She’s gone country… wine country, that is

October 28, 2010 By Laura

First off, Happy Birthday to my awesome mom!!!

(It was yesterday, but who’s counting?)

My baby sis drove in from college to surprise her (Mamma cried) and we took her to dinner at Miller Union. Of course, I forgot to bring my camera to capture one of the best meals I’ve had in a while. BUT, if you are in Atlanta go eat there. Immediately. If not sooner.

My Recommendations: Miller Thyme cocktail, a glass of the Frederic Mabileau St. Nicolas de Bourgeil Loire France 2008, creamy grit fritters, skillet NY Strip, any of the veggies, and the warm plum crisp. And don’t bother sticking to a “diet” – dig into the bread they bring out. It’s worth it.

After dinner, Baby Sis came home with me for a sleepover and to try a 6am boot camp. I was shocked we woke up in time.

Between the humidity and crazy workout involving lots of stairs, we worked up an appetite! I made the Grilled French Banana Sandwich from last week and served it with apple sliced on the side.

Guess where I’m going tomorrow!?

It was just a good the second time around! Next time I’m doing it with Chocolate Almond Butter.

Baby sis was also my guinea pig. I tried out a version of the Pumpkin Spiced Latte from Peas and Thank You.

It was soooo good I started drinking this and ALMOST forgot to take a pic!

Pumpkin Spiced Latte

4 c strongly brewed coffee (I used 4 c water to 6 T coffee)
1 1/2 c skim milk
5 T canned pumpkin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Brew coffee. Meanwhile, heat milk, pumpkin, and spices until hot (about 2 mins) on the stove… or in the microwave (I can be lazy in the morning). Pour mixture into blender and blend on high until frothy.

Pour frothy milk mixture into 2 large cups (I had some leftover), and add coffee. Mix lightly and serve.

AND I did my Whittle My Middle moves. The stats:

Front plank: 90 secs
Side plank: 60 secs each side
Torso twists: 50 reps
Plank ups: 16 reps
Boat pose: 25 reps
Bicycle: 2 sets of 30 reps
Side plank w/ twists: 12 reps each side

I’m all out of order though! Rewind to Monday.

I started my week here:

Serenbe Inn

This was my cabin:

Magnolia Cabin

Serenbe (“Be Serene”… get it?!) is this awesome 1000 acre sustainable community just 45 mins outside of Atlanta. My team at work had a short retreat there – it felt days away from the city. We had meetings, ate some awesome farm-to-table food at The Farmhouse (our chicken at dinner came from a farm 30 mins away!), and I went on a 4 mile trail run. Two thumbs up.

I also learned about their Southern Chef Series. They bring in popular chefs (Linton Hopkins of Restaurant Eugene and Holeman & Finch fame is coming in January!) and for a small fee you get to cook dinner with them, stay over night, and make breakfast together in the morning. That’s my kind of retreat!

After all the fattening delicious Southern cooking, I was craving some oats. Do you ever put chocolate chips in your pumpkin bread/muffins/pancakes?

In honor of the gorgeous fall leaves, I decided to add some orange to my chocolate overnight oats.

Chocolate-Pumpkin Oats

Chocolate-Pumpkin Overnight Oats

1/4 c oatmeal
1/2 c milk
1/2 scoop Juice Plus powder
Generous shakes of cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg

Toppings:

Pumpkin puree
Pecans

There has been some nasty weather in Atlanta and this was the perfect breakfast on a rainy fall morning!

Fast forward again.

I’m ending my week here:

San Francisco, here I come!

And here:

Watch out, Napa!

My BFF and I are going to San Francisco and Napa to visit an old friend for Halloween.

Back in a few days with lots of stories, pictures, and wine! 🙂

http://www.millerunion.com/site/

The most important meal of the day

October 25, 2010 By Laura

On Sunday, that meal is brunch. Yesterday I tried out the new brunch at the Inman Park Pure with one of my favorite partners-in-crime.

Reason #1 she is one of my favs: we ordered dessert first. I think it may have even been her idea.

Churros y Chocolate Caliente

Churros are basically Spain’s answer to doughnuts beignets. They’re fried and then coated in cinnamon and sugar.

The exterior of these was perfectly crisp, not greasy at all. The inside was airy – the dough was just cooked through. Watch out, Krispy Kreme.

Airy churro goodness

Served with a cup of hot chocolate perfection. It wasn’t too sweet (a must given the fried sugary goodness) or too heavy (to the point that we questioned whether it was made with skim milk). In fact, it only got better as we dunked the churros in it.

From the partner-in-crime:

I can’t not smile when I’m eating these.

Georgia has a silly law that you can’t serve alcohol in a restaurant on Sundays until 12:30p (after the good Southerns have attended church services). After the churros were inhaled eaten, we were allowed to enjoy a mimosa.

Mimosa

Then it was on the the main: breakfast burrito. It had a Mexican name that I naturally forgot to write down, but it was basically a chorizo, potato, and egg burrito (beans on the side, thankyouverymuch).

Breakfast Burrito

The burrito was topped with a medium salsa (just tiny kick to it), avocado slices, and oxaca cheese. I ordered a side of salsa verde too!

Burrito insides

It was good. Not great. The chorizo wasn’t very flavorful and the eggs were a bit over done. The rice a dry and would have benefited from more seasoning. The salsas were definitely the best thing on that plate.

