Continuing the Recap

(See my last post for what’s been going on from July to September!) 

September was extremely important, due to being the month of my birth! This grand event was celebrated in its traditional fashion – at the beach, which needs its OWN recap. That’s really all I can say about September. I think I was studying that month also.

Lastly, we have October. A lot of football watching happened, sometimes at my friend’s house where we ate too much food… but had a great time. A new baby joined our friend group, who I cannot get enough of! Charlotte Rose has been a great addition to the group. I guess we’ll keep her.  I visited Baby Sister at college, then took her with me to Fayetteville one day to tailgate before the Razorbacks game (Woo Pig!). I also took a special, somewhat last minute trip to Baltimore for a family wedding. It was such a short trip and I cannot wait to go back. So much history, especially Catholic history, which I love! Lastly we celebrated Halloween this week, including dressing my dog up in a ridiculous costume (as per usual).

 

Sorry for the information overload. I felt like I should catch up in one blog post, instead of separate posts for every major event. That would take forever. I will recap my birthday trip because that was QUITE the adventure… Stay tuned!

Is it Really November?

Hello? Yes I’m still here… crickets chirping… I’m not sure anyone else is, though. I completely fell off of the blogging bandwagon. I would like to say I’ve been super busy doing crazy exciting things, but the truth is, I’ve been busy doing not-so-crazy exciting things, unfortunately. A lot of travel for work (why haven’t you blogged from your hotel room then?), lots of studying (which is why I haven’t been blogging from my hotel room) and general busy-ness (would that be spelled business?) around town.

We’re *really* hoping that I just took my last ever CPA exam last week and I will never have to study again. But you never know with those things, I don’t feel very good about the test, but we’ll see. I had A LOT of people praying for me. Miracles happen, folks.

Instead of bombarding everyone with tons of pictures, I thought I would just make collages of the high points of the last five months and try to catch everyone up. Hold on to your hats… here we go!

June found us in Fort Smith (twice!) and North Carolina once… We did our annual family blueberry picking trip, where I also purchased some GREEN tomatoes and made Fried Green Tomatoes for the first time (and they were amazing). I attempted blueberry pie for the first time also. Then, I purchased some new snazzy footwear. Also I attended my 10-year high school reunion (Crazy, I can’t believe I’m that old!)

July included Fourth of July (obviously), yet another trip to North Carolina where I learned how to eat crab legs (thanks, Jay!), tasted Cheerwine (spoiler: there’s no alcohol in Cheerwine – confused? I was), went to the beach (sort of), celebrated Big Woodford’s 2nd Birthday (!!!), and picked peaches. (Can you tell my family likes to pick our own fruit?)

August wasn’t very eventful… I studied A LOT, attempted a new recipe (pasta!), and went a fancy dinner party that included Dave Matthews wine and cobbler (so yum). Woodford also made a friend that belongs to my neighbor/friend. Also noteworthy were several Sunday Afternoon Sonic Trips with my sister as I soaked up our remaining days before she went back to college. Oh, we also moved J back to school in August (sadly). I reconnected with an old flame. Okay apparently August WAS eventful…

 

Okay, that’s probably enough for one post. I’ll recap Sept & Oct in my next post!

Tasty Travels in… Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Do you like the alliteration I used up there in the title? Me too!

Last week my work travels took me a little further southeast to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, home of a football team that has apparently won the national championship 14 times. That or their favorite NASCAR number is 14, judging by all of the car stickers I encountered during my short stay.

Before I left, one of my good friends who is from Alabama and attended “The University” sent me a list of restaurants/bars to try while I was down there. He knew I was only going to be there for a few days… and the list had like 20 places on it. No lie. So before I even arrived I was overwhelmed with dining choices. Unfortunately I only tackled two of the items on his list. I do have a semi-legit reason. Read on…

The first night I hit up a local spot called Wintzell’s.  Description: “good seafood” Alright… well I’m in the mood for seafood, so why not? I got there around 6… place was pretty dead. I wasn’t too concerned about that. After glancing over the menu, I noticed they had Fried Green Tomatoes. We all know how I feel about FGT – I have to order them! Because I don’t often find places to get them. So I started my meal with FGT as an appetizer and a Sweet Water 420. (Beer! Just so we’re clear.)

