Author: foodsweatandbeers

The Blog World is a Wonderful World

/ foodsweatandbeers / 7 Comments

Long ago (long = 4 months ago, it’s all relative, right?) I started Food, Sweat, and Beers. It’s obviously my favorite place on the internet, but I never really thought it’d amount to too much.  I figured, hey, a place to write about my 3 favorite things (one guess as to what they may be) as well as an outlet to meet new people and try something out. It’s not like I’d never had a blog before.  There was my infamous tumblr when I started Weight Watchers back in March 2010. But I feel like this is different.

Yesterday, I got a triple dose of awesome to remind me how glorious folks have been/continue to be re: my blog.

First off, a package from the beautiful Laura, filled with all the flavors that Texas has to offer.  Since it was through Foodie Penpals, I’ll save that post for a later date, but trust me, you’re in for a treat. And by you, I mean me. Unless a treat for you is being insanely jealous of someone else’s goodies.

Her packages bring all the boys to the yard.

Second up is the package I’ve been waiting for since my Great Tour De Pumpkin (Beer) Tasting . Hannah mentioned that Schlafly Beer put out a pretty sweet Pumpkin Ale that I simply had to try.  Since Schlafly is in St. Louis and I’m here in Durham, I was at an impasse.

Unless this fancy kilt-man from Schlafly's website intends to bring me some...

You know what that violining vixen suggested?

A beer swap!

Well, who am I to say no to beer from far off lands?

Especially from women who dress like pumpkins

Well, after ripping the (incredibly well-packed) box to shreds, guess what I found?

The Halloweeniest!!

Not only did Miss Hannah send me beautiful Pumpkin Ale, but Pumpkin Spice kisses and my ONLY SEASONAL HALLOWEEN DECORATION!!

Jealous?

You should be.

I’ve already made a serious dent in the kisses (and put them in my Saturday pancakes) and intend to drink the beers once they’ve had some time to relax after their long trip.

In other news, from blogging enablers, my beau and friends decided that they wanted my blog photography to be more “artsy”.  You know what that meant?

Black and White Beer Photoshoot!

Oozing with class

I call this one: Sad cork-toothed walrus

Clearly, it's all about the angles

Three cheers to blogging friends, pen pals, lovers of spice and beer and, as always, my friends and loved ones who support my silly, sweaty, boozy adventures every step of the way.

Got any fabulous blog-love stories?

Ode to the Awkward

/ foodsweatandbeers / 15 Comments

This post is very near and dear to my heart.

On Tuesday evening, I went to my third Pure Barre class (to see what I thought about my first one, check out my Pure Barre Breakdown).  As I mentioned before, the class may not be means for the tall people, the people who aren’t flexible, or the people without rock hard abs. But it’s a workout to kick your butt. You’ll leave drenched in sweat (or dripping actively on the barre all throughout. It takes all kinds, right?)

Something that I couldn’t help but notice, though, is it’s also a workout for the fashionistas. When you head over to the Pure Barre website, you’ll be treated to images like this one:

And they look so happy, right? (source is Pure Barre site)

Not surprisingly, when I attended my first class, everyone that joined me in the class was wearing…. well, they were wearing this. And I don’t just mean the compression black leggings, the signature purebarre socks and the slim-fitting tank tops. I mean the stone-cold looks on their faces as they tucked their hips, squeezed their fannies, and extended their elbows. I felt like the first class, as well as the one I took on Tuesday, was an hour long photo shoot that we were all supposed to have dressed for.  For comfort reasons, I wore this:

What? Not appropriate for the class? You all don't want celebratory Irish kisses as you squeeze a small ball between your thighs?

I caught myself huffing, puffing, dripping, and grunting, as I do in all group fitness classes. I’ve spoken before on group fitness etiquette and, as a huge fan of group fitness classes, I wanted to write an ode, a thank you of sorts. Not to the classes themselves, but to the people who take them. The people who take them that may not be wearing the right outfit, the folks who give me high fives when I run past them, the ones who can’t kick up to their heads like a rockette and the ones who haven’t the foggiest idea what this whole “rhythm” is.