The guy at the table next to use ordered a breakfast version of salsa-verde soaked chicken fajitas. Should I go back (and I will – those churros are crave-worthy), I’ll be ordering that. 🙂

We also took time to walk around the Inman Park neighborhood. There are so many cute shops! I bought a Life magazine from 1944.

July 3, 1944

It is so neat to leaf through and look at the ads and story topics (there are 10 pages dedicated to color printing!).

The discovery of the day was an adorable market, Savi. It had some neat food items and a great beer/wine selection. They aslo do beer and wine tastings – we were fascinated by the wines on tap, priced by the ounce for a self-serve tasting.

The owner was friendly and talked with us for a good 10 minutes about the wine selection. He even offered to hunt down my beloved wine from a Barcelona trip 3 years ago. They have a cozy–looking fire place and seating area. I see a wine tasting in my near future!

In true Sunday fashion, I took a nice nap when I got home. Then went for a ~4 mile run. I think I could have gone longer. It was such a nice night and my legs were feeling strong.

That was a nice surprise, as I’ll be adding miles to my runs in preparation for the 10K Gobble Jog with my baby sis on Thanksgiving.

This morning’s Whittle My Middle:

Front plank: 90 secs
Side plank: 60 secs each side
Torso twists: 50 reps
Plank ups: 14 reps
Boat pose: 25 reps
Bicycle: 4 sets of 30 reps
Side plank w/ twists: 15 reps each side
Double crunches: 30*

*I just added this one in today. These are great for working the whole core, crunching your upper and lower half together.

Source

I’m headed out the the airport to pickup a co-worker on the way to our team retreat.

In other news, I am turning into my mother. I washed the sheets before leaving town so that I will come home to clean sheets. Is anyone else this crazy?!

Burger and Pie Heaven

October 3, 2010 By Laura

Yesterday turned out to be eventful.

Much more eventful than I would have liked.

First of all, the good parts.

Ceremony for Bobby Cox

The Braves game. The ceremony for Bobby Cox was great – I definitely had chills. The tickets to the game were amazing – 5th row just behind 1st base -and my company was good as well.

Too bad they lost. 🙁 That’s just fine because they won tonight. We are going to the playoffs!

Beer Pong

Then it was off to the bachelorette party – roller girl-style. There was beer pong (no, I didn’t partake), singing, and general debauchery.

At one point we were standing around this lovely (read: suggestively shaped) cake, eating it with our fingers. The cannoli cream was soooo good!

That’s what she said.

Then comes the bad event. I was driving home and some drunk dude side swiped me!

I got out, told him not to move, and went to call the police. Of course, the drunk drove off. My poor car.

Pass the blood pressure medicine.

I did get his license plate number. After consulting with my uncle (who was a saint for answering the phone at 3am!), I finally called 911. The officer who responded was really nice, but was realistic about the fact that it is unlikely the guy would ever get caught. At least I have the police report for insurance purposes.

Note to self: do not decide to drive home at 2:30am when the bars have just closed.

After all the excitement I didn’t get to bed until after 5am, so I slept until 10:45 the next morning. That’s when my very worried mother called and woke me up. 🙂 After some coffee I enjoyed the last of my Atlanta Farm Fresh greek yogurt, topped with granola and a perfectly ripe peach.

I’m going to miss the summer fruit!

The afternoon was just what the doctor ordered after all that late-night stress. I got to hit stuff. Mom came over and we played tennis. She taught me a new way to grip the racket and I am well on my way to becoming a superstar. Or at least on my way to being able to play without embarrassing myself.

We walked through the neighborhood and wound up at Tap (1180 Peachtree St., Atlanta, GA 30309) for dinner. Tap is a gastro-pub that serves a tasty burger.

That IS a tasty burger.

First we needed refreshments. Their special selection was Cuvee des Fleurs.

It was interesting in a good way. Fruity, a little spicy, and carbonated in a way that was reminiscent of a sparking wine rather than a beer.

That’s no PBR!

Our starter was a meat and cheese plate. Aged Parmesan, creamy blue cheese, prosciutto, and some sort of sausage. It was served with sesame toast (not pictured), jam, and candied walnuts. The blue cheese and sausage paired particularly well with the beer.

My two favorite food groups.

The only issue was that our burger came out no less than 5 minutes after the starter. I will forgive them this time because the service was great other than that.

The burger was perfectly cooked. It is served on a whole wheat English muffin. Clearly I am concerned about eating whole wheat bread with my red meat and fries. This may be my 2nd favorite burger in Atlanta (certainly a top 5). The fries are crispy and if you ask nicely they will bring a side of their jalapeno mayo to dip it in. This is the time to go European on your fries – try the dip.

The best part? Tap serves their burger with a shot of chocolate milkshake perfection.

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard…

Not that the tiny shake is enough to count as my dessert.

My mom brought me Kentucky Derby Pie! This will be featured on my blog soon – it is my winter party staple. 🙂

“If when you die you get a choice between pie heaven and regular heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick but if not mmmboy.” – Jack Handey

It is basically pecan pie with chocolate chips and bourbon. Did I mention that I love my mom?

She’s gone country… wine country, that is

Pumpkin Spiced Latte

Chocolate-Pumpkin Overnight Oats

The most important meal of the day

Burger and Pie Heaven

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