My new obsession - Bragiole

Last night, I tried "Bragiole" - pronounced like Bra-Joel (ha ha!). To me, it was like Italian version of Beef Brisket. The meat was just absolutely tender and melted in my mouth. The handmade gnocchi on the side was just as delicious (yeah I cheated on my gluten-free diet). One more reason to love my favorite Philadelphia Restaurant - Penns View Hotel's Ristorante Panorama, not only do they have the Il Bar wine selection, but the food... Mama Mia!

So, as usual, after I find a good dish, I want to know how to make it. Here are some recipes I found online. PLEASE let me know if you hear of any other ones worth using.

Bragiole from Nassin Family Cookbook
Bragiole Al Sugo from Blogger

In other news, I am starting to realize that there are other similar recipes from other countries:
France - Boeuf Bourguignon (which we made for dinner Friday night)
Malaysia/Thailand - Beef Rendang (which I just sampled at Aqua for lunch today)

The common theme is beef flank or stew meat, then whatever sauce you want on it, boiled/simmered/etc until the meat is as tender as butter. mmm...

Drink Well, DO GOOD!

Where else can you get some AWESOME wine
and
do some good for charity?

Check it out!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know I've been a terrible slacker.
But
I have a good excuse (or set of excuses).
I was in Philly all last week - yes in that 20 inches of snow-blizzard-mayhem of the sky situation. AND I still made a trip to my fave wine bar. Even when those pansy-*ss cab drivers refused to come get me to take me back to my hotel. I gave them the proverbial finger and walked myself the 12 blocks (in snowdrifts) back to my room. Independant woman snubs nose at pansy Cab drivers in blizzard. yes!
The Tennessee/Grandpa trip was just Bootcamp for the real thing, let me tell you. Thank God I didn't have to Drive though.
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Good book I read on the plane:
"Are you there vodka? It's me Chelsea" by Chelsea Handler
I literally cackled and chuckled my way through the 3 hour flight delay, and the 2 hr flight to ATL from PHL. Yes it's THAT good. READ IT!
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ok so I know ya'll miss my recipes and junk
but
I haven't been cooking much in the last 2 weeks (too busy)
so
in lieu of a recipe.
CHECK OUT THIS HILARIOUS BLOG!
My Effing Cookbook
Enjoy!
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New York New York Day 5

Friday, November 27th -
Levain Bakery - a 6 ounce dark chocolate cookie with peanut butter chips, and amazing Coffee!
National History Musuem - apparently where all the Black Friday KIDS go. It was MAYHEM!
Gray's Papaya
Shop a Little
La Traviata Pizza
Morrell Wine Bar - Mollydooker The Boxer

