The Lucky One
Brrr…I’ve just returned from the movie theater and I’m happy to be under the covers.
My day was filled with more babysitting and in the tiny span of time between that and going to the movies, I threw together some bean tostadas. I used the lime refried beans I love so much along with jalapenos, peach salsa, and corn relish all in the oven on two corn tortillas. And my first corn on the cob of the year (wow, that’s a lot of corn)
A few years ago, I would have never thought a vegan, gluten free, vegetarian dinner thrown together in 10 minutes could taste so good!
The Best
Your comments from last night? The best way to make me feel better about a silly spill.
Goat cheese and sun-dried tomato ravioli: hands down the best flavor from the Trader Joe’s collection.
Beer left over from Christmas: the best remedy for chilly weather and a long day.
The Hunger Games: the best book-to-movie I can ever remember.
Getting in bed when you’re really tired and your feet are cold: among the best of the best things in life.
Night.
Read MoreWhat A Weekend
My weekend was….eventful! I kicked Friday off with the Vegas-style auction and poker night at Fuqua. The event seemed to be a big success, which means lots of $$ raised for the NC Special Olympics.
And the weekend concluded with an Oscar event. Jill and Brendan hosted a fabulous viewing party this evening and costumes were required. Can you guess who we are? Every time the Oscars come around, I always regret not seeing more movies – they really are a beautiful form of art.
And between my two events, you know food and beer had to be involved. Saturday night, Matt and I enjoyed a barley wine from one of our favorites breweries:
And then we headed to one of our favorites for dinner. I was so pumped to see a giftcard deal for Pop’s on the internet last week. Pop’s is already one of the more reasonably priced restaurants in Durham, but $50 of food for $25? Yes please!
The focaccia bread is ever so fluffy.
Matt and I shared a steak and sausage salad to begin. This was a hearty portion of meat! Mmm.
And the main event, oh the main event, was a grilled salmon with gnocchi, arugula, ricotta and a spicy tomatillo relish. Pop’s continues to impress. This was fantastic, and would you believe that Matt’s mussel-stuffed flounder was even better? Love.
We finished off the night with conversation and port and friends at the wine bar.
That, my friends, was a good weekend. Night.
Read MoreFrambozen + NYE
Another quick hello tonight. I had to do some grocery shopping this evening and then ate a quick dinner before heading to the movies with friends. Dinners have been pretty random these past two weeks because all the running around hasn’t left much time for cooking. Tonight I had a boring ham + avocado sandwich and fries. But I did have a great beer:
Twas a mix between a wine cooler (I have fond memories of these, unlike many others), a lambic, and a barleywine. It was a nice contrast to all the nutty, dark beers I’ve been drinking lately. As for the movie, I saw New Year’s Eve. As can be expected, the plot was blah, but I actually really enjoy the celebrity-heavy silly movies and the message at the end was warm. I also love watching movies that involve holidays and this one definitely got me excited for a low-key New Year’s involving good food and company (aka, Matt and a restaurant on our little getaway)
Sorry for the short and boring posts this week. Between the Christmas parties and trying to get organized for a party of my own, holiday cooking, and a busy work week, I haven’t been able to devote as much time to posts as I’d like. I promise I’ll update you on my work situation soon. One hint for now: my new [part-time] job involves having summers off!. Night.
Read MoreTaco Talk
hola. I guess nobody wanted to share what kind of tacos you like on yesterday’s post. That’s ok. Maybe you all like all kinds of tacos. Anyway, the reason for all this taco talk is that I tried the new Nana Taco last night. For those of you who are not familiar with Durham, Nana’s is a famous upscale restaurant that’s been open for years (I’ve never been). In contrast to Nana’s, Nana Taco is an inexpensive, casual taco shack. It’s got big garage doors that open up the restaurant to the outdoors – reminds me of Austin! I loved the tiki bar vibe, and as my Mom commented, it made dinner feel like vacation!
Some of the tacos were better than others, but they were all cheap!
Matt and I split five tacos between the two of us (so we could try them all) and we each got rice and beans (black and pork pinto). We had chicken, spicy chorizo, pork putt and the special: two grilled fish tacos with pineapple salsa.
The verdict?
chicken: ehh
pork putt: good
chorizo: great
fish: fabulous
I actually think my preferences had to do with the toppings and the tortillas. The fish tacos came in flour tortillas and the rest in corn, and I liked the flour sooo much better. The fish also had the flavorful fruit on top and the others were just plain meat (I added salsa verde, but the flavor just didn’t pop like the fish).
Anyway, I loved the vibe and I will be going back for fish tacos (and delish beans) as well as cheap beer or margaritas or both!
After dinner, I finally went to see the Help with my mom and dad. I’m so much more excited to go to a movie when I’ve read the book (I’ve never really been drawn towards cold, dark theaters). I thought the movie was slow at times (maybe because I knew what was coming?), but I loved it! I especially enjoyed the characters and the southern setting. For a movie with a serious message, I was also pleasantly surprised by how hard I was laughing at some parts.
T’was a lovely evening. Tonight was too, but I’ll save more rambling for tomorrow. Goodnight.
Read More
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?