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Where Nobody Knows You, and Nobody Gives a Damn

/ foodsweatandbeers / 13 Comments

If you’ve been reading for a little while, you know that the past few months have been full of big changes.  If you haven’t, Cliff notes version involves moving to Philadelphia (after 7 years in North Carolina), starting graduate school at Penn, a dissolution of a 4.5 year relationship, a new job, applications to numerous OTHER new jobs, and basically my life was one of those salad dressings that was all shaken up and is finally starting to settle into the layers and make a little more sense.

As things are approaching a sense of normalcy (though how long does that ever really last?), I’m finding my stride in academia. I’m feeling pretty good at my job (and also picked up another part time job that I’m sure will make some appearances on the blog in the future….)

Easiest hint ever.

I’m getting into the swing of things at the gym (despite some ABYSMAL Zumba instructors which are really harshing my mellow.)  Translation? I’m staying busy. It’s impossible not to. That being said, I find myself missing one thing (err… one “concept”, multiple “things” I guess) more than anything else.

Couch pile with the sibs (Spring 2008 maybe?)

Riesling Fall Break 2009

We have the very best hair (Summer 2011)

Fakesgiving 2008

NCGPO Founding Six Pack

Summer 2010 (ish)

Late 2010, I’ll assume. Getting lazy with these dates…

Third Eye Blind, last summer was it?

Seeing a trend?

I miss the friends that became family. I miss the folks I can call, not to go out to some sort of discotheque or impress with my knowledge of the finest happy hours in the city (confession: I don’t even know them, so don’t ask), but to just sit and watch like… tens of episodes of Law and Order: SVU and relax. The ones whose company fills me with total comfort and joy, even when we’re not saying a word. The ones who know you better than you know you.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m starting to make friends here in Philly, and Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that jazz. But MAN, I can’t tell you what I’d give for a weekend in Chapel Hill/Durham/Raleigh, surrounded by my Delta Psi brothers and sisters, playing Kinect with my volleyball buddies, and geeking out over hops with my NC Beer buddies.  It’s true: you never TRULY realize what you’ve got until it’s gone.

Luckily, it’s not gone.  It’s just a few hundred miles South of here.  And, even luckier, this time next week I’ll be headed back home for the one thing that’s even better than friends that became family….

The Clan

Yup. Family that became friends.

No real point to this post other than to share with everyone how much I miss and love them, and how lucky I am to have two places in this world to call home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scenes from New Belgium

/ foodsweatandbeers / 13 Comments

The Saturday after we went to GABF, we got the chance to do one of the things I’d been looking forward to more than anything. Yes, I was excited to head to the festival. Yes, I was excited to try Biker Jim’s. Yes, I was stoked to see Denver.

But there’s a little spot about an hour and some change away from Denver called Ft. Collins, CO. And Ft. Collins is the home of this not-so-little brewery called New Belgium.  This brewery consistently puts out some of my favorite beers including, but not limited to:

  • Shift
  • Tart Lychee
  • Ranger IPA
  • Somersault
  • La Folie
  • Cocoa Mole (OOoh baby)
  • Kick
  • Vrienden
  • Valentine’s Day Beer (does this have another name I’m unaware of? Either way, it’s DELICIOUS!)

Unfortunately, New Belgium doesn’t (yet!) distribute to PA/NJ/DE. I’ve been itching to get my fix. What better way than to go straight to the source?

We had a brief (2 hour) wait in the tasting room since we missed our scheduled tour time…. but that was okay, there was plenty to do drink.

I’ll take one of everything.

Just a sample of the samples…

Can this be my bedroom wall?

Two hours of enjoying some delicious NB Brews, and we managed to squeeze into a tour.  YES!! The luckiest of ducks.

I’ve been on a number of brewery tours in my day but there are few that truly stand out as both educational and fun.  Yuengling had the title before this…. Now, I’m not so sure.

Our AMAZING tour guide, Lauren (who I mistakenly called Kate maybe 3x)

Our tour guide was incredible. She taught us to romance our beer, warming it with our hands (and our hearts).

Getting pretty intimate

We tried a number of delicious beers as we traveled through the brewery, getting up close and personal with the inner workings of New Belgium.

