Punky Brewster

Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world.

                                                                        Kaiser Wilhelm

On March 8, people across the world celebrated International Women’s Day.  IWD was started in the early 1900’s as part of the suffrage movement, and has turned into a day of appreciation, camaraderie, and respect for woman everywhere.  It’s also a great day of service, with different charitable events, all supporting women-centric programs.  One of these events is the International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day, put on by the Pink Boots Society, a group dedicated to promoting women in beer professions.  The Pink Boots Society gives a guideline for creating a craft beer, and breweries across the world use these guidelines to create their own unique brew.  And the best part, all the brewing is done by women.

 

I got to attend one of these events and got the fun job of being a Brewster for a day.  (In case you didn’t know, a Brewster is a female brewer.)  As much as I love beer, it was my first time actually being a part of the commercial brewing process.  And it was awesome.  It was a long day, but I got to learn so much, meet some awesome ladies, and drink beer.  How can you beat that?

Alan, our lady for the day!

Our event was held at Daytona Beach Brewing Company.  They are usually closed on Sundays, so we had the place to ourselves.  After a fortifying breakfast of Krispy Kreme donuts and coffee, (breakfast of champions), we headed back to the brewhouse.  There we were introduced to Alan, the brewmaster and honorary lady for the day. 

 

Alan was a great instructor, explaining the different steps of the brewing process as we completed them.  Our brew, the Unite Red Ale, was required to use Williamette hops, and needed to be a red, hoppy ale.  Alan then created a recipe around these guidelines.  Each brewery could add their own twist to this outline, so we got to add some Florida wildflower honey fresh from a local apiary. 

Making the Wort

There are multiple steps when brewing a beer, but basically you start with the malt, boil it up until it kind of looks like a big bowl of oatmeal, add some more boiling water, strain off all that sugary water goodness into another boiler, boil that up, add the hops and other tasty goodies, (like honey), and then cool it down, add some yeast, and let it sit for a while.  Of course, that’s highly simplified, and the process takes several hours, many of them spent watching water boil.  But it’s pretty amazing that a little bit of chemistry can turn some basic ingredients into something so delicious. 

Sparging.  What a great word.

Of course, the truly best part of the day was meeting the amazing group of ladies that I got to work with.  (Even better than beer and that’s saying something.)  As much as the craft beer movement has ballooned in the last several years, I still find it to be a boy’s club.  Beyond my close friends, I am often the only female at the bar that appreciates and is knowledgeable about craft beer.  (Not that it doesn’t have its perks.  I’ve gotten quite a few tasty free beers because I am the only girl drinking beer with the boys.)  But to be surrounded by a group of funny, kind, down to earth women who are not only knowledgeable, but downright passionate, about beer was something I won’t easily forget. 

I was honored to be included in this event, and I look forward to more events with the Pink Boots Society and Girl Meets Beer.  As for our beer, the Florida Wildflower Unite Red Ale, it’s not quite ready.  A couple of transfers and a little bit of dry hopping are needed to finish its adventure.  But sometime in April we will be tapping the kegs and I will get to enjoy the fruits of my (and everyone else’s) labor, and raising money for some local women’s charities.  Not too bad for a days work.

Thanks to everyone for a great day!

 

Check out the Pink Boots Society and the good work they are doing at http://pinkbootssociety.org/

Daytona Beach Brewing Company is located at 482 Fentress Blvd, Unit N, Daytona Beach, Florida.

Follow Girl Meets Beer on Facebook or Twitter @girlmeetsbeer1


As always, stay hip, kids!

Y Control

So, we all have those songs.  You know, that song that brings you back to a particular time and place.  That song that makes you remember, often through hazy, beer goggle vision, a moment that, whether it was epic or not, will always feel epic to you.  This is about one of those songs.

My dear friend Painting Mama had moved from the Sunshine State to the Windy City.  It was rough.  I was going through a divorce and the inevitable fallout from that and was kind of needy.  I was scared that I wasn't going to have her as part of my life once she moved away.  I'm sure most people have felt this way at some point in a friendship.  So, I let her go, albeit with a heavy heart.

A few months later,  Painting Mama and I were steady using up our unlimited text messages and facebooking like fiends.  It was great, but I missed seeing her face and getting drunk together and just talking, like you do with someone that doesn't judge you, even though they know all your dirty secrets.  So, I started to plan a trip to visit.  When I told her I was planning, she was just as excited as me.  I think there might have been way too many exclamation points used at that time. 

