my unconventional week

Photos by Image Machine

I love living in Richmond, Virginia (which you could probably decipher from the title of my blog). 

This town has it all, plenty of places to eat, events every night of the week, interesting people doing cool things, and occasions that let you drink wine for various charities. What is not to love?

The best part is that with so much stuff going on, you never know what you are going to get in to. This week I have found myself in plenty of situations that could only go down in RVA.

1. I drank a glass of rose at a memorial for two baby goats who passed away….at The Blue Goat, a restaurant that serves goat on the menu. No we did not eat the goats who passed and yes the wine was good. Karen Atkinson, famous for her work coordinating GrowRVA, the South of the James and other farmer’s  markets, AND the newly launched FeedRVA was the owner of the goats. How she had time to bottle feed these babies, I will never understand. My personal guess is that she does not sleep. It was so nice to meet her and honor the babies at happy hour prices.

2. I donated money to the Kickstarter campaign for the Richmond Comedy Coalition’s new comedy theater. Who doesn’t like to laugh? These funny people are opening a theater downtown and I was happy to give them a couple bucks. It is awesome to see a group pick a part of town that needs a shot in the arm and just go for it. Plus, their video is really good and you should give them money.

3. I drank a glass of Cabernet at a fundraiser for Down Syndrome Association of Greater Richmond at The Wine Loft. I like to drink wine for good causes and what better cause then one close to home. Good friends and the brains behind Carpenter Health and Wellness have a little girl, Taylor, who has down syndrome. Taylor has a more active social life than I do. She will be making a trip New York to be photographed for a National catalog. We should all be jealous of her.

4. I put together a kick ass Pinterest board for the Need Supply Co. contest. I dabbled in pinning before this contest, but when Need Supply Co. said they were giving away $500, I went from dabbling to becoming a full time Pinterest mad woman. Sadly, I did not win the big prize, but still had a good time promoting a local retail. You can check out my board here.

5. I ate an ice cream cone ON THE RUNWAY before the RVA Fashion Week show in Carytown. One of my favorite people in Richmond, KC Johnson of Image Machine, let me hang with her team at the fashion show in Carytown last night. I got be the “model” for a test shot on the stage before the show started and just happened to be eating a sprinkle covered ice cream cone that I got for free from Mister Softee.

It just doesn’t stop! Tonight, I am going to RVA Fashion Week’s Designer Showcase with a press pass, no less. I am going to have to leave town on Saturday, just to get a little break!

How was your week?

stella's

Photo from Stella's Facebook Page

It had been entirely too long since I had been to Stella’s (1012 Lafayette St). This gem of a restaurant is a place near and dear to my heart (and my house, thank goodness) and holds a solid spot in my top 5 favorite RVA restaurants.

Every single thing on their menu is good. So good, that when we were there on Friday, a girl fell off her bar stool. I mean, she really went down. It was loud and scary. I was worried for her safety because that marble bar top is no joke. I thought she might have hit her head, but luckily she was unharmed. It was obvious that she just could not handle so much deliciousness.

The only problem with the food being so good is that it is really difficult to decide what to order. We had planned to just share a plate of their famous hummus and have a drink, but that turned in to an order of Kolokithokeftedes (zucchini fritters) and an order of Spanikopita and hummus and drinks.  

Every bite was heaven. It was so good that I wrote a drunken note about it in my phone. It went like this, “the food at Stella’s is so good that I worry one day I might die from my brain exploding”. The message to myself did seem a bit odd when I read it back the next morning, but I completely stand by my statement.

If you have not had a fried bite of shredded zucchini at Stella’s, you haven’t lived! An order of Spanikopita must be ordered on every visit and if I was still eating animals I would be devouring the No. 5 Pasta.

I can only hope that I will have a long loyal love affair with this Greek treasure of a restaurant. You can read my original post about the Top 11 Reasons Why I Love Stella’s here. I stand by every single one of these statements.

amuse

By the luck of the Irish, I managed to get myself a table on the patio at Amuse for Richmond Restaurant Week. Ok, so I’m not Irish, but that is not really the point. Restaurant Week reservations are tough, especially when you wait until the last minute and even charming tweets to @AmuseVMFA will not get you a guaranteed spot. Patio seating is all first come first served. Trust me, I tried.

For the remainder of this post, I am going to pretty much just rave about how much I adore this place, so prepare for some shameless gushing. I give you four impossible to argue reasons why I love Amuse as of this moment today. I am sure this list will get longer the next time I go back.

1. The Patio
The patio at Amuse is THE most gorgeous patio in the city of Richmond, Virginia. Yes, I said it. I challenge anyone to prove me wrong and don’t even think about saying Legend or I will delete your comment. I am not joking around here. Overlooking the Virginia Museum of Fine Art's green courtyard of art installations is now one of my new favorite spaces in the city.

2. Jalapeno Pineapple Popper

After watching this video on Richmond.com I had to have it. It has pink Pop Rocks on the rim. Hello! Where do they come up with this stuff? The popper was not as sweet as you would think given the pineapple juice situation. The tequila, jalapeno, and St. Germain balanced everything and the strawberry Pop Rocks were a blast. (Did you see what I did there?)

3. Scallops
My love affair with scallops is a recent development. Since I am trying to avoid eating things with faces, they have become a new guilty pleasure. The scallops I ate at Amuse were THE best scallops I have ever eaten. (There is a lot of capital punctuation going on here, I realize, but trust me that I am being absolutely sincere about it.) The sear on the top of these babies made it feel like I was cracking into a crème brulee and the accompaniments, cous cous, mushrooms, and Meyer lemon aioli, were light and delightful.