Gotta catch em all.

 

Mmmm it smelled like oatmeal.

We even got to check out some of the barrels they use for whipping up those tasty barrel-aged beers (one of which we got to try later).

Beautiful Barrel

Oooh la la, Leopold?! (Which we tried later that night!)

True Love

At the end of the tour, full of beer and overflowing with happiness, I couldn’t resist nabbing a sweatshirt (that I’m currently wearing). AND a chance to model that shirt in front of their sign.

Sorta Sorority Squat

This tour was whimsical, educational, and DELICIOUS! If you’re ever ANYWHERE near Ft. Collins, please, do yourself a solid, and book the tour! For the low cost of $Free.99, you, too, can enjoy the heck out of a magical Willy Wonka-esque beer factory.

Just make sure you are careful when you slide your way back to the real world.

Too fun.

What would be your ideal factory/brewery to tour?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Revolution Without [Cleaning] is Not a Revolution Worth Having

/ foodsweatandbeers / Leave a comment

Ok, so I know I wasn’t the only one…. BUT I recently was asked to participate in the Finish® Sticky Dish Challenge and:

Create an amazingly tasty, messy, sticky, and difficult-to-clean meal to put Finish to the test

The folks at Finish offered me a gift card to Williams-Sonoma in order to nab something shiny to mess up with food and goop, along with a sample of their Finish® Quantum® 10-pack to see what it could take. The rules were simple:

  1. Get dish.
  2. Make food (and, by default, make mess.)
  3. Do NOT clean, just let it sit overnight and get funkier/stickier.
  4. Try out the goods.

Best mail EVER!

Since I’ve been obsessed with enchiladas lately, and had about 7 oz of goat cheese to use, I went for something extra special.

Sara (from The Sprouted Kitchen)’s Roasted Zucchini, Black Bean, and Goat Cheese enchiladas! It had all the stickiest ingredients: roasted veggies, so much sauce, cheese, black beany goodness (just TRY not to make a mess with black beans). I was ready.

Let’s do this!

(bonus: Since I already had the goat cheese, the whole dish cost me about $10 to make!)

(Except the wine. That was brought by my cooking buddy, Jess, to make our dish more creative.)

This recipe was a blast to make. We laughed as we chopped and roasted….

So vibrant

We I cried while I chopped the onion.

Don’t cry for me Onion-tina

And filled the enchiladas with delicious healthy ingredients. Black beans, goat cheese, roasted zucchini and red pepper, and spinach, of course!

Steamy

Then, I got to make the mess I’d been waiting for…

Saucey

So much filling all OVER that pan!

All cooked, let’s check it out!

Ready for my closeup

Yep, that’s caked-on-the-pan, gooey enchilada goodness.

I shall call YOU lunch

If the enchiladas looked like gorgeous supermodels, the pan looked like…. a crusty lady in red after a salsa fight.

ew.

 

Gross.

Luckily, I had a (not-so) secret weapon… Wanna see how Finish Quantum did? CHECK OUT MY FIRST VLOG IN WHICH MY VOICE SOUNDS REALLY WEIRD!!

I swear, this was USED! Not brand new, as it looks…

I’ll admit, I’ve used a LOT of different dishwashing detergents before. In fact, when I was living abroad in Italy for a month, we used Glass Cleaner for the first wash before realizing it wasn’t detergent (oops…. poison? Nah, we rinsed the dishes….)

That being said, this stuff was the JAM! We also put our used dishes in there, some nice wine glasses…. not a streak in the bunch, and no food bits left behind. Incredible. I was blown away.

Big ups to the #FinishRevolution for making a convert out of me. I know I appreciated the opportunity, and I’m pretty sure my buddy Jess enjoyed the fruits of my cooking labor. Check out below if you’re trying to get in on the Finish Quantum action!
*I received this Finish® product free of charge in order to try it out and share the results with my readers (that’s y’all!!). The opinions are mine alone (though I did ask my buddy, Jess, what she thought, and the results are based on our delicious experience. I had a BLAST with this, and am happy to let anyone know that if they’d like to try out this awesome product, you can get a free sample on their Facebook Page!

