last weekend was relaxing and beautiful down here in georgia, and i spent as much time of that perfect spring saturday outside as i could. phillip came over to the condo where i was happily chatting with my neighbors chris and suzy and their sweet little pup shorty. the trees in our courtyard were providing the perfect amount of shade, and the slight breeze kept us cool. we cracked open some bud lights and caught up on the latest. it’s wild how much you don’t see your neighbors when the colder months are here. i felt like i hadn’t visited with those two in months!
as the early evening crept in, i could feel my stomach rumbling. we weren’t in the mood to cook, so phillip and i were trying to figure out where we should go for dinner. we knew we wanted to dine alfresco since it was such a gorgeous night, and with that must-have, chris and suzy were quick to recommend smokebelly bbq just down the street off east andrews. i’d gotten their flyers and coupons in the mail after their grand opening but hadn’t yet given it a visit. suzy was armed with several suggestions, and since i never turn down good bbq, we knew just where we’d be going. her fingers were crossed that we would like it just as much as she did; considering she’d been back several times after first going with chris, it sounded like a pretty good bet.
okay, my loyal readers. i know you have been awaiting the dramatic conclusion to our trip in salt lake city a couple weekends ago. i very much apologize for the delay; i have been a busy bee, per the usual! if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, i gladly give you salt lake city – day 2.
saturday morning arrived, sunny and beautiful just like friday. it was our final full day in salt lake city, so to not waste any time, we put on our walking shoes, grabbed our light jackets, and strolled over to bruges waffles and frites for some breakfast. bruges had been recommended by both my coworker drew and the concierge geoff, and considering their suggestions are almost always a hit, we knew we’d be in for a treat.
i was extra excited for this restaurant because when i think of waffles in the morning, i cannot help but play that scene from shrek in my mind. gotta love donkey!
well, my final day in greensboro arrived early sunday morning. i thought all the crazy fun had already passed, but what little did i know! we had planned to go out for brunch, but seeing as how there was freezing rain steadily building up all around the house and our cars, we went nowhere fast. good thing mary had stocked up on bread and eggs, because a homemade breakfast is just what the doctor ordered.
first things first on a lazy and relaxing sunday? mimosas! well, i take that back. we didn’t have any orange juice, so we made ourselves some berry bellinis. step one was to make a little berry puree to complement the champagne. mary whipped out her blender and got a little raspberry-strawberry concoction going. it’s silly how simple it was!
step two is to over pour the champagne so that it goes all over the cutting board and chopping block, wasting about a fourth of the bottle. whatever! we never said we were perfect, just a few friends trying to have a good time, and that isn’t too hard with champs and sweets.
i think at about eleven o’clock we finally started cooking actual food. first up, sausages! mary had a moment of inspiration and let me in on her sausage-cooking secret: use a panini skillet of some kind, the ones with the ridges. you can place those little sausage links right in between so they don’t roll all over the place. your links will be perfectly browned and juicy, a great side to any breakfast dish.
wait, though. what was our breakfast dish of choice that sunday? eggs benedict! this mary lady just does it all – homemade strawberry puree, eggs benedict. man, was i spoiled this weekend or what? mary got out her pioneer woman cookbook and turned to page 16 to find the eggs benedict recipe. this particular recipe, to quote mary, is not particularly “figure friendly.” i mean, there are two sticks of butter in the sauce alone. good thing i’m not on a diet! before we get there, though, let’s take a look at the adventure that was poaching the eggs.
i’m sure there’s some exact science to poaching an egg, but we kind of just went on memory and instinct for ours. after the water came to a slight bubble, mike used a wooden spoon to get some good circulation going. mary plopped that first egg into the water and, oh! look at that! that’s not what a poached egg should look like! it looked like some weird mess caught up in an f5 tornado!
sooooooo, with that disaster, we dumped the water and started from scratch. this time we brought the water to a very low boil, didn’t stir as quickly, and gently slipped the egg right into the water without causing too much of a commotion. the white of the egg delicately fell in on itself, creating a little envelope for that yolk to cook perfectly. ah, quite the success!
