How We Holiday

May 31, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

This past week has been a dehydrating gauntlet. We are only days away from our Red River Gorge Hike and the excitement is setting in. I have been experimenting with various recipes, dehydrating and vacuum sealing techniques and while I want to share it all with you, I’m not quite done! So bear with me so I can write a blog complete with all the info! However, as a teaser I thought I’d share one of our quick experiments.

One of our trail meals will be a chicken and root veggie stew. I took some of the veggies and pureed them with the stew broth to make a root veggie bark. Since I had leftovers we decided to test it out and re-hydrate! The stew bark has curry powder, cumin and cinnamon and once re-hydrated it tastes like a curried veggie mash! The Beard was especially fond of scooping it up with bacon.

As usual, our days revolve around food, so here are a few shots from this weekend. Poached eggs with red bell peppers, shallots, garlic and swiss chard.

Grass fed Grilled Porter House straight from The Beard’s family farm.

I celebrated Memorial Day Weekend by crying on the deck…aka chopping onions. I put these in a crock pot with olive oil and balsamic vinegar to make the perfect caramelized onions!

Petey was feeling celebratory as well and suggested this selfie.

The Beard & I hanging out with friends.

And finally, video evidence of our fun, productive, relaxing weekend! Stay tuned for trail food updates!

Grad Gift Guide

May 27, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

This year three of my cousins graduated high school. Being the oldest this only magnified my age since I remember when they were born! As with all my cousins I’ve tried to create a unique and memorable grad gift and this year I had to do that times three!

Usually I am not a fan of giving gift cards. I find them pretty impersonal, unless a person has specifically requested one. However, when I think back to my time in college what was the number one thing on my mind? Food! So gift cards it was! I started with looking at local restaurants near their perspective colleges and then analyzing where they could get the most food for the buck.

I then spent five minutes explaining to a guy in the checkout line that yes, I was buying all of these. No, I didn’t get some special points for them. Yes, they were actually gifts for people.

Next I perused my local craft store trying to come up with a cool way of presenting them. After 30 minutes of wandering the aisles I came up with a plan. Tags, mini sacks, binder rings and washi tape.

The mini sacks happened to be the exact same size as the gift tags, so I attached one sack to each tag, then ran the washi tape across the back.

After sliding all the gift cards into place I then wrote the gift card amounts on the front. I picked up these cute boxes on clearance and placed inside.

Finally I added a scroll to each with a Fairy Tale style story about the gift. It started with “Once upon a time in a village far, far away from home, lived a hungry college student.”

The boxes were a big hit with them all, and after sharing this story with a co-worker I know of a few more grads that may be receiving similar gifts this year!

Decadent Date Night: Seafood Edition

May 26, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

Recently The Beard and I have been watching a show on Netflix about local ingredients in Australia. The chefs were sourcing all this beautiful seafood and it gave me such a craving! So while grocery shopping this week my cart somehow steered me towards the seafood counter. The shrimp was on sale which allowed me to somehow justify purchasing some lobster tails!

I have never cooked lobster. Period. While I’m not sure if I’m ready to take on the entire lobster, I felt like the tail was a good place to start. As per usual, I bought all my ingredients with no specific recipe or cooking technique in mind. I was just confident that with quality ingredients it would turn out alright!

*Pictured above are the lobster tails, seasoned shrimp and oyster mushrooms

I started with seasoning my shrimp. I don’t ever measure things, I just eyeball, smell and taste. Which in and of itself is a technical skill if you ask me!

Shrimp Seasoning
Crushed garlic
Red Pepper Flakes
Salt
Basil
Lemon Juice

This seafood feast was going on the grill, so while that was pre-heating I decided to par boil the lobster tails. Based on cooking shows, this is a thing people do sometimes and I decided to give it a shot. After par boiling I sliced open the center of the tail. I want to refer to it as the belly, but the belly of the tail sounds odd. But deep down I feel like if you tickled the tail belly it would squirm. But maybe that’s just me. I then covered the lobster with this seasoning concoction:

Lobster Seasoning
Lemon Juice
Olive Oil
Salt
Paprika
White Pepper
Garlic

I placed the lobster on the grill shell side down and strategically placed the shrimp so as not to fall between the grill grates. Only one shrimp was lost in this endeavor. While that was going I started in on my oyster mushrooms. I have never had them, but when I discovered a fresh bunch at the store I knew it was time to try! I sliced these up and added them to a skillet with a little bit of ghee, salt and pepper. Once sauteed I added in chopped rainbow chard allowing it to wilt on top.

