It's been awhile since I had a girls weekend with my sisters & mom, the last one was 2 years ago and I wrote about it here. We had one planned earlier this year but weather/being sick got in the way and then life just got busy. Luckily we were able to plan a short weekend in August where we could all get together out in Maryland & Virginia (hopefully next time Sonya can make it!) We packed quite a bit of stuff into the weekend without it being too rushed, it was a good amount of trying new restaurants and exploring new areas. We started Friday with pedicures and dinner at Cava in Baltimore. I've been to Cava a few times and it's one of my favorite restaurants around here, both the upscale restaurant and the fast casual version. They serve mediterranean small plates which meant we could order a bunch of different items and try a little bit of everything. That's pretty much the perfect type of meal for my family since we love to share food and try it all. They also had fantastic cocktails. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out at Brittany and Dustin's apartment relaxing. The next morning we eased into the day with a nice walk around Columbia before getting around and heading to Navy Yard in DC. We found good lunch and dessert options here plus pretty views just walking around. The next stop for our day was in VA. We made a quick pit stop at my apartment then off to Arrowine where we did some wine and beer tasting before driving to Mosaic at Merrifield. We spend the rest of the afternoon indulging in treats and shopping here. We shared affogatos from Dolcezza, shopped at Papersource, Anthropologie, and Target. We ended the evening with dinner at Matchbox, I had only had brunch there so having dinner was a treat and we tried out the pizza which was spot on! We wound down back at my apartment the rest of the evening. Mom and Danielle headed back to Ohio on Sunday but we couldn't send them off without having brunch first. And no trip to this area is complete without Founding Farmers. This time we checked out the breakfast buffet at the Tyson's Corner location and WOW! It was soooo dang good. There were so many options and treats and food and just anything you could want. The amount of food was almost overwhelming but that just means I need to go back some other time to try the food that just would not fit in my stomach! Overall it was a fun weekend with the girls and already looking forward to another one!
After looking through my vacation photos I decided to split them into 3 categories for this post. Kyle and I crammed a lot of good food, drinks, and sightseeing into our vacation but we were also able to relax and not rush through anything so it was a perfect combo of planned stuff and just going with the flow. Asheville was a neat town and pretty small. We were able to see most of the city in 2 days and then spent the rest of the time checking out the other sights outside of the downtown area. I doubt we'd vacation there again to see the city but I wouldn't mind stopping back to stay in a cabin in the mountains and grab a meal or two in town since the food was amazing. FOOD! DRINK! EXPLORATION! I tend to get bored/overwhelmed off and on with cooking from all the prep, grocery shopping, meal planning, etc especially with my work schedule right now. So I try to mix things up between making easy go to foods and then finding new ones. This past week I was inspired by some Pinterest finds, magazine clippings, and groceries that needed to be used before they went bad. So here are a few new recipes and I loved all of them, they will definitely be filed to be made again. For Christmas I received a partner brunch cooking class from Kyle and this past weekend was the set date! I've never done a cooking class before so I was super excited and even more so since it was cooking brunch mmmm! It was at Crate Cooking School in Pittsburgh. There was 5 items on the menu so we split into groups to tackle each recipe. Kyle and I made the cheddar scone "sliders" and the cocktails, and at the end everyone cooked their own French omelet. After all the cooking we had a full meal of all the items and we were stuffed from all the good food but can't wait to make some of the recipes again. I included the two items we made below! Champagne Cocktail
