Valentine's Day in Woodstock

Kev and I had the chance to spend Valentine's Day in one of our favorite places--Woodstock, NY. After our short time in NYC, we drove the short drive north to spend some time in this great hippie town. I made us reservations at The Bear Cafe--it was set in the woods and looked like an old log cabin, it was beautiful and I'd love to go back in the fall when the leaves are all colorful. I had lobster bisque, a beet and goat cheese salad, and carrot cake! Kev had a big chicken caesar salad and warm apple crisp. It was all delicious! There's lots of window seating, but we sat by the fireplace. It was relaxing and just perfect.

Friday we woke up early and walked around the town--it was a bit deserted, February must be a down month for Woodstock. We went to see Levon Helm's grave and found Rick Danko's--both members of The Band. Everything was pretty similar to what we saw the last time we were in Woodstock, but it's still fun to see. We had a great breakfast at Oriole 9 then drove to see Big Pink--the house where members of The Band lived and recorded their album "Music From Big Pink." I've become kind of obsessed with that Jane Fonda movie "Peace, Love and Misunderstanding" and it's all based in Woodstock, so it was neat to see the places where scenes from that movie were shot.

Breakfast at Oriole 9.

Kev outside of Big Pink

Cheesin.

The Chew

I had a pretty great couple of days this past weekend. Saw my friend Kate in Lancaster, went to NYC for the day to attend the Oscar taping of The Chew, saw Strawberry Fields in Central Park for the first time, visited one of my favorite places, Woodstock, NY and saw Mumford & Sons in New Jersey. LOTS of driving, but it was well worth it. The Chew was fun. MUCH better than Rachael Ray. The hosts were so personable, funny, and interacted well with the audience. It was their Oscar special so we had to get all dressed up--long dresses, heels, suits--just to sit in the audience. We were kind of hoping we'd get some cool swag for dressing the part, but we didn't. Kate did get her grocery receipt drawn and was handed $150 cash from Mario Batali! The studio was colorful and nicely decorated. Overall, it was a good trip! I'd definitely recommend going to The Chew if you get tickets!

Giving Thanks II

I had the most perfect Thanksgiving. I was off work Wednesday-Sunday which was AH-MAZ ing. My mom and I cooked a lot of the day Wednesday and Thursday morning. We eat at my house in the afternoon, then my sister and I head up to Kittanning to enjoy a second dinner with my dad's family.

We were crazy this year and went out at ten PM to go shopping! My mom, her friend Jackie, my sister and I all went out and made it all the way until 7:30 a.m. We had a little moment when we went to Denny's around 5 a.m.--falling asleep at the table, they were out of eggs, the place was dirty, cooks were fighting--basically a big disaster. We stopped at JCP afterwards and decided to call it a day, or night whatever. I slept great until about 3 o'clock, then WENT SHOPPING AGAIN! How that even happened I don't know. Good news is that I'm pretty much done with Christmas shopping. I counted up my receipts yesterday--sjflksdjflkdsf is all I can say about that. It's kind of sad how much we spend on this holiday when it has nothing to do with the real meaning of CHRISTmas. I do love getting gifts though--and for those people who say they love giving WAY more than receiving, you're full of it. I love receiving gifts too. I appreciate how creative people can get with their gifts--creative and personal mean the most!

Anyway, here's some of the deliciousness we had on our table. I made the pumpkin pie, brussel sprouts, and pumpkin dip--oh and the crescent rolls. My mama can take credit for everything else.

The pumpkin dip was super easy--here's the recipe:

1-8 oz cream cheese

1 container cool whip

1 box vanilla pudding mix (just use the powder)

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

2 cups powdered sugar

1 can pumpkin

Beat the cream cheese with the powdered sugar, add the pudding powder, spices and pumpkin pie mix. Fold in the cool whip. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Serve with graham crackers!

Allegheny Green & Innovation Festival

Yesterday I had the largest event I've ever planned in my life--and I've done a lot of event planning! It was the 3rd Annual Allegheny Green & Innovation Festival in conjunction with Hartwood Acres Hay Day. It's an event put on by Allegheny County to help promote the importance and convenience of going green and to educate families on how to become more sustainable in every day life. Hay Day is a fall, family festival with tons of free kid's activities. Together, the event saw about 9,000 people come throughout the day! 

