Please Welcome Jackalope Brewing Company!

Happy Tuesday, Friends! I would like you to give a warm welcome to our newest contributors, Jackalope Brewing Company! These fine ladies are keeping themselves busy down in Nashville getting their new brewery up and running, but have been gracious enough to stop by here every other week to cook up some adult beverage inspiration for you. We love, love, love them, and we just know you will, too.

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Hi You + Me* Readers!  Please allow us to introduce ourselves; we’re Bailey and Robyn, the ladies of Jackalope Brewing Company, a brand spanking new craft brewery in Nashville, Tennessee.  We love You + Me* for all of their helpful hints in gifting, cooking, and general amazingness -- in fact, we’d like to take this space to formally ask Miya and Elisabeth to be the creative directors of our lives.  We could use the help. So now I’m sure you’re wondering: what are you going to bring to the game, Jackalope?  The answer:  Alcohol. Every couple of weeks, we’re going to let you all know about what’s new and exciting in the land of adult beverages, make some suggestions of festive concoctions, or let you know about one of favorite things: food and drink pairings!  Now let’s get this ball rolling!  Thanksgiving is just around the corner, which makes us at Jackalope very excited, mostly because we love stuffing and pie.  We know that a lot of people think of wine when they’re breaking bread with their family, but we’d like to propose another option.

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Beer!  Yes, we’re biased because of the whole owning a brewery thing, but hear us out.  Beer has gotten a bad rap over the years (thanks a lot, Bud Light Lime), but there are more varieties of beer than there are of wine, and so much room for creativity that beer is becoming a real contender for the ultimate beverage to pair with food.  So let us present you with some brew suggestions for your Turkey Day festivities.

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We know that before the Thanksgiving meal comes the Thanksgiving cooking.  If you’re like us, you believe there is some particular magic about having something festive to sip on while in a kitchen full of ingredients.  To get in the holiday mood, we are partial to pumpkin ales (in fact, we’ve brewed Jackalope’s very first pumpkin ale, which debuted this weekend at Robyn’s birthday party), and there are some great ones out there:  Dogfish Head Punkin Ale, Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale, and Elysian Brewing Company’s The Great Pumpkin, to name a few. 

Pumpkin beer is the easy festive answer for a pre-dinner brew, but what to drink during the meal itself?  To make a Thanksgiving feast truly special, try having different beers on hand to go with the different courses. Let’s start with a good rule to live by: dessert first.  Pie can be just as important as turkey on Thanksgiving, and if you’re a pecan type, I would suggest a creamy, toasty, stout such as Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout, Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, or if you really want to go big, Brooklyn Brewery’s Black Chocolate Stout (watch out on this one, at 10% ABV it might make that post-dinner touch-football game a clumsy one). Stick to the sweeter stouts, rather than those with a strong hops profile, as the bitterness could overpower the flavor of the pie, and that would be a very, very big shame. For pumpkin pie, a winter warmer, such as Highland Brewing’s Highland Cold Mountain Winter Ale or the Jubelale from the Deschutes Brewery can bring out the pie’s spicy goodness while making you feel all warm and cozy inside.  

Next up, the main course.  For the traditional stuffed roast turkey, I would go one of two routes.  Either a crisp, refreshing pilsner such as Victory Brewing Company’s Prima Pils, with an effervescence that will enhance the turkey flavors, or a robust brown ale, such as Goose Island’s Naughty Goose, or Dogfish Head’s Indian Brown Ale, which would highlight the heartiness of the meal.

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Now, understanding the importance of stretching your stomach out before the getting to the main event, you may have a cheese and hors d’oeuvres course to get the whole thing started.  While there are enough cheese and beer pairings to literally write an entire book about, if you want to get the celebration off on the right foot, start with a Bière de Champagne (aka Bière Brute).  When this Belgian beer is brewed, it goes through the same finishing method that Champagne does, where the bottle is racked upside down for many weeks, the neck of the bottle is frozen, and the yeast is collected, leaving the brew crystal clear and sparkling.  While Bière de Champagne can be harder to come by than other beers, try Deus (Brut Des Flandres) from Brouwerij Bosteels or Malheur Bière Brut (Brut Reserve) from Brouwerij De Landtsheer. 

So there you have it, Jackalope’s guide to Thanksgiving beer.  These are our suggestions, but this is holiday beer drinking, not calculus, so go ahead and try some of your own experiments.  As a good rule of thumb, you want to match your beer and food flavor strengths so that one doesn’t overpower the other.  The other most important rule – have fun!

