by Diana on February 28, 2011
in Life
After the most-delicious brunch ever, the day continued with more fun.
A bunch of us went out for Megan’s birthday party. A bowling birthday party!
We hit up Strike City for a night of fun.
Tasty cheese and dessert platters.
Plus a vanilla Dean & Deluca cake for the birthday party – a lil gift from me and Erica.
I learned that I am a terrible bowler. I had hands down the worst score. I blame my bum wrist. Luckily, I got some tips from a couple of the girls at the party and (though I really did have the worst score), I finally got 2 strikes for the night! Even though I was not good at bowling, I had a really fun time.
We had a really chill group out. Literally, no one was really checking scores. We just had fun throwing some bowling balls around and cheering when one another did well. We had plenty of granny and backward-granny tosses in there, btw. Oh yes. Don’t hate…they work! Fun times. 
And after bowling…
..we went out DANCING!!
I got home super late, but it was so worth it for the fun night with friends celebrating a special occasion.
Happy Birthday Megan!
Reader question: Do you like bowling? What’s your bowling strategy?
Happy end of the weekend friends!
I hope you all enjoyed wonderful weekends. Mine was exceptionally jam-packed, but so fun!
Here’s a riddle for you: What’s brown and white and warm all over? You’ll see momentarily.
On Saturday morning, I had the pleasure of enjoying two of my loves:
- Fabulous Food
- Being a photographer
My friend Erica “hired” me to be the official photographer for a special birthday event for some of her best friends.
We headed to Print Works Bistro, in the Proximity Hotel, in Greensboro, NC.
The inside of the restaurant was lovely – open and airy with long white curtains that reminded me of Miami.
Delicious Bloody Mary’s with crab in them!
My hot date.
I went for a mimosa.
A new take on salted butter.
As for eats, Erica and I are great food-sharing-friends. We decided to order a handful of dishes and split them all.
Life’s short. Have dessert first. I mean, they are on the “appetizer” menu. 
Did you figure out the riddle? The answer is warm, cream-filled beignets! They even came with dipping sauces – honey and chocolate.
Nom nom nom! These little bundles of delight were so good.
Can you believe four beignets make up half of the order! A full order comes with eight!
We also split a roasted beet salad with one of the best salad dressings I’ve had.
Erica and I split two entree dishes, too:
- Black pepper grilled salmon with honey-lime butter sauce, creme fraiche mashed potatoes and French green beans
- Pan seared scallops over black “forbidden” rice with beurre blanc and sauteed spinach.
The restaurant split these dishes for us, too and even combined them on a single plate! So nice!
The black forbidden rice was especially interesting – crunchy and chewy at the same time.
Everything was seasoned nicely and absolutely delicious. Could this have been the best brunch everrrrr?!
Anywho, I took lots of photos of people in addition to all the food photos, but I’m saving those to be shared with the birthday girls since this was a personal event.
Here are the birthday girls – Catherine and Sarah. Happy birthday ladies!
And a big thank you to Erica for the amazing brunch!!
Reader question: At which restaurant did you have your best brunch ever?
It seems we’re going to enjoy spring in February this year thanks to the strangely warm weather we’ve been having all month.
Last week, I had the pleasure of watching one of the daffodils in my garden open (almost) before my very eyes.
The daffodils are one of the mysterious plants growing in our backyard currently. It’s not so much that daffodils are an unusual plant…they’re actually quite common in the Carolinas. The reason these plants are so mysterious is because the previous homeowner planted many perennial flowers and other plants around the house and hubby and I are clueless about plants. As we’ve lived in this house for the last year plus, we’re often surprised by what will pop up out of the ground from time to time. The daffodils are one of my favorites because they remind me of home. And when I say “home”, I mean the homes I grew up in. Though we moved around quite a bit, my family often had daffodils in the yard. They are a sentimental flower for me. 
I think I’ve mentioned before…my dad is quite the gardener. He loves plants, nature, and just being outdoors. He’s subscribed to countless magazines and read (probably) thousands of books on the subjects. He is a wealth of plant knowledge. Ahh…if only I had paid more attention to his talks on plants.
I went out to the yard last week to observe the daffodils poking out of the ground and found a bud or two that seemed to be on the verge of opening. I figured they’d take a day or two to open up…
…so imagine my surprise later to go outside and find this.
A gorgeous, fully opened flower.
I have so much to learn about flowers and plants. As a homeowner, I feel like I should know more. As the daughter of an avid gardener and plant lover (and one who read books and books and was himself quite the encyclopedia of plant knowledge), I really want to.
TGIF!
I have a busy weekend ahead, but I’m really excited about it! I hope you have some fun plans, too!
I was WFH today because I had to leave early for a quarterly meeting and things got so busy with work first thing, I almost forgot to eat!
I decided to heat up some of those Mini Matcha Green Tea Banana Nut Muffins that I made recently.
I froze the leftovers and re-baked them for an oven-fresh taste without all the mixing and dirty bowls.
And I had a matcha green tea latte to pull the flavors together! A bite of matcha muffin followed by a sip of matcha latte. Lovely!
I think Bailey sleeping on the couch is the sweetest thing. I could watch him cuddled up there all day!
Lunch featured more kale from my garden just outside. Can you tell I haven’t been to the grocery store in awhile? lol
I had more udon noddles in the pantry, but since I’ve been on such a big matcha kick lately, it seemed like a good idea to use the green tea noodles I had instead.
In case you’re just catching up, I’ve had several matcha green tea related eats lately:
I kept with the green theme and also added the organic green kale from my garden, organic green edamame, and organic green peas. Plus sesame seeds on top. The sauce for this was super easy and only used 3 ingredients. I’ll have to draft it up for you soon in case you want to try it…which you totally should!
You could try my Tangy Tamari Tempeh Noodles while I work on this new one.
These noodle dishes are usually ready in 15-20 minutes and can be made with very few ingredients! Plus they’re freakin dee-lish!
I’ve always struggled finding good photos of Giada’s Everyday Italian kitchen (the one I’m using as inspiration for the kitchen in my home), so I just snapped some iPhone photos from the TV show (the DSLR wasn’t getting clear photos for some reason).
Just LOOK at that gorgey kitchen! *drool* It’s the backsplash that I originally fell in love with. Very The Chic Life turquoise, no?
After questioning the material, I confirmed with my twitter friends that it appears her backsplash is actually ceramic tile. Interesting. Does anyone know where I can find pretty turquoise-y colors in ceramic tiles? I’ve found lots in glass, but all the ceramic ones I’ve seen online are pretty neutral.
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Anywho, I left work early to head out for a company quarterly meeting.
And then I hit up a Bobcats game!
Even though I’m not the biggest basketball fan, I think it would be pretty cool to have season passes here. It would be nice to support a local team and I think hubby would enjoy it.
And did you know the Bobcats arena has a dessert cart?! YES! A whole cart of sweet treats. Nom! I had a slice of chocolate cake. Yummers!
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I seriously have one of the most jam-packed Saturdays ever tomorrow. I think I’m going to be going non-stop from about 8am to…well…let’s just say it may be a late night. You’ll seeeeee. I may not be able to post again until Sunday, so be sure to check my Facebook and Twitter for fun updates.
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Seems like I can’t get enough matcha green tea these days! What’s an ingredient you’ve been utilizing a lot lately (doesn’t have to be “fancy” – any ingredient!)
