Photo Friday #27

Let me start out by saying I have never been one to love horses. As a child they scared me. To be honest they still scare me a bit as an adult. I had to push those fears aside when I went horse back riding with some co-workers. I couldn’t let them see fear in my eye! Well I make it sound worse than it was. We rode for 2 hours through a near wooded area north of Charlotte. Charlie, my horse, treated me well and I actually had a good time.

Hotlanta

If you aren’t friends with me on Facebook or just didn’t happen to see my post from two weekends ago, let me say again… if I had a bucket list, visiting Turner Field would be on it and now it would be checked off. That’s right, we went to Atlanta and saw the Braves play at home. I have been a Braves fan (or specifically a Chipper Jones fan) for years. I have seen them play before around the Midwest and watched their games on TBS while they use to be on all the time, but had never actually been to Atlanta. When I heard Chipper Jones planned to retire after this year I knew we had to make a trip to watch him one last time. Plus we live only about 4 hours from Atlanta now so it seemed meant to be. Unfortunately Chipper Jones had the night off and didn’t play… but we still got to enjoy the stadium and game. I take that back, we didn’t enjoy the game much because the Braves lost 5-0. Ok, I’m done with my complaining, we really did have a fun time! Let me tell you more about our weekend…  

Neither Joe or I had ever been to Georgia prior to this trip. Just another state we’ve marked off the list. We definitely live in a part of the country that neither of us are familiar with so we have lots of locations on our list to visit. Joe’s finger wanted to be in the picture, shame on it.

We booked a room at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis which is a huge and pretty impressive hotel. We stayed on the 38^th floor of the 40 some floor hotel. The first (and honestly second) elevator ride up and down was a shock to my gut. I don’t do roller coasters and do not like that feeling of motion. We had some great views from our room during the day…

And at night…

The inside of the hotel had a huge open atrium that bowed out towards the ground. It was pretty trippy looking up from the bottom or looking down from the 38^th floor.

We met up with one of Joe’s classmate from San Francisco. It was so great to see Steve again. We had lunch at Atlanta’s #1 BBQ place called Fox Brother’s. Unfortunately there was a weird reflection in this picture and their faces are lit up. Steve introduced us to Brunswick stew… which was delicious.

Then Steve took us to a brewery that was a hidden gem. Well, I can’t say it was that hidden, the line to get in was very long. The idea of their “tour” was a gem though. For $10 you got a glass with the breweries logo on it plus 6 drink tickets. Each ticket got you about a half glass of their beer to taste. They did actually have a tour of the facilities, but most people weren’t there to learn how beer was made… I think most people there were well versed in beer drinking.

Anyways, they have these events every Saturday for only 2 hours. In other words you have to really drink up to use all 6 drink tickets. There was no way I was going to down that much beer in 2 hours so I gave my extra tickets to Steve to use in the future. Most people at the brewery were also likely going to the baseball game afterwards. Lots of people had Braves gear on. We both sported our Braves t-shirts. I bought Joe’s shirt for him when I went to spring training in Florida.

Just like the title of this post, it was pretty hot in Atlanta (which is where we get Hotlanta). We purposefully bought tickets to a night game because of the heat down south. Turns out Saturday was below normal, but still warm enough to stay in the shade when necessary. We arrived at Turner Field in time to watch batting practice.

We didn't catch any fly balls, but came close to a few.

Like I said, the game turned out to be a bummer. Atlanta lost and only had one hit the entire night. Oh, and did I mention Chipper didn't play?

What a great weekend!