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We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and thanks again to You +Me* for giving us a platform to talk endlessly about our favorite drinks!

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Alright, friends, that concludes our little beer lesson from Robyn and Bailey (they're so great, right?); we'll see you right back here tomorrow. Oh, and speaking of Thanksgiving, we would be tickled if you would share what you're grateful for in our first annual Thanksgiving Slideshow! And not to rush you, but time is running out to sign up for our Spread the Cheer gift exchange!

A Sneak Peak and The Giveaway Winner

Happy Monday, Friends! We hope everyone had a lovely weekend! Here are a few photos that Kay English took at our shoot the other week. We put together a 1950's-inspired elopement shoot for her, and when we release the full set of photos, you will not be disappointed!

Photography: Kay English Photography
Fashion & Prop Styling: You + ME* Lifestylists
Florals: Poppies & Posies
Jacket: Starkweather Vintage
Glasses: Vintage 1950's Glasses and Mom & Pop's Vintage Eyewear
Dress: Fancy
Veil: Preston and Olivia
Blue Suitcase: vintageparade@yahoo.com

Congratulations to Jessica of Living the Swell Life! According to random.org, you are the winner of a pile of pom poms. Please email your address to hello[at]youplusmestyling[dot]com and we'll ship them off to you straightaway.

We love visiting with you here, but we think you're going to want to spend some time hanging out over on Holiday this week. Starting today, it will be full of fantastic Thanksgiving ideas (from recipes to gifts for your hosts and traditions you may want to start with your little ones). Check out our favorite recipe resources today.

Queenie Cooks: Roasted Tomato Salad

Hey there, cats and kittens! While Miya and Elisabeth have been tempting you with visions of sugarplums and whatnot, I've been dreaming of summer's long-gone produce, and obsessing in particular over a salad I ate about twice a week in August and September: Frankies Spuntino's tomato and avocado salad.

The Frankies (there are two of them, you see) describe it as "making gazpacho in your mouth," and they're right. Even though there's no avocado in the traditional Spanish soup, the ingredients (tomatoes, avocado, red onion, olive oil, sherry vinegar, sea salt and pepper) somehow combine in each bite to create an experience akin to, yes, gazpacho.

But, obviously, the time for this salad has passed. It would be pointless to make it with an early northeastern winter's listless, anemic tomatoes, even if I could find any at the market. And so, when I was whining to Miya a few weeks back about craving the salad and not knowing what to do about it, she suggested I try creating a version with roasted tomatoes.

Roasting those same plain Jane tomatoes turns them sweet and smoky, you see, the heat lending them character where once there was none. And even though I didn't have any avocado on hand, I decided to put the plan in motion, roasting some plum tomatoes with olive oil, sherry vinegar and slivers of red onion. A shower of flaky sea salt and a few turns of the pepper mill later, I had a plate full of winter-turned-summer.

Unlike most vegetable-based salads, this one is easy to make ahead; just roast the tomatoes up to two days before serving them, place them in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil, and cover everything with plastic wrap. When the time comes, take the tomatoes out of the fridge about 45 minutes before you want to serve the salad. Just before serving, toss the tomatoes with the rest of the ingredients. Boom. Salad. Done.

(This salad is also great as a pasta; just toss the salad with hot pasta and a little extra salt. Boom. Pasta. Done.)

Roasted Tomato Salad

6 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tbs. sherry vinegar
1/3 small red onion, sliced as thin as possible
Sea salt

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Use aluminum foil to line a pan or skillet just large enough to hold the tomatoes in one layer (I used an 8-inch skillet). (A too-large pan may lead to a very smoky roasting process.) Arrange the tomatoes in one layer and drizzle with enough olive oil to lightly coat the tomato halves on all sides. Sprinkle generously with kosher salt and pepper.

Roast the tomatoes for 35-45 minutes, until they are softened and just beginning to char. If you plan to finish the salad later, place the tomatoes in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil, and cover it with plastic wrap. When the time comes, take the tomatoes out of the fridge about 45 minutes before you want to serve the salad, and continue with the recipe.

In a small bowl, whisk together the 1/4 cup of olive oil and the vinegar. Place the tomatoes and onion in a large bowl. Pour the oil and vinegar mixture gently over the tomatoes. Salt generously with sea salt, and sprinkle with a bit of pepper. Toss the salad gently (use a silicon or rubber spatula if you have one).

Transfer the salad to plates and serve with additional sea salt and pepper at the table, because everyone's different.

