Fun times with Sara + Juan tonight!!! We went over to their house (our house!) to watch the game on their big TV.

But clearly the highlight was our spread of foods. I’m stuffed!

I made a bean, corn, tomato, jalapeno salad to take. Seasoned with Southwestern seasoning (so handy – coming to OpenSky this week), lime juice and salt.

AND I made Ashley’s Chocolate Greek Yogurt dip – probably the easiest, healthiest chocolate dessert there is.

Sara had her magical quartet of dips again (this time with pimento cheese!!)

Plus her famous salad.

Sara’s Whipped Balsamic Dressing

• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 2 tsp agave nectar (or maple syrup)
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• salt and pepper to taste (a big pinch of each)
• Italian seasoning to taste (a big pinch)

This dressing can certainly be mixed by hand, but the KEY giving it the wonderful fluffy, creamy texture is using a Magic Bullet or blender to froth it together! Will keep in the fridge for 5-7 days (and will hold emulsion!)

We also had a tier of healthy foods

And pizza!!!!

Plus homemade guacamole and Great Harvest cookies.

I ate way too much in the first quarter and then nibbled on the desserts in the third. Still full! It was a good night for sprawling on the couch. Tomorrow I will eat less!

That was actually a really good football game!! I was nervous for both teams in the end.

I thought the commercials were pretty meh. What happened to the days when each one tried to top the next with humor, wit and surprise!? The days of the Bud-wize-er frogs? Those were the glory days. Tonight’s commercials were full of obvious humor with only a few clever twists. My favorite was the Bud Prohibition one. I love vintage themed commercials

And the polar bears!? I didn’t even understand them half the time.

Thought the halftime show was OK – Madonna was good (mostly at the end), but I would have liked a lot more diversity of artists and song styles. A big mash-up.

Going to chug water and get in my warm bed!

Firrrrrrrrrrst Friday!!!!!

That means we go downtown, check out some art, eat some cheese, drink some wine and play.

It was a gorgeous evening – cold enough for a winter jacket but warm enough to ditch the gloves.

I met up with Hillary and Matt [who walked from the bakery] and we went to our favorite gallery – Second Street – to find a new watercolor exhibit.

My favorite piece was this one [photograph permission granted]. The artist used masks on many of the pieces and the detail was almost photo-like.

Second Street always has amazing nibbles

We filled up on pimento cheese and veggies, and this incredible lemon goat cheese dip from Greenwood Grocery. Must replicate!

Plus some popcorn and cheese straws!

Our next stop was to The Garage, which is literally a tiny garage in the middle of downtown that opens up for art and music.

We gazed at glittering photographs

Sipped some vino

And nibbled grapes!

Hillary had never been to Positively 4th Street (informally known in our family as P4th now) so we took her there for the ambiance and local food

Beers around!

In the spirit of my crabcakes from Duners, I ordered the Crabcake Sandwich. Sadly, there was little lump meat between the buns – only the stringy stuff. Hope it wasn’t the lungs!! (And if you’ve had fresh crabs, you know what I mean!) The second half tasted better without the bun. Asparagus on the side was delicious! Does that mean it’s springtime?

I also spied Matt’s French fries and traded him an asparagus spear or two for a couple. Fair trade indeed!

Appetizers and dinner left me pretty full, but I wanted something sweet and ended up with a tiny little Bambino cone from Splendora’s full of Hazelnut. The PERFECT size for a tiny bit of sweet after dinner!

And I’ll end with this photo that Matt took that I found neat. I love how the focus is on the middle of the wallet.

Happy weekend!

I headed to the bakery for a few things this afternoon after running some errands. Not a good idea to stop in hungry for snack time!

The crew had just finished a batch of Valentine’s Rice Krispie Treats! I don’t know the last time I had one of these, but it’s at least been 4 years because I couldn’t find one on KERF! I had half for my snack – scrumdiddilyumptous. As the labels says “Satisfies your inner child”

Back at the fort, hot dogs were on the menu. Or rather, organic chicken sausages on bread.

