Snowpocalypse 2015

The snowpocalypse is becoming an annual event here in Boston! Not that I'm complaining--I love snow days. With no car and no kids and my landlord to do the shoveling, snow days are pure fun. In 2013, we had Nemo. In 2014, the snowpocalypse came just in time for my trip to Ann Arbor. This year, Blizzard Juno was perfectly timed for a Tuesday when I didn't have much work to worry about.

Like before, the city shut down the public transportation system and instituted a driving ban to help road crews dig everything out. That meant that people were cross-country skiing and playing in the streets all over the place. This storm came with much more wind than either of the other two so it's hard to tell how much snow we got, but it's definitely close to two feet. (The news is saying 21" at the Boston airport.) When I went out to explore, I was hopping through snow up to my knees in most places, and many drifts were much higher than that. And it's still snowing lightly!

Here's what my world looks like today:

Anyone want to sit and rest a while?

My neighborhood, slowly digging out.

Mass Ave is empty. No one's going to need those parking meters for a while.

So pretty! I almost wish we could do it again tomorrow.

What's Brewing in 2015

With the new year comes new adventure. Maybe it’s that millennial DIY spirit, or maybe it’s the environmentalist love of everything homegrown and handmade, or maybe it’s my St. Louis-born appreciation of good beer—whatever the inspiration, this year’s newest adventure is… home-brewing! Colin and I bought a kit and ingredients, and I attended a class at the local grocery/garden shop. And we have, of course, done our fair share of brewery tours and tastings. I think that qualifies us as well as anyone.

Ready, set, brew!

To be honest, I’m a little nervous. Brewers are always talking about how critically important it is to sanitize everything at the risk of ruining your beer. The class I attended last week began with a former home-brewer/now professional brewer talking about his early failed attempts. He began brewing in college and said it took him about 10 tries to get a beer that he really liked. Since each batch makes approximately 50 beers, that’s 500 beers until he got a good one! So, if our first batch turns out badly, you’re all invited over for beer-battered onion rings and beer-marinated pulled pork, or anything else you can think of that requires a large amount of mediocre beer.

Speaking of which, right now that possibly-mediocre, hopefully-impressive first batch of beer is slowly carbonating in its Ale Pail in Colin’s apartment. It’s an American amber, which is supposedly easy to make and tasty to drink. Nevertheless, Colin and I are wracking up the reasons why this beer may not be as good as we hoped:

1. Apparently neither of us knew how to read our hydrometer, and we added an extra half-gallon or so of water to our wort. I’m not really sure what the prognosis is. Best case: takes longer to reach desired final alcohol content but gets there in the end. Another case: slightly lower alcohol content but still tasty. Worst case: the Ale Pail lid flies off under the added pressure, and we have to scrub beer off Colin’s ceiling. We’re crossing our fingers for either of the first two. (To our credit, the hydrometer included in our kit starts with 1.000, then the next marked line says 10, then 20, etc. So we logically assumed that translated to 1.010, 1.020, etc. Turns out it actually translates to 1.1, 1.2, etc. Why the manufacturers thought it was a good idea to switch between numerical scales, we have no idea. But now we know.)
2. We just can’t get the temperature right. We decided not to brew in Cambridge because I have no control over my heat, and the temperature generally stays around 75. That’s at the very top of the acceptable range for our yeast. Once we got things set up in New Haven, though, we discovered that Colin’s old, drafty apartment just won’t get warmer than 65, even right next to the heating vents—and that is the very lowest point of the acceptable range for our yeast.
3. Our kit was missing the fabric bag intended to keep the grain contained while boiling (like a giant tea bag). We didn’t realize this until the weekend, and then, rather than wait another two weeks until I could come back to New Haven to start brewing, we decided to try using a mesh bag that Colin had lying around the house. Of all the reasons our beer might not turn out, this is the least worrying. Still, we’re going to call the manufacturer to complain and blame it on them if this batch fails. It’s always nice to have a scapegoat, right?

