$40 per ticket?!?!

$40. That was the price for a ticket to the Isthmus's first Beer and Cheese Fest this past weekend. That amount, even when we were both fully employed, is out of our budget. But we went! That's the beauty of volunteering. We volunteered for a 2-hour shift and in return, we got free entry. The nice thing, too, was that our shift was vendor check-in, which had to take place before the Fest (obviously). We "worked" from 10-noon, and the Fest started at 1.

They had about 23 beer makers and about the same number of cheese makers. They had the vendors set up alternating beer and cheese, too, so you could sample some beer and some cheese without having to go too far. For their first fest, I thought everything was really well done!

The best part of the day, though, was the 45-minute session we attended about Beer and Chocolate Pairing. I'm sure some of you are disgusted by that prospect, but I'm telling you, it was great!! Gail Ambrosius (from Gail Ambrosius Chocolates) and Aran (from Furthermore Brewery) discussed the pairings, leading us through what to notice with the flavors and why they chose to pair what they did. In my mind, there are few things better than beer or chocolate, so what's better than enjoying them together?

Nothing has changed on the job front. Einar has taken his bartending certification class, and he's just waiting for the city to process his license. That will allow him to be more available for shifts at The Malt House, since he will be able to be the only bartender on duty. Unfortunately, as I've seen over the past several months, there are not a lot of jobs being posted. We both continue to look for options. I've decided to get my WI teaching license. I'm still not sure I'm ready to give up on video, but at least I'll have my license if I decide I want to move in that direction.

If you're looking for a good video to see, I'd highly recommend Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. It's a sweet little movie. And we watched Roxanne the other night for the first time in a long time, and that's well worth a re-viewing. Steve Martin is fantastic!