another photo update

well once again I don't have a whole lot of interesting stories about school lately, mostly because I have been less than excited about some of the things we have made lately.  IPP has pretty much been that way all semester, but even RPD has got me down lately.  On Halloween, all we did was watch Chef demonstrate some different plate designs.  And then this week we did a "find whatever you can in the freezer and make a dessert" exercise, my least favorite.  I understand that this a good thing to learn if you are going to work somewhere where that could be a possibility, but I am so sick of going to school and not making anything.  However, I think things could be on the upswing because next week we get to design our own desserts and make whatever we want, and then after that our practicals start.  I realize exams probably aren't all that exciting for most people, and to be honest I am super nervous and dreading it a little, but mostly I am just so excited to plan my dessert.  Ok, I already have it planned, but I'm keeping it secret just in case it doesn't turn out how I hope...

So, here are some quick photo updates of what I have been up to lately...

Three weeks ago in RPD - this one was actually kinda fun.  As a class we brainstormed ideas and came up with a trio of seasonal drink inspired desserts - L to R - Mulled wine granite with orange biscotti, Apple crisp with apple cider foam (didn't make this picture apparently), and Egg nog panna cotta



Close - up of my group's contribution - egg nog panna cotta with gingersnap crumbles, caramel sauce, and cinnamon-nutmeg tuile

Plated dessert in IPP - flourless chocolate cake with peanut butter ice cream and peanut brittle shard.  Although not very challenging cake to make and the ice cream was already made, this was freaking delicious.

One of our scramble exercises - pumpkin mousse shooter with white chocolate mousse, gingersnap crumbles (yes, left over from egg nog panna cotta above...), and spicy pecans



Another scramble - lemon curd shooter with white chocolate mousse, graham cracker crust, and blackberry sauce

Last week in IPP - raspberry mascarpone mousse napoleon with golden sponge cake soaked in Chambord syrup

An adventure at home - I am still determined to be a caramel expert one day, so I'm not giving up.  These were spiced pumpkin and maple caramels.  And they were delicious.  Despite being an unintended pile of goo.  I actually made these twice, trying to get it right.  The first was absolute goo, not even cuttable or wrappable.  SO I tried again, cooking them to 15 degrees higher than the recipe called for.  Still way too soft, but we at least squeezed them into some wrappers.  ("We" being me and my super helpful hubby) 

My dessert from RPD's scramble this week - fudge cake topped with mocha-mascarpone mousse (YUM), blood orange reduction, coffee marshmallows rolled in hazelnuts, and a chocolate fudge cookie twig

Oh, and this one is just so you can end this whiny read with a laugh - we often hit up the local Chipotle after class anyways, and on Halloween they were offering a $2 burrito to anybody who showed up in costume - so me and a couple friends whipped out the eyeliner and went as "French chefs"  :D

Thanks for reading, even though I know I sound grumpy!  Don't worry, I am still super excited about everything in general, just frustrated with the last few weeks of class. 

photo update

well I don't have any good stories or updates this week, but here is a quick catch-up of what I have been up to, through photos.



Cranberry Lemon Financier with Lemon-Sage Sabayon, Mascarpone Sherbet, Cranberry Sauce, and Tuile Crescent - from my RPD class two weeks ago

Spicy Pecan and Caramel Mango Pie - Spicy Pecan Shortbread, Fresh Mangos, Cream Cheese Mousse, Caramel Gelee, Pie Crust Cage, and Pecan Twig - from my RPD class last week

 

Petite Pots de Creme au Chocolate (left) and Mocha Pots de Creme (right), both with Kahlua whipped cream and and raspberry sauce - from my IPP class last week

 

the fall-inspired cake I made yesterday for Trev's work meeting today - spiced pumpkin cake with salted caramel mousse filling and caramel cream cheese icing

my first tortoise cake

this past weekend, I made a cake for a customer that was challenging, nervewracking, and exciting all at the same time.  When she first called several weeks ago to ask me to make the cake, I was very apprehensive.  I had never worked with fondant, and I had never carved a cake into a shape.  And beyond not having the skills, it wasn't really the type of work that I really want to do long-term.