Serves 2-3, depending on craving levels.

Kicking off our Un-Gift Guide!

Happy Friday, Friends! Put on your party hats and head on over to Holiday today--we are kicking off our Un-Gift Guide, and I put together a little un-gift for Thanksgiving that I hope you'll like. It's easy, it's meaningful, and I've even done some of the hard work for you. And you'll get to see lots of previously-unpublished pictures of me, Emi, and Jordy, for those of you who are curious.

Also, just a gentle reminder: don't forget to sign up for our Spread the Cheer gift exchange!
Have a fantastic weekend, everyone! See you on Monday!

Wednesday Miscellany!

Yay, Wednesday! We hope you ladies and gents are having a happy and productive week! Let's get right to the goodness, shall we?

Kathryn Amberleigh's shoes are ridiculous. As anyone who has seen me dress myself can attest, I am in love with the following things: metallics, navy. These shoes are the perfect combo of both.

New Aussie magazine alert: Have you guys seen Toffee? I haven't had a chance to flip through it yet, but Nancy of Wolf and Willow contributed, and her stuff is a-freaking-dorable. I swoon over her header every single time I go to her blog.

Santo & Dewi Prewedding Film (Say Yes) from Paper Cranes Productions on Vimeo.

I ran across this video while researching some videos for an awesome project we've got in the works with Trent Bailey, and oh my goodness, get a tissue. You can read the full story over on Style Me Pretty, but these kids do these films for a living, and then made their own about their own engagement. I just love when one person in a relationship captures the other person on film--you can just see the affection he has for her. Sniff, sniff.

And also:

essica Hische is a genius. Sure, she's an AMAZING typographer (check her drop caps, where I got this nifty J here) and illustrator, and sure her portfolio is what every other portfolio wishes it could be, but really here's why she's a genius: she gets the freaking internet to send her CAKE! I mean, come ON. It's one thing to be an insanely talented designer, and quite another to use your talent to get the internet to send you cake. People, let it be known: if you want to send us baked goods, we will gladly accept them. 

This wedding over on Brooklyn Bride is killing me.

Have you signed up for our Spread the Cheer gift exchange yet? We've been perusing the sites of folks who are signing up, and let me tell you now so you aren't disappointed later: you are going to want to get in on this. Stat.

And finally, we're giving away a crap ton of pom-poms. In case your life needed to get more fluffy & shiny.

That's all for today, party people! Meg is up tomorrow (you will not be disappointed--her recipe sounds AMAZING!), so we'll see you over on Holiday on Friday. Don't worry--I'll still stop by here to remind you that we're all drinking spiked eggnog (except for Elisabeth, who will be drinking some pretty juice and sparkling goodness that I've had mixed for her by one of our dashing tux-clad bartenders behind our Holiday bar) over there in case you forget. We hope you have a lovely, lovely day!

A New York Birthday Outing

Hello YOU + ME* Ladies,

I have a question for you. My friends in DC are planning on surprising another friend of mine by taking her out for a special birthday "Day in New York City" in a couple weeks, and being a New Yorker myself, I want to make sure that day is indeed special. Do you have any suggestions on how I can make this little outing into a memorable event? All suggestions welcome!
Many thanks,
C.

Dear C.,
Your friend is so lucky to have girlfriends like you to take charge of her birthday! A surprise outing to New York is pretty much guaranteed to be memorable, but it's the little details that will make it feel like the day is actually a celebration in honor of her.

- Surprises are the best. No, we don’t mean the embarrassing, make your friend want to hide under a rock kind, but rather the “I can’t believe you took the time to put this together” kind. Now, we don’t know when your friend’s New York outing will be unveiled, but setting the tone for the event by telling her in a clever way is the perfect way to begin the fun:

Mail her postcards from New York the week before her outing with clues about the trip,

 

send her a box of black and white cookies with a note tucked inside, or deliver her a tote a couple days in advance or the morning of your departure with clues about the day's activities: a metro card, mittens and a ceramic version of the iconic disposable coffee cup to represent an ice skating expedition, a mini empire state building or brooklyn bridge if those activities are on your list, pretty wooden chopsticks if you anticipate dim sum in Chinatown, or new nail polish if manicures and pedicures are in the works (They totally should be--as expensive as New York is in almost every respect, for some reason it has the cheapest/best manicures and pedicures).

