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This Post Brought To You By The Letter K!

As a former English teacher and long-time writer, I enjoy playing Scrabble.  However, it's been my experience that 'K' is one of the tougher letters to work into a decent-scoring word.  It is likely that it's really not that hard, and that I'm functioning at a low level of competence.  Or maybe I'm having bad letter luck.  Or, maybe...it really is that hard to use the letter K.

But when it comes to the culinary world, K abounds everywhere.  The vitamin K. Kimchi. Kiwi. Key lime (that's tomorrow). And on and on and on...

But, we're outside the box a little bit today.  No worries, yeah?  Here we go.

I live in Iowa.  Southeast Iowa, to be somewhat geographically precise.  A few more miles east of me is a thriving, vibrant, visible Amish and Mennonite community.  One of the primary centers of this faith/lifestyle is a little town called Kalona.  The main town is chockablock full of quilt shops, cabinet stores, quaint bakeries...and a pretty BA brewery gastropub: Kalona Brewing Company.

Sometimes, it's incredibly awesome to let someone else do the kitchen work for you.  And I don't mind on this frigid Saturday driving an hour for this kind of adventure.  I'm going to let the pictures do the talking here...I'll provide minimal narration.


Always the MO when visiting a brewery I haven't been to before.  A flight, a sampling of beers.  Perfect way to not commit.  I chose an IPA, an imperial stout, a Belgian-style Dubbel, and a witbier.


No point in leaving the kids out of flight sampling.  Kalona Brewing Company has four draft sodas...and they do flights of them as well.  And my kids feel oh-so-grown-up.


I was divided between the meat plate and the cheese plate.  In the end, I went the carnivore route.  Iowa meats, olives, cornichons (pickles), and pita bread.  Could have used some kind of mustard or jam here though.


The view down the table from my seat.  Wood-fired pizzas, people!  The most impressive part - housemade ketchup.  Tomato ketchup NOT from a bottle...delicious enough to inspire my husband to ask how we could go about making our own. Ah!  Another 'K' word!


The bomber of the Dubbel I took home and drank later.  Night Vision, indeed.

I love these types of trips.  I love these types of days.  It pleases me to no end to know my state is amazingly full of places like this...and not that far away from where I live...where Walmart is king.

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