This Just Made My Day!

 
  
Okay who is going to buy one for me??

Food Trucks Galore

I had my first "food truck" experience this past Winter at Hector Santiago's El Burro Pollo. It was hands down one of the best chicken burritos I have ever eaten. Plus I got to talk to Hector about his time on Top Chef! I was definitely star struck. 

Then came King of Pops and a number of other food trucks. I have been eager to try them out for quite some time but they always seemed to be in the Midtown area. So you can imagine my excitement when I learned that Tex's Tacos, King of Pops, Yumbi, etc. were going to be at the Buckhead Theatre Thursday night. I planned my night accordingly and hit the gym after work (6+ miles!) and then walked over to Ben's work to head to the Bhead Theatre. When we got there I was overwhelmed. Not only were the trucks that I previously mentioned there, but also Sweet Auburn BBQ and Yum Yum Cupcake, as well as other trucks that I didn't catch the names of (cajun food, hot dogs, and sliders). I FINALLY settled on Tex's Tacos and ordered one chicken fresca taco and one veggie taco and the chips/salsa/guac to share. Of course I HAD to check out the cupcake truck and purchased a vanilla cupcake with buttercream icing. Plus I had just run 6 miles, I deserved it! The only downside was that there was nowhere to really sit and eat so we took our food to go and had a lovely dinner on the balcony at Ben's work. Romantic I know. 

It was time to get down to business. Both of the tacos were outstanding IMO and had plenty of filling. The chicken was very flavorful and my veggie taco came with guac on it (bonus!). My only bone to pick was the salsa. I didn't really care for its taste and it was a tad soupy. But the chips were T-A-S-T-Y. They were super crispy and had a homemade lime seasoning (think Tostitos Hint of Lime but 100x better). I ate my cupcake once I was home and it did not disappoint. It had PLENTY of icing, just the way I like it, and the cupcake itself was fresh. All in all, a delicious end to the meal.

chicken on left, veggie on right

I am sad to report though that I just learned that a few of the trucks were set up during lunch today and were only a block away from my work. I could have used a sugar pickmeup from King of Pops.  I have now "liked" all of them on Fbook so I can be apprised of their locations at all times. I can't wait to try out the other trucks!

Dinner for Two = Lunch for Me Twice

For the most part, I really do enjoy cooking, especially when I have another person to share my food with! Monday night I made an easy but delicious chicken pesto pizza. (I forgot to take a picture after it was done and then once again when I ate it for lunch the next day.) I did tweak the recipe slightly, adding chopped cherry tomatoes and using low fat mozz cheese instead of fontina and I only put artichokes on half since a certain someone thinks they are disgusting.

When it comes to using leftover ingredients from recipes, I am HORRIBLE. I wish I was better at it but I'm not. I really am trying to do better which leads me to today's post. Instead of my usual turkey sandwich for lunch I decided to pack a salad using some of the leftovers. Now the trick was how to pack it correctly so that the lettuce wouldn't be all soggy by the time I went to go eat it. At the very bottom I put the chopped tomatoes and artichokes since they have the most liquid, followed by my roasted garlic and white wine chicken strips, and a layer of shredded mozz cheese as a barrier and then the spinach on top. Then when it came time to eat I poured a little balsamic on top and then gave the tupperware a few good shakes to make sure everything was tossed together. 

The result, pretty darn good if I do say so myself! With a beach trip coming up and many weekends spent by the pool, I might try to start packing them more often!

My only issue was how to transport the salad dressing. My tupperware was rather large so next time I'm at Willy's or Moe's I will stock up on some of their salsa containers, the perfect size!

Spotted: Paparazzi at the Braves Game

Ben was lucky enough to snatch the company's Braves tickets for Tuesday night's game. The seats were awesome and a great time was had by all. We were especially entertained by the folks sitting in front of us. The girl snapped pics of the players and the game the ENTIRE time. You would have thought R.Pattz and K.Stew were on field, I didn't get it. We then realized that when she wasn't taking pics, she was filming the jumbotron, I guess she had high hopes that she was going to be shown (which she wasn't).

Also, it should be noted that she and her gal pal (pictured above with the purple phone) each consumed one of those ginormous turkey legs. I was thoroughly disgusted.

Christmas in July

My boss just returned from a two week vacay, a Baltic Sea cruise (lucky!), and was kind enough to bring me back a souvenir.

 He knows (well, everyone knows) how much I LOVE Christmas, so he decided on this adorable ornament from Norway.  I cannot wait to hang this on my tree!!

Guilty Pleasure

As I have mentioned before, I have a minor obsession with "young adult" books. Twilight was the first (and still my fave) and then more recently I completed the Hunger Games.  And can I say just how excited I am for the Hunger Games movie?! I am obviously ecstatic for part one of Breaking Dawn, but the Hunger Games was something entirely new and I LOVED it. I was so anxious to get through all three books though that I read them so fast and was left with a feeling of "now what?". Luckily, a friend of mine suggested Divergent. It is another trilogy but only the first book is out currently. I downloaded it on my fab Nook Color and have had a hard time putting it down since, I am completely hooked. I also read that Summit has bought the rights to the book, which puts a big smile on my face!  The thought of finishing the book is bittersweet- on one hand I'm anxious to find out how it ends and on the other I don't want to have to wait til next Spring for the release of the second book. Hurry up Veronica Roth!!!

