Travelling Lore

When you're on your honeymoon, you have to treat yourselves to at least one fine dining experience.  We're not typically ones to spend exorbitant amounts of money on food (read: we're not big foodies, though we appreciate a good meal), but given the occasion we gave ourselves the green light. Driving north from Napa, we headed up Route 1 to Mendocino, a romantic coastal town in which time seems to have stalled.  With a population under 1,000 people, this town is built around one main street with local shops branching off the side.  We stayed in the Hill House Inn , which boasts traditional Victorian style rooms and is situated in Victorian gardens and native vegetation.  I absolutely loved this hotel and really wished we had more than one night there; I would recommend it to anyone interested in visiting the historic village of Mendocino. Mendocino is a cooler and more breezy than Napa due to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean.  So we bundled up and w...

If you prefer beer over wine, Charlottesville also has plenty of local breweries to visit. Most, if not all, offer flights or taster sizes of their brews and most also have food to purchase.  In addition to C'Ville-ian Brewery in downtown, we stopped at Blue Mountain Brewery for lunch where we tried every beer they had on tap.  My favorite by far was their Dark Hollow, a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout. Blue Mountain Brewery also had amazing  pizza.  I am a hardcore pizza fan (it's basically my favorite food on this planet) and was incredibly happy with "The Real Deal" pie that I ordered.  This easily lasted us three meals: lunch for myself, dinner in the hotel room watching the NFL playoffs, and lunch on the drive back home. My fiance, on the other hand, ordered their delicious "Creole Cuban Press" sandwich, which was composed of slow-roasted Virginia pulled pork, shaved ham, pepper jack cheese, and pickles. He graciously let me try a bi...

Okay, so I might not be the best food and/or dessert photographer, but I promise you that this is one of the best cakes I've ever made!  Even my fiance said it was the best cake he's ever eaten!  I had some leftover cranberries to use so naturally I searched Pinterest for dessert ideas and behold, OMG Chocolate Desserts' recipe for Christmas Cranberry Pound Cake fell into my lap.  She has much better pictures of this scrumptious dessert than I do, so check out her blog for a more photogenic cake. As many of you know, cranberries are tart on their own, but this recipe sweetens them right up!  Also, as usual, I made a few modifications to her original recipe to suit my preferences.  I used all-purpose flour because it's what I had on hand (just make sure to sift it well!); less granulated sugar than was originally called for; and heavy cream and cream cheese instead of mascarpone cheese, which I couldn't immediately find in my local grocery store. ...

While I don't follow a Whole30 diet, though I do try to eat well, I enjoy the recipes they post on Instagram and draw inspiration from them.  This is the first time I've gotten off my butt to make one of their featured recipes, cranberry sauce, just in time for you to make while you're waiting for that turkey to finish cooking!  It's incredibly easy to take and doesn't really take longer than 10 minutes. Cranberry Sauce Ingredients: 12 oz. whole cranberries 1 cup apple cider 3/4 cup juice from an orange 3 dates, pitted and chopped 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional) Dash of cinnamon and nutmeg (optional) Instructions: Preparing the pie crust: In a pot over medium heat, combine the cranberries, apple cider, and orange juice.  When you hear the cranberries start to pop, turn the heat to medium-low and begin to stir. When most of the cranberries are popped, add the chopped dates and walnuts and a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg.  Let simmer ...

I've been bouncing around a lot this month with a work trip, a short personal vacation, and everything else in between.  Like free food when shopping around for wedding caterers, yum!  But what better time to sit down and get back into the swing of things with a divine pie recipe just in time for Thanksgiving! Naturally this is a Pinterest find.  I was searching around on the internet for the cranberry pie recipe we've made the past few years, but it must only be in a recipe book as I couldn't find it.  However, during the search process I found this gem of a cranberry pecan pie recipe on I should be mopping the floor's blog .  Pumpkin pie will always be my favorite, but pecan pie is a close second and I love how festive the pie looks when adding the cranberries.  Plus they're full of antioxidants which makes this pie healthy, right?! I normally make a wheat flour-based pie crust and I try a different recipe each time since I haven't found the per...

I'm a gigantic pizza fan, so obviously it's one of my favorite foods.  So when I saw this Julia Child's Eggplant Pizza recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen floating around on Pinterest, I thought I'd give it a try.  Why not?  I'd love to learn another way to incorporate eggplant into my cooking, plus it's a healthier alternative to real pizza.  I'm all for carbs, but sometimes I just don't want all of that bread! It takes some time to make simply because you have to wait for the salt to drain some of the water out of the eggplant slices, but overall these eggplant pizzas are extremely easy to make.  See below for my modified recipe! Slice the eggplant into rounds of same thickness.  Coat each side with salt and let them sit on paper towels for 30 minutes while the salt draws out the water from the eggplant. Sautee the finely chopped garlic until fragrant.  Then combine the petite diced tomatoes, dried Italian seasoning, and dried oregano.  Le...

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 w...

I found this delicious recipe for Nutella truffles with Frangelico on My Baking Addiction 's blog a couple of weeks ago.  I had hoped to post this for Valentine's Day dessert inspiration, but didn't have the time to make them until the day of.  Valentine's Day or not, these homemade truffles are rich, nutty, and perfect for any time of the year. This recipe calls for toasted hazelnuts.  The grocery store had none in stock, so I bought raw hazelnuts instead and toasted them at home.  Raw hazelnuts have a dark skin, which you can choose to remove before toasting them or not.  I chose to remove the skins and followed a very helpful tip on how to peel hazelnuts .  It's incredibly easy to do and all you need is boiling water and baking soda. Bring two cups of water to boil, add 3 tablespoons of baking soda (the water will foam up), and put the hazelnuts in the boiling solution for 4 minutes.  The water will turn black from the pigment in the haz...

A couple of weeks ago a friend shared a recipe for this Butternut Squash and Beef Stew .  If you follow the paleo diet (which I do not), this recipe is perfect for you.  If you don't follow the paleo diet, this recipe is still perfect for you.  The directions call for the use of a crock pot, but since I don't own one I made stew the old fashioned way: in a regular pot. The first time I made beef stew (using this recipe , more or less) I didn't have the time to let the meat stew for a couple of hours; so while the flavor was great, the meat was still rather tough.  This time I let the whole kit and caboodle stew in a pot for 2.5 hours on low and voila, beautifully tender stew meat! After gathering the ingredients for the stew (see recipe ), lightly brown the stew meat on medium heat. Next add all of the remaining ingredients except for the mushrooms and spinach.  If you're using a crock pot, set it to low and let it cook for six hours.  If ...