So, okay, we messed up a few things. Still, I’m excited! The process was much simpler than I was afraid, and we will definitely do it again in the future. And, to facilitate that, you should all come over and drink beer (if it’s good) or eat pulled pork and onion rings (if it’s bad) in six weeks.

Two weeks ’til bottling day. Six weeks ’til tasting day. I’ll let you know how it goes.

From water to wort.

Cooling the wort before transferring it to the fermenter.

First batch brewed!

Happy New Year!

Every year, without fail, November and December are two of the busiest months at work. It's unfortunate because those are also the two months most chock-full of holidays. Inevitably, conversations with clients go something like this:

Client: "Wow, it's November already! Where did this year go?"
Claire: "I know!"
Client: "I guess we'd better really get moving on that project/report/analysis. Hmm... let's just see if we can wrap that up by the end of the year, okay?"
Claire: "Sure, no problem."
Client: "But actually, I'm going on vacation around mid-December. So it would be great to get it by then."
Claire: "Okay..."
Client: "And I'm taking the week of Thanksgiving off, too, so maybe I can see the first draft before then?"
Claire: "... so, like, next week?"
Client: "Yes! Perfect!"

It does make the holidays that much sweeter when you finally can cross things off your to-do list and take a break. This year, I was in the office every day for 19 days straight, from the day I returned from Thanksgiving in Maine until I hopped on a plane for Christmas in Georgia. Between sleeping in and ignoring my email for days at a time, vacation was wonderful.

All of that is to say, oops, I didn't blog much this fall.

But I was having tons of fun! This year, for the first time, I spent Thanksgiving with Colin's family in Maine. It was colder and snowier than Thanksgiving in St. Louis but similarly low-key and delicious. Besides the traditional Thanksgiving cooking, we spent our time putting together a puzzle from Colin's grandmother, playing with the dog, decorating their Christmas tree, and snowshoeing. Of note, that visit marked the end of my five-month streak of visiting Maine once a month. In July, I was there briefly before the trip to Nova Scotia; Mom and I visited for a few days in August; Colin and I went up for a friend's wedding in September; and I joined Colin for a weekend of hiking in October. I gotta admit, I'm a little jealous of how close Colin is to his home. It's nice not to have to hop on a plane to see family. This world of ours may be small, but the country feels large.

Colin's family's barn and the freshly-cut (from the top of a fallen tree) Christmas tree, and the foot of snow that fell the day before Thanksgiving.

Colin's dad, me, and Colin snowshoeing, as captured by a game camera set up by a deer-hunter friend.

Then for Christmas, I flew to Georgia as usual. The weather was amazing! Nearly 80 degrees one day! It was the hottest Christmas I can remember, but it was a fun change from Boston. I went for a run in short sleeves one day, and we didn't have to bundle up to go boating.

Christmas Day at Lake Seminole

I came back to Boston for New Year's since I had to get back to work, but Colin joined me for a few days. We spent New Year's Eve evening downtown, watching the family fireworks at 7:00 and checking out ice sculptures and other First Night festivities before buying cannoli for dessert. By 10:30, we were back at my apartment in pajamas. We did stay up to watch the ball drop on TV, but I think it's official--we're old.

We did get out and about other days, though. We went to see a movie (Wild, which I have been excited to see ever since hearing that the book was being adapted into a movie) at a small local theater that I have somehow never gone to despite living a short walk away for four years. We also went to the first annual Fire and Ice Festival in South Boston, where fire jugglers performed outside in the perfectly-timed snowstorm. While there, Colin and I had to test our navigation skills in the ice maze--spoiler alert: we made it out!

In the ice maze. Those white streaks across the photo are snowflakes! :)

So, it was a nice holiday season. I've never really been one to make New Year's Resolutions, but you can bet that if I did, "blog more" would be at the top, along with the usual things like "sleep more," "eat more vegetables," "exercise more," and "limit screen time." Anyway, happy 2015! May everyone's year be happy and healthy.