Tonight ended up to be such a serendipitous event with two new friends!
I met up with Jill, who is from Australia, lived in England and Canada, and is on a month-long tour of the East Coast with her husband, Ken.
They chose to include Charlottesville for 3 days because we make it look so cool!
MY OTHER RECIPES
We met up for frozen yogurt this afternoon – followed by a cocktail hour showing of Water For Elephants.
After super hot biking and a rush to get back downtown (via automobile due to my time crunch 🙁 ) cold frozen yogurt tasted incredible!
I had lemon mixed with cake batter – which was an amazing combination!! – topped with fruit, nuts and coconut. Hit. the. spot.
Jill also brought me gifts!!!!!!!!! She could not have picked out more perfect dishes for me – a HALF CUP coffee mug and a big a$$ oatmeal bowl!! I love them both so much! [Both are from Anthropologie.] Thanks Jill, you so didn’t have to do that!
The movie was good – beautifully done. And I didn’t realize how HOT Rob Pattinson is!! I have to say though, that I’m just not in love with the WFE storyline. It wasn’t as compelling to me as other books and movie plots there are. We also saw the preview for The Help coming out in August – I cannot wait to see that adaptation!
Jill and I hit it off and given that she and Ken have been eating in restaurants for weeks on end, I invited them over for a casual dinner and beers on the porch.
We had a blast talking about all things travel, historic and life! Sad these two will be on the other side of the planet in a few weeks!
For dinner we just added more to the simple meal Matt had started to assemble before I got home.
I cooked a bunch of beans from scratch on Sunday – soaked overnight on Saturday and then simmered on low in the crockpot for 4 hours on Sunday. Black beans took half the time of chickpeas to cook! I am loving cooking beans in the crockpot! Love that there is no chance of a boil over or drying out.
For this bean salad, Matt added carrots + green pepper, salt + pepper and local Caromont Goat Cheese – Herby Dill as a “dressing.” We browned 3 slices of bacon to go on top – delish!
We also served toasted Honey Whole Wheat so they Aussies could give it a try
And some cornbread Karen brought us because Jill is into cornmeal products in the South
And finally a green salad made with greens from the garden and Garlic Gold Red Wine Vinaigrette
Tasty dinner!
We just wrapped up, and I’ve got an overflowing inbox that I’m going to save for the morning. I can’t respond to everything before midnight some days!
Beautiful new bowl and mug! What a nice gift 🙂 I love anthropoligie!
What a nice gift! That mug is super cute.
how nice that you made the time to get together! 🙂 looks like a wonderful homecooked meal 🙂
I want to go on a month long vacay! 🙂 soo jealous!
what a lovely gift! those froyo cups looks so good!
Love that bowl and mug!
That bean salad sounds perfect. I mean, of course it does, it has goat cheese in it. 🙂
I just saw water for elephants last night, it was pretty good. Although I was expecting a little bit more, but it was still good.
what a fun vacation for jill and ken. and they’re right – you do make cville look fun! haha. and YOU are right, rob pattinson is hot. i’ve been trying to get into the book but i’m not too big on the story either, but i want to see the movie!
Had no idea they were making a movie out of The Help. I still want to read it before seeing it in movie form, so I better get on that!
Love the new dishware. 🙂
Nice gift. Good looking food too! 🙂
“I can’t respond to everything before midnight some days!”–I am the same but b/c of the hours I keep, my midnight is more like 5am…yikes!
What a great time you all had and omg I want new (or any) friends that bring me adorable dishes from Anthro. TOO CUTE!!
Looks like such a fun meal and time of it!
Those are AWESOME gifts! I love the design on the bowl and mug!
I haven’t read the Help – but they’re doing a movie?!! Wow.
Rob Pattinson..hmm, I love the Twilight movies but never got into him – still seemed too “teeny-bopperish” for me…but, alas, I may have to see this movie to find out any difference!! Maybe it was just the Vampire, bite-me thing that didn’t sell me 😉
Oh fun evening. Fro yo and a movie is the perfect date/evening out, in my opinion! And your dinner looks rockin’—I <3 beans 🙂
Love the book The Help, still haven't read Water For Elephants…but really wanna. wahhh
Aw. So thoughtful! Love how this community extends into real-life (not just virtual-life) 🙂
What a great day!! Those are some great gifts! That was so sweet of her 🙂
Really beautiful bowl. I thought you were going to say that she made it herself…before I read it was purchased.
Have you tried azuki beans before? I think you will like it since you like creating dishes from beans.
Yeah, I love them!
Love the dishes. Anthro has the best dresses, aprons, dishes- basically everything. If I could afford it everything I owned would be from there 🙂
LOL I love that you’ve seen the hotness that is Rob Pattinson 🙂 I meant to leave a comment on your last post, but I think it’s so awesome that the bakery is putting all of the quantity foods info to good use! So many of my classmates blew off that class as a waste of their time, but I thought it was cool…I should have shown them your blog 😉
What cute gifts!! So thoughtful.
