Girl's Weekend

I am completely sucking at this whole blogging thing. But lots of things have been going lately. That it has been exhausting both mentally and physically. Which is why a nice mini road trip was in order. A good girlfriend and I decided to visit our third musketeer up in Philly for a nice weekend away. So we packed up and headed out after work on Friday to enjoy a nice girls weekend filled with lots of good food, good friends, lots of laughter, and a little shopping in between. Below is a mini recap. With some definite must go places.

Of course we had to grab a cheese steak when we finally landed in Philly, but unfortunately no picture documentation as it was pretty late and after being stuck in traffic and my gps taking us on wonderfully random tours of Delaware we were starved to say the least and as I popped the last bite into my mouth that "oh, crap" bubble popped over my head as I forgot to take a picture of it's cheesy goodness. BUT I will tell you, to forget the hype about Pinks and Ginos ... the best cheese steak I have ever had in Philly resides at Ishkabibbles off of South Street. They blend just the right amount of steak a cheese wiz, that you will think you died and gone to cheese steak heaven. Definite must try.

 

 

Then bright and early Saturday morning we were off on another adventure. First stop .... New Jersey! Where we spent some time at Mitsuwa. A fantastic little Japanese marketplace. Where we ate to our hearts content and shopped for things we wouldn't be able to find back at home

All the yummy goodness we consumed. Loads of sushi. But my meals of choice ... a tasty ramen combo meal (as if the bowl of ramen wasn't enough, the fat kid in me needed the extra bowl of rice and perfectly seasoned pork belly to round out the meal). And of course a yummy meal of pork don katsu. Those being two seperate meals of course .. heh.

Another favorite for me are the drinks! Whole aisles of tasty things to quench my thirst. The iced coffee was a definite hit. Definitely not as sugar coma inducing as the starbucks variety but equally as tasty and with an added bonus .... they come enriched with vitamins! Almost like those Neuro drinks you see but with the tasty satisfaction of coffee.

 

Then it was off to NY. I'll let you in on a little secret...if you ever have the urge to spend a nice day in the Big Apple but without the BIG traffic or BIG parking costs ... park your butt at Mitsuwa. One you'll get a great foodie experience, TWO there's this wonderful Mitsuwa bus that runs ever 30 minutes from I believe 9 in the morning to 7:30 at night that takes you to Port Authority right into the center of the city for ... drum rolls please ... $3. Can't beat that right. You're welcome. :)

 

 

The city was wonderful as usual. With all the hustle and bustle you expect from New York. But in our walk around the city we came across a nice little street fair on Broadway. Filled with the usual I ♥ NY gear but also wonderful little food stalls as well. One of which was an instant favorite, they blended fresh watermelon into this tasty little treat that was perfect for the ridiculously hot heat wave we were in that week. It definitely gave us some relief.

 

 

Then Back to Philly. Sunday morning we woke up ready to head back home. But not without stopping by Chinatown. A little dimsum and we were on our way. Definitely a great end to a nice weekend away. It was my decompressor.

 

OH and with that I end with this....the Bug Buddy! (This is what happens when you get a bunch of girls together without their manly counter parts) We are not a fan of the creepy crawlies and this random invention we found became an interesing part of our weekend. I can safely say it worked beautifully. As you can see in the photo below 2 spiders and a millipede safely contained. Good times indeed.

 

 

Not so guilty pleasure.

I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little excited about this new little find. Everyone who knows me, knows that I have a HUGE sweet tooth, and chocolate is (and most likely always will be) my ultimate downfall. It's so bad, I'll even buy a couple bags for me during halloween aside from the bags for the kids. I'm pretty surprised my teeth haven't fallen out yet. BUT, my new find makes me feel less guilty.

On my usual stroll through Whole Foods I came across these all-natural candy bars by Justin's. I will admit I was a little skeptical at first. Since things that are "all-natural" or "organic" tend to not always match up ... and lets face it I've had my fair share of sawdust flavored treats once or twice. But decided to give these a try and reached for their Reese's and Snickers look-a-likes and went on my way. Right around the 3 o'clock slump at work, I grabbed the peanut butter cups .....and OMG .... my mind was blown. They are really good. And Reese's are my absolute favorite, but I would actually choose these over them if I had too. You can definitely taste the natural peanut butter and the chocolate was simply devine. Not to mention it lacked the bit of oil you tend to get from Reese's peanut butter cups (which are still tasty). But what's great, is I don't feel as bad eating these. They have natural ingredients and even reading the ingredients list, everything was recognizable. No crazy chemical like ingredients here. Will definitely be stocking up on these on my next Whole Foods run.

