Burgers + Boston
Howdy. How are you?
You know it’s bad when you take two Tylenol PM and still can’t sleep. Talk about a zombie. Now I know why Michael Jackson kept upping his dose. Miraculously, I felt a billion times better when I woke up and got to work today. I’m really plowing through my to-do list and I will meet all my deadlines very soon! T minus 3 weeks to go!!!
After work, Matt helped me throw together a fabulous summer dinner!
Virginia Vines
The rest of our trip involved wine – lots of swirling, sipping, and savoring in the beautiful Virginia countryside.
We stopped at four wineries on the drive up to Charlottesville on Friday.
Delfosse was our first stop and by far my favorite in terms of flavor. The owner is french and many of the reds were full-bodied and the whites slightly sweet.
We bought a bottle of Chardonnay, which was a big surprise seeing as we’re generally red people.
Our next stop was Pippin Hill, where there is a brand new, gorgeous porch, tasting room, and farm-to-table restaurant.
The view was fantastic. This would be perfect for a wedding!!
While the wine was nothing too special, the food was outstanding.
We shared the prawns with chorizo and cilantro crema.
and an organic turkey burger with sour cherry preserves and melted Camembert with handmade parmesan fries.
And we actually made some friends in the tasting room who kindly asked the waiter to split their desserts so that we could have a taste! We tried the Meyer lemon and olive oil cake with a sweet wine and rosemary syrup, and a petit verdot cupcake! Every single thing was delicious!
After lunch we worked up the energy to continue on to Veritas.
Our last stop was Pollak, where there a charming pond and a big porch.
We did a mini chocolate pairing with two of the wines – a dark chocolate with Cabernet Franc and raspberries inside (paired with the Cabernet)
and a white chocolate with Mille Fleurs (brandy style port), pear, and pineapple inside.
This was one of the best food-wine flavor pairings I’ve ever tasted. One bite of this chocolate with a sip of the Mille Fleurs was out of this world!
I was exhausted after this day and was so excited to get to Kath’s house and drink water beer – Kanz’s home-brewed all-but-the kitchen-sink beer was tasty!
But the best part was the three handmade pizzas that came out of the oven – variations of whole wheat dough with homemade tomato sauce, green peppers, jalapenos, cheddar, gouda, pepperoni, and mushrooms.
Heavenly.
Read MoreTwo Amazing Fishes + One Mysterious Wedge
I have lots to share from our travels to Charlottesville and VA wine country! Too much for one post and since Ecto would probably have a heart attack with all the pictures, I’ll have to split it up, starting with last night’s dinner – easily the highlight of the trip!
Kath & Kanz live in a walkable neighborhood, so we hit the sidewalk to get to our dinner destination: the famous Commonwealth restaurant and it’s rooftop Skybar. Every time Kath eats at Commonwealth, I get virtual food envy, so I’ve been requesting dinner here for quite some time!
There was a bit of controversy over dessert because we ordered a chocolate and peanut butter tart [well I won't take responsibility bc I was in the bathroom:)] and this chocolate wedge with fruit sauce arrived. We were all confused because we didn’t taste peanut butter and didn’t really care for the idea of peanut butter with a sweet fruit sauce anyway. As we continued to eat it though, we concluded that the menu had probably said torte instead of tart and that the peanut butter was just really subtle.
Failed Run + Hanging Worms
I’m on spring break yall! Not that it means that much when you work part time, but still, it’s nice to have next week off and no babysitting because the family is traveling. Matt still has classes and it’s not like we’re rolling n dough, so we’re not vacationing or anything. But, we are going to Charlottesville to drink wine and hang out with Kath and Kanz! But first, a lovely Thursday night dinner on a beautiful spring night. I had sweet potatoes on my mind this afternoon and simply had to have them for dinner. Roasted pillows over rice and black beans with shredded fontina, jalapenos, and tequila lime salsa. Dinner bowls are the best!