The one thing I noticed in fitness classes, namely Zumba, BodyJam, Sh’Bam or any class related to rhythm and matching your bodies to the sweet beats blasting from the sound system, is that I have no dancing skills in my body. While other people were trying out contemporary jazz classes at their local dance studios, I spent my time doing lunge suicides and practicing soccer kicks [to no avail, as I sucked and continue to suck at soccer].

I’m not saying that this makes me unique.

But it does make my “dancing” look a lot less like the moves on Dancing with the Stars and a lot more like a jerky, athletic seizure.

Dance move or volleyball block? Now you don't have to choose.

So here’s to us, ladies and gents. The ones who work it out in class despite the fact that our hips do, in fact, lie. They lie and pretend they’re Shakira’s hips and, for a few brief minutes, we can pretend they are.

Waka Waka, nice moves, lady. (click for source)

Here’s to the silent awkward majority. When we go to BodyJam or Sh’Bam and they ask us to arabesque, our poses look something like this:

Is this what you meant? No? Well, I'll just keep doing it.

We won’t be able to do a 480 spin midair while we’re perspiring and rocking out to some new Pitbull remix, but we will work just as hard as any of you who can. When instructors ask me to pony step, chances are they assume that my kicking is an attempt at squishing some spider on the gym floor. 99% of the time, it’s not.

There was the great spider invasion of the YMCA Zumbathon Against Prostate Cancer in 2004, but we’ll forget that ever happened.

As a big thank you to all my fellow awkward weirdos out there, I want to promise you something.  As many overpriced exercise classes I go to, I will always dress in part-neon colors, part inappropriate shirts. They might even have a picture of me on them.

Ok, it's hard to tell, but this is ACTUALLY a shirt I own with a picture of myself on it.

If you feel like flailing like a lunatic in a class, I won’t make fun of you. I will be right there, matching you flail for flail. Whatever.  We’re getting our fitness on, and we’re having a blast doing it.

I just wanted to say this for the sake of anyone who might be nervous to go to their first group fitness class. Every single person in that class was a newbie at one point, and if you’re not sure about it, just do it! Get out there, flail that body, shake it like a polaroid picture, and maybe one day our paths will cross.

Chances are, though, it’ll be as I high kick you in the face in the middle of BodyJam.

I apologize in advance, I still don’t know how to control these long legs of mine.

Two Pizzas Are Better Than One: Buffalo Shrimp and BBQ Chicken

/ foodsweatandbeers / 12 Comments

Here’s the honest truth: I’m a sauce boss.

At any point in time, in my refrigerator, there are enough products that could be used as sauce, marinade, dressing, and the like, it makes you wonder where I put it all. I guaranteed have more sauces than I do foods to cover with the sweet, liquid toppings, but that never seems to stop me from buying new ones.

I like my fries to be the side of my ketchup.

My pancakes should be able to swim in syrup.

My chips nearly drown in the salsa.

But here’s the clutch part of this story. Until Sunday evening, the only sauce I’d been using on my pizza…. is pizza sauce.  Occasionally in the form of marinara or Sockarooni (the favorite sauce of the Sugar Coated Sisters) but, honestly, I wasn’t getting too creative, pizza-wise.

Enter: Game Changers 1 and 2.

Big thanks to Ray and Ken

Two dinners made special thanks to Sweet Baby Ray’s and Ken’s Buffalo Wing Sauce.  Oh, and a special Harris Teeter deal on Whole Wheat Pizza Dough!

Single Girl Realization: One pizza dough ball = 2 beautiful pizzas for one!

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and get ready for some pie!  Add some parchment paper to your pan so you don’t need to clean up later (trust me on this one).

First up, a buffalo shrimp pizza.

Not my best photography... But one of my best pizzas.

I rolled out that dough the best as I could. Unfortunately, on night one, that means an oddly shaped pie.

Up next, I put a thin (THIN being the key word here) layer of the buffalo sauce on this doughy wonder. In the meantime, I took some pink shrimp and tossed it in some cajun spices and olive oil, to give it a little flavor. Chances are, I dramatically overcooked it. I wouldn’t recommend that step, but I’m new at this whole seafood-cooking thing.

