Birthday weekend

We had a fun, full weekend with my parents in town for my 29th birthday. Activities included cleaning out our basement, antiquing, golf, a trip to the University of Michigan Botanical Gardens, time with Matt's parents at their lakehouse, a birthday dessert with friends, and plenty of excellent meals.

One comical highlight turned out to be the root beer coolers we fell in love with. A few months ago I blogged about the Frosty Freeze up the street from our house. Well, they sell a drink that Matt adores called a Boston cooler, which is actually Vernors ginger ale (one of America's oldest soft drinks that happens to have come from Detroit) mixed with vanilla ice cream. It becomes a ginger ale milkshake and really is delicious.

Well, they also sell the same drink but with root beer, and my mom and I shared a small one on Friday afternoon. Big mistake, as that gave each of us about a dixie cup worth each - hardly enough.

What really got my mom thinking, though, was how on earth they make these milkshakes with carbonated drinks like ginger ale and root beer without soda going everywhere!

This never occurred to me, and I just assumed they had some contraption that took care of fizz and any soda explosions.

But, when we stopped by again on Sunday night for a second serving, it was still nagging my mom, so she asked the girl at the register her question.

The girl's whole demeanor changed. Her eyes bugged out and her jaw dropped. "OH my GOSH," she said. "These are SO hard to make."

She then went on to describe how precarious the process is and how easy it is to get splattered with ice cream and soda. You could tell she really appreciated that we had asked.

Then, she put her game face on got to work on our four coolers. I think she made it out clean.

Now I feel a little badly that we put her in harm's way ... but not that bad. In fact, I think I'll have another one this week.

Why girls bake cookies

I think all girls know that when they bake cookies, or any kind of dessert for that matter, for a significant other, they're really just baking them for themselves.

I noticed a recipe for nutty oatmeal cookies today and realized I had all the ingredients. Plus, we bought a LOT of local oats yesterday, and I was excited to have a purpose for them other than breakfast.

So I decided to make cookies for Matt. He deserves a little treat in his lunch every now and then, right? Especially since I usually smuggle away the little chocolate treats I get at Trader Joe's in a place where he couldn't find them unless he was really looking.

The recipe called for a cup of dried fruit, and I realized this was a perfect opportunity to use up some dried cranberries I'd bought awhile ago and hadn't used very much since Matt isn't crazy about cranberries.

Why I thought he would like them in cookies, I don't know. Maybe I thought the cookie would compensate for the cranberries and he wouldn't notice them very much.

Not the case. Looks like I'll have my share of lunchtime treats for a long time.

In truth, though, I really think I was making them just as much for Matt as I was for myself. I think it might have been a little subconscious guilt over squirreling away chocolate treats,which now maybe I'll have to share since he's not interested in my cookies. Darn.

Beans and freezer bags

I know this is a strange thing to say about beans in a ziploc bag, but don't you think they look pretty? I cooked up a big pot of beans this weekend, a 17 bean variety bag from Trader Joe's. Every kind of bean you can imagine came in this bag! I put the leftovers in this ziploc bag and I think all the different colors and sizes of the beans are so pretty to look at ... a cross between a mosaic and a spread of marbles.

I'm also a big fan of the bag they are in. My mom gave me this great little gadget that sucks all of the air out of special ziploc bags so that your frozen goods keep longer and don't develop freezer burn. For someone who likes to freeze as much as I do (just ask anyone I've ever lived with and they can all tell tales of frozen bananas tumbling out of an overstocked freezer ... but in my defense, a full freezer runs more efficiently and saves energy, not to mention food!), this gadget is a life saver.

Ideal weeknight meal

We've had Melissa Clark's Roasted Broccoli with Shrimp twice now (including tonight) and I think it is now one of my favorite weeknight meals. It truly is quick, relatively affordable, healthy and doesn't dirty too many pans. Plus, it consistently makes enough for generous leftovers, a real bonus in this household!

Summer road trip - Charlottesville, VA and Annapolis

Well, eventually we made it to Charlottesville, tired, hungry, a bit edgy and basically just ready to call it a night. My parents were letting us use the cottage they rent on Beau Pre Farm in Charlottesville and had even had an extra key made for us to ensure easy access.

Not so easy - for some reason, the key didn't work and we found ourselves in the pitch black dark. Perhaps Matt was secretly hoping this was his one shot to convince me to camp, but I had hotel on the brain if we couldn't find a spare key.

Fortunately, my parents' landlord was awake and let us in. Phew!

The next morning Matt and I drove northwest and up to Skyline Drive, where he began a 40-some mile bike ride along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park. He wasn't sure how long it would take him and just asked me to meet him at a certain point about 4 hours later.

3 hours later, I was in the middle of running errands and leisurely enjoying my morning, when I got a call from Matt saying "I'm finished!" Maybe he's a better cyclist than both of us thought! So I picked him up and we stopped at the Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton, VA for pizza and local beer.

Then it was on to my brother and sister-in-law's house for an extended play session with our nephew Tucker and dinner. Austin and Jackie have more squash growing in their garden than they ever could have asked for, so you can guess what we had for dinner!

At one point during our vacation, I got it in my head that I just had to go to a swimming hole. Just had to! Well, Matt had already plotted out a Wednesday morning run for us along Moorman's River, which runs through Shenandoah National Park and has numerous swimming holes. Serendipitous! The picture below isn't actually Matt, just one grabbed from the Internet ... but you get the idea. SO fun.