mary served them up on soft toast with generous spoonfuls of the hollandaise. the sweetest breakfast ever served! the egg was rich and helped cut out the overly sour lemon in the sauce. now, the hollandaise calls for the juice of two lemons, but the lemons we were using were a bit larger, so i think we probably didn’t account for that. i also thought the sauce was a touch too runny, but that’s just my opinion. regardless, i sopped up all the yolk and sauce with my toast and didn’t leave a morsel on the plate. a great adventure with a great result!
just when we thought all the handiwork was done for the weekend, another surprise came our way. we couldn’t get a truck to tow the mazda to the dealership for its bum tire, so mike, the hero that he is, put the spare on my little hatchback. you never know what life will throw at you, but when you’re given lemons, you’ve got to make lemonade! never stop learning, folks. never stop learning. 🙂
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we pretty much spent the entire day in the kitchen, drinking and eating our way through the afternoon. we had a hoot of a time reliving the weekend’s already wild happenings as the radio played. all of a sudden, “king of wishful thinking” by go west came on and mary squealed, nearly scaring mike and i off our chairs. “i love this song! i just cannot control my body when i hear it!” after listening and dancing to it, we pulled up the video online. i think we love it now even more, but i’ll let you be the judge!
aaahhh, the early evening was suddenly upon us, so mary and i switched to wine for the rest of the night. she’s a white wine lover and i’ve come to love red. good thing she had plenty bottles of both!
more vino!
even though we’d had a late brunch, our stomachs were starting to growl. well, just what would we have for dinner? mary had started a pork tenderloin in the slow cooker that morning, so after some serious thinking, we decided pulled pork sandwiches, mac’n’cheese, and brussel sprouts would be a great idea. am i, right? yep!
since the pork was already cooking, the brussel sprouts were up next. i’m warning you now. i took many unnecessary photos of pretty much the same thing over and over again. i mean, i had enjoyed almost that whole bottle of red by myself at that point. give a girl a break! 😉
mary had some red onion she needed to use up, so we figured we’d throw ’em in with the sprouts. mary armed herself with her onion glasses, looking like a regular pro. just check out those perfectly chopped chunks!
next we got the pan sizzling and browned the bacon (because bacon makes everything better) and softened the onions. the kitchen started to smell divine, as i am sure you can imagine.
mary gave the brussel sprouts a rough chop and tossed ’em in with the bacon and onions. it’s such a shame brussel sprouts get such a bad rap. they just needed to be served with fatty bacon all this time!
here is what brussel sprouts look like after you add salt…
…and here is how they look when you throw in some pepper…
…and then after you add garlic powder…
…and then when they’re all ready!
we finally had everything ready, so we dug in and spent the rest of the night watching old home videos that mary’s dad mark had filmed at the 1996 olympics in atlanta. ah, we were so young!
om nom nom.
eventually we rinsed our plates, filled the dishwasher, and headed to our beds. i cannot express enough thanks to mary and mike for a fantastic weekend, and my heart swells just thinking about how much i love these dear friends of mine. without any plans written down, we let the days take us where they would, which was, as i had hoped it would be, a lot of fun.
it was a sleeping in kind of morning on saturday, so there really was no rush to get going. i think we rolled out of bed and downstairs around nine or so, still rockin’ the pj’s in true weekend spirit. the coffee pot was fresh and full, so i fixed myself a mug as the sun poured in through the windows. mary finished prepping the strada and popped it in the oven for some good breakfast eatin’. just as the oven door shut, her hubby mike walked in from the garage, home depot bag in hand. ah, yes! the adventure of the garbage disposal continues, just as i promised!
we gathered in the living room around the fireplace, enjoying our savory breakfast before the manual labor began. i’ve got the strada recipe over here for you, so if you need a new something to add to your book, enjoy! it was rich and filling and reminded me a bit of biscuits and gravy, which we know should be a staple in every southern girl’s repertoire.
