cabin camping in the mountains

last weekend we went camping.  it wasn't actually camping - we rented a cabin, but I kept calling it camping, because really, for me, it's the same thing.  We got a place near blowing rock, north carolina.  Jonathan & I joined the team late on Friday due to an exciting party (more on that later). 

Saturday we spent most of the day hiking the Julian Price Memorial Trail off of the Blue Ridge Parkway. 

We managed to get some decent photos of the group in front of Casey's VW bus, which is actually challenging with 6 people & 3 dogs

 

and then we set out on a lovely hike

with lots of mini waterfalls

on the way back to the cabin we hit up the Blowing Rock Brewing Company

They (along with a handful of B&Bs) cater to a weekender/resorty crowd in downtown Blowing Rock. The beer was fine -- not the best and not the worst, but certainly refreshing after an afternoon of hiking. (btw - we could sit outside with the dogs)

We basically did nothing except for lounge and eat for the rest of the day.  On Sunday on our way out of town we stopped at two more breweries: Fonta Flora Brewery in Morganton and Olde Hickory Brewery in, you guessed it, Hickory. Olde Hickory was good with lots of choices including some fancy ones like the 11% Bourbon Honey Stout Jonathan had. The atmosphere was less enticing as it's also a pretty large restaurant. 

Fonta Flora, however, was special.  

It's housed in a charming corner building with lots of open space but plenty of seating. It has a solid local crowd that filled the place pretty well for a Sunday afternoon in the South. The beer was delicious with a decent variety for a small setup. 

It's dog and people friendly -- they were all very lovely and friendly.  A friend of the brew team stopped by to hand out cupcakes and candied bacon because she was testing out some new recipes! I mean really people, a brewery with bacon?! What more do I need? (Nothing is the answer.) 

They are also trying cool things with beer and local ingredients to make things like a beet saison! I had their irish stout on nitro and it was awesome. Hopefully, we will be going back to this one sooner rather than later.  

I (obviously) highly recommend Fonta Flora if you are ever in the area.

xoxo

a trip to the beach, before the rain

We actually had the loveliest weather for most of April.  It was warm and sunny, but sometimes chilly.  It's now May and the weather has been less than wonderful - cold and rainy or just some good old hot southern thunderstorms.  Lame.

But before this nasty weather turned, we had a lovely weekend escape to the NC beaches.  A couple of our friends were running the half marathon (!) so we met up to get them pumped up and celebrate post their awesome finish.

One of the things I like about North Carolina is that we can live in the South and drive three hours to be at the beach.  A good combination of the things I love.

So we went to Kitty Hawk and saw the sights, soaked up the sun, and ate our way through town (shocker, I know).  My favorites:

The Wright Memorial, beautiful 

Duck Donuts, where they hand dip your donuts when you order them (absolutely frigging delicious)

The beach house and deck facing the ocean

Seafood delight from the market

The beach, a little chilly in the water but perfect on the sand

Aww...

On the drive back we stopped at Weeping Radish Brewery, the oldest microbrewery in NC!

We also saw this sign for a town called Momeyer, who knew Lorraine had her own town?!

Finally, we had Chinese for dinner at Red Lotus back in town (which is always great) and Jonathan got this ridiculous fortune. Seriously, he doesn't need this kind of encouragement.

I hope you make it to the beach soon! 

xoxo

bread & butter bakery

Bread & Butter is a local bakery steps away from my house. 

I love it.  

Everything is delicious and fresh.  The bread is perfect, and the pastries are dangerous. 

Like the bostock above, the ridiculous cinnamon rolls as big as your face, or brioche that takes me back to paris.  

I want it all when I go there. 

It's probably a bad thing, but I don't care. 

OH and, as the best bakeries do - they have wonderful coffee. 

Really, it's a winner, you should check it out if you are in town!

xoxo

trophy time

Trophy Brewing Co. just opened up in Raleigh and so of course we went to check it out.