Just Call Me Elle Woods.

/ foodsweatandbeers / 13 Comments

You know that part in Legally Blonde where Elle shows up to the costume party all dolled up, looking cute as hell, and no one else knew there was a theme?

Wait…. what?

Well…. sometimes, that kinda stuff really happens in real life.

Like when your buddy has an “I Love the 90s” party and you get so stoked to dress up in your wacky old prom dress….

All dressed up with no place to go

And yes, maybe that dress isn’t crushed velvet so it wasn’t EXACTLY the 90s, but I went for it. And you know who else at the party went for it?

NO ONE!

Maybe 3 flannel shirts (a la grunge?) and a confused girl in neon, but other than that…. folks just showed up. What happened to dedication to the THEME, people?!?!

Whatever, I made those two lonely skinny “bangs” strands of hair look GOOD.

Good, of course, is a relative term.

Can someone explain to me why that was a trend? I’m pretty sure I have a picture of elementary school me with similar strands. Oh, fashion….

Theme parties: love em (and go all out) or hate em (and know that I will forever show up at all your future non-theme parties dressed in some wacky theme)?!

Favorite themes for parties?

 

 

Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs

/ foodsweatandbeers / 14 Comments

I’m a lover of many things.

The University of North Carolina. Sour beers. Sleeping in. Philly soft pretzels. Hot dogs. Chilly mornings. Swimming in salt water. Learning. Jellyfish. Fancy cheese parties. Melissa.

You know, the best things in life.

On Friday, after waking up at an ungodly hour on Friday morning (equivalent to 2 a.m. Denver time), walking to the train station, training to the airport, and flying off to the Mile High City, I was greeted not just by one of those things (my hostess, MELISSA!) but, shortly after, 3 more of them.

I thought I’d be a zombie after traveling all day but, considering I slept about 2/3 of the 4 hour plane ride, I was surprisingly refreshed. When offered the chance to nap or to nibble, guess what I chose?

Not just ANY hot dogs

Biker Jim’s, according to the internet and the Colorado natives, is a Denver staple. These charred and grilled dogs are not your standard summer BBQ fare. Instead, the casing is filled with exotic meats like reindeer, wild boar, rattlesnake, elk, and buffalo.  Knowing that we had much beer ahead of us, we knew that we needed to fill our bellies to fuel our day/night.

I was initially a bit overwhelmed with the choices.

Too many options

While my North Carolina aching heart was initially distracted by the options of fried mac and cheese, fried green tomatoes and the side salad (HA, no, not even a little), Melissa reminded me of my real goal. The dogs.

After much deliberation, we decided to split two. Elk Jalapeño Cheddar and a Linguisa (Portuguese style  pork with paprika and red wine). When asked for a suggestion of what to top them with, the answer was nearly immediate:

[get them] torpedoed with Coca-Cola soaked grilled onions and a swizzle of cream cheese unloaded from the front end of a caulking gun.

Well, who am I to say no to the wisdom of the natives?

And, as I waited for my brats to cook, I watched the restaurant gradually get filled with a Friday lunch rush. You do NOT wanna stop in any time shortly after noon if you’re in a rush.

Quite the hood

And then, they were ready.

Stop drooling

The verdict?

Admittedly, the Linguisa was a little lacking with flavor. It was slightly sweeter than I like my dogs to be.  Luckily, I had my jalapeño cheddar half waiting for me in the wings.

It was juicy, it was full of flavor, and those onions should top any and all of my future meals.

Paired with some house-made potato chips which were crunchy (and also great with the onions), this food was the ideal energy boost for a LONG day of beer consumption.  And that’s what awaited us…

But I’ve got school to learn. So thanks, Biker Jim’s, for filling our bellies with the best brats Denver’s got!

Let’s DO THIS!

More GABF next post. Or, at least some sort of beer-related post.

 

This is How a Heart Breaks

/ foodsweatandbeers / 22 Comments

The moments after you’re dumped, I’m pretty sure you feel every single emotion and feeling possible. Well, if you’re me, you do.

