Ramblings – Page 10 – Fervent Foodie

Technology-1, Mary-0 (plus #giveaway)

July 17, 2011 15 Comments

So over the weekend, I decided to do a little housekeeping on the blog and categorize all of my old posts. All 260 of them. Just so that I could have a nice little category cloud on the right hand side of the screen (check that shiz out!). Seemed like a fabulous idea, until last night I realized something I was doing was triggering random old posts to get flushed through the RSS feed.

Oooopsie!

I wish I could personally go into each and every one of your feeds and delete all the old posts. I even tried to hack into a few of your accounts to no avail

The only thing I can do now, is offer you free Greek yogurt!

YoCrunch recently sent me a free coupon to give to a reader for their new YoCrunch Greek Yogurt line:

Honey, blueberry, peach, and strawberry low-fat Greek yogurt all ready to be mixed up with their all-natural low-fat granolas. Ummm sign me up! Or actually sign YOU up.

Just post a comment on this post (about anything your heart desires), and I’ll randomly select a winner Monday evening.

Good luck, and sorry if I made a mess of your RSS feed

Ramblings

Porkchop flop (wordless Wednesday)

July 14, 2011 6 Comments

Ramblings, Restaurants

‘Twas my birthday.

July 13, 2011 15 Comments

A few nights ago, the BF and I were discussing my upcoming birthday, and we realized that neither of us were quite sure how old I was going to be. Apparently, he bases his age off of how old I am, which I attribute to his burning desire to draw frequent attention to the fact that I am six months his senior and thus a cradle robbing cougar. Rawwwrrrrrrrrr! Cat face

Anyway… after several rounds of bantering back and forth, we came to an agreement.

I was officially turning 27.

Twenty-seven years ripe.

Twenty-seven years seasoned.

Twenty-seven years matured, if you will.

I’m pretty sure you’re officially “old” when you can’t remember how old you actually are.

So there I was, about to turn 27, in a new city, with no one to keep me company but a crappy (albeit tasty) tuna sandwich and a crap load of work to get done.

As fabulous as this sounded, I decided to be proactive with my Ladies who Lunch goal, and invite a few ladies in the area to lunch. Was it a longshot to invite a bunch of ladies I barely know to have lunch with me on my birthday? Perhaps. Was it awkward to put myself out there? Slightly. Did I send that email anyway? You’re darn tootin I did!

One short email followed by four quick responses and I was headed to Savor Café and Catering to have lunch with four fabulous blogging ladies: Jamie (Bibliophiled Away), Vanessa (Life Undeveloped), Julie (Willow Bird Baking), and Katie (Sweet Tater Blog).

I don’t know what came over me, but I hardly took any pictures during lunch! All I can say is the interior of Savor was eclectic and slightly rustic. The restaurant was small and cozy, with super tall ceilings, and exposed brick walls. Lucky for us we got there before the lunch rush because that line was out the door!

For those who were curious, yesterday’s post about the best birthday present ever came from Jamie. Seriously, how perfect?!

What’s not perfect is how much my hair hates NC weather! Also, thanks Vanessa for the pic!

Savor had quite a few options on the menu that sounded worthy of a birthday lunch, but since I had plans to end my big day with an Italian feast I decided to stick with the Savor Salad. It had mixed greens, tomatoes, carrots, chickpeas, and cucumbers plus some tasty grilled chicken on top:

The balsamic vinaigrette was so thick, I literally had to slather it on my salad. It was fabulous.

The ladies: Julie (Willow Bird Baking), Vanessa (Life Undeveloped), Katie (Sweet Tater Blog), MOI!, and Jamie (Bibliophiled Away).

When I got back to work, I had a little surprise waiting:

A birthday treat from the mama Smile

P.S., chocolate covered apples are AMAZING. Who knew?!

My mailman also brought me a card from my dad Smile

Like father, like daughter? Perhaps.

And my friend Tracy sent me a big ass tub of Frank’s Red Hot:

You may be wondering what the heck I am going to do with 756 servings of Frank’s Red Hot. To that I say don’t you worry Smile

< Insert 6 or so more hours of work here >

And it was time for dinna with the Man Candy Open-mouthed smile

We haven’t had an Italian dinner in quite a while, so my pick of the evening was Villa Antonio in Ballantyne.

I was so surprised by how fancy schmancy the restaurant was.

