Bread.

We had polished off what was left of the cookies. The box of Reduced Fat Wheat Thins? Yeah, that was history. There wasn’t a bag of Doritos or pretzels or even a vat of Heluva Good French Onion Dip to be found in the house. This is what happens when you skip a week of grocery shopping. However, all of this being said, I was still in the mood for a treat. More specifically, I was in the mood for scent of a treat, I didn’t know if I’d eat it or not, but I needed to be stimulated in a culinary way.

Looking through the cupboards I found a bottle of Beer Bread Mix I had picked up on a whim at a local card shop a while back. Now that I think about it, I don’t know why the Hallmark shop was carrying Beer Bread Mix (maybe the clerks needed an occasional pick me up) but nevertheless it had caught my eye so I had bought it and then stored it for a special occasion.

Last night was that special occasion.

Finding the beer to go into the beer bread was not an issue. I like beer. I swore off alcohol for quite a while a few years ago, mainly because I was getting drunk on some really cheap swill and doing things like making an ass of myself in public (or grabbing ass inappropriately, but that’s a different story), but I have been responsibly trying some better beers for a little while now and we have a good selection to choose from in the fridge.

We may be out of groceries but we are not out of beer.

I decided to go with the Lake Placid IPA (India Pale Ale) as my beer of choice for this little beer bread mix I had. The instructions were simple, mix the beer with the mix and bake it for 60 minutes at 350F.

Done.

The need to smell something cooking was easily satisfied, the bread tasted delicious. I had a small piece before bed last night (and I shared some with my husband, who commented that it was good). I just had a slice with some tunafish for my lunch.

It might not be the healthiest bread in the world, and after all, what bread is really healthy, but I rode the bike this morning and all of my clothes are too big so I feel comfortable risking the beer bread at lunch time.

And who knows, maybe that’ll give my afternoon just a touch of the kick it needs.