Strawberry Fields

It is strawberry season!

I have always wanted to go berry picking and last year I had my first opportunity. The only problem was that we went at the end of the season and there was a very scarce selection to choose from. I have been keeping my eyes peeled this year and researched when strawberry fields would open.

They opened this past week so on Sunday after our Passover Meal/Resurrection Service we headed out to the fields. The strawberries were definitely ripe! Last year when we went picking, the strawberries were very small and we had to really search to find good ones. This year, the strawberries were huge and were everywhere! The fields also smelt so delicious! Justin and I each picked about a quart's worth.

Justin in the fields.

I thought this one looked like a hand.

Enjoying my Sunday afternoon.

Not quite ripe yet.

Sampling away.

When we got home I was going to make a strawberry themed dessert but I was just too tired. I decided to use the strawberries for another favorite of mine- strawberry lemonade. I love fresh strawberry lemonade. I juiced 8 lemons, made the simple syrup, pureed the strawberries and enjoyed a summery drink while gazing at my tulips :) The next day I made some chocolate covered strawberries. We still have plenty left and I need to decide what to do with them. Any ideas?

Yumm!

Recipe:
Strawberry Lemonade
*Puree the strawberries to fine pulp. My pulp was a little thick and almost too chunky for me.

Charleston

I have had a pretty busy track-out with lots of traveling. I started out my break going to Washington DC, then Wilmington, and I finished it up in Charleston, SC. One of my best friends from college, Rachel, was down in Charleston visiting her parents. I decided to meet up with her for a couple of days and had a great time!

I got in on Wednesday and we hit our first item on the itinerary. We went to Drayton Hall which was the only plantation outside of Charleston that was not burned down by Union forces during the Civil War. We walked throughout the grounds, checked out the Ashley River then took a house tour. We learned lots of things from our tour guide. Her two favorite words were preservation and symmetry.

Drayton Hall

Hey Rach!

R-Squared. We missed you N!

On Thursday we made our way to Folly Beach! We had gorgeous 90 degree weather and unlike my last two visits to Charleston, I did NOT get burned!! After the beach we went into downtown Charleston and ate at a local favorite, Jestine's Kitchen. I had some good southern cornbread, fried chicken and pecan pie.

We saw 3 of these.

On Friday we were able to Skype with our other third, Nichole :) We then took a chance and made our way into downtown Charleston. According to weather.com there was only a 30% chance of rain. Well, we had pouring down rain, thunderstorms and flooding basically all day. Our day in Charleston consisted of us hiding from the rain under buildings and garages. We did manage to go into a couple shops, get some fudge and check out the market. We also sought shelter in T-Bonz and got some food. When we left the restaurant we discovered that there was major flooding in the city, with areas that were near knee deep. Thankfully my car was not under water and we made our way safely out of the city.

Hiding out from the rain.

I had a great time in Charleston with Rachel. It was so good to see her and spend time with her. We had lots of laughs and I got some much needed girl time :) But I am so happy to be home with Justin. This was actually the longest amount of time that I have been away from Justin since we have been married. And I must say, there is no place like home :)

Tapas

Tapas are a Spanish-Style small plate/appetizer. Justin and I have gone out to get Tapas a couple of times now. The first time was in Washington DC last year and the second time was in downtown Raleigh. Since I've had some time off, I decided that I wanted to try something new and be more creative with dinner. Last week, I thought I would have a Tapas night! I spent some time researching different tapas and then finally decided on a menu: Churrasco Steak with Chimichurri Sauce, Patatas Bravas with Allioli and to drink: White Wine Sangria.

Churrasco Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

Patatas Bravas with Allioli

White Wine Sangria with Oranges, Lemon and Lime

It was definitely fun trying something new and having a theme. The food was certainly delicious, but oh my, talk about GARLIC! In the marinade for the meat there were 2 heads of garlic. Yes, 2 heads, so a total of 30 cloves. In the allioli sauce there were 6 cloves of garlic and in the chimichurri sauce there were another 8 cloves. My hands and the kitchen smelt like garlic for a while. But that was nothing compared to our breathes :) I think both Justin and I brushed our teeth twice, used mouth wash AND Listerine Breathe Strips before we went to bed, and I could still taste complete garlic in my mouth. Whew... it was a little much.

