Cheaper by the (half) dozen

Ok, let's get one thing straight: I love BC. I'm all about supporting the local goods (including beer) whenever I can. But... sometimes you just happen to be in the United States, staring at a cooler full of delicious craft beers, all of which are $5 or less. And you just go with it. And then you end up with 6 tasty tall bottles in the fridge, straight from Point Roberts, Washington, just begging to be swilled.

Here are some highlights, courtesy of my tongue:

Easy ways to cut down on food waste

I've always felt guilty about throwing out food - and we eat so many vegetables in our house that it ends up being 3/4 of our weekly garbage (living in an apartment means no city food scraps pickup). I'd had a compost for a while, but was still throwing out fruits and veggies every week, much to my frustration. Finally, the kick in the ass I needed to start getting creative came in book form: American Wasteland by food journalist Jonathan Bloom. The stats are shocking (almost 1/2 of all food produced in the US ends up in the landfill), but some of his big- and small-picture ideas on what we can do to change it are pretty inspiring.

Here are some of the simple ways I've been able to cut down on food waste over the last few months:

Central City Cask Festival 2011

There's this funny thing that seems to happen every time I attend a beer festival - as the day wears on, the glasses go down quicker, the friends become more plentiful... and the notes get messier.

wait... what?!

But thankfully, it's hard to forget a particularly delicious brew (no matter how many of them you consume). The Central City Brewing Cask Festival - the first of what I hope will be an annual tradition - saw the craft beer crowd gather at the brewery in Surrey to sample specially-made casks from 25 breweries.

my lovingly-filled tasting glass

The beer started flowing just after 11 am, and flow it did. Nobody seemed to mind that it was June 25 and looked more like Feburary outside - we had beer! So much beer!

Sunday sipping in Steveston

It had been almost 20 years since I'd last visited Steveston, despite living just 30 minutes away for most of those years. We were finally reunited after our two-decade hiatus this weekend - on Sunday, in spite of (or perhaps because of) our car getting broken into the night before, P and I were definitely in the mood for a pint and a bit of an adventure. So, passenger window taped up with a garbage bag (aka ridin' dirty), we headed south-west to check out the beer scene in the riverside Richmond village.

Local spot prawns being sold right off the back of boats in Steveston

Homemade green cleaner

I've always been a bit wary of household cleaners. I bought Comet because my mom had always used Comet, but the smell alone always made me wonder if I was giving myself some kind of chemical-induced asthma. But I kept using it, mostly because there weren't any "green" alternatives on the market yet. Then P moved in with me and brought an industrial-sized box of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers with him (courtesy of his mom). I'd never used them before, and was amazed at how freakin' well they worked. I was seriously impressed by the innocent-looking little pads. At least until when, despite my protests, P decided to use one to clean something off my arm - which quickly resulted in a nice raw chemical burn on my flesh. I decided then and there I'd rather use some elbow grease and plain vinegar if I had to than wipe something that would burn my flesh all over the house.

When my friend Tracey posted an easy recipe on her blog, I had no more excuses.

I tested it out on the bathroom today and it works like a charm. Took about 3 minutes to make, gets rid of the grime and best of all - no chance of chemical burns in the forecast! Sweet. You can get the recipe over on Tracey's blog, Short + Sweet.

Easy miso soup

Soup is my comfort food. Anytime I'm sick, sad, cold or hungover, I reach for a bowl of warm, brothy goodness. One of my favourites is miso soup, especially if I've got a craving for something salty. Since it usually only costs about a buck in Japanese restaurants, I figured it must be cheap and easy to make and decided to give it a try. I've been making it in big batches ever since. So cheap, so easy, so GOOD.

Beer cocktails: the Lotusland

I've always liked beer just fine the way it is, so I was never really enthralled at the idea of adding booze to it. At least until my last birthday, I wasn't.

P took me to Lotusland, an organic winery in Abbotsford, for a tasting. Within an hour, we'd befriended the hilarious woman behind the bar (who also happened to be one of the owners). We mentioned we were more beer nerds than wine connoisseurs, and she responded with: "Well in that case, you gotta try something." She promptly disappeared to her car, and returned with a single bottle of Okanagan Springs Black Lager and a tiny bottle of Van Gogh espresso vodka (what - you don't store your booze in your vehicle?!). She then proceeded to pour us a small glass of heaven - which shall henceforth be known as the Lotusland.