The City of Brotherly Love

August came in with a "gust" of activity again.
Saturday the 1st, we dropped Matt's car off at the Mazda dealer to finally get his Aux port made available. LONG story and it's totally Mazda's fault, but in the end he is now able to play an MP3 player or iPhone/iPod through his speakers in the car. Yay!
I did a quick brunch with Ruth at Cafe Intermezzo, a brief visit from Erika, and then later in the evening we went to CosmoLava to celebrate Janssen's birthday! He surprised us by having a nice VIP area reserved. Woo hoo! It was fun, and I also got to rock my new one shoulder dress from Victoria's Secret Catalog! As usual, Matt and I ended the night with the dirtay nachos from Taco Cabana!
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Sunday was a bit more relaxed, and Erika slept over, so we had coffee and eggs on the screen porch and chatted about the previous night's activities. Later, we did a photoshoot at Erika's Spa Waverly. And last we ended the evening with a better-than-expected-comedy Get Smart.
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Monday was a hectic, as I finalized my packing, went in for Allergy Shots and Nutritionist appointment, grabbed a quick lunch at Wendy's, and finally Matt gave me a ride to MARTA so I could ride to the airport and catch a plane to Philadelphia for work.
The flight was fine, and then I got on the Shuttle to the hotel. I swear, this guy drove his 12 passenger capacity van as if it was a SPORT BIKE in NYC traffic. SCARY! Talk about bad driving, cutting people off, and hard braking. Anyhoo, I did get a nice little tour of the city from the backseat. AHH!
The hotel was perfect, and I had a restaurant recommendation for RAW Lounge, which was within walking distance. The OhToro was delish, and so was the Matsu. I recommend trying it! During Happy Hour they have $5 drinks also. Unbelievably, Philly was JUST AS HOT as Atlanta, and humid too. Yech!
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Tuesday I met my boss for breakfast, and then he showed me how to get to the office (since its kind of hidden). We did a nice lunch at Paganos Market, and then after work we checked out the Liberty Bell and Maggiano's.
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Wednesday was work work work and I ended up staying in and ordering room service (so tired!), but they DO have an excellent Crab Cake entre!
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Thursday was more work work work, but I did get off work at a decent time and then hopped a bus to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I went up the steps and was thinking of paying to see the place, but turns out I would have only had 45 mins before closing time, and they were still charging full price (bastards!), so maybe next time. However, this was the ONE of the nice cool days in Philly. It was a breezy 75 and sunny, so I took a nice long walk down the parkway from the top of the museum, and all the way to the City Square, then down Market Street to the waterfront. I passed by the Rodin Museum, Ben Franklin Institute, and many other lovely buildings. I finally came to a stop at the PennsView Hotel's Il Bar to have a flight of wine. They have a special system called a "cruvinet" - and can offer over 120 wines by the glass.
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Friday I worked from the hotel room, then hopped a cab to the airport, and whisked back to Atlanta again. Photos of the City of Brotherly Love.
Marybeth was visiting us this weekend, and so she was kind to meet me at MARTA, then we walked to her car to get home. She brought her daughter Catherine with her this time, so we had a nice evening at Season's 52 for dinner, and then later Matthew & I went to Gulru's Housewarming Party near Peachtree Battle.
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Saturday, we went to Goldberg's for breakfast, and then Matt went home to mow the lawn, but the ladies and I went off to the Atlanta Zoo. Why we did this in such ungodly heat? well, opportunity struck, so off we went. I'm ashamed to say I hadn't seen our zoo yet, so why not do it now? Armed with a cooler of water bottles, and carrying some more in hand, as well, we bravely sweated our way through the Panda's, Lions, Tigers, and Monkeys. LOL. Later, we met up with David and Matt for dinner at Chow Baby. Finally, we headed back home to view our photos of the day, and then finally fall asleep.
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Sunday, our guests departed (for the Aquarium and then the airport). Matt and I took it easy and went to Get Coffee for breakfast, stopped at Target to get Matt some nice new dressier/casual shirts, and then drove up to "Alph-Alaska" to see a friend who had just had hip surgery. She loves Prosecco, so I brought some for her (along with some St. Germain and strawberries for a different option). Awesome! Finally, we went back home to do laundry and relax. I made Spaghetti for dinner, and we ended the night with the movie Watchmen. I decided my two favorite characters were Silk Spectre and Rorschach. Both were played by amazing actors! Loved the writing too! Some scenes were a bit violent for my taste, so I hid my eyes and had Matt tell me when it was over, but for the most part it was pretty good. BTW it's a 3 hr movie!!!
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Finally back to normal (?) this week? We'll see.

lesson learned

Don't try to talk on the phone and open a bottle of wine with a corkscrew - at the same time. Just trust me on this one.
I got paged from work, I made a phone call, and while I was holding the phone between my shoulder/neck/ear - I was trying to open a bottle of wine with a corkscrew.
something went very wrong, and suddenly the top of the corkscrew totally rams into the cartelidge (spl??) of my nose. My nose promptly starts to bleed.
Thank God I didn't break it. wine is painful!
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no bruising, but Rudolph would have been proud for a few minutes.

Crick in the neck

Well here we go again.
This weekend (as you know from the golf entry), was very relaxing and fun. However, somehow, my neck/back went out of alignment (AGAIN), and I starting having neck pain on Saturday afternoon/evening. My friend the massage therapist - she massaged it on Saturday night, and then again on Sunday AM. The massaging helped, but it was only a temporary fix. The pain was growing and growing, and finally Tuesday morning - I couldn't turn my head to the Left without severe pain. This inhibits driving and all sorts of other things.
I scheduled a visit to my chiropractor, and he adjusted my "cervical 2" (whatever that is), and then rubbed a bunch of china gel on my neck/back area. China Gel is a pain gel (homeopathic), and it works wonders. I have a stash at home also for nighttime use. Anyway, today is WEDNESDAY and the pain is still there. I can turn my neck to the Left without much pain now (it's just STIFF as hell), but I can't get this lumpy-knot in my rightside/mid-neck to go AWAY. I also have pain going down my rhomboid on the Right shoulderblade. The Chiro says to keep putting ICE on it (heat is bad for this type of thing). I have been doing that, and it does help. Although it is hard to get ice to STAY on the neck and keep myself in alignment. I have to keep holding it with my R or L arm, and that means I'm using some of the muscles which need to stay relaxed.
SO, I heard CVS has some sort of neck/pillow/ice-pack thing. I'm on my way to buy one of those.
Pain suxors!!!
I can understand if I was STRESSED out all weekend, but I wasn't. I'm seriously pissed off (not sure who at), but why the hell do I have PAIN when there's nothing amiss? This is crazy!
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Well, it sure gives one a reason for drinking wine.