Amazing and Inspirational

Came across this video of a pretty amazing and inspirational young man and just had to share.

"You don’t have to find out you’re dying, to start living"

 

http://www.upworthy.com/this-kid-just-died-what-he-left-behind-is-wondtacular-rip

Miami Sun.

Coming back from a vacation is SO hard! I'm already starting to day dream about our next one. :) But for now, I'll reminisce about the wonderful anni-moon I just had with the hubbs. Below are some must go places (and yes, it is mostly food ... that's just how we roll).

Eden Roc Hotel ♥♥♥

Made popular by housing the Kardashian sisters not too long ago this hotel does not disappoint. It's situated just above all the craziness that is south beach and right next to the Fountain Bleu (which you would think would be pretty loud, but surprisingly we couldn't hear a thing). Eden Roc was definitely a family friendly hotel, but adult friendly as well with their "Adult Only" pool and cocktail servers by the pools and beach front (very convenient, IF you can get their attention which was always quite the challenge). But I will say the exceptionally nice staff, pools, private beach front and restaurants were definitely the highlights staying at this hotel.

 

HOWEVER, I will say the negatives were the room, house keeping and charges that were not explained prior to check-in. The room was less than par. If you ever consider staying here, I would recommend you ask for a room in the newer tower as we were stuck in their older "renovated" side. Which was small, faced a wall, and had an awkward bathroom set up that just needed a little more love. But we were in Miami and not too much time was spent in the room, so I won't mark too many points off for that. The second issue was house keeping out of the 5 nights we were there, they only came by once, which was my biggest issue. After speaking with the front desk they were kind enough to remove some of our resort fees from our bill (point for the exceptionally nice staff). BUT, do keep in mind that when they tell you there's a $25 resort fee per day ... there is also a tax to it so in actuality it is $28.50/per day.

 

Miami Zoo ♥♥♥♥♥

As an animal lover, the zoo or aquarium is always a must see place when visiting somewhere new. And since I heard the aquarium was not worth the effort, we made our way to the zoo! It was about an hour drive from Miami beach and very little actual highway time so you got to see more of, I guess, rural miami. We ran into a little traffic, but nothing like what we see here in DC so it was a breeze! The zoo is laid out in such a way that it's more a park that an actual zoo. With meandering paths and mist machines along the way it makes you forget that you're out in the Miami heat. Definitely loved that the animals were in a more casual no bars setting that made felt more like a safari part than the usual caged zoo. They even make it posible for the giraffes to reach over and beg for food. Super cute, and loved the ability to interact. A definite must go place.

 

On to the food. (The most important part of course)

Latin Cafe ♥♥♥♥

A definitely must try place. If you are looking for fancy, you won't find that here. But if you're looking for good food, in a nice home town feel, this is the place to be. It's more of the wall type place, meaning if you weren't intentionally looking for it, you'd more than likely walk right past it. But, you'd be sorry you did. This place was fantastic. It was a good 10-15 minute walk from our hotel, which was perfect. It took us on a nice walk along the docks and under gorgeous palm tress. The food was amazing and came at a great price! Skirt steak with chimichurri sauce is always a fave when I'm in Miami and this placed served it up perfectly. The hubbs got the cuban and we shared a whole lot of yummy plantains with some inca cola to wash it all down. It was definitely a place we wanted to eat at more than once during our stay.

 

 

5 Napkin Burger ♥♥♥♥♥

OMG! Amazing! We were walking through Lincoln Road (another must go place) and came across this restaurant. My hubbs has a thing about having to try a burger in every place we visit and we figured why not stop in for some lunch, I mean it has the word burger in the name. SO glad we did, I ended up getting the grilled mahi tacos. *DROOL* They were the best mahi tacos I've ever had. That I was actually sad when it was all gone. :( The hubbs actually opted out of getting a traditional burger and got the blackened mahi sandwich instead. Which was equally as amazing as the tacos. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. Love it!

