I went to Santa Maria, California for my Mom’s 60th birthday. It was a short trip but a memorable one. I spent an entire week visiting with friends and family and playing a variety games with the general theme of “get the thing closest to the hole.” Golf, horseshoes, and cornhole. My favorite, Cornhole or for the more sensitive, “the bean bag game.” Basically, its horseshoes with bean bags. Whatever, its awesome. Nobody liked my idea to yell, “CORNHOLE” every time someone got a beanbag in the hole.

Anywhoo, the only downside to the trip was that pretty much everyone down there drinks Coors Lite. Another downside is that I had to come home early while the family stayed to enjoy the beauty which is Santa Barbara County. Of course, when we have lemons we make lemonade.

I went up to New Seasons, got myself a New York steak, some Walla Walla sweet onions, red potatoes, baby greens, and a pint of Green Flash Brewing Co., Imperial India Pale Ale. Then I came home and made myself one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I caramelized the onions according to a variation of Frosty’s recipe (olive oil, chipotle pomegranate sauce), grilled the potatoes and the steak to perfection. The result was amazing.

The beer was a perfect compliment. Although super-hoppy, I didn’t get the expected bite. It was surprisingly smooth and packed a punch. The coolest thing was that after the bees chased me inside, I turned on the television to watch Reno 911 (the movie) and found nothing other than the end of RED DAWN. Hell yeah. Watched Charlie Sheen and Patrick Swayze die and then laughed my ass off with Reno 911.