Three Beautiful Things 05/14/16: Ah! Three Stars Brewing, Flavor Packed Syrian Soup, The Promise of Quiet

1. I leaped into the Sube and made my way to the dead end of Chillum Place, in an industrial sliver in NW D. C. to sample some beers at the Three Stars Brewing Company.  Why does this company call itself Three Stars?  It's an homage to the flag of Washington, D. C.  Here's the D.C. flag's design, inspired by George Washington's coat of arms:

My twenty minute drive to Three Stars was a complete success. I enjoyed four 1 oz samples for free and then purchased four small beers in a flight. My three favorite beers? Peppercorn Saison, Starsky and Dutch, a sweet Imperial Stout, and Dissonance, a Berliner Style Rye, a sour beer. I went to Three Stars today because I knew that Friday night the brewery released a new Double India Pale Ale called Ultra Fresh in cans only and I bought a four pack of tall boys to share with the Deke and Allie later in the day. We loved this beer and it just might be worth another trip over to Three Stars to see if they still have cans in stock on Sunday.

2. When the Deke and I zoomed in the Sube up to Nyack a few weeks ago, Adrienne gave me a cookbook, Bean by Bean.  It's awesome. Whenever I get a cookbook, it takes me a while to peruse it and I don't usually get anything cooked right away.  Tonight the time had come.  I cooked the first of what will be many dishes from this book.  I made the Syrian Zucchini-Chickpea soup. It was very simple -- onion, garlic, jalapeno pepper, chickpeas, bean liquid and water, tomato paste, allspice, cumin, salt, pepper, zucchini, cilantro, and we each squeezed the juice of a lemon into our separate bowls. Allie made perfect cornbread muffins to accompany the soup and this was a superb meal. (A google search of the menu name will give you, if you scroll down far enough, results from the google book version of Bean by Bean. The recipe is on pages 61-62.)

3. To help out Allie with taking care of our grandchildren, the Deke is spending the nights at the Diazes until they return Sunday night.  The Deke offered to have the corgis stay over on Saturday night, giving me the chance to sleep past 5:30 a.m., to have some quiet time in our apartment home, and -- YES! -- to vacuum. Huzzah!