Matt wasn’t able to make hot dog buns upon request this AM, so we improvised. Worked pretty well!

On the side was a beautiful salad

Made with romaine, tomatoes, feta, Doug’s Nuts (a sample that arrived at the bakery for me – totally tasty in a sweet/savory way) and Sara’s creamy balsamic dressing that she sent me home with on Saturday. Emailing her for the recipe now…

Tonight should be good – Gossip Girl is on!!

Heh. Another title I’ve been brewing up!

We did get lost today – in the woods! Lost mentally because of the beauty of a hike.

Matt and I actually went for a quick run this morning and then had a quick lunch before we left to meet our friends.

Cheddar cheese + Strawberry Jam with romaine on Dakota bread

Plus an extra juicy amazing tangelo!! Only con was the seeds.

Then we met up with a group of friends for a hike up the backwoods near the Monticello Trail. Faith led the way! I was thinking it would be more of a walk, but she led us up a mountain. No joke! I was gasping for air at the steepest parts. Note our elevation in the distance!

We climbed up a wooded path and partly up this gravel road to Carter’s Mountain

Our hike lasted just under 2 hours. By the time we got home, I was ready for a snack! This tasted SO GOOD!

Greek yogurt, blueberries, Nuts About Granola Mint Chocolate cookie – a fabulous granola coming to OpenSky Valentine’s Week – 3 flavors in one!

After our active mid-day, Matt and I crashed on the couch to start Season 2. My how things have changed so quickly! We are totally obsessed a la Portlandia.

For dinner we feasted on our leftovers that were planned for Friday.

A Fiesta Bowl for me. Always defined by Mexican flavors all in one bowl. Rice, pinto beans, spinach, tomatoes, salsa, cheese, greek yogurt.

Fiesta in my mouth

Matt had meatloaf with blue cheese, potatoes, and leftover Orzo pasta

We reached a good stopping point in Lost and are focusing on other forms of entertainment this evening. Although I admit, I wish I were still watching…

I had a blast in the kitchen this afternoon with a pair of recipes: one semi-homemade and one made from scratch!

The semi-homemade turned into a wonderful afternoon snack. I’m previewing the KERF Blend of cookie mix for an upcoming OpenSky sale and had to make sure the combination I chose was good.

Man was it!

My mix was oatmeal cookies [duh] made with walnuts, coconut and chocolate chips. KERF favorite superfoods.

To the mix I added butter, egg and milk and into the oven they went. I don’t bake often (because I don’t need to with a bakery at my fingertips!) but this was so much fun : )

If I ever tell you that I think vegetables are as good as desserts — I am lying. Nothing compares to a warm chocolate chip cookie.

I promptly consumed 2.5 of them.

And then I made quinoa for dinner!!

Back in the day of working full time for a boss man and packing a lunch everyday when in school, I used to make chilled salads all the time. They are so easy to make in bulk and pack for lunches, picnics or make-ahead dinners.

Some favorites…

Asian Millet Salad

Feta + Veggie Pasta Salad

Greek Quinoa Salad

Lemon Caper Chickpea Salad [not a grain, but served with one]

Spiced Millet Salad

Mustard Green + Bean Quinoa

Feta Millet Salad

Herby Chard Pesto Pasta Salad

Radicchio and Wheatberry Salad

Orangey Bean Salad

And now to add to the list: Rainbow Quinoa Salad [<—recipe]

This salad combines red quinoa with chard, pepper and tomato. On top a lemony soy mustard dressing adds tons of flavor

But the best part is definitely the goat cheese!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Clumps throughout made this wonderful!

My assistants: sparkling water and POM and Pandora Film Scores.

Dinner, served.

Loved this – and have an extra portion for lunch!

Notice that extra cookie? That was for Matt, who combined it with a bowl of Breyers “cereal surprise”-style. Remember the days when he would mash cereal, frozen cool whip and peanut butter into a mug of heaven!?

After a wild and crazy weekend, it was nice to have a calm evening tonight. But I swear it has gotten even COLDER! We spent 2 weeks in Montana last January and I swear it was never this cold!

