Frog Hollow Tavern

Last night, my maternal grandmother (Reece) and her husband (Don) came to visit us in Augusta! It was really nice to spend time with them, and we shared a lovely meal at a restaurant downtown... in fact, the parent restaurant of Farmhaus Burger. So, of course it was good!

Frog Hollow Tavern was fabulous in nearly every way. My only complaint would be the noise level. This restaurant was jamming! Every single table was filled the entire time we were there. Awesome for them, but occasionally frustrating when trying to chat with those whose hearing isn't quite as sharp as it once was ;)

Our meal was delish.  So delish in fact, that all I managed to get a photo of was this bottle of pinot grigio... which was one of the best I have ever had!

I had seared grouper with a fantastic okra, black eyed pea, tomato and corn succotash, while my husband had the most decadent looking shrimp and grits. We also shared a bowl of mussels, which were spectacular.

The concept of the restaurant is very farm-to-table. The freshness of the ingredients was evident in everything we tasted (including the homemade bread... wow!). We will definitely be returning!

PS- I realize that this blog is becoming somewhat of a running restaurant review... my apologies! Between my husband's schedule and my classes, activities more exciting than a nice meal are a rarity these days. Never fear, as soon as more blog-worthy events take place, y'all will be the first to know!

Garlic Veggie Pizza

This is my new favorite pizza of all time. Forever. No matter what.

Actually that is probably not true at all, but this pizza is REALLY good! I made it with my MIL when I was in FL this past week, and she liked it as much as I did (which is a lot, obviously)! 

I just thought you might want a little verification that cashews on pizza is a super idea... because it is.

First off, let me apologize for not taking process pictures.  There are quite a few steps to making this pizza as delicious as possible, and I just got way too excited to remember to take pictures. Next time, I promise!

Ingredients:

Pizza Dough*

2 heads of fresh garlic, all cloves removed and peeled

4 serrano peppers

Olive oil

1 bell pepper (red, orange or green works), thinly sliced into strips

1 tomato, thinly sliced and then placed on paper towels to help drain excess moisture

1 large handful of fresh baby spinach

Unsalted cashews, very roughly chopped

Goat cheese

Mozzarella cheese (optional)

Parmesan cheese (optional)

*Note: I used a store-bought fresh dough that I split and made into two 8(ish) inch crusts. You can make your own or buy it, but when you roll or toss the dough out, it should be relatively thin.

First, you need to prep the 'sauce' for the pizza, which will be a delicious blend of garlic and serrano peppers.

Place all of the garlic cloves in a small saucepan. Cover completely with olive oil (I know it will seem like a lot, but you can save it and re-use it as garlic oil... yum!). Turn the burner on the lowest setting and let the garlic gently cook (confit) for up to an hour or until all cloves are very tender. 

While the garlic is cooking, char the skins of the serrano peppers. I do this by turning one of the burners of my gas stove on a low setting and placing the peppers over it. Then, using metal tongs, I turn the peppers until the entire exterior is charred. I then place the peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for a few minutes, until they are cool enough to handle.  This also allows them to steam a little so that the skins are easier to remove.  Then, I remove the skins from the peppers and slice them in half lengthwise so I can remove all the seeds. Scraping them out with a small spoon makes it a quick process and saves your fingers from the hot part of the pepper.

Now that the garlic and peppers are ready, place all of them into a blender with a tablespoon of olive oil. Puree until smooth.  At this point, you can mix as much goat cheese as you like (I'd recommend 2-3 Tbs) into the garlic/pepper mixture, or you can leave the goat cheese separate to sprinkle onto the pizza in chunks. Personally, I recommend the mixing.

Now for assembling the pizza! 

1) Garlic 'sauce' (you should use all of it on two 8 inch pizzas)

2) Goat cheese if you didn't add it to the 'sauce'

3) Mozzarella (optional)

4) Sliced peppers

5) Sliced tomatoes

6) Spinach

7) Cashews

8) Parmesan (optional)

After putting your desired amount of these ingredients on your pizza in this order (pretty important), place the pizza in a 425 degree oven for 12ish minutes, or until as golden brown as you desire.... just don't let your cashews get too toasty!

Let it rest for a minute or two after it comes out of the oven if you can... I couldn't resist slicing right into it. Heavenly... 

Where the Heck Am I?

This thought pops up in my head rather frequently these days... I think it might have to do with the fact that we've stayed at least one night (usually many more) in 13 hotels this year.  That doesn't include any of the homes or the 5 more hotels we will add to the list before 2013 comes to a close. Needless to say, it is occasionally difficult for me to quickly remember that we are currently living in Augusta, Georgia.

