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Shore Thing

/ foodsweatandbeers / 5 Comments

Good morning and happy long weekend friends and lovahs!

It is a BEAUTIFUL day here in Ocean City, New Jersey, and I can’t imagine being anywhere else.  Earlier, at Wawa, it really hit me.

Nectar of the Gods.

I. Have. Arrived.

Right now, the smells of breakfast are filling the air as my mother balances enough eggs, bacon, Taylor pork roll, and everything bagels to feed a small army.  As I’m one of seven in this family, and we all have friends and significant others in town, we basically are a tiny (and poorly equipped, unless you count iPhones) army. We need fuel to fight off the hoards of folks at the actual beach, and make sure we get efficient space to spread out.  Earlier today, we picked up some essentials Boyar’s Market, the most quaint little market I’ve seen on the island since Palermo’s.  And I’m well aware that 98% of you have no idea what I’m talking about, so here’s a super fierce picture of my mom walking back into the market to get some soft pretzels (oh Philly area, give me all your foods):

Ah, Shelly, just looking for some pretzels in this big, mixed up world.

Since I have some time before we eat breakfast, I figured now was as good a time as any to thank Lindsay over at In Sweetness and In Health for tagging me with a fun survey/award!  Hopefully, this will give you some deep, personal knowledge of the most important aspects of my life (read: cartoon characters I’m fond of and what I’ll be reading on the beach.

1. Favorite Cartoon Character:

Without a doubt, Daria.  She inspired my years of teenage angst, I remember long hours spent in front of the television watching her and Jane’s antics, giving googly eyes to Trent (Jane’s hottie older brother), and thinking that the Morgendorffer family was the funniest to the hit the small screen.

You're standing on my neck.

2. Favorite Thing to Photograph:

Friends and events, absolutely.  I’ll admit, my camera is a baby point and shoot, nothing too fancy.  It looks a lot like this:

Never far from my grasp.

But honestly, I feel like I have gotten decent at taking the pictures of me/my friends with my long, orangutan arms.

Jojo and Kiki... and the best cupcakes EVER! (not really.)

RyBaby and Jojo... and BEER!

Mother Daughter Bathroom Pic. Class Acts.

I think that a nice camera might be at the top of my birthday list (August 24, mark your calendars, folks!  I’ll be pre-celebrating at the Healthy Living Summit in Philly).  Until then, I’ll be happy being the documenter of all things fun.

3. Favorite Thing to Cook:

Breakfast!!

Griddle GIrl

 4. Favorite Way to Exercise:

Group fitness classes are my JAM!  Les Mills classes that I love include Attack, Pump, Jam, and Combat.

5. Favorite Movie:

Dazed and Confused or Romeo + Juliet…

Oh, Leo! I bet you kiss by the book...

6. Favorite Clothing:

For a while, when I had a bit more jelly in my belly and size on my thighs, leggings were all I wore.  I don’t even think I had a pair of pants that weren’t made with over 50% elastic…  Nowadays, though, my favorite clothing might have to be dresses.  Especially with pockets.

Though I always thought I looked rather fetching in a skydiving jumpsuit…

MAKE IT WORK, JP!

7. Favorite Flower:

Birds of Paradise, hands down.  My parents go me some for Graduation and I just melted with love.  Since then, it’s grown into a full fledged adoration.

8. Favorite Breakfast:

Not to copy off of Lindsay, but french toast is (quite literally) my bread and butter.

9. Favorite Book:

Too many to count!! but I am a huge Chuck Palahniuk fan, and would say my favorite book of his was Invisible Monsters.  So intense, so gory, so gritty and so great.

10. Least Favorite Food:

Ugh.  Maybe any meat that’s boiled?  Drawing a blank on this, but alas, my OTHER favorite breakfast is cooked, so I’m off to eat it before the wolves (my brothers) gobble it down!!

Enjoy your day, wherever you are, get sexy in your bikinis and board shorts, get so much sunshine, and come back with lots of stories!!

Big Boss Monkey Bizz-Ness: This SH** is Bananas!

/ foodsweatandbeers / 4 Comments

Happy July, ladies and gents!!  First of all, I’d like to thank everyone for the warm words and amazing response from my last post about my personal Wake-Up Call to change my lifestyle to a healthier, more active one.  It’s great to hear about other people’s wake up calls, or what gave them the drive to change their lives.  Inspiring, right?

Since we hit up a rather heady topic last night, let’s try something a little light-hearted, shall we?  And honestly, what could be more light-hearted and appropriate before the holiday weekend than…. BEER?!

Last night, Lauren and I hosted yet another amazing glass night for the Tri-Beer Meetup group (only THE group to be in if you live in the NC Triangle and enjoy hops, ales, pilsners, and people!) The beer of the evening: Big Boss Brewing Company’s Monkey Bizz-ness.  I’m no stranger to Big Boss Beers, and have toured the brewery before as well as attending a food-truck round-up once or twice.  I’m a HUGE fan of their Angry Angel, and many friends are hopelessly devoted to Bad Penny.  But that’s beside the point.

Monkey Bizz-Ness in a glass!