I did not get a picture of the finished product since we immediately stuffed our faces! However, the lobster was the best I’ve ever had. I am now plotting out ways to have it all the time and still pay my mortgage. The shrimp was delicious and I can now say I have tried and love oyster mushrooms!

Social Smattering

May 26, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

Although I talk a lot about what The Beard & I are up to, we do actually socialize with people occasionally! So here is a quick summation of what we’ve been up to the past week.

The Beard joined in on a street rueda with Rueda de Casino Indianapolis.

We went to a salsa social hosted by Latin Expressions. I’m in the red.

I attended a going away party where I discovered bacon hash brown balls with chipotle dipping sauce. AMAZING! Check out my totally cheesy yet awesome gift!

We got in a photography session thanks to The Beard’s awesome skills!

And we hit up The Yard House to order our favorite random combination of foods. Candied bacon deviled eggs, sweet potato fries and street tacos!

Just another week in our lives, living it to the fullest!

Kelty Girl

May 25, 2016 / beautyatbeard / 1 Comment

Have you heard the song, “This Magic Moment” by The Drifters? I was pretty obsessed with them when I was twelve. Yes, I know that’s weird but seeing as how I turned out, it all makes sense. The reason I asked is because it was playing in my head as I pulled up to the house and saw a giant box from REI on my front porch.

A few weeks ago I went for my second pack fitting for an Osprey bag. According to their sizing I am supposed to me a small / possibly medium. However, I quickly learned that in the world of packs I have an unusually long torso for a woman. Every woman’s pack I tried on ended up with the waist straps no where near my hips. At all. So we decided to try on a unisex, Redwing 50 by Kelty.

The Beard, along with the sales clerk strapped this on me and proceeded to tug and pull various straps and tethers making me feel like a ship they were rigging to set sail! After a few minor adjustments it fit perfectly and I didn’t look like I was wearing a toddler’s pack! In true Beauty & The Beard fashion, we didn’t purchase the gear that day, instead opting to wait for the anniversary sale. Hence, the special delivery on my doorstep.

I opted to Take the Black, a little game of thrones reference for you fans out there. The other color options were red and teal, which just seem like a giant bulls eye on your back in the wilderness. Originally $140, I purchased it for $112.

I also ordered this air pad. The compact design will work well for backpacking, as the least amount of weight I have to carry the better! Originally $99, I purchased for $75.

The Beard asked what I wanted to do for my birthday and I opted for a backpacking trip at The Red River Gorge. I have never been, and it’s been years since he has, so we are excited to check it out!

Our garden is slowly coming along, hoping to have a good crop to put back for the AT next summer. Also purchased the king of watering cans. This baby holds 2.6 gallons! So I get my workout on a daily basis.

And as usually, this is Petey’s contribution to the entire process.

We started our trail meal prep this week and I can’t wait to share it with you guys. I’m talking spreadsheets, grocery lists, price guides and a new vacuum sealer! The Beard also got a new pack from Osprey I’m sure he will be updating you about soon. Stay tuned!

The Happy Frog

May 17, 2016May 17, 2016 / trevorthebeard / 1 Comment

When one chooses to hike for a minimum of 2190 Miles, one ought spend considerable time and effort selecting gear. Much of my knowledge regarding proper gear selection is based on internet research and hard lessons learned through experience (SPARTAN Ultra Beast.) Hypothermia thanks to exposure to the elements pulled me from the course early, but a 5 cent trash bag to keep my gear dry (when I plunged into the freezing water for one of the terrible obstacles) could have kept me in the race. Gear selection will not be my downfall this time.

