#60 Cooking with Beer

#60 Cooking with Beer

I don't even like beer but I must admit I like this cookbook. It's only 47 pages but it's an inch thick made from heavy, wipe off cardboard and it's such a cute shape. About liking beer, I am outnumbered in my family, Hubby and daughter really enjoy a cold one. So much so, I have a row of empty frozen beer mugs taking up room in my freezer at all times. Heaven forbid there wouldn't be a frosty mug ready when they needed one. Also this is enough to make any mother proud, my daughter is just a few beers away from having her name on a Beer Drinkers wall of fame. How special is that!

If I was ever going to learn to like beer, it should have been when we lived in St. Louis, MO before moving to Canada. Now there's a beer town! Michael got some great shots of the old red brick buildings of the Budweiser brewery which is located there. They also keep the big beautiful Clydesdales there in the antique stables. It really is a great tour, kind of like the Cadbury Chocolate factory, see post # 28. You get lots of free samples and I'll usually eat or drink anything that's free.

But beer blah, I must get this from my Mom. As a little girl in Kansas, Mom was asked to sign "The Pledge" promising that liquor would never touch her lips. Unlike many others, Mom signed it and kept the promise. That is until that terrible day in St. Louis. In Kansas, you had to really hunt to find a drink in most areas. Do your remember when airplanes flying over the Kansas had to stop serving liquor, well I do and they did. Now Missouri on the other hand was always a wild and wanton place. There's a reason Jesse James called it home.

In the 1960s my family took a trip to St. Louis to see the Arch as it was being built. At that time the legs were about half way up and there wasn't much to see so the folks took us kids to their amazing Zoo. It was one of those HOT humid days like you find all summer long in the Midwest. Mom sat down on a bench in the kid's section while Dad wondered off to get some refreshment at a little stand. He came back sipping from a big paper cup and poor overheated Mom reached out her hand, took the cup and drank. My sisters and I stared in wonder as she made the strangest face and looked at my Dad with a mixture of surprise and respect. After all those many, many years, he had gotten her to taste a beer. He was sheepishly grinning and I'm proud of Mom, she didn't spit it out and we got a great family story to add to our memories. Cookbook #60 is Cooking with Beer and yes that is a President's Choice beer in the picture, see #54.