family fun

Also this past summer, jonathan and i made our way south to the great state of Arkansas for some time with my family and friends, and to celebrate America! 

On the drive we stopped in Nashville, one of favorite cities I've decided, and explored some neighborhoods and offerings for the night.  

Of course, we had to go to Prince's and get some Hot Chicken.  

If you don't know Hot Chicken, you haven't lived -- it's fried chicken that has marinated in a cayenne bath and then has a cayenne breading too.  Served over white toast with pickles. 

 

Per the usual it was delicious. This skin was hot and crunchy and the meat was tender and juicy.  Incredible. 

But that was just first dinner.  After a bar with a delicious porter (yes it's july, yes we don't care), we had second dinner at Chuy's my favorite maker of tortillas. Seriously, I don't know what they put in their tortillas, (though I have a guess I just don't want to confirm it) but they are the best. So of course, I ordered a side of them. And I'm super pumped that Raleigh is getting their own location in October!

 

We headed to the lake the next day and hung out with the family for a few days and enjoyed all the usual fun - swimming, eating, playing cards, and more eating.

Then we went to Little Rock to meet up with the gang and take over Jake's house.  Emmy was pleased.

 

We celebrated the Fourth and America at Jake's parent's house with some solid pool time and grilling. 

It was a lovely vacation with my people and time away from work for a whole week!

xoxo

p.s. did you see this American can? epic. 

oh yeah, thanksgiving

it was epic, of course.

Mike and I hosted at the Forum for our friends and it was so delicious.  

We had Chloe who was adorable per the usu:

I made a turkey! I used the cooking method form Jacques Pepin's Steamed & Rosted Turkey

and it was awesome. Mike pulled out the gross parts, which I couldn't even find, ridiculous. 

I deviated a bit from the recipe (shocker) and after the steam session, stuffed the turkey with a lemon, apple, onion, and cinnamon stick, with some additional mixture sprinkled around the pan.

I followed the recipe for the glaze and basted twice

While the turkey roasted, we got the house ready for company.  

These boys were matching, by accident they say...

When the internal temperature was just right, I pulled out the turkey and emptied the interior parts and juice into the roasting pan and let the turkey sit on the cutting board while I made the gravy. 

Yeah, it's pretty freaking beautiful, isn't it?

For the gravy I made a roux and added the juices and bits from the turkey and cooked until thick.  Then I strained it. Seriously, so delicious. Apples + lemon + onion = perfect turkey gravy, fyi. 

And then we ate, we feasted on turkey and all the fixings.  No really, all of them, see:

Mom was actually worried there wouldn't be enough room in my house for all the food, but we made it work.  Everything was so delicious. I still dream of that meal. 

Needless to say it was a fabulous thanksgiving filled with food, football, and friends. 

Chloe was a bit bummed she couldn't have more turkey. 

Don't tell Ashley I gave her a little piece!

Hope y'all had a lovely day!

xoxo

science of beer

The Museum of Life and Science in Durham hosted an after-hours event on the Science of Beer. So of course we (Ashley, Jonathan, and I) went.

There were food trucks outside but we were ready to head in for some beer...I mean science.

Once inside, it was pretty busy and we were surrounded by beer. And yes I mean beer. It was really an awesome beer tasting with some science to entertain along the way.  

Jonathan getting riled up about something:

Basically, you walk around, stop at a booth have some beer, do a little talking, and maybe learn a little science. But there was something about this event that made it even better:

THE CRAFTING STATIONS

Yes people.  The wise founders of this event incorporated some beer-related crafting booths to take a break and enjoy coozie-decorating or coaster making.  A wonderful idea that provided me with a good deal of excitement   However, they were out of coozies by the time we made our way over to that area, so that was a little disappointing.  They must have underestimated the inner crafter of beer drinkers. 

Anywho, there was also a Cabot cheese booth, which was a much needed and a delicious food element to this walk around:

Do you see how much cheese she is rocking?

The dill one was my favorite, and now I can't find it anywhere. 

Major life problems.

After drinking so very much beer, we headed over to bull city burger for some food and water.  

Yes, the water comes in mason jars, adorable but almost the norm now, and no, the burgers were not that spectacular.  They were not bad, they were in fact good.  But not great, and the fries were fine, as was the pickled platter.  Overall it was overpriced decent food.  I wouldn't go back.

To recap: yeah to Museum of Life and Science for putting on such a spectacular event, just bring more coozies next time!

xoxo

rodeo time

Food truck that is.  megan, mike, and i headed down to the first chapel hill food truck rodeo on thursday. oh yes, we've had them for a while in carrboro and durham but the CH is now realizing where the fun is: a parking lot with a dozen trucks...filled with food. 

megan and i rocked out with baguettaboutit and mike stuck with his fav, klausie's.

all winners. i think the strategy really needs to be going in with another person and hit up a bunch of trucks and share...if you can really handle parting with half of your sausage stuff baguette...your choice.

xoxo

nashvegas for the win

So, we finished the core exam and needed to hit the road, so Ashley, Shira and I set out for the lovely, Nashville.  

It's actually a good eight hour drive for us and unfortunately we couldn't take that much time off, so we had a short adventure.  After getting in we set out for the main point of our adventure: 

hot chicken at Prince's. 

Hot chicken you ask? oh yeah.  basically really spicy fried chicken. No really spicy. And so delicious. 

After being overwhelmed with joy we had a fancy drink at patterson house. It was pretty awesome after a we got passed the snooty host.  The service was awesome and the drinks were delicious and fancy.  A recommended location for an intimate cocktail experience.

And who doesn't love a spherical ice cube??

We rested up and then took Nashville by storm on Sunday, starting with brunch at Mad Donna's, which was filled with delicious food and the best bloody mary bar ever.  ever, people.

Post brunch, we headed back to the center of town and to the country music hall of fame and museum.  It's not a cheap way to spend an afternoon, but a pretty excellent one. If you enjoy some bluegrass and/or country music, it's a must-see.

Some of the awesome posters from Hatch Show Print:  

And some love for Dolly, of course:

As well as a little bit of everything else:

Really, it's awesome.  You should check it out. 

After a few hours of soaking it all in, we explored the rest of Nashville, including the Historic East End with records, vintage shops, and ice cream.

Yeah, some old bike pedals, if you need them:

And of course, a butter lamb mold!!! I can't handle it.  This is our thing apparently...

Unfortunately, it was only half of a mold, so we passed it up.  I'm pretty sure we will run across another one soon enough.

Some of the fun flare of Nashvegas:

And awesome ice cream of course:

After the afternoon fun, we stumbled into a good old townie bar and happend onto some good live bluegrass.

We then headed to a fabulous bar, no. 308. 

We loved it here.  Way too much.  Five hours with great new bartender friends, two-for-one drinks, shots (i know), and some food, because that seemed like a good idea...

Oh yeah, just look at this place:

I could kind of live here.

Oh and then we decided we had to leave while we still could and headed to find some more music at the station inn.  A good old local bar where people just play some great music, in a straight-forward bar:

Monday we grabbed some coffee and hung out at Hatch Show Print before driving home. I want a job here, fyi.

Yes, it was a lovely brief getaway and introduced us to the lovely city of nashville.  

xoxo

ps. see you soon nashville, very soon please.