However, I'm still in a place where I just feel like I don't have the option to turn down any business or new customers.  I wrote her a long email explaining my lack of experience, but told her I would give it a try if she still wanted.  Despite all of my disclaimers, she still decided to go for it.  Then I started getting excited, because it was an opportunity to do something new, and truth be told, she is exactly the kind of customer I need while I am starting out - willing to trust me even though she has absolutely no reason to, and willing to give me a chance even though I'm so green.  Ok, I know part of the appeal is that I still haven't gotten past my "I'm just starting out" pricing structure, but I am raising the prices a little more each order and getting closer to some realistic numbers.  I'm just still struggling with that part and being bold enough and confident enough in my work.  I know I'll get there, I'm just taking my time. 

Luckily I had plenty of time to do some research on a few different techniques and come up with my plan of attack.  Here's what she wanted - two small cakes that look like tortoises.  And not just any tortoises, HER tortoises.  A South American Redfoot and a South African Sulcata, to be exact.  The cake was for her and her boyfriend's first anniversary, and without going into her personal business, she wanted to do something extra special for him because they have been through a LOT in their first year together. 



The reference pictures she sent me - Redfoot on the left, Sulcata on the right

We decided on chocolate cake with peanut butter mousse filling and chocolate buttercream.  Originally I was going to do a chocolate French buttercream because that is my favorite and we all know my aversion to American buttercream, but after doing some of my fondant research, I realized I really needed the sturdiness of the American....sigh.  It was actually pretty good though, still too sweet for me but when all combined, I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Step 1 - six thin layers of cake

Step 2 - Carving

Step 3 - Icing

I ended up using six layers of cake (well, in the middle).  I will say, one of the benefits of carving cake is there are a lot of scraps leftover for taste tests. 

The colors of the tortoises were my biggest challenge by far.  I really struggled trying to get food coloring to make realistic blacks, grays, and browns.  I used gum paste to make the heads, legs, and tails, and I was happier with the coloring on those than in the fondant. 

Finished product

And although I had plenty of constructive criticism for these guys when they were all finished, all in all I was fairly satisfied with the outcome, and pleased with my first attempt at several techniques.  And the only thing that really matters is a happy customer, and she was thrilled and has already promised to call me frequently for more cakes.  I even got to meet the tortoises when I delivered the cake, and they posed for the perfect comparison shot. 



meeting my muses - they dropped their lettuce and came right over to check me out

chocolate covered cherry...again.

well this week in RPD, instead of doing a new dessert, we were challenged to improve upon our fruit bavarian mini-entremet from two weeks ago.  If you remember, I was pretty happy with mine, especially the flavors.  I thought the garnish could be a little better, but overall I didn't really want to change much.  And I wish I hadn't.  The second go-round was much less successful. 


Chocolate-Covered-Cherry Mini-Entremet - Take 2

the original Chocolate-Covered-Cherry Mini-Entremet

First, we replaced the stencilled chocolate biscuit surrounding the outside with a chocolate cage technique I had been wanting to try.  As you can see, my cage only stuck in a few places, which is not the look I was going for.  Second, we added an almond japonaise layer to boost that almond flavor from the amaretto.  This probably would have worked out well, except that we didn't have amaretto to work with this week.  We substituted almond extract in our cherry compote, which wasn't bad except that we also didn't have any fresh cherries left and had to use some from a jar. 

Comparison between our two dessert plans (first on the left, second on the right)

We left our fudge cookie recipe, ganache recipe, and bavarian recipe the same, since we were so happy with the flavors.  However, the cookie came out too thick this time, and the bavarian didn't have nearly as strong of a cherry flavor.  Then for the garnish, we decided to get a little more creative.   We repeated the chocolate curl technique, a little more successfully this time.  We also added a quenelle of whipped mascarpone and cherry caviar.  The whipped mascarpone was also supposed to be flavored with the missing amaretto, and before I knew what she was doing, my partner substituted almond extract.  Now I am a huge fan of almond extract, but not in its raw state, completely overpowering the lovely mascarpone. 

The cherry caviar was an idea a few classmates and I had seen while eating at fancy restaurants (thank you Orlando Magical Dining Month!), and we wanted to try it out.  The true fruit caviars are a more complicated molecular gastronomy technique (that I still want to learn one day) made with chemicals and equipment I don't have access to...yet.  So a classmate found a great copycat recipe on the internet that only used fruit juice, agar agar, oil, and apple juice.  I practiced it at home with some leftover mango smoothie just to make sure it would work when I got to school.  Actually, my home test turned out better than it did at school.  It doesn't have the pop of the other caviars, but it was a good substitute, and it worked great as a garnish.