Summit at the Ultra

I have been meaning to write this first gear breakdown for some time, so here it is.

Just the Basics

This is certainly not everything that I will be taking with me, but is a pretty good overview of the basic equipment needed for hiking in the wilderness. For starters, when you are going to be walking the Appalachian Trail (AT as most call it) nothing will bring you more pain and suffering then the wrong shoes. A quick search for hiking footwear will steer you toward large military style boots with superior traction, support, and most are waterproof. These additional features often come at the cost of excessive weight (feeling like you are wearing cement shoes.) My current shoe selection is my trusty Brooks Cascadia 8’s. They weigh next to nothing, have great support, and are not waterproof. Why not waterproof you ask? Well when the insides of the waterproof boots get wet, they take forever to dry which will lead to soggy and blistered feet. I have tested several different brands and be breaking in a few other pairs (INOV-8 Mudclaw and a pair of Vibrams The Beauty got me)

Most change shoes many times during an AT thru hike because shoes break down and your feet will typically swell, so shoes are subject to change.

Brooks Cascadia 8’s

Comfortable sleeping arrangements keep morale high and keep the weather and critters at bay. I purchased a hammock kit from REI because it was on sale at the time and will definitely be using it during the warmer months of the AT. The majority of my nights will be spent under my awesome Snugpak Bunker-3. It sets up in minutes and is a fly first style tent which allows you to set up the shell first (in case of rain) and keep the actual internal sleeping tent dry(ish).

Inside the tent, I have my Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Sleeping Pad and probably the funniest sleeping bag I have seen. Can you say… Sleeping Bag You Can Wear? The evrgrn Crash Sack might not be the most thermally efficient sleeping bag out there, but when you can get up on the cold mornings, start a fire, and make coffee outside all while never having to leave your sleeping bag, you start your day off right.

Miscellaneous items in the photo include:

Waterproof and airtight Sea-to-Summit bags (the better version of the life saving 5 cent trash bag)
LifeStraw water filtration kit (essential and will be one part of my water treatment setup)
Mini Gas Camping Stove (for all the coffees and dehydrated meals)
First Aid Kit and Blister Pads (With European Magic Healing properties)
Black Diamond Headlamp (Survived the Ultra Beast)
Waterproof Matches
Garmin Fenix 2 Smart Watch (This thing is a beast and tracks just about everything including GPS position, altitude, sunset/sunrise, and barometric pressure)

Action Shot from Mt. Tallac, Lake Tahoe CA

Oh! I haven’t forgotten about the pack. Pack sizes, carrying capacities, hydration bladders, waist and shoulder straps, and everything in between have evolved significantly since my last extended hiking trip in junior high school.

I am currently planning on using this Granite Gear Leopard A.C. 58 (the one I purchased was from REI but they no longer carry it.) Like Beauty, I have a thin frame and long torso, so most packs don’t fit me well. We will be taking this pack out into Red River Gorge next month to put it through its paces. Hopefully it all works out because I do like the storage space and how it fits me!

Granite Gear Leopard A.C. 58

Back of the Pack

Holds 3 Full Sized Pillows!

Inside the Main Compartment

Hydration Bag Storage

In addition to the cavernous storage spaces, pockets, and water sealed main compartment, the actual top of the bag comes off to save weight (but does have an awesome quick access pocket for maps and such.)

If you have been wondering this whole time where the name of the blog post came from, I present to you… the top of the pack.

Check back for my rundown on the food, clothes, physical conditioning program, gear updates, and why in the hell I am attempting the North to South Appalachian Trail thru hike in 2017 in the first place!

Mayhem of May

May 16, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

May, May go away…not really but I am getting tired! May is a busy month for me. It includes my Fathers birthday, Mother’s Day, my Mother’s Birthday, my parent’s anniversary and three of my cousin’s are graduating high school this year! Technically while not in May, my sister’s birthday is June 3rd, which I feel still should count as part of the mayhem!

So while I may be running ragged, I thought you should at least benefit from some of my gift ideas!

