Fredericksburg Area Wine Festival

Some girl friends and I went to the 20th annual Wine Festival in Fredericksburg at the Old Mill Park on Saturday.

There were many local wineries there, several of our favorites:

*Hartwood Winery: We especially liked the Viognier and the Rappahannock Red. The first was fruity and light, I could probably drink a whole bottle of it without thinking, haha. Though I am not a red wine drinker at all, the Rappahannock Red was amazing. It was fruity and can be served chilled or room temperature. This winery is located northwest of Fredericksburg. Click here for more information on their wines.


*Lake Anna Winery: They have some really good sweet wines among others (though the sweet ones were my favorites!). Click here for information on this winery near Fredericksburg.

For more information on the Wine Festival, click here.

Drink up :)

Hard Times Require Furious Dancing

It has been a while....life got busy but don't worry, I'm back!


I spent last weekend in DC with two of my best (and oldest) friends, Morgan and Matt. We had a fabulous time-went to the W Hotel for drinks, saw sights around the city, went shopping, and of course, ate amazing food. Here are a few of my favorites:


*Homemade Pizza-it is not homemade, in fact, but is delicious anyways. Matt tricked us by telling us he was making pizza but it was actually from this place. I highly recommend it!


*Tabaq Bistro-small portions to encourage sampling, a funky bar and lounge area, and a cool rooftop dining experience. Absolutely wonderful. Check it out here.


*Busboys and Poets-a neat bookstore/restaurant/fair trade market/gathering place. The low tables, couches and comfy chairs, and casual feel make this a wonderful place for eating, meeting, and hanging out. Very cool spot. http://www.busboysandpoets.com/


*Teaism-Anyone that knows me knows that I love tea. This is a cool tea house with delicious food (though I only had the Chocolate Salty Oat Cookie). If I lived in DC, I would probably be here every day! Check it out: Teaism




Also, as for the title of this post, it is a book that I saw when we had brunch at Busboys and Poets....I think it adequately sums up the techno-rave dance party that we went to on Saturday night....LOL!


That's all for now :)

Because I love cake....

Courtesy of my sister, Hana:

http://paulferney.bigcartel.com/category/cake-paintings


Check out these paintings. They make you want cake. And check out the quotes too, they are awesome! :)

Amy's Cafe

Taylor and I discovered a good weekend breakfast/brunch spot right near downtown Fredericksburg.

It is called Amy's Cafe (click here for more info). It is just beside the Rappahannock Bridge and is housed in a 200 year old building that has lots of charm, eclectic decorations, friendly wait staff, and delicious food. On the weekends they have a breakfast buffet that features scrambled eggs (or you can order as you like), potatoes, grits, biscuits and gravy, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, and watermelon. Definitely old, country-style cooking.

I hope you enjoy as much as we did! :)

Apple Pie

As a Southern girl, I am slightly embarrassed to admit this but I made something this week that I have never made before and it was definitely a challenge and an adventure!

I bought some delicious-smelling apples at the farmer's market last weekend (I think they are called honey crisp) and decided that I would make an apple pie this weekend, per my boyfriend's request.  After consulting the Bennett Family Favorites cookbook for the filling and getting a recipe for crust from one of my co-workers, I set out on conquering this challenge. 

Though the crust was supposed to be "easy", it still took quite a bit of work and did not turn out very pretty (though tasted amazing!). However, the whole package was scrumptious, Taylor loved it, and I will definitely try to perfect my pie-making abilities in the future! 

Also, as my Papaw said, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach". Good advice Papaw ;)

Lime-y Chicken

Morgan, this post is for you!

Back in college (makes me feel old saying that) we used to have Thursday night supper club where we cooked dinner, watched Grey's Anatomy, and had girl time. All of us liked chicken and I was always looking for new recipes to try on Thursday nights. One of our favorite recipes that we discovered was Chicken with Lime Sauce (aka Lime-y Chicken). It is deliciously tangy, with silky sauce, and is really easy to make. 

I thought of this recipe earlier this week and decided that I definitely HAD to make it after Morgan mentioned it while talking a few days ago. It was a sign. So, I cooked lime-y chicken tonight and it was just as delicious as I remembered it, even though I haven't had it in a while! Though I had a long day at work and didn't get home until late, lime-y only takes about 10 minutes to make and is definitely worth waiting for. 

I hope you like it as much as I do :)

Korean with a twist

I come from a long line of Southern cooks on my mom's side of the family and the more ethnic influence of Armenian/Turkish/Middle Eastern on my dad's side of the family. However, my entry tonight is far from either of those in that it stems from Korean influence.


So a while ago, my boyfriend and I made this recipe (pictured below) and it was awesome!




I rarely eat or cook beef so I adapted the recipe a bit and made it with chicken one night a few weeks ago. Equally as good, or better than the beef! It is also super fast, healthy, cheap, and easy to make.

Since I am on a cooking kick lately and had some chicken in the freezer, I decided to make this for dinner tonight. It was scrumptious and paired well with a baked (aka microwaved) sweet potato.


**Word of advice: Use less of the sambal oelek than the recipe calls for unless you want your lips to be burning, your sinuses draining, and your face sweating profusely!**

That is all for tonight as Dancing with the Stars comes on in a few minutes and I don't want to miss it...


Happy eating :)