Looks tasty right? “Topped with our fabulous crawfish sauce.” Okay… I’m sorry, these were not good. The “crawfish sauce” tasted like dirt – you know how sometimes shrimp or crawfish gets a dirt-type taste? That’s what this tasted like. And the actual fried green tomatoes were lacking in flavor. I barely ate one. I hate wasting food, but I really thought it was going to make me sick.

At this point, I have two options: a) pay for my beer and tomatoes and leave or b) try to order dinner and cross my fingers that it isn’t a repeat of the first course.

So what do I do? Option b). I would have felt super awkward leaving, plus then I have to go find somewhere ELSE to eat my actual dinner. The only thing that really caught my eye on the dinner menu was the Low Country Boil: “Tender gulf shrimp, Conecuh sausage, Redskin potatoes and corn on the cob. Steamed with our special spices. Served low country style.” I was actually pretty pumped about this because I haven’t been to a shrimp boil in a few years. I enjoyed the fact that my meal came out in a paper bag. Yes, a paper bag. And a plate.

Luckily, the dinner portion of my meal made up for the lacking fried green tomatoes. I’m serious – this was really good. I don’t understand how a restaurant can have something so bad and then have something so good on the menu, it’s a mystery. I’m not complaining (too much). Would I recommend Wintzell’s? I’m not sure. When the people at my client’s office asked me where I ate and I told them Wintzell’s, I didn’t get very good responses. I would say if you have limited time in Tusk Town, skip it.

The next night, I hit up another suggestion from my friend, DePalma’s. Italian. You thought it was going to be Mexican food, didn’t you? No? Okay, maybe that’s just me. DePalma’s is located in the downtown area of Tuscaloosa, which appears to be a happening spot at night. I didn’t have to wait for a table, but the restaurant was pretty full when I arrived around 6:00. I started my dinner off with a glass of Merlot, I can’t remember the name of it now (it was tasty) and the DePalma’s House Salad.

I don’t know if I was just really hungry, but this salad was really good. It had lettuce, tomatoes, green pepper, cheese and olives (which you can’t see in the picture). Not long after my salad arrived, my entree arrived.

This picture probably looks deceiving, but what we have right here is Shells Florentine, giant pasta shells stuffed with spinach, ricotta cheese, oregano, mozzarella & marinara. With garlic bread. This meal was amazing. I’m not even kidding. Probably because it tasted semi-homemade and I haven’t really eaten authentic homemade food in a few weeks? Regardless, I plan on making stuffed shells the next time I am home and cook dinner. Please go here if you are ever in the vicinity of Tuscaloosa. The description given by my friend: “was a first date staple in college, but had great food for reasonable prices.  Outstanding Italian.” If that doesn’t sell you, I’m not sure what will?

Unfortunately those were the only two noteworthy meals I enjoyed last week. I’m enjoying (sarcastically) my third week out of town as a type this, so I’ll have another edition of Tasty Travels next week or the next time I have time to type up a post.

JAZZFEST: New Orleans

It’s been about 3 weeks since I went to New Orleans so I guess it’s about time to post an update?!

One of my good friends that I’ve known since we were 5 decided it would be a fun birthday trip to go down to New Orleans for Jazzfest, which just so happened to coincide with her birthday. Count. Me. In. She extended the invite to our “group” from high school for the most part, but it ended up just being four of us, which was fine with me. I thought it was a great group. We woke up SUPER early on a Friday morning, drove down and partied until Sunday morning when we had to come back to our real lives. Ugh. Talk about depressing! I’m already trying to plan another trip back down there, I forgot how much I love love love NOLA. Granted the last time I was there was my freshman year of college and it was for a fraternity formal, so it’s not like we really did much besides drink in the hotel and go to the formal. But yes, definitely want to go back. And definitely recommend to anyone who is looking for a fun trip. Instead of giving you a play by play, I thought I would just let the pictures speak for themselves 🙂 Enjoy!

Can’t go to Louisiana without partaking in some Abita goodness…

Gettin’ ready to see Zac Brown Band! (And yes, I did already see him this year. Step off!)

The Crew!

