Everyone wins with beer and ice cream!

I recently had a friend visit Portland. A week after returning home she called me up and begged me to find a way to get Salt & Straw ice cream sent to her. Portland is ahead of the game in a number of culinary creations but we have really outdone ourselves with ice cream.

Portland's Salt & Straw was an instant hit! The first time I drove past one of their two shops there was a line half way around the block... and it was raining! I knew I had to try this place. The next weekend I grabbed a friend and waited in line for 40 minutes. And every single minute was worth it. I found flavors you won't find anywhere else in town, made with local ingredients.

Unique Sweets does a pretty good job of summing up what Salt& Straw is about,

"Adding flavors you would not expect in your ice cream but once you taste it you want it there."

Adding to their already eclectic flavors Salt & Straw has announced their sixpack of beer flavored ice cream. A few posts back I mentioned Portland's love of beer, so of course beer flavored ice cream comes as no surprise to me. 
Six ice creams will each feature a Portland local brewery - 
Breakside Brewery

Gigantic Brewing Company

Hair of the Dog Brewing Company

Logsdon Organic Farmhouse Ales

The Commons Brewery

Widmer Brothers Brewing (A little disappointed to see Widmer on the list as they don't have that local feel anymore. There are plenty of other breweries deserving of this spot.)

The article goes more in-depth behind the flavors. I'm excited for this to hit the shelves this June. And for those of you not from Portland, they will be available for shipping nationwide. What a great Father's Day gift!

Buon Appetito!

Cooking for please? Yes, please.
Cooking out of obligation? No, thank you.

I truly love cooking when I have the freedom to whip up whatever I want, whenever I want. As soon as I have to rush home after an 8 hr shift and get dinner on the table all love is out the window. 

I used to work at a little Italian restaurant. While I don't miss working there one bit, I truly miss the cooking. This weekend I got nostalgic and pulled my  pizza crafting skills out of the closet.

INGREDIENTS:

Fresh dough
Marinara/pizza paste
Pesto
Pineapple
Canadian Bacon
Mozzarella
Olives
Fresh tomatoes  

Cooking for myself, I would have gone a different route on toppings. Cooking for others, I aim to please.

I'm happy to know that my pizza crafting skills haven't faded away yet. Although I am still wondering where all of my other Italian cooking skills have gone. Oh, how I miss carbonara and chicken marsala. I guess it's true when they say cooking is a skill - if you don't use it, you'll lose it. Hopefully some day I'll have the time to take a walk through the grocery store and rekindle my relationship with Italian cuisine.

Cook at 450 degrees for 20 minutes, have a glass of wine while you wait, and you are done!

The best part about pizza is that there are very few pots and pans to scrub... everyone's favorite part of cooking.

Let me know below if anyone has any suggestions on dishes I could make to get back into cooking. Bonus points for gluten-free items.