Here Come the Brides!

This weekend, my friend Maggie and I co-hosted a bridal shower for our friend and MCH-colleague Shannon and her fiance, Emily. Shannon and Emily are two of my very best friends in the Bay Area and I wanted this shower to really be something special for them! Most of Shannon's friends here are in our program, so we invited the whole lot of them plus Annie and Lauren, two other friends from school, and celebrated with a Cupcakes and Cocktails-themed fete.

My fabulous friend and neighbor Alyse came over in the afternoon to help me set up. We had a little station where guests could drop off gifts and write date ideas and family recipes for the brides. Then down below, we set up flowers, snacks, and the fire pit. The cupcakes and drink station were both inside the studio to keep away from the bugs! We set out champagne, red and white wine, and a make your own mojito station which I think was a big hit!

Annie made the most gourmet cupcakes -- lemon blackberry with a lemon curd filling and a white chocolate ganache (amazing, right??). Maggie whipped up some delish red velvet cupcakes with legit cream cheese frosting. Shannon, Emily, and I are all doing a nutrition challenge as part of our gym which "forbids" sugar, gluten, dairy, alcohol...all the good stuff. The cupcakes at the front are the ones I made and were challenge friendly: almond-orange base with coconut milk strawberry "frosting" (more like glaze). They were fine, but definitely didn't hold a candle to the other cupcakes! That's right, I obviously tasted everything.

We played some fun bridal shower games and talked until midnight. I never expected to make such wonderful friends in graduate school and am SO lucky to call these girls my pals. Tuck had a great time, too!! 

Congrats, Shannon and Emily! We love you!

Back...again

Well, after ANOTHER long absence, I am recommitting (again) to this blog. I really do love going through my old posts, so even if no one else reads this, keeping an online "journal" of my life is worth it for me. And with that in mind...

I'm sitting in the Dulles airport right now after spending the last few days in DC visiting two of my best friends from Davidson, Alex and Sara. Sara ran the DC Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon and so Alex and I, along with a gaggle of Sara’s other friends from high school, made signs and cheered all morning! Pretty sure our signs worked, since Sara crushed her previous PR and finished in 1:50. Yeah, she ran 13.1 miles almost 40 minutes faster than I have. Such a star!

We spent the rest of Saturday brunching and engaging in debauchery. Friday had been really low key (Sara and Alex both took Friday off of work, so we had lunch at Founding Farmer’s and then walked around the city) and so we had a lot of giggles to release.

Spending weekends with my best friends is such a weird mix of being so utterly happy to be with them and grateful to have them in my life, and feeling so sad that our lives are so far from one another. Twice yearly visits aren’t enough.

If only DC and San Francisco were squished together…

We did decide that when we “grow up,” we all have to buy a beach house together, so at least there's that.

Vegas

I've been absent from blogging for a few weeks now and can't believe it's already March. So far, 2013 is racing by and I can't find the "Pause" button. Here are some photos from an amazing weekend in Las Vegas with Emily and my parents, eating delicious food and seeing some very interesting (sometimes beautiful, sometimes sketchy) sites.

View from the plane - hello, desert

Playin the slots like a champ

Red Rock Canyon hike

Smokey Robinson and some Aussies

Red Rock Canyon

Branzino crusted in sea salt at Milos

  

Carving the fish

Happy birthday, Mom!

Happy (noseless) Emily

The fish is flown in fresh every day

Rock Shrimp at Sushi Samba

Sea bass (wish I had a better picture) and steak with mushroom curry 

Sushiiiii

Tuna tacos and little dumplings with pumpkin

If only the country were smooshed together and I could visit her every weekend. Love you, Em!

Weekend in Raleigh

This past weekend, I headed to Raleigh with ma girl Ashton to visit our wonderful friend Erica (and to meet her very special boyfriend, Parker).