And it's a winner.  

The bar is intimate and filled with trophies, of course.  

They are working on the restaurant section, which will expand the size.  

We started with a flight:

and then had the porter:

And it was all delicious.

We were actually really impressed with the beer, given they are so new.  We were afraid they would still be working out the kinks, but we really liked everything we had. 

Also, hands down, the best thing about this place: 

There is one TV in the bar, and what was it showing? 

No sports.

Nope.

Animal planet.  

Specifically, the show Too Cute!

Yes, the show that follows around puppies and kittens. 

Now this is my kind of audience.

Check plus Raleigh. 

xoxo

a classic

There is a place in Durham called Dame's Chicken and Waffles.  

Yes, it's like Roscoe's, but maybe, please forgive me, better. 

Let's break it down.  Chicken and Waffles is composed of two parts: the chicken and the waffle.

The chicken is chicken.  It should be fried in a skillet, with some spice, and come out with some crunch.  Dame's has the basics covered.  The chicken is tasty, good old fried chicken.

Now the waffle, the waffle is where I think you really decide who makes the best chicken and waffles. Dame's shines on this point.  Their waffles are out of this world.  I had the original, and it was delicious and so fluffy.  

We went to Dame's for Lisa's birthday, and it was amazing. It's a very straightforward setup - there are combinations of different pieces of chicken, waffles, and flavored butters. And you get a side.  

I got the basic - a chicken breast, original waffle, maple butter, and a side of mac and cheese...

Thankfully, I was also able to taste basically everything else on the menu from what everyone else ordered:

First of all, everything was crazy delicious. And so filling. I got two meals out of my dinner and was painfully full after each eating. But I need to highlight three items on the menu (in this order): the gingerbread waffle, the greens, the grits.

Apparently, Dame's excels at the g's.  This gingerbread waffle is like the fluffiest piece of gingerbread cake, and their greens are perfectly cooked with a spicy kick. And the grits are soft and creamy, as they should be but so rarely are. 

I almost shouldn't be telling you any of this.  There is already a wait for this place, but it's so good, I can't keep it to myself.

So, the next time you are in Durham, check out Dame's.  

Just be sure to wear some loose pants and leave time for digestion.

xoxo

fiction kitchen

Fiction Kitchen is a new restaurant in Raleigh and, it's awesome. We have been in need of some new additions to our restaurant lineup and this one is definitely a keeper.

It's a vegetarian restaurant that offers plenty of vegan and gluten free options if you need it. There are a handful of veggie-restaurants around the Triangle but we don't tend to to go to them for various reasons.  But this meant we were quite surprised to walk in to a full restaurant that was 95% women.  Apparently this is the norm for these restaurants, but we had no idea.  Really boys? Why are you hating on your vegetables? 

But back to the important things. The food.  It's also really into local ingredients, which is always nice and they had a good looking beer and cocktail menu. It was pretty hilarious/precious watching Jonathan react to the menu.  I don't think he's ever been in a place with so many options. 

It took us a while but we finally made some decisions, I had the "Chicken" and Waffles with an arugula salad:

And Jonathan got the Pulled "Pork" Plate with Potatoes and Pickled Veggies:

He also thought it would be funny to take a picture of himself instead of his plate when I asked, so here you go:

Well yes, we did get dessert because how can I say no to a Chocolate Truffle Pie with Salted Caramel Sauce?? Obviously, I cannot:

Of course it was spectacular.  So very rich.  It was just like a pile of fabulous ganache with a crumb bottom and caramel top. Holy Moly.

It was all so good. We will be going back asap to try new things, and that pie again, because I just really need another slice to form a well-balanced opinion on it...

I highly recommend you stop by if you are around. Don't be afraid of the soy. It's quite tasty, I promise.

xoxo

king of the cake

Berenbaum's is a delightful bakery in Durham.  But they aren't your typical bakery. They have a stand at the farmer's market and they operate a kind-of csa. 