I think it went something like this:

heartbreak.depression.rage.shame.freedom.desperation.exhaustion.chaos.pride.disappointment.vengeance.impatience.boredom.fury(is that the same as rage? Whatever, I felt it).fear.dread.tension.stress.thrill.infatuation.love.hate.insecurity.humiliation.homesickness.astonishment.loathing.contempt.acceptance.empathy.frustration.regret.hostility.loneliness.homesickness.

Lucky for me, that last one was easy to remedy.  Thank GOODNESS this happened after I moved back to Pennsylvania. I can only imagine how much of a lost soul I’d be in North Carolina (not that my buddies in the land of the long leaf pine wouldn’t hook me up with love and support). But, after I semi-stopped crying (don’t worry, I picked up back up quite a few times) I packed a bag or two (I literally have no clue what’s in those bags… emotional packing is equivalent to rolling around in glue, then roll around in all of your belongings, and then shake off whatever you collected into a bag).

My mother and sister hopped in a car without asking any questions, drove to my home (that, up until recently, I shared with my partner) and grabbed my bags full of random whatnot to toss them in the car.

I’ll save everyone details of the breakup, but I’ll say that I wasn’t totally SHOCKED, and that while I can see some of the reasoning behind why he dumped me, I had no desire or intention to break up. I didn’t grovel (though I contemplated doing it). I didn’t cry hysterically. HA, come on y’all, you know me. I’d hysterically cry at a Taylor Swift music video about a couple breaking up… You better believe my shirt sleeves are soaked with salty tears.

I’m not sure what exactly to do with myself now. I’ll continue living in my apartment (score). I’ve got midterms this week, so there’s no real time to dwell too much on my feelings. And then I’m off to GABF on Friday morning… But, I’ll admit, the moment I came home, I just wanted to sit with my mom and sister and eat a grilled cheese and try not to feel feelings anymore.

Grilled Cheese? Yes, please.

I don’t know what exactly I’ll do next… but I know that I’m SO grateful for the immediate outpouring of support and love from my family, my friends, and even all of you crazy readers who don’t even know me IRL, but occasionally like what I tweet.

Whatever happens, I’ve got a support blanket full of loved ones, a belly full of grilled cheese, and the world at my finger tips. And maybe, just maybe, extremely optimistic cliches will help disguise my heart breaking into a million little pieces so that I can build myself back into the confident, brave, proud SWF that I know I can be.

Six Pack Sunday: Blessed with BEER!!

/ foodsweatandbeers / 7 Comments

It’s been FAR too long. Six Pack Sunday posts are some of my favorite things to write but, as of late, I’ve been swamped with working, learning, and a little bit of playing.  One of my buddies from school asked me in class this week,

How on EARTH do you have time to write a blog?

Good question. I regularly wonder, when reading some of my favorite blogs, how they manage to go out and run 7 miles, food prep for the week, work their jobs, get their education, and look gorgeous while socializing AND blogging.  It’s a mystery, but I guess folks make it work. Bravo to all those overachievers in the blog world.

I’ve been feeling pretty fantastic, primarily because I’ve been achieving a bit, at least in the beer world…  Yes, I had a GREAT TIME with my new beer babes of Philly Girls’ Pint Out on Monday, but there’s been some other stuff….

1. FREE BEER!! Thanks, Yuengling!

Tastes like home

Sometimes, the stars align, and something wonderful happens. When that wonderful thing involves free beer… that’s even more wonderful. On Friday night, Yuengling treated the folks of Philly to a free Lager to thank them for helping make Yuengling the largest American-owned brewery. The Philly-wide Toast was a great way to start the weekend off on a solid, free note!

I have to give props to Neiman for what I think was a unique and very popular campaign. That’s the kind of advertising I’m into…

2. Midterms are Coming

AHHHHHH!!!!!!

That’s all.

3. Worth It.

I’ll admit, I was a little hesitant about shelling out $4 for an order of sweet potato fries.

Well, consider my doubts swept RIGHT under the rug!

Shut the FRONT DOOR!

