My Weekend through Food

It all started on Friday afternoon.

Happy hour on the balcony: pony Coronas and icy Jomos. 

Then, on to Bang: mango red-pepper martinis and kale tortellini and miniature crab cakes.

Woke up: omelets and honey lattes. 

Washed it down with: gatorade and a little mud.

Recovered with: a gigantic dinner thanks to mama Suzanne and company. 

Celebrated our Warrior-dom by: watching a little Matilda and sipping some of these:

This morning, nommed on: Bodos and and Cafecitos at Hot Cakes. 

Topped it off with: Pomegranate Rice Cakes (mmm...?) and some Humpback Rocks.

Another great weekend gone sooo fassstttt. T-20 minutes until Abita (aka Party Cat aka Satan) is on the move again. Sharpening my slicing knives as we speak....

xoxox,

Hannah

Wedding Reception, Anyone?

On Friday, I met a group at Mt. Vernon for some touring and beautiful weather. This teacher is one of my favorites--super friendly, dedicated to his students, always positive and looking for ways to make his kids have a better experience, appreciative, etc. They're from California and were being eaten alive by allergies... I guess it's a small price to pay for blooming cherry trees, farm animals, and some left-over dirt from Mr. Washington. 

Spent the night with Caroline and went back downtown on Saturday to explore and soak up the cloud-free skies. Plus, I've been dying to check out the US Botanic Gardens because everyone has told me that it's a "lame" place to send my groups. Let me just say this: every single one of my groups will be visiting the gardens from this point out! I don't know what everyone's thinking--this place is gorgeous. It's a gigantic greenhouse that's sectioned off into different climate zones and plant types. There's a jungle. There's a desert. There was entire exhibit on rare orchids. I could have stayed forever. As Caroline pointed out, "not everyone likes plants as much as you," but I don't see how this can be ignored. It's right next to the Capitol, so no excuses, people! If I had a million dollars, I'd rent this place for a weekend and hold an amazing party. Everyone would have little orchids in their drinks and there'd be hidden benches for people to sneak away and smooch (maybe I just want to recreate Eileen's wedding). Garden party, 2012-style.

Before we hit up the Gardens, we grabbed lunch near Eastern Market at Tortilla Cafe. $7 for empanadas and yucca and plantains!? Yes please. We ate in the grass and it was heavenly.

Botanic Garden what what!

This is where I started to die/melt of happiness.

Happy Lady, obviously.

Finally made it home after being away for three days. Luckily, I wasn't forgotten and managed to fit in some quality Abita snuggling. Thanks again, Dad, for watching her this weekend (and not letting her escape/get eaten by coyotes...)

Back to the grind in the morning, but I'm waking up to fresh roasted coffee, planted peppers, and new magnolias out my front door. Spring in Virginia is where I always want to be.

xoxo,

Hannah

The Winds of Change like woah...

My life has taken some pretty dramatic turns the last few days, and while I'm super very extremely excited about some aspects, I am equally (dramatically) depressed about the others. So far, I am l-o-v-i-n-g my new gig and all the people who work there. I'm obsessed with Central Virginia and all that it has to offer...

...like vineyards, and horse country, and morning dew on the way to work. Sigh.

However...I'm am also very sad about the following items of business:

Our dog. Duh.

88 MILES?!?! FOL.

Das basement of sin and smooches.

Being sooo pretty.

And soooo smart!

So. I'm in the process of caulking holes, painting primer, picking paint colors, moving beds, setting up Internet connections, joining clubs, makin' fraaands, crafting Halloween costumes, going to happy hours, and in general getting myself back to the place I was always meant to be. In the meantime, connection to the outside world is super limited--there's so much to learn, so much to do, so much to see. 

It's funny to think that somehow, after all this time, the grass has always been a little bit greener here...

xoxo,

Hannah

Everything's So Golden Delicious

Such a good weekend--on Saturday, I headed to Carter Mountain with friends to start the season off right with some apple-picking, cider-drinking fun. I haven't been to the mountain since I was really little, so I was super excited when Eileen suggested we make a weekend out of it and head for the hills. Caroline and I drove down to Fredvegas to meet up with everyone, then we headed into Charlottesville to eat BBQ, climb trees, and stuff our faces with as many apples we could handle.

Bang-arang! CarSex could barely contain her flannel-filled excitement.



I think BBQ is a little weird to serve at an orchard, but the apple cider donuts were potent and delicious.

Just a little worm!

(Look, I know it's not a vineyard, but you get the idea.)

How you like them applez? Rob was on the hunt.

Baby Lily was a rock star and wasn't letting any leash hold her back.

Gotcha Eileen--only the trendiest apple picker out there.

Yumm, so many choices

I spy...

Teamwork.

Virginia is for lovers, see?

This was a big weekend for Caroline--she tried apples, ate tomatoes, and even drank some wine! Three cheers?

 

Later that night, we (Rob) made homemade pizzas and Yuca/Mandioca.

We had great plans to make caramel apples, but let's be real--we were in bed by 10pm. Grannies to the max.

The rest of the weekend was equally great and included such festivities as pumpkin loaves shaped like Dala horses, more crock pot sensations, breaaadddd, and the busting out of warm LLBean slippers. It was a freezing ride to work this morning. I think it's safe to say that Fall... is here.

Countdown till CC Oysterfest 2011: 4 days!

xxx, Hann