Waiting to have what would be the best brunch of MY LIFE (see next picture)…

Can I just tell you guys about this meal… if you are ever in New Orleans, please go eat at Slim Goodie’s! This was where we had brunch on Saturday morning. I ordered what is called “Jewish Coonass.” Before you get all offended, Jewish Coonass is used to describe the act of eating the ass out of coons, which apparently is what Jewish people in NOLA used to do back in the day? At least, that’s how the server girl described it to me… so obviously I had to try it. I mean, come on… for the name alone. You probably can’t tell from the picture, BUT Jewish Coonass is composed of: two latkes (potato pancakes), spinach, scrambled eggs and crawfish etouffee. Get. In. My. Stomach. It was SO SO good. I cleaned my plate.

Who would have guessed this post would pretty much end up being about food? This was something I procured at the actual festival, and it was recommended to me by someone who lives in LR that lived in New Orleans before. Actually, I was told I HAVE to have this – crawfish beignets. From what I can tell, it’s a crawfish mixture, rolled in beignet dough, deep fried and covered with that mysterious sauce I can’t seem to figure out what it was. I ate them so fast, I’m surprised there was time to take a picture. Actually I inhaled them. Who am I kidding?! So good. Once again, please go there. And find this little treasure.

Can you go to New Orleans without making the obligatory stop at Cafe du Monde? No, I don’t think so. Luckily we hit it up at a time when we were able to get  a table relatively quickly (i.e. 11:00 at night). The beignets did not disappoint. Neither did the cafe au lait. It’s just so fun to hit that up and see all the people and realize that people have been eating beignets at this exact place for years and years. So great.

In case you’ve never had the privilege to see a beignet in real life… just use this as a teaser. Go there. Now.

Probably my favorite part of the trip was discovering Abita Strawberry beer. We ran into one of my friend’s friends who ended up hanging out with us for the rest of the evening and he was a blast! Very typical New Orleanite, and I don’t mean that offensively. He led us to this convenience store place that had “the cheapest beer you’ll find.” It still trips me out that you can walk around town carrying an open container and no one bats an eye. So we grabbed a couple Abita Strawberries and something else for ‘manda and trekked it to Mimi’s, where you went upstairs in this bar to a dark crowded room where this chick was (literally) spinning 60s and 70s funk music. It was awesome. SO out of my comfort zone – dancing to music I wasn’t familiar with in a crowded room with a bunch of strangers. But it was great, totally made the weekend. Needless to say, we found a place in Metarie, Louisiana to purchase more Strawberry Abita and I’m just not sure it will make it through the summer so I’m already figuring out a plan to procure so more before I run out. Arkansas really needs to jump on this Abita Strawberry bandwagon. I’m telling ya!

Overall, it was a great trip with great friends. I’m really glad I was able to go and I can’t wait for our next trip… whenever that may be. 🙂

Tasty Travels in… Jackson, Mississippi

Since this was my third trip to Jackson, I already kind of knew where I was going to eat. If I find a place I really like, chances are I’ll go back. I realize I miss out on a lot of good restaurants this way, but there will be other opportunities.
Sunday night when I got into town, I was starving. I didn’t want to eat anything too filling, just something light to tide me over until breakfast. I found this Corner Bakery place in the shopping center across from my hotel, so I ran in there to grab something. Chicken Caesar Salad. Pretty standard, right? I ordered that, it came out pretty quick and I hopped over to my hotel. Once I got settled, I opened my Styrofoam box and the first thing I noticed was… chicken pieces that were literally PINK. Gross. So I pushed those aside ate part of the lettuce and dressing, just because I was so hungry. Talk about disappointing! I didn’t take a picture, because it was gross.

Moving on… Monday was a better day for food. Not the best, that comes later, but better. Monday lunch I went to a repeat offender from last year – Basil’s. It’s a cute little sandwich/soup/salad place near the med school campus. Last year their tomato bisque if you remember was to die for. It was really warm there, so I felt odd ordering soup. I ordered the Veggie Panini. This was amazing. I’m sorry I didn’t take a picture, I kind of inhaled in on the way back to the office. It had thick slices of mozzarella cheese, tomato, this olive spread stuff, and maybe onion? It was really good. I would definitely recommend it to anyone in the area.