For Mother’s Day I decided to we would do brunch. Last year I went all out and made brunch at my house complete with springy place settings. This year, I decided to take her out to a local restaurant called Feast. It’s a super cute cafe and she was excited since as she put it, “I never get to go to places like this!” Another lovey dovey note: The Beard and I had our first date on Pi Day. So being the incredible guy that he is, he decided to bring me a pie! After calling all over town he found a place that sold pies, and it happened to be this very cafe! *Insert awes*

Mother’s Day in our town falls on the same weekend as the university’s graduation. That means thousands of people descending upon us taking up parking, getting confused by one way streets and stealing all the reservations at every restaurant all weekend! Thankfully, we timed our brunch when the graduation ceremony was to begin, so we got a table right away!

I quickly learned their chai latte’s were amazing! Although I ordered a jumbo, which is basically a mug the size of your face, I was sorely tempted to order another round. My name is Jessica, and I have a tea obsession.

My mother tends to gravitate towards primitive, rustic style decor and when I saw this sign from Eco Flower I knew it would be perfect! If you haven’t heard of Eco Flower, they are amazing! They make floral arrangements from wood and paper. The flowers on this sign are made from wood and scented with blackberry vanilla.

This gift was a big hit and she sent me pictures that weekend of it hanging in her bedroom! As for my Dad, he’s a very easy going guy. I could put a giant tin of cashews in front of him and he’d be happy for days!

For several months my Dad had made mention of a tree that he passed during his occasional travels down south. He had wanted to stop and take a picture of it for months and never had the time until a few weeks ago. Being the good daughter that I am, I decided to get it matted and framed, along with a certificate for golf lesson for his birthday. He was so ecstatic! Although he’d been talking about golf lessons for over a year, he was more excited about the picture and immediately hung it up in his office.

I’m half way through the month, and after several deep breaths, stress away essential oils, and wonderful massages from The Beard, I think I will survive! Stay tuned for my awesome grad gift ideas! (They don’t graduate till this weekend!)

Talk Meaty to Me

May 10, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

We arrived at one of our favorite spots, after finding prime parking, and headed inside. The door opened and our nostrils were hit with the smell of spices, sea food and other delicious aromas. Behind me I heard The Beard exclaim, “Talk meaty to me!” There, standing at the butchers on a Friday night, the title of this blog post was born.

Backing up, a few months ago The Beard sent me a recipe for Slow Cooker Red Wine Braised Short Ribs. That is his way of saying, “I want to eat this.” Since I love to try out new things, I’m always happy to receive his latest findings! I told him we would make it soon and then promptly forgot about it, until this weekend.

As aforementioned, I rarely follow a recipe. I like to think of them as general ideas. A jumping off point if you will. As nobody has time for a crock pot, I pulled out my instant pot! If you don’t have one of these you need to add it to every Birthday, Christmas, and Amazon Prime list you have!

I started off letting these delicious beef short ribs soak up all the juiciness. As in, I let them sit for a couple hours because I didn’t buy them till the day I decided to cook this. If you have a chance, I recommend letting them sit overnight.

2lbs Short Ribs
2 cups beef broth
2 cups red wine
1 6oz can tomato paste

We don’t drink so it has been awhile since I needed to open a bottle of wine and subsequently discovered I had left my cork screw at a friend’s house during her last party. However, thanks to my clearance shopping I remembered I had a fancy bottle opener I had bought as a could be present and opened that up. It was amazing! I don’t know why I had let it sit this whole time. (Other than I haven’t opened a bottle in over a year)

Next it was veggie prep time! One of the things I love about the instant pot is the ability to saute in the appliance! Saves time and dishes my friends. In this instance since I wanted to saute the veggies and get a nice sear on the short ribs I decided to divide and conquer. So I tackled the veggies and The Beard handled the meats.

2 carrots
2 stalks celery
1 container of mushrooms
Thyme & Rosemary
Parsley

We removed the meat from the liquid and seasoned with salt and garlic powder. Save the liquid! Then we seared them on each side for a few minutes till we got that beautiful brown char.

Then I added them into the Instant Pot nestled in safely among the yummy veggie medley. From there I added the leftover wine mixture along with some sprigs of thyme, rosemary, bay leaves and freshly crushed garlic.