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- Because a festive day in the city doesn't always involve eating at typical meal times, consider Mario Batali's Eataly for some lunch/snack/happy hour nibbling (this is probably best on a weekday since the weekends are jam packed). Um, 50,000 square feet of cheese, pasta, fruits, veggies, pizzas, baked goods, coffee, and wine. Yes, please. We're not sure when exactly this birthday surprise is taking place, but if the birthday girl is a foodie, you may even want to check out La Scuola at Eataly for a food or wine class. The classes are still getting off the ground, but we're big believers in making things happen for the sake of a birthday. Give them a call. I bet you could arrange some sort of private class that perfectly suits your group's tastes.

While we're talking Mario Batali, we also want to suggest the weekend wine classes at Otto. It's only steps from Washington Square Park, so you can't beat the location in terms of proximity to other activities and we can both vouch for the food and wine (in fact, Otto was my first meal out after having my daughter).

- In terms of specific activities, we know you'll be able to come up with something fantastic. Although it will probably be pretty chilly a few weeks from now, the city will be starting to embrace the holidays (yay!). It's a perfect time to take advantage of some of the seasonal activities New York has to offer--like ice skating! You have three rinks to choose from: Bryant Park, Rockefeller Center (shown), and Wollman Rink in Central Park. Take a few spins around the ice and then dive into some Irish coffees or spiced cider.

- Oh, and make sure one (or more of you) is the dedicated photographer for the day/night. There is nothing worse than ending a fantastically eventful day with your girlfriends only to realize that everyone left their cameras untouched the whole time. Plus, you have a special reason to be a diligent photographer--making a photo book of your day together is a great gift for your friend. Some of our favorite photo books come from Blurb and Shutterfly.

Give your friend some birthday love from us and do let us know if you need some more specific tips. Making birthdays special is one of our favorite things!

xo,

ME*

P.S. Have you entered our 100th post giveaway or signed up to Spread the Cheer? You definitely should!

Get Your Gourd On!

Sweet Paul

What's got two thumbs and is listening to Christmas music? THIS GIRL! (It doesn't work so well over the internet, does it?) From here until New Year's, lovelies, we'll be over on You + ME* Holiday on Mondays and Fridays, but we'll still pop by here to tell you what we're up to over there. Today I took my inspiration from a crazy profane piece on gourds to bring you some fall decor ideas. See you over on You + ME* Holiday, and we'll meet you back here tomorrow when we tackle a super fun question. Have a cheery Monday!
Oh, and have you joined our Spread the Cheer gift exchange yet? Or entered to win our 100th post-iversary giveaway?

100th Post-iversary! And Giveaway!

We're thrilled to announce that we've been around for, wait for it . . . 100 posts! Oh fine, it's not that long in the grand scheme of things, but here at YOU + ME* we like to celebrate the little milestones. Plus, a lot has happened during those 100 posts. We've gathered both things and ideas from around the web, responded to reader dilemmas on topics far and wide, offered gift ideas for even the most unusual situations, introduced an amazing new contributor, launched a new blog, become contributors on Brooklyn Bride, and started work on some still hush hush projects that are guaranteed to knock your socks, stockings, or flip flops right off. Most importantly, we've gotten to know all of you--you're pretty great!

Mini-milestones are so much more exciting when commemorated with food, drinks, and party favors. That is why I'm baking up some of these guys, Miya is popping the champagne (and having a glass for me), and we're sending the party favors to one of you.

Remember this cozy couples shower with the pom pom photo backdrop? Well, those pom poms happen to make fantastic holiday decorations. String them across your mantle, dangle them from the chandelier, hang them from your tree, use them for a photo backdrop, or tie them on all your gifts. Anywhere the pom poms go, a party is sure to follow.

To enter: Leave a comment on this post mentioning at least one item shown in the header of our holiday blog by next Friday, November 12. We'll randomly select one of you to receive a huge pile of fluffy, cozy, sparkly pom pom goodness.

Happy weekend to you!

P.S. if the prospect of receiving treats in the mail instead of bills and catalogs makes you giddy with excitement, then hop on over to Holiday where you can sign up for our Spread the Cheer Gift Exchange.  We're just dying for an excuse to send you something.