Up next, I tossed the cooked shrimp in some buffalo sauce. I covered the sauce and dough in a thin layer of cheese, then added some sauteed spinach and tomato slices to the pie. Add the shrimp and a bit more cheese. Cook in the oven for… jeez, I’m not even sure. 12 minutes?  Just watch it carefully.

Hawk-like.

When the cheese is melted and the crust is golden, you’re ready for eating action.

Maybe shrimp and buffalo sauce isn’t your poison?

I got this.

Roll out dough ball number two. Chances are, you did a better job this time. I know I did.

That looks much more pizza-like!

Keep that oven preheated to 400, and hit up your chopping block to cut up some red onion (I guess another onion would be good. But I prefer red.) Chop this bad boy thin, try not to cry, and sautee it in some olive oil.  Wait until the pieces get all soft and tasty. This is the best way to enjoy an onion.

Add some more spinach (gotta keep it green), and, if you have some cooked chicken, add it. I happened to have had a can of chicken on me, and I added this.  It worked perfectly. The chicken sweated on the onions and the spinach soaked it all up. It was a romantic little get together.

Take that BBQ sauce and add a thin layer to the dough.

The BIGGEST recommendation I can give about ALL homemade pizzas is to push the toppings out to the very edge of the ‘za. I can’t stress this enough.

So make that sauce reach every last nook and cranny of your crust. Sprinkle some cheese, add the spinachonionchicken mix to the pie, and spread a bit more cheese over with a drizzle of BBQ sauce.

Cook it in the oven!! Follow the same instructions as the first one (i.e. no real instructions… just watch it carefully.)

Perfect pie!

Serve it on a plate in the shape of a slice of pizza.

That’s probably the most important instruction of all.

Wait. Don't eat the plate.

What’s your favorite dream pizza topping?

How about the sauce you use the most?

 

Six Pack Sunday: Throwback Weekend

/ foodsweatandbeers / 6 Comments

Sunday night, buffalo shrimp pizza’s in the oven, and it’s time for another Six Pack Sunday. I spent most of this weekend putzing around Chapel Hill, relaxing with my friends and I finally feel totally recovered from last week’s Manhattan wedding weekend. (I realized that I never wrote a full post from the actual wedding/reception… I’ll save that for sometime this week!)

Anyway, since I’ve been soaking up all the Carolina blue UNC had to give, tailgating and enjoying every bit. I figured that’s all the reason to celebrate Six Pack Sunday with an  honor of my personal throwback weekend.

1. Pokey Party

Buttery, garlicy baked gold!

Remember that time that, when cleaning my apartment, I found 13 coupons for Gumby’s (and four teeth and 24 koozies?) Well, I got a chance to cash those bad boys in on Saturday night. Yup, ranch, marinara, and a whole lotta goodness. And what pairs better with grease and cheese than a mason jar full of Riesling? Nothing, that’s right. The employees at the store informed me that they hadn’t used the coupon system in over a year and a half.

Shows you how often I clean the apartment, right?

2. Some Things Never Change

Faces have been blocked to protect the livelihood of grown-ups!

I observed (and cheered on) a rousing game (or 7) of flip cup. And one of the MVPs of the team? A brother from my fraternity who joined when I was 1 year old.

I can only hope that, in 20 years, I’ll be half as awesome as he is.

3. Whole Mold Foods?

Eeww.

Since I was in Chapel Hill, I had a chance to stop by Whole Foods (a rare treat for someone who doesn’t live very close to one). And then, from a distance, I saw a basket of moldy bread.

Well, that’s what I thought it was. When I went closer, I realized that it was not mold, just the Whole Foods logo. In green, and on bread.  Maybe not the best marketing technique.

4. Massive Milltown Munchies

San Diego Fries: Fresh Cut Fries Topped with Sharp Cheddar, Marinated Flank Steak, Jalapeno,Guacatillo, Salsa and Chipotle Sour Cream

Smoked Cheddar Mac n’ Cheese with Leeks and Broccoli and Bacon

Even though my last trip to Milltown wasn’t that long ago, I’ll still count it. And this was the most tasty meal I’ve had out in a while!!