Hip City Veg is DANGEROUSLY close to Athleta. Like… when you have a 15 minute break, you can get there and back in time to eat an entire order of sweet potato fries. Add a side of black bean cilantro dip (which I now FULLY intend to recreate, ASAP) and you have the most decadent treat I can imagine. Salty, sweet, creamy dip AND a decent sized portion. I don’t know if this is a blessing or a curse.

My tastebuds say blessing.

4. Drink Your Paycheck, Much?

Ever since Monday’s glass of Consecration, I’ve been JONESING for a sour beer. And then, last night, I got paid.

Sure, the check was a fraction of what I used to get working full time in research.

Sure, I’m also attending grad school and shelling out dollars for that.

But it was an itch that only a good beer could scratch.

Sexy, right?

Hey, Russian River… You make one heck of a sour beer, blonde or otherwise. And in your tartness, you have won me over completely…. It was ALSO totally worth it to enjoy a lone peer that harbored on perfect to end a LONG Saturday full of work and Zumba. I slept like a baby (if babies could drink sour ales).

5. Freezing Fashion

The weather was in the 60s this week. And, since my body, accustomed to North Carolina temperatures, panics at the sight of 7s and 6s leading the numbers on the thermometers, I did what any sane employee of Athleta would do…

The coziest.

The Reversible Training Headband by Smartwool screamed out to me since we got our winter shipment at the store. And, last night, the crisp air DEMANDED the purchase of my very own headband. I also have barely taken it off since then.

6. The Luckiest

Remember that time that I booked a flight, mid-summer, to Denver, Colorado for the weekend of October 11-13 for $7.50 since I had so many points for flying back and forth to Philly from RDU for the past two years?

And I chose that weekend specifically so that I could go to the Great American Beer Festival.

Then… the tickets when on sale.

Four minutes later, I sat at my computer, shell-shocked by the fact that I didn’t score a single ticket. The sell-out was nearly instant, and I REFUSED to drop hundreds of dollars on a scalped ticket.

My buddy Melissa and I then promised each other we would enter any and every contest to get our tickets, hoping for luck to be on our side.

Enter: BeerGram

I signed up to receive their emails, crossed my fingers, and said that, without question, I’d send my first “BeerGram” to my beer babe, Melissa.

And then I was told that I won tickets to GABF.

I not only won one ticket, but two tickets for EVERY session.

Oh, we’re GOING THERE!

My heart skipped a few beats, and then I immediately wrote back YES YES A MILLION TIMES YES!!

This is the most exciting Six Pack Sunday of ALLLLLL Six Pack Sundays.

I’m scoping out survival guides, I’m making my plan of attack, and I’m getting thirsty.

Anyone else going?! HOORAYYYYY!!

What’s the most exciting thing that’s happened to you lately, my friends?

Free(food) Isn’t Free

/ foodsweatandbeers / 9 Comments

At UNC, it was Pokey Sticks, pizza, hush puppies, and Bojangles.

I’m cool with that.

And, with age, comes maturity, right?

Like a really mature cheese.

A Swiss gruyere, perhaps?

Or a very mature… Whoopie Pie from Cupcake and Whoopie Cravings.

Red Velvet = sexual chocolate

Instead of the All-American/All-Southern foods, we get a diverse mix of international cuisines.

Veggie lo-mein, quinoa and wheatberry salad, HOLY MACKEREL what a spread!!

But, no matter whether you’re getting a greasy Pokey Stick in your dorm building’s meeting or gourmet salami picante and Margherita pizza at a Happy Hour for Public Health students, at the end of the day, free food is NOT free.

DAMN YOU, SUPERIOR INGREDIENTS!!

I know it’s been the case with me. I’ve been thinking to myself YEESH grad school is so expensive. I have nothing in the way of a steady income (though I am loving the Athleta job, it’s certainly not a 40-hour career gig that can support city living) and ANYTHING free is better then spending my own money, right?

Wrong.

Last week, with all sorts of events going on for school and a little bit of wobbling when it came to getting accustomed to my new working-girl schedule, I found myself rushing around campus going to any and all events that were free and sponsored by campus. Collecting cookies, soft pretzels, and hot dogs for the run. Thanking my lucky stars that I wasn’t shelling out my dollars on expensive salads and grilled chicken. And then it hit me.

