Category Archives: Beer

Rations, rations, rations. That is what motivates people to cut out eggs and dairy from their cakes. So I have yet another cake to share that was already vegan. Naturally I made some modifications, but let’s start with the history.

Many kids in America has played The Oregon Trail. I have not. But if you haven’t played it, the premise was pretty easy. It was a computer game where you traveled across the United States on the Oregon Trail to get to the west. On the REAL Oregon trail, you probably would of made this cake. Or if you were traveling anywhere really, whether you were a cowboy or relocating. Most everything in this recipe is shelf stable, making it great for most pioneers.

The recipe may look familiar with other cakes- boiled raisin cake, war cake, depression cake, or my favorite milkless eggless butterless cake (thanks wikipedia) What makes this version pretty awesome is that you don’t dirty up too many dishes. Unlike the Wacky Cake, which tries to only use one pan, this one really isn’t mess when mixing the batter. Sure you will have to dirty up another small pot, and something to drain the raisins, but overall it is a pretty easy clean up

Now I could of just made the recipe line by line, but I thought this could use some jazzing up. First I stuck with raisins, but you can easily swap out any other dried fruit. The recipe even suggests it. Just chop up any large fruit, and just follow the recipe. 

But I thought I would use a little booze in the recipe. I thought and thought about what kind- and finally settled on a gose beer (pronounced go-suh). A Gose is a sour beer originating in Germany. It is spiced with coriander, and is known to be salty. It gets it’s name since it originally was brewed in the town Goslar. The style almost disappeared in obscurity, but it has recently become really popular since the rise of sour beers.

Can’t find a gose beer? Any sour beer will work just fine. If you don’t know a lot about beer, just ask someone who is working at the liquor store or look for any bottle with sour, lambic, or wild ale. If you choose just a sour beer (or any type of sour juice) remember to add a pinch of salt, gose beers are naturally salty.

I used Sixpoint Jammer. It is a gose that is vegan and American, so I like that. I was lucky enough to buy the can individually from Total Wines and More, but you can also see if you can order it online. But remember, this isn’t the ONLY vegan gose out there. There are tons, and it might even be from the country you live in.

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I was told that there is now a Lil' Bub app available for the iPhone...so guess what I have now!?

I was told that there is now a Lil’ Bub app available for the iPhone…so guess what I have now!?

A few weeks ago my friends Keith and Jenine along with Ian and I went on a little day trip. I’ve recently gotten a new phone with a much better camera and couldn’t wait to start taking some photos to share on the blog.

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We started our trip by going to one of my new favorite breakfast spots called Meemom’s in Wall, NJ. I had originally stumbled upon the restaurant on instagram only to soon find out it’s only about a 15 minute drive from Keith and Jenine’s house. They are well known for their copious french toast options, but they have a very diverse menu and even offer options on the healthier side. I’ve been there a second time now since we went this weekend, and I can definitely say that I’ll be going back again, but maybe to try some of their other delicious dishes. They do offer a few vegan options (you could grab the Grandma’s Oatmeal, Fruitini, and Fresh Fruit Salsa from the snack cabinet part of the menu. You could also get a side of spuds, toast, or fresh fruit. Salads would include Mom’s Salad, Portobello, and Bleu-Berry sans cheese.), non of which are french toast options but I saw plenty of vegetarian friendly meals on the menu.

This was Ian's breakfast for the morning. I actually have no recollection as to what he got, but dang did it look beautiful.

This was Ian’s breakfast for the morning. I actually have no recollection as to what he got, but dang did it look beautiful.

This "Churro" french toast was divine and is definitely my favorite item that I've tried so far.

This “Churro” french toast was divine and is definitely my favorite item that I’ve tried so far.

*Disclaimer: I've actually been back since we've gone, I just had to bring my sister to this place and I had the "Campfire" french toast. It's S'mores flavored. I loved it.

*Disclaimer: I’ve actually been back since we’ve gone, I just had to bring my sister to this place and I had the “Campfire” french toast. It’s S’mores flavored. I loved it.

After Meemom’s we drove towards our first destination. The original plan for the day had been to visit a bunch of trails spread throughout northern New Jersey and hike to see the waterfalls on each of them. We started with Tillman Ravine which is a part of Stokes State Forest. I had visited Stokes when I was in the 6th grade, it was traditionally a trip that the 6th graders took every year, but I haven’t been back since. The weather was hot, but not too humid, so as far as I was concerned it was perfect hiking weather. Being underneath the shade of the trees and near the flowing water made everything a bit cooler and comfortable.