The skull sized liters of beer didn’t hurt, either. $8 for a liter of Spaten Oktoberfest?

Don't mind if I do.

5. Spark it Up

This ought to be stupid

Does anyone remember when Sparks were like, a huge “thing”? I must’ve been a sophomore or junior at UNC, and everywhere I went, I saw folks hyped up and rocking the signature orange Sparks tongue.  When I stopped by the grocery store and perused the discount priced for quick sale goodies (not in the produce section like I scoped out on Friday, obviously), I couldn’t resist spending $2 on a four pack. Though I have yet to drink a single sip, I can only imagine that this will not have positive results.

But I also predict that it will be the best drink review of my life.

(Don’t quote me on that.)

6. It’s Not Rocket Science, People.

Must we?

At Harris Teeter, earlier, I spotted these “store maps”. Having shopped in countless Harris Teeters (or Teets, as I like to call them), this is completely unnecessary and very silly.

I hope this isn’t a new trend in grocery stores.  It seems to go against everything the whole “reusable shopping bag” is about.

Ok, ok.

The pizza…. it calls to me.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, folks!

 

 

Epic Brewing Brainless on Peaches

/ foodsweatandbeers / 1 Comment

I don’t know much about what comes from Utah. A quick Google search reminded me of that time that the 2002 Winter Olympics was hosted there, and it looks like they’re well known for mining. Sundance Film Festival and they 14.9% of folks are Scandinavian in ancestry. All of that pales in comparison to what else Utah brings to the table. Or, in this case, the bar.

Ladies and Gentlemen, enter Epic Brewing Company.  More specifically, their Brainless on Peaches.

Looks like a nice, juicy peach. In a glass.

The newest offering at Rockfish by Southpoint is a special rare beer tap.  A totally awesome idea, in my humblest of opinions. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one that thought so because beer geeks gathered in order to taste this rare treat.  This keg was the only one in the state of North Carolina and, considering how much I love limited edition things and Rockfish, I couldn’t resist.

Bottoms up!

Now, about the beer.

From the brewer:

Brainless on Peaches is part of the Exponential Series of very limited release beers from Epic. “Epic’s special line of ales and lagers for the accomplished consumer or the ever-curious. This is where the Epic journey never ends…”

We took our double gold medal winning Brainless Belgian, added organic peach puree and aged it in French Chardonnay casks form Sawtooth Winery. Drink from a Pinot glass, serve on the warm side of cold, it develops nicely as it warms displaying more fruit and wine.

It was delicious. Be warned, it is 10.5% ABV, but it drinks much smoother than that. The smell and taste is not as aggressively PEACH as Peaotch that I tried a few weeks ago, but the taste of wine is definitely there. If I didn’t know that it was aged in those fancy Chardonnay casks, I think I still would’ve guessed that there was some wine in this process. The taste started out as somewhat sweet, then hit a little harder with some sharpness after a few sips. It mellowed out as it warmed, and, after one glass, definitely had an effect. It had a fair amount of carbonation which I always appreciate. While I didn’t love it as much as the Dogfish Head Festina Peche or the Peaotch, it was a decent peach beer and totally worth a try.

 

Why You Should Grocery Shop at Lunchtime

/ foodsweatandbeers / 8 Comments

Hey there y’all, and thank goodness it’s Friday!

I’m blurrily celebrating No-Pants Friday, so excited that I clearly couldn’t even hold still!

Too fast, too furious for the camera!

And I have to say, I just enjoyed the most divine salad at lunchtime.

Festive Friday Fare!

Yesterday, I tossed 2 frozen chicken breasts, half a can of black beans and half a can of fire-roasted tomatoes and some salsa into the crockpot. By dinnertime last night, it was a wonderful shreddable chicken with a Mexican flavor. Though I wrapped it in a tortilla last night, today I bulked it up with some spinach, tomato, half an avocado, and cheese. Out of this world.