Rosemary Olive Oil Bread

I don't have much of an intro for this recipe other than... you gotta try this. All I've been talking about is basil, basil, and more basil. Did you happen to notice my small mention of rosemary in my herb garden? After planting it I wasn't sure what I wanted to make with it. Thank you Pinterest for answering my prayers. Oh and by the way, I didn't take this picture... I borrowed it. My bread did not look this pretty, but it was very tasty!

photo courtesy of A Hint of Honey

Rosemary Olive Oil Bread
adapted from A Hint of Honey
Ingredients
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons dry active yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped (or 2 teaspoons dried)
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups flour
1 egg whisked plus 1 tablespoon water
rosemary for sprinkling

Directions
In a large bowl, combine the warm water, sugar, and yeast. Let sit 10 minutes to proof. Then stir in the salt, rosemary, seasonings, olive oil, and flour. Stir until the dough forms a ball. Knead on a lightly floured surface, adding more flour as necessary to prevent sticking. Place the dough in a lightly greased and floured bread pan. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours. Once the dough has risen, gently brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle with dried rosemary.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Cork Floors

Have you heard about the new fad in flooring? Cork floors might not be super new, but they’re new to us and that got me researching them more and more. By just Googling “benefits of cork floor” I found quite a bit. Did you know that cork is made from the outer bark of a cork oak tree? Did you know that it takes the tree 9 years to re-grow the bark? Did you know the cork oak tree is almost exclusively grown in Europe?

Anyways, many website listed the benefits of cork floors. The best list I found was on about.com summarizing the benefits.

• Comfort & Softness
  The air trapped inside the cellular structure of cork provides a natural shock absorbing feel to the floor. It's great for applications where you are standing a lot such as in a Kitchen providing relief for your feet, back and legs. 

• Beauty
  Cork has a natural beauty rivaled by few other natural materials. It comes in many colors and different manufacturers provide various tile shapes and patterns as well.

• Noise Reduction
  The same cellular structure that makes the floor comfortable also reduces noise and vibration. Unlike hard materials like tile, wood or vinyl, cork is quiet and reduces impact noise such as something dropping on the floor or the sound of walking by people or pets. 

• Healthy and Safe
  Cork has natural properties that are anti-allergenic and resistant to insects. A naturally occurring waxy substance in cork called suberin repels insects, mites and mold and protects cork from from rotting when wet for a long time. In addition, suberin is naturally fire resistant and cork doesn't release any toxic off-gassing when it burns. These natural properties plus the coatings used to seal cork flooring make it healthy and safe for adults, pets and baby. 

• Durability and Ease of Maintenance
  Durability is a strong trait of cork and cork floors have been used in public buildings such as churches and libraries since 1898, long before residential applications. 

Who knew… well now you do. I’ve noticed cork floors on blogs and TV shows more and more. It might be that they’re more in style, but it might also be that I’m noticing them because we have them now. Either way I’m a fan!

Taste of Charlotte

This past weekend we checked out Taste of Charlotte in Uptown. It’s basically a street festival for food junkies. You purchase coins and then redeem the coins for food. All kinds of food… BBQ or Mexican to ice cream or smoothies. All kind of vendors too… local mom and pop shops to chain restaurants.

We bought 15 coins for $20 and started strategizing which booths we wanted to hit up first and what items we absolutely had to try.

First we stopped at Salsarita’s Fresh Cantina and had some chicken quesadillas. Knowing how full we’d likely be after trying all this food we just shared the item each time instead of getting our own. After being married for almost 4 years I’d say we can share pretty well.

Next we got a free (yay for free!) sample of BBQ with a local BBQ sauce company. Couldn’t tell you what the brand was… I swear I got a coupon from them though. I guess that disappeared.

At this point we were passing a few beverage booths and my mouth was watering. We discuss that our strategy of tasting all this food didn’t include coins for the drinks. The weather was so nice out that night I was totally craving a beer. But, we held out and actually didn’t get anything to drink.

One of the items that caught my eye was the sea bass cake with chipotle slaw from Caffe Siena. It tasted a lot like a crab cake which is one of my favorite foods. I’ve never heard of the restaurant that we got it from, but I’ve been meaning to look it up. We might need to check it out sometime and see the rest of their menu. We had a seafood place in Des Moines that we loved. We had a routine when going there: we’d share the crab cake appetizer and then share a couple role of sushi… yum!