We arrived Saturday morning just in time for brunch. Parker and Erica took us to a chicken place called Beasley's. Now, normally I wouldn't order fried chicken, but they swore it was delicious and I can't say no to two people convinced this place is delicious. I got the Chicken Biscuit (fried chicken on a homemade biscuit with pickled green tomatoes and spicy mustard) and a side of beets in a citrus vinegar.

Erica and Parker both got a brunch special that they said was delicious - fried chicken on a biscuit with queso and a fried egg. Parker also got a block of pimento cheese mac n' cheese. Aren't they adorbs?

After brunch, we headed back to Erica's house and napped for a few hours. I awoke to the sweet sound of a chip bag opening, and we happy houred with some guacamole. After primping for the night ahead of us, we picked up Ali and Austin and headed to Centro for dinner. Centro is a very cool Mexican place in downtown Raleigh.

We started with a pitcher of delicious, fresh margaritas and I ordered the stuffed poblano pepper with rice, mint, and plantains on a bed of black beans. It was verrrrry delicious and the perfect dinner before a long night of beers and celebrating Marshall's birthday.

The next morning was a bit of a struggle, but we headed out for one last meal together. Erica and I split a frittata with avocado and tomatoes and an omelette with spinach, tomatoes, ricotta, feta, and mozz. Cheesy goodness. The home fries were amazing, as was Parker's outfit.

Sadly, upon my return to Charlotte, I came down with the stomach flu or some stomach virus that left me totally incapacitated for about 36 hours. My eats yesterday consisted of a piece of toast, a bowl of rice, and a popsicle, but I was just relieved to be able to keep any food down. Very happy to be on the road to recovery!!

Can't wait for Parker and Erica to make it down to Charlotte so Ashton and I can take them on a food tour of the Queen City.

Weekend Update!

This three-day weekend has been absolutely perfect. Friday night, I was totally exhausted (and so was Rob -- congrats on finishing his first full week!) so we ate in and watched Safe House with Denzel and Ryan Reynolds. Ehhhhh....decent movie.  For dinner, we had super easy chicken tacos. If you have a slow cooker, make this. It's cheap, foolproof, and delicious. Basically, put chicken breasts (or thighs) in the slow cooker with a jar of salsa. I used spicy salsa verde but any kind of liquid-based sauce will work. Then, we warmed corn tortillas in the oven and piled the tacos with black beans, spinach, tomatoes, Greek yogurt, and guacamole.

Saturday morning, I woke up and made oatmeal pancakes. No pictures, but they were decent -- just mix 1 banana, 1 egg, 1/4 cup oats, 1/4 cup almond milk, vanilla and cinnamon together and cook like a pancake. Rob had to work, so I went to FlyBarre and then bought some new curtains. I guess I'm spoiled by Hilliard, but FlyBarre was not challenging whatsoever which was kind of a bummer. Then, we headed up to Davidson for lunch with Hilary and Collin at Tenders!

Vanilla milkshake for the win

Grilled chicken sandwich, fries, and creamy garlic!

After lunch, we swung by F to see David Levintow who is finally graduating this spring after a tumultuous freshman year plagued by a broken ankle and pneumonia! Yayyyy David! Then we went to the McKillop's house before the game for a beer and to hang out with Brendan's niece, Maggie. She sat behind us at the game and it was the first time Rob has spent more time with his attention focused on a girl instead of the game -- he and Maggie are best buds.

Sunday, I went to FlyWheel in the morning which was an amazing workout. It was a 45 minute spin class that tracks your distance, calories burned, resistance, speed, etc.....I have a bunch of free classes and can't wait to go back. Rob spent the afternoon making three pizzas - Mexican with the leftover salsa chicken and black beans, pesto, and just a plain cheese. They were all amazing. We took them to his co-worker's house around the corner and watched football all afternoon. So sad for Tony Gonzales, but excited to see the HarBowl in two weeks. 

I didn't have work today, so I saw The Impossible (emotionally draining), made some healthified banana bread muffins, and cooked an easy and pretty healthy dinner: spinach fettucini with roasted red pepper sauce and an arugula salad. 

