Baking and sleeping and biking and brewing…

Continuing my “thanksgiving posts,” here’s #2: my parents. Throughout my life, they’ve given me everything I need (and most of what I want) and have been the most positive role models I could’ve asked for. I love that I can call them any time, any day, for no reason other than to chat. #3, I’m thankful for my husband, Mark. We started dating during a less than ideal time (we evacuated to Atlanta with friends during Hurricane Katrina), but things have looked up each year we’ve been together. It’s funny. Before we got to know each other, I had no desire to have a boyfriend. I was perfectly content being single for my last year of college, but then Mark came along and I thought, “why not?” We complement each other perfectly, and he’s the only person who would put up with my “crazy” day after day. And, for today, #4: I’m thankful for my job. I complain about it often, but I’m grateful to have steady income and to earn enough to live the kind of lifestyle I want (well, I may not be able to afford those yearly NYC and Europe vacations, but I can’t complain!). I may not have all the luxuries I’d like, but I have a roof over my head, food in the pantry, and enough extra income to enjoy dining out and our mini-vacations.

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As much as I hate the end of DST, I love that extra hour of sleep. I feel so refreshed after sleeping in. It’s unbearably warm (for November) outside, but it’s good weather for a bike ride…and brewing some beer.

Being the awesome wife that I am, I bought Mark a home brew kit for his birthday a few years ago. Today’s brew will be a coffee stout, but below are all of his past brews. From L to R, Irish Red Ale (with a photo of the Crichton Leprechaun…yes, this was really on the news, and yes, it’s horribly racist); Wheat Beer (no witty name, but this batch went into the trash because it didn’t ferment well); Purple Drank (raspberry wheat, similar to Purple Haze, a favorite of ours); Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut Brown Ale; Piebald Pale Ale (that’s Iggy, our piebald dachshund); Hef-eweizen (yep, that’s Hugh Hefner); and, with no label yet, Brewe of Bacchus (a bock similar to this seasonal beer).

Funny story: home-brewing is still technically illegal in Alabama. The legislature was extremely close to passing a bill last year, but time ran out. This year, I think we will become the 49th state (Mississippi would be the 50th) to legalize this hobby. Listen to this recording from 2011 for a good laugh.

Friday I baked these cookies for the Alabama-LSU game.