This beer poured a cloudy hazy gold color that was beautiful to look at on a sunshiney evening.  Only available on draft in June, this beer is described by the brewer:

Monkey Bizz-Ness is spiced to complement the fruit, yeast and malt notes present in this complex, rustic Belgian-style ale. Monkey Bizz-ness is aged for months to blend the bold flavors into a seamless presentation.  9% ABV.

In my opinion, while the smell was divine, it was a little too powerful in flavors for my liking.  It might’ve be the powerful alcohol percentage, but the fruity flavors had me feeling like I was inhaling a tropical mix of produce and flowers, and not in the best way.  I feel like there was  mix of citrus, maybe peach (though that could’ve been the peach I ate earlier tricking my mind), and floral tastes… it was just too much for me.  That being said, my co-host loved it, and it has a very loyal group of followers (who followed us right to the bar!), so clearly my tastes are not similar to everyone.  While I’m glad I tried this one, I think that I’ll stick to their Angry Angel Kolsch in the future as my go-to brew (though their Harvest Time Pumpkin Ale is something I look forward to all autumn!)

A beer, for little ol' me?!

Loyal Tri-Beer member, Will, surprised me by getting my first beer of the night, and it even included a free (BEAUTIFULLY ETCHED) Big Boss Glass which you can buy at their Merchandise Store. The glass normally runs for $3.50, and the beer AND glass cost a mere $2 (or free, if you have a dapper gentleman treat you!), further going to show that Rockfish Seafood Grill at Southpoint truly has the best deal on craft beers in the Triangle (at least that I’ve seen, I challenge you to find me a better one!)

After finishing my Bizz-Ness, I switched over to a beer I honestly didn’t expect to love…  but after one sip of Lauren’s, I knew I had to try it.  Lonerider Brewing Company’s Deadeye Jack, a seasonal porter, infused with… COFFEE! Holy moly.  If you’re someone who likes beer but thought to yourself, “This doesn’t have enough coffee in it!!” this is the brew for you.   It’s deep and rich and full flavored, dark brown in color, aromatic as any mug o’ joe, and easy to drink I would suggest that Starbucks grab a hold of the Lonerider PR person, and work with them on some sort of Brew-Ha-Ha event combining this beer and tasty coffee, and… I don’t know… stand up comedians?  I’m obviously not a PR whiz kid.  alas.

Speaking of alas, the only image I got of this brew was in the side, during an impromptu photo shoot for the Women of Craft Beer NC Calendar:

We'll be taking pre-orders next month...

That’s me on the left (the tall one, shock.), Lauren, and Johanna Kramer, aka the finest  food loving, brew sipping ladies of the Triangle food and drink scene.

After enjoying a delicious night of great talks, lots of laughs, and tasty appetizers (half off from 4-7), I went home to open up my package…  More on this later, but I’ll give you a hint.  This is what I looked like when I opened it.

Like a kid on Christmas morning!

Off to enjoy the tail end of the work-week before the long weekend!!

New Belgium Tour de Fat, Meet: DURHAM!

/ foodsweatandbeers / 16 Comments

As I mentioned yesterday, New Belgium Brewing‘s Tour de Fat made Durham, NC its first stop. Being a member of Durham’s unofficial Beer Welcome Wagon no I’m not I just totally made that up, I knew I had no option but to volunteer to work the heck out of this event! I’ve been a fan of their beer, Fat Tire, since I was in college, and considered it a nice few steps up from your standard cheap college beer, but didn’t really give it too much thought until recently.  Today changed all that!

After waking up at 7:30 am (entirely too early for a Saturday, but I was too excited to sleep in much later!  I whipped myself up a little smoothie, the picture of which was simply too ugly to post.  But inside, it contained strawberries (frozen and fresh), one scoop of 365 Everyday Value® Vanilla Flavor Whey Protein Powder from Whole Foods  (yay not stealing from the boyf!), spinach, a frozen nanner, and some Almond Breeze almond milk (just finished up the rest of the carton, not sure how much) and blended until perfect for a toothless wonder like myself.  After donning my outfit, I hit the road!

Don't worry, the car was not moving when I snapped this shot!

The event was held at the American Tobacco Campus, right in the heart of all my favorite Durham things (Tyler’s Taproom, Mellow Mushroom where we just had dinner, the beautiful Durham Bulls stadium that I have yet to visit!)  I was there early enough to start helping folks register for the bike parade, and to get a few pictures of the setup.

Registration... NO BREATHING!

Helping Julie out getting folks registered!

The parade itself started at 10 am, but we were all there before/around 9am to get folks signed up, have them sign their waivers, and request donations for Triangle Spokes Group, the amazing NPO that uses 100% of the money they raise to buy new bicycles and helmets for kids for Christmas.  Such a simple idea, but honestly, imagine the joy that comes into the heart of a kid when they get their first bike!! (I know, it’s almost too much joy to handle.)

The scene was awesome, they had everything from a giant Connect Four board to a hoop toss using bicycle tires, to epic circus tents set up ready for the day ahead!  The whole little grassy knoll was dressed to the nines, and I hardly recognized it.  Shortly before the parade, we also ran around checking people’s IDs after a nice little mini training course in how to tell who’s using a fake (I’m basically a bouncer now, so don’t try anything funny), but it was such a well managed event that I didn’t see anyone try to get in and drink who wasn’t legally able to.  People were more than happy to whip out their IDs for a giant bottle of Champagne to give them a wristband that allowed them to imbibe adult beverages, wouldn’t you be?