After our run we cleaned up, had a quick breakfast at the Bluegrass Grill and Bakery in Charlottesville and began our drive to Annapolis. Before ending up at my parents' house, we met Katie and Anabelle Roberts for smoothies at Robeks, which turned out to be a somewhat eventful episode, but you'll have to ask Katie for the details on that one. :)

Our time at my parents' has been full of fun, delicious food, golf, porch sitting, reading, and of course plenty of Tucker time - he, Austin and Jackie arrived Friday afternoon and it's been one Tucker-centered activity after another, as you can see from the pictures below!

Summer road trip - Lexington, KY & Asheville, NC

After polishing off dessert in Sidney, we hit the road again and made it to Lexington, KY in time to grab 7 hours of sleep before jumping in the car once more. Of course our morning wouldn't have been complete without a little breakfast, which we enjoyed at Magee's Bakery, a hot spot for young families, Saturday morning runners, and just about anyone who appreciates homemade baked goods.

As you can see from the picture, the atmosphere at Magee's was as appealing as its offerings - we whet our appetites on breakfast casseroles that had just popped out of the oven, a homemade honey bun, strong coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice.

But enough about our breakfast. I know you're probably more interested in our lunch! About five hours later we found ourselves in Black Mountain, NC, a quaint town just outside of Asheville, NC, where we were staying the night, and we were definitely ready to eat again. There are a handful of restaurants in downtown Black Mountain, but none looked all that appealing for lunch.

I did spot, though, a rustic little cafe callled An Apple a Day Depot that had words like "vegan" and "gluten-free" on the windows. While this caught my interest, I knew it probably didn't have the same effect on Matt. However, it really was our only option, it looked affordable and we were ready to eat.

Well, it turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. I won't belabor you with all the details, but let's just say I'm not so skeptical about the raw food movement now that I've had an Apple a Day wrap, along with "pink" lemondae (made with apple, lemon and beet juice) as well chlorophyll filtered-water, which has a fresh minty flavor. Do check out the Web site for more information!

While in Asheville, we did more than just eat, I promise, although I suppose many of our activities revolved around food. We had dinner with my best friend from college, her husband and daughter, who happened to be there on an anniversary trip, something we figured out just a few days earlier! On Sunday morning, we visited the Western North Carolina Farmer's market and picked up some juicy peaches and local honey.

On the athletic front, we took two early morning runs in surprisingly cool temperatures and tackled quite a few hills. We also hiked a particularly beautiful part of the Blue Ridge Mountains - the "balds" they are named - which afforded us some priceless views, seeing as how they weren't covered with trees.

Because we're operating on a pretty conservative budget for this trip, I must say that we were particularly pleased with our post-hike lunch - two generous slices of pizza and a lemonade from a gourmet grocery store for $7. You can't beat that! Our dessert that night - a Black Mocha Stout milkshake (yes, it was beer-flavored) and a lemon-mint sorbet smoothie even cost more!

On our way out of Asheville on Monday, we enjoyed breakfast at the Early Girl Eatery, a gem that Matt had scoped out prior to our trip. Fabulous! I had the Early Girl Benny, which is a grit cake topped with tomato, spinach, poached eggs, tomato gravy and avocado. Now if I could just recreate it at home ...

We also took the scenic route out of Asheville, traveling up the Blue Ridge Parkway for about 3 1/2 hours, which still put us about 5 hours from our final destination when it was all said and done ... a reality that was a little harsh when we wound up spending 8 plus hours in the car for a trip that could have just lasted 5. This gave me flashbacks to middle school when my dad would want to take the parkway for portions of a trip and I just moaned and groaned about how loooonng it would take!

Fortunately, this time around I tried my very hardest not to slip into that kind of funk and mainly just enjoyed the scenery ... and Matt was a trooper to put up with my brief spells of complaining!

Summer road trip - Sidney, Ohio

FINALLY! Summer vacation has arrived. Yesterday, Matt and I hit the road for a week-long vacation to Asheville, Charlottesville and Annapolis. Needless to say, there will be a lot of driving involved, but also plenty of scenery, activities, family, friends and awesome food. In fact, I have a feeling that the next few posts will largely revolve around food, because our meals thus far have been just SO good.

Last night we drove from Berkley, MI to Lexington, KY and stopped for dinner in Sidney, OH. We'd actually stopped there a few months ago when Matt ran the "Flying Pig Marathon" in Cincinnati. One of the things that I love about being married to Matt is that when we're on road trips, he's never interested in just rushing through a drive-through window or dropping cash on a tasteless Subway sub. He figures that when you need to eat, you might as well also get a good look at the small towns that make America so great!

So in April, when we were looking for place to eat between Berkley and Cincinnati, I "Wikipediad" Sidney, OH and learned that it:

• was the recipient of the 1964 All-America City Award
• has a park or recreation area within a half-mile of every residence
• is the hometown of renowned scientist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Lauterbur, who was involved in the invention of the MRI
• and features some unusual architecture for a small town, including the 1883 Second Empire courthouse

Now come on, don't you want to visit Sidney?!

But perhaps most importantly, it's home to the Spot Restaurant, a good old-fashioned diner with homemade fruit pies and thick chocolate malts. When President Bush visited the town in 2003, he even dined at the Spot!

Last night we actually brought sandwiches with us, and ate them in Sidney's courthouse square, while an Ohio State alumni band serenaded all of the senior citizens in the town, plus the two of us. Delightful.

And then, of course, we hurried across the street for strawberry pie and a chocolate malt!