Mango caviar (still floating in the oil)

The previous week was also a repeat recipe - the deconstructed Gateau St Honore from week 3 that failed miserably.  Nobody's chiboust set at all, so we had to throw it out, along with all of our cream puffs, etc because it wouldn't keep that long.  So we started over and it came out a little better this time.  We did a chocolate pastry cream instead of chiboust, and it set in time to be sprayed in chocolate.  The disc of chocolate pastry cream is on top of puff pastry.  On top of that is some tiny profiteroles (cream puffs) filled with more chocolate pastry cream and then dipped in caramel.  Then there is a pate a choux lattice dusted with powdered sugar and garnished with a spun sugar nest.  Oh, and the sauce in the plate is a basic cream anglaise. 

Gateau St Honore, deconstructed

I was happy with how the presentation of my plate turned out (except that my chocolate spray cracked a lot when I moved the pastry cream to the plate), but I wasn't crazy about the taste or texture.   I'm not a huge anglaise fan (too eggy for me without added flavoring), and there just wasn't much flavor or texture to the dish over all - a lot of creamy, not enough crunch.

So after two frustrating weeks in RPD, I am really hoping that next week goes better.

Speaking of frustrating, IPP is just getting worse.  Last week my group made baked apple galettes.  Now I don't have any personal problem with galettes themselves, but rather the way we made them.  We used premade, frozen puff pastry, premade frangipane from week 1, premade cinnamon sugar, and then we peeled and sliced some apples.  Sure, we assembled and baked the tarts, but we didn't actually cook or make anything in my book.  The galettes turned out fine, but I don't need to go to school to learn how to cut circles out of premade dough and slice apples.  It all just felt like a waste of time.  I feel like there are sooo many techniques out there that I still want to learn, and we are very quickly running out of time to learn them all.  After all, there is only a matter of weeks left in this semester, and next semester my only lab class is Confectionary Arts!  I guess what I'm trying to say is that I just don't feel like I am learning what I need to be learning in this class.  I know I said I'd give the new teacher a chance, but come on...it's week 6. 

Baked Apple Galettes

And this week in IPP wasn't any better.  We were challenged to make one plated dessert (three portions) and three petit-fours (four of each), all from whatever extra components we could find in the coolers & freezers.  Again, it's not that it was that miserable to do, but I didn't. learn. anything.  I know how to raid the fridge and piece together a haphazard, unplanned dessert.  Although I wasn't mad at our final products:

Our plated dessert - chocolate cake, raspberry bavarian, chocolate mousse, cherry ganache, cherry sauce - the only thing we actually made during class for this was the raspberry mousse

Our petit fours (l to r):  chocolate macaroons with mocha pastry cream and pistachio ganache; baklava with lavendar honey ganache and a chocolate covered hazelnut; rustic lemon curd tartlets - the only thing we actually made during class on this whole platter was the lemon curd

Ok, enough ranting and raving.   I am going to go put on my optimistic pants and try to convince myself it can only get better from here!  Plus I have a very exciting but very challenging cake order that is due tomorrow....wish me luck, I'll let you know how that one goes!

chocolate covered cherry

Remember last semester in Contemporary Cakes when we were assigned flavors or themes as inspirations and challenged to plan our own cakes?  That was one of my favorite parts of that class, and so I was really excited when we did basically the same thing this week in RPD.  Actually, it was very similar, except multiple mini versions.  I was assigned passionfruit, which I was a little bummed about because last semester I got passionfruit & coconut.  But then another group at my table had cherry as their flavor and they were not excited about it either.  So I offered to trade and I am so glad I did. 

The first thought that came to my mind was this chocolate-covered cherry cookie that my mom makes at Christmas time.  It is basically a dense chocolate cookie with a maraschino cherry placed on top in the middle and then covered with a rich fudge sauce.  I didn't want to use maraschino cherries because fresh cherries are just so much better and I have access to much better ingredients at school - all of our frozen fruit purees are really great and I wish I could have a freezer full of them at home.  But I definitely wanted to go with the chocolate covered cherry theme.  Oh, and my partner was absent so I got to plan the dessert all by myself (a little too excited about this part.  I know it's a flaw I need to work on, but it is really hard for me to compromise when I have a vision for how I want something to turn out).