Dinner looks yum, too.
And there is never a bad time for Fro Yo 🙂
Everything looks DELICIOUS!!! I love that cup with the face haha 🙂
<3 Belly B
so??? how did reese look airbrushed (younger than normal?!)
Well I don’t know what she normally looks like up close, but I didn’t see any wrinkles
You can’t visit the South without trying cornbread 🙂
How fun!! and the mug and bowl are too adorable.
yay for Aussies!! (hehe not that I am biased or anything lol) 😉
What a wonderful evening, thank you for the tasty food and great conversation. Already wishing we lived closer!
Those dishes are adorable! I have to get to Anthropologie now. Too bad it’s so darn expensive. 😉
Would you like to sponsor another Awesome Aussie (teehee) to come work for you in Charlottesville? I’ll bring, um, Tim Tams!
Are you visiting soon!?
We can actually get Tim Tams in the US, and Gram loves them!
What a great day! I loved WFE and definetely saw a new side to R-Patz: hot dayuuum!
I also love cooking beans in the crock pot!! I have some black beans soaking tonight for that very purpose tomorrow. 🙂
that is such a cute gift! anthropologie makes/sells the most adorable things!
yay for movie nights! 🙂
i’m a new reader and your blog is SO INSPIRING. i’ve been telling myself to eat healthier, be more active–just have a better lifestyle and i’ve always failed, blaming it on being busy. but you’re so busy and you still find time to eat healthy and be active. it’s really been an eye opener! how did you get started? i know changing your eating/active habits can be so difficult but you make it seem so easy. any tips would be so appreciated. thanks again for being a great inspiration!
Welcome!!
I so wish we had a froyo place nearby! That looks SO good!! As does dinner.
So nice that you got to meet up with friends from so far away. 🙂 I bet their accents were charming.
I know what you mean about overflowing inbox! Ugh, sometimes it’s a full-time job!
So cool that a fan was able to meet up with you…and bring you gifts:) I also think it is very cool that you invited them to dinner. I am sure that made for an extra special part of their vacation!
Hope you have a great day today!
What a fun night! I didn’t know the Help was coming out as a movie… that I am excited for!
THANK YOU for sharing your lukewarm reaction to the storyline of WFE – i read the book and just didn’t adore it…and have no desire to see the movie. i felt like the only one on the planet not RAVING over the book!
i’m on page 300 of the help – normally i don’t see movies of books i’ve read as they never do them justice, but i just may break that rule to see “the help” on-screen. now that is an amazing book.
love your expression “cocktail hour movie” – perfect! sounds so cultured!
Yeah, I thought it was just ok. The movie was better though!
What fun! So nice that you got to meet up with her and her husband, is she a blogger?
Love the gifts she gave you! so pretty!
I want to see that movie, but I need to read the book first!
Not a blogger – just a reader!
I love those dishes!!! What a sweet gift and so nice of Jill. Glad you had such a productive but wonderful day.
Love the mug and bowl…too cute! Dinner looks delicious. I’m glad you had a great night.
What a great gift!! I agree about the WFE. I read the book and saw the movie both of which were good but not great. Nothing real exciting about them.
Dinner looks great!
What perfect sizes for those dishes! I love new coffee mugs.
Love meeting new friends! How cool to connect with your new friends! That frozen yogurt is making me want some.. at 8:07am
I loved water for elephants. I thought Reese Witherspoon was a little odd in it but I guess her character was in the book. Froyo is on my list of things to do today!
I just got a set of that exact bowl pattern from my aunt as a graduation gift!! L-O-V-E it!
I want that bowl! 🙂 Usually I can tame my cravings but I don’t know about my hankering for that one…
How fun that you got to meetup with Jill and Ken. I think you’re going to have to consider writing a tour-like series that’s even MORE in depth than your Charlottesville posts already!
Cute dishes. I loves the WFE book – I will get to the movies eventually to see RPatz.
What nice gifts! Anthropologie has the cutest bowls, plates and cups! 🙂 That frozen yogurt looks heavenly! 🙂 I really want to see Water for Elephants. I wanted to read the book before going to see the movie. I need to get around to reading it though.
That bean salad looks fantastic! I’m definitely going to try that. 🙂
yep, aussies are awesome 🙂 what a fun night!
Heidi xo
I agree-Aussies are awesome! My brother lives in Australia and is wife is the absolute nicest person I’ve ever met. Our trip to “Oz” a few years ago for their wedding was delightful. Everyone we met there was so nice!
It’s cool you are meeting people from everywhere through your blog. Maybe someday you’ll be visiting them!