With the effort that I was putting forth finding the times for these events, mapping out the destination and the route to get there, and considering time is money… I was spending quite a bit on these “free” meals.

Their nutritional value was rarely better than the slop you’d find at a fast food restaurant or a massive buffet. Hamburgers, pasta salad, hot dogs, snack-bar cookies, brownies. And the occasional fruit cup and quinoa salad didn’t really offset the unhealthy other junk.

The result of the week?

blub blub blub

I’m feeling like a pufferfish, head to toe.

So this weekend, I went out, nabbed some grapes, some chicken breasts, frozen veggies, and spinach at my local Superfresh. Instead of taking the bus there, I jogged. And I prepared food for the week.

For when I have to eat lunch/dinner at work, I picked up some sandwich thins, lunch meat, onion, and fruits for my lunch bag. No rushing over to McDonalds for convenience and cheap burgers.

Turns out that the cost of this free food was surprisingly steep. My self-esteem, my energy, my time, and my digestive system.  And that’s just not worth it, not at all.

They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and I think I might have with that disembodied wisdom.

Ever fall into the “Free Food” trap? 

Any advice for navigating it without ending up puffy and sad?

I’d say avoid the carbs, that’s going to be the very worst part of the meal most of the time. The hot dog buns, the noodles, the cookies… they ended up as the lowest of the low quality.

 

 

 

 

Labor of Love

/ foodsweatandbeers / 11 Comments

It’s important to start every holiday weekend off with something laden with carbs, cholesterol, and meat.  I’m pretty sure I read that… in a book.

T-t-t-tasty, tasty

And with my first bite of The Standard from Spread (voted best bagels in Philly 2012!) featuring cheese, eggs, and cherry wood smoked bacon on a whole wheat everything bagel, I was transported from a world of job hunting, school prep, and unpacking into a world of sun (a little bit of sun, at least), sand, and vacation-esque things of that nature.  I explored the liquor store for a bit, and held back my intense desire to buy this juice-box style Franzia.

Aw, baby Fran and big Papa Fran!

3 liters is a juice box, right?

Our first night at the shore (OCNJ, in case you’re wondering) was an evening to celebrate the ultimate man in the moon AND the blue moon at once! We scampered over to the beach down the street to appreciate it fully.

Here’s looking at you, Neil.

Day two was a day for celebrations. My uncle finally got married to his long time love, so we only had one option.  That option?

POP CHAMPAGNE!

You may be struggling to see the label, but trust me, it’s Veuve Clicquot. We’re basically rappers.

We enjoyed a late night swim under the stars, lots of laughing, celebrating, and talking late into the night.  Apparently, a little too late because, as I was riding my beautiful bike home along the route that I’ve ridden more times than anything else in my entire life, the car riding in front of me jerkily slammed their brakes on, before realizing that must not’ve been their turn and driving off.

The result?

CRASH!

Attempting to avoid hitting the one car in front of me, I swerved, hitting the stationary car and curb next to me. It was terrifying, it was dangerous, and it was pretty brutal. The car, of course, sustained no damage as I hit the bumper with my tire.  However, since I was riding pretty smoothly up to that point, the bike itself looks pretty jammed together. I’m hoping it can be fixed, though I was too scared to bring it in initially.

I certainly won’t be riding any bikes any time soon, especially after any champagne and, other than a few bruises on the legs and tailbone (and hip, and chin… ok, maybe it was pretty bad), I’m doing okay.

Just call me the patterned lady

Consider this a public service announcement: just walk home. Even if it’s the town you grew up in, and the route you know better than the back of your hand, and you’re “all good”, there’s always the chance that someone else might not know that route. And, as a biker, you’re always at the mercy of the drivers on the road.

And, since my bones are sore and my brain could use some flexing, it’s time to hit the books.

Study buddy!

Hit them hard, as school starts today!

Wish me luck on my orientation! I hope the other kids are nice to me…

What’d you do over the long weekend? Any sun or sand make it into your life?

If so, I’m a bit jealous, we only got one day and a lot of rain and clouds. But one is better than none!