The Weekend Update

Hi friends! Here are some highlights from the past few days.

We celebrated my cousin Gabrielle’s twelfth birthday. This sweet girl is 12 going on 22; she’s almost as tall as me and probably smarter and more mature. And quite the beauty!

She’s into the mustache trend, so one of my presents to her was this pair of gloves.

Thursday night, Amanda and I went to the early showing of Breaking Dawn Part 2. I mentioned this on Friday, but let me say it again: the movie is so good! It is definitely my favorite of the saga. I want to know what you all think!

This past weekend I went to my grandparents’ house in North Carolina. It’s always so nice to visit them. Our weekend was full of shopping, wine and eats. Their house is in a really pretty neighborhood on a mountain and driving up always freaks me out. The curves and bends, yikes!

When I got there, I found some presents on my bed: a chocolate advent calendar, a Chick-fil-A cow from a race my grandfather had run, socks my grandma made, and a recipe they thought I’d like. Bonus: a crossword puzzle book, not shown.

Onto the eats! On Saturday, we went to 131 Main while we were out shopping at Biltmore Park Town Square. Sarah insisted I go there for the beet burger that she always gets. Right up my alley!

Look at how red it is. You’d almost think it was meat, right? Ha. It was really, really good and I’ve got to remake this at home. Sarah, let’s do this!

Saturday night, we made Ina Garten’s recipe for Roasted Shrimp with Feta. Changes we made: we nixed the Pernod and used artichokes instead of fennel.

We wanted to make spanakopita (inspired by you, Sierra!) but the phyllo dough we bought had dried out. We improvised by placing the spinach mixture in a baking dish and making a crustless pie. This was originally another Ina Garten recipe too.

On Sunday morning, we made a frittata with red pepper, spinach, onion, and basil. This would be great to make for a week long of breakfasts. Just grab a slice, reheat, and go! I don’t have the recipe right now, but if you’re interested, shoot me an email and I’ll find it.

My 4-hour drive back was a bit slower than my ride up. On the way there, as soon as I hit North Carolina, I got pulled for speeding. Boo!! The way back I watched my heavy foot, listened to the Breaking Dawn 2 soundtrack, and fueled with coffee and candy.

What was the best thing you ate all weekend?

What are your road trip essentials?

First and Foremost

Thanks to my sweet friend Laura for this survey! PS: Go check out her blog – she’s an amazing graphic designer and incredible girl!

1. First thing you do when you wake up in the morning.
I hate admitting this, but I check my phone. I check text messages, read emails, and if I have enough time, scroll through my instagram and facebook feeds. The first thing I do once I’m out of bed is brush my teeth. I’m obsessed with brushing my teeth.

2. First thing you reach for when you open the fridge.
Lately? Eggs.

3. First things you do when you go to the gym.
Say “Heeeeeeeey boys” to the front desk attendants, laugh when they say “Heeeeeey Orso” and then go downstairs for my workout.

4. First thing you do you when you get home from work?
After I throw my purse on the counter and kick off my shoes, I read the mail. I’m always excited if I’ve gotten a new magazine.

5. First car.
A 1995 Honda Civic. I named it “fluffy sheep.” Does that make any sense? No. But it was a manual and I liked it.

6. First car accident / traffic violation.
I got pulled for speeding but got out of it. That was the only time I cried and got out of it. Now I’m like ugh, here we go, let me just hand you my wallet.

7. First thing you wanted to be when you grew up.
I kid you not, I wanted to be a brain surgeon.

8. First choice beverage.
Water.

Then wine.

9. First choice breakfast.
Is this a serious question? I said eggs earlier, but if nutrition didn’t matter, I’d eat COOKIES.

10. First choice dessert.
I just answered that.

11. First song that comes to mind…
Right now I’m obsessed with Rihanna’s “Diamonds.”

12. First major purchase?
Hmm, does my tuition count? My student loans never end.

13. First job:
Besides babysitting, I worked at Sonic as a carhop with Nikki and Megan. For 16 year olds, we made so much $ in tips.

14. First time you flew on a plane.
When I was 3 we moved to Hawaii for a few months. The first plane ride I remember was to Disney World when I was 6.

Answer one of these questions in the comment section below! I’d love to hear your responses!

Highlights From My Weekend

To say this weekend was low key would be an understatement. But don’t you worry, I had plenty of fun.

Friday: I picked up my little brother after school so we could hang out for the weekend. He’s 16 and all he does is EAT. I’m jealous of how much he can get away with eating!

