Tag: snacks

I’m back …

14 Comments

But not forever! My trip to Charlotte was perfect — as has been every trip to the “south” I have ever taken — and I am pretty confident that I’ll be heading in that direction again once I am done with grad school next year.

Wife and I woke up this morning to the sound of coffee beans grinding and pancake batter stirring! Kristin and Dustin were hard at work in the kitchen above us 🙂

img_8297

I topped my two blueberry pancakes with ICBINB and lite syrup:

img_8289

And while we’re on the topic of Kristin and Dustin’s aboveness and beyondness as hosts throughout this entire trip, there’s more! Wife’s car wouldn’t start yesterday when we were on the way to the wedding, so Dustin drove us the 30 minutes to the wedding and dropped us off so we wouldn’t be late. Later, he and Kristin drove back out with both of their cars so that they could leave one for us to use for the rest of the night!

While waiting for AAA to arrive this morning, we all relaxed in the kitchen with our tea (and coffee for the others), our pancakes, and the pretty birds right outside the balcony:

img_8299

Because Wife had to wait for the towtruck (and her car was out of commission, obviously), Kristin had to drive me to the airport. Add another star to the list of aboveness and beyondness!

I am so aware that I keep gushing about everyone on this trip … but between Kath‘s tour guiding and company on Friday, Wife’s willingness to drive up from GA and incur the wrath of the evil automobile spirits to go to the wedding with me, and Kristin and Dustin’s generous and fun hosting, I have never experienced such a hefty dose of hospitality in my life!

Once I got through security at the Charlotte airport, I finally got to enjoy some of the luxurious rocking and free wireless that I kept hearing about:

img_8300

As I rocked and blogged, I oranged with the orange that I had initially packed for Friday’s flight:

img_8302

And granola bar’d with this peanut butter granola bar that Kath and I scooped up from a free samples basket at Earth Fare on Friday:

img_8308

And chocolated with this Ferrero Rocher that Wife brought for me from GA, courtesy of Ted:

img_8309img_8310

An impressively well-rounded airport lunch if I do say so myself!

On the plane, I had a 1 oz. package of JetBlue cashews while I worked my way through Gastropolis:

img_8312

I’m a fan of the JetBlue unlimited airplane snacks deal (obviously). From the two flights, I collected four more bags of cashews and one mini-bag of chocolate chunk cookies:

img_8317

The other goodies that came back with me include a jar of PB2 from Kath and a belated Christmas present from Wife of a cupcake potholder (in the back), key lime jam (!!!) from her trip to Madison, and homemade black raspberry jam from Ted’s aunt. Thanks for the treats, ladies (and JetBlue)!

Due to the usual weekend subway delays, detours, and cancellations, I didn’t get home until about 6 and had to rush to unpack my suitcase, pack lunch/dinner for tomorrow, and make dinner for tonight. With no time to hit the grocery store, I had to rely on the freezer, a can, and a couple of promotional items I have received recently:

img_8320img_8323

While I sauteed the three grain tempeh in a pan with olive oil and minced garlic, I dumped the mushroom “agnolotti” that Foodbuzz sent into a saucepan with boiling water and half a box of frozen peas I found. I mixed everything together at the end (minus the pasta water) and then made a crazy sauce from 1/2 cup canned pumpkin, 2 tbsp sofrito, and a splash of unsweetened soymilk (for thinning). I saved most of it for the week’s lunches, but I had to sample a little scoop topped with homemade parm for dinner:

img_8329

The tempeh gave good texture and chew, and the wild mushroom flavor held its own. Plus, there’s pretty much no way to go wrong with pumpkin or sofrito separately, so why not put them together?

My main dinner event consisted of about 1 cup of fruit salad (mango, blood orange, strawberries, and blackberries), an overturned container of honey Oikos so that the honey took on an “icing” role (loved how this flavor was still plain yogurt with the honey on the bottom of the container), and a tbsp of ground flax with cinnamon:

img_8338

Now I have to race to get ready for bed. This is going to be a week for getting back on track — and it starts with getting eight full hours of sleep tonight!

What’s your goal for this week?

Buffeting around town

15 Comments

Wife and I arrived at the dinner reception location, Charlotte’s University Place Hilton, with about 45 minutes to spare, so we took a stroll along the boardwalk behind the hotel.

There were drummers, giant chess pieces, and lakefront perches:

img_82281

img_8232

img_82331

Just before 7, we wound our way back to the Lakeview Ballroom, collected our table assignment, and planted ourselves firmly at Table 7:

img_8235

Well, not all that firmly, since the hors d’oeuvres were calling us!