Monday night I decided to make it easy on myself and go back to Stix – another repeat offender. The sushi was really good the past two years, and last year I discovered they have bang bang chicken. You know, like Bonefish, but its chicken tenders instead? So I started my meal with the Bang Bang Chicken: 

Then I moved on to three different sushi rolls. Here’s where disappointment came. On the large roll closest to me, it had ahi tuna and avocado on the top (can’t remember what else was inside). I purposely do not order salmon at sushi restaurants anymore because I hate the “smoked” salmon flavor and that’s usually the only way it comes. Why was my ahi tuna smoked? I have no clue. Needless to say, I didn’t eat all of that. My roll in the top right of the picture was crunchy shrimp. That’s a usual for me, pretty safe option I’d say. But here was the best part… see that little gem in the top left? That was asparagus + mayo + almonds. It was so good. I forced myself to eat the entire thing, even though I was pretty full. I wish sushi restaurants around here offered that.

Tuesday… I hit up McCalister’s – no pictures here either. However, I ordered the chicken Caesar wrap (on wheat) and when I got in the car with my to-go box, I noticed they had actually given me a chicken salad on croissant. Hm.. I ate it, though. It wasn’t bad, just not what I was actually wanting.
Tuesday night was my favorite, but it wasn’t anything local. On Tuesday morning on my way to the office I kept hearing commercials for Bonefish Grill. I was like, surely there isn’t one in Jackson. OH BUT THERE WAS! All day I could only think about my delicious dinner that I was going to have at Bonefish. And it was delicious. I started with my usual – Bonefish Martini. I really need to figure out how to make those at home. According to the menu, it’s just Prosecco, Stoli and Cranberry Juice. How hard can that be? Anyway… I also heard on the radio that between 5 and 7 p.m. Bang Bang Tacos were only $5. Score! So I started with those…

And then I ordered my usual Salmon with Pan-Asian sauce. It did not disappoint.

I know some people dog chain restaurants, but I like Bonefish because it’s going to be consistent wherever you go. I opted for dessert tonight (I usually allow myself dessert one night of the week when I’m on the road). It was a tough decision between key lime pie, coconut cream pie and strawberry shortcake. But I figured since strawberry shortcake is seasonal, I should go for that. The portion was huge. I couldn’t eat half of it, but it was so tasty!

Like I said, that was my favorite meal of the week.
Wednesday… I can’t remember what lunch was, but dinner was Mellow Mushroom. I like the Mellow Mushroom in Flowood because it’s never really “crowded” and the hippies don’t bother me about eating alone or give me sad, strange looks like I get at other places. I tried something different this time, however, by ordered the Veggie pizza that actually had pieces of tofu on top. I was pleasantly surprised! I also had their Greek Salad before my pizza, which was also extremely delicious. I would definitely order the pizza again and recommend it to anyone.

So that was my week (in food) in Jackson, Mississippi. Travel Season is about to pick up, so hopefully I’ll have more consistent posts that don’t always center around food (no promises).

Blackberry Brambles

I’m always looking for new cocktails to try, so when my friend suggested I try/make a Blackberry Bramble, I was intrigued. He won me over when he said it was a Gin drink – gin is my go-to during the warm months since whiskey just doesn’t taste as good when it’s 90 degrees outside. At least it doesn’t to me. Anyway, I decided to whip up this concoction for Easter lunch last Sunday. I figured my booze-lovin’ family wouldn’t object.

First I assembled my ingredients:

• Gin (the big bottle)
• Club Soda
• Fresh lemons / Lemon juice
• Sonic ice
• Simple sugar
• Fresh and/or frozen blackberries (if you’re like me, I can’t justify paying $4 for a container of about 15 blackberries so I supplemented with frozen.)
• Orange juice*

*The original (or famous) blackberry brambles do not have orange juice, but I added that just in case you have a similar experience to the one I did.

The first step is to muddle some blackberries in the bottom of a glass. I took a spoon and crushed them up kind of, to get the juice out mainly. Then you add some gin (I did probably a ¼ of a glass) – it really just depends on your taste preference. Add club soda to that, then lemon juice, simple syrup and garnish with a few blackberries on top.