The Rhymanese Twins, MCs of the morning, dropped the beat beet and the riders were off!

They literally dropped a giant stuffed beet to start the race!!

In the meantime, I toured the facility a bit, saw some sites, and continued to check the IDs of stragglers or non-riders.

Can you see me?!

When the riders came back, that’s when the real fun kicked into high gear.  The musicians were rocking, the bikers were thirsty for some adult beverages, and costumes were grade-A. Durham is an amazing city, especially for events like this, where you realize just how wacky people will get when they have the chance.  Remember all the time and effort you used to spend on theme parties for college?  It was like REAL LIFE THEME PARTY! The theme? WHATEVER THE HECK YOU WANTED!

Wanna be a Native American Chief for a day? WHY NOT?!

My very favorite part of the whole day, though, started after my shift was over. This year’s the first year that Tour de Fat did mini beer education classes (Or “Beerducation”, see what I did there?) For a mere $5, the cost of one beer token, you could attend a 20-30 minute class where you got to try some of the beers that weren’t on tap and learn how to taste them.  The players?

Fat Tire Amber Ale, Super Cru, and La Folie

Our wise ol' teachers

Fat Tire is their classic Amber Ale, and the brew that New Belgium is arguably most notorious for, maybe even where all this pro-bike activism stemmed from?

Super Cru, from their Lips of Faith Series of small batch brews, was developed to celebrate 20 years in the biz!

La Folie, a favorite of my buddy Melissa’s, the sour beer queen, was definitely the most “out there” of the New Belgium beers, and appreciated more so following my excellent sour beers class on Monday.

The fellows that taught the session, dressed as professors in super legit lab coats, focused both on what was in the beer to make it the way it was, and four steps of tasting a beer that everyone should do to truly appreciate their beer.  Here, let me illustrate.

Appearance: Looks can be deceiving!

First off, appearance.  It’s great to look at your beer, describe it with a word. A color, maybe, or even an event.  One of my favorite descriptors was of the Super Cru, “Like the amber the mosquito was in during Jurassic Park!” Don’t feel like you have to use “beer” terms to describe your brew, just go for it!  If Crayola can make a billion color names, you can throw out a few of your own.

Aroma: So glad it's not barnyard!

Up next, aroma.  Again, describe it as you see fit.  “Smells good” doesn’t cut it, y’all.  Dig deep, think about what it really smells like.  Caramel topping on ice cream? Does it smell like wood? How about any fruits?  Aroma can make/break a beer for me.

Taste: Everyone's favorite

One awesome idea they taught us: Retroactive tasting (I THINK that was the term, correct me if I’m wrong.) EDIT: IT WAS WRONG!! Retronasal is the term!! Let the beer sit in your mouth for a second, warm up, get all around that tongue of yours, then breathe through your nose as you swallow. It allows you to get more of the flavor than if you just threw it back and gulped.

Mouthfeel: Tough to illustrate, I did my best.

I’ll admit, mouthfeel is probably the step I have the most trouble with.  Basically, how does your mouth taste after you drink the beer?  Does it taste try? Is there a lingering aftertaste? Something sweet?  With the sours, I hardly tasted much in the way of aftertaste, but with something like Magic Hat #9, I always taste a syrupy sweet aftertaste that reminds me I hate it every time.

Anyway, it was great to try some of New Belgium’s special beers, to learn about them, and to be a part of this fantastic, human-powered event!

Thanks for the Beerducation, fellas!

I can’t wait until next year, already thinking up my next costume. And all of this before 1pm?!  Heck yes!

Now that I’ve got my nap in, it’s dinner time, off to stroll to the Teet (aka Harris Teeter) for some dinner with the beau!

Do you like to taste your beer?

Do you follow the steps, or just throw it back?

Wisdom Teeth: BE GONE! (and what I sort of ate/drank Thursday)

/ foodsweatandbeers / 15 Comments

Hello chipmunk lovers (you must be, if you’re reading this blog and you love me, a chipmunk)!!

For any of you who have never had your wisdom teeth out (or for all of you who did at a young age, and just need a laugh) let me tell you the excellent tale of today.  After my crazy and restless sleep last night, I was just ready to get these teeth the HECK out of my mouth!  Of course, in typical Jordan-likes-to-blog-every-aspect-of-her-life-shamelessly fashion, I asked the fine folks that helped me with my day today to photograph every step of the process.  I’ll be honest, posting these pictures takes enormous balls ovaries (?) but, lucky for each and every one of you, I possess ovaries of steel.  Reap the benefits, my friends.

Oh, wisdom teeth, there's no room for you in this Inn...

After saying a quick, not-so-fond farewell to my stupid wisdom teeth, we hopped in the beau’s car since I was not allowed to drive any automobiles or heavy machinery, and my other ride is a backhoe.  We headed over to the Triangle Implant Center, where I posed obnoxiously in front of the door.

Hey! It's my beau in the mirror door!! Hi, boyf!