1 sugar cube 2-3 dashes Angostura bitters 1 ounce brandy dry champagne 1 maraschino cherry superfine sugar and maraschino syrup for glass rim Moisten the outer rim of a champagne flute with maraschino cherry syrup and coat with super fine sugar. Place the sugar cube in the bottom of the flute and saturate with a few dashes of bitters. Add the brandy and when ready to serve fill the glass with champagne and garnish with a cherry. Cheddar Scone Sliders with Ham and Honey Mustard Butter Scones: 4 cups flour 2 tablespoons baking powder 1.5 teaspoons salt 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter 6 ounces coarsely grated extra-sharp cheddar 1 cup whole milk 2/3 cup heavy cream Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut butter into small bits and with pastry blender blend into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. With a fork stir in cheddar. Add milk and cream, stirring until just combined. Transfer mixture to a floured surface and with floured hands knead until it forms a dough. Roll out dough to 1/2 inch thick and cut out 2 inch round scones. Arrange on baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes until pale golden. Sauce: 1/2 cup softened unsalted butter 3 tablespoons coarse-grained mustard 3 tablespoons honey Mix all ingredients together. Assemble by splitting the scones, spread with the honey-mustard butter, and add ham slices. Enjoy! Phew I survived 21 days without sugar so now what?..... First off I really liked the 21dsd program and would reccomend it to anyone that wants a chanllenge and wants a break from sugar. Plus I will definitely be using the book for recipes from now on and I will probably buy the new cookbook that can accompany the challenge and has even more healthy sugar free recipes. I don't think it changed my body too much that I noticed, clothes definitely felt better from the holiday eating frenzy. I also had pretty good energy the whole time and no sugar crashes. I still had my daily caffeine so that always helped me start the day but usually one cup was good enough and then food fueled me well the rest of the day. Overall it was a good challenging program that made me feel good but not life changing or anything. Next I will defnitely be eating sugar again and not be sugar free forever (evident by a few splurges the first day off the challenge). I will try to eat sweets and treats in moderation though and not go back to "holiday" eating. As far as more carbs and stuff I feel like my body does better with them so I will add them back in and stick to healthy whole grains with a definite splurge here and there. On my first day off the challenge my splurges starting with a little dark chocolate which tasted sweet enough even being 85%. Then after a 75 minute 100 degree level 2 power yoga class I indulged at brunch. I had a bloody mary and the chicken and waffles. All of it was so worth it and sooooo good! Later that day I did my P90X3 warrior workout around 6 and I just felt like I had more energy and more umph during it and I have no other explanation except the food I ate fueled me better. So I definitely think having the carbs and protein and whatnot helped me out, so we'll see how my workouts feel the next few weeks when I add some foods I haven't been eating back in! So that wraps up my sugar challenge now I just have my P90X3 challenge going on which is good for me for now! Yikes! Where does the time go?! I'm not sure how it's already DECEMBER! I have so much to do in the next few weeks to get ready for Christmas. I need to do some shopping for gifts, make lots of yummy treats while still staying healthy, and also spend lots of time with family and friends! I have atleast started the decorating and have up my little tree and some trinkets in my apartment. I love this time of the year except for maybe the extreme cold and blizzards that come with winter... Well since I've been so bad at blogging the last few months, here's some photos of what I've been up to, enjoy! My mom, Danielle, Brittany, and I decided we needed a girls weekend so they all came out to VA to visit me and have some fun! (Partially I think they might've been jealous of recent food pictures from restaurants I've been too....) We wanted a somewhat planned but also relaxed and not packed weekend. We ended up pretty busy the whole time but it was a fun mix of everything. Here's a list of what all we did: -ate at Green Pig Bistro in Clarendon -spinning class at Revolve in Clarendon, was my mom's first spinning experience -had lunch at Protein Bar -went to three wineries out in Hume, VA -ordered yummy carryout pizza and played cards at my place on the floor....I still only have 2 chairs in my apartment whoops! -went to a yoga class at Tranquil Space Arlington -had lunch at Bayou Bakery and the boys met up with us there -walked from Rosslyn to Georgetown and walked around -ate cupcakes from Baked and Wired -had our last dinner at Farmers, Fishers, and Bakers in Georgetown -went to Buzz Bakery for breakfast before they hit the road back to Ohio So definitely a lot packed in and some awesome memories, we are hoping to do something like this every year but not sure where we'll pick to go next! |
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