Sunday, September 28, 2014

well if this is 30...

I'll take it. I am 30 years old. I actually feel older on this birthday. I also feel happy, loved, appreciated, strong and a bit wiser than I was on my last birthday. For example - it is 10:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning and I am up, on my second cup of coffee (instead of feeling the pain from too much wine last night). I do believe birthdays are about doing what you want - which is exactly what I did this weekend. Starting with a new recipe (to come later this week) and an old favorite - turkey pumpkin chili. Nothing says "you're 30" like a bowl of chili and a beer. Vance and I had a full day of eating yesterday at the Southern Artisan Cheese Festival and a great dinner at Husk.
Delicious samplings of cheese, meats, beer and wine - Broadbent Rose Vinho Verde just became a new favorite. Vinho Verde - Portuguese for cheap & cheerful, like me!
I mean come on...a cheese festival with this guy? I couldn't be any luckier.
In addition to a delicious soft peach & jalapeƱo cheese and garlic cheese curds, we also picked up some delicious made in Nashville goodies. Soberdough (all you need is one bottle of beer like a delicious Yazoo brew added to the mix), Nashville Jam Co. Sweet Onion & Garlic, Eli Mason Mint Julep simple syrup, Hog Heaven White BBQ sauce, Provence Bakery Cheddar Chive Sconces & Tru Bee local honey.
We had some of these goodies already, but I wanted to give a nod to a number of our local favorites.
Before heading off to dinner last night, I mixed up a new cocktail.
A favorite of Hemingway, the Josie Russell cocktail.
1 shot light rum
juice from about a 1/4 of a lime
1/2 teaspoon sugar
hard apple cider
In a shaker, combine rum, lime juice and sugar with ice. Pour into a glass and top with hard apple cider, garnish with an apple slice.
Yum.
On to a new decade.







Thursday, September 11, 2014

if I don't blog about

...it's like it never happened. This blog has become a photo album for us - more recipes to come, but a quick snippet about summer 2014!
Summer has basically ended, but Vance and I did have a fantastic few months. Including trips to see friends and family and a great vacation.
Fourth of July weekend was spent in Pennsylvania, celebrating with friends at Jen & Rob's wedding reception.
 
 Later in July, we headed off to vacation in Destin, FL.
We did a lot of this...
and had a lot of these...
so happy!
We had great dinners in Florida including a visit to Bud and Alley's in Seaside and amazing Puerto Rican food at Ricon Boricua.
 
On our drive home, we spent a night in Birmingham and had delicious ribs at Dreamland.
We also spent a weekend in Cleveland to visit Vance's family. And what do you do when you are in Cleveland? Visit the Christmas Story House!
Glorious.
We spent last weekend in NYC, where we saw great friends, Eva, Liz & Luke.
As the summer winds down, work travel has picked up. I do intend to do a fair amount of cooking in the coming weeks so keep an eye out for new recipes!