After paying them all my moneys to yank out my teeth, I went into the ominous office, which was set up with tons of machines to regulate my anesthesia and my heart rate and blood pressure and probably all sorts of other things that I couldn’t tell you about because I’m not a doctor (nor do I play one on TV). It was then that I informed the staff of my intentions to milk them for all they were worth as they had now become part of my documentary team.  They begrudgingly agreed, because how could you say no to this face?

All hooked up with no place to go!

I am pretty sure I heard one nurse say to the other “That’s not a request we get every day… Wonder what she’s doing with this?” I told them I was going to send the pictures to my mother (which I indirectly will by sending her a link to this blog) but was not prepared to get into the whole “I write a blog and like to compulsively photograph and write about my life.” The mom excuse was a lot easier.  My other major demand: while I was out, take a picture of my teeth!

This shot is black and white to avoid looking at blood for the weak of stomach.

The next 20 minutes of my life will never be remembered.  C’est la vie.  I was told that I was SO proud when my beau walked in to get me, and announced to all 4 people in the office “THAT’S MY BOYFRIEND!” with a mouth full of gauze.

This is where my giant ovaries come into play. No shame in my game.

I demanded the doctor got in a shot too. I'm bossy when I'm loopy.

All in all, it was a pretty reasonable experience.  Since I was the first appointment of the day (and have incredible veins which welcome any anesthesia with open arms vessels), it took barely more than 20 minutes.  I remember adamantly requesting a picture of my teeth and then, next time I looked up, it was 25 minutes later and I was ol’ gauze mouth.

Since solid foods were out of the question, todays eats were smooth as butter (there even was a little butter around dinner time, yum!!)  The beau did a drive by to Smoothie King, risking his life (literally) to get me an Angel Food Cake smoothie (there’s banana in it. he’s allergic. dangerous smoothie adventure!) minus the added sugar. I enjoyed this with a pill chaser (amoxicillin/pain killers) and a little bit of water.

He even came back later to check in on me around 2pm, bringing me some tomato basil soup from Harris Teeter, which was DELICIOUS! (BTW it’s double coupon week at the Teet, if you’re local that means big savings.  and hours of extreme couponing!@#?T^!?#!?$)

Pills, soup, blogging. Lunch of champions.

I was able to just sort of spoon this into the back of my throat, trying to bypass any area of gaping holes in my mouth.  It wasn’t too tough for the creamy soup.  I also had a few scoops of Black Raspberry froyo, which I made a sizable dent in by the end of the day.

Dinner was a super weird mix.

Green monster on my left

Mashed 'taters... for dessert.

Green monster contained:

Spinach, frozen mango and strawberries, blueberries, 1 1/2 cups of Almond Breeze Almond Milk (unsweetened vanilla, my favorite), and 1/2 a frozen banana.  After that, I was hungry still, but for something savory….

So I heated up some dessert. Hormel Mashed Potatoes with some garlic powder and seasoned salt.  I know, horrible dessert, but tasted so so good.  I think these mashed potatoes might be the best food for my teeth since this whole thing started.  They taste so filling and savory, despite being a squishy mush that I can actually eat.

Basically, that sums up my day.  I’m going to try to be a little bit more of a human-being tomorrow, maybe even getting my hurr did in Raleigh (PLEASE LET THIS HAPPEN! FOR THE SAKE OF ALL ROOTS, EVERYWHERE!)

What would you eat if you could only have liquid/mushy foods?

What movies or shows are on Netflix streaming right now that I can watch tomorrow?!@#

Help me out, readers!!

Six Pack Sunday

/ foodsweatandbeers / 8 Comments

Hey hey crazy kids!  It’s been a long weekend that involved over 300 miles of driving to/from Charlotte, NC, an exciting night out with a lemon (yes, the citrus fruit) as my plus one, and a roller coaster of bodily feelings (nausea, pain, exhilaration, fatigue, and I’m sure all sorts of other stuff.)  The past week has been an odd one, and, if you have been following, you know why.  Cliff Notes Version: Started feeling a tooth infection on Sunday and Monday, diagnosed on Tuesday, couldn’t eat solid foods all those other days, until I started painkiller on Thursday. I’m still not 100%, but I’ll see an oral surgeon tomorrow and hopefully it’ll get resolved.

On Saturday morning, I wrote a pretty hilarious summary of what goes on in my head during a typical Body Pump class here, take a look if you missed it (and I guess, don’t hold it against me if you don’t think it’s funny. I laughed the whole time while writing it, but I was on painkillers so you can never be too sure…)

Six Pack Sunday, y’all

  1. On Wednesday, I went to the grocery store in hopes to find something that I could eat with a mouth that didn’t work (at least the right side of it) and also without mind-searing pain.  I grabbed ingredients for smoothies in a bowl when I saw this:

    Yes, that's the vast array of baby food offered at my local Harris Teeter

    I spent a solid 4 minutes contemplating buying baby food.  I am a 23 year old woman. This was what I was reduced to.  Please, don’t look at me.

  2. I can’t stand hotdogs if they’re cooked in a microwave or boiled.  That being said, this new product (Happy Hot Dog Man) makes them in the shape of happy men.

    So happy to be eaten!!

    Maybe I will reconsider nuking my dogs if I can dress them up like hula hooping ladies! (probably not)

  3. If you have an international market or Indian specialty food store near you, search for a box that looks like this:

    Healthy Tiffin Kofta Curry = FINGER LICKIN' TIFFIN!

