shaking it, sandwich and a little soul

I am so digging this Kanye song.  Like I can't keep from bouncing around in my chair and bobbing my head.  Which would be fine if I weren't in a coffee shop.  I probably look like I have a bad case of caffeine overload.

I wanna say this.  What the heck is up with the dancing people in this video?  I'm not a fan.  Good song though.  Wouldn't we all rather see Kim Kardashian dancing around?  Just saying. 

I'm checking out a new coffee shop today, Coffee To a Tea in downtown Greenville.  They are the go-to gluten free bakery and coffee shop in town, and rightly so.  Their brownie is off the chain good. (Hey mom! Got you one too!) It was all I could do not to rip into it before I touched my sandwich.  A Pimento Cheese on Tomato Bread. Super yum, but really heavy and greasy so I only ate part of it and then demolished the rest of the bread.  And it comes with a pickled Asparagus Spear that if it came in a dozen, I'd have ordered six.  LOVE. I like the inside vibe too.  Nice decor, great tables everywhere and cozy chairs and couches. I think I'll be coming here again. 

Ooh.  I have another song for you too.  I think this was a freebee somewhere but it's awesome!  I got to get her CD! Ms. Lianne La Havas has a good voice folks!

Alrighty.  That's all I got.  Have a good Tuesday peeps. 

pretty view, new products and a catchy tune

Well this is how I started my weekend.  Can it get any better than that?   I escaped with some friends to the lake. Some down time. No internet and spotty cell coverage.  Should be blissful to toss my phone, but being a phone addict, I clung to my occasional bars like water in the desert.  Seriously.  But I survived...and happily. I threw dinner in the oven and caught a few minutes by myself on the porch to shift gears and snap a shot for you guys.  Cause, for real, what words could describe this view? 

It was good spending a weekend chilling out and laughing and talking and eating with the girls. (I've got some GF goodies to share in a sec.) We even kicked it old school (sort of) and roasted marshmallows over a fire under a blanket of night time stars while we took turns DJ'ing on our phones.  My buddy Nic always has new music to share with me and this time I had a goodie for her, too.  Have you heard this song?  It's catchy, and makes you wanna stand up and dance, so guaranteed to be all over the radio soon. 

I finally cracked open this soda I picked up at The Fresh Market.  I'm all over going to the Fresh Market in the fall.  It's Pumpkin Spice Coffee Season and tis the season for new products throughout the store. Like this one:  My opinion on Hot Lips Pear Soda is...  Eh.  It's sparkling water with pear juice basically. I'd say the marketing is more interesting than the soda itself. Not worth spending the money or another second on. Onward.

Now the King Arthur GF muffin mix I bought there was worth talking about.  It's basically a muffin base and you can add what you want to the mix.  I threw in some blueberries. Pretty good for GF.  The texture was normal, which is a plus.  I'm gonna work my way through the King Arthur GF collection before holiday baking time.  We talked about what I would do during holiday baking and panic set in.  How the heck do you do the holidays when you're gluten free?  Crap!

Aleia's Peanut Butter Cookies. They tasted homemade and remind me of the flourless old school recipe for Peanut Butter cookies my Granny Milton clipped from her newspaper and sent me when I was a kid. Super crunchy and sugary and an awesome fix for the cookie monster that rose out of me when I went gluten free and a total life saver when I start panicking over holiday baking and am digging for comfort food.  They have these at the Fresh Market, along with a huge selection of other Gluten Free Products.  And listen folks, just cause this says Gluten Free doesn't mean you shouldn't try it.  I swear I'd buy them if I was eating gluten.  They are good!

I'm totally stoked about hitting up The Owl and the food trucks in town to check out their new menus in the coming weeks.  If you've been to any of these, go back now cause they're switching things up for the fall! Ah, the fall.  The weather, the leaves, cloudy days... hot chocolate.  Marshmallows.   I just dig it. 

Happy Monday.

   

wine, zox and nuggets

This wine is off the charts.  Probably best Cab I've ever had so far. It's bold and heavy and loud and smooth and awesome.

Speaking of awesome...I made the most awesome Pumpkin Pie with almond flour crust last night.  And I have seriously come to the conclusion that not eating gluten means I am immediately going to gain like 100 lbs if I don't get off my rear and walk.  It's the baking folks.  I'm addicted to baking... and gluten. So no gluten means more baking apparently.  I'm just that kind of gal.  I need a walking buddy. Any takers?

If you're wondering what's up with the babbly posts this week, well, it's been sort of a weird week and I haven't gotten out much.  Also, I found that starting my day with a blog post makes it easier to finish my real work.  It unclogs the brain cells. And I get to chat it up with you guys at the same time!  Next week will be better.  Several adventures on the charts including a girls weekend away starting in 8 hours.  Yea me!

Sort of. I'm currently icing my back.  My dang back.  I think it was my feverish unpacking of Halloween.  I refer back to paragraph 1: must exercise. I'm going with my back and all.  Dang it. The wine is packed.  I'm prepping dinner for tonight's feast. I have chocolate.  I'm gonna have a good time!!

Food. I'm on a mission to find some fast food that is Gluten Free.  Anyone have good sources that don't involve a salad? I did find the grilled chicken nuggets at Chick Fil A to be quite awesome.  (Politics aside, I have a ten year old folks and we occasionally do swing through Chick Fil A, though I have discussed both sides of the issues with her at length. That's the end of that. I refrain from further comment due to day job restrictions.) Back to the nuggets:  they are off the chain!  So if you are still going there...

When I was in California, my cousin turned me on to Zox Straps. I immediately got on the computer and ordered one and this is it.   It's number 444 in Collection No. 18.   You like?  Want to see they're current design? Go here.  Some of them sell out before the end of the day!  It's like silly bands or beanie babies for skater dudes... did I just make that weird comparison?

I'm gonna leave you with The Pie Song from O Mello Cello Tree.  I love this duo.  They broke up and went their own ways for solo careers and are doing quite well.  You can catch Sarah Clanton Schaffer(center) at Everyday Organic at Cherrydale in Greenville on Tuesday nights.  I need to get my husband out there.  He'll love her.  She does things with a Cello I didn't think were possible. Amazing.

Cheers yall. Have a good day.

Cupcakes, surfers and seals.

I'm being tortured. It's Saturday Football time for the family and I am sadly, not a sports fan.  I relate football

to thanksgiving turkey thanks to growing up in a household where my father didn't give two beans about televised sports.  The only time it was on was at family gatherings. Now,  I hear the announcers and I automatically salivate like a dog.  I start craving dressing and pie. Sigh.  The entire fam is wound up in a USC game at the moment, so I thought I'll retreat to the www and update you guys on my trip.  

So it's San Diego Restaurant Week. Nice time for a vacation here, right?  We are running here and there during the day (specialty grocery stores, See's Candy, the beach, and holiday shops) and eating in a lot at night (saving our money for good wine). My aunt made us reservations for lunch at The Prado at Balboa Park on Friday so we could catch the special Restaurant Week menu.  

Balboa Park is BEAUTIFUL! It was built for the 1915 World's Fair in San Diego. There are museums and gardens and a beautiful theater designed after the original Globe Theater in London. 

 

I can't get this song out of my head.  Don't you hate it when that happens? The Beach Boys were one of my mom's favorite bands growing up. When she sings along, she's still totally cute. Yes, I'm fully aware summer is over by a day but here goes, and besides...

the surfers are still catching waves out here.  The sport really fascinates me. In my next life maybe I'll come back as a skinny little surfer girl. 

I saw seals at La Jolla Shores. MAN do these critters stink but I could watch them all day long barking and nuzzling each other.  It was high tide so I couldn't get to the tide pools but surfers and seals were good enough for me.  And I picked up a few pretty rocks on the beach.  I tried to get off the sand without getting wet but a wave snuck up on me and before I knew it I was ankle deep. I dropped sand everywhere we went for the rest of the day.

We zoomed into Sprinkles Cupcakes here. SO Exciting! Their cupcakes take the prize for second best of my life.  (Speaking of... I just remembered that I have a little bit of a almond cupcake with chocolate icing left!  Yea me!) The icing is piled high, the cake is moist and they are almost too beautiful to eat. There is a bit more flavoring in the batter than I usually like, but I can overlook that minor flaw. So worth the 3.50 for each cupcake AND when you whisper the daily word (find this on their FB page) you get a cupcake for free!  I loved their swag too.  The staffers didn't really get my excitement. 

We hit Cups in Downtown La Jolla too. You know if there's a cupcake place within a stone's throw, I'm totally there. (Don't worry, I didn't eat a dozen cupcakes yesterday.  I always get them to go and then pick at them with a fork for days.) This place gets points for coolness. See that lit wall of milk bottles? They had a fantastic gluten free Ricotta Lemon cupcake.  It was so moist and not too sweet.  So well done. Not often you get a gluten free product that you'd eat even if you aren't gluten free.  I actually liked their gluten free better than their regular cupcakes.

I'd like to say that traffic in San Diego is NUTS. Eight lanes going one direction FAST and everyone weaves in and out without much of a glance.  I could drive here if I had to, but might have to rent a bumper car. They should totally make cars with bumpers on them.  Maybe I should send my idea to Prius.  An electric bumper car.  Seems like the insurance companies would be all over this one, right?

Sweet potato fries are THE BOMB.  I usually douse them with ketchup and cayenne, but the mayo with curry spices my aunt whipped up made them the best thing since apple pie. We devoured the plate over a good back patio chat.

Check out the freaky chick in her Baconista t'shirt. I'm so stoked that Halloween is around the corner.  I tried on every creepy headband I could find. I can't wait to get home and set up my Halloween village!  I might be able to restrain myself until Oct. 1, but not much longer...

Hmmm... I think that's all for now.  It's about time to find a wine glass.  Have a good Saturday!