oh hey, nice to see you again!

Wow March and April just f l e w by! MW and I have been busy every single weekend. In fact, this is the first weekend we've been able to just chill out. That said, I've hardly had time to update you on all the happenings, since I last posted about grad school. It's even been so long, that Blogger has been updated and I feel all sorts of lost trying to figure it out again. 

In short, we spent several weekends away visiting Charlotte, Pinehurst, Asheville and even making it to Blacksburg Virginia for a conference that MW had. I like to tag along because it's a free hotel room and I love hotel beds. Most recently, however, we took a quick trip to Atlanta for another MW nerd medical physics conference. 

Last Friday, we left around 6am and drove straight to Atlanta, making it just in time for MW to get to the conference. Meanwhile, I got settled in our room and then felt the grumbling of my tummy. It was a rushed morning and we hadn't eaten. I was in the Miller Danger Zone. 

Not good news. 

To settle my hangry stomach (hungry+angry), I pulled out my trusty iPhone and found a bakery/cafe/deli thing close by and set out to quench my hunger. I took my camera along for the ride. With the conference comes an evening out, this particular evening being a night at the Georgia Aquarium. So obviously I had to prepare my cami. I've never taken pictures at an aquarium before, but I imagined it would be hard, so I put on my learning cap and turned to the internet to guide me. 

As a little background for you, my wonderful dad has been my primary teacher of taking photos with a D-SLR. Since he prefers to shoot in aperture mode, that's what I've always shot in. However, since lighting gets extra tricky in aquariums, I felt I needed to learn a bit about manual shooting. Not to brag, but it definitely paid off!

After playing paparazzi in the cafe for a good hour, I gobbled up my sandwich and soup and ran back to the hotel to get scrubbed up and dressed for our night out. I know, I know, get to the photos! 

The Aquarium was closed for our private group, and we were allotted an hour and a half to explore the exhibits before dinner. 

The Georgia Aquarium is right beside the World of Coca-Cola 

The first exhibit we walked through had jellies! They were so photogenic!

I loved both of these. 

No, I do not know these men. 

But I appreciate their willingness to be in photos unknowingly. 

How can they be so painful but so pretty?

This one's a little darker than I wanted, but I was still working out the kinks. 

(that is MW)

(me, taken by MW on my iPhone)

Beluga whales- one was preggers

Seadragon!

MW loved these little guys

This sea otter swam over and hopped onto land to check me out

Penguins!

If you've noticed that there are few pictures, that's because my camera battery was dying at this point.

Why, you ask? Because I'm the dummy that didn't charge it up before the trip and then continued to drain it for an hour during lunch practicing my "skills."

MW's favorite animal is a penguin. 

Here he had the chance to crawl into tubes under the water to check them out. 

Unfortunately, it was late and they were too sleepy to swim. 

Although we continued to walk around the remaining exhibits, there aren't many pictures. My apologies. Besides, it was time for my stomach to start rumbling again and my mind was on dinner, catered by Wolfgang Puck's catering company. Yes, please!

If you can see it, this is where we had dinner served. Behind me (as I don't pay attention to the photo), is a tank with... 

DOLPHINS! Dolphins as our dinner pals. Can you believe it? Just swimming around!

I have to admit, despite my awe part of me was sad that all they could do was swim around and around and around. 

Speaking of dinner, here's the menu:

Buffet:

Mixed field greens, sundried georgia peaches, tear drop tomatoes, toasted pecan vinaigrette

Fried Green Tomatoes topped with Carolina Goat Cheese, Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Slow Roasted Bourbon and Peach Glazed Pork Loin

Beef Short Ribs with Vidalia Onion Marmalade

Coastal Georgia Baby Shrimp with Apple Wood Smoked Bacon and Cheddar Cheese Grits

Sweet Potato Souffle

Black Pepper Biscuits with Honey Butter

Dessert:

Southern Pecan Pie with fresh Whipped Cream

Traditional Strawberry Shortcake

Banana Cream Pie

Teas and Coffees

Everything was absolutely, incredibly delicious! 