    I can’t find a website for this company, but I picked up one of these Healthy Tiffin frozen meals the other day on a whim, hoping that I could get an Indian food fix without indulging quite as much (Indian food = salty, fatty, and a little pricey for this broad).  For 400 calories and 9 grams of fiber, this was FANTASTIC.  Soooo much more flavor than your standard frozen meal.  Find them, eat them all, and maybe they’ll put up a website.

  4. The following adult beverage should never be consumed.

    MD 20/20 aka Mad Dog 20/20 aka Revolting

    Apparently, MD 20/20 is bottled by the 20/20 wine company in Westfield, NY.  In Chapel Hill, it’s affectionately known as “bum wine.” I had never tried this before Friday night, when I ventured one sip of each of these flavors. Electric Watermelon and “Bling Bling” Blue Raspberry.  First off, those should never be flavors of anything. Second of all, they both just tasted like radioactive colors.  You know, like when you were little and people asked what your favorite flavor of Italian ice was, and you just responded “BLUE!” Imagine that… on crack. Avoid like the plague.

  5. If you like fashion, and also are obsessed with your University/College/Alma Mater (GO HEELS!! I BLEED CAROLINA BLUE WOOOOO!!), let me tell you about the coolest clothing company I’ve heard about in the past 2 years.  School House Clothing, based in Durham, NC, is a brand that makes the most fashionable collegiate clothing I’ve ever seen and, best part, they are fully dedicated to running business practices that allow their company to be a sustainable organization.  From the website:
    In 2007, Rachel Weeks traveled to Sri Lanka as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar on a mission to bring better collegiate apparel to her alma mater. Not just better designs, better fit, and better quality, but with a better story… she teamed up with Colleen McCann, fashion designer extraordinaire, and ALARM, a Sri Lankan coalition of labor rights organizations and trade unions, to launch a brand that brings ethical fashion to universities everywhere.

    First and foremost, School House is about people. We pay premium prices to our suppliers to ensure that living wages are being paid in the manufacturing facilities producing our brand. Why? Because School House believes that a free but fair fashion market is possible, and that when it teams up with quality design, it’s unstoppable.  Of course, we have a long way to go on the road to running a sustainable business. But we’re learning – every day, and t-shirt by t-shirt – how to build a better brand.

    My thoughts: The clothing fits pretty snug, but looks fantastic (sometimes you just have to go up a size).

    Rocking the Ole Miss shirt in honor of the beau's school: ethical and fashionable

    Check them out, buy their clothes, and be more stylish than your friends.


  6. On Saturday evening, we stopped by Brixx Pizza in Charlotte for a beer and some nibblers.  Before our food came, I stopped by the bathroom.  In the handicapped restroom, this was the scene:

    The lemon was my own personal addition...

    I know that women like to go to the bathroom in groups, but never in my entire life have I thought to myself “I wish I had a buddy here to hold my hand as I used the facilities.”  Because that’s how close we would be, if someone sat in that chair.  Silly planning, Brixx. Tasty pizza, though.

So yes, those are the thoughts that tie up the loose ends from this weekend.  If you weren’t sure about the lemon, here’s the explanation.  On my way to visit my friend, I purchased the ingredients to make a beer/lemonade shandy with a lemon garnish.  Only I never used the garnish, and just left it in my purse.  Of course, when we went out, and I had a lemon with me, I decided to show it a good time.  The lemon definitely hit the town hard.  The only awkward part?

Sorry that I'm about to drink your relatives, little lemon

Woops. Lemon drop shot, in front of a lemon? That’s like going to a steakhouse with a cow.  Shame, shame.  That sums up this week’s Six Pack Sunday, off to watch the only sure thing in my entire life:

Inevitable Sunday Night Law & Order Marathon FTW!!

How was your weekend?

Do you like hotdogs?  What if they’re in the shape of tiny people?

Tri-Foodie Tweetup: Jujube Style

/ foodsweatandbeers / 6 Comments

Hey all you crazy dreamers out there….

So, I’m sure a few of you out there like to enjoy that wonderful social network of the Twitterverse.  And if you haven’t, you’re missing out on a lot (namely: following me!!) But honestly, Twitter’s given me the chance to go from just an onlooker of food, beer, and wine events in the NC Research Triangle to an active participant. And one of my big goals with this year, as well as this blog, was to become even more active in the awesome world of food and beer in this blossoming culture.

To sum it all up in layman’s terms: I wanna be more of a mover/shaker and less of a parasite sucking off the teet of the shakers and movers out there.

One of my favorite recurring events that goes on is called the #trifoodietweetup. In the past, they’ve been hosted by such fantastic Triangle locations such as Four Square, Six Plates, Fearrington Village, and (most recently) Jujube in Chapel Hill! Andrea Weigl and Johanna Kramer know how to get great venues, and set up some classy evenings.  Tonight’s theme: Asian Tapas and Artisan Rum Cocktails.  I believed, when I was going, it’d be more like a small sampling of cocktails and tapas all included in the cost (a bit more than $11) but when we showed up, the menu listed the food as included and the drinks were separate.  Also, nothing felt all that Asian (except some spring rolls they served later in the night, but that weren’t on the menu).

