It's been a while...

but sometimes something so important happens that you realize you need to blog about it, even when you haven't blogged in 1 year and 7 days (also known as 1 year and 1 week) (last year was a leap year, which is why Feb 28, 2012 was not 1 year and 6 days ago).

Anyhoo, back to the point:

About a year ago, a new bakery opened downtown, called Karen Donatelli.  It took me forever to get my butt in there, but holy ... cow.  Today I went for the second time and had the. most. amazing. chocolate. croissant. of. my. life.  And really good coffee to boot.

The croissant was filled with dark chocolate that was somehow melty even though the pastry was room temperature.  Like some chocolatier of the gods made high quality dark chocolate that melts inside the croissant while baking, and then holds on to that magical creamy consistency forever and ever.  And there's not lack of chocolate inside this delectable snack - not like those ones where there's one measly strip of hard chocolate that comprises about 1/80 of the croissant.  This thing is filled all the way through with almost too much (as if that would ever be possible) rich chocolatiness.

There it is!  Top right.  Feeling a little weepy just seeing it again.
Got the pic here.

OK I'm exhausting from reliving that experience and typing about it.  More blogging to come, maybe.

Road Trip Restaurants

We just got back from a roadtrip, and we ate at 4 awesome restaurants:

For a light lunch, we stopped at Madhatter's Bakeshop and Cafe in Durham.

I had a delish chicken salad sandwich, and the seasonal side was a cucumber salad that was super tasty and fresh. It's so nice to stop on the road and have something healthy for a change.

In Old Town Alexandria we had lunch at Fontaine Caffe and Creperie. 

We started with a cheese plate, then split an Italian crepe with mozzerella, eggplant, and tomato. Scrumptious! The decor was delightful...  the walls are a slightly shimmery almost-dark blue, the furniture is rich brown wood, the light fixtures have mini lamp shades with all different patterns, and the dark wood bar was beautiful.  Somehow fancy and sweet all at once.We finished off the meal with a soft and sweet and mouth-watering mascarpone and dark cherry crepe.  I'm drooling just thinking about it.

Another great spot we found is Pupatella Pizzeria and Friggitoria in Arlington.  Boy was this some incredible pizza.  It was fun to watch the guys make the pizza and then cook it for just one minute in the burning hot wood fire oven!

Their pizza is the real deal, with Italian flour, San Marzano tomato sauce, olive oil, and buffalo mozerella. YUMmmmm!

The last great restaurant we hit up was Ettamae's Cafe in Richmond. This place is soooo cute.  It's  small but has multiple floors and an outdoor patio.  We ate inside, which is painted pink and decorated with cute and kitschy old school items.  Each table has a unique matching set of salt and pepper shakers that I'm sure were found at Goodwill, and the walls have old china plates and blown up black and white photos on them. Super cute.

Since we hadn't had breakfast and it was pretty much lunch time, we started with a cup of coffee and a peach butter tart.  Umm hello delicious.  It came with raspberry sauce and whipped cream. Love.  Then I had a sweet and savory salad of arugula, peaches, pecans, and bleu cheese with juicy grilled chicken. So good!  It was dressed lightly with a raspberry vinaigrette.  I am definitely going to attempt to make this salad at home while peaches are season.  

PS: I looked up "friggitoria" and I still don't know what the hell it is!

When we have a car we can...

Go camping
Visit Nashville!
Visit Greenville
Visit home
Eat pizza at Marcos
Eat pizza at Ritrovo Update:  We hate this place.
Hangout in West Asheville (but we should bike there)
Dine in Biltmore Village
Buy watermelons
Go to box stores (for better or worse...)
Buy big pots and soil
Drive to work (my work!)
Go hiking
Listen to music on the radio (and NPR of course!)
Rock bumper stickers
Go to IKEA
Explore!!!!

2 new great places!

Last night we went to 2 new great bars. I love finding new places that are awesome!

First, we played ping pong at Asheville City Billiards (article), then we had delish sandwiches and beer at the new One Stop Deli Bar.

Sweet!

Hooray Produce!

I feel so lucky to have the nearby "Fresh Quarter" produce market. The last 2 times I've gone, I've gotten amazing peaches!  I'm so excited that summer produce is coming into season.

Also, tomatoes are getting better and better! Yessss.  I love me a good tomato!

PS: Some little tomatoes are growing in the balcony garden!  Yippeee!!  =]

Bad coffee is a sad thing.

Yesterday I had a delicious breakfast at Chorizo.  The food was wonderful, but the overall experience was dampened by the mediocre-at-best coffee. I'm starting to feel that coffee that isn't good is bad.  This particular cup (ok cups; I had 2 in hopes the second would be better) was too thin.  The beans, roast, freshness, etc. didn't seem to be bad, it was just poor proportioning. I like a fairly strong cup of coffee! I don't want to add cream and think Wow. This is now more gross.

I'm not trying to pay over $2 for diner quality coffee! Sorry, diners, but you often have weak, old coffee...and week old coffee. hehe  

Summa job

I interviewed at these 2 places today. Eek!  Wish me luck!

http://frenchbroadchocolates.com/
http://www.melaasheville.com/

What a weekend!