I headed to the Healthy Happier Bear HQ to rendezvous with Ashley for a manicure this afternoon.

He sure looks healthy and happy!

She swears that the only things that are cheap in NYC are dry cleaners, housekeepers and manicures. For ten bucks, this was quite a treat. Theodora met us to make three’s company!

After our girls’ outing, I met back up with Matt and Snake, the last two standing. Thankfully they did not have alcohol on their breath when I greeted them.

We chilled (literally) in a bar for about an hour with Larbs and shared a few drinks

And then we parted ways and Matt and I went on a romantic Big City Date! Our restaurant du jour was Apiary, and we had a fantastic experience.

We pondered the menu over chewy sourdough. It featured a 3-course-for-$35 deal going on and considering most entrees in this city are upwards of $25 and most salads the same price, this was like getting a salad and dessert for free!

Matt ordered a la carte and started with Swiss Chard + Ricotta Ravioli in Brown Butter – yum!

I had a partial Caesar salad (partial because it wasn’t ALL classic ingredients but close enough). This salad was IN-credible!!! Every leaf was coated in delicious flavor.

Matt’s entrée was a Pappardelle with Stewed Rabbit, Aromatic Vegetables and Truffle Oil. REALLY interesting flavors and really really good!

I had my finger on the salmon but switched to the Organic Chicken with Peas and Lemon at the last minute – it was really good, but I enjoyed the mashed potatoes, peas and flavors more than the chicken itself, which is always boring to me. Poultry is best on Thanksgiving.

My “free” dessert was a Blackberry Crust – kind of a cross between a cookie and a muffin

After dinner we walked a few blocks to a coffee shop where we enjoyed Café au Laits and conversation with Matt’s cousin Patrick and his girlfriend Samantha. It was great to see them, even for a short time. My cousin lives here too but we just missed each other.

I would have loved to have done more walking this weekend, but my gosh it’s so cold. I am normally in favor of walking everywhere but even my trusty down coat couldn’t take the chill out tonight. Too many cab rides on this trip. We need to come back in the late spring!

Our evening began with an early dinner at a uber cool Latin restaurant called Rayuela.

Swankin’ it up!

Our table shared some vino

And enjoyed mint chocolate chip ice cream… I mean, olive butter to spread on rolls!

I had the Paella Verde for my entrée – a mix of clams, shrimp and conch over rice with a cilantro-parsley sauce. Totally hit the spot!! I need to make a green sauce this week!

Matt’s fish was excellent too – and came with chorizo quinoa

We planned our dinner location and hotel just a short walk from tonight’s party venue – Canada’s friend Hart lives in the heart of SoHo in an awesome loft with this view:

By the time I left, it was shoulder-to-shoulder filled

The loft space’s floor was see-through and very cool!

We sipped

And swigged

Huge Davidson reunion going on!

Larbs is here too! [We miss you Matt!]

Cannoli by candlelight – the best I’ve ever had from a Long Island bakery (not sure which one). It tasted like a donut!

My portion of the night just ended with a double birthday cake – Red Velvet with amazing fluffy cream cheese icing – and a hundred voices singing “Happy Birthday” to Canada and Matt!

Classiest slice of cake ever – served in a cup.

Surprise! We’re in North Carolina : )

Kanz and I came home for the night to celebrate a belated Christmas with my family. We’re staying at Larbs and Matt’s urban loft in Durham, but we stopped through my parents’ house to say hi to Lillis Billis and use the facilities. We also had a snack of cheese and crackers!

At the loft we got started on more apps and a few drinks – including Matt’s latest homebrew transported in a growler. [Also got to pay a visit to Sarah!!]

Larbs and Dad worked on a great dinner

My dad’s famous London Broil

Brussels sprouts

Grilled Great Harvest bread

And delicious whipped sweet potatoes!

Plus a spicy syrah

After dinner we exchanged gifts. Mom got me a Davidson plate!

