RVA weekend

I love when we're in RVA for the weekend visiting parents and get to try some of the new, cool places in town.  The weekend after Thanksgiving was one of the best we've had - good food, some culture at the museum, and a new local brewery! 

Friday night, after a couple of drinks with friends at Havanna 59, we headed over to Pasture on Grace Street for dinner.  

We mostly just had a handful of  'snacks' and 'small plates' to share.  We had the pimento cheese with Ritz crackers, fried okra, Brussels sprouts, and steak tartar, as well as a few others.  Everything was delicious - and they had a great beer list with tons of local/VA craft brews to choose from.

Saturday afternoon, following morning coffee with friends and some shopping, Mom and I went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.  They were hosting a special exhibit of glass artist Dale Chihuly.  

In May 2010, the museum completed a massive expansion with beautiful gardens.  It was a gorgeous fall day, and dozens of people were enjoy the sunshine and setting.

The pieces were just amazing.  These photos don't even begin to show the mass and beauty of these displays.  If you ever get a chance to see a Chihuly exhibit, don't miss the opportunity.  Here are just a few photos I took from our afternoon at the museum.  

That evening, we made our first trip out to Hardywood Park Brewery.  The place was packed and they had a live band playing.  What a great addition to the Richmond craft beer scene!  We got a few samplers, which was great - we all got to try several different beers!  

In addition to visiting the brewery, you can find their beers in dozens of restaurants and stores around town.  Highly recommend, and looking forward to getting back to town to try some of their new releases!

Richmond is such a vibrant town with so many cool things going on and places to go.  We always enjoy getting back home to visit family and friends and explore the city!

Dinner at Daikaya

It's been a few weeks months since we had dinner at Daikaya...but I'm finally getting around to telling you about it!  The newest ramen place in town (or at least it was when we were there) is also one of the hottest places to go.  Located right next to Graffiato and across the street from the Verizon Center, it's a must try.

 Not knowing too much about ramen other than my one experience at Toki Underground, it was a bit intimidating to go to this hot new ramen shop.  But honestly, there aren't many options and everything's delicious - so you just have to go for it.  

I got the Japanese beer Sapporo and M got Sake.  There aren't many options for alcoholic beverages...but that forced us to try something new!

We got the dumplings and the 2 different ramen dishes to try both - and honestly I don't even remember which 2 we got, but they were both delicious.  

Definitely recommend going.  Even if there's a long wait, they will take your phone number and text you when a table's available - and you can just go next door for a glass of draft prosecco!

When we were there, just the first floor ramen shop was open...since then, they've opened an Izakaya on the  second floor.  According to their website, an Izakaya is "a type of restaurant that serves Japanese comfort food to accompany a wide range of drinks."  Guess we need to go back!  DC has such a diverse dining scene, it's always an adventure to try something new!

Quick and easy dinner

Hi everyone.  Life has been a bit, um, chaotic over the last few months...new job, lots of travel, and just life.  But what's a couple of months among friends...

I made this for dinner last night, and it was super easy and delicious so I thought I'd share.  This is the first recipe I pinned to my 'Recipes to Try' board on Pinterest, and I'm finally getting around to trying it.  Standing in Wegmans on Sunday evening, desperate for something new and easy, I scrolled through the board on my iPhone and decided to give it a shot.  This will definitely become a go-to in our house from now on.

The most complicated part of this recipe was chopping the garlic.  And if you buy it already done in the little jar, then it's even simpler.  I cut the recipe down a bit - only used 4 tomatoes and 1 lb of shrimp - because I didn't want too many leftovers.  I did get the crusty bread as suggested, which was a great addition.  You could also serve this over pasta.  I had planned to throw in some asparagus to roast with the shrimp...but completely forgot until we had just about finished eating.  Oh well...next time!  M went back for seconds - always a good sign :)

Roasted Tomatoes with Shrimp and Feta

Serves 6 | Hands-On Time: 15m | Total Time: 40m

Ingredients

• 5 large tomatoes, cut into eighths
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• salt and black pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 cup Feta, crumbled
• crusty bread, for serving

Directions

1. Heat oven to 450° F. Place the tomatoes in a large baking dish and spoon the olive oil and garlic over them.
2. Sprinkle with ¾ teaspoon each salt and pepper and toss. Roast on top rack of oven for 20 minutes.
3. Remove baking dish from oven and stir in the shrimp, parsley, and lemon juice. Sprinkle with the Feta.
4. Return the dish to oven until the shrimp are cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve warm with the bread.

Hope y'all enjoy it as much as we did!  

Original recipe from Real Simple.

'Home grown' green onions

A couple of weeks ago, I saw something on Pinterest about regrowing green onions...so I figured what the heck, I'd give it a try.  

I'd bought a bunch for some recipe, but only used a little bit from the top end.  So the instructions said just to put the bottom ends in water, and they'll grow. 

Before...

And after.  It freaking worked. 

And now I understand why they are sold chopped and with rubber bands!  The stalks are crazy and going everywhere.  I've changed the water a couple of times, just when it starts to look a little murky.  I'm not sure that I'll be able to keep them for ever, but at least maybe I won't have to buy green onions quite as often!

A little organization

In my quest to get a bit more organized this year, I knew what project I had to tackle first - my long necklaces.  This has been a big frustration of mine for a while - how do you store them?  I have a nice little clear plastic box that holds all of my short ones, but when the long necklace trend came around, I was in trouble.  For a while, I would drape them over the top of the short necklace holder...but that was messy and hard to get to the ones on the bottom.  Then I tried hanging them on the dresser knobs...but then you couldn't really open the drawers.  I had high hopes of getting a pretty frame and hanging them in there...and that just never happened.  So onto the bathroom door handle they went.  And stayed for a few months...

Until one day a couple of weeks ago.  We were wandering through the Container Store looking for a few other things, and I saw this great hook piece.  It's not pretty or stylish, but it definitely functional!  By that afternoon, it was hanging on the wall in my bathroom and I had all of my long and clunky pieces hanging on it!  

I love having them all organized now.  I feel that I've already worn them more than I had before, simply because I can see what I have!  Such a simple fix but for some reason, took me forever to do. 

Hmmm...what's next?!