Life Out West: April 2012

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

What the heck are we still doing in the U.S.???

Some of you might be asking this question. Didn't I get some job in England? Well - yes, and no. I was offered the position, but due to some visa annoyances, I don't actually have the job yet. If this sounds confusing - it is.

Basically, the job was not originally advertised correctly according to all the rules one must follow if one is hiring a non-UK citizen. So the job has been re-posted (with the new job description tailored toward my CV), and will close on Friday. (Don't even think about applying!!) Then I'll re-interview (I'm guessing this will be informal), and be hired (if that doesn't happen I shall commence Revolutionary War II).

In the meantime, we've been in this weird limbo of needing to get ready to leave but not knowing when we'll leave or what needs to be packed (we're unsure about if moving expenses will be covered). It's been stressful and an emotional roller coaster and I will be much happier when I know for sure when I start etc.

We've rented our house out to a work friend and her husband. It's a great situation, but means we will leave Ft Collins the weekend of April 28 (less than 3 weeks!!). I'm getting incredibly sad about leaving, so enough about that. The good news is, we'll spend 4 weeks or so in Georgia with family. Emmaline will have lots of time to bond with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins before we leave, which is really important to Chris and I. We are still excited about living in Exeter, and I'm excited about the job. So hopefully we'll get there eventually ...

Making something wonderful!

The Brewmaster

Chris started brewing beer about two years ago. Obviously once I got pregnant, I could find better things to do with my time than spend hours making something I would never get to enjoy. But I decided to help Chris with his final brewing fling. We both love dark beer, so we chose an oatmeal stout. Chris made up a recipe based on some he found online and based on the stout recipe at Hops'n'Berries (the brewers shop connected with Equinox).

The big difference between this beer and the other ones Chris has made is the grain. Usually he buys malts and grains that are prepared for brewing. It cuts out a step (cooking the grains to make a soupy, malty mixture that becomes the beer). But this time we used super dark barleys, malt and oatmeal to make our own concoction*. The house smelled like chocolate, which seemed like a great sign!

Chocolatey spent grains (Chris tried to make bread with them but it was nasty).

I'm not going to attempt to go into detail about the brewing process. If you tried to follow my recollection of the recipe, your beer would probably taste like feet. All I can say is - it's a combination of having to be very precise (with temperatures, measurements, sanitation, & timing) and of just sitting around. Basically, brewing beer is a great excuse to spend 3-4 hours doing not much of anything. Luckily the day we brewed was another beautiful spring day, so we enjoyed sitting on the back patio while Emmaline slept. It was pretty fun and very interesting to see everything that goes into making a beer, and how each ingredient adds something to the flavor, 'mouthfeel', and/or color. Also we got to use the word "Fuggles" which is fun to say (that's one of the hops we used). The only bad thing is now we still have a few weeks of waiting for the brewing to finish.

Cooking stuff (this has been the best use of our turkey fryer!)

Cooling stuff.

We've named the beer "Farewell Stout", although we almost named it "Dead Squirrel Stout" because I found a dismembered squirrel in our backyard that day. Maybe we'll just have a picture of a dead squirrel on the label, that would be lovely.