Travelling Lore

Yesterday a few of us started out this holiday weekend in style by enjoying the wonderful scenery that Virginia offers.  We went for a short bike ride along the W&OD trail in Purcellville, VA.  I like to call it my annual bike ride since I really only get on a bike about once a year after much persuasion from everyone around me.  I'm still not so great at stopping (though am better than the last time!), but at least I can bike in a relatively straight line now! ;) Afterwards we stopped by Monk's , a local BBQ restaurant.  Conveniently located one block from the end of the W&OD trail in Purcellville, it offers great food, a number of BBQ sauces to try, and local beer on tap.  I ordered the pulled pork, which has been my go-to lately, and their delicious baked beans.  As for the beer (because what's BBQ without beer?!), I opted for Adroit Theory's Hibiscus Saison; it had a beautiful red tint and was perfect for a post bike ride drink. Next we stopped ove

I'm a bit early with this month's manicure roundup, but with good reason.  In a few days I'll be on vacation in Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia--all countries I've never been to before!  This obviously makes it difficult to blog about anything as I won't be taking my laptop with me--gotta travel light!  I can't wait to set foot in these countries and have a jolly time.  Hello, gelato! Sephora by OPI "Havana Dreams" : a pastel baby blue Sally Hansen "Pool Party" : a sheer pearlescent baby blue Sinful Colors "Supernova" : a pink-ish coppery foil (This photo doesn't do it justice! It's beautiful in person!) China Glaze "Live, Love, Laugh" : a bright, hot pink jelly Deborah Lippmann "Laughin' to the Bank" : a shimmery forest green/teal

Last week at work we threw a low key gathering for a coworker whose wedding is next month.  The food theme was based entirely on desserts, so I decided to make (for the first time) a blueberry swirl cheesecake.  And I must say I think it turned out splendidly for my first time making it, especially considering I presented it to my coworkers without even getting a chance to try it first for myself! I used  Sally's Baking Addiction 's cheesecake recipe  as the base and then modified it with ingredients I had available at home. Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake Ingredients For the crust: 1.5 cups toasted pecans 3 tbsp brown sugar 3 tbsp butter 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon For the blueberry sauce: 2 tsp cornstarch 1 tbsp warm water 2 cups frozen blueberries 2 tbsp granulated sugar For the filling: 24 oz 1/3 fat cream cheese 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup nonfat yogurt 2 tsp vanilla extract 3 eggs Instructions For the crust:

Lately I keep seeing this Banana Matcha Smoothie pop up everywhere.  This isn't the best picture of it ever, but if you haven't tried yet and you like green tea, I highly recommend it. For the record, I used an unfrozen banana because I prefer my smoothies to be less viscous, but feel free to use a frozen banana if you want.  I also used Target's Simply Basic (sweetened) Almond Milk and David's Tea's matcha . But what is matcha?  Well, matcha is essentially green tea leaves that have been finely ground into a powder.  Because it's more labor intensive to make matcha than loose leaf tea, matcha is more often than not pricier than the green tea you find in your local grocery store.  It's traditionally made by adding the green tea powder into hot water and then using a bamboo whisk to mix and froth them together.  Yes, it's delicious! Banana Matcha Smoothie Ingredients 1 banana 1 cup almond milk 1 tsp matcha Drizzle of honey (or

After living in Virginia for nearly 20 years, it seemed absurd that I'd never visited Richmond, the state's capital.  So when a couple of friends presented us with the opportunity to join them for a weekend of exploring Richmond, what can I say...it was an offer we couldn't refuse! We arrived on a Friday evening and enjoyed some local BBQ from Buz and Ned's Real Barbecue .  I was so, so happy that they had fried okra, which is difficult to find in Northern Virginia.  We ended our night at Capital Alehouse where we enjoyed a couple rounds of beer. On Saturday morning we found ourselves on Cary Street, which is an area in Richmond with lots of cute restaurants and independent shops.  There we stopped in at the Can Can Brasserie for breakfast. I ordered the classic Quiche Lorraine and a refreshing side salad.  Their entire menu looked delicious, though, and it was a challenge to choose just one thing for breakfast. I must say, though, I thought their decor rea

After making the lemon poppy seed bundt cake for my boyfriend's birthday last week, I had some leftover buttermilk that I wanted to use before it spoiled.  In my book what better way to use it than to make fluffy buttermilk biscuits?  This time I wanted to successfully make light, fluffy biscuits so I turned once again to Pinterest and found a recipe from The Chunky Chef .  Not only did these biscuits turn out perfectly, but they were so incredibly easy to make.  It probably took me about 30-45 minutes to prep and bake 10 biscuits. Preheat the oven to 450F.  Before combining all of the ingredients, cut the butter into small cubes and put it in the freezer.  Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl.  Then, using either a food processor or a pastry cutter, add the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Mix in the buttermilk. Fold the dough over itself several times before rolling it out to about a one inch thickness.  Use a circle cookie cutter (I used a pint