There was also an open bar. We may have hit that up on repeat...

As we left, MW snapped this goody of downtown ATL

The next morning, MW was up and off to his conference early. Since I can no longer sleep in (thanks grown-up job) I crawled out of bed and meandered down to the fitness room. I admit, I love hotel gyms. Why? Because they're always clean and there's never anyone there. I can look like an idiot and play my music loudly and I won't feel embarrassed. Oh, until the hotel staff come in to check the towels or something. But the embarrassment is fleeting. 

Check out was noon and MW finished his conference just in time. We checked out and headed home!

I told you it was a quick trip. 

Since I have transportation narcolepsy (probably a real thing), I slept a large portion of the ride home. Poor MW. Then when I was conscious, I was trying to read a book. It wasn't until we got onto I-26 West that I thought that something fishy was up. 

"West?" I thought to myself. "Atlanta is... west of Winston-Salem. Why would we go further west?"

Not wanting to hurt his pride, I didn't question MW or his GPS guidance and returned to reading my book, certain that I was in good hands. And of course I was. 

We pulled into Downtown Inn and Suites in Asheville just after 4pm. I was so delighted and surprised! A whole night in Asheville that I hadn't even known about. We checked in to our hotel and then ran out to get food at one of our favorite lunch spots: Clingman Cafe. We both got The Odyssey this time (I had it last time we went and MW was jealous). 

"Oh, hey! I think Aziz was here last night doing stand up." I said

"Really?"

"Er," I said checking my phone, "he's actually here tonight!! Maybe we could get tickets on a whim?"

"Yeah, we can think about it."

Since MW is so smart, we got it to go and took it over to Wedge Brewing Co. I have to admit that MW finally got me drinking IPA's after having their Iron Rail IPA. It's glorious and hoppy. 

(Wedge- taken over St. Patty's day weekend, which was also spent in Asheville)

The Wedge is just a small brew pub with a big yard that everyone hangs out in. Lots of locals come by for some brew and to play corn hole or enjoy the weather. This day it was a little breezy and overcast, but that was fine by me. Because I had a sandwich, an IPA and my boyfriend who was full of surprises. 

"Well, tickets are $30 and that's more than I'm willing to spend on a whim right now." I said (cheaply)

"Since you won't let it go, here. It wasn't more than I was willing to spend" MW said as he TOSSED AZIZ ANSARI TICKETS TO ME!

I know, you're jealous now, right? 

(PS sorry for all the words and not a lot of pictures in this part)

Another surprise: our friend J was in town for the show as well! So we met up with him and his friends at Wedge and spent an hour relaxing before making our way to the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. 

Aziz was hilarious. If you are an admirer of his work, you definitely need to see him in action. 

He, also, is an admirer of food, and I admire that. 

We ended the night at Asheville Brewing Co, wolfing down some delicious made-to-order pizza slices before collapsing into bed. If you're reading this and thinking "wow that must have been kind of an early night for a Saturday" you are not wrong in that opinion. I, however, am of the opinion that anything later than 10pm is a late night. 

The next morning we leisurely got prepared for the day and packed. MW planned to go to Sunny Point Cafe, which I've posted about before, but I can't say enough about. Although the wait is always long on a Sunday morning, it's so worth it I can't even convey how worth it it is. I made sure to have a small morning snack, since it would be a while until lunch. 

Our wait was about an hour and a half. We spent part of it sitting in the chill morning/early afternoon air before MW ran to get the car (parked far away) and moved it closer to a newly free spot in the small lot at Sunny Point. Now in the car, we cozied up and watched most of a Game of Thrones episode. And before we knew it, we were seated at a table and food was in front of us!

chipotle cheese grits, eggs perfectly over medium, local pork sausage, biscuit with sugar on top

yes, yes, please!

BTW this is probably the best sausage I've ever had. Go, now.

He's a happy clam with his breakfast, complete with mimosa's!