She was just as ready for a visit as I was.  She and her family had moved to Chicago because of her husband's job, and she was feeling isolated and lonely without her friends and family around.  We both needed this vacation.  And since they hadn't lived in Chicago very long, we both thought of it as our first trip to the city. 

Chicago as seen from Whiskey Sky bar at the W Hotel

 Painting Mama had gotten us a great hotel in Streeterville, right by the river.  (She has a gift when it comes to booking hotel rooms.  Honest to God.)  It was a Saturday night and we had plans.  The evening started with a meal at The Publican, which I had chosen, and turned out to be my most favorite restaurant in the world.  But that's for another blog post.  Then we were in the mood to drink. 

We asked our bartenders where we should head next and they directed us to a cool music venue in Ukraine village.  Unfortunately, it was pretty full, but the bouncer directed us to a dive bar down the street.  A true dive bar, it was pretty empty, (it was early still), but we made friends with the bartender, (a grandma type Ukrainian lady), who loved us and kept giving us Barenjager shots.  After a bit there, we decided to head to a dance club.

Now, Painting Mama and I have a great history of dancing.  There's a bar in Orlando, I Bar, that we have been dancing at for years.  Our favorite night to dance was Sunday, which was 80's New Wave.  Painting Mama is a huge Depeche Mode fan, and we are always on the hunt for a bar with the same feel as I Bar.
 
We had heard about a bar that might fill our requirements, i.e. dive bar, New Wave music,  a bit sketchy, and lots of different people having fun.  We ended up at Neo, a Chicago landmark.  It was a dark building at the end of an unlit gravel alleyway.  Definitely sketchy.  We walked in and discovered a bar that you would not want to see during the day.  Loud and dark and sticky.  The perfect combination for a dive bar.  We had gotten there early, for club standards, so we grabbed a beer and a shot and found a seat on the side of the dance floor. 

We noticed something pretty quickly.  The music seemed to be a bit more industrial than New Wave.  And the crowd seemed to be a bit more industrial too.  Hardcore punks and skinheads seemed to be the main demographic of the crowd.  It was a little intimidating at first, just feeling like we stood out in the crowd.  But we were quick to discover that just like us, nobody really cared what we looked like. 


Ready for a night out.

Even though the music was not what we were expecting, it was still danceable and we were ready to dance.  The great thing about dancing at a club, especially an alternative club, is that nobody cares how you dance, as long as you are dancing.  In that respect, Neo felt exactly like home.  Dancing ensued, as well as copious drinking.  Through the evening, we danced and laughed and talked to strangers and drank and smiled.  We never felt unsafe, or unwelcome in the slightest.

By the end of the night, (which was 5 am), the crowd had thinned out and we were starting to slow down.  I, being a bit tipsy, decided to request a song from the DJ.  I had been listening to a lot of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the time and requested "Heads Will Roll", figuring the DJ probably had no Yeah Yeah Yeahs considering the soundtrack of the evening thus far.  He didn't have it, but he told me he'd see what he could do.  As he announced the last song of the night, I figured we were out of luck for a song and started getting ready to head out.  Suddenly, "Y Control", an earlier release of the band came on and I jumped for joy. (Literally, I'm pretty sure I jumped up and down.) 

We hit the dance floor, a second wind giving us ridiculous energy for two girls that had been at it for 12 hours.  Hopping around and smiling, I looked around and realized that everyone in the club was dancing as well.  A roomful of serious punk kids were just as animated as we were.  Maybe it was the booze or the exhaustion, but it felt like a perfect moment.  At the end of the song, I hugged Painting Mama, the girl next to us dancing, and the DJ.  (Maybe it was the booze.)

It was one of those moments that seems surreal.  A lovely mix of time, place, location, company, and experience.  It, and the associated memories, have stayed with me for 5 years.  And every time I hear "Y Control", I remember that trip and all it entailed.  Not just that night, but the next day sitting next to the river, the cute bartender at the Publican, the view from the 33rd floor of the W Hotel, the millions of miles we probably walked because we could never decide where to stop and eat, the time spent just chilling on her couch with her husband and son, watching Netflix and drinking Jack Daniels.  All of those memories hit me every time.  And I also think about my gorgeous friend, and how much I love her and how blessed I am to have her in my life.  We have had many adventures since then, but I will never forget that moment in time.  Or that song.

Check out the video for "Y Control".  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcjPFAV1foU


Check out Painting Mama's artwork on the iPhone app Vango  Artist Sherry Streeter.


Until next time, kids, stay hip and make some memories!

