‘Walmart of weed’ opening store in Washington, D.C.

A company dubbed the “Walmart of Weed” is putting down roots in America’s capital city, sprouting further debate on marijuana — medical or otherwise.

Just a few miles from the White House and federal buildings, a company that candidly caters to medical marijuana growers is opening up its first outlet on theEast Coast. The opening of the weGrow store on Friday in Washington coincides with the first concrete step in implementing a city law allowing residents with certain medical conditions to purchase pot.

Like suppliers of picks and axes during the gold rush, weGrow sees itself providing the necessary tools to pioneers of a “green rush,” which some project could reach nearly $9 billion within the next five years. Admittedly smaller than a big box store, weGrow is not unlike a typical retailer in mainstream America, with towering shelves of plant food and vitamins, ventilation and lighting systems. Along with garden products, it offers how-to classes, books and magazines on growing medical marijuana.

“The more that businesses start to push the envelope by showing that this is a legitimate industry, the further we’re going to be able to go in changing people’s minds,” said weGrow founder Dhar Mann.

 

Bottle Belts Hold Wine and Beer on Your Bicycle

Perfect for holding wine and beer bottles, plus whatever else you can think of, bottle belts are from Walnut Studiolo, run by Geoffrey and Valerie Franklin in Portland.

They source a lot of their materials (scrap leather, old ink cartridges, packaging) from SCRAP, a creative re-use center. The leather in the bottle belts comes from a local company that uses byproducts of the meat industry. The metal hardware comes from a small Ohio company.

Beer drinking pigs of St. Croix

The Perfect Rye Whiskey to Pair with Pancakes

Van Gogh, known for its palette of palate-pleasing flavored vodkas, has gone north of the border to bring back Tap 357, a maple-flavored blended rye whiskey with an 81-proof caffeine-surpassing jolt that will bring sunshine to your morning and sweet dreams to your nightcap.

The idea was this: Add a dollop of high-grade maple syrup to the smooth butteriness of barrel-aged rye whiskey to create a drink that kicks whiseky up a notch on that maple tree tap. Tap 357 starts with a blend of Canadian rye that has been aged for three, five, or seven years in bourbon casks. Then master blender Michel Marcil adds a dollop or two of pure “Canada 1/Grade A Light” maple syrup, one of Canada’s more-famous culinary exports.

The result is a potent but pleasurable cascade of flavors — sugary maple, toasty grain, buttery wood toast — that tastes good either neat, on the rocks, or in cocktails. It’s a tad sweeter than regular rye, and its mouthfeel is more substantial and silkier.  But there is no mistaking the barrel bite of true whiskey in the finish.

Vacation Travel Guide – Places to Avoid

These are the places in America where alcohol is still banned

Marijuana vending machines

Two medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles have installed pot vending machines. They’re accessible 24 hours a day and monitored by security guards. After cinching up your doctor’s consultation, hit an AVM location to get your prescription approved, fingerprint taken, and a prepaid credit card loaded with your profile: dosage (3.5 or 7 grams, up to 1oz a week) and strain preference (choice of five, including OG Cush and Granddaddy Purple, the mildly hallucinogenic forebear to Prince). Then day or night, all you do is hit a machine and walk away with enough vacuum-sealed, plastic-encapsulated cheeba to adequately treat your illness.

Man Creates Web Site To Find Beer On Tap

 

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — It’s after 5 p.m. on a Friday, so some of you might be thinking about a beer.

If you’re particular about your pints, we have a web site that you might be interested in. It’ll tell you where to find your favorite beer on tap in the Twin Cities.

Matt Seedorf is a beer fan and he knows what he likes. “I really don’t like it when I don’t get what I want,” he said. What he wanted was a one stop shop to find his favorite beer. As far as he could tell, that didn’t exist.

So, Matt decided to keep track himself. He launched findabeernow.com last August. Since then, he’s added beer menus for more than 1,300 bars and restaurants around the Twin Cities.

Read More….

 

 

Blueberry lemon beer cupcake recipe

by Claire Gallam Posted in Food & Recipes / Dessert Recipes / Baking

 

These cupcakes aren’t just for dessert either. The use of fresh blueberries and lemon gives these almost a muffin taste, so you can certainly indulge and enjoy one for breakfast. Now, all the alcohol cooks out, but I won’t tell anyone if you pair this with a spiked lemonade or a beermosa. Who said you can’t have beer for breakfast?

Blueberry lemon beer cupcake recipe

Yields 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Dash of salt

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce (or can use oil or butter)

1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

1 egg

3/4 cup blueberry beer

1-1/2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest

1 – 2 teaspoons lemon juice

3/4 cup fresh blueberries

Use this classic buttercream recipe for the frosting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake/muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. In another bowl, mix together the applesauce and egg with a whisk. Add in buttermilk, beer, lemon zest mixture and lemon juice, and whisk well. Add the beer mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just moistened. Gently fold in blueberries. Spoon about 1/4 – 1/3 cup of the batter into each liner, filling about 2/3 the way full. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let chill completely. Once chilled, frost with buttercream and garnish with additional lemon zest or blueberries!

Tasty @LustyMonk BBQ Sauce

The grill is calling, the meat screams to be SLATHERED! It’s Friday and it looks to be a beautiful weekend. Gather up your friends and family and hit the backyard, the park or your favorite campsite and let the feasting commence. Here is a tasty sauce to spice up the taste of any critter or vegetable you’re grilling.

This sauce can be as simple or as complex as you like.  It must have Lusty Monk Alter Boy Mustard, vinegar, sugar and onions. Everything else is extra. This version goes with brown sugar and cider vinegar, as well as some cayenne for spice.  Like most barbecue sauces, this one matures as it cooks. You will want it to cook it at least 30 minutes, but if you are holding it for hours, you might need to add a little more mustard and water to keep it the right consistency.

4 Tbsp butter

1/2 onion, grated

1/2 cup Lusty Monk Alter Boy Mustard

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1 teaspoon cumin

1 bay leaf

Salt to taste

Directions:

Heat the butter over medium heat until it boils, then add the onion and saute for about 4 minutes.  Do not let the onions brown.

Add everything else, stir well and simmer slowly for at least 30 minutes.

(Note:  Be sure to use this type of sauce near the end of cooking or barbecuing your meat as the sugar will caramelize quickly and can burn.)

How do you know if someone’s too stoned to drive?

DENVER — Angeline Chilton says she can’t drive unless she smokes pot.

The suburban Denver woman uses medical marijuana to ease multiple sclerosis symptoms and says she’d never get behind the wheel right after smoking. But her case underscores a problem that no one’s sure how to solve: How do you tell if someone is too stoned to drive?

States that allow medical marijuana have grappled with determining impairment levels for years. And voters in Colorado and Washington state will decide this fall whether to legalize the drug for recreational use, bringing a new urgency to the issue.

A Denver marijuana advocate says officials are scrambling for limits in part because more drivers acknowledge using the drug.

“The explosion of medical marijuana patients has led to a lot of drivers sticking the (marijuana) card in law enforcement’s face, saying, ‘You can’t do anything to me, I’m legal,”’ said Sean McAllister, a lawyer who defends people charged with driving under the influence of marijuana.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/stoned-drive-article-1.1041739#ixzz1pgIQM07M