Tasty menu offerings!

I couldn’t resist one of the drinks, listed, a Traditional Daquiri with white rum, luxardo maraschino, lime, and cane syrup for $8. I have to agree, this was a delicious cocktail, and I was pretty happy to pay for it, I think it was worth it.

Close up on the drinkies!

I also saw there was a Dogfish Festina Pesche that I knew would be my last drink of the night.  But anyway, onto the foods.

First Course: salads

The pink salad on the right was a Watermelon Cucumber salad with piqant mint dressing and Johnston County country ham. This. Was. Brilliant. Seriously, I was so surprised by how well the watermelon paired with the ham. It was almost as if it drew out the natural flavor and maybe some sort of spice in the fruit. The cucumber was nice and crunchy (which actually was a wicked bummer with this tooth infection, but would’ve been enjoyed otherwise). The salad on the left was an Octopus-arugula salad with orange and sorrel. The octopus… was not worth writing home, in my opinion. Loved the orange and arugula mix though, good little wilted quality.

Won ton (and some progress on the cocktail in the back...)

Up next was a fried lobster-shrimp won ton with lemon, miso butter. The first batch of these were great. Alas, when I got another one a little later, it was more won ton and less filling, and was just too much crunch for my liking, like the flavor was fried right out of it.  The blend of lobster-shrimp inside was fantastic though, and left me very excited for the next offering.

Been spending most our lives living in a fried-stuff-paradise...

This is where the party really got started. Clockwise from the upper left: Tempura fried prawn (and okra, eaten already) with a little heirloom tomato conserve; Porcini and tellegio stuffed rice fritters (the tan fried balls of awesome); Shrimp-zucchini fritters with grilled chile aioli (cute pink phone… that’s mine.)  The breakdown: the tempura fried prawn was great, mostly because it was so simple. Just a prawn, covered in fried batter. hooty hoo. That being said, the fried okra was no bueno, just too dried out.

The rice fritters: ethereal! The tellegio cheese inside kept the fritters moist and delicious, and though I’m not normally a fan of mushrooms (pretty sure that’s what porcini is, right?) they just blended into the tastiness.

The shrimp-zucchini fritter might have been my very favorite, though. The chili aioli added the perfect amount of spiciness, and made me wanna guzzle down my daquiri (which I did. Classy.)

The star of my show

I’ll admit, I’d been waiting anxiously to try the Dogfish Head Festina Peche.  From the brewer:

It is delicately hopped with a pale straw color and served as an aperitif or summertime quencher. To soften the intense sourness, Berliner Weisse is traditionally served with a dash of essence of woodruff or raspberry syrup.  In our Festina Peche since the natural peach sugars are eaten by the yeast, the fruit complexity is woven into both the aroma and the taste of the beer so there is no need to doctor it with woodruff or raspberry syrup – open and enjoy!

I’ve said it before: I love summer seasonal ales, especially if they’ve got some fruit in there somewhere. And this was one of the finest I’ve tried. The peach was there and more reminiscent of a peach I had last year from the Durham Farmer’s Market, fresh and even a little earthy. Not all all like I imagined it would be (which would be like when a candy company tries to make a peach flavored treat… overly sweet and chemically). Coming from a bottle, I didn’t have a glass to check the color, but it had a nice medium amount of carbonation and was tart enough to compete with my fried frittery treats.  It rounded out this evening perfectly.

Big thanks to Jujube and the fine ladies who threw this event together (even though I didn’t win a cookbook) and it just goes to show you the moral of this story:

Even if you have an aggressive gum infection on your wisdom tooth, you can utilize half of your mouth to enjoy the flip outta some fried Asian tapas and badass cocktails/brews.

Smoothie in a cup. Teeth in a tizzy.

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I have a confession.  I have never made a smoothie in a bowl, or as a meal replacement. Never for breakfast, never for lunch. Once, I made a banana whip for a snack when my beau was away, and felt like a true badass (he’s seriouslyallergic to bananas, so having them in the house is a big fat No-No!)  That being said, today, I had my first smoothie-for-lunch.

Smoothie King, my hero

After not being able to deal with the pain any longer, I scheduled an emergency appointment at a local dentists office down the road.  Thank GOD I did.  Not only did I find out I do, in fact, have an infection in my gum/tooth region… but that I have 8 cavities, and have to get my wisdom teeth removed.

If you’re thinking to yourself “well, Jordan, it’s your own darn fault and why didn’t you get those bad boys removed long ago?!” don’t worry, you’re not alone.  As I wept like a 6 year old girl who just got pushed down on the playground and refuses to think it’s because some boy “likes her”, the doctor started rambling about how many appointments I’ll need to set up/etc.   Luckily, I have a week and a half of sick time saved, so I’ll be able to be off work without having to lose any time.