since we took last week off from nrw, i decided we’d go for something indulgent this wednesday, and indulge we did! leon’s full service in decatur was the pick of the week, and considering i’d only heard good things, i was excited that we were finally giving it a try ourselves.
the idea here at leon’s is that you are going to have the best part of your day at their tables and that you will be itching to come back again. they strive to provide only the best service and hospitality in addition to a great meal and equally as great drinks. after beginning brick store pub nearly 15 years ago, mike, dave, and tom took a new turn when they started leon’s in february 2009. since then, chef eric ottensmeyer and sous chef robert lupo have been bringing “fun and seasonal aspects to neighborhood pub cuisine.” the menu has a varied yet modest menu that should hopefully tickle your taste buds in some fashion. we were a hungry crew that night, as always, so we were ready to dig in!
this week i wasn’t sure where i wanted to venture to for nrw, and as it turns out, i didn’t venture very far, at least as far as mileage is concerned. after meeting at my condo, we all made the short walk down roswell road to try out the big ketch saltwater grill. i pass it all the time on my runs, and since seafood sounded like the perfect dinner choice, we found ourselves gathered around a couple of tables and ready to eat.
i perused my list of nrw hopefuls and couldn’t really decide what sounded best this week. then, in a striking moment of clarity, i remembered good ‘ole hankook taqueria over on the west side. i have literally only been there once, and it was about four years ago with my old small group, but i remember it being one heck of a place. i thought it might be a contender, but kyle reminded me about the very limited parking. eh, that’s right….but! to keep in the spirit of that line of asian fusion cuisine, we decided on the midtown location of takorea.
takorea is the creation from hankook taqueria chef tomas lee, hence why i didn’t mind coming here in place of hankook. their idea is to make korean flavors available in a fun and energetic atmosphere by presenting it through traditional mexican dishes like tacos and burritos. don’t be fooled, though, because the fresh ingredients and components are all asian. you’ll be easily introduced to your new favorite street snacks, wondering how you lived all those years without these flavors! sound exciting? then read on to see how much we all enjoyed it!
since my tofu stir fry was a bit of a flop last week, i decided i’d go with something a little more familiar this time, something that would be more of a “sure bet” for my taste buds and preferences. i was flipping through my notebook and came upon this slow cooker recipe for sausages, sauerkraut, and potatoes. anything in a slow cooker is a great idea, and since it was a recipe from a torn-out page of real simple magazine, i knew it’d be a success. as i was unlocking the door to the condo, i could smell the delicious wafts seeping through the poorly insulated frame right to my nose. the meal is as scrumptious as it sounds and looks. the potatoes are perfectly cooked, not overdone. the bratwursts are almost crumbly, and the sauerkraut is to die for. personally, i only needed a little bit of the whole grain mustard, but it does give a nice little bite to each forkful. if you’re a german food-lover, this recipe is for you. enjoy!
ah, so good to be back for the first official new restaurant wednesday experience of 2015! some friends tried out naanstop a couple weeks ago (much to my dismay since i was out of town), so tonight we bring you the review of saltyard, a small-plate dining experience that is casual and ambient, luring yet not pretentious. with its globally-inspired menu and perfectly-paired beverage selection, it sounded like a flavor odyssey that we couldn’t miss.
i was trying to decide what to make this week since i actually am in town when i came across a vegetarian cookbook in my kitchen cupboard.
“clark, is this yours?” i hollered at my brother.
“huh, no,” he answered, as if he would ever own this kind of cookbook.
i checked the front cover to see if it had been signed as a gift from someone, but there was nothing. i don’t ever recall making the conscious decision to make this purchase, and i am at a loss as to how it came into my possession. i guess its origin will remain a mystery!
i flipped through the pages, searching for something a little outside my comfort zone, and there it was, sesame tofu stir-fry over rice. now, as we all know, i am a meat-eater through and through (not to be confused with a maneater), and even though i’ve only ever had tofu a few times (so few times that i can probably count them on one hand), i figured i’d be adventurous and give it a try. so, tofu is what would be for dinner!
kelsey v 