Select the meat/stew setting on the instant pot and in 35 minutes this meal was ready! Thirty-five minutes people! Here is the finished product greeting my eyes and nostrils when I removed the lid.

Topped off with roasted potatoes and garnished with parsley this was a perfect Friday Feast. Talk Meaty indeed.

Weekend Summation

May 9, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

Every once in a blue moon magic occurs and The Beard has the entire weekend off! So, what does one do with three days together? Everything of course! The key to any healthy relationship is to start things off with BBQ so we headed over to The Butcher’s Smokehouse. The second key is two pizzas. (These gems are free of charge folks)

After some delicious pulled pork and horseradish pickles we headed next door to the Butcher’s Block – our favorite butcher – to pick up some goodies for the weekend. Stay tuned for a recipe blog featuring Short Ribs!

From there it was time to reload my stock pile, as in I was out of everything and we needed to go to the grocery store. I buy the large quantities of paper towels (select-a-size all the way!) toilet paper, and laundry detergent. So as crazy as it may sound, I only have to replenish these items a few times a year. However, for some reason they all seem to run out at the same time. I’m not sure how my laundry habits sync up with my paper towel usage but it is what it is!

After making our delicious short rib dinner we got all gussied up and headed to the Comedy Attic. I scored some free tickets this weekend and the only thing better than date night, is a free date night! Yes, this is us gussied up. Enjoy.

Another thing our our to-do list was getting our garden going. Time to transfer our little seedlings outside to their new home.

While I was busy planting them, The Beard was busy digging holes for our newest family members. Let me introduce Barry & Gerry, our gooseberry bushes. Naturally we named them so we could distinguish whose bush was doing better since competition is good for the soul.

We topped off the weekend with a trip to the movies to see Captain America – Civil War in 3D. Apparently when you show up at the movie theater at 11 AM, tickets are incredibly cheap! That’s right, we were the people at the movies on a Sunday Morning. And as you can see, the place was crowded. We finished with a trip over to Buccetos for some delicious pizzas. That’s right, two pizzas. It’s important folks!

A special shout out full of girlfriend pride – The Beard finished another semester of school this past week! Getting closer to December 2016 Graduation! As a surprise reward, I got him a phrenology bust. It also doubles a piggy bank, so we are science-y and frugal!

Taste the Rainbow Chard

May 4, 2016May 4, 2016 / beautyatbeard / Leave a comment

Last night I decided I needed to use up some veggies in my fridge. Of course when deciding to use up ingredients it more often than not requires you to purchase more ingredients to go with it. At least in my world because my fridge is fairly empty at the moment and I wanted to eat more than rainbow chard.

I have a strong affinity for the produce section. I sometimes end up with a cart full of random veggies just because they were so pretty! Then halfway through the store I remember I should grab some protein and other ingredients to go with them! Except for bacon, I NEVER forget the bacon.

So what started as a “What do I want with the rainbow chard” thought turned into a delicious grocery list. I decided to add in mushrooms, shallots, garlic, bean sprouts and bacon along with Italian seasoned meatballs.

I started rendering the bacon and removed it once it was fairly crispy. I didn’t want it to cook completely since I was going to add it back in. Next I added the chopped shallots, mushrooms and chopped chard stalks. Once those began to turn translucent I added the meatballs.

While searing the meatballs I had visions of snuffleupagus from Sesame Street singing On Top of Spaghetti. This moment was brought to you by the letter N and the number 3 which represents the 3,000 hours of watching my niece who was in love with Sesame street as a child.

Alright, back to supper. Next I added my rainbow chard greens, the key ingredient that started it all, bean sprouts and crushed garlic. I’m getting hungry just reminiscing. Good thing I have left overs for lunch!

I plated my dinner and got cozy with my favorite honey candles! Now, you can find these on amazon but they cost a fortune compared to getting them at TJ Maxx. I have completely wiped out their supply at my local store so it’s time for me to start hitting up the surrounding areas. So if you stumble across them give them a try or send them to me!