We arrived less than a week ago for my husband to begin his general surgery rotation here at Eisenhower Medical Center on Fort Gordon.  It is very hot here. Our hotel room has many pros and cons... so far, the cons have the upper hand. However, the air conditioning is working beautifully! Hallelujah!

While my husband was busy settling in at the hospital, I went down to Florida for a couple of days to visit with my in-laws. I got my cooking, wine and yoga fixes before coming back north to GA.

Although there isn't much going on in this area (so it seems to me), I am trying out a new yoga studio this week and will keep you posted :)

Coping...

This list will probably evolve as the weeks keep passing, but as of right now, this is my list of best ways to cope with true loss and sadness (you can read about the loss of my cat here).

First, I would like to note that I have never been especially skilled at coping. Growing up in a Navy family, I kind of developed a "just get over it/let go/move on" philosophy to emotionally draining circumstances. Not the most healthy way of dealing with tough stuff, but it worked for the most part. In recent years, however, I've developed other techniques.  Hallelujah! (that is my husband rejoicing... he wasn't a big fan of the 'if I don't talk about it, I'm fine' method :)

1) Prayer. Anytime, anywhere! A short (or long) conversation with God really gets me moving in a positive direction with my thoughts, no matter what.

2) Yoga. For those of you that think #1 conflicts with this, think again. My yoga practice keeps me centered, positive and grateful. Not a single session goes by that I don't send up a little thank-you prayer for the gift of yoga in my life.

Lately, I have been keeping an especially consistent practice by purchasing a membership to Thrive Yoga. Getting on my mat daily allows me to work through whatever emotions I'm dealing with while I focus on breathing through poses. Oh, and it's a pretty awesome workout too... I have the bakasana and pincha mayurasana to prove it!

3) A little retail-therapy. This one isn't quite as wholesome as my first two, but it is helpful all the same. Something fun and frivolous to focus on can be a good way to get out of your own head for a bit and think about something very un-serious. Not to mention pretty :)

4) Help others. This is my FAVORITE one, and something I have trouble balancing sometimes because I thrive on it. You can help others through a tough or stressful time even though you're dealing with some tough stuff, too. Sending a card or making them a meal are my two favorite ways to help. It doesn't have to be a huge gesture to offer a huge amount of support. And once again, you're putting yourself out there in a positive way.

5) This last one is kind of a reward for doing #1-4...not that they aren't rewarding enough themselves! 

Wine... specifically Sauvignon Blanc, right now. I think that good wine can be the perfect catalyst for relaxing and reminiscing, which is what one really needs to do in order to cope with a loss. It might not be the right choice for everyone, but Kim Crawford will always have a fond place in my memory for making an absolutely awful day a little bit better for my mom and me!

Side note- During all of this coping craziness, my husband and I forgot one of our most favorite anniversaries: August 6, 2008! This was the day we met for the second time after being apart for 10 years! Here is a throwback picture of us from about 3 years ago that pretty well shows what we think about forgetting to celebrate such an important occasion...

Life happens... don't take it too seriously!

Absentee Blogger Confessional

I have been missing around here for more than two weeks. I have a couple of really good excuses about where I've been, but first, I just want to reassure you that I'll do my very best to not abandon y'all without warning again. I'm sure my disappearance was traumatic for everyone.

One of the reasons that I was MIA was because my in-laws came into town a little over a week ago in order to celebrate my father-in-law's 60th birthday!! We had a blast hanging out with them in Bethesda and Washington, DC.  Here are a few of my favorite moments from our many celebrations together!

The Marine Corps Evening Parade is quite a spectacle, and it's a fun (and free) way to spend a Friday night in Washington, DC. Not to mention the fact that Eastern Market (the neighborhood in which the Barracks are located) is one of my favorite places in DC. Really amazing restaurants and fun shops line the main drag on 8th Street. We ate at Zest Bistro before the parade began, and I would definitely return. 

Another meal we shared together, however, was better than Zest. Founding Farmers was such a fun dining experience.  Their menu was so fresh (as their name implies) and inventive, but still reasonably priced... for this area, at least. The lively atmosphere and delicious Tinto Negro malbec we were drinking made us want to linger for quite awhile... so we did :)

Every birthday boy needs a cake, so for my Celiac-diagnosed father-in-law we had a dozen gluten-free cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake. Woah... those might have been better than their gluten-full counterparts. Unlawfully good... 

I will write a separate post about the National's baseball game (because they are SO much fun!) we attended, but we gave my FIL a t-shirt to wear so he could properly display his "natitude"!