Bourbon Legacy

Sometimes I forget how much I really love my profession.  It can get overwhelming, dealing with people everyday.  Long hours are hard on the body and unhappy people are hard on the soul.  But then there are those experiences that make it all worth it.  A sincere compliment, a profitable day, a moment of shared laughter.  A few months ago, I had an experience that reminded me why I have chosen the bar life all these years.

I recently joined the United States Bartenders Guild, an organization of professional bartenders and those in the beverage world.  It's a great group of really talented, really passionate people in our industry. As a member of USBG, I get invited to attend tastings, meet and greets, and other educational events.  The most recent of these was a luncheon/bourbon tasting with a legend.

 

Jimmy Russell is a kindly Southern gentleman that reminds you of your grandfather.  A day before his 80th birthday, I got to have lunch with him, drink his bourbon, and listen to him talk about his passion, mainly, Wild Turkey bourbon.  Mr. Jimmy has been distilling Wild Turkey for 60 years, and, along with his son, is a member of the Kentucky Bourbon Hall of Fame.  Betcha didn't know that existed, did you?

We all settled in to a private dining room at the Capital Grille.  As I looked around, I was disappointed that other than the distributor rep, I was the only female.  That was my only disappointment, however.  Introductions were made, lunch orders were taken, and then we got down to the tasting portion of our lunch.

Before we got to taste the bourbon, Mr. Jimmy explained the best way to taste the various samples.  When tasting bourbon, you want to use your senses of sight, smell, and taste.  Before the actual tasting, take a look at the color.  Put it up against the light.  The colors of bourbon can vary from a light straw gold, to a dark amber, and everything in between.  The color of the bourbon indicates how long the bourbon was in the barrel.  Taking a few seconds to appreciate those rich jewel tones makes the experience that much better.  Next is the smell.  Each bourbon smells a little different.  Notes of pepper, fruits, vanilla, oak, all of these can be represented.

Finally, the best part, tasting.  As with the smell, you can get so many flavors, depending on the age of the bourbon.  But that isn't all you want to taste.  The finish is just as important.  Bourbons can finish harsh, smooth, oaky.  It's an all over experience that really makes you think about what it is you're drinking.

Using these guidelines, we were able to try eight different bourbons from the Wild Turkey line.  From Wild Turkey 101, the most common of the line, all the way up to the Diamond Anniversary, which was created to celebrate Mr. Jimmy's 60th anniversary with the company.  Each of the tastings had a completely different character, but I have to say that my favorite was Rare Breed, which, despite its 108.2 proof, was easy to drink.  It's also Mr. Jimmy's favorite.

All in all, it was a great afternoon.  Mr. Russell was sweet and very educational.  He discussed each of the different bourbons, told us the history of the distillery and his role in it, and answered all of our questions.  (His favorite non-alcoholic beverage?  Unsweet tea.  You're welcome.)  I was honored to be able to spend time with a legend, that being one of his final trips.  And before I left, I even got a hug and a kiss from the legend.  Not too bad for a Tuesday afternoon in December.

(I apologize for the lack of pictures, I blame it on being a bit starstruck.)

Thanks for reading, hip cats!  I'll be posting again soon, but in the meantime, stay hip and drink some bourbon! 

International House of Fun

Friends, food, and booze.  These are a few of my favorite things.  (See what I did there?)  That being said, I have been attending a monthly dinner that combines all three of these things, along with new people, new foods, kitchen adventures, and lots of love.  It doesn't really have a name, (although the facebook group is called "Yo Mama So...") but why do you need a name for something so organic and cool?

These dinners started out as an idea that was bounced around for a while.  I had gotten the notion from a friend, whose group would have a themed dinner once a month.  I mentioned this in a random convo with my doppelganger.  And that was it.  We brought the idea up occasionally, but never really went anywhere with it.  Until we did.  The new year finally saw us get motivated.  DG offered her house for the first dinner, which was the first Monday of January. That first dinner was delicious.  The cuisine we chose was Middle Eastern.  So many yummy things.  And the core group showed up.  There were 9 or 10 of us that night.  And it was wonderful. 

Good start, right?

 

 Since that night, we have only grown.  We have had group members come and go, although the core seven of us are still going strong.  Each month, we vote on the following months theme.  We have had Indian, German, Greek, Finger Foods, Southern/Soul, Bacon (yes, bacon), and most recently, French.  Each month, we take on the theme as a personal challenge to our culinary skills.  I have personally taken on such delights as whole pork belly, boiled peanut hummus, tart rustica, and spanakopita.  Other amazing dishes made by my amazing friends include slow roasted goat, Cornish game hens, bbq pulled pork, baked brie, bacon pancakes, and bacon cupcakes with maple buttercream icing.  And let's not forget the booze.



