Memorial Day weekend – the official start of summer. Â I’m sure, per American tradition, that the rest of you munched on burgers and other outdoor grilled fare this weekend. Â Not me. Â I nibbled on something a little more delicate…
They belong to our new niece, Abigail. Â I assure you, they were delicious…
Cheers y’all,
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My birthday was last week. Â I don’t know how you guys like to be awakened on your birthday but, personally, I enjoy being awakened with breakfast and presents in bed. Â The menu – scones, raspberries, and itsy bitsy peanut butter cups. Â (The Mr. knows that peanut butter and chocolate were my first love.)
He may have enlisted the help of Trader Joe’s for the “cooking,” but the presentation was all him. Â I may have eaten a good bit of it before taking some pics…
After a sufficient amount of breakfast was consumed, there were presents. Â I didn’t get any wrapped shots but, don’t worry, you didn’t miss anything. Â The Mr. prides himself on his bad wrapping jobs. Â In fact, it’s a gift giving signature for him. Â This year, they were wrapped in mismatched sale papers that you get in the mail. Â The ends weren’t taped down despite the yardage of tape engulfing them but, hey, at least it was eco-friendly. 🙂
The wrapping isn’t the important part anyway. Â What’s important is on the inside and, this, he did well with. Â Being the techie guy he is, all of my presents were some sort of gadgetry, but all gadgetry that I needed and wanted.
In case you can’t make that all out, the goodie pile includes: 1) an external hard drive – pink, of course, because it’s a girl’s hard drive, 2) LED lights for my bike, both rear and front, so that I am well seen in not so great lighting, and 3) the piece de resistance – a Nikkor 50mm f1.8 lens for my camera!! Yeah for low f-stops!! Â (I could previously only get down to a 3.5).
The only bad thing about my birthday was that I had to go to work. Â This was the first birthday in probably 7-8 yrs that I haven’t taken it off. (Never again.) Â Good news is that my last evaluation cancelled, allowing me to knock off just a little early…allowing for pre-birthday-dinner beers at World of Beer. Â The Mr. was introduced to this place earlier in the week and desperately wanted me to see it too. Â I’m sure he’ll tell you all about it later.
This month, our local World of Beer is highlighting brews from the Southern Tier Brewing Company, which we tasted and enjoyed before.  I wanted a Southern Tier Choklat Stout, but its keg had run dry. So, I tasted a Southern Tier Creme Brûlée Imperial Stout.
Wah-hah-hah…THAT was sweet!  My mouth is puckering now, just thinking about it…days later.  Don’t get me wrong, it didn’t taste bad at all.  In fact, it was quite good, just intense…and sweet.  I might have been able to ingest more of it if it had it been poured over my morning waffles.  For real drinking, I opted for a the Southern Tier Oat Imperial Stout  instead.
The Mr. had a Southern Tier Krampus, for reasons that appeal only to him and his odd sense of humor.
World of Beer doesn’t serve food, but it partners with several nearby restaurants who will bring food to you while you sip your brew.  As novel as that sounds, bar food is not exactly what I had in mind for my birthday dinner.  So, we polished off our beers and headed Uptown to Dandelion Market , a local Dublin pub-inspired tapas restaurant.
I ate there with girlfriends for another birthday celebration about a year and half ago, but The Mr. had never been. Â I loved the atmosphere as well as the food. Â Check out the lovely table water…
Another really cool thing about Dandelion Market is that it has a deal where for $230 you can order EVERYTHING ON THE MENU. Â That sounds like a lot, but when you go with a party of 15-20 people, it’s kind-of a great deal. Â We did this when I went for my girlfriend’s birthday celebration and, even with the 17 of us that were there, it was a ridiculous amount of food. Â So good, but SO MUCH! Â Needless to say, The Mr. and I did not attempt that on our own.
We split the Pan Seared Ahi Tuna,
the Ale Simmered Sausage Bites,
the Baked Potato Croquettes,
and the Market Mac and Cheese.
It was all fantastic but, I’m here to tell ya – that tuna was out of this world!! Â I almost pulled a “it’s-my-birthday-I-don’t-have-to-share-if-I-don’t-want-to” line but, The Mr. really loves a seared tuna and I just couldn’t keep it from him. Â What can I say? Â I’m a giver. Â Even if I had withheld the tuna, I have no doubt that he would have enjoyed himself. Â You see, I’m the kind of girl who doesn’t really like for my food to touch. Â Him, he’s a combiner…
We finished the evening off with a Guinness-based, ganache-filled birthday cupcake. Â I was stuffed by that point. Â But, a girl has got to have a little bit of cake on her birthday…especially if there is Guinness in the batter.
Despite the ever increasing number associated with the anniversary of my birth, it was a really good day!
Cheers y’all!
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Don’t ya just love fresh herbs?
Parsley
Basil
Rosemary
German Thyme
Last summer, having gotten tired of paying $4 a pop at the grocery store for small plastic containers of herbs that I never fully use before they go bad, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I bought two of these lovely planters from Crate & Barrel, had The Mr. mount them on the railings of our back “porch,” and got my hands dirty.  I planted basil, parsley, and oregano in one and rosemary, mint, and thyme in the other.  It sounded like a good idea at the time.  With daily watering and all that direct sunlight on my “porch,” I had spent less than I would on containers of those herbs at the grocery store and I was gonna keep myself in fresh herbs throughout the summer!  Those were my thoughts, anyway.  That is…until we went away to the beach.