I know, a bakery csa?? 

So much better than the vegetable kind, let's be honest.  

And to top it all off, they operate on a sliding scale.  Crazy amazing.

Now, I don't live in durham (yet), so I don't get to partake in these treats often.  But last Saturday I made a trip to the farmer's market because i won Berenbaum's weekly facebook giveaway!!! 

Boom diggity! 

Not only was I lucky just to be the weekly winner, I was also lucky because this week's giveaway was a King Cake! Right in time for Mardi Gras.  Oh believe me, Ashley and I were dying.  

So, yes, Saturday I picked up the King Cake and it looked like this:

Just beautiful. I wanted to dig right in but I waited patiently until Sunday, because we had decided to eat it while watching the super bowl.  

(Correction: I had decided, Jonathan and Ashley were ready to eat the whole thing Saturday afternoon)

But Sunday came and we ate that King Cake and seriously people, it was the best King Cake ever.

EVER.

I've eaten a lot of King Cake in my day. I am a very experienced baby-finding-king-cake eater. And this one was so perfect. The brioche dough, the cinnamon, the pecans, the icing. 

I could eat one a week.

Oh yes, who found the baby jesus? Ashley of course. 

The irony is lost on no one.

ALSO, of course they have a blog, and of course there is a picture of us with our king cake on it. 

How precious? 

(Yes, they called Jonathan Brian by mistake, don't get confused)

But now all the king cake is gone. And I must wait until next year.  

But next year I will buy two.  I don't care what you say 

xoxo

big boss: raleigh's best

In my opinion, the Big Boss Taproom is one of the best things happening in Raleigh.

It is the bar attached to the Big Boss brewery, which makes some delicious beer.  The taproom offers Big Boss brews for a few bucks and many (free) games like darts, pool, and shuffleboard.



There are usually some food trucks hanging around too.  And once a month they do tours of the brewery with even cheaper prices on a few of their beers. An amazing deal people! 

It's a real gem in the triangle. I highly recommend it.

So drink up!

xoxo 

if ever in baltimore...

stop by water for chocolate.

raisin bread french toast and bacon:

veggie omelet with cornbread and potatoes: 

delicious delicious i tell you.

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

carolina with the sister

Casi came down to NC for a lovely long weekend.  We had a fabulous time of course, filled with too much booze and food, but that's just what we know how to do...

Jonathan and I picked her up from the airport.  

I was concerned immediately when I noticed they had the same sunglasses. Later their connection would grow stronger, and they would team up to pick on me. 

Ridiculous.   

We then went to gorge ourselves on Indian food, followed by a trip to the Big Boss Brewery for many drinks. 

Later that night, I took Casi to Southern Season, for the first visit.  

She was quite pleased to say the least.

We finished out the day with more drinking (of course) with some of the lovely policy peeps. 

Saturday was a big day in Durham for us.  We had a biscuit from Sunrise, and Casi was in heaven.  We then grabbed Ashley and experienced Gouge Wrestling (see earlier post). 

After that epic morning we headed to Nana Tacos for a feast. When I saw this board I knew what I was getting: Mexican Chocolate Milkshake, Spicy. 

And a bunch of salsa to go with my tacos: 

We finished off Saturday with dinner at the Standard and then a round of Cards Against Humanity. 

The best. 

Sunday, we almost died.  How you asked? Overconsumption of biscuit. 

No, I'm serious.  We went to Weathervane, the restaurant of Southern Season, and had a proper breakfast with a side of biscuit.  

 But this biscuit was the size of my face, literally:

We chilled out for most of Sunday before waddling over to Maple View Farms for some ice cream, and corgi play time!

And then headed to Raleigh for some drinks at Foundation and Landmark, where we saw a strange group of people, which included this man: a man who brings his own pineapple to a bar...

Monday, we wrapped up the trip with biscuit #3 and lunch at the Pit. I then put her on a plane back to NYC with a belly full enough to get her through the winter.

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.