us as a community."

If you haven't checked out the show, you can catch up with old episodes on Hulu.com or tune in at 9pm on Fridays on ABC.

Food Revolution

While I do write quite a bit about such unhealthy foods as burgers, hot dogs, fair food and of course bacon, when it comes to my normal everyday eating habits, my choices tend to be fairly healthy. In fact, my lunch today consisted of rotisserie chicken, broccoli, a slice of whole grain bread and a glass of nonfat milk.

As with much in life if you are frugal and smart about your spending habits, you are able to indulge in larger items from time to time -- a new pair of shoes, a piece of furniture for your house or maybe even a vacation. It's the same for food. If you maintain a relatively healthy eating pattern for most of the week, you should be able to indulge in the delicious, not-so-healthy food from time to time.

I'm a little slow on the uptake, but today I watched the first episode of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolutions, which runs at 9pm, Friday nights on ABC. After the first few minutes I was totally hooked. The premise of the show is that British chef Jamie Oliver goes to Huntington, West Virginia, called the most unhealthy city in America, with the goal of showing people that it doesn't cost any more, nor take more effort, for people to eat more healthy.

In the first episode, Jaime goes into an elementary school to observe what the children are eating and how the workers are preparing. His visit, however, came after stopping by a local radio station to talk about his goals for this experiment. The disc jockey was very against the whole idea. "We don't want to sit around and eat lettuce all day. You come to town and you say you're going to change our menus and stuff. I just don't think you should just come in here and tell us what to do. I mean who made you the king?" said DJ Rod Willis.

It's funny to me that this guy's view of eating healthy is to sit around eating lettuce. I don't think it would be much of a revolution to come into a town and tell everyone that all they're allowed to eat is salad. That's absurd.

Following that radio station visit Jamie shows up at the school. The scene was disturbing. Children were eating their morning meal of pizza. Seriously, pizza for breakfast provided by school officials? I don't think I learned about pizza for breakfast until I woke up from a late night study session in college and there was nothing else available as I ran out of my room to get to class. The school scenes only got worse. Chicken nuggets, frozen this and that, and a whole load of foods with countless added preservatives. Another thing that alarmed me was the amount of food the kids throw away.

Aside from the elementary school, Jamie visited a local family. Everyone in the family -- mom, two boys and one daughter -- were obese. The father was a trucker and wasn't seen in this episode. The 12-year-old son looked older than the 16-year-old son. Jamie took the family's receipts from the past week then took all of the food the family had purchased, prepared it and displayed it on the kitchen table in one big heap. It was disgusting to look at.

Jamie told the mom that by serving her children that food, she was shaving years off her children's lives. She broke down and said, "I'm killing my children." No arguments from Jamie. Everything on the table was processed, fried and full of fat. There were no fruits and the only vegetable was potatoes. As a symbol of moving forward, Jamie and the family buried the fryer in the backyard.

During the whole show Jamie was met with resistance (other than the family, who seemed to realize there was a problem and were willing to work toward making a change). There was an extremely negative article written in the town paper, resistance came from the kitchen workers, principal and other administrators, and of course, when given the choice between pizza or freshly made chicken, even the kids resisted the idea of healthier food in their lives.

I am very curious to see where this experiment leads. I hope Jamie's work can help plant the seed of change for a more healthy America.