So, I have to admit I'm one lucky girl. What a nice surprise trip to give us a mini vacation! We've been bustling about so much that it was great to have a weekend away with just us. 

PS- since we last talked, Henry has passed on. Goodbye Henry, you will always be my first.

In memoriam.

Fall Excursions

MW has pointed out that I've been failing miserably at my regular posting duties. My excuse is that Rocktober was an extremely busy month for us! So here's a recap for all our fans:


MW took me on a beautiful weekend to the mountains of Asheville to see the comedian Louis CK. As a result, we may have found our future home. We arrived on friday night in time to get a beer and a hummus appetizer at the Asheville Bier Garden before running over to the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium.
Louis was hilarious and we had a great time laughing together. I am lucky to have someone to share so many of my interests.

After the show, we stopped by Asheville Brewing Company where we gorged ourselves on gigantic made-to-order pizza slices with fresh toppings. I ordered a Rocket Girl, which was crisp, sweet and a little fruity. Not my usual go to brew, but it was refreshing and enjoyable. The brewery was a little off the beaten path of the friday night crowd but it was perfect for us to sit and talk about the show.


The next morning we slept in a little and woke to a perfect fall day. The leaves were just starting to change, the sky was completely clear, and the weather was crisp- my favorite kind of day!

We spent some time exploring downtown. We were lucky enough to find a cheaper hotel right in the middle of downtown and were able to walk everywhere. It was the weekend of Oktoberfest, so there was quite a crowd milling about downtown. We opted not to participate in Oktoberfest, since there are so many independent breweries in Asheville that we wanted to visit. 

(The Grove Arcade)

We spent a little time walking around the Grove Arcade and even bought some apples from a small market inside. The Grove Arcade was commissioned and built by E.W. Grove (who also built the Grove Park Inn) and was the center of commercial and civic life for over a decade in Western NC. It now houses small shops and local artists. The architecture is stunning and definitely worth some time if you're in the area. 

MW took me to brunch at a lovely small diner called Early Girl Eatery.

We sat at a "community table," a long table in the middle of the dining area where small groups of people can sit together. Since we were on vacation, we started the meal with some mimosas. 

My tummy was bothering me a bit that morning, so instead of having the usual morning goodness, I ordered house-made granola and yogurt with fruit.

MW ordered eggs with fried smashed potatoes covered in a tomato aioli sauce. 

We both had the local pork sausage, which was deliciously spicy without being too rich. 

My granola was good and it filled me up without upsetting my stomach more, but I still felt like I missed out on the eggs and potatoes. Next time!

After lunch we immediately began our tour of the local breweries, starting with LAB (or Lexington Avenue Brewery). Located right downtown, LAB had a cool vibe to it. The entire front wall is made of garage doors, which they had open since it was so nice out. 

I had a sampler to get a taste of all their beers. 

While we were at LAB, my best friend EK called to meet up with us. She lives in Asheville and I (regretfully) do not see her often. We decided to freshen up and meet her at our hotel so she could take us to another brewery. 

BFFs!

EK took us to The Wedge in South/West Asheville. It was a little outside of downtown, and definitely not a place we would have found on our own. But it was by far my favorite brewery we visited. 

It consisted largely of outside space with a few chairs on a patio and some tables in the yard. Inside was just a small bar area with hardly any stools and a bathroom. 

The yard had cool ironwork art

We nabbed a table in the yard and chilled hard for a few hours. 

All the tap handles were cute. 

We stayed until it was dark, catching up with EK and enjoying some pitchers of well-made beer. 

The Wedge was so relaxed and was more our pace than typical packed tight bars on a saturday evening. 

After a while, we got pretty hungry and MW had planned to take me to the well known Asheville staple:  Tupelo Honey Cafe. 

MW is going to kill me when he reads this, but somehow the pictures I took on my iPhone were lost when I upgraded to iOS5. Total sad face. 

