Liberate Your Palate: Summer Cocktail Passbook

I stumbled across the Summer Cocktail Passport on instagram and was really interested in trying it so my friend Wendy agreed and we both bought passbooks and agreed to meet on Tuesdays for cocktails each week. The passbook included 16 spots and ran from Aug. 1 - Sept. 15. We picked a new location each week and tired a lot of great new drinks!

First up, was Dressler's for the Bee's Knees. This gin based drink was mixed with lemonade and was really dreamy with vanilla bean infused sugar rim and lavender simple syrup.

Next up, was Passion 8 for the Calypso, followed by a Southern Peach Martini and a really delish cheese plate. The Calypso had rum, kahula, strawberry shrub, roasted pineapple and muddy river. It was really interesting but I don't think I'd order it for the original price tag. Can I just say that Passion 8 was amazing - they had the best service and the cheese plate/bread was so good.

The Berry Basil Smash was the drink of choice at Block and Grinder. It had vodka, basil, lemon juice, blackberry, and ginger ale. It was a good drink but very sweet. I love this restaurant - it has amazing food and usually great service. The bartender here was very clear that he did not love this concept and even stated he cringed every time he made a Passport cocktail. Eh - we were the wrong audience for that comment.

Ahhhh - This drink at Bistro la Bon was hands down, my favorite drink of the whole tour and I would definitely order it again! It had tequila, watermelon basil and lime and was absolutely delicious!

We enjoyed dinner at Dogwood Southern Table and had the Salty Dog cocktail. It had vodka, grapefruit pellegrino, grapefruit bitters, and pink sea salt. It was refreshing and really enjoyable as well. 

Little Spoon is a breakfast spot in Myers Park and has had fave reviews. We shared thick slab bacon for an app and then had chicken biscuits/a breakfast sandwich for brunch. The Partly Cloudy cocktail included rum, tonic, lime, mint and soda water. It was a nice brunch cocktail but again, not sure I'd order it again.

We finished our tour at the Tiki Hideaway with the 1937 Classic Nui Nui. It had rum, OJ, lime juice, allspice + vanilla and cinnamon and was so good. I would definitely go here again and order this drink.

All in all, it was a great tour of some old favorites and new spots to try in Charlotte. I'm so glad we did this tour and really enjoyed it! Looking forward to the next passbook! 

August in Review

In August, we mostly recovered from all of our fun activities in July and soaked up the last full month of summer.

Continuing the canning tradition from last year, I made a new batch of heirloom tomatoes. This year was MUCH easier though since my mom came to help me. We canned 10 quarts and I'm already looking forward to doing it again next year. I was even contemplating making some homemade salsa and canning it for presents.

 We also spent a lot of time taking this wild puppy child to the dog park... and taking car selfies in the parking lot! :)

We spent many Saturday morning at the Farmer's Market - loving buying our produce and homemade goodies to make our weekly meal planning more exciting. 

 
We ended the month with a get away to Litchfield Beach for our anniversary. Just like our trip in April, it mostly rained while we were there but Tyler got to play golf/putt-putt and I got several great workouts in, we took naps under a cabana during a rain storm, and we ate lots of delicious food!

Us before our second anniversary dinner at Frank's in Pawley's Island. The food and wine at our dinner was SO good!

After our anniversary dinner, we took ourselves in our fancy outfits to play putt putt. We even ran into a couple who were celebrating their second anniversary as well!

All in all, August was a wonderful month spent at home relaxing after our adventurous July!

July in Review - A Summer Vacation

This past July was the first time since I've started working that truly felt like a "summer vacation."

My sister, cousin and dad all met in Raleigh for the Rolling Stones concert. My sister and I got my dad's ticket as a Father's Day present since he's been asking to go to a Rolling Stones concert for years.

The concert was held at Carter-Finley Stadium, my alma mater's football stadium. We tailgated in true NC State style then went into the concert. We had an absolute blast at the concert - it was by far the best concert I've ever been to!