Tart Rustica with caramelized onions, heirloom
tomatoes, and goat cheese.

This group are big beer fans.  But we also love a great craft cocktail.  Metro Leprechaun took it upon herself to focus more on the alcohol side of things, (mostly because I don't think she wanted to cook!).  Some of the countries we have sampled have a great beer tradition, (think Germany), while others not so much.  This is where cocktails have come in.  Peach Bourbon sweet tea for Southern night, Bourbon manhattans with a salt pork shrub on Bacon night, and Lavender French 75s on French night.  And our classiest was good German beer, (Bitburger, Spaten), chased by shots of Jaegermeister. 

But it's not just about the food or booze.  It's about the friends.  Hanging out once a month in someone's kitchen.  Jokes, insults, hugs, commiserations, inappropriate behavior, and lots of love.  I truly love spending time with these people.  They are genuine, nonjudgmental, and funny as hell.  We laugh, we cry, we nurse each other's wounds, literally. (I spent Bacon night with my foot propped up on a chair with an ice pack on it.  I discovered two days later that I had severely sprained it and had to be on crutches for a week.) 

The infamous Bacon night.  It felt so wrong, but
so right.

  In the end, the food could be cold Dinty Moore and tallboys of PBR and we would still have a blast.  It doesn't always have to be four star, James Beard award winning, celebrity chef produced meals.  Sometimes, it just takes some crazy awesome friends, some dedicated home cooks, a few gallons of booze, and lots of heart to make a mouthwatering, tasty meal.

"If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him... the people who give you their food give you their heart."  Cesar Chavez

Fear in a Small Town

Whew, Hipsters!  It's been a crazy few months and they have sure flown by.  So much has been going on, both good and bad.  I've been super busy with work (currently working two jobs at three different bars for a total of 70+ hours a week) and life stuff.  Made lots of new great friends and lost a dear family friend.  Got to attend my first conference as a blogger and made some great new contacts.  Eaten lots of late night meals and gotten very little sleep.  But these are the everyday ups and downs of life.  The day in, day out of living.  They are all important to the grand scheme of our lives.  But last night, something happened that was so insane, so unbelievable, as to stop time for a few hours.

It started out as an ordinary Monday night.  I had gotten out of work at the bar that I work at down the street from my cottage.  Had a few cocktails, then had dinner with my parents at the local Mexican restaurant.  (Carnitas were delicious.)  Headed home and decided to get to bed early.  I had just laid down and was obsessively checking my Twitter feed (I now have almost 100 followers!)  when the pup and I heard what I thought was thunder.  But something in the sound made my stomach flip flop a little.  Then I heard it again.  And again.  And again.  It started to become a constant booming noise, louder than the fourth of July fireworks that were shot off just down the street from my house.

I immediately called my mom, since she lives 1 1/2 miles down the road, to find out if she was hearing the same booming.  She answered the phone with a question.  "What is that?  Can you hear it too?"  I could hear her yelling to my dad to run outside.  "The sky is all lit up!  What's going on?"  I jumped out of bed and threw on the first clothes that I could find (which happened to be the shortest shorts I own and a jet ski tshirt) and ran outside, barefoot and headed towards the lake.  As soon as I got to the edge of my driveway, I could see where all the explosions were coming from. 

Across the lake from me, only about 2 miles as the crow flies, was a giant fire blazing, at least a hundred feet in the air.  I think I had some panic in my voice and it had risen up a few octaves as I was describing the scene to my mom.  I was trying to figure out exactly where it was, when my phone beeped with another call.  My dear friend, and former roommate was calling because he could hear the booming and thought it was right at my house.  Then the craziness began.  We all started calling everyone we could, pushing our phones to their limit.  And people started showing up in their cars, following the sounds towards the lake.  Lots of people.  Car after car driving down Main Street, trying to discover the source of the disturbing booms and the orange sky.  Then I called my grandmother.

I don't think I will ever forget the panic in her voice.  She told me that the propane plant a half mile from her house had exploded.  She was desperately trying to catch her cats, who of course were hiding because of the ruckus.  I told her to just get in her car and head towards my house, when, with great relief I heard my aunt's voice in the background.  Good, she was not alone.  But I could tell when she put the phone down in her rush to escape, so I hung up the phone and called my mother.  She relayed the info to my dad, who immediately jumped into his truck and took off to try to help his mother.  What followed was a nerve-racking hour of phone calls, rumors passed from one spectator to another, and pure, unadulterated terror.