Well, folks, it was a 2 wrist-band weekend, so you know it was fun.  On Friday I stayed in, but on Saturday I went to Greenville, where I went to a baby shower and had some fun walking around the city (it was my first time there). I came back to Ashvegas for roller derby (wristband #1), then out to Rosetta's for a late night dinner.  On Sunday, Chris and I went to The Big Crafty, which was called The Big Love Fest this time.  There, we drank in the beautiful weather along with a few beers (wristband #2), watched/heard live music, browsed the craft stands, I ate a delicious chocolate cupcake with strawberry icing (I gave Chris one bite), and then we made a wonderful last minute decision to eat at Limones.  My goodness that was a good decision.  Their food is to die for, and we ended our meal by splitting a real treat: organic mexican coffee with tequila, Kahlua, and house-made, thick whipped cream. Mmmmm!

Lovely Greenville:

The kick-ass Asheville roller girls:

The Big Crafty Big Love Fest:

 

Some websites to represent the weekend:
http://rosettaskitchen.com/
http://www.blueridgerollergirls.com/
http://limonesrestaurant.com/
http://www.shortstreetcakes.com/
http://loveasheville.org/
http://www.coffeeunderground.biz/
http://www.blueberryfrog.com

Cold Creamy Deliciousness

New bad new habit:  

I bought a pint of ice cream at Marble Slab Creamery a few days ago. Oh boy.  It is delicious.  

Fresh banana ice cream with oreos smashed into it. So. Dang. Good.

And the price of a cone there is so expensive that you're either spending way too much for a large serving or getting a great deal on a pint.  Not sure which.

I heart pizza. Big time.

Seeing the pizza Katie got to eat in Italy made me think about how much I love pizza.

Here's a walk through some pizza that's become a special part of my life...

The pizza Katie ate in Naples:

The delicious pizza at my wedding made by Fired Up:

Pizza from Tony's Pizza Napoletana (that's Tony himself! He won the world pizza competition in Naples in 2007!), one of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco:

Another favorite pizza spot in SF, Delfina Pizzeria:

Tomasso's, one of the first restaurants I went to soon after moving to San Francisco. Love. This. Place. 

Can't go wrong ordering the spinach pizza, lasagna, and house red:

 

Pizza from Ritrovo in West Asheville. My parents took us there soon after we moved here:

And, of course, pizza from Sette Bello, where I bartended the summer before moving to SF. Sadly, it has since closed:

 

I loved my Chicago pizza at Giordano's during my trip a few years ago:
 
And more tasty deep dish pizza at Little Star Pizza in SF (and also their garlic bread is to die for... warm sourdough served with a bulb of roasted garlic. OmmmmG):

MMmmm.  I love you, pizza.

Tea and Turkey

When Chris and I went to Istanbul, Turkey on our honeymoon, one of the customs we enjoyed thoroughly was having several small glasses of tea everyday.  The people in Istanbul drink so much tea!  It was cool to see even fisherman on the shore with metal tea-making apparatus and real glasses. The tea is called çay. It's pronounced like chai, but it's not the same tea. It is served hot in these cute little glasses, and we drank tons of it, even on the hottest days.  It's weird, but you get used to having a hot drink when you're feeling hot.  Somehow it just works!

I loved this tea-drinking tradition, and the leisurely game that goes along with it, backgammon!

On Sunday, after viewing the very short Asheville Mardi Gras Parade (we're talking less than a block long), we tried the new tea house in town, Dobrá Tea.  We were so excited to find they served çay!  It was even more exciting to take the first sip.  It is amazing how taste can whirl you back to a different time and place. I was instantly giddy. Then I got more giddy.  Then a little anxious. Then I realized I was drinking too much of this strongly caffeinated tea!  

Bread

On Sunday I made spaghetti sauce and bought a freshly baked loaf of bread at the new nearby bakery, Modesto Bakery.
O Mmmmmm G.
I could not wait until the rest of the meal was ready to cut into that bread.  Fresh bread with room temp butter? To die for!!!  It was crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. We ate soooo much bread that night.

And now I'm having left-overs. =]

Mmmmmm!

I'm going here tonight: http://frenchbroadchocolates.com/
Yummmmm!

Something To Miss About San Francisco

Last night Chris and I were talking about beers we like.  I was saying that there are some beers I love, but only on certain occasions.  For example, once in a while after work I might like to relax with a Guinness, or on a hot day I might like a Hefeweizen with a lemon wedge, but I wouldn't necessarily want either in the opposite situation.  It made me think about San Francisco and the phenomenon of 9 a.m. football games...

Nothing eases you into watching the Hokies play at 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time like a Blue Moon with a slice of orange. It's not easy watching football or drinking alcohol at 9 a.m., but sometimes it's necessary.  You have to pick the right beer for the job.  One time in particular I remember stopping by one of my all time favorite places in SF, La Boulange, for a to-go order of their crazy delicious granola with fruit and greek yogurt, getting a cup of coffee, and then heading to the bar. 

 

Eating breakfast in a bar can feel awkward, but the day isn't going to go well if you skip this meal. A Blue Moon with an orange slice beside your breakfast is like completing the meal with orange juice... sort of.

Something To Love About Asheville

A few weekends ago Chris wanted to have biscuits and gravy for breakfast.  He wanted to make the gravy, but neither of us wanted to make the biscuits.  So, I walked down to an awesome restaurant in downtown Asheville called Tupelo Honey.   4 freshly made delicious soft warm biscuits to-go from Tupelo Honey to have with our homemade breakfast cost $2.16 and they included 3 ramekins of house-made blackberry jam!!  Love.

http://www.tupelohoneycafe.com/

We believe food should be celebrated and savored with friends and family. We honor local farming and the delicious bounty that comes from our Blue Ridge Mountains. We respect the time-honored traditions of the Southern cook, but we think our town is all about coloring outside the lines when it comes to fun, creativity and imagination. So that's how our fare is prepared and served.

Yummmmmm!