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#DrinkUpLinkUp — Red Hook Wisecracker Wit

Wheat beer brewed with Ginger, but still digs Mary Ann.

I picked up a Red Hook Wisecracker Wit awhile back, when my husband and I did one of those, “make your own six packs” at the store. I finally got around to drinking it the other day.

 Red Hook -- Wise Cracker Wit

My favorite beer style is a wheat beer, and for a long time if it was a wheat beer I’d love it. Now, though, I’m a lot pickier about my wheat beers. I look for drink-ability first and foremost. (Duh!)  But beyond that, I want one that that stands out among the rest.

Red Hook Wisecracker Wit is high on the first, but middle of the pack with the last. This is a HIGHLY drinkable beer. I poured it into a glass, but I think it would be just as easy to drink from the bottle. (Wheat beers are meant to be enjoyed from a glass, in my opinion. Sometimes, though, that might not be an option.) I’d happily pack a six-pack for a day on a boat or for a backyard barbecue. It’s very easy to drink. Which could potentially be dangerous.

Red Hook -- Wise Cracker Wit

However, it didn’t really make me go, “WOW! This really stands out from the rest!” It just kind of runs middle of the pack of all the wheat beers I’ve had regarding uniqueness. Nothing really jumped out at me flavor-wise that made me stop and really analyze it.

Nonetheless, that’s nothing to stop me from having it again, though. I did enjoy it very much, and, like I said, it might just show up at a future barbecue in my cooler.

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My attempt at homemade salsa

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SalsaI rarely do “how to” posts because I don’t think I’m very good at them don’t have the patience for them. So this isn’t a “how to” post as much as its my sharing what I did and if you get something from it, awesome.

I’ve been wanting to attempt making homemade salsa for a long time now. I have a lot of friends who have made it, but I never tried myself.

Sunday, I decided this was going to happen. So when I was at the grocery store, I picked up the ingredients I thought I might need. (I was so prepared that I didn’t even look up any recipes online. I’m so pro here. Obviously.) I grabbed tomatoes, jalapenos, a sweet onion (Vidalia… Vidalia… Girl won’t you tell me why… Sweet Vidalia … You always gotta make me cry… Oh, sorry. Got sidetracked there. Kudos to anyone who knows what that was.), and limes. I already had garlic on hand, so I didn’t need that.

When I got home I looked up recipes online for some tips on how to make this happen. Doing things in a logical order clearly doesn’t make sense to me here, but luckily I found I had the main ingredients I might need. So without hesitation, I jumped in with both feet.

 Salsa fixin's

I ended up using three tomatoes, two garlic cloves, half the onion, the whole jalapeno, and a fist full of cilantro. I threw them all into my food processor and then squeezed the juice of the whole lime on top.

Two pieces of advice… the fun of homemade salsa is you can accent whatever flavor you wish. Want it more acidic, use more limes. I happen to loooove cilantro, so I used a LOT of cilantro. My second piece of advice is to think about how hot you want your salsa. Want it hot? Use the whole jalapeno. Want it not so hot? Take out the insides of the jalapeno (the seeds) since that’s where the heat lives, or at least use just a portion of the jalapeno.

salsa2

I hit the button and let the food processor do its magic. When it looked like every thing was chopped up good, I sampled my mixture. (Uhm, I turned the food processor OFF first, of course.) It was HOT. As in spicy hot. And it was missing something.

So I stood there pondering my options. I had two tomatoes left, should I add those? Would it even help? What about more lime? What to do… what to do…

Ah ha! I’ll add these things:

salsa3

Cumin is my favorite good guacamole go-to spice. Tomato paste wouldn’t make it runny, but would help cut the heat. I hoped. And salt. Well. It needed it. So I threw some cumin and salt in, and then the whole can of tomato paste.

I hit the button again. Got it all mixed up. Sampled it again. BINGO! Its still way hotter than I usually like my salsa, but its also that kind of hot that makes you go, “Oh that’s HOT… I want more.”

253: Homemade Salsa

As you can imagine, over time its gotta hotter. A trick I picked up from a friend is to put shredded cheese in it when I eat it. So I’ve been doing that and its just been yummy goodness. It’s ADDICTING. I’m eating it right now as I type this. I might have to make more later this week, in fact.

Hope maybe I gave you some ideas on how to make your own homemade salsa. Don’t be afraid of it! There’s no real right or wrong here. Make it the way YOU like it… that’s the beauty of it being home made.