American Girl Dolls

I recently stumbled across this article, "What Your American Girl Doll Says About the Rest of Your Life".

I remember it was a HUGE deal getting an American Girl doll for Christmas and that I had promised my parents that I would take great care of her. At this point there were only three choices- Samantha, Molly, or Kirsten.  My sister had already chosen Samantha so I was left with either Molly or Kirsten. It was a tough decision but I finally went with Molly, I thought her glasses and braids seemed like fun!

So let's see how accurate these descriptions are....

Molly McIntire:
If you had Molly, you probably wanted Samantha instead, but contented yourself with Molly because you too wore glasses, liked books, were bad at math, and would concoct various schemes to get attention. (Oh, Molly.) If you were a Molly, and had a Molly (as opposed to being a Molly and aspirationally owning a Felicity), you were imbued, then and now, with an immutable sense of self. At least Molly could tap dance, which is frankly more talent than any of the other girls exhibited.

As an adult, you’ve developed a carefully honed aptitude for sarcasm. You've gotten contacts, and a slightly edgy haircut. You still sort of want attention, but you deny it. You’ve thought back on your American Girl Doll, and tried not to be too resentful towards the person who gave her to you, who so obviously associated you with the descriptor “mousy.”

Let's face it, a lot of this is true, with the exception of wearing contacts and an "edgy" haircut. However I still have Molly as well as another one of the dolls that you could pick out to look like you (basically Kirsten but w/o the fancy braids). I would have a hard time parting with them and ALL of their accessories, especially considering how much money my parents and my Mimi put into those dolls. Not to mention the COUNTLESS rolls of film that my sister and I used for taking pictures of our dolls. No, I'm not kidding. If I stumble across my photo albums of them I'll post some of the pics.

Friday Afternoon Snack

Having a Highland Bakery in my building is dangerous

lemon bar

Happy Friday?

Just looking at this picture is enough to cause an anxiety attack

Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs

I have made these for Easter for the past two years and they are always hit so I decided to bring them to Girls Dinner as an appetizer. Once again, everyone loved them! I wish I could toot my own horn and say that I came up with the recipe, but I cannot. The credit goes to Fine Cooking. They really are so good though so I had to share!

Ingredients

6 large hard-cooked eggs

4 oz. cold-smoked salmon finely diced

¼ cup thinly sliced fresh chives

¼ cup mayo (I used low fat)

2 Tbs. minced red onion

2 Tbs. capers, rinsed and finely chopped

1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

½ tsp. packed finely grated lemon zest

Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Peel and halve the eggs lengthwise.

Remove the yolks and crumble them into a medium bowl.

Add the salmon, 3 Tbs. of the chives, mayo, onion, capers, lemon juice, zest, and pepper and mix.

I could eat this by itself!

  Mound the filling into the eggs whites and garnish with the remaining 1 Tbs. chives and several grinds of black pepper.

YUM!!

Chef's Note: Since this makes a lot of filling I cooked 8 eggs, but only used the yolks of 6 eggs. The filling was the perfect amount and was able to make 16 deviled eggs! All were devoured.

Weekend Update

Lowlight from this past weekend:
Chelsea Handler's show was canceled last minute due to "the flu". I don't buy it.

Highlight from the weekend:
We FINALLY used my groupon at Zuma Sushi.  We decided on the VaHi location as I thought it would be a more fun atmosphere than the Tocohill location (i.e. in a shopping center). The weather was perfect so we sat outside and had a nice and relaxing dinner! We ordered four different rolls and they did not disappoint. If only I had snapped a pic of how pretty the presentation was. I would definitely enjoy eating there again, although for us to fit in with the crowd it might require Ben to wear skinny jeans and glasses, and possibly a tattoo or two for me.

Pinterest

My newest website obsession:

Pinterest

I may never be productive again at work...

Blog Update FAIL

I have become so addicted to reading other blogs that I have neglected my own. Since it has been almost two months, I'll keep my topics brief and to the point.

Friday Night Lights Season 5
I received the dvd set for my bday and am proud to say that Coach Taylor and the East Dillon Lions did not disappoint. I have no shame that I cried my little eyes out. Clear eyes, full heart, can't lose.

Wisteria
I ate here for one of my bday dinners and it was amazing. I highly recommend. Also it's on Scoutmob, even better!

4th & Swift
We dined here last weekend thanks to a half off depot coupon. Although the menu was slightly tricky to understand with lots of words/ingredients I didn't know, I think we ordered perfectly and the dessert was out of this world. A fun and trendy atmosphere, definitely would love to go again! (hint hint to the bf)

Memorial Weekend
We were lucky enough to get invited to Sea Island for the weekend. Lots of fun in the sun and of course the staple trip to the Tibi outlet. Good times with good friends!

Chicken and Green Chile Enchiladas
I made these recently courtesy of Southern Living and the bf said that it was his favorite dinner ever. Just thought I would share! I happened to think that they were quite tasty too.

Stationary
I've become obsessed with stationary lately and recently ordered some from Callie at calliespondence.  Take a look at just how stinking cute this is, especially the envelope liner. I know you're jealous.

Chelsea Handler

We're off to see Chelsea Handler tonight at Chastain. Shout out to my BFF Laura for giving us the tickets! I'm so pumped to not only see her (since we don't have cable I can no longer watch Chelsea Lately before bed) but also to go to Chastain. What other concert venue let's you bring in your own booze and food?

And I'm out for the weekend! TGIF!