4. Staff
The people working at Amuse are cool. I don’t mean in a laid back, everyone is nice, and they don’t mind bringing you extra butter, kind of way. I mean literally, they are cooler than you (and me and most people I know). From the adorable bartender, Molly, with bun perched on top of her head, to Michael, the jovial bar manager, who checks in with every guest with a sincere smile on his face. Even though the staff looks “artsy” they keep the vibe super classy. I swear they adjusted the patio awning and window shades at least three times when we were there depending on how the sun was setting behind the clouds. It is obvious that they spend a lot of effort to keep things effortlessly swanky.

I will be back to Amuse very very soon to add to this list and to sample their happy hour. Word on the street is that it starts at 2:30pm and includes $6 Champagne cocktails. Ok, so I actually read that on the internet. I don’t really get a whole lot of reliable information “on the street” regarding who is serving Champagne drinks, but maybe that is just because I have been spending too much time on Broad Street.

And seriously, watch the video, it is adorable.

mid-week confessions

This week is one of those weeks. Nothing particularly bad has happened, but nothing exceptionally great is going on either. I feel like I need a clean slate, a redo, a start-over. So here are my confessions in hopes that I can break out of this funk and make the rest of this week exceptional.

1. I did not make reservations for Richmond Restaurant Week and am now having a pity party because everywhere I want to go is booked until 8:45pm. I am too old to eat late.

2. I am pissed that I missed The Voice to see Anthony Bourdain talk about absolutely nothing interesting at The Landmark. Read this article (not written by me) to see exactly how I feel.

3. I have been sneaking pretzel M&M’s out of my coworker’s desk when no one is around, but finally broke down and told him…to which he replied, “I know.”

4. I save my favorite workout pants for Fridays because Friday morning cycling is my favorite class. I know that what you wear to workout in has nothing to do with calories burned, but I feel like it makes me work harder when I like my outfit.

5. I told myself that I was going to try my hardest to stay dairy-free this week. On Tuesday, I ordered butternut squash and ricotta ravioli with zucchini and yellow squash ribbons in a sherry cream sauce. It was amazing.

Judge me if you must, or join me. What little secret do you want set free?

vegetarian beer dinner

My oven is broken.

This would normally not be a big deal. Rarely do I make anything that does not cook in the microwave. But of course the broken oven situation would coincide with a beer cupcake situation.

This weekend was the third Vegetarian Beer Dinner hosted by blogger and friend Lauren of Veg:ology. I took the dessert course and promised to deliver beer cupcakes. I had no backup plan.

The day went something like this. Print off vegan cupcake recipe. Brainstorm how to get beer in the recipe without watering it down. Turn on oven. Make said recipe. Put batter in cupcake tins lined with my favorite recycled biodegradable cupcake liners. Open oven door. Yell, “EVAN!!!” Realize that the oven is not going to work. Pour batter from favorite biodegradable cupcake liners in to small tray that fits in the toaster oven. Say a prayer to the vegan beer cake Gods asking to please let this work and bake in the toaster.

To my astonishment, it actually worked. I served my beer “cake” with a vegan vanilla frosting, topped with crumbles of dark chocolate. The beer in the batter and served as my pairing was Duck Rabbit Brown Ale. It was just delightful.

A special shout out to all the other bloggers at the dinner.

Lauren, Veg:ology

Liz, I Heart Vegetables

Sarah, The Smart Kitchen

Adrienne, Hippie Itch

Check out their sites for their killer recipes. I would give you mine, but there is no chance it will ever work again. It truly was a vegan beer cake miracle.

heros are born every day

Please add this to the very very long list of reasons why my brother is my hero. Photo by Brad Walsh on air with Andy Cohen last night on Watch What Happens Live!

As you most likely know, today is the LAST day to Vote for Boho! I hope you can spare 30 seconds and put in a vote. Thank you to all for the amazing love and support so far!

Here is what you have to do to vote:

1. Go to http://www.ie-rva.org/contest/start-up-competition-2013/boho-cycle-studio/
2. Click to vote for Boho Cycle Studio
3. Check your email and verify your vote
4. Imagine us taking a ski shot together with my brother when we win!

#voteforboho
 

Vote for Boho

I am taking a break from the regular food and drink posts today and I sincerely hope you will go with me on this one. When a person indulges (as you know I do even during my best attempts at being healthy), they need a way to balance things out. That for me is indoor cycling. I don’t know why or how, but someone I have become obsessed. I have traveled far and wide to go to cycle classes because there is no place in Richmond that is completely dedicated to making every class awesome.

That is where this little idea to OPEN MY OWN CYCLING STUDIO came about.

Boho Cycle Studio has been entered in a Start-Up Competition and I need your help to get to the finals!

Voting is open at 9am, March 26-28 and you can vote once per day (that is 3 times in case you were wondering).

Here is what you have to do to vote:

1. Go to http://www.ie-rva.org/contest/start-up-competition-2013/boho-cycle-studio/

2. Click to vote and select Boho Cycle Studio

3. Repeat once a day for three days

4. Imagine me grabbing you with a hug and wrestling you to the ground! (I am stronger than I look.)

I realize that indoor cycling is not for everyone and most of you are not even in Richmond, but this is about so much more than that! It is about supporting a woman owned business that spreads the message of health, wellness, and having a great time!

Posts, Tweets, Facebook, Forwards, it all helps to spread the word and is all insanely appreciated!!

Thank you, thank you a million times…..Shannon

#voteforboho