It’s pretty lame, I must admit. When I went to the Smoothie King, I asked them to remove any extra sugar that’s normally added to my choice du jour “The Muscle Punch” – Strawberries, Bananas, Soy Protein, Non-Fat Milk, Vanilla, Wheat Germ, Nutritional Yeast, Turbinado, Honey . That meant they got rid of the honey and “turbinado”, which still left 52 grams of sugar. Oi vay. I think I’ll go home around 3 if I’m still feeling poopy, and try to figure out all the places in my life where I can cut out sugar (I rarely drink soda, never coffee, sometimes candy, hmm…) In the meantime, here’s some pictures of how I’m pretty sure I’ll look when I get my wisdom teeth removed:

Just like that. Minus about 8 cup sizes.

You talkin' to me?

Let's be honest. we knew it was truly going to look the most like this.

In Tune with Attune!

/ foodsweatandbeers / 7 Comments

Imagine my rapture when Krissie tweeted at me that I won the set of coupons from the Healthy Living Summit giveaway from the awesome Silver Sponsors at Attune Foods!!

I’ve never even tried one of their products, but now I know they’re sold at Whole Foods and Trader Joes, so I’ll have to make a special trip once I get my coups!!  Special thanks to Meghann for the promptest email response of my entire life.  And also, for being a BOSS in setting all these things up!!

Also, if you couldn’t imagine my rapture, here’s a video that accurately sums it up:

Literally, as excited as the most dysfunctional cat/chihuahua that have ever graced the televisions in my childhood home.  Oh, Ren and Stimpy, you have created such a ridiculous generation of young people…

A Lunch Fit for a… First Grader.

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Hello hello, friends and neighbors!  Hope everyone’s starting their week off on the right foot, and enjoyed my Six Pack Sunday post yesterday, tying up any/every loose end that could possibly exist from my week.  Unfortunately, rounding out date night last night, I started to feel… a bit off.  Part of my gum is swollen (maybe a piece of food stuck in there, maybe an infection, I am at a loss) and my throat is a little swollen, and I’ve just been feeling a little… light.  When I went to dinner with the beau, I assumed it would pass once I got some food in my belly.  To my chagrin, the opposite happened. I felt a little dizzy, like I was going to float off my chair and into outer space, so we took the rest of the food to go and rushed me home.  Luckily, part of that food was a fried ice cream and since my boyf suggested maybe my blood sugar was low, we nibbled on that slowly when we returned to the apartment (blood sugar is helped by actual sugar, right? Math.)

This morning, when I woke up for work, I knew I couldn’t go in at 8:15 as usual, so I slept for an extra hour-ish, packed up some stuff, and head off to work.  The very worst thing about this gum problem is that I have nearly no drive to eat at all, primarily because… well, it just hurts.  Breakfast was a few bites of beans from last night, as well as a wheat thin or two (anything that made me feel like a person again) and lunch… Well, here it is:

Don't worry, I didn't steal it from any kids on their way to school...

Sandwich thin with some lowfat cheese melted on it, some Progresso Vegetable and Barley Soup (a personal favorite), and a sugarfree Jell-o Berry cup. I felt like such a little kid making cheese toast, but I knew it wouldn’t upset my stomach too much, and that it’d just be nice to get some food in my belly.  As far as eating it, it’s been slow going, but I’m chugging along and can’t wait for that sweet Jello to get in my mouth.

Sidenote: yes, those are Camel advertisements on my desk. No, I don’t use any tobacco products, but I do try to educate kids about substance use and boost prevention for a living!

Anywho, today’s workout will obviously be an easy one, taking it light on the elliptical maybe, with some biking thrown in there.  Not trying to push myself to sickness here.

In other news, has anyone heard of this Dr. Pepper Ten craziness?

MANLIEST OF ALL DIET SODAS!

From the site:

Introducing Dr Pepper TEN. 10 bold tasting calories with the same authentic 23 flavors of Dr Pepper. That’s a whole lot of taste in one can. Try it today and see why Dr Pepper TEN is not for women.

Wait a minute. What?  Did y’all catch that?  Try it today and see why Dr Pepper TEN is not for women. Ok. I’ll admit, I’m not a big soda drinker. Sure, I’ll have a cocktail with diet soda every now and then, but for the most part, I live and die by whatever comes out of my Brita filter (and whatever comes out of a keg).  But now, part of me wants to make this my new drink of choice, if only to say to the folks at Dr. Pepper, “Hey, dudes. Suck it.”

I just don’t understand what their thought process was behind this.  “Women hate calories… even 10 of them?” “Putting the word BOLD on a can will make men flock to this?” It’s a mystery…  Sort of like how Pepsi advertised the “skinny can” for their diet soda, trying to appeal to women and suggesting that “skinny is better.”

Wow, this can is tall AND sassy. ::rushes off to buy out Target::

I kind of think that this type of advertising is a little sexist, and a little sneaky.  But, having worked with media literacy for the past 2 years, I feel a little hyper-aware of any suspicious activity in the media world…

What do you think about this kind of advertising?

Would you buy a product advertised at women or women just because of the advertisement? Do you want to try this Dr. Pepper 10?

Here’s an interesting article about the different Dr. Peppers undergoing a taste test, if you’re into that kind of thing: Serious Eats Taste Test

Six Pack Sunday: First Edition

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Over the past week, there have been a few little snippets of my life where I’ve thought to myself “man, that was funny/silly/weird/awesome.  I’d like to blog about that, but I doubt I could write a whole entry regarding it.”  Then it hit me like a brick over the head (which is an extremely effective way to hit someone): I’ll merge them all into one silly wonderful post!