Recipes:
Churrasco Steak with Chimichurri Sauce
Patatas Bravas with Allioli
White Wine Sangria

Wilmington

For the past month or so, Justin and I have made plans to take a trip out to Wilmington and the beach. All these attempts have failed. First it was my eye problems, then the weather was too cold, and so forth. Justin has been pretty busy with work lately and working late nights (11:00pm, I'd say that is late!) We decided to have a marital bonding day yesterday and finally take our trip to the coast!

After the storms and tornadoes that ripped through Raleigh on Saturday, Sunday brought us beautiful skies and warm weather. Thankfully we are safe from the storms and did not have any damage to our house or cars. Eastern downtown was hit pretty badly, along with Holly Springs (where I work). My school was closed today due to lots of fallen down trees on the property, along with damage to the playground. As we drove to the coast yesterday, we encountered some areas that were struck hard. We saw trees snapped down near the freeway, debris in the trees, houses that were demolished and freeway signs twisted. Apparently 62 tornadoes struck down in the state of North Carolina on Saturday!

The first part of our Sunday Funday was to check out Wilmington. I didn't really know what to expect about Wilmington, and I was pleasantly surprised. It is a very historic, quaint, and surprisingly hopping town! We had fun strolling through downtown, looking at the buildings, houses and shops. There was actually a car/motorcycle show happening in downtown so it was very busy.

Downtown Wilmington

Wilmington Courthouse

This is for you, Jen!

We then made our way down to the river, and had fun seeing the different boats, including the Coast Guard boat the the U.S.S North Carlina. After exploring the city for a bit, we checked out Chop's Deli. Chop's apparently has the best sandwiches in Wilmington, and I think I would agree with that statement, they were delicious!



After lunch we decided to hit the beach! We had to make a pit stop before the beach though to Britt's Donut Shop. Britt's is suppose to be this amazing donut place. And as we all know Justin's appreciation for donuts, we had to stop! Then, it was off to the beach! As we all know, the beach is a very windy place, so we actually were wrapped up in our towels the whole time :) But we had fun talking, enjoying the sunshine and the waves and strolling along the beach.

Enjoying his candy cigarettes

All wrapped up in my towel for our walk.

Wilmington was a very cool town and I would definitely like to go there again and see what other things we can find. Perhaps that will be the next location for our annual October trip to the coast! I'm thankful for the day that I got to spend with my husband! Love you, Justin!

DC Day #2

Onto Day #2 in DC! Unfortunately on Sunday morning, I woke up feeling pretty sick. The week before we left, I had been fighting a sore throat and congestion. With the lack of sleep the two nights before and all the walking we did the day before, I think my body was worn out I felt pretty terrible on Sunday. So if I look very un-photogenic in these pictures it is because I did not feel well ;) I'm happy that I was able to trudge along though and check all the items off our list for the day!

We started off Sunday by walking around Old Town Alexandria. We had lunch at a cute little French Bakery. After breakfast we went into some cutesy shops and enjoyed the quaint town.

Old Town Alexandria

We rode the metro back into DC and went to our fourth and final Smithsonian- The Air and Space Museum. We had lots of fun checking out the planes and space ships and learning interesting little facts. Did you know that stewardesses back in the day had to be 5 foot 2, no more than 135 lbs., single and a nurse? To my brothers reading this blog, you would love this Smithsonian! While at the Air and Space Museum Justin and Collin bought some Freeze Dried Ice cream, which we all sampled and was surprisingly creamy!

New History Buff!

Inside the Airplane

Freeze Dried Ice Cream

While in the Air and Space Museum, I spotted 3 Cherry Blossom trees with full blooms outside! Once we left the museum, we had a little photo shoot so Jen could have proof of the cherry blossoms :)

Yay! Cherry Blossoms :)

So Pretty!

