Summer Iced Tea Bar

I love iced drinks, with lots of ice. For a bridal shower, I set up an iced tea bar. It was such a hit at the party that I’ve decided to share!

 

To start I had 3 different types of teas in fun glass gallon bottles. I brewed a ginger peach, and matcha green tea with mango and passionfruit. On the table I set out berries, herbs and citrus. And provided two types of sweetners, raw cane sugar and agave! Guests got to mix and match their teas, sugars, fruits and herbs and create their own fun summer drink! I loved this idea and hope to use it again.

 

Dewey Beach, Delaware

Ahh, another weekend at the beach. I need to quit until June, all this vitamin D is getting me nice and crispy, even under my big hat and and umbrella. This weekend, the little brother, the boo and I took a road trip up to Dewey Beach. We stayed in an oceanfront beach townhouse, explored the streets, the beach, and the eats! (Wow, I am rhyming?)

Eating is always on the agenda. We walked over to Sunrise Restaurant where they serve breakfast ALL DAY (my kinda place). The service was friendly, the food came out fast, and it was delicious. An awesome way to start the day. We went back there the next morning as well. NOM NOM. I love food. Definitely will go back there for beach breakfasts!

After a yummy breakfast, we went to put in our flower petal order at Windsor’s and stopped by the arts festival by the bay. It featured local artist’s work, to include paintings, and sea glass and other beach-esque stuff. If you wanted to decorate your home a-la beach this was a good place to pick up stuff. There was a magician, pony rides and a moon bounce for kids, as well as hot dogs and hamburgers being grilled. It was small, so after making a quick loop, we headed back to our weekend home to get some beach time in.

(Vitacoco should pay me)

(Brother building a sand castle)

The water was FREEZING. Freezing enough for Sean to dare my brother to fully submerge himself for $7. He did it. Because he’s a bawse. After playing in the sun and sand, everyone was HULKSMASH hungry, so we got ready to head to The Rusty Rudder for some outside eats.
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After getting stuffed, enjoying the weather and the ocean air, we took a walk back to the townhouse. We gathered our rose petals, our toasts and headed to the water’s edge.

The main event for this trip was to put flower petals out for our mom, for mothers day/one year anniversary of her death. It was a nice little ceremony in the sunset on the beach.

I had a great weekend, how about you?!

First Beach, First BURN!

It’s that time again, traveling season. And with the warm weather, you know what that means, BEACH. Due to last minute changes, I went from planning to spend Cinco De Mayo at the Kentucky Derby, to spending all day (and forgetting to reapply sunblock) at the beach in South Carolina. Lobster red is not a good look for me.

My ride or die chick, Vitya, and I got back to the root of our nicknames and had our first road trip of the summer! Picked up our Jeep after work Friday and hit the open road. Traffic wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be and made it to Monterey Bay in 8 hours!

The forecast was kind of iffy, but thanks to Mom, the weather was PERFECT all day and we woke up to amazing sunshine and the beach waves crashing. An awesome sight to wake up to, not to mention free continental breakfast with our suite. YESSSSS. Breakfast by palm trees is definitely a win! How could you not have a good day with that kind of start?

We spent all day, reading, wading in the somewhat warm water, spotting jellyfish and fish, collecting seashells, exploring random pools of water, trying to figure out which bugs bit me and enjoying the breezy sunshine.

The rest of the day pretty much went like this…

(Hey Napoloen gimme your tots!)

Then ending the night with… a hotel fort!!!

The trip had to come to an end. So after another good, free breakfast (waffles, grits, bacon, eggs, potato wedges and juice!) we hit the open road again. And oh yeah. I got burned.


…yeah I am going to sit under an umbrella for the rest of summer. No skin cancer for me please. Where’s the SPF 110?

Thanks to the mini vacay, I am back to work, refreshed and excited for the rest of summer. Hope ya’ll had a great weekend!!!

Louisiana in Virginia: CRAWFISH

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Since my oldest brother and my dad moved up to Virginia, I haven’t been “home” to Baton Rouge in a long time. (But I’ll be going to New Orleans with the ladies soon!) My favorite thing about Louisiana is FOOD. All the holidays I spent there were.. Thanksgiving (food!) and Memorial day weekends (prime crawfish time) were based on food. Last year, I had an independence day weekend crawfish boil at Vitya’s house. And it was awesome! Grilling, boiling and just getting down and dirty with food and friends. There were also cigars and red wine for those that chose to partake. Pure summer bliss. In preparation of making that an annual thing, my brother ordered a real Louisiana crawfish pot and gas tank and this weekend I sent 30lbs of live crawifish to his house to do a trial run. OMG. YES. This is pretty much how it went down, in pictures :

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Live Crawfish

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Butter and secret ingredient that makes it burn your mouth but not your butt.

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Never enough butter in southern cooking.

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Stir enthusiastically.

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Taste.

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Enjoy!

Ugggh. The weather has been cold and yucky this week, which is a shock from that nice warm weather we were having before. I can’t wait until its steady with the warm temps and have cookouts and boils EVERY weekend.

Cookout Season!!

One of the best things about sunshine and warm weather is grilling outside with your friends and family. The smell of charcoal and meat in the air, a slight breeze and chasing after napkins when the wind blows is where it’s at. Had my first cookout this weekend at the condo and it was fuuuuun. I am happy. Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug

My second attempt at Kalbi (korean short ribs) and they were a hit. Which made me really proud, because instead of using a recipe this time, I just made it the way I wanted the marinade to taste like and it was a winner. We had short ribs, chicken wings, burgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, kabobs and chocolate cupcakes! Can’t wait until I can throw crawfish into that mix!