Now, you might be asking yourself, “How does Jordan afford all these avocados? She must be a zillionaire!” because avocados are notoriously pricey and that’s a bummer. But I’ll tell you how I get em.

Shop for groceries at lunchtime!

A beautiful bounty!

The aisles are almost empty and the food is ripe for the picking. Also, this is a PRIME time to pick up those battered and bruised veggies and fruits that are “priced for quick sale”. The losers of the produce aisle, these treats always finagle their way into my heart and, shortly after, into my grocery cart. And, honestly, if you’re planning on putting together food with the veggies in the not-too-distant future, what’s the problem?

Sure, maybe they’re not as beautiful as the beautiful bananas, the attractive avocados, and the perfect plums. But they’re delicious as all get out, and just made my day.

For $2.50, I picked up 4 avocados and 8 tomatoes. I’ll chalk that one up to a major WIN!

Plans for tonight include a very special (and RARE in NC!) beer!  Epic Brewing’s Brainless on Peaches will be tapped at Rockfish tonight, and I can’t wait to try a glass.  Yummy, yummy.

What’s

Jimmy Johns Customer Appreciation Day!

/ foodsweatandbeers / 5 Comments

So, this’ll be short and sweet.

Once a year, Jimmy Johns hosts their Customer Appreciation Day. On this day, subs 1-6 are only $1 a piece!  If you know me at all, you know of my fondness for free or cheap foods. Heck, look at my birthday week!

Discounted slices of Klausie's Pizza? I melt (just like cheese).

So when I heard of this chance, I of course tweeted and emailed all my coworkers. Last year, they were cranking out a sub every 20 seconds.  This year, they may’ve been going even faster.  When we rolled up (4 deep), this was what we saw.

Hugs for Subs!

This type of crowd left some balking at the sheer size of the line. Not I, though. I had faith that the folks at Jimmy Johns wouldn’t disappoint. And, within no time at all, we were inside.

MAN, the gears were turning inside!

JJ Crew

I’m pretty sure the entire working force of Jimmy Johns was there! There were folks answering phones and, outside, people were taking orders to prepare for the checkout. It was a well-oiled machine.

$2.34 later, I was home with my goodies.

Delicious

I went for the classic.

#4 Turkey Tom, no mayo, plus onions and oregano, side of Thinny Chips (WHOAH this is newish!! Reduced fat Jimmy Johns Chips!!)

I added some low-fat mayo at home, and paired it with my drink du jour, pink lemonade Crystal Light.

Fantastic.

If you are in the Triangle area (read Cary, Raleigh, Durham, or Chapel Hill) before 3 pm today, GET YO’SELF A SUB!!

Are you aware of any killer food deals I should know about? 

Happy hours? Cheap eats? One-day deals?! SHARE!

Rehearsal Dinner at Open Door Gastropub

/ foodsweatandbeers / 11 Comments

Good evening, we made it to Wednesday!  Hope everyone celebrated in the right way (namely, No Pants Wednesday). Even though I have volleyball tonight, I’ve taken a break at home to enjoy some No Pants time…  and some blogging time.

Though I teased you all with some tidbits of my cousin’s wedding this weekend, there was more to it than silly mustaches and food on a stick.  In fact, there was a whole weekend of fun.  And it all started with the rehearsal (and rehearsal dinner!)  We were running a little late due to traffic from that crazy Occupy Wall Street stuff, so we went underground. Namely, to the subway!

Get her to the church on time!!

Luckily, we just made it, and the church was stunning.  Having been featured in Godfather II, Moonstruck, Men in Black, and Confessions of a Shopaholic, the Church of St. Anthony of Padua was picturesque, to say the least.

My camera just doesn't do it justice.

After watching the rehearsal go down (since I was giving a reading!!) we hopped a cab back to the hotel, which was luckily a stone’s throw from the location of the rehearsal dinner!  The location of the dinner was Open Door Gastropub  and, after reading some Yelp reviews and checking out their menu, I was specifically stoked for the extensive  drink menu. I decided, with so many options, it was definitely going to be a beer night.