There were some parameters I had to stick to;  there was a required chocolate curl garnish, and the dessert had to be a mini mousse cake with: 1. a fruit (cherry) bavarian, 2. either a chocolate wrap or a sponge cake wrap around the outside, 3. creative inserts, 4. a crunch factor, and 5. another garnish.
Here's what I came up with: the fudge cookie base from Mom's cookie recipe, a super-dark chocolate cherry ganache, amaretto-soaked fresh cherries, and a stencilled chocolate biscuit (thin sponge cake) for the surround.  Oh, and of course the cherry bavarian. 

And here is the finished product:

And of course a shot of the layers once we cut into it - not quite as precise as I would have liked, but it's a little harder on a miniature scale....

I was very happy with the outcome, and the flavors were awesome.  The only thing that didn't stand out was the amaretto - it just got a little overwhelmed by all the cherry and chocolate.  But I can live with that.

In IPP, we have been making petit fours.  Last week was petit fours sec, or dry.  Most people think of petit fours as the cute little bite-sized decorated cakes I made in Cookies last spring, but it turns out that is just one kind.  Anything one-or-two-bite-sized is considered a petit-four.  And cookies are considered dry petit fours.  I was still a little disappointed and frustrated after this class.  I mean, we are way past using the creaming method to make cut-out cookies.  Although I must admit the Speculos ones were yummy in all their cinnamon-sugary goodness.  And the gingerbread was tasty too, it just needs something else to be a little more exciting - it needs to be a component of a petit four, not one all by itself.  In my opinion, at least.



Speculos - supposed to be star-shaped but all we had was a heart-shaped cutter....

Soft gingerbread petit fours

This brings me to a quick reflection - I have been realizing over the last few weeks that  my goals may have changed since I started this journey.  Originally, my vision for myself was baker, baker, baker.  I kept emphasizing that I didn't want to be considered a pastry chef - that I was just going to culinary school to learn the basic skills I felt I needed to open a successful business.  I wanted to make pies, cakes, muffins, etc - no fancy-pants, elaborate plated desserts.  Now, those are my favorite things to make both at school and at home.  I don't know if I could be happy with just making muffins and cakes forever.  So maybe my vision for my business is starting to change too - in fact, I was more than a little inspired by one of the places we ate breakfast in Chicago, and I have a new concept brewing in my mind - more on that later, when I have it more figured out.    (Also, quick flashback to this time last year - remember how nervous I was to go to Ingredients class and make muffins? Now I keep thinking, give me something harder!  Challenge me! This stuff is too simple!  It still amazes me how far I have come in a year!)


Ok, back to the yummy stuff - IPP got a little better this week.  Each group made a macaroon and then another petit-four.  My group made hazelnut macaroons with a hazelnut-coffee buttercream filling.  Then we also made "Praline Crunch" petit fours - a soft sponge cake with a hazelnut buttercream, a little chopped cherry, and Romia Discs - cooked brown sugar, butter, and almonds baked in a mold to make adorable, shiny little discs.  Can you tell the discs were my favorite part of this one?  I think this is the first new technique I have learned in this class, and it is definitely something I would use again - except I would bake it a little longer because they were supposed to get nice and crunchy and ours were still chewy (we tend to run out of time very quickly in this class....).

hazelnut macaroons

"Praline Crunch" Petit Fours

 

Alrighty, last but not least, I have been doing a little experimentation at home, too.  Trevor and I have been together for over six years now (and married for almost one! eek!), and I just found out while we were in Chicago that he likes caramel corn.  He has always been anti-popcorn, and I guess I just assumed this went for caramel corn too.  But I was wrong!  So I was pretty excited, because I always see different caramel corn ideas and recipes floating around Pinterest, etc.   So I decided to put my own twist on it for his meeting this week - Butter Toffee Popcorn.  I made the same toffee I made a few weeks ago for the choco chip-pecan-toffee cookies because I loved it so much.  And then I just coated some microwave popcorn in it right when it came off the stove (of course I chose the popcorn with the least butter and salt).  This is sooo quick and easy and great for fall, so let me know if you want this recipe! 