 

 

Sushi Siam ♥♥

As far as sushi goes, I've had better. But I will say that the fish was very fresh. I think I was just more disappointed with their selection and price the most. I'm used to more variety of rolls and sashimi, especially if I'm so close to the ocean! So, it was ok. The hubbs had the pad thai though and it was pretty tasty. Whoomp whoomp! Guess you can't be completely in love with every restaurant you visit while on vacation. But I will say the service was wonderful and everything tasted great, just wish there was more sushi to choose from. It makes the list, just because of the staff and freshness of the fish as well as the tasty pad thai.

 

 

1500 Degrees ♥♥♥♥♥

If you're looking for a fancier restaurant, this is one to check out. It's also located right inside Eden Roc, so we decided what a perfect way to end our anni-moon than with a nice dinner a short elevator ride away. The food was so so yummy! It's a farm-to-table restaurant, meaning everything on their menu is locally grown. Which I love! The hubbs chose the half rotisserie chicken with carolina grits and I chose to go with the 3-course pre-fix meal because everything sounded so tasty! They had a nice variety on the menu and the surprising favorite was the octopus salad. It was grilled just right and was super tender. The dressing and greens blended perfectly and I definitely could've eaten it as a main course if I could. BUT, my main course was equally amazing so I'm glad I chose it. The grilled pork chop was to die for! So good, and so much of it! I was stuffed half way through, but because it was so good ended up finishing my plate. The only think I wasn't a fan of was the nutella bread pudding, only because I wasn't a fan of the cayenne. Call me old fashioned, but I like my desserts to be sweet and not spicy. :) 

 

The decor was gorgeous, very modern glam. Service was amazing and the drink menu was tasty. Another definite must go and taste! :)

 

 

Food Porn.

 

Just a sneak peak at some of the amazing food we had on our little anni-moon to Miami this past week. Everything we tasted was so ridiculously good, that I'm actually ok with the 5 lbs I gained on this trip. It was so worth it! I'll post more on our trip and must go places to eat/see soon. But for now you can gaze upon these amazing eats. ;)

Month in pictures.

Ah! March/April was such a blur. And I seriously neglected my new years resolution. Poor blog. But fear not, here is my month in pictures.

 

1. Celebrated a wonderful early Birthday dinner with girlfriends, fancy appetizers and beer, what more could you ask for. 2. Now it's just gone too far...Gangnum Style karaoke. Which happened to be next to the Gangnum Style clothing store that is just outside of this photo frame. 3. Snow in March!? Now this is just getting ridiculous. 4. Homemade summer roll night. So yum! 5. Evie's new favorite position during movie night. 6. Birthday gifts from the hubs. *love* 7. Amazing dinner out with the hubs. Lobster mac & cheese is my new kryptonite. 8. Ice cream cake from baskin robbins, my old kryptonite. 9. The crazy spread my mom puts out for Birthdays. (yea, safe to say I gained a good 10 lbs. that week) 10. Home Depot run with the Evie. Do you think anyone noticed? 11. Easter cupcakes at work. Why do bunnies lay eggs on easter, again? 12. Began spring cleaning the front yard. With some new mulch and pansies. 13. Fancy dinner on the deck on a nice late afternoon (I ♥ spring) ... what's fancier than pizza and wine?? ;) 14. Sunbathing on the deck with my little Evie. 15. The first sprouts of basil. Exciting! 16. In a not so feel good moment .. dinner in bed by the hubs, such a sweet gesture.

Snow Day. Fab Find.

So, typical VA weather. Last week we went from normal day, to freak mid-week snow storm, to ridiculously nice spring like weather over the weekend, and going into this week of cold and rain. It's always completely unpredictable when it comes to weather here. BUT I will say that the crazy snow storm brought with it some good as well. Not only did we all get a nice snow day from work (yes, adults get them too) but I learned a fantastic new recipe. Though it wasn't Sunday, I tried out this recipe for Sunday Night Stew from the Pioneer Woman. Super good, and was the perfect snowed in meal to have with the hubz. Below are a few photos of the the day ... and the tasty dish. :) A definitely recipe to try.

Snow Day! Puppy snow paws and warm cup of cocoa.

My ingredients all lined up and ready to go. Only thing I didn't have was turnips. But I say this is pretty good for spur of the moment stew day.

Cooking up a storm.

And the final product. On top of some tasty mashed potatoes.