The next day, my cousin had to head to work but my sister, dad and I had some extra time and enjoyed a southern lunch at Big Ed's in Raleigh - we were STUFFED afterwards! 

Next up, was our annual trip to Kentucky for Tyler to play in the Rolling Hills Invitational. Tyler has played in this tournament the past 12 years and really enjoys this trip back to his hometown each year.

Best friends at the golf tournament 

Tyler and his group at the Rolling Hills Invitational

Dry Ground Brewery with my love

This year was a little different since we had Muggsy with us. He was a really fun addition to walking the golf course and let out a cute little bark every time his dad hit the golf ball teeing off.

Love my little family! 

The final part of my summer vacation was our trip to Scotland and Denmark, which I'll recap in a different post soon!

All in all, July was extremely fun and memorable but exhausting. We've spent August and September a little more low key and plan to travel more this fall.

Favorite Recipes - Caprese Grits

Last weekend, T was playing in a golf tournament on Sunday morning and I was at home for the day with little on my agenda and I really wanted some yummy brunch food. 

We had eggs, grits and basil/tomatoes from the farmer's market so I decided to head to the fancy grocery store up the street and got some bacon and mozzarella and made a more than delicious meal. 

I baked the bacon in the oven (the best way, in my opinion), fried my eggs over medium with salt and pepper and made the most delicious caprese grits...

Caprese Grits

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1.5 cups water (or chicken broth)

.5 cup quality grits (such as Bob's Mill)

Pinch of salt

1 small tomato, chopped

10 basil leaves, chopped

.25 cup fresh mozzarella, chopped

Pepper/Salt/Garlic powder

Balsamic Glaze (from TJ's) 

Olive oil

Instructions:

Bring water/broth to a boil with a pinch of salt. Once boiling, add grits and reduce heat to low. Stir occasionally until thick, about 6 minutes. 

While the grits are cooking, mix tomato, basil, mozzarella in small bowl with balsamic and olive oil, sit aside.

Once the grits have the right "grit" consistency, add small amount of salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste and stir. 

Add tomatoes, basil and mozzarella (leave a small amount for garnish), stir and let sit for 3 minutes. 

Garnish with a drizzle of balsamic and basil and the caprese left from above. 

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Life Lately

Hi There!

I can't believe it's already June and been over six months since I've written anything in this little space!

Life lately has been a little hectic... Although I hate to describe things as "busy" but work really has been really taking a big chunk of our time lately. We are both excelling in our careers and feel like now is the time to focus on getting ahead in that aspects of our life before priorities shift.

Let's take a look at where we've been and what we've been up to in 2015.

In January, I took a half day off of work to head to Raleigh to celebrate my sorority's 10th year at our university. It was so fun to meet up with friends I rarely get to see and spend some quality time together!

In February, we headed to the beach to visit my sister and unfortunately, I got really sick on the way home... so let's move right along...

In March, we picked up our pace with working out and started going to the gym consistently in the mornings and spent a lot of time with our Muggsy man.

Spring also started to show itself in uptown Charlotte...

In April, we headed to one of my childhood favorite places... Litchfield Beach! The weather wasn't great but the company and time away from work was unbeatable. (Sidenote: this was also the first time we left Muggsy at home with a local kennel and thankfully, we all made it through with minimal tears!)

In May, we celebrated our moms birthdays and hosted T's family for a weekend in Charlotte and a golf tournament.

We also debuted Muggsy's new patriotic bow tie for Memorial day... I'd say, he looks pretty cool in it!

Thus far, June has been filled with weekends around Charlotte, preparing for our upcoming trip to Europe and T enjoying some rounds of golf with his friends. We've also been trying to keep the pup active and have found he loves going to the dog park and dog bar. 

I've also enjoyed a few girls nights, including a great night with these perfectly sized prosecco bottles for our gals! 

The first half of the year has been exhausting... T & I combined have taken two vacation days total... needless to say, we are super excited for our upcoming trip and the rest of the year (and many more vacations to come!)