Foodie Connection

Considering Kristin's Kindred Connection is about Food today, probably my all-time favorite topic.  I knew I needed to join in. 

I read the weekly menu email from one of my favorite restaurants this morning, and was just thinking how much I enjoy food and wishing I was in Tampa so I could stop by and get some of Bailey's Crispy Buttermilk Fried Chicken this week.  I am on a diet here folks, don't worry I'm not about to cheat-but it's also a good thing Bailey's is like 1,000 miles away! 

Here is the description from the weekly menu:

We are doubly excited this week, for we are serving our own Crispy Buttermilk Fried Chicken.
We marinate our chicken in full fat Marburger Farms Gourmet Buttermilk for over 24 hours. This creates a sensational flavor all on it’s own – making our chicken moist and tender throughout. We coat it in our seasoned flour and fry it to a rich mahogany brown.

But, we don’t stop there – we are serving this incredible chicken with a homemade waffle – with warm Orange Blossom Honey – or our very own homemade maple syrup.

Please, someone, come fan me, I’m about to faint.
 
The fainting part included!  He's a Southern Foodie through and through-LOVE IT!  Does anyone want to drive down to Florida with me?

Folks – you might as well surrender to the confederacy this week – for what better way to spend a night in June than enjoying our misting fan cooled, Grand Oak covered Outdoor Patio, while dining on Crispy Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Waffles, Fresh Corn and Lima Succotash, Mashed Potatoes, or Mac & Cheese, Peach Cobbler and Vanilla Ice Cream – washing it all down with a Mason Jar full of iced cold fresh squeezed Raspberry Lemonade. 

Forget driving, I'm looking up flights now!

1. What is your favorite ethnicity of food?

Southern food is my all time favorite, followed by Thai err maybe Greek-do I have to choose just one?  Living in a big city has given me the opportunity to try so many different types of foods, and I love every last bit of it.  In one week it's not abnormal for me to have tasted something from cultures all around the world.  I feel so lucky to be able to experience different dining options and create lovely dished myself.

Favorite Ethnic Dishes:
Shrimp and Grits

Green Curry Chicken 

Louis Pappas Baby Greek Salad and Chicken Avgolemono Soup
 
2. If you could eat only one meal for two weeks straight, what would it be?

Well if I could just live at Georgia Brown's with their Southern Sunday Brunch rockin those two weeks I would be totally fat fatter and happy.

But if I could eat one meal for two weeks it would be a Lamb Gyro in a nice soft pita smothered in tzatziki sauce, with a beautiful Greek side salad, mashed potatoes (random I know, but I adore mashed potatoes) and topped off with a dolma (stuffed grape leaf).

3.What is the "signature" dish that you cook? (you know, that always receives rave reviews and/or you get requests for)

I used to get asked to make my Pineapple Mango Salsa all the time, it was totally turning into my signature dish.  It just requires lots of chopping.  Although I have an amazing collection of Wusthof knives, I still need to take a knife skills class to make the salsa in no time flat. 

MangoPineapple Salsa
1 can pineapple tidbits drained
1 large or 2 medium mango's diced
1/4 cup red onion diced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 -1 jalapeño (depending on how hot you like it) cut finely
3-4 tbs lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

I also made a brilliant pulled pork this past weekend for a BBQ that received rav-reviews.
Marinate a Pork Shoulder in Stubs Pork Marinade for as long as possible (hopefully overnight).  Cook pork  for 8-10 hours at 250 covered in uin foil.  Take pork out of pan and pull with two forks.  Cover in your favorite BBQ sauce - mine - Sonny's Sweet Sauce, which I buy in bulk because there is sadly no Sonny's in Virginia.

Of course the Jalapeno Poppers and Salsa created by the Pioneer Woman - definitely a crowd pleaser.

4. Is there something that you just can't handle eating - like gag reflex?

Red Bell Peppers - GROSS ME OUT.  Also not a fan of banana peppers or liver.

5. Do you think that the Kindred Connection should continue through the summer, or take the summer off? 
 
 I love the Kindred Connection-so if your up for it, I would love to continue it through the summer.

Summer Tomatoes

Does dinner get much better than this?

I don't think so!

I've really upped my fruits and veggie intake, and am enjoying every bit it.

A Walk Around Town

I have been loving the Virginia weather the past few days.  It was HOT HOT HOT this weekend, but at some point a thunderstorm rolled through and brought with it a cool breeze.  I've been going for longer walks with Molly before work in the mornings.  I love seeing all the beautiful foliage in our neighborhood.  I like to give awards (in my mind) of who has the best looking yards and prettiest flowers. 

The Hydrangeas are my favorite, they are just huge and thriving.

I'm also pretty impressed with the beautiful climbing roses that some of my neighbors have.

So glad that there is a nice walkway around the lake in our neighborhood (Molly likes it, too).  Josh's office overlooks the lake, which is pretty neat.

It's so nice to be outside with the sun shining through the trees.

But even better that I spotted one of these on my back porch last night!

via

 

Kitchen Update

We are right on track on the kitchen remodel.  Well, I was planning to pack up all the cabinets this weekend, but underestimated how many boxes I would need.  The kitchen is painted, the appliances are ordered, heck we even picked up the microwave yesterday!  I am really enjoying managing this project.  Except for finding the "right" shade of white for the cabinets and trim that matches the wall paint, back splash and granite-ahhh!  There are enough shades of white to drive a girl crazy!
 

The walls are painted!