Crudites and grilled veggies:

img_8237

Crackers:

img_8238

CHEESE!

img_8239

Fruit (with an unpictured chocolate fountain!):

img_8243

Here’s my plate with grilled zucchini, yellow squash, and eggplant; carrots and tomatoes with spinach-artichoke dip; two crackers with green cheese triangles (it was herby and so delicious!), cheddar cheese sticks, and dill havarti cubes; and grapes and strawberries:

img_8244

Servers came around with a couple more goodies, so I also had a smoked salmon-wrapped broccolini:

img_8251

And an antipasti skewer with roasted red pepper, artichoke heart, fresh mozzarella, olive, and sundried tomato (and my sweet tea in the background, finally!):

img_8253

I also got a small appetizer dessert plate with fruit and chocolate:

img_8260

img_8263The champagne toast was next, but I don’t like champagne (I know, I know, how is that possible?), so I had sparkling white grape juice. The toast from Ilin’s dad is when the waterworks started again. I’m such a sap for father-daughter stories!

When the toasts were finished, it was time for the dinner buffet! I filled my plate with Mediterranean salad (spinach, sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, huge chunks of feta), caprese salad, asparagus with goat cheese and pinenuts, a mountain of sauteed veggies, and a small piece of salmon on a bed of spinach (there was also rice pilaf, beef, and chicken breast, but I passed on those because my goal was to leave the reception still able to walk on my own two feet):

img_8264

Everything was delicious, obviously.

For drool purposes:

img_8266img_8274

Dessert was more chocolate fountain!

img_8282

img_8284

img_8285

Our tablemate, Ilin’s friend Ivana, had the genius idea to fill a teacup with chocolate and use a roll from the dinner buffet to dunk!! I wish she had thought of that sooner because I was just on the cusp of overexpansion at this point and did not want to push it. I took a picture to document the brilliance:img_8287

With that, Wife and I said our goodbyes and went on our way back to Kristin’s house, stuffed but not overstuffed. Everything about the ceremony and the reception was so beautiful and perfect and sincere, and we had a lovely time. Congratulations, Ilin and Theo!

What’s your favorite item for chocolate fountain dipping? Mine is banana!

The cake … errr, the ceremony

17 Comments

So, yesterday was the wedding that brought me down to Charlotte in the first place! As I mentioned before, my old college roommate Ilin was getting married. There was lots of delicious food all afternoon/evening long, but first …

Ilin and I were placed together freshman year at NYU (in 2000!) as roommates, along with Coonoor. Here’s our very first day in the big city, awwwww:

roommatesbehind

Ilin and I continued to live together for our sophomore and junior years. Here we are junior year after the short walk from our dorm down to Battery Park to see the sights (i.e. Statue of Liberty in the background) because we thought we should:

statue

Here’s the bride in action yesterday with her daddy:

img_8171

Getting handed off:

img_8174

After the ceremony, we went through the receiving line:

img_8190

And then Wife (fyi, in case you missed this before, Wife’s real name is Laura — Wife is a nickname we have for each other left over from college!) and I headed downstairs to partake in the “light refreshments.”

img_8182

We couldn’t get over how much food there was, especially knowing that a full buffet dinner was also in the cards! I loaded up on produce and a little slice of turkey wrap:

img_8184

On monogrammed napkins!

img_8185

And fruit with a dollop of cream cheese dip:

img_8188

I had two plates of fruit, plus a few more grab-and-go-bites.

img_8186

I probably would have kept going on the fruit, but I had put Wife in charge of managing my food pace. She saw where I was headed and dragged me away from the food table, thank goodness!

We climbed back upstairs, and the cake soon made its big debut:

img_8198

img_8199

I couldn’t stop taking pictures.

weddingphotimg_8202

img_8213

I had one piece:

img_8218

This was honestly one of the best wedding cakes I’ve ever tasted! The cake itself was moist and very chocolate-y and only moderately sweet, and it combined perfectly with the strawberry filling and buttercream icing.

img_82221

It was so delicious, in fact, that I went back for another small piece. Wife tried to stop me, but I was unstoppable.

img_8223

After cake #2, Wife finally succeeded in dragging me out of this room as well so that we could make our way over to the second wedding event: the dinner reception! Coming soon …

Describe the best wedding (or other) cake you’ve ever tasted 😀

Happy tears

12 Comments

The hospitality just knows no bounds around these parts!

Check out what was waiting for us when we ambled into the kitchen Saturday morning:

img_8137

Kristin had arranged an entire tea and coffee display (complete with a “good morning and how-to” note!) to greet us if we woke up before she and Dustin did. I chose a chai tea bag with a bit of skim:

img_8139

For breakfast, Kristin whipped out a box of Trader Joe’s banana bread mix. She’s so stocked! We mixed banana chunks into the batter and sprinkled slivered almonds over the top because we’re fancy like that. While the bread was baking, I licked the batter:

img_8138

Kristin then proceeded to make us a beautiful breakfast appetizer plate with expertly arranged cinnamon-sprinkled apples:

img_8145

And peanut butter!

img_8146

Oooh, that bread smelled so good coming out of the oven. There’s something about boxed mixes that is just too delicious and addictive!

img_8149

There were gooey pieces and crispy pieces.

img_8154img_8156

And lots and lots and lots and lots of peanut-butter-covered pieces!

img_8152

After breakfast, Kristin, Wife, and I took a lovely two hour stroll through a nearby park, greenway, and neighborhood. We saw the prettiest bungalow houses all with rocking chairs comfortably nestled into their wraparound porches. I kept saying I expected little old ladies to pop out and invite us in for sweet tea. Sadly, neither the old ladies nor the sweet tea made an appearance.

