A California Thanksgiving

This year's Thanksgiving was one of my all time favorites (I probably say that every year - especially the Watson Skreet Thanksgiving - but it really is the best holiday). On Wednesday afternoon, Rob and I flew to Los Angeles. Because of airline delays (we hate you, US Air), we had to sprint through the parking lot to the Airbus that took us from LAX to Santa Barbara.

After a glorious night of sleep, we woke up at 6:45 thanks to jet lag and headed out for a Turkey Day 5k down to Butterfly Beach. Unfortunately, it was pretty foggy, but the run was a really good way to start the day. I bribed Rob with Coffee Bean so he was a happy little camper.

The rest of the day was spent cooking and waiting for Emily's arrival. She had to work on Thursday and so my grandparents picked her up at 4:30 and then got to Montecito around 6:30. A late Thanksgiving, but we were so happy she was able to make it! Since dinner was actually at dinner time instead of the usual Thanksgiving 3:00 pm "dinner," we grabbed tacos from El Bajio for lunch. El Bajio has some of the best tacos in town and my dad is best buds with the guys who work there. Carnitas on Thanksgiving? Yes please. Back to dinna....we had turkey, mashed potatoes, mashed yams, roasted root veggies, arugula salad with goat cheese and apples, FOUR kinds of stuffing, and corn bread. Lots of wine and champagne. Pretty delicious.

Hanukkah came early this year and my parents gave us treats from their various world travels (scarves and candles and necklaces, oh my). I couldn't resist the gift giving season and got matching pajamas for Emily, Hilary, and Gillian. This was my dream come true. Matching outfits and a photo shoot? Yes please.

The rest of the weekend was obviously lots of fun, too. We saw Skyfall and Silver Linings Playbook, went wine tasting in the Santa Ynez valley, hosted a big brunch and met my parents' friends, went to the beach to see my aunt's open ocean swimming group, watched lots of football, and went to Grauman's Chinese Theater in LA. We mostly ate at home, but Saturday night we went to Plow & Angel at the San Isidro Ranch near my parents' house (where Drew Barrymore had dinner the night after her wedding!) and Monday night, my mom took Rob and me to AOC in LA which was phenomenal. We had such an amazing trip, I miss my family already, and I'm counting down the days until I go home again. 

One of the best parts of going home is looking through all the old pictures. This picture of Emily is definitely my favorite from this trip:

Toggy Tuesday: Thankful Edition

1) My family, of course. If you have read any post on this blog, you know how obsessed I am with my entire family. I'm so lucky to have supportive, fun parents who always set such an amazing example for me and two three sassy sistahz who I love more than anything.

2) My friends. Even though we're not all in the same city, I am so thankful to have these girls in my life! Thank goodness for cell phones and the internet, or else I'd be spending way more money on airplane tickets to see them every weekend.

3) Rob, because he puts up with my crazy and loves me anyway. 

4) And my wonderful cousin Caleb, who drafted into the IDF yesterday. Caleb is six months older than me and is basically my twin. Love him so much and I can't wait for this fighting to end so he is safe. 

Friendsgiving

Such a busy weekend! Sorry for the lack of posts (again), but I promise this will be a good, long one. Last week was a bit of a blur - nothing really special to report. Friday night, Brett, Joe, and I went to Red Sea, a small Ethiopian restaurant near our old apartment. We love Red Sea because the food is cheap, authentic, and delicious. On this visit, I got the lamb platter, but I prefer the vegetarian combo with lentils and cabbage. Mmm delish.

Saturday morning, I met Hilary for brunch at Toast in Davidson. We had a grand old time (as usual) chatting and eating. I got scrambled eggs with chorizo and a Bloody Mary. Yum. That afternoon, one of our friends got engaged! The rest of the day was spent celebrating at the Brickhouse with his family and then back down in Charlotte.

Sunday morning, I was not feeling so hot...but we all got up anyway because I had to pick up my turkey breast from The Fresh Market (Sunday afternoon was Friendsgiving and I had a few hours before ten people came over for a feast). An hour later and with a bagel in my belly and the boys on their way back to Winston, I got to cooking the turkey and roasting the chicken (although the chicken turned out to be total extra food, oh well). Everyone came over around five and the spread was amazing:

Turkey and chicken

Balsamic sweet potatoes

Roasted green beans with mushrooms and asparagus

Curried cauliflower

Cucumber salad

Grilled squash

Stuffing

Cranberry sauce

Pumpkin cheesecake

Apple pie

and wine (obviously)

 Some of us were a little more tired than others, but it was so fun having friends get together to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Prepping food

I have busy nights this week (book club and gift shopping, yes my life is hard) so I spent most yesterday evening cooking for the rest of the week. I peeled 5 pounds of carrots (some for dinners and some for juicing), roasted two sweet potatoes and carrots, hardboiled six eggs, made bacon for salads and breakfast, and baked three chicken breasts - one with a spicy rub, one with a TJ's seasoning mix, and one with rosemary and lemon.

I gave Rob most of the leftover pork from Sunday's slow cooking adventure, but heated up part of my portion for dinner last night. I was craving something light to complement the pork and decided to make lettuce wraps with romaine from my CSA. I chopped up some tomatoes and cilantro, doused the pork in Cholula, and voila - a filling and healthy dinner.

This morning, juicing was super fast and easy because I had already peeled the carrots and cucumber last night. Today's juice: kale, romaine, spinach, cucumber, apple, carrots (nom). I also FINALLY opened my Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar for a cleansing drink. I've been nervous to try this because I've read about how awful the taste is. I mixed 2 tablespoons with a half a glass of water and a small squirt of honey. I wanted to love it...but it was pretty awful. I choked it down anyway though...we'll see how I feel next week (I'm aiming for two vinegar drinks a day, but mixed with more water in the future).

