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Thinking Out Loud: Duck, Duck, VEGAN!

Posted on April 3, 2014 by kissmybroccoli

Hey there my little Broccoli bites!

I’ve got a lot on my mind today so howabouts we just get to it, mmkay?

The weather has been FANTASTIC this week! I’m really hoping it carries on into the weekend so I can fully enjoy it, but I did squeeze in a little time before work the other day for a nice walk at the park.

And look, baby geese! Aren’t they cute…um, even though they’d peck out your eyes in a heartbeat??

Yesterday morning, when I got off work, I went home, took a Benedryl and slept for EIGHT HOURS! But the best part was when I woke up, I actually felt rested…something that hasn’t happened in over a week! Please join me in standing in my chair and praising the heavens! 😉

And speaking of things I’ve been missing…hot yoga! I haven’t been since LAST Sunday and I can definitely tell a difference! I wanted to go before leaving for Atlanta, but ended up waiting too late and all the classes were booked up. *womp womp* This week, I’m not taking any chances…I’ve had my spot reserved for tonight’s class for four days!

Because let’s face it, kitchen floor yoga just isn’t the same…even WITH the sparkles!

And here’s hoping that tonight’s zen will be the ticket to another good night’s sleep because tomorrow…I signed up for an extra shift…on DAYS!! 😯 Omg, am I crazy??? Wish me luck!

You know how I mentioned the drunken pact I made to do a hardcore cleanse? Welllllll, I may be a quitter, but I’m never one to back down from a challenge! So, while I no intention of doing the FULL program, I have decided to try it out for a few days. My system has been out of whack for weeks now…bloating, irregularity, acne…so I figure it’s worth a try. And I have to say, it IS helping me get a bit of my kitchen mojo back!

Massaged Kale Salad with B.Nutt Squash & Peas

That would be a massaged kale salad (just for you, Arman) topped with peas and the butternut squash that my parents bought me forrrrrrrrr MY BIRTHDAY! Yeah, I’ve had that baby on my counter since December! 😯

And I even experimented a bit and whipped up a little lentil dish in no time…I still need to work on the spices before sharing, but I think a certain German blend of mine would be very proud! 😀

Like I said, I don’t plan on doing this for long and if I have a craving for something that I believe to be my body asking for certain nutrition (read: eggs), then I have every intention on fulfilling that craving. Plus, I came home from Atlanta with quite the dairy-haul from the Buford Highway Farmer’s Market…

So I figure, it’s only a matter of time! 😉

Be sure to hop on over to Spoons, give a shout-out to our amazingly random hostess, and check out all the other awesome linkups!

What’s on YOUR mind today?

Posted in Thinking Out Loud | Tagged cheese, farmers' market, kale, kitchen mojo, lentils, park, yoga, yogurt | 32 Comments

Atlanta Food Porn & #YOLO

Posted on April 2, 2014 by kissmybroccoli

And so it is Wednesday.

And on Wednesday, we talk about food, right Jenn? I know I said that this past weekend was so much more, but what kind of food blogger would I be not to showcase some of the amazing eats Laura introduced me to while in Atlanta? And even if my wine-clouded memory doesn’t serve me so well, I’ve still got pics that are burning a hole in my ~~pocket~~ computer! 😉

We started the weekend right with a meal at Chateau de Saigon, a Vietnamese restaurant in Atlanta that I kid you not has a TEN PAGE menu! I’ve already waxed poetic about this sweet and sour soup so I won’t repeat myself…oh YES I WILL! You guyyyyyys, it was amazing! I could’ve eaten the entire pot (that was seriously the size of a small child). Good news is, the lovely Sarah with her amazing multicultural abilities did mention she might attempt to recreate this beauty. Now I just need to go all Fun with Dick & Jane and steal me some elephant ear plants from the church up the street. Don’t worry, God will forgive me…it’s for a good cause! 😉

Luckily (surprisingly?) I was able to practice some restraint and only served myself up a little bowl because the entree that Laura and I ended up sharing was a thing of beauty!

When we checked the reviews online (because of course we were Googling stuff trying to figure out what it was! Ha!), the Shaken Beef came highly recommended…and it did NOT disappoint! Juicy bits of filet mignon sautéed with scallions and onions and simmered in some sort of soy-based sauce that was incredible…and the pickled cabbage and carrots were pretty damn tasty too!

We also ordered a side of “burnt” rice. Though I’m not a big fan of rice, after hearing Laura describe it (and knowing she’s not a big fan either), I couldn’t help my curiosity. Verdict? Umm, it tasted like burnt popcorn! Haha!