Salted Butter Toffee Popcorn

Speaking of fall, all of the fall recipes I keep seeing everywhere are starting to torture me.  Fall is one of my favorite food seasons, but it just doesn't feel like fall here.  And it won't for a while.  But I tried to get in the spirit last week and used some of my toffee-corn to make a quick plated dessert at home (the week I missed in RPD was apple-themed, so I'm counting eating this as school work).  I made some skillet cinnamon apples and then topped them with some dulce de leche Haagen-Dazs, some toffee corn, and some white chocolate shavings.  Yum! 




Skillet cinnamon apples with dulce de leche ice cream and butter toffee popcorn

 

Alright everybody, I think that's all for this week....thanks for reading!

won't you please come to Chicago - part 2

annnd we're back.  Where did I leave off?  Breakfast on Thursday...ok.  So after breakfast we did a little more sightseeing and then started our Wicker Park food and beer tour.  There were a lot of places we wanted to try in this neighborhood, so we braved the L again and headed that way. 

Wild Boar Meatballs

Our first stop was Revolution Brewing.  I really liked the decor and atmosphere of this place, the only bummer was that it was pretty empty, I just hope it gets busier later in the day...  The beer (full list below of all the beers we tried) and food were also great.  I tried a few of their in-house brews and Trev had another local beer.  Then we shared the wild boar meatballs - with polenta, cilantro-pumpkin seed pesto, arugula, and maple-chipotle glaze.  Yum! 

 

Revolution Brewing

The second stop was Big Star.  This one was not on the original list, but a school friend sent me a facebook message at the perfect moment right when we got to Wicker Park and it was about two blocks away, so we definitely had to check it out.  They were out of the Chicago beer I ordered, so I settled for a Zombie Dust from Munster, IN.  I figured that was close enough to be considered "local" as compared to Florida.  Turns out they are famous for their bourbon and whiskey collection, but neither one of us drinks the stuff.  We did try some of the tacos and they were might tasty.  I had the taco al pastor - marinated, spit-roasted pork shoulder with grilled pineapple, grilled onion, and cilantro - and Trevor had the tacos de pollo - marinated, roasted chicken thigh with green cabbage, chipotle, crema, queso fresco, and pickled red onion. 

 

 

Taco al Pastor in the front, Tacos de Pollo in the back

 

The third stop was Piece Brewery & Pizzeria.  I went with the sampler option again to taste as many beers as possible, and we shared a mini thin crust pepperoni pizza.  We had already tried deep dish on Tuesday, so we figured we had to give the other side a chance too.  It was delicious.  It reminded me of the thin crust pizza at Todaro's or Peppino's in Clemson, which is something I have just not been able to find yet in Kissimmee. 

Thin Crust at Piece

Trev @ Piece Brewery & Pizzeria

By then, we were pretty stuffed full of food and beer, so we decided to skip a sit-down dinner and go straight for dessert.  This was probably my second-most-anticipated stop of the trip, and my favorite by far.  We went to Mindy's Hot Chocolate, a restaurant-but-more-importantly-dessert bar in Wicker Park owned by Chef Mindy Segal, the 2012 James Beard Award winner for outstanding pastry.  Of course I couldn't choose just one dessert, and honestly I probably would have ordered one of everything if I hadn't been so incredibly full by this point. 

Warm Lemon Curd Brioche Bread Pudding with Roasted Nectarines and Kilgus Cream

I had the warm lemon curd brioche bread pudding with roasted local nectarines and Kilgus cream.  I am not a huge fan of bread pudding, but we all know how much I love lemon curd, and the server assured me it was one of the best things on the menu.  And I sure am glad he did, because it was amazing.  It had a light, airy texture I have never gotten from a bread pudding before.  In fact, if I hadn't seen the menu, I wouldn't have even guessed it was bread pudding. 

Gooey Chocolate Skillet Souffle with Salted Caramel Ice Cream and Pretzels

Peanut-Caramel-Bourbon Ice Cream

Trevor ordered the gooey, chocolate skillet souffle with salted caramel ice cream and pretzels.  Three of my favorite flavors, and they made this dish really amazing.  Then for good measure, I added on a dish of peanut-caramel-bourbon ice cream for us to share.  We could barely walk back to the train station.  Oh and I forgot to mention I got two cookies to go - a kumquat and blackberry kolache and a blueberry and lemon kolache - and saved them to eat in the car on the way to Indiana the next day.  AND they gave me a menu to take to school for extra credit.  I know I'm repeating myself, but this was my favorite restaurant we went to all week.  I highly recommend it if you find yourself in the area. 