I was super productive at work today. Working a third day this week helped tremendously. Now if they’d only hire me for that third day, I could get sooo much accomplished. I still can’t believe I haven’t even been working for 3 months and I’ve nearly completed ten evaluations. Crazy! Last year I did 13 in an entire year and I was full time. I guess the point is that I was quite tired after work (what’s new). But the weather was so nice that I knew I wanted to exercise outside. So I went for a run on the Washington Duke trail. And it lasted 12 minutes. So sad. Greek yogurt is my absolute favorite afternoon snack because it’s fun to eat and keeps me full, but it’s not good right before bouncing your stomach up and down. Oh well, the hills were too hard anyway. I ended up walking the 3 mile loop and just enjoyed the ride.
Speaking of being outside, hanging worms are everywhere! Matt commented last night that he had three people pick them off him on his walk from school to the parking lot. He was quite upset, saying that people always “flick them” instead of gently removing them and putting them back in nature. It seems the worms heard that Matt was standing up for them, because I found this one on his pillow just now.
I’m off to bed so I’ll be rested for vineyards tomorrow. Have a fantastic weekend!
Read MoreThe End of Island Time
Time sure does fly when you’re having fun. We lucked out with fabulous weather and got to spend some time on the beach. We took two long family beach walks and enjoyed a picnic lunch yesterday.
We encountered lots of animals this weekend, including two unpictured snakes!
Friday evening, we enjoyed the view from the inn
and continued to celebrate my mom’s birthday with prosecco. Man, this was good.
We had dinner at the Bald Island Club bar, where I sipped a mojito. Love these!
My mom and I split an amazing entree of shrimp and grits. There’s so much sauce in the picture, but there were a ton of creamy grits under there along with jumbo shrimp.
Saturday followed a similar path as Friday, with time spent at the beach and cocktail hour back at the Inn. I picked up some Boston beer to celebrate the holiday.
But I couldn’t resist switching to the very un-Irish Sam Summer when we got to Mojo’s for dinner because I was so excited to see it. Tasted just like my first summer in Boston…
For dinner, Kath and shared some sweet potato fries, and a blackened catfish with sweet grain mustard, salsa, and cheese grits.
I just can’t get enough grits!
And today, we made the trek home, making sure to stop in Wilmington for our favorite lunch at the River Pilot Cafe. They have the best bread basket with biscuits and corn muffins.
I finished the weekend with a fried green tomato and fried goat cheese salad topped with grilled shrimp.
T’was a perfect ending.
How was your last weekend of winter?
Read MoreThe Balding Cake
Whew. I made the ferry, with only minutes to spare! I had planned on taking the 7 o’clock, but found myself pulling into Southport at 5:55! I arrived an hour ahead of schedule and was able to join my family for dinner!
Warm temperatures called for Mexican beer,
hot bread with black bean relish,
and a cobb salad covered in toppings! I kept dinner on the lighter side because birthday cake is mandatory every night this weekend.
I ordered a cake for my mom from the Carolina Cake Company, which is quickly becoming my to-go bakery for buttercream cakes in Durham. Sadly, it could not withstand the 80 degree temperatures in the trunk of my parents’ buick. We opened the box to find a balding cake!
The icing fell right off the sides:(
But the beautiful thing about cake is that it tastes wonderful no matter what it looks like. And this bald cake was amazing.
I’m stuffed and want nothing more than to curl up in my bed and sleep for 9 hours! Happy Weekend.
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Welcome to TBT!
I've created this blog because I'm in a bit of a quarter life crisis. Since graduating from college in 2008 and earning an advanced degree in school psychology in May, I still don't know what career path to follow. All I know is that time is moving way too fast and I find myself living only for the weekends. Bear with me as I attempt to reclaim my twenties by finding pleasure and balance in the work week and incorporating my passions of food, fashion, fitness, and fun into everyday life. 
She said what?