But as delicious as this dinner was, it doesn’t even BEGIN to compare to what went down on Saturday night!

After picking up Sarah and “The Professor”, we met up with Sarena and her husband, Tony aka “The Illustrator” at Brick Store Pub where it literally took me TWENTY minutes to make a drink selection (seriously, the bottle menu was about 20 pages AND leather bound…they don’t play around with beer here, folks!!). Later on that night, we made our way down the street to No. 246 for dinner. It was a bit of a wait, so we decided to order some appetizers (and wine) to help pass the time.

Toasts with meats: Prosciutto (I STILL can’t spell that right on the first try!), sausage, and bresaola and cheeses: a pecorino and two types of goat cheeses. It also came with some ahhhhh-mazing balsamic-glazed onions, mustard, and pickles which are on the other side of Sarena’s salad…

Arugula topped with strawberries, dates, marcona almonds, dressed with balsamic. It also came with chevre but they gladly omitted it for our Non-Dairy Queen! 🙂

And did I mention that we ordered some wine?

It ended up being every bit of the hour-long wait we were told, but honestly with the good food and the good company (and the bottle of wine), time flew by! Once we were seated, we met Neil, our waiter, entertainer, the target for drunken flirting for the evening. 😉

Laura and I ordered the house special to share: S-shaped pasta topped with ground octopus (yeah, I was JUST as intrigued!), breadcrumbs, and some green stuff. Honestly, I was pretty underwhelmed with this dish and I can’t remember what Laura thought, but the next thing I know, I’m looking at THIS…

That my friends would be agnolotti pasta with PORK BELLY, candied kumquat, and chives(?)…yeah, I’m pretty sure those are chives! All I remember is literally having to catch my breath after the first bite! Let it be known, I am editing my previous claim of never being a fan of pasta because I am totally a fan of (and would make love to) HOMEMADE pasta…especially when there’s BACON!!

The rest of the night was a whirlwind of laughs, cheers, and a vague recollection of having “breakfast” at Waffle House. Basically…one HELL of a night! I may have paid for it the next day when I had to go to WORK 😯 , but hey, you only live once right?

Be sure to hop on over to Peas & Crayons and check out all the other food-loving link ups today, but I’ll doubt they’ll be able to compete with all this food porn! 😉

What’s the best thing you ate last weekend?

Posted in Restaurant Review, What I Ate Wednesday | Tagged Atlanta, blends, Italian, pasta, pork belly, soup, Vietnamese, wine | 20 Comments

A Weekend Beyond WORLDS!

Posted on March 31, 2014 by kissmybroccoli

Happy Monday, loverlies!

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! If you caught Friday’s post, then you know I was feeling a bit rebellious and kept a couple of exciting things from you. But today? Today is all about the reveal…and a MARVELOUS reveal it will be! 😀

It started with a trip through the Tennessee mountains…

As I drove further and further south, little bits of spring were popping up everywhere! Can you spot the red bud trees?

It was such an incredible view that I almost didn’t notice the blatant act of taunting going on in front of me. Well played Pilot, well-played!

But WHERE was I going?

Well, I thought I had literally stepped foot in Vietnam once I tasted this out-of-this-world sweet and sour soup with tamarind, shrimp, and elephant ear shoots. Did you even know you could eat those…I didn’t! They’re delicious…kinda like celery but sweeter!

But we can’t forget the moment where I was seduced by a tall, dark, and ~~handsome~~ chocolate Argentinian lover!

Right before scooting on over to “crispy” Korea…

Then I was carried away by Belgian elves…

Who somehow got me lost in Italy…

Where I finally found my friends…

Or more specifically, MY BLENDS!

Yep, that’s right, my spontaneous streak came out yet again! After hearing Sarah was going to be popping into Atlanta over her spring break and knowing that Laura would be in FULL hostess with the MOSTEST mode, I started entertaining the idea of tagging along this weekend. Then once I found out Sarena was going to be making a grand appearance, well, my bag was already packed!

We wined, we dined, and we wined some more 😉 and we had the MOST fun…even when we LITERALLY sweated our booties off at glute camp on Saturday morning!

See? All gone!

But seriously, one of the BEST workouts I’ve had in forever with ladies who not only motivate me, but inspire me as well!

But it wasn’t just about the eating, the shopping, and our glowing glutes. It was about connecting and REconnecting, sharing our passions, being adventurous, cracking “that’s what she said” jokes, and agreeing to do a hardcore cleanse after one too many ~~bottles~~ ~~glasses~~ bottles of wine! 😯

If you could live ANYWHERE in the world, where would it be?

What did you do this weekend?