The cookie display at Mindy's Hot Chocolate - I got the two on the bottom right

Friday morning we packed up and headed to South Bend, but not before chowing down on some cinnamon rolls from Ann Sather we had picked up the day before.  This was another "Best Thing I Ever Ate" recommendation, so we took a trolley out to Boystown (an adventure in and of itself) and got a few to go.  The best part - they give you an extra side of icing without even having to ask for it.  For anybody that has ever gone out to eat with me, you know I am a dipper and sauce lover.  I am constantly asking for an extra side of the sauce that came on my sandwich or a side of wing sauce to dip my fries in.  Heck, I even have a stash of Taco Bell fire sauce in my fridge for dipping emergencies.  So I was pretty excited to have an entire container of extra icing to dip my cinnamon rolls in. 



Cinnamon rolls at Ann Sather

We had a few minutes to kill before our trolley picked us up, so we wandered into a secondhand bookstore and I am so glad we did.  They had so many amazing things to look at, but I was able to settle on three vintage cookbooks to take home with me.  Mr. Boston's Spirited Dessert Guide (a first edition, no less), The Souffle Cookbook, and Homemade Bread - all for about $15.  Score!

I'm not going to go into too much detail about the food we ate in South Bend and Elkhart (where our hotel was) because frankly there just isn't the same level of gourmet available as in the big city.  But there were a few highlights - gator balls at a bar in South Bend - chicken breast wedges stuffed with cheese and jalapenos and wrapped in bacon.  Pretty tasty once I stopped burning myself on the molten cheese inside. 

"Gator Balls"

And then, the best part of Elkhart, Indiana - the best breadsticks in the nation.  Especially when you've been craving them for years and they have closed all of the locations within a three-state radius.  Now some of you may be appalled that I would even dare to put Fazoli's breadsticks on the same list as a James Beard award-winning pastry chef, but I don't care.  Because good is good, and they are GOOD.  I ate about seven breadsticks, and about three bites of my ziti.

ohhh yeah

Last but not least, we stumbled upon yet another chocolate shop in downtown South Bend - perfect timing to reward myself for surviving the College Football Hall of Fame.  I had an alpine amaretto meltaway, a dark chocolate cherry meltaway, and of course a chocolate covered salted caramel. 

Oh wait, I almost forgot!  We had to drive back to Chicago on Sunday to drop off our rental car and catch a plane back to FL, but first we had time for lunch, so we headed to Grahamwich - the sandwich shop by Graham Elliot Bowles (one of the judges on MasterChef).  It was good, but I was a little underwhelmed.  Don't get me wrong, the sandwiches were delicious, but I wouldn't have known it was a famous chef's restaurant if I hadn't picked it for that reason.  I had the grilled cheese - Wisconsin cheddar, cheese curds, and tomato marmalade on Pullman bread - and Trev had the reuben (pretty self explanatory).  We shared some homemade salt and vinegar chips and tried the homemade lemonade.  It was all great, I guess I just expected a little more of a twist on the classics or something to make it a little more exciting and special. 

grahamwich

And now to end on a high note, a list of all 25 beers we tasted on our trip:

Goose Island 312
Goose Island Green Line
Goose Island Marisol (Frontera exclusive)
Rock Bottom White Ale
Rock Bottom Red Ale
Rock Bottom IPA
Rock Bottom Chicago Bold BelJuice Dynamite
Rock Bottom Fjordenpils
Rock Bottom Ginger Wheat
Revolution Rosa Summer Ale
Revolution Oktoberfest
Revolution A Little Crazy (Belgian American Pale Ale)
Metropolitan Krankshaft
Metropolitan FlyWheel Lager
Three Floyd's Zombie Dust (Munster, IN)
Piece - Golden Arm (Light German Ale)
Piece - Worryin Ale (English Style)
Piece - Top Heavy Hefeweizen
Piece - Victoria Pale Ale
Piece - A Lil Strange Belgian Ale
Bell's Two Hearted Ale (Kalamazoo, MI)
Bell's Porter (Kalamazoo, MI)
Upland Helios Pale Ale (Bloomington, IN)
Upland Rad Red Amber Ale (Bloomington, IN)
Barley Island Barfly IPA (Noblesville, IN)



Thank you so much for reading, especially if you made it through both of these long posts!