KY, Herring, & Spa, Ah-Choo!

Photo Credit for this amazing photo of Kymry, goes to My beloved Husband Matthew Lane of Zazen Photo.
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Kymry's Homecoming Party went off without a hitch on Saturday evening. She had a full spread of Norweigan fare for us to sample. Pickled Herring in Mustard, brown cheese of some sort, blue cheese atop white chocolate, Norweigan Milk Chocolate, Norweigan cookies, Hariboo Candy, etc. The chocolate was fabulous, the brown cheese was weird but it grew on you - tasted like a caramelly/peanut butter cheese. Pair that cheese with chocolate and I'm in love! However, I avoided the pickled herring like the plague. Yech! I am adventurous about most things, but I already had an aversion to anything pickled, and I am just now starting to like SOME mustards, but to add a nasty fish to it?? no way jose! I let the other braver souls at the party try it. They said it was rich, creamy, but strong tasting. I just smiled and said "good job for trying it" but I didn't have any. The cookies were ok, but I don't think I will run to the store for them. The Milk Chocolate was AWESOME! The blue cheese/white chocolate mixture was ok, but not my favorite. Kymry later said that they usually serve a "black cheese" on top the white chocolate, but that she couldn't find that here, so she got the blue cheese instead. It is okay though, people ate it.
Amazingly, this Fergie-look-a-like and one-time Miller Lite fan had actually graduated into Guinness and Boddington's Beer. Matthew & I grinned like proud parents.
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There must have been a good 50 people crammed into Erika & Holly's house and spilling out onto the deck that night. We stood and talked with people for almost 8 hrs. My feet were sore when I got home (even though I had worn MERRILL's!). Talk about a big party. We ran out of beer, we ran out of glasses, but there was plenty of wine and whisky, so the party survived. I started the night with a nice Carmenere, but graduated to Cabernet Sauvignon, and then a Malbec later in the evening. No I didn't drink all night. I actually had wine with dinner around 6pm, then at 8pm switched to water (drinking out of a Mason Jar since there were no glasses left and it was bloody hot outside (the one day all month it was 88 and muggy at NIGHT!!), I had about 6-7 glasses of water, and then got tired of being the only sober one there, so I had 2 more pours of wine afterwards. Matt and I left around 1:30am to hit Taco Cabana's drive thru for some nachos (our typical late night place), and then home to eat it. We somehow ended up watching Live Free or Die Hard while we snarfed down our Nachos, and while Matt went to bed, I continued watching it, unable to stop, and finally went to bed at 4am. ooh yes, I'm a glutton for punishment. Thank Goodness for the "Crystal Light -Hydration" - once again saving me from a hangover. :-D
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Sunday we slept in as late as possible, and then finally roused ourselves in time to throw on some clothes and go to Minsoo's for Formula 1 viewing of the race in Spa, Belgium. Considering this is skilled driver racing, Formula 1 still has a soap-opera-drama-appeal due to all of the interesting things that happen on-track and off-the-track. McLaren's spy Scandal is one off-track incident. Spa is one of the hardest tracks to drive, especially since it started to rain, and the cars are no longer allowed to use traction control. It's hard not to get excited when there is rain, because the likelihood of a crash or near crash increases and that's when the fun begins. This race, Hamilton and Raikonnen were neck and neck for First place towards the last 2 laps. At one point Raikonnen had edged Hamilton off the road, but then Hamilton swung back in and passed him. Shortly after this Raikonnen (who easily had 2nd place) spun out twice and finally crashed into a wall (uninjured, just stupidity). Later, it appeared towards the end, that Hamilton had won! However, just after we watched him do the "podium" and "after-race interview" Minsoo read an article on his iPhone that Hamilton had been penalized for cutting a chicane (the spot where Raikonnen had edged him off-road) and thus slipped to 3rd place putting Massa in 1st. Oh the drama. Hamilton is one of the younger drivers, and thus seemingly hated by the older-more experienced drivers. Several of the guys in our F1 fan group just hate Hamilton, but even THEY had to admit it seemed very unfair that Hamilton wasn't awarded 1st place. He ran off road because he HAD to for safety reasons. Did the F1 association WANT him to hit Raikonnen to stay in the bounds of the track? I mean it just wasn't going to happen. Oh well. Minsoo's living room was in an uproar. I just sat back with the other 2 girls and laughed at the men. Hysterically funny! I go to watch the men get all excitable, I don't particularly get all involved in the races. Although, I love to watch the driver's crash or almost crash when they get those huge wheels too close to one another. ha!
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In other news, I finally went through a bag of clothes given to me by a friend (her neighbor & friend had moved to Maine and left behind some GREAT shoes and sweaters, etc). However, unbeknownst to me, there was CAT HAIR all over the clothes. Also, I had the grave misfortune of opening the bag of clothes in my bedroom, whilst the ceiling fan was on HIGH, thus spreading ALL of the dust/dander/cat hair, all over the room. I am terribly allergic to cats, and have spent much of the weekend SNEEZING in remorse. AH-CHOO! To add insult to injury, the shoes and clothes were both 2-3 sizes too small for my gi-normous self, but I was able to give some to Ms. Kymry & Erika, and also saved a few gems for my sister-in-law. Oh all my dear sweet tiny-skinny friends and family . I really do need to go on a DIET! At least we will be walking all over creation while we are in NYC so maybe I will lose a few pounds on this vacation?