It took my grandmother and aunt nearly an hour to get the 3 miles around the lake to safety at my aunt's house.  Then the rumors of toxic fumes and possible evacuation, and the possibility of the three 70,000 lb propane tanks blowing led me back into the house, with a very nervous dog and two twitchy cats.  So I got ready, in case I needed to head to mom's or even farther.  Dressed, shoes on, cat carrier and leash ready, and bag and keys by the door.  Watching the propane tanks explode into the air from the tv chopper, then hearing the explosion rattle my windows.  The booms seemed to get louder, and lasted for two more hours.  By 2 am, it seemed that the fire had settled down, and we could all finally get some sleep.

After an unsettled night of tossing and turning, it was time to get a new day started.  Tired, but hopeful, I took care of all of my errands, and headed to work.  Thinking I had my day planned out for me, I was returned to that moment of terror from the night before, when my mom called me as I was finishing my drive to work.  News of a leak in one of the aforementioned giant storage tanks had led to talk of more evacuations on a wider scale.  Trying to keep it together, when all I could worry about was my family, friends, and animals.  I'm so thankful for understanding supervisors and teammates that got me out of work quickly. 

So now I'm home, and the danger seems to be minimized, thanks to the great efforts of the local emergency personnel.  Now I'm trying to decompress from one of the scariest evenings of my life.  I've been through hurricanes, tornados and other disasters, but this one has affected more than any of those.  And I think the biggest reason was because I was alone.  My family was close, but they weren't close enough.  There was that fear that I wouldn't be able to get to them, or them to me.  Being alone, that was terrifying.  And I could understand the panic that overcomes people in times of great upheaval.  It took everything I had to keep myself together.

I'm writing this because I want everyone to know what happened without me having to tell the story over and over.  But I'm also writing this as catharsis.  An act of emotional purging, if you will.  I was scared, and alone, and I didn't like it.  I think maybe we all have these moments in our lives, but we all have the choice as to how we will react. 

To the eight workers who were injured, I wish quick healing and positive vibes to you and your families.  To all my local peeps, I wish peaceful thoughts and deep sleep.  And to everyone, I wish for a life filled with great, fantastic moments with no moments of heartbreak and loneliness. 

Next time, back to the fun stuff.  Stay hip, kids.

Beer vs. Whiskey. Am I dreaming?

Hiya Hipsters!

Hope things have been going well for you.  I've had some ups and downs the last few weeks, but that's life, right?  And honestly, I should probably be a little more emo for a hipster.  But alas, I have survived and am currently thriving.  It's all about the small things that get us through.  And I have had a great week of small, yet awesome things.  One of my favorite things to happen this week happened on Monday night. 

I got to attend an amazing dinner with some amazing peeps on Monday night at an amazing restaurant.  Cask and Larder is a Central Florida gem.  I have had the opportunity to eat there before, so when I heard they were doing a special Beer vs. Whiskey dinner, I knew I had to attend.  But who to invite to this delicious evening?  One of my favorite foodies.  Metro Leprechaun (ML) immediately said yes.  Then she suggested we invite my lookalike, Doppelganger and her man.  Next thing I know, DG's brother, the Mad Irishman and his wife, the Hair Mistress, joined in and it was a party!

Cask and Larder is the sister restaurant of The Ravenous Pig.  It is described as a "southern public house".  To me, that means southern food (my favorite and birthrite) amped up to fantastic levels.  I had previously attended brunch there and I was so excited about the food.  Of course, the booze was pretty exciting, too.

The evening started with passed appetizers of frog legs, headcheese, and smoked oysters, which I am desperate to try at home.  There was also a beer and a whiskey starter.  The beer was a Berliner Roggen Weiss.  All the beers were created by in-house brewmaster Ron Raike, a legend in the Central Florida craft beer scene.  This particular beer was a sour, which is a great, lighter style of beer.  It was a great, easy way to start out the dinner.  We also got to try a Reverend Palmer, which was a refreshing mix of tea infused Gentlemen Jack, lemon juice, and a golden ale. 



A smoked oyster, one of the starters for the evening.
 

