Hob-Knobbing Around

This weekend we pretty much did whatever we wanted…ran a race, celebrated our finish times at Tyler’s Tap Room with a few brews (Terrapin Sun Ray Wheat & Big Boss Liquidator), met up with our friend Chris, Sam and Shane, enjoyed Sunday Sushi with my family and finally bought new knobs for our kitchen cabinets.  Oh and we tried the #1 beer in the world…Westvleteren Abt 12.   

Not that our other knobs were terrible or outdated, but we just wanted our kitchen to be more our taste.  Hopefully soon, we will get to work on the “great re-tile and microwave install of ‘09” and the back splash will incorporate a few bronzed tiles mixed in with the natural stone we’ve picked out.  It was pretty easy to settle on one of the hundreds of knobs at Lowe’s this morning and Ben and I could not be more happier with how they bring out the color of our cabinets.   The next step is to faux paint our light fixtures.  We love the design of them, just not the color and I want all the hardware and metals to match.  Then comes the messy part of ripping out the old backsplash, installing the microwave and re-tiling.  Additionally, we need a weekend to paint the dining room…the color is already picked!

Restaurant Week: Girl’s Night Out

Many cities have restaurant weeks and I did not know Raleigh was holding their 2nd annual this past week.  Tara and I enjoy having Girl’s Nights during the week while the boys are either working or having their own Boy’s Night.  After weeks of talking about it, we finally settled on Solas for our restaurant. 

Solas is one of Raleigh’s newest and hottest restaurants and honestly I was expecting more of a club and lounge than a fine dining type of restaurant.  The deal is: $25 gets you an appetizer, entree, and dessert.  When entrees are priced at $30, this was an amazing deal and a great way to try new places that have been our list for quite some time. 

Everything about Solas left me impressed and already talking about coming back.  It’s the perfect place for a group celebration, fancy night out or just grabbing drinks and appetizers with friends.  After walking in the door, I felt like I left Raleigh and arrived in Miami, Las Vegas or New York.  The decor is very chic, sultry, edgy and everything is softened with white sheer curtains around almost every table.  The first floor includes the restaurant, bar and outdoor seating area.  The second floor has another bar and a clear dance floor looking down below.  Finally the third floor is the rooftop bar overlooking the Raleigh skyline. 

Tara and I arrived a little early for our reservation and enjoyed a Strawberry N’ Balsamic Martini and Peach White Wine Sangria.  For an appetizer we ordered the BBQ Duck Quesadillas and Portobello Fries, both were amazing.  We both had our eye on the Filet Mignon with Cabernet Goat Cheese Butter.  Between courses we ordered one more drink – the 419 Mojito (made with Grapefruit Vodka) for me and a Strawberry Gazpacho cooler for Tara.  The steaks were almost as mouthwatering as our desserts: Flourless Chocolate Cake with Macadamia Nut ice cream and a Blood Orange Creme Brulee! 

Everything was AMAZING!  I can not believe something like this exists in Raleigh…we will definitely be back!

We’re Famous!

After almost three years…it seems our wedding was so awesome, Duke Chapel wanted to feature it on their wedding website!  We received an email from Mollie Keel, the Duke Chapel Wedding Coordinator, letting us know the website had been updated and wanted to know if we recognized anyone.  There we were sharing our first kiss!

Things like this never happen to us, so we were quite surprised.  Duke Chapel has hundreds of weddings every year and ours was almost three year ago!  But, for now, we’ll enjoy our 15 minutes of fame!

Here is the link to see the entire webpage:

http://www.chapel.duke.edu/weddings/index.html

Happy Mother’s Day!

Today we hosted my mom and grandmother for a Mother’s Day Luncheon.  I just love a good excuse to get out on my china and crystal and have a house full of guests!  On the menu was Cream Cheese and Pepper Jelly on crackers for a light snack, Chicken Salad Croissants, Strawberry Pecan Mixed Greens salad, champagne and water.  We found some delicious almond champagne that went amazingly with the chicken salad and my mom brought a friendship dessert bread for a sweet ending to a perfect lunch!   

 

                                                                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though I am not a mother yet, I was a mother-to-be, and Ben and my family did a wonderful job at recognizing the holiday for me too.  I thought today would be hard and a little sad, but it was different…it was hopeful and I felt special to be included!  Ben bought me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers ever, delectable chocolates and one of the sweetest cards.  My mom gave me a massage at a new spa in Pittsboro and mentioned she also got herself one and we will be enjoying  a girl’s day of pampering very soon!