Okay… so those were the instructions my friend gave me.  I made it just as I described above and it was wayyyyy too strong. I wasn’t how I, much less my 83-year-old Grandma was going to be able to finish a glass of that. I had roped my 19-year-old sister into this project and we were trying to figure out what to do to make them more… bearable? So we got into the fridge a pulled out some leftover orange juice from Easter breakfast mimosas (I know, shocking that there would be any left), but there was. So a splash of orange juice cut down the alcohol taste and I’m pleased to say everyone else thoroughly enjoyed theirs. One anonymous family member even took a second drink in a to-go cup to their next stop. Ha!

Here’s the finished product:

As my friend MC would say, “How very pinterest of you using a mason jar.” What, I thought it added a nice touch!

And I’ll leave you with my failed attempts at getting Woodford to participate in my shenanigans. He’s no fun sometimes!

Time to Start Living.

In February, we said a tearful goodbye to my 52-year-old aunt. Taken so suddenly, I’m not even sure a month later we have all fully grasped what happened. Or faced the reality that we will never see her again in this life.
Last week, my mom’s sister’s husband (I say it that way to avoid confusion) faced another sudden death when he had to say goodbye to his 70-year-old father. He was laid to rest yesterday, and you couldn’t have asked for better weather. I held it together pretty well… UNTIL the Air Force guy played Taps at the graveside service. It reminded me of that day in October 5 years ago when we said goodbye to my Grandpa.
I had a long conversation on Saturday night with my aunt in her driveway about the events of the past month. It’s hard to not think about how precious life truly is when something like this happens. You take people in your life for granted, you just EXPECT to see them tomorrow or next week or next time… you EXPECT to be able to pick up the phone and call them the next time you want to talk to them… there’s no doubt who’s going to bring the mashed potatoes to Easter because your Aunt makes the best kind, so it’s never a question of who’s name will be written down next to mashed potatoes when my Mom makes the Easter menu list and starts doling out items. Until this year.
I’m not really sure where I wanted to go with this post, but basically I just want to re-iterate that we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. That’s why we have to enjoy every day and make the most of it. Which is why I’ve decided that in October, if I haven’t passed all of my exams and it comes to the point where I have to start re-taking the ones I’ve passed, I’m not going to. I will have spent 2 years studying back to back for tests. It’s not worth it. If I’ve passed, awesome. I will celebrate (right, Cat?!) If not, I’m going to find something else to spend my 8-5 doing. I’ve started carrying my camera around everywhere I go. Never know when you might find a photo op, including taking more pictures with my family and friends. I’m not going to feel weird or embarrassed about taking pictures anymore, because I don’t want to be faced with “Well… we don’t really have any recent pictures of ______” again. Life is meant to be enjoyed, not stressed over or dragged through day by day. Most days I feel like I’m just going through the motions: wake up, go to work, come home from work, study, go to sleep, repeat. Time to start living.

 

Updates, Happenings, Etc.

I have actually been having to do work when I’m at work lately, which makes it hard to type up a concise blog post. But I’m kind of caught up (for the moment) so I wanted to give an update on some things…
LENT. Yeah… sticking to my Lenten resolution has not worked out so well for me this year. While everything with my family was going on a couple weeks ago, we all decided that Lent didn’t apply during that time. So I drank quite a bit. Then I’ve had several functions to go to and I didn’t want to not drink (I know, that’s not what its about). But I caved. So I decided midway through that maybe a better Lenten resolution would be to not drink alone. Prior to February, I found myself coming home after work and having one or two glasses of wine or beers or whatever I was in the mood for. So instead of completely eliminating alcohol, I’m just going to practice better moderation. However, the whole not going to Starbucks thing? Working marvelously. I haven’t been since before February 22nd,which is better for my pocketbook too. I think before next year’s Lent rolls around, I’m going to think long and hard about what I should do. Alcohol or some type of food has always been the easy choice, but I kind of want something that requires more thought, after reflecting on my experience so far this year.
In case you didn’t know, Saturday was my half-birthday, which happens to fall on some holiday… or something… I think my birthday came first, though. Anyway… I had planned this fun outing for one of my groups of friends for us all to go to the horse races down in Hot Springs, but last week 2 of the 4 flaked out. So I dragged my sister along too and we had a great time, minus the sunburns we came home with. Oops.

