Weekend Recap

This weekend T and I went to Edisto Island with a few of our friends.  With the weather in the upper 80's we were luckily able to get some good beach time.  I somehow managed to go the entire weekend without a single picture of myself, so here are some great pictures of everyone else on the trip.

Saturday morning we woke up early and got out on the beach.  We wanted to maximize our beach time since this was the last time we'd be able to get out on it until next spring. The water was a little too chilly for my comfort level, but the boys dove right in.

We stayed at my friend Melanie's grandparents' house which is just a short golf card ride from the beach. Yes, this is my husband photobombing the picture in the background. Nice T, real nice.

We soaked up the sun until about 3:00 and came back up to the house to watch the Clemson vs. Syracuse game. The house has a great back porch area with a TV so we were able to still be outside while we cheered on our Tigers.

We spent the rest of the night out on that porch watching more football, sipping on drinks, and munching on appetizers.  What a great weekend!

Five on Friday

Happy Friday!  Today I'm linking up with April, Natasha, Christina, and Darci for their Five on Friday Linkup.  Here's a list of the five things I've been loving this week.

{one.}
I've been enjoying drinking green tea at work recently.  I'm not a coffee drinker and I've tried to cut out soft drinks, so tea is now my option when I need a mid-afternoon pick me up.  I've gotten into Yogi tea this week, I just love the inspirational messages that come on every tea bag. It's the little things.

{two.}
There are not too many things that I love about cool weather, I'm more of a spring/summer kind of girl.  But one thing that I can appreciate is fall food.  I love the heartier foods that fall brings, like soups, stews, and chicken pot pie.  I made this chicken pot pie recently and it was so tasty.  I used the simplest recipe I could find, straight off of the Pillsbury website.

{three. }
Even though I'm not a fan of cooler weather, I still like to look and feel good in the warm clothes that I have to wear.  I desperately needed a medium-weight jacket, and loved this one that I found on C. Wonder's website.  It's navy quilted fabric and has the cutest orange corduroy detail on the cuffs of the sleeves. 

{four.}
For months my sister April has been raving about Urban Decay's Eyeshadow primer.  Last Sunday I finally bit the bullet and purchased a tube at Sephora.  April has the original version, which sells for $20.00, but they now offer an anti-aging version for just $4.00 more.  I'm absolutely loving it.  I used an Ulta primer before this, which was good, but this one is great.  My eyeshadow looks the same at 5 pm as it did when I applied it that morning. 

{five.}
This weekend T and I are headed to Edisto with friends.  I'm so pumped!  The weather is projected to be in the high 80's, so it looks like we'll actually get some beach time.  I'm so excited to squeeze in one more visit to the ocean, and get a little bit of tan before this skin doesn't see the sun for several months.

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Oktoberfest at NOMA Square + Addy's Dutch Cafe and Restaurant

Last night T and I went to NOMA Square's Oktoberfest celebration.  The festival started yesterday, and will go through Sunday, October 6th.  Admission is free, and they have different events every night.  Last night, in accordance with German Oktoberfest tradition our mayor, Knox White, tapped the first keg.

 

T and I had a great time listening to the Oompah Band perform and sipping on our Spatens. The prices are very reasonable for food and beer, but they only take cash.  T and I were one measly dollar short for two brats, so we opted to just drink there and eat elsewhere.

To keep the German theme going for the night, we opted for Addy's Dutch Cafe just a few blocks away, and each had a glass of Weihenstephaner Dunkel.  Try saying that three times fast.

The menu at Addy's is quite interesting.  They have a mixture of traditional Dutch foods and offer some Indonesian dishes as well.  Our waiter explained that his had to do with the Dutch colonization of Indonesia dating back to the 1800's.  T and I have never had Indonesian food before, so we had to try something.  At our waiters suggestion, T had the Chicken Gulai which was chicken seasoned with Indonesian spices and curry, served over stir fried rice.  I went for the Hungarian Goulash, one of my cold weather favorites. I tried Goulash for the first time in Austria, and every time I've had it in the States it just doesn't compare.  But Addy's Goulash was very good.  The beef was tender and seasoned very well.  It was served with buttery mashed potatoes and red cabbage.  

T and I will go back to Addy's again soon.  We'll probably both get Indonesian fare when we return.  I'm still thinking about the wonderful flavors of T's entree. Plus, the prices are awesome.  Their Indonesian dishes range from $7.95-$9.50 for dinner portions. 

If you'll be in Greenville this week you've got to make it to Oktoberfest.  It's being held at NOMA Square, the area outside of the Hyatt and Roost on Main Street.  They'll be out there all week!  You can't miss it, just look for the men and women in their lederhosen and the Bavarian flags everywhere. You can find more information about Oktoberfest here.

Weekend Recap

Can you believe that it's already October?  With temperatures in the high 70's to low 80's I'm having a hard time realizing it's fall.  No PSL's for me yet, I've got to feel a chill in the air first.

T and I had a great weekend with friends in Greenville and Clemson. Friday night we met some friends out at Quest Brewery for drinks and parking lot cornhole.  I had my favorite beer there, the Belgian Pale Ale.

