big apple bbq festival

As I mentioned, this past weekend was the Big Apple BBQ Festival. It happens every year around the second weekend in June, and I look forward to it all year long. That's mostly because my favorite BBQ from growing up and visiting my grandparents, Big Bob Gibson's in Decatur, Alabama, comes to the event every year with loads of pulled pork and their famous white BBQ sauce. And every year, it's the only BBQ I'll eat at the festival. (One year, I got my picture taken with the owner!) This year - as is the case every year - Bob Gibson's had the longest line, and Brendan and I stood in the line for over 45 minutes for a couple of pulled pork sandwiches. There's nothing else quite like it! It was worth every minute we waited. Until 2013, Big Bob...

[I took the picture of me eating Big Bob's just for GG and Anna Curl!]

scenes from the weekend

This weekend was a fun one! It was very busy with lots of fun things going on, and now I'm having to take a deep breath to take on this Monday. Sometimes the weekends wear me out more than the work week. But with summer here and lots of fun things to celebrate, I think I can handle that!

On Friday afternoon, I spent some time at the Great Lawn in Central Park before heading to my fave italian spot, Carmines, for dinner with some friends, which turned into a spontaneous birthday celebration for Nichole. Saturday, Brendan and I went down to the Big Apple BBQ Festival (another post on that) and then to Brooklyn Heights for a friend's graduation party. Sunday we went to a wedding shower for some friends (Brendan's first, which he loved) and then ended with dinner at my UWS neighb-fave Jacob's Pickles. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the beginning of summer weekends. Ah, my favorite time of year is finally here.

no vegetable left behind

When I was home in Alabama last month, I made sure I got in all of my most favorite eating spots (& more than once when possible). I don't always make it to City Cafe when I'm home because they happen to be closed on holidays, which is the primary time I'm in Alabama to visit. This time, I made it there twice in my nine days. And to make this story even better, I got to hang out with Meg (and her little girl, Reagan, who quickly became my new BFF) on one of my lunch dates there.

As I'm sitting here in my New York City apartment, trying to decide what I'll have for lunch today, I sure do wish City Cafe would deliver a fried chicken breast fillet, fried okra and mashed potato plate to my door. With a sweet tea. All for $5.65.

Proof above, no vegetable left behind.

danger zone

I was in the danger zone last week when I saw this note left for me at my apartment by my roommate, Katherine.

I'll have you know, I made it out alive... only a mere 2 tiny cupcakes later.

a salt & battery

Brendan and I went to our favorite fish & chips place for dinner on Friday night: A Salt & Battery. I love the catchy name! If you find yourself in Greenwich Village looking for a good British place to eat, you should give this spot a try!

good morning.

Yesterday I tried to follow these instructions.

10 downing

I ventured to the West Village for lunch today with a friend and old coworker, and we tried out a new (to us) spot called 10 Downing. It was delicious! If you're looking for a comfy, cozy spot with good American food (with a bit of a twist), this is your spot. I had the buttermilk-tabasco fried chicken with cheddar mac & cheese and rosemary. The chicken was amazing and perfectly cooked. And so was the mac & cheese. If you're in the area, and looking for a nice spot that is cozy, but not too tiny, I highly recommend giving this one a try! I'll go back.

happy birthday LA!

 


Today is LeeAnne's birthday! And we had a great time this weekend celebrating her at a new brunch spot  (new to me, anyway) in Nolita called BarBossa. It was a brazilian cuisine restaurant and was absolutely delicious! There were so many great options on the menu that I took a full 30+ minutes to decide, but that's nothing new...

happy, happy birthday LA (...and see ya later, January)!!

soup & football

I would have much rather been celebrating in the same way I did last year for the college football National Championship game, but in the absence of that, I still celebrated. I made my go-to winter soup, Cowboy Stew, and (sorta) watched (mostly talked during...) the game with fun people! I always love an occasion to pull out this easy-peasy & delicious soup recipe. And what's better than football and soup, even if it isn't Auburn?

an easy, surprise dinner

This is what happens when you suddenly remember at 6:45 PM that you actually have all necessary ingredients to make a delicious & easy dinner.

ground venison

marinara sauce

half a box of elbow macaroni noodles

dinner!

packing party

My trip to South Africa is so close! On Monday night we had our last team meeting before we all depart. And we spent a couple of hours packing up supplies, toys, goodies, snacks into our 17 bags. We bought a lot of toys, art supplies and gifts to donate to the church and organizations we are going to be working with there. As for food, we'll be enjoying a lot of the local fare; but for the long and tiring days, Elisabeth Hasselbeck generously donated her nogii bars to our entire team! They filled up an entire suitcase as you can see above (and I tried one at our meeting - they are delicious and you should check them out!). I think we will be completely set on snacks, huh?

It's getting so close I can hardly stand it...

dinner from a foodtruck

I usually try to stay away from the food trucks for my meals, but tonight I passed a new and enticing truck that I literally couldn't pass by. I tried, but then the smell and menu pulled me back. It was called The Frying Dutchmen and it was only their 2nd time in my neighborhood, and they had a steady crowd so I took that as a good sign. Especially at 5:45 pm. I must have been craving Chick Fil A because I got the chicken sandwich. And the Belgian fries were even better than I expected. Overall, the meal was great. I'm glad I made an exception and will be on the lookout for these folks in the neighborhood again!

And as they say, "get rich or die frying."

madiba

Last night my South Africa mission team ventured out to Brooklyn for some authentic cuisine. Our trip is getting closer (and closer!!) and we thought it would be fun to have some local South African fare at Madiba. It was delicious. I had fish and chips (with a fancier name than that) with fried calamari. There were a few extra adventurous eaters at the table, but I'm working my way up to that. All of the food I tried (including pap) had incredible flavor and made me even more excited about my trip. If you're in the NY area and up for the trek out to Fort Greene in Brooklyn, it's certainly worth it. And, of course, the design and aesthetic of the restaurant was my favorite part.

cafe grumpy

On Wednesday night, my friend Addie and I met (for the first time!) at a local coffee shop: Cafe Grumpy. She had been there once before and recommended it, so I tried it out. It was so cute: in an adorable, quiet part of Chelsea, there was enough room inside to actually walk around and sit comfortably (sounds simple, but often that is a luxury at coffee shops in NYC), and they made this beautiful design in my cappuccino. They also had an incredibly high-tech system for paying which I found to be amazing. It was a tiny credit card slider on an iPad where they swiped my card, and then I "signed a receipt" with my finger on the screen, entered my phone number and they texted my receipt to me! If you're in the area, you should give it a try!

rise and shine

I started my day out bright and early this morning when I left my apartment at 7 AM to head down to Clinton Street Bakery for breakfast. I've been wanting to try it out since I moved here 3 years ago, but I was always scared off by the rumors of how early the line formed on the weekend for brunch. Brendan suggested going down this morning before work and getting there when it opened at 8 AM (we actually got there a little after 7:30), and it was well-worth the early morning trek. I got the Southern Breakfast that you can see in the photo. And still made it work by 9:15!