That's It - I'm Moving to Pennsylvania

Where in Pennsylvania you may ask, and I will respond with Dauphin County!  What's in Dauphin County, you ask.  And I will simply show you this:

YES!  That is a WINE VENDING MACHINE!  So, during a late night drinking fest, I can totally run out of wine, and go to the nearby 7/11 and get BBQ Fritos (THE BEST!) and wine all with money from my piggy bank.

YUM.

What's next...Vodka?!

Brownies by a Brownie

About twice a year, I get a huge urge to bake. The problems with this are that I suck at baking, I hate having a bunch of ingredients that I will never use again, and I need people to push the goodies off onto so that I don't eat them all. This week I made brownies for my coworkers - from scratch, no mix this time! They turned out quite yummy, not too rich but still a bit fudgy. The original recipe is here, and my "healthier," larger recipe is below.

Ingredients

3 tbsp instant coffee

1/2 cup hot water

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 2/3 cups sugar

1 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup eggbeaters

handful peanut butter chips

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9x13 baking pan with aluminum foil.

Combine coffee granules and hot water, stirring until the coffee granules dissolve.

Combine applesauce and semisweet chocolate chips in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 20 second intervals and stir until chocolate is smooth and melted.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, unsweetened cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine coffee mixture, chocolate mixture, vanilla extract, and eggbeaters in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add coffee mixture to flour mixture; stir just until combined. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle evenly with peanut butter chips and more chocolate chips. Bake at 350°F for ~20 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.

P.S. This foray also involved no-bake lemon squares. Easy peasy, right? Um no, not for Miss N. DisASSter.

R's Culinary Adventure

For those who know me (and love me), you know how much I appreciate good food.  It doesn't have to be fancy, just really good food that's shared with friends and amazing wine.  I am like a child, and LOVE celebrites.  So what is better than a celebrity chef restaurant...NOTHING! :)  (well...except a certain celebrity chef feeding me grapes while i lounge around like Cleopatra...but that's another story).

SO!  I must share my great dining experiences in the past week, the one I'm looking forward to this weekend, and the one I'm SO excited for in Vegas over 4th of July.

Experience One:  The Depot:  Great restaurant down in Southern California.   I had a client meeting here, and everything on the menu looked amazing.  I settled for a plate of grilled veggies so I wouldn't be too full, and it was the best veggies I've ever had!  The veggies also came with curried lentils and potato somosas - which were almost as good as my mom's - enough said.  The chef was voted "Rising Star of American Cuisine by James Beard."  My client told me that they do a solid chocolate bento box (Choco, Choco, Choco, Choco, Nuts & Berries) - all sorts of ice cream - mouse, ice cream, vanilla bean ice cream, truffles, should i say more?!!?!

Experience Two:  Red O by Rick Bayless:  Gravy Train and I were both in LA for work, so we decided to go here for dinner.  What can we say - we were on Melrose, dressed up like professionals, about to embark on an amazing Mexican journey!  The interior was dark and lounge-y, the food was amazing, drinks were to die for...all in all, YUM!  Gravy Train had a honeydew and cucumber infused margarita, her coworker had a serrano chili mojito - talk about AWESOME flavors!  At the end of the evening, we heard a noise and looked up to see the restaurant closing the glass ceilings and glass walls - turns out we had been sitting OUTSIDE THE ENTIRE TIME!  I still get chills thinking about that meal...especially the ceviche...and the goat cheese cheesecake (a bite size pecan bar, with a dollop of goat cheese with a caramel corn on top...).  Excuse me while I wipe up my drool.

Experience Three (to happen TOMORROW!):  Bottega by Michael Chiarello:  When D told me that we were going here TOMORROW, I told her that all bets were off if Michael Chiarello was there and that she could hold my rings.  I know he tends to be an a$$, but something about him is so handsome..AND he can cook!  I'm so excited, I will be sure to provide a full debrief on Monday.

Experience Four (to happen FOURTH OF JULY weekend):  RM Seafood by Rick Moonen:  He was one of my favorite Top Chef Masters contestant this year.  Bummed that he lost :(  G and I ate here 2 years ago while we were in Vegas, and we're excited to introduce my dad to it.  Here's all I'm going to say:  tower of raw seafood, truffle mac and cheese, beef tartar.  If you haven't eaten here and these words make your mouth water, I suggest you get on the first flight to Vegas!

There's also a trip to Sonoma next weekend to celebrate 730.50 days of "marital bliss" :)  There may possibly be a "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" stop, I'll keep you people posted!

5 Happy Things of Past Weekend

I apologize for the silence on the blog.  Its been a bit insane lately! 

I wanted to post 5 things I was happy about this past weekend:

5.  Wearing a Spain jersey during World Cup viewing on Saturday
4.   Eating and drinking all sorts of yummy foods during the viewing
3.   Being able to lay by the pool and read "The Help" on my nook
2.   Getting yummy chinese food on Friday night (it had been TOO long!)
1.   Sleeping in and waking up without a headache or dried eye make up ALL WEEKEND!

YAY!

What Happens in ATL...Stays in ATL

Yesterday, as Gravy Train, N, and I said our "good byes" we discussed how we felt like we had finished a full weekend in Vegas.  All of us with our sore throats, some of us with swollen joints, and all of us with full bellies - we said good bye and until next time.

Here's some highlights of our fun and awesome weekend:

• Seafood and loud conversations about the best types of sashimi at the GA Aquarium
• TONS of tapas (two FULL days of tapas)
• Sparkly nail polish
• Dressed in black cocktail dresses and running thru a club like it was our own
• Gravy Train's bachelorette party
• "Its loud in the kitchen"
• RuPaul and RuPaul Jr
• Glitter EVERYWHERE
• Sriracha mayo

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend!