Browsing Tag

party

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week 1/13/14

January 13, 2014

So I think 2014 is going to be a good year. I’m feeling very optimistic–it’s been awesome so far, so I’m hoping that trend will continue in the coming months. Also, it’s restaurant week in Charleston. Remember last week how I said I was going to start my diet? Yeah, that’s not happening. I have a reservation literally every night this week at a different restaurant in Charleston. So, there’s that.

On a personal note, this weekend was really exciting for me because I’m officially in a relationship with a really cute boy that I’ve know for a while (who said you can’t get out of the friendzone?!). So if you see me on the street smiling like a crazy person, that’s why.

ICYMI, I’m giving away a free Delta Touch2O Faucet. Enter to win now! You have 1 week left. Good luck!

“Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.”

–Voltaire
Not gonna lie, I'd totally party with Voltaire.

Not gonna lie, I’d totally party with Voltaire.

Events

fcupid13 at Mellow Mushroom

February 22, 2013

Every year on Valentine’s day, Mellow Mushroom in downtown Charleston hosts an fcupid party for singles or “those awesome couples who would rather party down than dine in an over-priced and stuffy restaurant.” I went my senior year with Ross and Lily and basically just ate pizza and talked about how Valentine’s day is stupid. This year, however, they incorporated the Walking Dead and held a contest via Twitter and Instagram to use the Dead Yourself app and #fcupid13 for a chance to win a bar tab. Which I won, because I’m awesome.

I make a pretty hot Zombie

I make a pretty hot Zombie

When Laura and I got to the party, the whole upstairs area was transformed into this zombie party complete with ice luge, zombie piñata (which looked way too much like a clown for my comfort), fake bugs everywhere (which I didn’t realize were fake at first and scared the crap out of me), a live funk-rock-hip-hop band, a zombie face painter, and pictures of people who Deaded Themselves on Twitter and Instagram all over the walls. It felt like I was at a haunted Halloween party, which was great.

Zombeeeez

Zombeeeez

Even though we left before the piñata because A. it was late and we have to be up early to work for The Man and B. we forgot there was a piñata–it was still really fun and I’ll definitely be going next year! Check out the album for more pictures!

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week 9/24/12

September 24, 2012

First of all, happiest of Happy Birthdays to one of my bestest best friends, Christine, who is WAY OLDER THAN ME today! Wooo! Check your mail this week, expect something awesome. But not too awesome. Moderately awesome. Wouldn’t want my present to be all anti-climactic.

Had a pretty chillaxed weekend, which was nice. Spent Friday on the couch watching movies with Ben. Saturday, I made these awesome apple turnovers that I brought with me to an oyster roast hosted by one of my coworkers. It’s against my religion to come to a party empty handed. The oyster roast was very fun, and I really enjoyed seeing my coworkers outside of work, and with their hair down. Woooo bonding! Sunday, Ben and Doug and I went to Lost Dog Cafe, and I finally remembered to take pictures of the Biscuits and Gravy, so expect that review sometime soon!

This week’s quote is about oysters and how weird they are. Enjoy and have a great week!

“He was a bold man that first eat an oyster.”
–Jonathan Swift

 

He was a bold man who thought that hairstyle was a good idea.

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week 6/25/12

June 25, 2012

So, I’ve been in Cleveland, Ohio since Wednesday night visiting the Italian side of my family to celebrate my cousin Naomi graduating from High School. That’s 3 kids down, 5 to go on my mom’s side in terms of high school graduations. I’ve got a good feeling that the rest of the kids will do just fine.

As it is with any italian family gathering, there’s been food galore. I’ve definitely been overeating (the food’s so good it’s impossible not to). I can already tell I’m going to hate myself this time next week for all the food I’ve eaten, but I’ll worry about that later. You can expect next week’s food quote to be about salad or something lame like that, I’m sure. But for this week, I have the perfect quote. I hope it makes you laugh, because I definitely did.

“The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you’re hungry again.”
–George Miller

After this picture was taken he ate both the penguin and the oscar.

Recipes

The World’s Best Lasagna

December 13, 2011

So for my official “Night Before My Last Day Dinner Party” I decided to make lasagna for the coworkers I invited over to share in the feast. I had all of these people to impress so I knew I had to do something more than just thaw out a Stouffer’s lasagna (although Stouffer’s is delicious). So I found this recipe online HERE and tweaked it a bit to fit with what I had and how much time I had to do it in. Here is my tweaked recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound sweet Italian sausage (I used Johnsonville)
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1/2 cup minced onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
  • 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
  • 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
  • 2 tomatoes, sliced
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons white sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
  • 6 tablespoons dried parsley
  • No-boil lasagna noodles (I used about 24)
  • 32 ounces ricotta cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • 12 slices provolone cheese
  • 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

  1. In a large saute pan (one with high sides, you’re going to be adding a bunch of liquid to it), cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 4 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

    Meat sauce done right.

  2. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with eggs, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
  3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
  4. To assemble, spread 1 ladle full of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Arrange noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with ricotta cheese mixture, and layer with sliced tomatoes. Top with sauce, and sprinkle with mozzarella and parmesan. I eyeballed this, so just use what feels right. I topped it with a bit more meat sauce and then stacked the noodles on top. Repeat layers.

    Noodle meat. (that’s what she said)

  5.  Top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Add 6 slices of provolone and cover with foil. I used non-stick foil with the non-stick side down toward the cheese to keep the cheese from sticking. You could do the same basic thing by spraying aluminum foil with some Pam or other non-stick spray.

    I’ll have a side of cheese with my cheese, please. Also, noodle meat.

  6. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving. I noticed that the cheese was browning a bit too much around the 19 minute mark, so I took it out a bit early.

    Right after I took the foil off.

    19 minutes later. aka perfection.

Needless to say, the lasagna was pretty ballin’. Everyone ate pretty much all of it. I made two casseroles full and only one little slice was left over. I laid out hors d’oeurves to accompany the lasagna, including buttery crescent rolls, meat balls and tomato sauce, and mini caprese salad bites (grape tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil on a toothpick).

I seriously could eat ten thousand of these things. So. Good.

Les brought salad and we all drank wine to go with it. We laughed and talked for like 3 hours. Probably the most fun I’ve had in a really long time. Plus the lasagna was delicious. Then I made chocolate chip biscotti for dessert. It was pretty decadent.

Biscotti is italian for “Cookies from Heaven”

I’m pretty freaking awesome.