Joe’s choice of the evening was pizza. There were a couple pizza places and he decided Mellow Mushroom was the winner. We tried the mighty meaty pizza and unfortunately it was cold. What a bummer. Joe had looked forward to trying some pizza all night and was pretty disappointed. We have eaten at Mellow Mushroom before; we actually took Joe’s parents there when they were in town in February. The pizza is very good and the specialty pies are all so unique.

My favorite treat of the evening was the cinnamon roasted pecans. We walked by this booth and the scent was unbearable. Oh man they tasted so good, Joe’s lucky I shared this time. Have you had these before where they’re like candy coated in delicious cinnamon?

To top off our evening we got ice cream from Baskin Robbins. Double scoop with one topping for 3 coins… exactly what we had left. It was very kid friendly… the vanilla was rainbow colored. I didn’t understand the guy at the booth when he told us what kinds they had. All I heard was vanilla and asked for that, but was shocked when he handed me ice cream with every color of the rainbow. Joe gave me a hard time for questioning the guy… all I can say is the ice cream was delicious.

After eating our way through the festival we walked and people watched. There was a NBA area set up with multiple hoops and competitions going on. Here is Joe’s foot compared to Kevin Durant’s from the Oklahoma City Thunder. I couldn’t believe how big these shoes were!!! Timely though with the NBA finals on this week. Who are you rooting for??

Like I mentioned, we went through this whole meal without drinking anything. I’m the kind of person that drinks in between bites, unlike some people who save their drink until after the meal. Since it was still pretty early I suggested we stop for a margarita at this Mexican restaurant near our house that we pass on the way to and from work. I had to order a water because I was so thirsty I started drinking the margarita quickly… not a good idea.

Blueberry Muffins

Simple as blueberry muffins are, they remind me of home. My mom would make them on a regular Sunday morning, but they would make that Sunday morning somewhat special. I also remember she loved to pack the muffins with blueberries. Seriously, the recipe might call for 2 cups and she would add 3 instead. I'm not complaining though, the mufins were always delicious. This recipe I found a long time ago is simple, but it makes about 18 muffins. I only have one muffin tin which means I need another one to make this whole batch at one time.

Blueberry Muffins
adapted from Pioneer Woman

Ingredients
3 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (melted)
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 cups blueberries

Directions
Mix flour, sugars, baking powder and salt in bowl. Mix butter, eggs and milk in separate bowl. Mix dry and wet ingredients. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon into greased muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees for about 18 minutes.

Scenes From Our Backyard

While Joe was at the office last weekend I worked in the backyard and tried to capture some of the finer details. Can you tell we really love our yard?

I picked basil leves to make more pesto. This time I made tomato and basil pizza... it was delicious!

Look how many basil leaves I picked... so fresh!

And look at the plant afterwards. There's still plenty of leaves left plus it's still growing like a weed.

I talk so much about our basil plants. Clearly they have taken over the herb pot, but I do have some other herbs. In the back we have rosemary and sage. Although I haven't used either of them yet. Do you have any great ideas??

I found another pleasant surprise in the back. This tree is much smaller, but I love the pop of color against all the green trees.

Here is the way back of our yard. The fence draws the property line.

We put up a bird feeder the weekend my parents visited. It took a while for any birds to come eat, but now we see them eating regularly. Please don't pay attendtion to the cob web above the feeder.

We're still trying to wrap our head around this area. I suppose you could call it the sitting area or relaxing area... I see myself doing neither here. This is where we spotted the poison ivy, remember? That had to go.

I do like some of the vines or plants covering the ground back here though. Those can stay.

Oh and there's some sort of berry growing back here too. We couldn't quite tell what they were, but just to be safe, we won't be eating any of them.

Then I made my way to our flower bed, but I had to watch out for this huge bumblebee. He really likes our purple flowers (sorry mom, I can't remember what you said this is called).

We have a few mums starting to bloom. When we moved in all of them still hadn't bloomed yet so we didn't know what colors they were going to be. We actually have a nice variety of purple, yellow and red.

That's a general tour of the happenings in our backyard.