We then made our way to the White House! While we were walking the Lord answered our prayers and opened up the clouds! We finally had sunshine and blue skies in DC! We had our little photo op in front of the White House, then made our way to the Lincoln Memorial.

Not the best pic ;)

Thanks for carrying my purse, Justin :)

We then took the Circulator Bus to Georgetown. Collin said that Georgetown was too yuppie to have a metro stop! While in Georgetown we ate at a little pizzeria then decided to check out Georgetown Cupcakes. Georgetown Cupcakes is the shop on the TLC show, DC Cupcakes. We started to wait in line, but realized it was going to take 1 hour and 15 minutes just to make it in the door. The cupcakes didn't really look all the impressive so we decided to leave. We walked along the canal and hopped on the metro back to Collin's place.

The only picture he actually wanted me to take!

We picked up our car and drove to Crumb Bakery. One of Jen's co-workers recommended Crumb to her and I am so glad she did. The cupcakes were huge and so unique! I got a Cookie Dough Cupcake, which was probably the best cupcake I've ever had! Yum!!


After our cupcakes were gobbled down, we were back on the road to North Carolina. It was such a great trip and I was glad that I was able to do something fun, exciting and new for Jen's birthday!

Happy 26th Birthday :)

DC Day #1

Happy Birthday Jen!

Last year for Jen's birthday Emmy and I planned a surprise trip to Charleston. This year, for her 26th birthday, Jen decided that she wanted to celebrate it by going to Washington DC for the Cherry Blossom Festival. She had 5 days off of work at the beginning of this week, so we decided to have an early birthday celebration! At first, Jen ONLY wanted to go to see the Cherry Blossoms and wasn't really into going to any of the Smithsonians. Well folks, this past weekend turned Jen into a semi-history buff. She went into 4 Smithsonians!

We woke up at 5:30 Saturday morning and were on our way to DC! We arrived in Arlington, VA around 11:00 and met Collin [Justin's best friend] at his apartment. Justin and Collin walked us to the metro station, helped us get our passes and told us how to get into the city. We had fun riding the metro and were excited for our trip to begin. We started off by going to the Capitol Building and having our first photo shoot of the day.

Yeah Gorillapod!

Is the Capitol Building a Big Deal? -Jen

Excited to celebrate her birthday!

After the Capitol, we walked along the mall and saw part of the Cherry Blossom parade. We were going to go to one of Spike's restaurants (from Top Chef) but were not hungry yet. We decided to go check out the National Archives. In the National Archives, we saw the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. We then hit up the gift shop where I got a copy of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution (just in case I teach 5th grade some day!)

Stealing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution

After the National Archives, we made our way to our 2nd Smithsonian- the National Museum of Natural Science. We checked out the orchid exhibit, saw the Hope Diamond, other pretty impressive jewels, gems and jewelry.

Orchid Exhibit

Hope Diamond

Look at those Jewels!

Next was Smithsonian #3- the Smithsonian of American History. In here, we saw dresses that First Ladies wore to the Inaugural Ball, Abraham Lincoln's top hat and Julia Child's kitchen.

Julia Child's Kitchen!

After three Smithsonians we were a little museum-ed out. We had a photo shoot with the Washington Monument and then made our way over to the Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial to see the "cherry blossoms." Unfortunately, DC was hit with some storms and basically all the cherry blossoms were gone :( We did manage to find a few trees with all their blooms still on. Justin and Collin picked us up near the Tidal Basin and we were on our way to the National Harbor!


We drove to the National Harbor in Maryland to check out the Peep store! Yep, you heard right- a whole store dedicated to PEEPS! We had fun taking pictures, seeing all the peep apparel and of course, eating the sugary-marshmallow goodness.




Justin and Collin then drove us to our hotel in Old Town Alexandria. Jen and I freshened up and started walking through Old Town to find a place to eat. We ended up eating at a cute French Bistro. Jen got a Filet Mignon while I tried Beef Bourguignon. On our walk home we stopped off at Whole Foods and got some little desserts. We snuggled into our beds, ate dessert, watched My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding and were out by 9:00pm!!

End Day #1!