Posts Tagged "Amazing"

Cinco, Derby, Q Shack

Posted on May 6, 2012 | 1 comment

Cinco de Mayo was a smashing success! We had a huge downpour right before our party, so all of our guests arrived wet, but after a few margaritas everyone was warm and cozy inside.

I made Cristina’s  quinoa black bean salad as well as sweet potato black bean enchiladas,

and some chocolate dipped strawberries. I also made classic red wine sangria with rum. I was busy drinking my friend Maria’s ‘get naked’ margaritas, but I tried some at the end of the night and thought the sangria turned out pretty well.

Katie made ridiculous jalapeno and bacon wrapped shrimp,

and other friends brought loads of Mexican beer, taco dip,

a huge bowl of fresh guacamole,

homemade southwestern egg rolls,

chocolate pie,

and a wonderful key lime pie that I forgot to photograph. I was really amazed by the spread of food, as everything was really delicious and almost completely gone by the end of the night.

We also enjoyed watching the Derby and Matt actually won the $20 produced from the random drawing that he organized. I felt a little bad that the host got the winnings. Oh well – covered all the beer we bought! All in all, it was such a fun night with friends and I’m so glad we got to see everyone before we leave for the summer. It was so fun though, that I woke up feeling lazy and dehydrated and spent a lot of time today just sitting around. Matt invited me to go to the gym though, and I did a much needed upper body lifting session with him. We also took a stroll and later found ourselves at the Q Shack for some of Durham’s best bbq. We split a platter with brisket, pulled pork, hush puppies, fried okra, baked beans, and sweet potato tots (!). This plate was intense! And probably clogged my arteries for the third time this weekend, but I loved it and I’ll definitely need to make another trip there in the fall.

Did any of you celebrate Cinco de Mayo, the Derby, or just life in general this weekend?

I love free drinks

Posted on Apr 26, 2012 | 3 comments

And I just can’t say no to them.

Matt’s end of year bash for his new company was this evening. And it was a blast! We ventured to the Beyu Cafe in Durham – a restaurant/venue I had not yet visited. There was an open bar, and I just couldn’t resist the fresh cocktail menu! So I ordered the 10$ drinks I always dream of ordering…

I had the Kentucky 57 – Maker’s, simple syrup, and champagne. So delish!

My second drink was an Cactus flower – an mix of a flowery liqueur, cucumber, and basil. SOOO good. (I requested the tall glass bc martini glasses are too easy to spill). There may have been a phenomenal margarita after this…

I expected dinner to be a mix of fried appetizers, but it was awesome! They had amazing chicken, salmon with rice and asparagus, steak kabobs, and salad with optional toppings (so happy they left off the onions!)

There was a pretty decent band, but we spent so much time talking that there wasn’t much dancing. Matt had to come home to work on a paper, but if it had been a Friday, this would have been a good dancin’ band!

I’m pumped that I don’t have to go to work tomorrow, although I’m gonna have to hunker down and do some report writing:( But then I’ll be free for the weeeekend!!!

Easter Eats

Posted on Apr 8, 2012 | 5 comments

Hola, Happy Easter. I’m currently blogging from bed, where I’m in a cake coma. A glorious cake coma. Let’s rewind though and I’ll tell you about my weekend.

It started like any weekend – a spinning class and dinner at Fuqua Friday. Matt had a soccer game on Friday (Duke beat UNC), and I watched [freezing cold] from the sidelines with the other lovely Fuqua partners. It was a low-key Friday, because…on Saturday, Matt’s parents came to visit from Maryland!

My parents met us in Durham, and we all headed over to Tyler’s Tap to drink beer.

I stuck with Belgian beers, as I’m moving away from darker beers now that it’s warm out.

Matt’s mom loves a good stout any day of the year!

Dinner was pizza at Mellow Mushroom. Despite hearing about this place for years and years, I don’t think I’ve actually eaten at one before. Well the pizza is fantastic, especially the crust. I couldn’t stop eating Matt’s crust. We had a bacon and pineapple pizza, artichoke and sun-dried tomato, and an old fashioned cheese and tomato.

Luckily, we all recovered from the massive dinner in time for church this morning. The obligatory Easter-on-the-porch picture:

We strolled and picnicked in the sunshine this afternoon and I started a new book and watched some of the Masters. My mom prettied the dinning room and we feasted on ham.

And chocolate and jelly beans in between bites.

I had some of both wines – it was fun to have a Virginia Riesling after last weekend.

The ham was rounded out with green beans, corn pudding, and brandied pears.

But this beautiful Easter cake stole the show! Matt’s mom shares our love for cake and special ordered this one from my favorite Durham cakery!!!

It was huge and dense and awesome.

I obviously had two pieces because I love this stuff. Thanks Candace!

I’m sad the festivities are over, but will be glad when I’m no longer stuffed silly. Oh yeah, and spring break is over too. But the school year ends in June!!! I still cannot get over this fact. Off to the home stretch I go. Night.

Virginia Vines

Posted on Apr 2, 2012 | 12 comments

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.

Mexican Pizza on a Whim

Posted on Feb 1, 2012 | 4 comments

Hi Friends. This was one of the best dinners I’ve ever made. And it just materialized at the last minute in my kitchen! You see, I had Matt turn the crock pot on this morning, with a bottle of TJ’s bbq sauce, a can of beer, and some pork shoulder inside.

But I didn’t really have any ideas as to how I wanted to eat it. I usually like saucy meats over rice, but had the urge for something different. So the bbq pork mexican pizza was born.

Pulled pork on a habanero-lime tortilla, with coby jack cheese, corn relish, shredded carrots, and kidney beans. To-die-for.

As for week three of my new job, I’m feeling a bit more with-it, although still quite overwhelmed. I’m more familiar with faces, I’ve got the building down pat, but the school psychology model is just soo different than what I’m used to. All the teachers are incredible, and since most of them are fresh out of school, they are trained in the latest interventions. And there’s progress monitoring out the wazoo. Data was a scary word for some of the professionals in my Boston schools, but everyone collects data down here. Now it’s scaring me! I’m like the least educated person in the building. But I’m enjoying the challenge and my brain comes home tired each day. Tired, but hungry for mexican pizza and documentaries.

Matt picked out a documentary for this evening’s entertainment, so I’m off to find out what it’s about. Night.