Good-bye 2012, Hello 2013!

At the beginning of this year, I listed off some 2012 goals for Fifth Floor Kitchen- and looking back I think we did pretty good!  I’m so humbled and proud of this little space we have created, and since I’m feeling a little nostalgic about 2012, I wanted to share a handful of favorite highlights from this past year.

2012 Top 3 Recipe Posts:
1. Indian Chicken Soup

2. Vegetable Coq au Vin

3. Seasoned Popcorn 2 Ways

2012 Top 3 Travel Posts:
1. Bonn, Germany
2. Boston: Sam Adams Brewery Tour
3. Warsaw, Poland

Other 2012 Highlights:
1. We got married!  We had a wonderful wedding near Charlottesville, VA (check out our posts about this great city here and here) and we spent an amazing honeymoon in Phuket, Thailand (blog posts: Pt 1, Pt 2)!

2. Where else did we travel? Boston (Posts: 1, 2, 3), Philadelphia, and Baltimore.

3. Food-wise some of our personal favorites were: Cowgirl Creamery Cheese Pairing, Lobster Mac ‘n Cheese, Birthday Fruit Tart, Crunchy Fish Tacos with Chimichurri Sauce, Brazilian Fish & Shrimp Stew, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, S’more Cookie, and Buckwheat Crêpes with Corn Salsa.  If you haven’t tried these, definitely add them to your “to-do” list for 2013!

3. Other fun stuff: Eat Write Retreat Blogger Conference, Slave-free Tomato Day, Holiday White House Tour, An Edible Mosaic Book Launch, and being part of the Food Matters Project.

4. We also started a series “Monthly Reviews”, a great way to see some of our iPhone photos and adventures we might not write about: May, June, July, August, and November.  A December one is coming up soon!

Over the course of 2012 we have had 116 posts- that’s a lot of words, photographs and recipes!

But I do love the feeling of a New Year- a fresh start, being able to look ahead towards all the new opportunities this year will bring.  We are looking forward to 2013 to continue sharing our culinary and travel adventures with you all- remember to keep up with us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram!

We wish you all a happy and healthy New Year!  Thank you so much for reading, commenting and being part of Fifth Floor Kitchen!

Warm wishes for a happy new year!

Many hugs,
Evi & Sam

*Our wedding photos were taken by our friend Meaghin Kennedy- check out some of her photos here, or her blog: These Salty Oats

Visiting Boston, Massachusetts

This past weekend we went to visit our friends in Boston.  Other than taking the tour of Sam Adams Brewery, we also enjoyed some great food!

On Friday evening we stopped by the Cheers Bar in Beacon Hill.

Of course, this is where Sam found out that I had never seen even one episode of Cheers.  I know, that might be shocking since they had many reruns on Nickelodeon while I was growing up.

We walked around downtown Boston and saw

the Union Oyster House, which is the oldest restaurant in the United States.  Prior to being a seafood house it was a fancy dress good store, and during the Revolutionary War it was the location where Federal troops received their wages.

Fun Fact: The toothpick was first used here!

This is a menu at Atwood & Bacon’s (the name prior to Union Oyster House) from the 19th century.  All of the prices are in cents- most of the oysters were between 10-40 cents, while a milk or coffee was 5.

And looking at all those oysters in the window, we had to stop for a snack at the Farmer’s Market:

Lot’s of seafood to choose from!

And we decided to have some fresh Cherrystone Clams:

They were some of the the most delicious I have ever had!

After some more walking around we decided to stop in one of the many restaurants in the North End.  We chose Rabia’s Seafood & Oyster Bar, an Italian restaurant.  A group of us had a lot of good food, to give you a little taste:

we had to have a bit more oysters!

This was the Fradiavolo Alla Mediterranea (baby octopus, shrimp, scallops, calamari, clams, mussels, linguine, fire roasted tomato).

Linguine Alla Vongole (Cape Cod littlnecks, assorted mushrooms, garlic, linguine)

Fettuccine Con Aragosta (Fresh Maine lobster, fresh egg fettuccine, Vermont butter)

Lobster with butter!

After looking through all those photos, I now want to make some pasta and seafood.  Yum!

One last Boston tip!  We went to brunch at The Regal Beagle, which had a great atmosphere- very laid back and great for a Sunday morning.  This will be a bold statement- I had the best BLT sandwich I have ever eaten.  Unfortunately, I didn’t take a photo (next time?)- but if I will ever be back, I will definitely get this again.

Good-bye Boston, we’ll definitely be back soon!

Boston: Sam Adams Brewery Tour

This weekend Sam and I went to visit our friends Becky and Gary in Boston.  Although both of us had been to Boston in the past, it was when we were much younger.  So it’s been on our list to see our friends and check out this city as adults.

On Saturday we visited the Sam Adams Brewery, did the tour and tried some of their beers!  The tours take place Monday thru Saturday, each day starting at 10am.  Each tour is about 1 hour, and you can enjoy a Sam Adams beer at the end!

The brewery is in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston, in a fairly residential neighborhood- easily accessible by public transportation.  The tour is free, but donations are recommended.

Samuel Adams was founded by Jim Koch in 1984 in Boston, MA.  Although Sam Adams is the largest selling craft beer in the country, it only accounts for less than 1% of the beer in the U.S.  Most of the beer is actually made in two other breweries- which are located in Cincinnati, Ohio and near Allentown, Pennsylvania (this location makes about 60% of the beer).  The Boston location is mainly used to test out new beer, 2 million barrels of beer per year are made here- which only accounts for 1% of all Sam Adams beer.

What beers did we get to taste?  We had the Sam Adams Boston Lager, the seasonal Summer Ale, and the Sam Adams 26.2 Marathon Brew.  This last beer can only be found on tap around Boston, and it was made specifically for the Boston Marathon– which took place this past Monday.  Currently there are 50 different types of Sam Adams beer.  The most popular, about 50% of sales, is the Boston Lager.

What did we see on the tour?

This is where the brewing and mashing takes place.

This is the cooling tank to allow the beer to cool off.

These are the fermentation and conditioning tanks, each holds 25 barrels of beer.

Barrels of beer ready for drinking!

This is in the tasting room, great to see the different bottles.

Next time you’re in Boston you should definitely check out the Sam Adams Brewery!

After the tour you can take the free trolley to Doyle’s Cafe (about a 5 minute drive).  This trolley is decorated with a disco ball and the driver plays fun music.  In 1986 Jim Koch established a partnership with Doyle’s Cafe, making them the first purveyors of Sam Adams beer- this was the first place that had the Sam Adams beers on tap.  Doyle’s Cafe was established in 1882- it’s celebrating its 130th anniversary this week!  The best part is if you show your Sam Adam’s Tour stamp, and order a Sam Adams beer, you get to keep the Sam Adams glass!  We had some amazing clam chowder here!