I had some leftover beer in my fridge from when my dad was last here and I wanted to use it up. I don’t drink beer, so instead I made Beer Cheese bread! This turned out SO well I can’t wait to have leftover beer again to make it.

Recipe from Allrecipes.com

	Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner; Styling: Cindy Barr, Jan Gautro, Leigh Ann Ross

Basic Beer-Cheese Bread

This savory quick bread pairs well with soup or chili and is ideal for an open house or casual get-together.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
13.5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 3 cups)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 (12-ounce) bottle lager-style beer (such as Budweiser)
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons melted butter, divided

1. Preheat oven to 375°.

2. Heat oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion to pan; cook 10 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Stir in pepper and garlic; cook 1 minute.

3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk; make a well in center of mixture. Add onion mixture, cheese, and beer to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.

4. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5–inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Drizzle 1 tablespoon butter over batter. Bake at 375° for 35 minutes. Drizzle remaining 1 tablespoon butter over batter. Bake an additional 25 minutes or until deep golden brown and a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

I have thankfully recovered fully from my high fever/pounding headache/chills/no appetite virus and am ready to take on the holidays! I’m not sure what it is about this year, but I find myself looking forward to the holidays more than in previous years. This week I will be heading to Illinois this week to sit around the table with family, overeating, listening to  the same stories that are told year after year and doing my holiday shopping. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

3 weeks ago my dog, Ginger, had a bug of some sorts.

2 weeks ago, both my parents got H1N1

Last week my sister came down with something.

I have a temp of 102 and the flu.

Family togetherness……and we live in 3 different States.

Lately I have been dreaming about emails. It has gotten so bad I now can’t tell the difference between real emails and dream emails. I spent 40 minutes yesterday searching for an email I KNOW I had read, but couldn’t find in my inbox.  Finally I called the person and asked them to resend it. They hadn’t ever sent me an email. It was a DREAM email I was searching for.

My apologies if I don’t respond to your email. I promise you, I replied in my dreams.

My favorite moment of the year is that first sip of the first peppermint mocha of the season in the red cup from Starbucks.

Bliss.

I voted in today’s local elections and was saddened by the absolute dismal turnout. At 8am I was the ONLY person in my polling place. I live in NYC….you are never ANYWHERE without a hundred other people.

Vote people! Not everyone everywhere gets to!

There are so many things I want to remember about this trip. The beauty of the city. The cafe where I ordered a capuccino and a croissant de chocolate every morning, not only because it was good, but because it was the easiest to pronounce. The sex toy shop next to my hotel.  Attempting to find the Spanish arc de triumph, but getting lost. Reading Angel’s Game (a book set in Barcelona) while sitting on the hotel roof deck overlooking the city. My mani/pedi at the Hotel Arts. The weird cheese ravioli topped with almonds I had. Being surrounded by a foreign language. Enjoying good Spanish wine.

I had an amazing experience and absolutely can not wait to go back.

Click here for a slideshow of some of the photos from my trip. Let me know what you think!

After over 12 hours of travel and a brief layover in Paris, I arrived in Barcelona. First on the agenda was a nap and a shower to wash off the dirt of NY, Paris and Barcelona. Why does sitting on an airplane and in airports make one feel so gross?

My seatmates on the flight to Paris was a young gay couple who were German I think. Very nice boys, who like me, tried to sleep between the many meals they serve you on these long international flights. The plane was huge, 2 floors and looked pretty full. It was an Air France flight and it was strange to be surrounded by so much French while on my way to Spain.

Today I spent some time wandering. I ordered Capuccino in a nearby cafe, mostly because it was the only word I recognized on the menu. I’ve not been eating much yet, as I didn’t study up on the Spanish names for foods before I left. I found an Italian restaurant I’m going to try for dinner tonight, I recognized a lot on their menu. Later on I will hit the hotel wine bar and try some Spanish wines.

So far, I love this city.

I FINALLY finished reading Anna Karenina! I can officially cross that off my “Bucket List”!

My local drugstore recently put all of the deoderant behind a glass case. Is this really a highly stolen item, and if it is, shouldn’t we just overlook it for the greater good? As someone frequently stuffed in a subway car with a hundred of my fellow neighbors, I say if they want it, let em have it!