Wife and I returned to our “suite” after the walk to start getting ready for the wedding. Mid-prep, Kristin came knocking at the door with a plate in hand: “It’s going to be a while until you guys eat, so I brought you some snacks.”

img_8164

As you can see, Kristin went all out with these “snacks”! The plate included piping hot mushroom empanadas and onion jam ricotta tarts. I think I had 1.5 of each.

img_8166

Who thinks Kristin needs to open a bed and breakfast? I do! I’d be first in line for a room.

Also mid-prep, I received an exciting message from Erin Gunn‘s boyfriend Mike: “She said yes!” Ohhhhhhh my goodness!!! Of course, I called Erin immediately and confirmed the engagement news and cried and jumped up and down and flapped my arms around because I was (and am) so happy for her. Congratulations, Erin!

Erin’s engagement news was a good warm-up for Ilin’s wedding, during which I also lost quite a bit of fluid via the ol’ tear ducts. Do you cry at weddings?

I’m off to go to sleep, finally, but I should be back tomorrow with the full wedding recap. In the meantime, go visit Emily at Super Caloric Chalk Dust for a shot at winning her first ever giveaway!

Southern hospitality

20 Comments

I feel so spoiled!

Kath picked me up at the airport just after 1pm for our afternoon date, and we headed straight to Earth Fare. I was excited to sample the most famous salad bar in the world of food blogging:

img_8092

I got a little carried away (to the tune of $14.88, aka two pounds of salad) and filled my bowl to the brim. It involved a huge pile of spinach, mixed greens, and veggies on the bottom and several bites of exciting things on top: chickpea salad, wheatberry salad, marinated mushrooms, black beans, soy chicken salad, tropical tofu salad, tonnnnnnnnnns of feta, and probably way more that I can’t remember.

Clean plate club:

img_80971

When we finished our salads, we wandered through the store collecting samples (including a cheese cube, a cracker, a vanilla cream wafer and maybe more?) and salad ingredients for Kath’s party tonight.

From Earth Fare, we headed to Great Harvest, Charlotte hotspot #2, where Matt was hard at work. Here’s the bread display in action:

img_8100

I sampled two kinds of scuffin. Perhaps they were lemon poppyseed and chive? Flavor didn’t matter — they were delicious!

img_8101

And then Matt hooked us up with some more excitement. We shared (as in, I ate most of) this piece of ambrosia bread:

img_8103

(It tasted like an iced cinnamon bun, but better because it was packed with those bits of dried fruit, mmmm.)

And about half of this giant butterscotch cookie loaded with butterscotch chips (Kath had a couple bites, and I saved the last quarter to share with Wife later):

img_8104

We were standing outside the bakery when Matt came running out to ask if we’d like to sample some of the pizza the staff had made earlier in the day for themselves just by throwing scraps together. I was not hungry, but I couldn’t resist!

img_8105

They were deeeelicious — bursting with sundried tomato flavor and lots of spice. I had some right then and then saved the rest for later in the afternoon until I could polish them off completely (minus one bite for Kath and one for Wife).

After the feast, Kath and I took off for a lovely walk on the greenway. I want a greenway! All of the trees and grasses were vibrantly green and alive, especially against the clear sky — such a change from the dull greyness of New York! In a burst of spontaneity, we stopped by Kate and Nate‘s (who, incidentally, deemed my blog title porn-appropriate last week) house. Prep for Nate’s big SpongeBob birthday shindig was well underway so, after a quick visit, Kath and I ended up taking their adorable dog Gilbert for a walk further down the greenway. Gilbert definitely did not poop on the greenway while we were walking him, so there was no need for us to worry about cleaning up after him around mile 0.5. Ummmmmmmm …

After about an hour and a half of walking and chatting, we made our way back to Kath’s car and headed to her house to relax for a few minutes until Wife’s imminent arrival. Kelsey stopped by to work on a special project for Nate’s party, and I got to blog on Kath’s famous chair 🙂

img_8107And now, I must take a moment here to appreciate Kath appropriately. I sent her a message Thursday asking for suggestions about what I should do during my five hours of downtime in Charlotte before Wife arrived. The next thing I knew, she was offering to pick me up at the airport, take me for lunch, samples, and a walk, and let me relax at her house! On top of that, Kath, Kate, and Nate invited us all to Nate’s birthday party later. It sounded so fun and I would have loved to go, but we had other plans already. Not only was Kath completely generous with her time and hostessing abilities, she was great company, and we passed a lovely afternoon together. Thank you, Kath!

Wife came around to collect me a little after 5, and the southern hospitality just kept flowing. But now I’m tired and it’s late, so I’ll have to recap hospitality part 2 tomorrow!

What geographical personality characteristics have you noticed? That’s a confusing question. Let me try to clarify. I’ve always heard that people from the south are hospitable, and obviously I’ve found that to be true. Same thing with people in Ireland being gabby. Can you add others to the list?