Spring Time in Savannah

Recently we were fortunate to have a visit from one of our bestest friends in the whole world. We had such a great time and one of the best things is that besides enjoying each others time we were able to enjoy some beautiful views of springtime in Savannah. All the flowers and trees are in full bloom right now and it's a beautiful sight to see. I hope you're enjoying Spring where ever you are in the world.

Thanks for the visit Miss Pea. :)

Scenes from the Weekend

This is what we did last weekend!!! White Water Rafting on a river in North Carolina, it was amazing. So much fun and I can't wait to do it again. I hope this upcoming weekend is just as exciting.

Soccer Parties

Just in case you are having soccer withdrawals let me post about a soccer party we had back in May when Inter de Milan played in the European Championship game (Fer correct me if I'm wrong) and WON! We had an Italian themed party since we were rooting for Inter.

We made Panini and Caprese Salad, had breadsticks and followed up the meal with Tiramisu sounds like fun huh.

Samba Flavor - Check them out

Let me introduce you to Samba Flavor
Samba Flavor is a small business (soon to be big!) started by two friend of ours here in Atlanta (also recently from South Florida like us) that is specializing in making Authentic Gaucho Style Chimichurri and catering events with delicious food made with a Brazilian twist.

They have recently started selling their Chimichurri at the Green Market in Piedmont Park and have had so much success that we are all jumping for joy for them! Chimichurri is a steak sauce originally from Argentina and when done right (like Samba Flavor) it's made with fresh ingredients. I've tried several different Chimichurri sauces and none of them compare to Samba Flavor's even the one's at my favorite Argentian Restaurants in Miami. I'm so excited for them and wish them much success in their new endeavor. If you'd like to purchase some of their delicious products why don't you (if you live in the Atlanta area) check them out at the Green Market in Piedmont Park or go to their website and pick up some of their sauce online.

Here's a photo of a delicious meal Fer and I whipped up this past weekend. We made Black Bean Cakes, (as featured in a previous post) Brazilian Cheese Breads and Skirt Steak topped with Samba Flavor's Chimichurri Sauce - major YUMMOO.

Entertaining: It's all in the Details

I had a few friends over last night for Pizza and to watch American Idol. We had a great time and it reminded me that entertaining does not have to be hard or stressful, that it can be very easy. But it also reminded me that it's all in the details. I picked up some delicious bread from our neighborhood bakery along with some yummy olive oil from Napa :) and set the table ready for everyone when they arrived. We had a great time.

Rosemary Foccacia (sp?), YUM.

A very simple place setting.

Backyard Traveler: A Day in Georgia's Wine Country

So... this past weekend a group a friends and I went on a day trip to Georgia's Wine Country which was designed by us to be a tour of some of the wineries in GA and a birthday celebration for Ana and I, both of us turning 30-something. :) I came up with the idea and created the invitation and then the plan was in place.

The plan was to visit 5 wineries and then have dinner at the last one, well the days itinerary changed a little while in progress but it was totally fine and I think even better in the end. It's nice to have a plan but also have the freedom to go with the flow.

Here's a picture of the back of the invitation and the winery lineup was as follows:

1. Wolf Mountain Winery
2. Three Sisters Winery
3. Frogtown Winery
4. Blackstock (we actually skipped this one because we spent to much time at the Frogtown Winery but that's fine now there's another one to go back and check out)
5. Montaluce Winery for tasting and dinner

All the wineries were great of course some had better wine than the others but they were all very nicely decorated and the people that worked at all of them were so friendly.

We had the privilege of being served wine by the wine maker himself at the Frogtown Winery, which that part made it really cool.

Here's a picture of the front of the Frogtown Winery.

Here's a picture of the vineyards owned by Frogtown.

inside the winery. They guy behind the counter with the white hair is the owner/wine maker.
We stayed at the Frogtown Winery for a late lunch, because we really were hungry by that point in the day. We had a delicious chili (both white and red bean) served with cornbread and Cesar salad.
Three Sisters Winery
Here's a picture of the vineyard area of the Three Sisters winery
Three Sisters Winery & Vineyards
Here's a picture from the Montaluce Winery - this one was really beautiful. Please notice that I posted a new photo album along the left hand side of my blog if you're interested in seeing more pictures from the trip.
I think this sign sums up the whole day, the experience and our lives. :)

Birthday Dinner

Some scenes from Ana and my birthday dinner on Saturday. We went to a restaurant called Canoe located in Buckhead and let me tell you the dinner was amazing along with the company!

Here's a picture of the smoked salmon dish that was out of this world!

A REALLY good Zinfandel!

Happy Birthday to ME. ;)

Happy Birthday to Ana!

We had such a nice evening. Stay tuned for more pictures birthday pictures to come. :)

Superbowl XLIV

Two weekends ago now we hosted a Superbowl Party at our place. It was so much fun because it was full of good friends and good food. Here's some pictures from the party.

I began the process of getting ready early in the day so I wouldn't be running around at the last minute all stressed out. Here's a picture of me choosing which bowls would work for each snack and getting them out and ready to go.

Then I put one piece of each snack in the bowl I wanted to use for them so I planned it out early and when the time game I would just fill up the bowl or someone else could for me the map was already laid out.

Swiss Jager. Very good and not as harsh as the typical Jagermeister.

The fridge was well stocked.

some closeups.

Ribs! I made these for the first time for the party that night and they came out AWESOME! Will definitely be something I make from time to time. Recipe to follow tomorrow.

Cubanito platter, since the game was in Miami.

Hamburgers too. Definitely was not going to run out of food

Yummy Guacamole.

all set up and ready to go.

aren't these balloons cool.

we also celebrated a friends birthday so of course champagne was in order.

some bubbly anyone?

I hope you enjoyed your Superbowl festivities and stay tuned for the Ribs recipe and instructions tomorrow. Until next year! Go Brett Favre. :)

Lazy Bear Lodge

Back in November the gang and I took a little trip to the mountains of North Georgia to go "camping". We rented a cabin for two nights thru (as you can see) Mountain Getaway Cabin Rentals. It was awesome, even better than I had expected. Our course as you will see from the pictures below we did not rough it at all we had a great time and for only two nights we brought enough food and wine to feed an army for a week.

Our cabin was called the Lazy Bear Lodge. So cute and besides us there were a lot of lazy bears in the cabin.

Isn't Fer's Jeep perfect for this setting.

There was a fire place and even though it wasn't cold we had a fire going most of the time.

We had our work cut out for us.

Picture of the kitchen, it was really nice. As I mentioned before I was really impressed with the cabin. It was so clean and had every thing you needed from bed sheets to cutting boards to wine glasses.

Here's a picture of one of the bedrooms.

A lazy bear. :)

Downstairs there was a game room where we entertained ourselves for hours.

This was the view from the back deck, something else, huh.

another view.

This was definitely one of the most memorable trips I have ever been on... looking forward to the next cabin getaway.