Even though the restaurant was very formal, it was by no means uninviting. Jarrod and I perused the menu, and were brought *free* bruschetta to munch on while we decided.

At this point I was pretty much in love with the place. Who doesn’t love free?!

Once we ordered, we were brought *ahem* *FREE* house bread and dipping oil:

Did I mention I love this place?

I wish every meal started off with two courses of bread Winking smile

While I sipped on a glass of Banfi Col di Sasso (a Sangiovese/Cabernet blend), we dug into our sausage and pepper appetizer:

Everything about this dish was perfect. The sausage was slightly spicy, the marinara sauce was deep and garlicky, the roasted peppers were sweet, and the cheese was melty heaven. This alone could have been a delicious entre… but ‘twas my birthday, so we certainly did not stop there!

After the appetizer, we were brought *FREE!!!!* lemon sorbetto to cleanse the palate. At this point I audibly exclaimed “I LOVE THIS PLACE!”. I can be slightly embarrassing when it comes to food.

For the entre, we decided to split a chicken and gnocchi dish. Half of the entre was the PERFECT serving size:

The chicken was layered with garlic, pomodoro, goat cheese, spinach, and mozzarella. And as if that weren’t enough cheesy goodness, the gnocchi was covered in a creamy gorgonzola sauce.

Absolutely divine.

Surmounted only by this large slice of chocolate peanut butter cake that followed:

Two happy diners:

Thanks everyone for the b-day wishes!

My Favs, Ramblings

Best birthday present ever.

July 12, 2011 8 Comments

Ramblings, Restaurants

It wasn’t THAT good, actually.

July 6, 2011 11 Comments

As a foodie, I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that my world revolves around food. I spend countless hours each week reading about it, researching it, cooking it, exploring it, talking to strangers about it, sharing it… you get the point. From the 5:30am pre-body pump peanut butter toast to the hot fudge brownie bowls I’d like to cap every night off with, food is the thread that links the pieces and parts of my days together. It’s what brings passion to my eyes during conversation. It’s what brings a smile to my face at the end of a trying week. It’s what intrigues me, and challenges me, and nourishes my body and mind.

Bottom line: food brings me joy.

Of course, with all this love and warm fuzzies there is a dark flip side: the food flop. Nothing is more disheartening than experiencing a food flop. Perhaps it’s a new dish that’s lacking in taste or worse yet a new dish that straight up makes you ralph. Either way, a food flop is like a sharp nail on a chalkboard. It brings a party to a screeching hault in a matter of seconds.

It’s no secret that trying out new restaurants is one of my favorite pastimes. I love the excitement of experiencing something new and the opportunity to have ALL of my senses blown away by a fabulous dining experience. When I try a new restaurant and that restaurant doesn’t rock my socks off, whelp, it’s downright depressing. It feels like a waste—not only a waste of money, but more importantly a waste of time that could have been used to try out a different much more fabulous establishment.

Does anyone else feel this way? Maybe I’m a foodie extremist.

Speaking of trying new places, after my Ladies who Lunch post last week I headed to lunch with a lady (Jamie) at King’s Kitchen uptown. I was thoroughly excited for the opportunity to lunch with a new friend AND to try out a new restaurant that I’d passed so many times but never stepped foot inside.

While perusing the menu, I was pretty pumped when I saw “macaroni and cheese” as a vegetable. That HAD to be a good sign.

Another plus were the free biscuits we were brought:

Then the meal came—grilled chicken with macaroni, broccoli, and collard greens:

And that’s where the plusses stopped.

The chicken was dry – so dry that it was difficult (and awkward) to cut through even with a knife.

And the mac and cheese?

Whelp, it was oily and lacking flavor… As were the collard greens… and the broccoli.

Even with this disappointment, at the end of the lunch I put my hand on my belly and said almost robotically “that was so good!” As soon as the words left my lips, I thought to myself “ummm Mary, no that was NOT good.” But what didn’t come to me until later that day was that it was OK to admit the food wasn’t good. It’s not always rainbows and chocolate ganache. Sometimes it’s dry meat and oily side dishes.

Despite the food flop, Jamie and I had a great time getting to know each other. Some might think it’s crazy that I invite random people I’ve never met to lunch. But if you want to be a Lady who Lunches, sometimes ya just gotta do what ya gotta do 🙂