Once a week, on Sunday (barring any natural disasters that discourage me from writing it on Sunday) I will write a post titled Six Pack Sunday which will contain SIX things that I’ve been thinking about or excited about or disappointed in or anything like that.  Sort of my way of tying up loose ends from the rest of the week, so I can start fresh and new on Monday.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you

The Inaugural Six Pack Sunday

  1. There’s nothing worse than finishing a pack of Arnold’s Sandwich Thins. It’s like saying good bye to a delicious friend that has been there for you through thick and thin(s). Breakfast to dinner. Sometimes snacktime. However, I have found a way to cope with this grief, this sense of loss.  And it involves tuna fish sandwiches. If you are not a fan of tuna sammies, feel free to look away, skip to #2, or substitute your favorite tuna sandwich-esque salad like chicken or egg. Make the tuna as you normally would (I like mine with a can of Bumble Bee Solid White Albacore and about two spoonfuls of Hellman’s Low Fat Mayo). Add whatever seasonings you normally do. Now, here’s the sad part: Remove your final Sandwich Thin from the bag (this works best with 7 grain or, in my case, the Naturals Whole Wheat Flax and Fiber.) Placing that aside, here’s where it gets glorious. Dump all the seeds, the bits and pieces of flax and goodness that have fallen off your sandwich thins in days of old, into your prepared tuna.

    It should look like this.

    Seriously. It’s like a farewell kiss from your sandwich thins to you, a way of giving you one final benefit to the countless they’ve bestowed upon you already. It adds flavor, texture, and general good vibes. Do this, and be happy.

  2. If you’re a fan of Family Guy, you might be familiar with this skit:

    And that’s great.  But what’s even better is when you pass one, IRL, and can recite the entire thing by heart.

    Yes. Getting up close/personal with a real Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man

  3. My feet are size 13 in most every style/designer of women’s shoes. Being that I’m 6’1″, this isn’t all that hard to believe. That being said, I went to Nordstrom Rack today with high hopes of finding a classy sandal.  The selection (of approximately 30 shoes in my size) all looked basically like this:

    Your pick: White lace doilies, bright red suede booties, or cow spotted heels?

    No wonder I spend most of my time in Men’s sandals/Sperry’s/sneakers…  It is my gift, and my burden.

  4. It’s almost Fourth of July. Which means that I could not resist running over to Old Navy (inspired by Courtney at Sweet Tooth, Sweet Life) and picking up my new favorite bathing suit.

    So much patriotism, so little fabric!

    I am sure to be the bell of the ball (and the beach.) All this (both pieces of the bikini and a pair of shorts) ran me a cool $3 (I had a groupon that I purchased for 10, entitling me to 20 dollars worth of goodies. Even still… I felt like a recessionista. (Please, don’t hate me for using that word, it’s the only one that seemed to fit here.)

    Look! Even bottles of wine in the shape of cats are getting into the American Spirit!!

    CAT WINE IS MY FAVORITE WINE!!

    (Side note: on my beau’s 21st birthday, one of the first things he legally bought me was a bottle of this Black Cat Riesling. Few things taste sweeter than wine out of a [glass] cat’s head.)

  5. A little while back, I signed up to receive a free sample of one of Power Bar’s newest products: Protein Plus Bites.

    Yay, protein! Cakey, gross, dry protein.

    These were definitely not a win in my book, and I would never buy these (at least not these exact ones…) There are about 8 in a pack I think, and offer 20 g of protein and 300 calories. I thought I’d have two after my workout today on the elliptical. About 33 minutes racing myself and the 6 other people in the entire gym, and some lower ab exercises at my favorite workout spot (O2 Fitness-Falconbridge Club) I thought these would be a great way to get some protein easily. Unfortunately, all I could stomach was one.  Dry, with a very chemical tasting chocolate taste, and a gritty texture, I almost threw away the pack. I just can’t waste stuff, so I left the rest in there…. maybe my beau will want to try someday. I doubt these things even could expire, though, so they’ll probably outlive me.

  6. After my disappointing protein snack, I opted for a much tastier lunch. Frozen Yogurt!

    They had patriotic sprinkles!!

    The beau and I swung by Tutti Frutti, which is officially our new spot for frozen treats this summer. It was SO affordable (6.25 for two of us, and we did not skimp on the toppings). I went for a combination of cheesecake, birthday cake, orange, papaya, and blueberry yogurt with toppings like sprinkles (red, white, and blue of course), mochi, gummy bears, pineapple, strawberry, and a few sunflower seeds covered in chocolate. For a full review, feel free to check out my Yelp post, but to sum it up: AH-MAZING! got the taste of those yucky protein balls right outta my mouth.

Now, I’m off to watch the end of Resident Evil: Afterlife and have a date night courtesy, of course, of LivingSocial (feel free to click to sign up, if you’ve been living under a rock for the past year+).  Until then, I’ll be making sweet cinematic love to the finest men and women fighting the umbrella corporation. Namely, the badassery that is: Milla Jovovich.

You keep eating that Froyo, I got this.

Enjoy what’s left of your Sunday, y’all! I hope it’s full of tasty foods and maybe your own personal six-pack!