I gave her a Buzz necklace (her nickname)

We got dad a beer tumbler of his favorite flavor (which he says he can no longer get). Thankfully he also appreciates fine craft beers!

Matt trying on Matt’s bowtie!

Love this bottle of wine we got too!

Matt’s birthday is next week, so Larbs surprised him with a cake!

29 years young!

It was an awesome carrot cake from Whole Foods

Plus we had some leftover Christmas goodies

Dad also insisted we finish the Christmas eggnog – it’s now gone!

Full of sugar, gifts and family time, I’m ready for bed!

It was a beautiful night to be out and about!! Much improvement from the teens we experienced earlier this week. Still l.o.v.i.n.g our new house’s location – just a quick brisk walk and I’m in the thick of things!

Tonight I met up with beautiful Hilary for some gallery crawling!

And while it appears we were caught in a beautiful snow flurry, I promise it was not snowing ; )

Our first stop was my favorite gallery, the Second Street Gallery, where we viewed two awesome exhibitions exploring texture, color, paper and words: Rachel Hellmann’s Chromatic Boundaries and Scott Hazard’s Typographic Cultivations. I didn’t want to take photos, but you can see snippets here!

We nibbled on a pretty fancy spread of catered appetizers

Including bacon-wrapped dates!! And this beautiful cheese spread

Some nibbles!

We went to a few more galleries and browsed through Urban Outfitters before meeting up with Faith and Tate – completely accidentally – when we both walked into Vita Nova pizza! It was the shock of the week to find them already in there!

I had a Margherita slice – with extra cheese!

It was wonderful. And Matt joined us just in time!!

We three kings girls and Matt headed down to Sweet Frog to end the night. The weather was finally warm enough to even think about eating something frozen!

Coconut, Mint Chocolate, Cake Batter topped with candy bar crumbles. I always think I’m going to go light with fruit and then always end up with candy. It’s just so much better!

Matt and I called it a night early since we’re both tired from a restless night last night. Hoping to get some good reading in in 5…4…3…2…

As much as I love Christmas, I don’t really love Christmas Day. It’s always kind of sad to me – the wait is over. The Christmas music tolerance is nearly used up [for most of us ]

Other than packing, cleaning, preparing for our vacation and a quick shower, we didn’t do much during the day today.

For lunch we ate bakery leftovers: a sandwich lovingly prepared by Alex + Ellen as they cleaned out the sandwich cooler [I like to have fun with our order forms!]

The salad in a bag was scrumptious! I added blue cheese, olive oil and honey. And loved the tofu + cheddar + chutney combo.

Mid afternoon we went for a walk, going through downtown to run by the bank.

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..

We were greeted by El Leon aka Pumpkin upon our return! She actually came inside for a bit (and got stuck behind the couch!) and I fed her special kitty milk in a bowl for Christmas (since her owners are out of town)

While our Christmas Day was super chill, we knew we had a big evening planned!

Sara + Juan were here and we had them over for a four-course feast! We thought breaking dinner in to courses would make it feel more special – and it certainly did!

[Matt’s lamp acted as a centerpiece – ]

Sara brought over courses one and two: a scrumptious salad with bleu cheese, pear and candied pecans

Followed by Whole Foods Curried Pumpkin Soup, which I loved! [It was even better with a few goat cheese crumbles on top!]

A wonderful Napa Cab was passed around the table

The main course was Matt’s specialty: Stuffed Pork Tenderloin. We stuffed it with Wisconsin Bleu Cheese (that Wisconsin itself sent me for a recipe a while back) and dried fruit mix because I was out of dates. Served with roasted brussels [tossed in EVOO and maple syrup and roasted for 30 minutes at 350*] and green beans tossed in butter and smoked paprika [also roasted for about 25 minutes at 350*]. Virginia rolls rounded out the plate!

For dessert, we uncorked Seamane and Rob’s HOMEMADE egg nog!! All boozed up and super strong, I might add!

It was fantastic..

Especially with a sliver of Great Harvest Pecan Pie!

Sweet dreams!

[My alarm is set for 3:30!]