At Tupelo, they serve you outrageously good scratch made biscuits with Tupelo Honey and marmalade to spread as liberally as you desire. This, my friends, is food heaven. I ordered a BBQ plate at the recommendation of our server and it did not disappoint. The BBQ was tender and literally fell apart as it hit my tongue. It wasn't too saucy, either. I hate when bad BBQ is compensated for with too much sauce. It also came with a cob of corn full of butter and parmesan cheese.

I would eat there everyday. The bad part is, they don't take reservations, so wait time for us was 2 hours on a late Saturday night. But it was completely worth the wait and I can't wait to go another time!

We spent the rest of the night catching up with EK as one of her friend's played some music with a small band at Craggie's, another small brewery. It was a lot of fun and the band was great. 

It was hard to leave on Sunday morning, but Sunny Point Cafe made it a little better. I had the house Breakfast Sandwich: "Roasted tomatoes, maple black pepper bacon, a small sharp cheddar cheese omelette, and chipotle aioli served on a buttery croissant  with stone ground chipotle cheese grits." This was the biggest breakfast sandwich I've ever had. And it was out of this world! MW ordered a "mighty good breakfast" with 2 eggs, local sausage, and herb tossed spuds. I was envious of his sausage and he, recognizing this, lovingly shared half of his sausage with me! That's called real love. It was a nice way to end a wonderful trip with a few minutes to spend with each other before getting back to work/homework/life distractions. 

to be continued...

Nice little Saturday

Our weekend with friends is coming to a fast end. I hate how quickly time goes over the weekend. Playing host is one of my favorite things to do. Especially when we can include our friends in the things that bring us happiness every day.

Friday after picking up The Regg, we came back to Winston and had a couple beers at First Street. I had the DuckRabbit Milk Stout, which is always a nice little dessert in itself. The boys had a couple IPAs (including Terrapin's Hopsecutioner; which I think has a nice bite to it). Fergie kept cool with some southern style sweet tea. Naturally, we became hungry so we went out to one of the coolest (and only) late night options: Breakfast of Course (Mary's too). Open until 3am on Friday and Saturday, BOC is a great place to go after a night out with friends, or a show at the soon to be opened, reincarnated Ziggy's.

(LOVE the artwork at BOC!)

I built my own breakfast sandwich with a biscuit, sausage, egg and cheddar grilled 

and with a side of hash browns. 

Art-o-matic dispenses original, local mini pieces of art

Fergie tried to get some for our households, 

but Art-O-Matic wanted nothing to do with her $5.

Proving to be one of the latest nights for me in a very, very long time, we eventually crashed into bed only to wake up early to go Kayaking on the Dan River with our good friend J-Rowdie. 

Gus got comfy with Fergie

In the morning, I packed us (with Fergie's help) some lunches of homemade BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches, strawberries and pineapple, and two homemade granola bars. 

It was time to fuel up for the trip. 

What better way to start a day of outdoor adventure than with French Toast on homemade honey-wheat bread?

Yum!

The boys (and Kermit) are ready to take on the rapids of the Dan.

The River seemed to run a little higher than last weekend when we went and it was quite a leisurely float. About 1/3 down the route, it started to rain and like last weekend it started to rain again. We took shelter in the same cave and waited for the rain to pass while eating our bag lunches. Twice we got out of our kayaks and sat amid the small rapids ("hillbilly hot tub"). The water rushing past gives you a nice massage, if you can find a good spot to sit still. 

After getting home, we all crashed for a good two hours before we could even think about starting dinner. To show off our new skills, we made homemade pasta with basil (with the help of Fergie and The Regg, who rolled it out like pros). Additions included shrimp sauteed with onions, garlic and bacon and oven-dried tomatoes all coated with pesto. As a side we made the corn and roasted red pepper relish again. 

The Regg enjoyed his namesake IPA

oven dried tomatoes are my new favorite food

Fergie and The Regg roll out some pasta

Gus supervises

J joined us for dinner and we recapped our Highlights of the day

This was a pretty good Highlight

Of course we topped off the night with Ice Cream!