  Today was such a relaxing day, spending time with family and enjoying the beautiful weather!

‘Naner Puddin’ Cheesecake

Saturday night Ben and I went to my dad’s to celebrate an early Mother’s Day dinner with my stepmom and I insisted I would bring dessert.  Normally on my quest for a dessert recipe I look for no less than a 4 star rating and tons of reviews.  I stumbled upon this recipe for Banana Pudding Cheesecake that was rated 5-stars, but only 3 reviews…and I am so glad I took a chance!  Everyone loved it.

It is a relatively basic cheesecake recipe with a vanilla wafer and walnut crust that is not difficult at all.  I was a little worried it would taste like plain cheesecake with meringue on top and would lack the distinct banana flavoring.  However, I was pleasantly surprised that this cheesecake did indeed taste like banana pudding…two of my very favorite desserts.  This recipe will be added to the Stafford’s 5 Star Recipe Book and will probably be one of my best-no-fail dessert recipes for the future!

 

Uptown Banana Pudding Cheesecake (Southern Living)

• 1 1/2  cups  finely crushed vanilla wafers
• 1/4  cup  chopped walnuts, toasted
• 1/4  cup  butter, melted
• 2  large ripe bananas, diced
• 1  tablespoon  lemon juice
• 2  tablespoons  light brown sugar
• 3  (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1  cup  granulated sugar
• 3  large eggs
• 1  tablespoon  coffee liqueur
• 2  teaspoons  vanilla extract
• Meringue

Combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl. Press evenly into bottom of a lightly greased 9-inch springform pan.

Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Combine diced bananas and 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a small saucepan. Stir in 2 tablespoons brown sugar. Place over medium-high heat, and cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute or just until sugar has melted. Set aside.

Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer 3 minutes or until smooth. Gradually add 1 cup granulated sugar, beating until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Beat in coffee liqueur and vanilla. Pour into prepared vanilla wafer crust. Spoon tablespoonfuls of banana mixture evenly over top, and swirl gently into cream cheese mixture.

Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes or until center is almost set.

Drop spoonfuls of Meringue gently and evenly over hot filling.

Bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until Meringue is golden brown. Remove from oven, and gently run a knife around edge of cheesecake in springform pan to loosen. Cool cheesecake completely on a wire rack. Cover loosely, and chill 8 hours. Release and remove sides of pan.

Wedding Season is Upon Us…

The next few weeks will be spent at many different wedding events.  This past weekend, my mom made the trip to Williamsburg for my college roommate, Steph’s Wedding shower.  She is originally from Northern Virginia, but since college graduation, her parents have moved to Williamsburg.  Steph now lives in Seattle with her fiancé Toby and Greyhound, Daisy where they just purchase their first home and she’s a Emergency Vet.  The shower was amazing!  Just imagine a spread out of a Martha Stewart magazine.   The theme was a butterflies and flower and the attention to detail was everywhere.  We enjoyed champagne, a luncheon, chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and handmade butterfly cookies as favors.    All of Steph’s bridesmaids are literally spread out over the country from NC to NYC to Chicago to Seattle and unfortunately I was the only one who could make it.  So I fulfilled my honorable duties writing down gifts as well as being photographer and floral consultant.  We had a fabulous time and Steph received many wonderful gifts to start her life with Toby.  It was so great to see her and I could not believe it has been almost 2 years since I last saw her -  right before she moved to Seattle.  Now we are looking forward to their wedding…when I finally get to meet the lucky groom!

Some Fun Pictures…

We’ve been having a blast relaxing the past two weekends.  We have not done much, at least not blogging about, but we do take pictures of the “fun” we have.  Cooking, grilling, food, flowers, beer, etc…

Ben’s smoked ribs! 

Beer and barbeque (homemade) 

 Cheeseburgers and Sweet Potato fries Alfresco!

Ben’s Beer Collection!! 

Freddie enjoying the beautiful weather too! 

Beautiful spring Iris

Green Eggs and Ham!

We’ve had so many “events” lately that I’ve been buying groceries for special occasions and it’s been eating at our grocery budget, plus adding extra things to our fridge and pantry.  In and effort to clean things out, use what we have and keep our budget in check, I refused to buy any groceries for dinners this weekend.  (Other than the awesome sale on shrimp at Harris Teeter on Friday). 