The courses that followed were just as awesome.  A beautiful cucumber gazpacho with lobster, a grilled chicken liver spedini, which is a skewer of chicken livers with grilled plums, (honestly, that was my favorite, and I'm not a huge liver fan), pork cheeks with a beet ravioli, (another surprise, as I never would have thought of a beet ravioli, and it was super tasty, and really pretty!), and a peach-cornmeal upside down cake.  Lots of yums and moans coming out of our group with every dish.

But the real stars of the night in my mind was the drinks (of course).  Ron Raike's beers were actually paired after the food and cocktail menus were created, yet they complemented the courses as if they were brewed for each one.  Old Southern Red Wit, (my fave), Trois Mois Saison, a beautiful stout that was aged in a Jack Daniels barrel for 5 months, and an imperial porter for dessert made my beer nerd heart happy.  And the opportunity to talk with the master himself at the end of the evening was the icing on the cake.  In the brewing room, no less! 



Chicken Liver Spedini

And then there were the cocktails.  I'm a girl that loves her whiskey.  I wasn't sure what to expect when I signed up for the dinner.  Not sure if it was going to be straight shots of whiskey, or what.  So I was pleasantly surprised when the whiskies were presented as beautifully prepared cocktails.  Again, each cocktail was matched to the food for that course, starting with the lighter Reverend Palmer, and finishing with a Bourbon Peche, which was a mix of Woodford Double Oak (which I would take a bath in, if someone would let me), Carpano and a peach liqueur.  It was so smooth and sweet that ML poured it over her dessert.  I think she might have licked the plate, but I don't have pictures of that.  Every cocktail was blended using quality ingredients and though provoking combinations.  I was in heaven!

Of course, the best part of the dinner was the group I was with.  They are such a fun, adventurous, often loud, but never boring clan.  And that's truly how they think of you if you are their friend.  It's a clan, a family, and I am so lucky that I'm included in that family.  Jokes, insults, sexual innuendos, and plate-sharing were all a part of the enjoyment of the evening.

 

It was a great night and I'm so happy I insisted that it had to happen.  After the last couple of weeks, I needed a night like this to remind me of the awesomeness that is my life and my friends and family.  I couldn't be who I am, or do what I do without them.  And thanks to Cask and Larder for making such a great night happen.  I am definitely in for the next one!

 

 

Be fairy, fairy quiet...

Hiya, kids! Happy new year! Hope the new year is treating you well. I was just so relieved to get through the holidays. In my little world, it gets pretty crazy. I think it gets that way for everybody, though. So take a big breath, let it out, and remind yourself that you have a few months before you have to see your extended family or do any heavy kitchen work.

And let's talk about those resolutions. We all make them, and that's okay, as long as they are fun and interesting. Of course, we all want to get in shape and save money, but honestly, wouldn't you rather make a promise to eat better chocolate?

So that's what I did. I made a resolution to eat at some great local restaurants that I haven't tried, work on my Cicerone certification (which means drinking great beer), and travel more. So far, I have kept two out of three.

This weekend I got a chance to go on a little trip. Where do people from Florida go on vacation, you ask? Why, Michigan, of course! One of my favorite people in the world, Painting Mama, lives in Ann Arbor, so I took advantage of the slow down at work, an overflow of vacation hours, and a stupid cheap flight, to visit a very cool family and a very hipster town.

So many great things I could say about Ann Arbor, such as great food, fabulous cocktails, and cool boutiques, but my favorite thing were the fairy doors.

Created by a local artist, and installed all over town, these adorable little bits of art appeal to the kid in all of us. I was able to see five of the original doors, and several "copycat" doors. It became a game to try to find doors hidden among the buildings of downtown.

The original doors were designed to mimic the doors of where they are installed. Some of the doors are very simple, while others are more elaborate. One door lead into an entire fairy store, with a set of stairs going down into what one would assume was a fairy basement!

These little bits of architecture serve a great purpose. All the people I saw while on my fairy door hunt were smiling. Happy people, dreaming of fairies. And how wonderful is that?

So, my weekend adventure was wonderful, and full of fairy dust. Hopefully, some hipster fairies hitched a ride home with me and will set up a home here! If that happens, I will certainly let you all know.

For more information on the Ann Arbor fairy doors, check out www.urbanfairies.com. Also, check out the artwork of Painting Mama on www.etsy.com/shop/SherryStreeter. Her paintings will also make you smile.

Also, I apologize for the less than stellar layout this week. My computer decided to die after a valiant, long term illness and I'm blogging on my iPhone. Hopefully I will be able to upgrade here soon. So, until next time kids, stay hip!