Hey guys hope you had a great Memorial Day Weekend! I sure did! We celebrated a lot this weekend, that’s for sure!
SATURDAY
Let’s take a look at what went down….So, where I last left off, I was in the process of getting things in our apartment a little more organized with the help of the hubby and then I wanted to pick up a book at Border’s and then we had to head out to my Uncle’s for his wedding celebration up in Commerce, GA.
I picked up this book at Borders, which I have been wanting to get for a long time – Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo. Can’t wait to try out these recipes in here. They look amazing.
Ani's Raw Food Kitchen
The hubby and I headed up to Commerce around 4:00 and got there a little after 5:00. We were reunited with my mom’s side of the family, many who we have not seen in about 2.5 years. So, it was a great time. My cousins were cooking wings and there were lots of food.
Food Table
We had wings, bbq, fruit salad, water melon, a trifle, chips, green beans, chicken-stuffed crescent rolls, my quinoa salad, pineapple upside down cake, my oatmeal butterscotch coconut cookies, spinach dip, bow tie pasta salad, chex-mix type of snack and bread for sandwiches.
It was a pretty relaxed event, we just hung out with the family and caught up with what everyone was doing and listened to past stories, which is always my favorite.
Outside Set-up
Outdoor patio area
Guys grilling out
Beverage area
We also had a cooler with beer in it, but somehow I missed that pic. They really did a good job setting everything up out on the garden patio and the weather was actually nice – not too hot or humid and a little breezy.
SUNDAY
I slept in a little bit – I guess I have some allergies going on here, so I work up early and had to take a Benadryl to help me, which knocked me out for a while. Once I really woke up and all the grogginess was gone, we got up and had some breakfast
I had another green smoothie. I gave some to the hubby, but he’s just not a convert yet. I also had 1 Almondina on the side – love these little cookies!
Green Smoothie + 1 Almondina
Bentley on the windowsill
Workout:
After breakfast, the hubby and I headed out for a nice bike ride around our complex and the neighborhoods around us. We probably rode for about 5 miles or so. It has been so hard here with all of the hills, which we are not accustomed to riding in Florida. But we pressed on, hills and all. It was a tough workout. We were looking for a specific bike trail, but the sky looked like it was going to rain on us soon, so we stayed pretty close to home. And about 5 mins after we got in, it started raining.
I also picked up some items at Whole Foods. This was the first time I had been in this Whole Foods, although it was here before we left Atlanta. It was huge! I am excited about shopping here because they seem to have a lot more products to choose from. Sweet.
Later on, we ended up meeting up with another couple to have dinner at a fairly new restaurant in Decatur – love their downtown – so many awesome restaurants and pubs! The restaurant is called Farm Burger and their beef is 100% grass-fed and the menu is seasonal and comes from local farms. It’s set up like another restaurant that we frequent – Tacqueria Del Sol. You walk into the restaurant, well actually, you wait in line for a while and then place your order and they give you a number, you get your drink, sit down and they bring it to you. Seems like a solid method. Here you can build your own burger, quinoa veggie burger, salad or choose from one on the menu. They have a ton of sides like baked beans, sweet potato fries, regular fries, onion rings, boiled peanuts and more!
So, I chose to have the quinoa veggie burger with whole grain mustard, pickled jalapeno, arugula, tomato, and goat cheese. I unfortunately did NOT get the goat cheese. The hubby got a burger and was also missing an item – his jalapeno so we traded each other for some. The hubby also ordered
I had a Breckenridge Vanilla Porter with my meal.
Number for our order
Quinoa Burger + Onion Ring
Onion Rings
Beer
One our way out of the restaurant, we noticed that the pots sitting outside the restaurant were actually growing jalapeno peppers – how cool is that!?
Home Grown peppers
After dinner, we walked over to the Brick Store Pub to have a beer. I had my new fav – Triple Karmeliet – so yummy and the hubby had a Malheur 12. We also all got a lesson in what a digestif is. We all tried Fernet-Branca and I really believed it worked as a digestive aid – I was really full from dinner, but within a few minutes of drinking this, I felt so much better. Maybe it was all in my head, but that’s ok too, because I really felt better. I need to get my hands on more of this!
Our Beers
After chatting for a long time, we decided to call it a night – we were tired. Once we got home, we pretty much crashed out for the night.
Before heading out to Farm Burger
MONDAY
Memorial Day! The hubby and I volunteered to host a cookout at our place. So, we spent much of the morning getting our place in shape to have company over. Even though we were going to spend most of our time out at the Sky Garden, we really wanted our place to look nice since we were showing it off for the first time.
We cleaned and even had time to hang up pictures in our bathroom, which made it look more like home. Can’t wait to get the other pics up. But the place looked really nice! I should posts some pics once it’s done.
While the hubby cleaned, I ran to the store to get food for our cookout. On the Menu:
- Chicken, Shrimp and Steak kabobs
- Grilled Asparagus
- Grilled Yellow Squash
- Grilled Corn
- Strawberry Cobbler
I started on the cobbler right away and used this cobbler recipe from 101cookbooks.com for this – I just substituted frozen strawberries for the cherries and used macadamia nuts in the batter. I also used Sucanat where the sugar was called for. And I baked in a square dish rather than a tart pan. After our meal, I served this warm with soy vanilla ice cream from Trader Joe’s – everyone LOVED it.
The fruit filling
Spooned the dough over the fruit
Then I baked for 20 mins and ta-da!
After baking
For the Asparagus and Yellow Summer Squash we just put some Morton’s Nature’s Seasoning on this and tossed it with extra-virgin olive oil
Asparagus + Yellow Summer Squash
Working on the kabobs
Kabobs
We packed the cooler with Beer and Wine and then the other bag held cups, utensils and other items for grilling. We headed on the top deck and left the food in the fridge until we knew there was a grill open so the food wouldn’t spoil.
Packed Cooler and Bag
We had to wait quite a while yesterday for a grill to open up – it was so hot too! But FINALLY we were able to grill and enjoy the fruits of our labor!!!
Grilled food
The crew
Group Photo #1
Let’s try it again!
Group Photo #2
After hanging up on the Sky Garden or our building, we came in and hung out in the nice A/C for a bit and then broke for delicious cobbler with soy ice cream and then our friends left.
The hubby and I took a nice 1 mile walk around the complex – we tested the distance out on our bikes on Sunday! After that we came in and watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs – which was a pretty cute movie. Then we called it a night.
We had an awesome 3-day weekend!!! It was so much fun – we were productive, able to hang out with friends and family and fit in some exercise!
Peace out y’all!