Today was spent running (literally) and running errands!  After m run this morning, I set out to use my $10 Kohl’s gift card, check out TJ Maxx and Old Navy, get m hair cut and highlighted, and buy new food for Freddie.  I found the greatest deal at TJ Maxx…Cole Haan Nike Air’s.  I’ve been lusting over them for almost two years now, but could not come to make the $300 purchase.  But today…sitting alone on a shelf was a perfect pair of brown pumps in a 7.5 for only $50!!! 

After my shopping spree, errands and pampering, the task of dinner was upon me.  I always like to make our weekend dinners special since those are the only nights we have together, but I was pretty tired and needed something quick and easy.  We finally decided on breakfast…an omelet for me and scrambled eggs, bacon and biscuits for Ben!  Ben was pretty jealous of my omelet made with leftover ham from Easter, garlic basil pesto and sharp cheddar cheese!  Ishared with them since it ended up being a ton of food.  His compliments of it “tasting so gourmet” were awesome.  I let him on my secret of quick dinners on the nights he worked. 

I think we’ll make it through the week with only a quick trip to the grocery store for milk, juice and yogurt…this week should make up for the past few!

Fins to the Left…We are the People Our Parent’s Warned Us About!

Thursday we were lucky enough to take an escape from the work week to Margaritaville!  It’s been a few years since I’ve seen Jimmy Buffett and even longer since I’ve seen him at Walnut Creek.  An outdoor venue is always so much more fun to see the tailgaters and all their attire.  After finally finding the Tiki Hut…we enjoyed Cheeseburgers in Paradise, margaritas, rum punch, subs, mexican dip, wings, buffalo chicken dip, brownies, key lime bars and beer!  The highlight of the tailgate was my little sister Sara convincing me to shot-gun a beer…in all of my years at Virginia Tech and tailgating, this is something I never did!  I think all 17 of us including our parents circled around to enjoy the show.  I think we made them proud! 

This year’s show was awesome and we had a great time…we could not have asked for better weather with the high in the 80’s.  It was the perfect kick off to the summer and it would have only been better if we got to enjoy Margaritaville a little longer!  After the concert, my uncle and aunt, Eddie & Lisa, came back to our to  stay the night.  They are fun New Bern and came to Raleigh for the concert.  We had such a great time hanging out with them…next time they’ll have to stay longer.  Eddie also brews beer, so he and Ben have tons to talk about! 

Spring To-do List…

This weekend was the first weekend we’ve been home without any plans in a long while.  We’ve recently re-organized our master to-do list and we started tackling the list.  First on the list was finally putting up the dark chocolate velvet curtains in the living room.  The room is basically complete now…we eventually will add crown molding, but as far as decor…it’s complete!  We could not be happier with the colors of chocolate brown and green.  The curtains really frame the window and soften everything up.    Next on the list was new flowers for the bed in the front.  Several weeks ago we planted Double Knock Out roses and an Azalea in memory of the baby we lost.  I still had some space in the flower bed, so we decided on yellow African Mums and purple Salvia.  It was quite a productive weekend…putting up curtains (that I actually ironed), planting flowers, organizing the bathroom cabinets, and cleaning the house until it’s spotless.  We even found time later in the afternoon to go on a 3 mile run.  It was a perfect spring day!

Next up is painting a desk, painting the dining room, more organization…and finally installing a over the range microwave and a new backsplash in the kitchen! 

Impromptu Date Night!

Last weekend, Ben and I were finally going to have a date night…it’s been way too long!  It was going to be a nice quite night at home, making dinner, enjoying some wine and a movie.  But, work and family and Easter celebrations took precedence. 

This weekend was the weekend in months that we’ve had no plans and stayed home.  It’s been wonderful!  After working in the yard, cleaning the house, doing a few small house projects and going for a run together, we set out to get the ingredients for dinner.  Both of us were starving and it was already 6pm when we got the grocery store.  We decided on a cheese platter for an appetizer to tide us over.   While we enjoyed our cheese platter of smoked gouda and jalapeño havarti with a Rex Goliath Pinot Noir, Ben grilled the steaks and I made a Balsamic Strawberry Salad with Walnuts and Feta Cheese and roasted baby red potatoes.  Dinner was delicious, although both of us could have made a meal on cheese, crackers and salad.  The potatoes were barely touched, but will be featured in a later dinner this week! After dinner, we watched Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler…such a cute movie.  Disney movies always put us in a good mood.  It was just a perfect day…no rushing, no worries, doing things as we got them done and doing whatever we wanted!  The weather was beautiful too…Carolina blue skies and highs in the low 80’s!