FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Early Day

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Unintentionally waking up before 7AM on a Saturday is about the farthest thing from cool I can imagine.  I’ve been a little stress ball all week and could have totally used 8, 9, maybe 10 hours of shut-eye.  But no, I could only force myself to go back to sleep for another 45 minutes and then I was wide-eyed and ready for adventure.

Thankfully Matt is always up at the crack of dawn, so I called him and told him I was on my way to pick him up – we were going to breakfast.  We headed north to Hyde Park and found ourselves in front of a totally random strip of stores.  We popped into Hyde Park Bakery, hoping they had breakfast.

Though the coffee selection was vast, breakfast options were a totally different story.  Jumbo coffees and egg sandwiches did the trick and then we were on our way.  We took the scenic route through UT, chatted stressed Kristin back to a sane state, and broke into Max’s gate to wake him up.

I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that Max was petsitting Boss for the weekend.  The pup and I snuggled for a bit, I went out to a second breakfast with Max, and now…  I’ve hit the tired wall that waking up wayyyy too early on a Saturday morning brings.

Nap time for me!  Hope you all have a lovely Saturday!

Slumber Weekend

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Let me just start by saying that my intention for this weekend was to be productive.  I woke up on Saturday, cleaned house, stuffed my new bike in the back of the Jetta, learned how to remove/replace the front tire, and saw a missed call from Kara as I plopped my sweaty self back in the driver’s seat.  Would I like to head down the street and lay out by the pool with her and Jodie?  Uhh yeah.  Would I like a refreshing citrus cocktail?  Uh huh.  Would I like girl power tequila shots with orange slices, more citrus cocktail, TNT margaritas, and TNT tequila shots?  Why not…

Thankfully we were within super short walking distance to wherever we went, because we were ridiculous!  So ridiculous that all three of us fell fast asleep, still suited up in swimwear, in Kara’s living room before 9PM.  A mere 12 hours later, we awoke, ready for a more responsible day.  We reconvened after a couple hours, ready to get our Greenbelt on!

 

We hiked a solid 8 miles, confident that tequila was oozing out of our pores.  Can that happen??

When we got back to Kara’s, she made us an incredibly delish salad with baby greens, radishes, cucumber, carrots, cranberries, couscous, and a citrus balsamic dressing.  A how-to on that dressing will be coming shortly because there’s no doubt that I’ll be getting the recipe from her!

The Good Stuff

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If it weren’t for the completely awful project that consumes my working hours, you’d have a tough time convincing me I’m not dreaming these days.  Every day since my arrival has been filled with so much of the good stuff, that I can’t even let the “bad stuff” phase me.  Bad project?  Pshhh…  Fire?  Double Pshhhhhh.

After work today, I put on my sneakers, grabbed my sacks, and walked to the best whole foods on this fine, fine planet.  This picture doesn’t begin to do this store justice, it’s huger than huge.  And each and every square foot of its hugeness is filled with the friendliest folks ever.

 I picked up some much needed groceries, looking forward to a time when my kitchen is a little more stocked and my market trips are a lot less expensive!

I snacked on some stuffed grape leaves while this sandwich was toasting and then, with a wholehearted grin, gobbled the whole thing up!

A Gluttonous Goodbye

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My last weekend in Tampa was one for the gluttonous books.  It started on Friday, ended on Sunday, and provided me with five pounds of extra errr love.  I am perfectly OK with tighter than usual pants.  It was completely intentional and oh so worth it.

Friday night, Lex, Lindsey, and I went to The Refinery where we split a handful of small plates and entirely too much red wine.  We cleaned our plates and headed to Fly, where we bounced back and forth between the upstairs and downstairs bars, sampling concoctions from my two favorite bartenders.  We laughed, we danced, we woke up on Saturday with upper-twenties-hangovers.

We completely failed in the picture department.  Thank goodness for Facebook…

Saturday night, Val, Amber and I cashed in my coveted Pizza Fusion coupon and had a pizza/movie/brownie sundae sleepover.  I think we all agreed that we had never felt so full in our entire lives.  The feeling was worse than hoarding candy on a childhood Halloween, but we powered through it until it was time for the deepest food coma sleep EVER.

On Sunday, after two serious girls nights, it was time to meet up with the boys and the family for brunch at Gaspar’s Grotto.  We packed around a few umbrella covered picnic tables and dug into more deliciousness.  My mom and I split the eggsters rockefeller which was so much better than I would have ever imagined.  Forget Canadian bacon, I’ll take spinach and fried oysters any day.

I couldn’t have asked for a better day.  My oldest friends, newest friends, and family, enjoying yummy food, bloody marys, and sunshine together?  Nothing could have topped that!

And there were even presents!!  Colette brought me a pair of Austin approved shades that I can’t wait to pair with my favorite bikini this summer.  They’ll be a good conversation starter, don’t you think?

And it dawned on me as I uploaded this picture that brunch was my last Tampa resident meal with Robbie, my all time favorite lunch buddy…  Yikes.

But it wasn’t just an amazing day, it was an amazing weekend filled with as many good memories as we could possibly squeeze into a way-too-short-two-days.  I am beyond blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life and, even though it’s so tough to imagine my day-to-day without them, I know without a doubt that we’ll be seeing each other soon (benefit of moving to a cool city, right?).