Then on Sunday, my mom graciously agreed to spend her afternoon in my backyard helping me plant a rose garden. My dad was around too, raking my leaves in the front yard. (Yes, I’m spoiled.) But anyway, one trip to Home Depot, $120 and 2 hours later… I have a rose garden! I’m excited to see how it works out, I planted 4 different types of roses, 3 pink, 1 yellow. And I’m itching to plant my vegetables, but apparently it’s too early for that. Boo. Here’s our finished product:

Then Sunday night, my Grandma wanted to cook a traditional Irish meal for my family and my aunt and uncle and their family, so after Mass we all headed up there for some corned beef and fixings. Everything was really good! My Grandma was so proud of herself, and we were too! She said she got the recipes for everything from an Irish cookbook. I took a picture of my plate to exhibit everything she made. I’m sad I didn’t take a picture of dessert, though. My cousin made a Guinness chocolate cake that was A-mazing! It was probably one of the top 5 best cakes I’ve ever had. And I’ve had a lot of cake. Just saying. I told her I want her to make that for my birthday so hopefully she’ll remember (or I’ll remind her!) and I’ll get to enjoy that deliciousness again in 6 months. Yum!

I don’t really have much else going on, I need to be spending every free moment studying for my CPA exam, but it’s just really hard to sit down and study. Yuck.

Here’s my thought-provoking question of the day: Why does sugar dissolve when you mix it with Kool-Aid and water, but sugar doesn’t dissolve when you add it to Iced Tea?

Foto Friday

This is going to be a non-wordy post. Just pictures. Happy Friday, y’all.

All photos captured by my new camera.

Our visit to Daffodil Hill aka Wye Mountain.

Next we stopped off at the farm, to visit with the boys shooting guns and eat lunch.

Siblings!

No photo post would be complete without Woodford. Sadly he wasn’t allowed to go to the farm (this time!) but I made up for it with some serious Tennis Ball Time (TBT) when we got home.

I just love grass so much!!!!!!!

I just love his facial expressions.

Do you like how the Virgin Mary photo-bombed our picture? Just kidding.

Grieving & Guns

I typed up a post this morning about what’s been going on in my world in the last week and why I haven’t really blogged anything since last Saturday, but I decided I didn’t like it and I’m still not even sure what I want to say. So I’m starting over…

Last Sunday morning I received a phone call from someone who rarely calls me on the phone. One of my uncles was calling to tell me that I need to go find my Mom (she was still at church) and drive over to one of my aunt’s houses because she had died during the night. “Wait, what? Are you sure? That doesn’t make any sense.” So many emotions. My aunt fought a long battle with cancer (30 years) and had just recently been told her cancer was in remission and she wouldn’t have to do chemo for awhile. Over the weekend, however, she developed a stomach virus that ultimately was too much for her chemo-weakened body to handle. She died peacefully in her sleep last Saturday. She was one of the strongest women I have ever known, she went through so much during her short time on Earth. I smile when I think of her being reunited with my Grandpa up in Heaven, they were always so close. 

Since that Sunday afternoon, I have spent almost every free moment with family, including extended family who traveled to Arkansas last week. You never want something like this to happen, but I have to trust in God and believe He has a plan. While it doesn’t make sense to me why he would take her so young, considering her son is 16 and REALLY needs her, I still have faith. I’m blessed with a family that is strong and faithful and we are leaning on each other to get through this most difficult time.
In my earlier written post, I vented quite a bit about my aunt’s other child, her daughter. But I decided against that, because it’s not necessary. While I don’t agree with her actions, I don’t really know what’s going on in her head or how she’s handling this, and so I can’t judge her. Let’s just say it was an exhausting week with her. It saddens me to think she didn’t realize how devout of a Catholic her Mom was, as evidenced by her typical response during planning of the funeral and rosary: “My Mom wouldn’t have wanted that.” But I can’t dwell on that, I have to move forward, and try to appreciate each day I have.
On Saturday, we decided to take my Grandma up to the farm, since that’s one of her favorite things to do. And we thought it would be a good distraction for her from everything. We packed up some sammies and chips and these weird cookies my uncle brought from England and headed off. The boys shot guns while the girls visited the daffodil hill nearby. I took a bunch of pictures with my camera, but I haven’t had a chance to upload them yet, so those will come later. For now, I’ll leave you with two from my iPhone:

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