We will be attacking the cabinets next weekend, and then I have the contractors scheduled to bring in the granite and install the flooring and back splash.  Hope they don't run over their time-frame because I have the appliances scheduled to be delivered just a few days after they said they would be finished.  Fingers crossed!  The only things left to figure out are odds and ends, but I do have to say I didn't realized how expensive light fixtures and cabinet hardware would be.  Of course I have excellent taste and everything I like is out-of-control expensive.  I should be used to this by now.  = )

Josh had a great time with his friend in town this weekend.  They were able to get in a good amount of golf in and go to some of our favorite restaurants.  Josh was warming up for the Diplomatic Security Foundation Tournament he is playing in today.  Condoleezza Rice is the Honorary Chairperson-how exciting is that?  I hope he gets to meet her. 

Showing Kindness

Today at Kelly's Korner we are sharing Random Act of Kindness Idea's.

I love doing Random Acts of Kindness.  I even started RAK Day when I was in high school-that's how much I love it.  One of the most fun summers in my life, my friend Allison and I were the Panhellenic representatives for freshman orientation at the University of Florida.  We did sessions everyday about Greek Life and Recruitment (I still want to call it rush).  It was tons of fun needless to say. 

We were together non-stop and just totally lifted each other up!  So we thought what better than to lift others up as well.  So we would do a Random Act of Kindness everyday.  Most of the time we would spot parking meters that had run out and pop a quarter or two in.  Open doors, and would go out of our way to show kindness and grace to others.  I think it feels better to be good to others than it even feels to be the recipient of the goodness.

On that note, I need to remember to be kind to my husband, and hope he returns the favor.  He is taking graduate accounting classes right now so he can sit for his CPA next year.  Due to his work, travel and study schedule, we have agreed that I will take on the majority of the household responsibilities. 

I am happy to do this.

Right now it's a little overwhelming since I have added the kitchen remodel on top of running the house and my full-time job.  I love my job, taking care of the house and am thrilled about the remodel.  I feel like I am doing pretty good with all my responsibilities, but he likes to give me reminders of what I'm not doing well or haven't finished yet.  Best of all these friendly reminders aka Random Acts of Meanness (yes I came up with that all on my own) come around 11:30 pm.  After I am already in bed and he has finished studying for the night.  Yes, I know that I need to change the sheets and put away my shoes in the bottom of the closet in the guest room before our company comes this weekend.  Yes, I know I had all week to do this, you don't need to tell me this at midnight while I'm trying to sleep.

Maybe I need to find him a new pair of glasses so he can see all the things I do around the house everyday that he doesn't notice, and filter out the things I haven't wrapped up yet.    I will be happy to trade out a RAM for RAK!

In the mean time, I hope he enjoys his three rounds of golf this weekend.  I'll be painting the kitchen and finishing packing up all the cabinets to prep for the contractor to come in, but that's just between you and me because no one else in my house will notice-ha!

FYI-this is all in good nature, I'm just learning how to deal with meeting both my own and my husbands expectations while balancing my career and household.  It's what the first few years of marriage is all about right?

New Arm Candy

I am putting my TAG Heuer on sabbatical for a while.

I'm on the search for a new watch.  It's not that I need a new watch, I need alarms to go off throughout the day so I will remember to eat lunch and snacks to keep my metabolism going.  Gone are the days of meeting friends everyday and going to luncheons throughout the week.  I miss those Outlook reminders.   Working solo, I get so into my tasks that I don't remember to eat lunch until about 3:30 in the afternoon, which makes for a hungry girl who doesn't make the best decisions.  Plus I am starting a new regimen that calls for me to eat something small every few hours, so I need a little help remembering to break away from my desk. 

So it summer, so I've decided a cute white watch is in order.  Of course I would like to have either this Toy or Michael Kors number wrapped around my wrist.

BUT - neither has alarms, darn!

So last night I bought this bad boy.

I'm not sold 100% on the Timex, so I am going to Macy's this afternoon to check out this little guy.

I've also set up my igoogle to have an alarm clock too, hopefully multiple alarms will help (maybe I need to use this strategy for getting out of bed in the morning, too).

Headed Back Home?

A knot rose in my throat as we drove down Bayshore on our roundabout way to the airport.  I wanted to see the waterway where I took long walks most of the nights I lived in Tampa before I flew back up to DC.  Part of me didn't want to leave.

 Side walk along Bayshore Blvd

I though of all those walks with my friends and by myself, where I would pray, dream and plan for my future.  Now that I am living in the future that I once dreamed about it was interesting to put all those past dreams in perspective.

Looking back the only thing that seems consistent with all my grand plans was that I married my best friend and soul mate, and for that I couldn't be more grateful.  One of the largest struggles in my life is to not plan and worry about my future, and just know that I am safe in God's hands.  As I get older I am getting better with this.  I don't dream and anxiously wait for things to happen, because I have finally realized that I have no control over it.  Am I happy living in Virginia-yes, would I be happy living back in Florida-yes, will I make the most out of every location a career moves take us-yes!

My old house in Tampa

Josh and I agreed that we just love and miss Florida.  It feels like home to us.  Tampa is where I became a "grown-up," it's where I fell in love, it's where I became a woman I am proud of, and it's where a lot of my friends live.  Being a part of this city helped me to develop, I am so glad for that, and would love to have a future part of my life there.  We'll just have to see what's in God's plan for me, Josh and Molly. 

Some of the things we enjoyed the most about our trip:

Spending time with our family!

Taking Molly to the dog beach on Honeymoon Island

Our Memorial Day BBQ

The Dairy Joy

Spending time with friends (I only wish we had enough time to see everyone)!