ButternutSquash and Blue Cheese Ravioli: home cooked filling of roasted butternut squash, castello cheese ‘s castello blue cheese, basil salt, finely minced hickory smoked bacon, black pepper, and a drizzle of USDA organic grade A dark-amber maple syrup; all encased in homemade wholegrain pasta dough and coated with a browned butter and homegrown sage sauce; then garnished with garden fresh sage leaves, grated parmigiano-reggiano, and freshly cracked black pepper. This tasty dish was paired with Russian River Brewing ‘s Damnation. This Belgian-style Golden Ale had enough carbonation to cut through the rich butter sauce, while the beer held up to the Blue Cheese and black pepper flavorings.

Raspberry Chocolate Mousse: inspired by Fred Bueltmann’s (@Beervangelist of New Holland Brewing) Michigan Mousse recipe, this chocolate mousse was made with beer! A home canned jar of summer harvested, wild grown raspberry juice was combined with Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale, Ghirardelli 72% Cacao, Lindt Chocolate 70% Cocoa, sugar, butter, and eggs to form the mousse that was garnished with fresh raspberry, chocolate truffles, whipped cream and a #homemade milk chocolate lattice circle. Served with Brouwerij Boon ‘s Framboise Boon; the beer’s light fruit-flavored acidity balanced out the sweet chocolate while the raspberry essence was carried throughout.

Pear Clafouti: fresh sliced pears covered in a rich flan-like batter made from Anson Mills ‘ fresh native stone ground #organic fine cloth-bolted Red May Wheat pastry flour, eggs, melted European-style butter, almond extract, sugar, and homemade bourbon vanilla extract. As for the beer pairing, this dessert was accompanied by DogFish Head ‘s Czech Style Pilsner, Piercing Pils, a perry-pilsner hybrid beer brewed with pear juice and white pear tea.

Pecan Tart: a homemade, blind-baked, 50/50 whole wheat and AP flour crust bottom overflowing with a Finger Lakes Distilling ‘s McKenzie Bourbon Whiskey and homemade bourbon vanilla extract (bourbon infused with split whole Madagascar vanilla beans) flavored filling. Served with a dip of @HaagenDazs_US ‘s Butter Pecan ice cream. Paired with Abita Beer ‘s Pecan Harvest Ale. Louisiana roasted pecans are added to this American brown ale , making it a natural pairing for this tart.

Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup: this soup started out with baking soda to break down the wild rice ‘s hard pectin coating and then baking the rice to attain a rich brown stock which was then flavored with a variety of mushrooms (including: shitake, white, porcini, oyster, boletes, and wood ear) and finished off with lemon thyme and lemon zest; fresh home baked bread accompanied the soup. For the beer pairing , this meal was served with Flying Fish Brewing ‘s Exit 16 Wild Rice Double IPA. The rich earthy, nutty, savory flavors in the soup nicely contrasted with the tropical fruit and pine-like flavors from the chinook and citra hops in this DIPA, while the citrus flavor from the lemon thyme and zest acted as a bridge between the different flavors.

Homemade pizzas: (Front)home baked bacon and egg pizza with black pepper, bacon, homegrown sage, and eggs; (Rear) five cheese pizza with fresh diced tomatoes, homegrown basil, oregano, parmesan, asiago, extra sharp provolone, ricotta, parmigiano reggiano, and pepperoni; Both on homemade crust and cooked on a pizza stone. Served with a Schlafly beer ‘s Tasmanian IPA brewed completely with Australian Galaxy Hops.

Learned a lot this past weekend at the Worcester Honey Farms Beekeeping class held at Longwood Gardens botanical gardens (as a horticultural techniques credit of their continuing education program).

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