I ate my delicious leftovers from Mi Xao, a new Vietnamese restaurant in Mt. Pleasant. Eric and I went on Thursday night and it was everything I hoped it would be. I ask for a combination of two types of pho. My bowl had shrimp, rice noodles, ginger broth, bean sprouts, basil, lime, jalapeno slices, cilantro, onion, and scallions.

Eric had the wonton pho. We also had the spring rolls, pot stickers, and a can of coconut juice. Okay, I had the coconut juice. I wish you had seen Eric’s face when he tried it. He was not a fan. I happily drank it.

I’m fond of any restaurant that keeps a gigantic bottle of Sriracha on the table. Please look at my broth in the above picture. Now look at this picture, after I had clearly added a ton of the magical sauce. I left with teary eyes and a watery nose.

Saturday: I woke up and made my new favorite breakfast: a pretzel Flatout wrap + scrambled eggs (1 egg, 2 whites) + avocado + Sriracha.

I signed Amanda and myself up for the Charleston 1/2 Marathon. Eeehh, it’s real!

I browsed Hobby Lobby for some craft ideas and ended up finding a birthday present for Rachel…and a majorly sassy glue gun.

I went for an easy 4-mile run around I’On then proceeded to get LOST in the DARK for 30 minutes. I couldn’t find my car and had to map myself with my phone. Typical!

The little brother and I made dinner, watched movies, and ate too much candy and frozen yogurt. Later I suffered from some serious FOMO when I received this text from Danielle:

Sunday: I made crackers. Yes, crackers. I’ve made these twice now and feel the recipe is ready for the blog! Stay tuned. If you’re my friend on instagram, you already know that they contain rosemary, raisins, and walnuts. It’s a fantastic combo, trust me.

Amanda and I started Week 3 of our 1/2 marathon training.

I love having a workout schedule mapped out for the next 10 weeks. I’ll share it with you soon! Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

What were the highlights of your weekend?

What was the best thing you ate?

The Weekend.

Since Thursday, Amanda and I were housesitting at her parents’ house. We cooked a ton of good food (lots of recipes coming!), ate a bunch of desserts, went out with friends, and enjoyed the glorious 80-degree weather.

Friday - Dinner at Next Door in Mt. Pleasant, then drinks downtown at The Macintosh and Hall’s.

Saturday - Healthy cookie baking…which ended up being our dinner. Twice.

More upper King bar hopping with friends.

Tree hugging. Kaye and I doing our usual tree pose in which she’s always in disco ball attire and I’m embracing the pastels. NYC fashion vs. CHS fashion. It’s quite different!

Sunday - Breakfast sandwiches: English  muffins, fried egg, pepper jack cheese, avocado, sriracha. Our mouths were on fire!

Tutti Frutti froyo! Cookies & Cream, White Chocolate, and Peanut Butter with M&Ms, Heath bar, and cookie dough bits.

Sunshine and sunset on the water.

Coming up this week:

• a Spicy White Bean & Chicken Chili recipe
• a  healthy chocolate chip cookie recipe (using chickpeas!)
• review of Next Door
• Clif MOJO bar giveaway!  

Links I Loved This Week 8/12

• Coca Cola Freestyle Machines May Carry Booze – Imagine a “suicide” with alcohol. YIKES.
• Must-Have Apps for Book Lovers – Add me on Goodreads!
• Soon, You’ll Be Able to Say “I Do” at Denny’s – ew, why?
• Reheat Poached Eggs at the Office – this could work…
• 6 Beet-Dazzling Recipes – Can’t get tired of these.

This is so funny. Is it accurate for you?

The Friday Five 8.3.12

1. What I’m Reading: I’ve always enjoyed learning about the science behind cooking. It’s just the way my brain works. I snatched this book up last week: What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained

2. What I’m Eating:  Eggs. Avocado. Toast. Delicious food doesn’t have to be fussy.

3. What I’m Listening to:  I was so jealous that Courtney and Cindy (two friends who live in NYC) got to see The xx last night. So while I wrote today’s post, I had this on repeat:

Courtney tweeted me a pic from the show!

PS: How was it girls?!

4. Recipes I’m Bookmarking: Strawberry Greek Yogurt Banana Bread. There’s no way you can say you don’t want a slab of this for breakfast.

5. GIFs I’m Loving:

WHAT SOME GIRLS WANT

WHAT I WANT

WHEN I EMBRACE MY INNER FAT KID

I hope you all have a wonderful, blessed weekend!