Saturday morning we headed to Clemson to tailgate for the Clemson vs. Wake Forest game.  The morning sure felt like fall, but by the time the 3:30 game came around we were breaking a bit of a sweat.  I've found that the key for dressing for fall football games is layers, layers, layers. After 8 years of college and post-college tailgating, I think I've finally got this down.  I started the morning with a maxi dress, scarf, and cardigan, and ended the day with just the maxi dress. 

We also celebrated an early birthday for our friend Melanie, with a cookie cake from the Chocolate Shoppe.  The Chocolate Shoppe in Greenville makes the best cookie cake I've ever had, hands down. They are somehow softer than most cookie cakes I've had, not crumbly one bit.  And the best part about going there is the minute you enter the door, they give you a free chocolate chip cookie.  Now that's customer service.

Sunday was spent catching up on household chores, going to three, yes three, grocery stores, and cleaning out the DVR. We had a great couple of days off, they just went by way too quickly- like they always seem to do. I hope y'all had a great weekend!

Chicken Piccata

Last night I made one of my childhood favorites, my Mom's Chicken Piccata. Over the years I've tried several other versions, but I always come back to this one.  It's so simple and quick to prepare, and its good leftover.  After posting this on Instagram, I got a few requests to share the recipe, so here it is!

Ingredients: 

6-8 chicken tenders
Flour
2 Tb vegetable oil
4 Tb butter
1 chicken bouillon cube dissolved in 1/3 cup water
2 lemons
1 Tb capers 

Directions: 

Sprinkle chicken tenders with salt.  Shake in a bag with flour.  Heat the oil and butter in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat.  When the oil/butter mixture starts to bubble, add the chicken and cook 3 minutes each side until lightly browned (and cooked all the way though).  Remove chicken from skillet and place on wire rack.  After all chicken is cooked add the bouillon solution to skillet and stir to release brown bits from bottom of pan.  Increase heat to high, add juice of 1 lemon, 8 slices of lemon, and capers. Cook 2-3 minutes until sauce thickens slightly.  Pour sauce over chicken and serve.

Serves 2-3

Papi's Tacos

Every time I try a new restaurant I order way too much food, and my first time at Papi's Tacos was no exception.  I think I just get way too excited about all of these new things that I've never tried, and I don't want to leave without tasting them.

In the last year, Greenville has gotten quite a few places that feature gourmet street tacos, including Gringo's and The Local Taco.  But Papi's has done a great job differentiating themselves from the others.  It feels much more authentic to me.  I love the story of this place, too.  Jorge Baralles, known as Papi to most, has been with the Table 301 restaurant group since the doors opened in 1997.  Papi started as a dishwasher, and worked his way up in the company through the years.  He now has a restaurant named after him that serves the kind of food that he grew up eating in Mexico.

Table 301 has also done a great job at differentiating this restaurant from all of their others. I'm sure this was quite a challenge since they already own six other restaurants in the small town of Greenville. Papi's is very casual with a simple menu, and quite small inside.  They actually describe it as a stationary taco truck.  Table 301's answer to the food truck craze, genius. 

We tried three different kinds of tacos; Shrimp, Chicken and Chorizo, and Carnitas.  We split an order of chips and salsa, and ordered their secret menu item- The Walking Taco.  We  also shared a Tamarind Agua Fresca, a fresh house made juice.  I wasn't lying when I said we ordered a lot of food.

The tacos were great.  All of the ingredients used were fresh and ripe, just like they should be.  T and I were wishing for a hotter salsa though, the one they gave us just wasn't doing the trick.  They offer a Salsa Verde and Peanut Salsa, so we'll try one of the two next time.  Hopefully one of those will have more heat.

Then came The Walking Taco.  This isn't on the menu, but they always serve them for $5.00.  It's a bag of Fritos topped with pulled pork, shredded lettuce, queso fresco, sour cream, and pico de gallo.  At first I was set on eating this out of the Fritos bag, but it was actually easier to dump it in the bowl it was served in. 

All in all we were very impressed with Papi's tacos.  We loved the atmosphere, and the food was authentic and fresh.  We'll be back for sure, but next time I'll probably limit myself to just two tacos...or three.

My New Logo

I've been so excited to share my new logo with you.  It's taken several months to get everything finalized, but the waiting was well worth it for me.  A lot of thought went into the design of my logo, and I wanted to share with you everything that it represents.  Here goes. 

A River
It was obvious that the river needed to be represented in the logo somehow.  The negative space acts as the flowing Reedy River.

A Leaf
While very subtle, the containing shape as a leaf represents the beautiful downtown area of Greenville and the Upstate

The R
As the visual of the river cuts through he visual of a leaf, you are left with a loose shape of an R, referring directly back to The Reedy Review.

The Quotes
While an extremely loose reference, the two separate shapes of the logo are representative of quotation marks.  This idea references the actual reason behind a blog- the personal viewpoint and  opinions of an individual.

So there you have it, the meaning behind my new logo.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!