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Later on we got a bit off course after we noticed we were a bit short on time to get to the next waterfall and trail. We were passing through a small town and Jenine happened to notice it was Millbrook Village, which she’d mentioned she has always wanted to visit. Millbrook is a historic, small town that had been abandoned in the 50’s. There was supposed to be something built in it’s place, but that never went through and now a little bit of history is left behind so people can visit and appreciate if they’re in the area. It’s always interesting to see what things used to look like and imagine the people living there.

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My favorite part of visiting old abandoned places or historical buildings is all of the tools that have been recovered. Especially when they are set up like the tools in one of their barns on the property.

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We stopped at a vintage-type “drive-in” diner called The Chatterbox for lunch. I wanted to take pictures because it was really cute and retro inside, and reminded me of something that Amanda and Katie would be all about, but It was just such a big space and the idea of a bunch of people staring at me with my iPhone taking pictures was the last thing I wanted when I was hungry. Chatterbox was apparently featured on the Food Network for one of their staple sandwiches (definitely not vegan or vegetarian friendly), but I opted for their veggie burger instead. It was pretty good, but the milkshake that Keith and I split was definitely what made the meal.

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Once lunch was finished we stopped at Angry Erik’s Brewing in Lafayette Township. The brewery has only been around for about a year and it resides in a small building off a main drag in town. For being smaller and newer, I enjoyed every single one of the beers we tried.

img_5948The atmosphere inside was relaxed and very welcoming. We have been to a few breweries now as a group, and I know Jen and her husband have been to a few as well, and sometimes it feels a bit overwhelming just to get through the brewery tour (which is mandatory in New Jersey) depending on the size of the company. I would actually hope that Angry Erik’s gets to have a bigger space because that’ll mean they’re doing really well, but I would happily make a journey out that way to have more beer from them. I highly recommend it!


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Flying Fish Brewing Company

900 Kennedy Blvd, Somerdale, NJ 08083
Tours and Tasting Room (Fri-Sun)
Distributed In: AZ, CA, DC, DE, FL, GA, MA, NC, NJ, NV, PA, SC, VA
Vegan Filtering System (note some beers have non-vegan ingredients)
website | facebook | twitter | lewis garcia’s facebook

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I’ve posted about Flying Fish before but it was early on when I kind-of didn’t know what I was doing. Well, I guess I still don’t know what I am doing with this blog, but hey, whatever. I originally went because the Flying Fish Brewery opened up very close to my sister’s house, I mean really close. We could probably walk there, though it would be an icky walk. 

Flying Fish is a small local brewery, which is continually growing. It isn’t too widely available outside of New Jersey and the surrounding states. They have wide distribution through the company Total Wine and More, so some west coasters can grab a six pack!

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There are two major reasons why I love Flying Fish. One is the Jersey pride, some of which are very personal. The brewery is near my sister’s house in Vorhees. The owner called Haddonfield (almost my town, I’m right next to it by a couple blocks) hypocritical with their dry town rules. But also their beers are named after exits in New Jersey. You may of heard the joke that people from New Jersey ask which exit they are off of from the New Jersey Turnpike and it is fairly true. The exit series beers tend to pay homage to certain areas in New Jersey, “Exit 1″ has oysters, “Exit 3” has blueberries, etc.

And in case you are wondering…. exit 4 is probably closest to where we live, though we never take it because we try and save money by staying OFF the turnpike. “Exit 4” is the American Trippel in honor of the exit being near the brewery, one of the first craft breweries in South Jersey. But we actually get off normally on exit 7A, on 195 and then connect to 295 but there isn’t any exit 7 brews… yet.

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The other reason why I love Flying Fish is how it is set up. Currently they are offering tours every hour, but due to laws they have a short movie going over how they brew beer. The video is set up on a wall in the main hall so that if you miss a tour you can still do a sampling after watching it (and thus, getting your beer faster.) I can complain about this law, it really is pointless, especially if you like going to lots of breweries and know most of the brewing process, but I’ll leave it at that. Once you watch the video you can get beer. 

You can get a flight to keep with the tradition of trying a little bit of everything when visiting a brewery (pictured above). They let you pick whichever beers you want, and it only costs $6. But the way they set the place up, it is pretty much just a beer shop. They will fill growlers and half-kegs, which are ideal for parties or large get togethers.  I know my sister visits often to fill up growlers when the family gets together. 