There was also a very sad reason I've been missing for awhile... you can read about that here. 

Washington Things: Part 3

In order to continue the theme of making our anniversary very true to our Seattle/Tacoma locale, I found some local 'champagne' (sparkling wine) to have with our cake.  In case you didn't notice from our first, first anniversary in February, cake and champagne together is one of my favorite things.

This 'champagne' comes from a division of Chateau Ste. Michelle, the quintessential Washington winery. It surprised me.  I paid $9 for the bottle at a local Trader Joe's, and at that price, I would definitely buy it again.  I am still partial towards Pommery (real Champagne), of course, but it is more than triple the price.

Also, I'm sure that our faux 'champagne' would've tasted better in actual crystal flutes. These are the glasses that are part of our kitchenette set-up. 

Anyhow, we really enjoyed having our cake and 'champagne' for breakfast!

Spaghetti

I'm back on the crock pot wagon after falling off for a week (!) while I recovered from whatever nasty virus my husband got from the sick kids in the pediatric clinic. Therefore, this dish was admittedly unambitious, and there are many things I would do differently if the commissary were open on Mondays. The commissary not being open may or may not be a convenient excuse to hide the fact that I was feeling yucky and didn't want to go outside in the chilly, drizzly rain. You decide :)

Anyways, the spaghetti sauce turned out alright. It would've been better if I had the following to add to my recipe: freshly chopped onion, fresh basil, dried oregano, and fresh garlic.

Under the circumstances, however, this is how it went:

1 lb 97% lean ground beef
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
Crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
Sea salt (to taste)
2 cans no salt added diced tomatoes
1 can no salt added tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1/2 cup merlot
Parmesan cheese, finely shredded

Combine all ingredients together in a crock pot, stir and cook on low for at least 4 hours. Serve over spaghetti noodles with a little parmesan cheese. I used fresh noodles because I thought they would be easier to cook. I was right... They were MUCH better than the other outcomes from the pasta boat.

We now have a lot of leftovers in our little fridge, which means I probably won't be cooking in the crock pot for awhile. Again :)

Wine in the Hood

Fort Hood, that is.

As a side note, my husband and I just finished watching a documentary last night about the beer industry: Beer Wars.  We like to watch lighthearted documentaries over dinner every now and again, and this one was pretty interesting.  It made us want to continue drinking beer from independent breweries, that's for sure (Shiner, Dogfish Head or Point beers, anyone?)! This isn't a post about beer, though.  The documentary just reminded me about the issue at hand.

I don't drink much beer.  I like it on occasion, but one is usually my limit.  If I have more than two, I start to feel like a whale, and I don't like feeling whale-y.  One of my loftier goals in life is to feel like a whale very infrequently.

Therefore, I am a wine girl.  I realize that I have posted about liquor, liqueur, and beer, prior to this, my first post about wine, so you will just have to trust me with this fact.  Above anything else offered, nine times out of ten, I will choose a nice glass of wine. Some of my favorites are: 14 Hands Cab, Wente Merlot, and Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc. All of these are around $10 a bottle, and I've never had much difficulty finding them in the past.

This is a HUGE problem in Texas.  Specifically Killeen and Fort Hood, Texas.

1) We are in beer country. Obvious for the following reasons:

• There are over 170,000 military personnel stationed at Fort Hood.  A large number of these are young (18-23 years old) male enlisted soldiers.
•  Barbecue is the local fare.  Even I would rather have a beer than wine with barbecue.
• We are in the middle of nowhere.

This is one of two beer aisles at out local H-E-B (a Texas chain of grocery stores).

2) The wine selection that does exist is an anomaly to me:

• I do not recognize most of the brands.
• The brands that I do recognize are the big bottle brands: Barefoot, Sutter Home, etc.  Nothing wrong with that, just not what I'm looking for.
• Most of the wines (red and white) carry the descriptor 'sweet' on the label.

The wine aisle at H-E-B.  Two things I have never seen before: 

a bottle of wine for $2.98 and the brand "La Di Da"

3) We came here from Bethesda, Maryland.

• The wine selection in the DC area is impeccable, although overpriced.
• I am in culture shock!

Good things came from my adventure to H-E-B, though!

After scouring the shelves, I found these two for me, and now I know where to find them!

I also found a six-pack of Shiner Seasonal for my husband.

Because I found some decent wine, I was able to finally use my Riedel "O-to-Go" wine glass :) I have a thing for pretty glassware, and it makes me happy to have a pretty glass among our paper plates and plastic forks!