Not trying to toot my own horn, but the day was pretty amazing. We had over 80 green & innovation exhibitors providing information and interactive demonstrations, the I Made It! Market coordinated the craft vendors who all used recycled, repurposed and organic materials, 8 sustainable food vendors, and 15 children's activities including face painting, a fire truck, balloon art, trackless train, petting zoo and much more. The entire event was powered by solar power from the guys at Zero Fossil and Zero Waste helped make it a no-waste event!

It's really a great event for people of all ages, and best of all it's free! I'm already anxious to get started planning for next year. As I was walking around I had to keep jotting new ideas down and changes for next year. Since Allegheny County doesn't have an official "county fair" I like to tell people that this is our take on a county fair--with a modern twist! Here are some pictures of the event. If you want more information, visit the Allegheny County Green website here.

I want to thank everyone who came out and supported me today! I appreciate it more than you know! I'm lucky to be blessed with such great people in my life!

Yum.

I've been pretty proud of the meals and appetizers I've been making--many are thanks to Pinterest, of course, and some are remakes of delicious meals I've had at restaurants. But one thing they've all been--is so super easy to make! Here are a few of my favorites:

Caprese Bites

What:
1 package baby tomatoes         Salt
Fresh basil                                   Pepper
Fresh mozzarella                      Olive Oil

How:
Cut the tomatoes in half, pull apart the basil into small pieces, and cube the mozzarella. Put each piece together on a skewer or tooth pick. Lay on the tray and sprinkle the salt and pepper then drizzle with olive oil! I also had a little side of good balsamic to dip!

Cucumber Crab Bites

What:
2 long cucumbers                Salt
3/4 cup crab                           Pepper
1/4 cup sour cream              2 tsp Sriracha sauce (or more if you like heat)
1/4 cup cream cheese          Paprika

How:

Peel and slice the cucumbers to about half an inch circles. Shred the crab--I didn't shred it too much because I wanted to taste the chunks of crab. Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, Sriracha, salt, pepper and crab. With a spoon, scoop out the seeds of the cucumbers. Place a spoonful of the crab mix right on top. I sprinkled the paprika right on top and added some extra crab!

Bang Bang Shrimp (Bonefish Grille)

What:
1/2 pound shrimp (or more depending on how many you're feeding)
1 cup Panko bread crumbs                   1 egg                                 4 tsp Sriracha sauce
1 cup flour                                               1/2 cup milk                      Salt/Pepper
1 tsp garlic powder                               3/4 cup mayonaise            2 tsp sugar

How:

Mix the mayo, Sriracha, salt, pepper, and sugar together and set aside. Mix the egg and milk in one bowl, and the Panko, flour, garlic powder in another. Make sure your shrimp and clean and de-vained and have the tails cut off. Dip the shrimp in the flour mix, then the egg, then back in the flour. Let them sit on a plate in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Heat up your oil. Each shrimp only takes about 2 minutes to cook. Lay them back onto a plate with a paper towel. While they're warm, toss them in the bowl with your sauce to completely coat. Garnish with green onions!

Lancaster

A couple weeks ago I spent the weekend in the land of the Amish--Lancaster, PA. I was surrounded by farms, horse and buggies, lots of fresh veggies, and the towns of "Bird-In-Hand" and "Intercourse." Ok, it's also the land of my best friend, Kaitlyn.

I got to spend a few days with her which is always nice since we really don't see each other enough. One of my favorite bands, Dawes, performed Sunday night at a free concert series at Long's Park. They were amazing as always, and the venue was beautiful.

Monday was spent doing the typical touristy things in Lancaster. I've been there many times before, however never really stopped in any of the towns or villages. We had lunch at the most amazing little place, the Tomato Pie Cafe. Let me tell you--if you're ever in Lancaster or even near there you have to go to this place. We had the most delicious roasted red hummus platter, then I had the beet and goat cheese salad and Kate had a sweet potato and mascarpone sandwich. We spent the rest of the day visiting the old Wilbur Chocolate factory, the Jam & Relish Kitchen, a little petting zoo and many other shops and restaurants.

It really was a perfect little weekend.

Dawes.

Tomato Pie Cafe

This little guy was too cute.