I asked our pet sitter to please water the herbs for me daily. Â Well, she did, and I came home to HERBS GONE WILD!! Â They had tripled in size in 10 days time!! Â (Unfortunately, I seem to have deleted this pics I took, so I can’t prove it. Â But I promise it’s true!) Â Horticulturally speaking, that was pretty awesome. But practically, I COULD NOT use them fast enough. Â I put basil and parsley on anything that would stand still. Â I made mojitos like they were going out of style. Â I even infused olive oil with rosemary and mint and made a bath scrub out of it. Â (I understand that all of those things would have made interesting blog posts, but who can write when you are worried about herbs taking over your home?) But the herbs just kept growing and growing. Â I gave all my neighbors permission to just come up on my porch and snip off any amount of herb they wanted. Â I tried to give them away to my friends. Â And still they grew…and grew…and GREW! Â By the fall, my “porch” railing planters no longer housed a lovely, demure little herb garden. Â They had become monstrosities of the highest order, disproportionate in size to their containers, with yellowing leaves from disuse and snaking limbs. Â They were huge and hideous and starting to choke each other. Â So, I did what any self-respecting gardener would do – ripped them all out and planted pansies.
Despite this failed experiment, I still had a strong desire to grow my own herbs. Â I mean, even though they are just herbs, it’s still nice to think that I’m eating something I grew myself. Â Also, without having my own, I’m forced back into my original predicament -Â paying $4 a pop at the grocery store for small plastic containers of herbs that I never fully use before they go bad. Â This year, though, I decided to take a different route – CONTAINMENT!
I was given this sweet little plant stand by a neighbor who moved and wasn’t going to be able to take it with her.
It had been sitting on my “porch” for a couple of months, as I was uncertain about what to do with it myself. Â But then I thought, “Hey, what’s this in my living room?”
A HUGE window with excellent natural light, perfect for plant growing. Â Plant stand, meet ginormous window. Â You both love plants. Â Discuss!!
Hmmm…but what to put in said plant stand? Â If, I put some herbs in smaller pots, and grow them inside through filtered window light, I might just be able to grow the herbs I need without running the risk of them squeezing me out of house and home. Â One problem, though – the orangey-color of terra cotta pots doesn’t exactly mesh with the look I’ve got going in my living room.
What to do? Â Several months ago I saw Martha decorate up some cute little terra cotta pots on her show and loved them. Â I refreshed my memory with an archived video from her website, ordered up some Old Fashioned Milk Paint, and headed to Michael’s for a hot glue gun and some twine. Â I’m usually not the crafty type, but this little project was just calling my name. Â I know I’m no Martha but, they didn’t turn out half bad, huh?
I love the dusty, weathered look from the milk paint and the “Driftwood” color blends perfectly with the color palate of my living room. Â Now I’ve got a window full of sweet little herb pots. They’re fresh and demure, just like I like ’em!
‘Cuz, let’s face it, nobody likes a haughty herb!
Cheers, ya’ll!
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I met my friend, Meg, for dinner at Cantina on East Blvd tonight and look what was right in front of my eyes as I pulled out of the parking lot…
I’m super excited!! Â I’m guessing it’s brand new 1) because of the “Now Open” sign in the window and 2) because I know a interior design boutique used to be in that same location. Â We had a blast in a similar place called Mountain Town Olive Oil in Park City last year. Â We’ve been loving the oil and vinegar we picked up there ever since. Â But, I’ve kinda been dolling it out sparingly, not knowing when I would be able to get more. Â Now it looks like I won’t have to do that anymore. Â I’m running low on olive oil anyway. Â So guess where I’m headed when I do my weekly shopping this Saturday! Â I’ll let you know what I find out.
Cheers y’all!
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Crickets…crickets…
I seriously doubt there is anyone out there still reading this. Â If you are, um…sorry about the nearly year long hiatus…we got busy…
Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Â If you were a reader before, you can tell we’ve had a little site redesign. Â I’m pretty excited about the new look, although there are still a few things still outstanding on the “site redesign to do list” (or since the computer-nerd-software-developing-web-designing hubs is in charge of that stuff, it could also be called the “blog honey-do list.”)
Although we have been total slackers since last May, we both really enjoy this blogging business and are re-invigorated to start it a new.  We’ve been thinking and there’s something else that is different.  The hubs still insists that we use pseudonyms for posting.  Previously we referred to ourselves as the Beer Guy and the Wine Girl, but we’ve been doing some thinking, myself in particular, and we feel that  those pseudonyms were a little misleading: 1) While we do enjoy good fermented beverages, either hops or grapes, neither of us is an expert in either beer or wine.  It’s not for lack of trying 🙂 , but there are no formal credentials there.  2) This blog isn’t meant to be just about beer or wine.  It’s about food, travel, learning to use our fancy camera, and us trying to step out of our comfort zone in little ways every day.  For a refresher on what this delicious little blog is supposed to be about go here or here.  3)  While the hubs certainly knows his stuff when it comes to beer, and I feel I know a fair amount about wine, I’ve come to learn that I actually have a more discriminating palate for beer than I do wine.  And a nice craft brew is generally my go to beverage of choice.  I felt like a phony referring to myself as a Wine Girl.
So gone are the days of BG and WG.  Since we are a married couple enjoying all these little adventures together we thought our pseudonyms should reflect that.  Henceforth, we shall refer to ourselves as  The Mr. and The Mrs.  It’s cute, no?  But is it as cute as this…
Maybe not. Â But these new pseudonyms aren’t nearly as limiting as the old ones.
Whether you are a new reader or The Mr.’s mom who’s stuck with us from the start – Enjoy! Â We are getting back in the saddle and hope you’ll come along for the ride!
Cheers y’all!
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