Red Pepper Chicken Pasta

Sauce:

Broil two red peppers lightly coated in olive oil until slightly charred 

Slice the peppers and add 1/3 cup of Greek yogurt, 3 Tbsp of goat cheese, 2 cloves of garlic & salt to a food processor or blender and mix well

Chicken:

I marinated the chicken in lemon, olive oil, balsamic, rosemary, and mustard. I just cooked it on the stove, but you can bake it if that's easier.

Cook the pasta and then mix it all together! I also added portobello mushrooms for some extra oomph.  Nom nom.

Food comas

I realize that this blog is basically turning into a documentation of how absolutely food-centered my weekends have become, and this past weekend was no different. Rob got back from ten days in Atlanta on Friday night, and since it was his last weekend before launching into busy season (and, coincidentally, his last weekend as a 23 year old!), we had to celebrate. 

Friday night, I prepared an Italian feast. Mind you, I do not like cooking Italian food. I don't particularly enjoy pasta and I'm not very good at making it. Rob, however, requested it for his homecoming meal and since I aim to please, I couldn't say no. I headed to Pasta Provisions, a wonderful Italian market with all the fixings you can imagine, including fresh made pasta. I also had a coupon, so it was clearly meant to be. Rob was hungry when he got home from Atlanta but I wasn't, so I made him a happy hour plate to have a few hours before dinner.

Rosemary focaccia, pesto (nommmmm), manchego, jalapeno-stuffed olives, red wine cheddar, and proscuitto

Arugula salad with asparagus and proscuitto; rosemary-garlic linguini with a pomodoro sauce

Happy Bob

The meal was delish. We stayed in and watched a movie (I fell asleep, oops), and it was an absolutely perfect start to the weekend.

Saturday morning, I had to drop my car off at the dealer for some maintenance so I let the king sleep in. After another session at Hilliard, Rob and I went to get massages at the Charles Grayson Halcyon Days salon in Charlotte. I had a gift card thanks to some very sweet coworkers, and I knew this would be a really good birthday treat. The massage was AMAZING. I want to get one every month...or every day. We ran errands and had a really good lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Pizza Bar (sandwiches and a beet-arugula salad) before heading back home to watch some football. I'll talk about Saturday night in another post!

SUNDAY was pretty fabulous. Hilary spent the afternoon with us and it was so nice to be reunited with my long lost sister. We did some serious shopping (hello, new curtain rod, shoe rack, TV stand, and duvet cover) and baked cookies for her friends. After she left, I spent the rest of the afternoon cooking a pretty extravagant meal for Rob's official birthday dinner (he works through dinner during the week, so we celebrated last night): slow-cooked short ribs, grits with manchego, and roasted veggies.

Short ribs:

Brown the short ribs in a pan with oil, salt, and peppaaa. Make them crispy. Put them in the slow cooker with carrots, onions, garlic, red wine, beef broth, a little coffee, red pepper, balsamic, thyme...whatever. Make it deep. Cook on low for 6-8 hours and the meat will literally fall right off the bones.

For the grits, I brought chicken broth, water, and milk to a boil before adding the grits. I couldnt believe that 1/2 cup of grits turned into ~5 servings, but alas, magic in the kitchen! I added 1/8 stick of butter (I really thought I'd have to add an entire stick, but didn't need to!), ~1/4 cup of manchego, and ~ 1/3 cup of plain Greek yogurt. These were amazing. Rob had some leftovers with his eggs for breakfast this morning. Delish.

Then I just roasted up some brussel sprouts and mushrooms for a little extra oomph.

Finished product:

Nom.

I ALSO made a cake from scratch for the first time. I used Ina Garten's chocolate cake recipe, this frosting recipe, and then another German Chocolate Cake Frosting recipe for the top. Lots of work but it was worth it - this cake is EXTREMELY decadent and delicious.

After the sugar high from the cake, I passed out from a food coma.