Bottom's Up!

I started the night off with a Goose Island IPA which was tasty but not incredibly hoppy. A good way to start the night.  Also a good way to start the night?

Mini Beef Wellingtons... I'll be wolfing you down all night.

The appetizers were quality bar food, and also included pigs in a blanket. Pretty much a party in my mouth.

The best part of the night was definitely when my oldest brothers finally arrived!!

The Golden Age!

Despite our massive amount of love for my youngest brother and sister (the one I just had the Sister Date with!), the three of us always joke that we’re the “Golden Age”, as it took 3 years for all of us to be born, and 4 years later came the babies.  Well we were reunited in full force!

After all the tasty beers and appetizers, I was not all that interested in the food, but it was a pretty impressive spread.

Hot bar!

I was really looking forward to the infamous Mac and Cheese here… alas, no luck.  But let’s be honest, the real focus fell to the massive selection of beers.  Over the course of the night, I enjoyed:

  • Goose Head IPA
  • Southern Tier 5 Boroughs BPA (Something I’d NEVER seen before!)
  • Chimay Trappiste
  • Ommegang  Hennepin Farmhouse Saison
  • Brooklyn Brewery’s Brooklyner Schneider Hopfen-Weiss
  • La Chouffe
And mayyyybeeee a few more that I forgot to document on untappd.  Clearly, it’s a top notch spot for (affordable) craft beer in NYC, if you’re looking. Oh well, the drinks come, the focus switches from beer listing to family fun!

My lovely lady cousins! (the bride's the one in red...)

Getting our drinks after a looong wait!

Mini cupcakes from Crumbs. Oh my goodness...

Don't worry, I had no interest in this vodka.

My cousin, on the other hand.

All in all, it was a beery, bar-y fun time had by all.  But I still don’t understand the name, Open Door.  Darn doors were closed all over the place.

Or lead to nowhere.

Maybe they were being ironic?

I heard that’s big in NYC.

What’s your dream rehearsal dinner spot?

I’d love something with lots of tasty beers, comfort food, and good music!!

 

The Lighter Side of Zumba

/ foodsweatandbeers / 15 Comments

Hey there y’all!! Long time, no blog.

This weekend was jam-packed, and I even blogged a pinch about it in this week’s Six Pack Sunday: My Cousin’s Wedding. That being said, considering it was the longest time I’ve spent home in a looooong time. Monday, since I had off, I took advantage of the bonus day and staved off my flight until Tuesday morning. The cost? One exhausted Jordan.

Payoff? Phenomenal Sister Date!

See the resemblance? (I'm the taller one, ps.)

On the agenda?

Pancakes (banana chocolate chip… with sprinkles), Baking (Namely, Courtney’s Crackled Sugar Cookies), Zumba, Lunch at Moe’s, and FroYo. All before 4pm (game time for her volleyball game!)  It was daunting, especially after drinking all the beers during the weekend, but, with little Kiley by my side, I was ready for anything.

She's also a whiz with a whisk.

Up first? The cookies.

Toss those bad boys into the oven, now what?

Since they take about 12 minutes to cook, but we were already dressed for zumba, clearly we only had one option.

Girl's got ups.

Not much of a yogi-bear

Beautiful tree pose

This is the most flexible I've ever looked. Don't believe everything you see.

16 takes of each pose later, they were ready!!

Just in time for zumba!

All iced and ready for the team!

Fast forward to a trip to the YMCA. The 1pm Zumba class on a Monday is not something my schedule normally allows, so I jumped at the chance.  When we got there, we realized that wasn’t my standard Zumba class.  It was, in fact, a whole different ballgame.

The two of us probably brought the average age of the fitness room down about 26 years. While I’m used to the  college students from UNC and Duke, or the young professionals from the Research Triangle who dress in Lululemon, Nike, and Under Armour, the fashion in this class was outfitted in jeans (no joke), plaid shorts, and stirrup pants. We stuck out like two sore thumbs. Two sore thumbs that were about 6″ taller than most of the other women in the class. We’re tall, we’re gangly, and we have zero rhythm.