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If you want to take it easy you can grab a glass for $4.50. They’ve pretty much designed the place to be like a cheap bar, which I am pretty cool with. The inside is spacious, doors are wide open, and there is even seating outside. When we came there was a food truck parked in front of the place, and it seems like this is a common thing. There are a few other breweries that have adopted this type of “bar” setting of bring your own food such as Village Idiot and Cape May Brewery (which Alexa has been to and really enjoyed!) and I love the idea.

Other cool things about this place? Well, they are pretty sustainable. They have lots of information about everything they do on their website. But some of their features include a rain garden, solar paneling, and using their spent barley as cattle feed. I love it when companies make sure they talk about how they are helping the environment.

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Their most recent addition to the brewery? Lewis Garcia. This little guy has been wondering the brewery, mostly looking for food like every dog that ever existed. He is so cute and seems more happy with the workers of the brewery than the visitors. So don’t get too miffed if he isn’t in love with you when you visit. Sometimes you would see him waiting for workers to come out of the factory to greet them, pictured above. He is also has a facebook account, if you want to see what he has been up to.

One word of caution, don’t take his photo. I snapped a few photos and Lewis started to bark at me, so I clearly stopped. Clearly he doesn’t like the paparazzi… or the sound the shutter. I stopped taking his photo under his requests, but if you NEED to take a picture (just look at that precious face!) I recommend taking his photo with a phone with the sound turned off.

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Alexa’s Favorite:
Exit 3: Blueberry Braggot | Lewis Garcia

Jennifer’s Favorites:
Grand Cru | Hopfish IPA

List of Non-Vegan Brews:
Exit 1 (oysters) | Exit 3 (honey) | Exit 8 (honey)


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Labor Day has come and gone, which means that Summer is making a swift exit. With the last “real” summer weekend going by, we all decided to go on a day trip down to Cape May to see the beach and the Brewery.

The night before we left my friends Jon, his brother Matt, Keith, Mr. Ian and I all went down to the Stone Pony in Asbury Park to see The Gay Blades play! I haven’t seen them in quite some time and they really put on a great show. I was first introduced to this band by my boyfriend and long-time-companda Mr. Ian. They are a local rock/alternative group (but on their facebook page they describe themselves as “Genre Trash pop”…I’ll take it) that reside in Brooklyn, NY. Their first two albums are excellent if you’re into that genre of music, and their concerts are like one giant party so I’d also recommend seeing them live if you ever get a chance!

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Here’s one of their most recent music videos off of their second album.

The next morning Keith, his wife Jenine, Mr. Ian and I got up nice and early to drive down to Cape May. I had been to Cape May a bunch of times when I was younger, my family would go with all the kids and make it into a fun day trip or a nice long weekend. It is a really pretty beach town with a lot to offer, and since it had been a while since any of us had gone it was all very new and fresh. We also decided that it would be a really nice wrap up to summer to hit the beach and be kind-of “shore tourists” for a day. Our first stop was a little restaurant called George’s Place. We stopped there on a whim and came to realize that they had an AMAZING breakfast menu (not too sure if it was very vegan friendly, but I remember it being veggie friendly). Whenever I get the chance to go out to eat for breakfast I always tend to lean toward the sweeter side of the menu — which lead to one of the most delicious waffles I think I have ever had.

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I feel terrible … I have fallen so far behind in my posting! Yikes!! Most of this is probably because I had my wisdom teeth removed a few weeks ago and I have been on the mend (slowly but surely), I have also been trying to get a bunch of freelance work finished and sent off, so that has taken up a bit of time as well. But, while I am here today I might as well make a lil’ outfit post ;).  For Memorial Day Mr. Ian and I both had the fortune to have the day off from work! So what better idea then to go pay a visit to Jenny and Jon!? It was a nice and easy drive down, and we got to catch up a bunch. We got to organize the prints/clothing that are now for sale on our shop, discuss some upcoming blog posts and illustrations, and MOST IMPORTANTLY … eat food and drink beer!  Continue reading


Mr. Ian was being very clever by taking this photo at an angle! ("Off-centered ales")

Mr. Ian was being very clever by taking this photo at an angle! (“Off-centered ales”)

Dress:  via Modcloth | Cardigan: Old Navy | Shoes: Rampage | Headband: Flair

This post is coming out a tad bit late – but better late than never…eh?

On the weekend of April 25th a bunch of my friends and I took a weekend-long trip down to Rehoboth, Delaware to visit the Dogfish Head Brewery! Dogfish Head is actually in Milton, Delaware…but the house we rented was in Rehoboth. It was a weekend-long birthday celebration for my friend Keith (seen below), he’s an old man now.

 It was a great time!

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