Chickpea Curry with Greens & Cardamom Ice Cream with Roasted Pears

Happy Thursday, my friends! This past weekend, my mom was in town (she just left yesterday afternoon, and if any of you want to come over and give me a condolence hug, it would be greatly appreciated). We hightailed it out to Stone Barn Farms to check out the fall foliage and autumn harvest, and boy, were we in for a treat. We saw...

geese migrating,

sheep grazing,

sprouts sprouting,

and leaves turning.
To say it was fall at its most glorious would be an understatement. When we came home, we were in the mood for a quick, hearty stew that was easy and would use a few of the ingredients that we picked up at the farmers' market on Saturday. I knew just the thing, since I have been making and eating this dinner over and over and over for a few weeks now. The best thing about this stew is that it is versatile. No fresh tomatoes? Use canned. No kale? Use spinach, dandelion greens, collard greens, or chard. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Chickpea Curry with Greens

Ingredients

1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight, then cooked with 1T salt for 1 hour over medium-low heat, drained and rinsed

2T canola or olive oil

1 medium yellow onion

2T mustard seeds

2T curry powder

2T pudini masala

5 fresh tomatoes, chopped into 1" cubes

1 bunch of greens, like spinach, kale, chard, or collards (I used cavolo nero, or dinosaur kale). 

Directions

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat, and add onion. Saute until translucent, and add spices. Continue to cook until the mustard seeds start popping, then add the tomatoes. Let simmer until the tomatoes release their juices, about 5 minutes. Add chickpeas, simmer for another 10 minutes, and then add the greens. Simmer until the greens are tender but not overdone (this time will depend on the greens you use). Serve over rice, barley, or quinoa, and enjoy in good company!

But you didn't think I would leave you without dessert, did you? I made this ice cream last week to feed my new obsession with cardamom. I don't even have pictures of the process because it was a spur of the moment, throw-it-together type of thing, but holy cow, it is so good. I nearly lost a finger to the ice cream maker. 

Cardamom and Roasted Pear Ice Cream

Ingredients

1.25c heavy cream

1.25c whole milk

.5T vanilla

.5c sugar (you may want to use a tablespoon or 2 more if you like things on the sweeter side)
1T ground cardamom (if you are using whole, i would smoosh 5 seed pods and do things a bit differently--I'll give you a heads up in the directions)

Roasted pears (3 small pears, cut into 1/4" cubes, roasted with 1t sugar and 1T water at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, completely cooled)

Directions:

Heat milk, sugar, vanilla and cardamom (if using whole, just put the whole smooshed seed pod in there); let cook for 5 minutes taking care not to let it boil over. Let the milk mixture cool completely (strain if using the whole seed pod).
Whip the whipping cream until it holds soft peaks; fold into cooled milk mixture. Put the mixture in the ice cream maker, and let run for 25-30 minutes, adding the pears in the last 5 mins. This would also be super good with finely chopped candied ginger, so feel free to add that, too. 

Enjoy, pretties! See you tomorrow, when Elisabeth will be bringing you all sorts of holiday-related goodness! Have a lovely day!

Wednesday Miscellany!

It's Wednesday, friends! Oh my goodness, Elisabeth and I have been as busy as bees putting together fun stuff and cooking up plans for the future that may or may not include the following: travel to exciting places, new directions for You + ME* (have you checked out You + ME* Holiday yet?), brownies (there's not really a may not in this case), and lots and lots of glitter (again, have you checked out You + Me* Holiday?). Let's start off this week's miscellany with a sneak peek into what we were up to yesterday morning bright and early (taken by yours truly):

Are we crap-your-pants excited to show you the rest? Why yes, yes we are. (Oh, fine, since you asked so nicely, here's another peek.)

 Oh, and that fine lady you see with the camera is Kay English, and we are super excited to see how she captured this.

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Elisabeth's little baby bump is just getting more adorable by the day. I am already madly in love with her daughter, Claire (as is Emi), so I can't wait to meet the newest edition to her family. We've been talking a lot about the experience of having kids, and it brought to mind this piece by Phillip Toleando (the photographer who did the piece about spending time with his aging father). It's a candid exploration of his own experience with being a father, and I think it's quite beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful, did you know that Sweet Paul recently opened an Etsy shop to sell stuff left over from shoots that he styles? I am swooning over this teapot.

Also, we won't be mad if you haven't because we've been bombarding you with other stuff, but:
-Did you see that our Internet Crushes for November are up?
-Have you checked out You + ME* Holiday?  Elisabeth has been working like a pack of over-caffeinated elves to bring you buckets of holiday goodness. We've got some super exciting announcements to make over there in the coming week, and Elisabeth already has a great (and growing by the day) list of gift guides up (check the tabs at the top of the page) for those of you who like to get a head start on holiday shopping.

Ciao for now, loves. I'll see you right back here tomorrow with a great autumn recipe (I've eaten almost nothing else for the past two weeks) and an easy-peasy dessert recipe to boot.