Well, it’s almost time for people to show up for my second, ever, homebrew and home-cooking event.

Ha. “Event” makes it sound so much bigger than it is. What I’ve done is invite a handful of people over for brunch. But it feels like an “event” because at least one person is someone I’ve never met before. Which means a lot more cleaning than if it were just Rob or Nicky or Jason showing up.

Luckily, the beverage plan is easy. I’ll ask Bill to pick up some coffee beans and make some coffee for folks who are arriving. Then, I have the coffee beer I made with Nancy, a coffee beer Jason (Beer Husband) made, and a coffee beer Matt made. This isn’t actually a TON of beer for six people, as Jason & Matt’s beers are in 12 oz bottles. But it’s probably enough caffeine for everyone. If not, well, more coffee. Also tea. IF folks stay long enough, I may subject them to beer cocktails I’m concocting. And I’ll have limes on hand for Bill’s latest mocktail invention. And, of course, water. Probably orange juice, if I remember it.

My food plan, for the moment, is quiche, baked french toast, and greens with mushrooms (sauteed at the last minute). Excepting the greens, it’s what I did for my last brunch, and it was popular. Also, it’s the photos I used to “sell” the giveaway. I don’t know if I’ll do the identical french toast (which was a HUGE hit and will take some stuff out of the freezer), or something different, but that’s the answer so far, I think. Likely, I’ll do a very slight variant on the french toast. That french toast is rather boozy, so if I can figure out how to minimize it, that’d be ideal. Bill has suggested cooking the “uncooked booze” portion of the french toast. That seems a likely choice.

As for the quiche, my friend Adrienne suggested a mushroom quiche, so I’m going to do that. Mostly because it sounds AMAZING to me, especially with beer. Probably a simple mushroom and cheese quiche. Maybe I’ll throw in sun-dried tomatoes, because I love them. There won’t be caramelized onions this time, though. Those can get overwhelming quickly, and I don’t yet have a deft hand with them. I did promise I wouldn’t get experimental, after all.

Where I’m going to get experimental (despite having promised I won’t get experimental; I can’t help myself) is in the bread-like objects. I’m going to make the bread for the french toast myself, as well as the crust for the quiche. And I’ll be using spent grain to make it all. The bread will be great. It’s been great all four times, already, that I’ve made it. And it’s a good texture to soak up the egg mixture. So that I’m not worried about. I’ve isolated the parts that are not delicious about it & won’t include them. Easy.

I’m a little nervous about this experimentation, when it comes to the crust for the quiche. I’m pretty terrible at pie crust. Normally, I buy it. And so not only making the crust, but adding extra ingredients sounds like a bad plan. Or a fun one. So I’m going to tell myself it’s that second one. But I’ll likely have a back-up purchased crust. Just in case.

Also, should I make anything else? Scones? Fruit salad? I just don’t know! But I’m looking forward to it. I’ll share pictures Tuesday or so, after the damage has been done.