Perfect Weekend

I woke up early on Saturday to take Tucker for a walk, and as soon as I stepped outside, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my morning. I woke Rob up (sorry...) and made him run to Freedom Park with me and Tucker. He and Tuck watched the weekend soccer games while I ran through the park for a full 5k. It was the most gorgeous morning and I couldn't believe it was November.

We walked back to my apartment after stopping at Caribou for coffee. I've been wanting a morning like this since I moved to Dilworth and was so, so happy we finally did it. I whipped up breakfast for us (scrambled eggs with spinach, tomatoes, sausage, squash, and leftover potatoes) with toast and we ate on my back porch. 

In the afternoon, we went to Ten Park Lanes for a hoe down-themed Yelp event. Once a year, the Charlotte Yelp community has a free event with food and beer to benefit a local charity. This year, all the proceeds went to an organization that helps homeless children in the city. We got to try a bunch of beers and snacked on little food samples (not a good picture, but everything was delish: baked beans, brisket ends, coleslaw, and pulled pork).

We went to dinner with Blanchard again (weekend full of Blanch) at Pizza Peel so we could watch football and relax. We got wings + a special pizza (sausage and goat cheese topped with balsamic arugula) and both were delish. Blanchard made us stop at Krispy Kreme where he proceeded to spill coffee everywhere and took 20 minutes to order two donuts. Pretty typical. We had big plans to go out in Montford, but ended up at my apartment watching The Last Song (Blanchard's request, not mine).

Sunday was another day of lounging and football. I did a lot of tidying up in my apartment and threw out a ton of junk. I was feeling a little crafty, so Rob and I made a wreath! Yes, he helped voluntarily. Such a champ.

We put a pork shoulder in the slow cooker with teryaki sauce, but it wasn't going to be done in time so instead, we made a black bean pizza with lots of veggies. I know we had a lot of pizza this weekend, but at least the one we made was healthy.

Perfect weekend, once again. Thanks, November, you're really the best.

Vietnam Grill

On Friday night, Rob, Brett, Blanchard and I to Vietnam Grill, an unassuming spot way down South Boulevard, to try some pho. I've been wanting to try pho for a long time, Brett has been begging for a pho date, and the stars aligned on Friday. I obviously did a lot of research before dinner. I'd never had Vietnamese before and wanted to get something authentic. Rob and I ended up "splitting" a bowl of pho with skirt steak and brisket, and their house special "bun" (basically just vermicelli with some meatballs, egg rolls, and chicken). By splitting, I mean we traded bites. When Rob and I plan to split something but he likes his more than mine, we never actually split. Lucky for him, I wasn't too hungry and the spicy pho filled me up enough, but next time...he betta watch out.

The pho comes with a plate of bean sprouts, basil leaves, lime, and jalapeno. There are also a bunch of sauces on the table (Sriracha, hoisin sauce, fish sauce, and a house-made chili sauce). I followed Brett's lead since he was the pho expert at the table and dug in. All in all, tasty and velvety, but almost too much so. The heat made my throat kind of scratchy (is that normal, pho people?) but I'm glad we tried it.

We got ice cream cones at a drive-through after to cool off our burning throats, and Rob and I ended the evening watching Source Code with a fire in the fireplace. Pretty pho-nomenal Friday night.

Chef Brett

Some eats from this week:

Roasted acorn squash and potatoes (CSA), sauteed kale and tomatoes (CSA), & mustard chicken

Quinoa with tomatoes and cilantro, sauteed collards and sweet potatoes (CSA), & mango chicken sausage

Last weekend, Brett and Ricky graduated from their Johnson & Wales cooking class. The course met five times over the past couple of months and covered everything from knife skills to frying chicken to making salads. To celebrate, they invited me, Lindsay, MDG, Joe, and Rob over for a gourmet feast -- chicken and rice stuffed peppers with a broccoli-potato pancake. I thought the potato pancake was a shoutout to me (latke) but Brett claims it was his own creation...whatever, Brett. Needless to say, we were all VERY impressed with their kitchen skills. Can't wait for next time! 

Toggy Tuesday: Election Edition

Happy Election Day! This morning, I woke up bright and early circa 5:45 to exercise my civic duty and vote. The polls opened at 6:30 and I didn't want to be late for work, so I got there right on time along with about 75 other eager voters. The line took 45 minutes, so I stopped at Starbucks on my way to work for an Americano with pumpkin spice.

Close, barista, but that's not even how you spell "Margaret."

I'm excited to watch all the election coverage tonight. As much as I hate political ads, robo-calls, and dumb Facebook status updates, I'm excited to see how today turns out. After nearly 12 months of political back-and-forths with Rob, I'll also be a little relieved to have election season behind us.

Now, some of my favorites for this week...

1) This song of T-Swift's new album. I can't get enough of it. At over 5 minutes long, I doubt it will get released as a single, but I'm obsessed and you should be, too:

2) Um, prepare to salivate: Pulled Pork and Butternut Squash Chili. Saw this on Pinterest and can't wait to make it. Sounds delish and perfect for an easy weekend meal. 

3) These Mossimo Katherine boots from Target. Have I told you about these yet? Literally identical to the super expensive Frye boots, but only $60. I have them and I love them.

Target (less shiny in person)

Frye

4) Pippa Middleton's new book, Celebrate, and the scandal surrounding it. Pippa is definitely my biggest celebrity girl-crush and her new book is full of gorgeous pictures of her in really cute outfits and delicious looking food. There are a lot of haters out there, but don't believe them. She's totally adorable and I just might buy her book for all my friends for Christmas prezzies.

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