Clearly, we were meant to be in this class.

Well, we were given weird looks as we were flailing around, taking steps way longer than needed, and jumping up and down.  In fact, at one point, a woman leaned over to us and said “Man, whatever you’ve got going on in your shoes, I think I need it!”

Sweet moves, Ki!

Both of us are tall, lanky, and athletic. Surprisingly, that doesn’t actually translate to being a good dancer whatsoever. It mostly translated to us looking like we were illustrating plyometric drills instead of salsa and merengue steps.  But we got some laughs, we felt like spastic jellyfish, and we broke one heck of a sweat.

Glossy

And, even though I may not have any sexy Latin moves, I can, at times, drop it like it’s hot.

Drop it low

It was great to take a group fitness class and feel like a goof, instead of focusing solely on knocking out serious cardio. I even followed my own group fitness etiquette and made sure that, since I wasn’t sure of the moves this woman used, I hung out in the back.

Do you ever take classes just “for fun”?

I can’t say I regularly do, but it’s such a welcome to take a class with a friend (or, in this case, a friend sister HYBRID!) and be silly. I still felt like it was a killer workout, but that might’ve been all the laughter (good for the abs, I heard.)

Stay tuned for a wedding post in the near future!!

Six Pack Sunday: My Cousin’s Wedding!

/ foodsweatandbeers / 14 Comments

Long lost readers, I made it through the weekend!

I just woke up from a 2-ish hour nap after a long day of recovery (read: brunching, packing, trying to find my brother [who somehow ended up keyless at a train station in the next state over the morning after the wedding…], and riding back to PA from NYC. $100 to park for two days, that city is no joke.)

I’ll save the full write-up for another day, but in the meantime, in true Six Pack Sunday fashion, here are a few funny bits and pieces to tide you over (tie vs. tide? the link suggests I’m good with tide….)

Six Pack Sunday: My Cousin’s Wedding

1. Oh, do they?

Harsh warning.

Ok, maybe I was reading too much into this one. But doesn’t this just read almost like “They F**k You?”

Well, after a few hours in traffic, feeling a bit loopy, that’s how we all saw it.  Hilarious, at the time.  (Apparently, the translation of Daifuku is great luck. Now you know.)

2. A Dead Ringer… for Ringer!

The lovely Sarah Michelle Gellar was my inspiration for my wedding hairstyle, a la her new show, Ringer.

NAILED IT!

Ok, well I’m no Siobhan or Bridget, but I think I rocked it out. Pin straight, slicked back, feeling like a rockstar.

3. Workout Barbie Bunny

Energizer Bunny coincidence? I think not.

At 10:00 am the morning after the rehearsal dinner/party, my brother and I shocked everyone by heading to the hotel gym. Admittedly, it was a TINY room with a treadmill, an elliptical, and free weights + bench… but that was all we needed. GREAT to get a sweat session in while everyone else was nursing their hangovers.

4. Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey and… Drunky?

The Eighth Dwarf?

I loved the venue of the rehearsal dinner/party. It was held at the Open Door Gastropub in the Financial District of NYC and had an excellent beer selection!! One of my favorites, initially for the name, was La Chouffe, an unfiltered fruity blonde beer. The glass it was served in was for the McChouffe, which they didn’t have on draught, but it was too cute. Friendliest little beer dwarf of all time!!

5. Put a Bird On Stick In It!

Party on a stick!

Skewers, kebobs, kabobs, shish kabobs, meat on a stick… call it what you want to call it, this station was one of the best parts of the reception.  It was simple. Marinated steak/salmon/chicken/veggies, meet sticks. Sticks meet fire. Cooked food, meet my mouth.

Repeat.

6. The Girls with the Bro-staches

With these, we’ll never get carded

Fact: For the duration of a single song (I think it was Love Train), my cousin, Devon, and I wore mustaches. Then we removed them. They were like ghost mustaches… I bet folks wondered if it was just their imagination.  Well, it wasn’t. It was real! It was ALL SO REAL!

What was the best/funniest part of your weekend?