Labor Day - spent doing anything but

So how was your 3-day Labor Day Weekend? Here's a recap of mine:

Friday - finally got my nails done, toes done, the works. stayed home and relaxed with my sweetie pie.
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Saturday - cleaned spider-webs off the outside of my house and screen porch while Matt blew leaves off the 3 levels of roofs (rooves? roofies? what the heck is the plural of Roof?), vacuumed the house, ran to the store for some last minute things, then we had a few friends over to catch them up on movies they hadn't seen - aka Super Troopers and Beer Fest. Much German beer and various kinds of vino were consumed during the evening. we also rearranged the living room furniture for best viewing pleasure. we liked it so much we are leaving it that way for a bit.
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Sunday - slept in late, cleaned house, made appearance at a friend's pool party in time for some grilled fish - delicious!, Matt got burnt, I got a nice tan, went back to house to relax and cool off (it was f'n HOT out there), then went to PP for a friend's friend who was visiting out of town. I mean who needs a reason to go to the PP anyway, just go! Hit TC for some bean & cheese Nachoes on the way home. oh hells yeah!
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Monday - still couldn't shake my massive headache that I had all weekend, so hubby gave me nice backrub, foot rub, and I spent the whole day in my pajamas watching Gustav news, Family Guy reruns, and lastly "The Bank Job" movie, and ordered Chinese. It was a good weekend. yes the headache finally went away.
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Can we have another 3day weekend soon? I need another one. seriously.

Of Vino & Skittles

I like my vino, and I like it on SUNDAYS too!
Georgians cannot buy Alcohol on Sundays from a store.
but
We can buy it after 12 noon at a restaurant.
WTF?
CLICK HERE to help reverse this ridiculous law.
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In other news, I overdosed on too many Skittles today. Why, you ask, did I "taste the rainbow" in such a fashion?
Well it started like this.
~got a phone call asking if I wanted to get paid $100 to do a "Candy Study" - I agreed
~was required by said study, to go out and buy candy - any kind I liked - it would be reimbursed so no worries.
~I like Skittles - so I bought some.
~Study is over, but Skittles are still at my house
~Served Skittles at Mikamy Meadows Party hoping guests would eat lots of Skittles. They didn't eat much.
~Skittles still not gone.
~Tried to only eat 1 or 2 handfuls a day for 2 weeks.
~Skittles still not gone.
~Took Skittles to work today and put on my desk. Bad idea.
~"grazed" on Skittles all day at work. ug.
~came home from work, had sugar crash
~took long nap
~dreading another day of Skittles at work (yeah they STILL aren't gone yet!!!)
~Skittles = addicting and evil!