Raccoon: With the snow melt and warmer weather recently, this critter was encouraged to go out looking for some food, even during the day!

Grapefruit Bars: home baked blind-baked European style butter crust filled with a grapefruit custard made from freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice, finely grated pink grapefruit zest, sugar, and brown eggs; garnished with confectioners’ sugar, grapefruit slices, and homemade candied grapefruit peel tossed in Wholesome Sweet ‘s Fair Trade Certified organic sugar. Served with Stone Brewing Co ‘s Grapefruit Slam IPA, the citrus flavor from the Centennial hops is magnified with the addition of fresh grapefruit peel to make for a tasty beer pairing.

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“Buffalo” Bites and Blue Cheese Pizza: home baked thin crust pizza dough bottom with a base coat of blue cheese and ranch sauce made from Castello Cheese ‘s Castello Blue Cheese, whole milk ricotta cheese, whole milk mozzarella cheese, and ranch seasoning; topped with home battered and fried chicken breast cubes smothered in a spicy homemade “buffalo” sauce made from sweet onions, garlic, black pepper, oil, chipotle peppers, paprika, cayenne pepper, lemon juice and egg yolks; garnished with a light shaving of parmigiano reggiano and thinly sliced fresh celery pieces; then drizzled with a homemade blue cheese and heavy cream sauce. Devils Backbone Brewing Company ‘s 16 Point Imperial IPA.

CauliflowerSoup: Home Canned pressure cooked chicken broth base made with homegrown herbs, potatoes, butter, sweet onions, cream, and Pennsylvania Amish grown cauliflower, garnished with cauliflower florets, clarified butter, and crisp home baked rye and caraway seed crackers topped with egg wash and sprinkled with flax seeds. Served with Allagash Brewing ‘s Midnight Brett Ale this ale was brewed with midnight wheat and fermented with Brettanomyces. The natural sweetness of the vegetable soup matched the beer’s roasted character while the tart fruitiness of the Brett kept it in check.

Beer-Maple Custard Filled Beignet: to celebrate the end of Mardi Gras, there is nothing sweeter than this Beer And Dessert pairing. Hand Made dough fried into fluffy beignets filled with a homemade custard of egg yolks, Leffe Brun ale, sugar, flour, butter, USDA organic grade A dark-amber maple syrup; garnished with powdered sugar and washed down with EvilTwin Brewing ‘s Imperial Doughnut Break, a beer that was “dry-doughnutted” with glazed doughnuts.

Shrimp Boil: What better meal to have on Fat Tuesday than a southern-style Shrimp Boil consisting of locally made sausage, homemade pressure cooked crustacean stock made from shrimp and lobster shells, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, shrimp, and lots of spices (of course) paired up with Abita Beer ‘s Purple Haze, a #beer brewed about 30 miles north of New Orleans.

Grapefruit Cured Salmon: salmon home cured in salt, vodka, black peppercorns, juniper berries, sugar, pink grapefruit zest, and pine essential oil served with a side of sweet homemade candied grapefruit peel (boiled and rinsed three times to help remove some bitter flavors); paired up with Abita Beer ‘s Grapefruit Harvest IPA. This beer was made with Louisiana ruby-red grapefruits, so the grapefruit flavor was carried throughout the course.

While hiking through the snow, I noticed rodent tracks around some logs, and judging from the fox prints nearby, it looks like the fox did too!

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