Air Balloons & Champagne in NAPA

we started out our week long adventure in California in the best way possible...

with an air balloon ride in NAPA!

Because Cali is such a big place to explore, we had originally planned on skipping Napa this time around, but I'm so glad that we didn't.

In order to make the most out of our day, we decided to squeeze Napa in as a quick stopping point and were only there for a few hours. 

Here's the best way to see Napa in 3 hours! 

Steam Whistle!

One of the best ways to drink in a new city is to drink their local brews (see what I did there?). We had lots of delicious local beers while in Toronto thanks to breweries like The Mill Street Brew Pub and Great Lakes Brewery. One locale that is the epitomy of Toronto was the Steam Whistle Brewery. It's a place full of amazing people, delicious beer, and an interesting history. As the Steam Whistle Brewery was just across the street from our favorite Toronto activity, we decided to take a brewery tour. 

Harpoon Brewery Tour

 When I was in Boston visiting Husband last weekend, we decided to swing by Harpoon Brewery. Tom has taught me an appreciation for craft brewed beer so brewery tours have quickly become one of our favorite things to do together. From Pale Ales to Porters--we love them all. Craft brewed beer is about seeking out diversity and creating new yet complex flavors. It's about exploring new avenues to create a better bolder beer. Craft beer has its own unique history and subculture, something that Tom and I have immersed ourselves in fully. 

Come join us!

Boston Birthday Brunch

Hello From Boston! 

Today is Husband's 26th Birthday. Birthdays are a big deal around here and this one was no exception. I really miss Tom when we are apart, which gives me even more reason to make today extra special. And what better way to celebrate a Sunday Birthday than with Brunch? 

This morning, we headed to Boston's Financial District-home of Cafe Fleuri at the Langham Hotel. The Langham is right in the center of the action as it used to be Boston's Federal Reserve-a little fact that I thought my Finance PhD candidate husband might appreciate. It's all in the details right? 

I need to paint my car this color! 

>>>The Wicked Weed!

Blogmas Day 30 

"Hops are a wicked and pernicious weed"

                                                -Henry VIII

While in Asheville for Our Christmas Present, Tom and I decided to check out a local craft brewery that everyone in town seemed to recommend. Go where the locals go right? We definitely consider ourselves "beer snobs", (yes that's a thing) so it takes a bit to impress us, but we loved everything about The Wicked Weed Brewing Company. 


 It's concept is based on Henry VIII's declaration that hops would ruin beer. Regardless of this stance, some brewmasters still sought out to use hops with a "rebel integrity" in order to create a beer for the "untamed palate", something that The Wicked Weed Brewing Company still does today.

Husband and I actually ended up here twice during our short time in Asheville (yes twice), once on a Sunday night and again on a Tuesday afternoon. Not exactly what you would consider peak bar hours but both times, the two story building was packed with a crowd; young and old sharing stories and swigging beers. The vibe of this place just cannot be beat! 

Loved the wall art of Henry VIII and the green and metallic ornaments hanging from the ceiling...

We came for the beer, but while we were 

there we figured we would eat. Not your typical

 bar food people, it was actually much tastier than some 

of the food we had at Asheville's fancier restaurants. It was 

simply unparalleled. 

And if you ever happen to go I recommend the truffled cauliflower soup.

Cute Edison Bulb Lights! 
And loving that their taps are attached to beer barrels.

Tom loved their IPA's which is no surprise, but if you give him the chance he will rave on and on about the "Falconer's Flight" IPA. 

And I finally found a milk stout that I liked thanks to The Wicked Weed. I don't know if it counts though since this one was called "Milk & Cookies". It had cinnamon and oatmeal as some of it's ingredients so who wouldn't love that? 

We enjoyed it so much that we even picked up some growlers and other goodies to give as gifts and share.  

DIY $25 Holiday Bar Cart

Blogmas Day 9

I have been wanting a bar cart for forever. They are just so pretty and shiny and perfect, but they are also very very expensive. The best option I found was the Target version and even then, it's not cheap. So it was time to get creative and make one for myself. Here's the finished project.... 

Merry Christmas ya Filthy Animals!

Blogmas Day 8

This weekend hubby and I hosted our first Christmas party. It was a huge hit and I love Christmas so much that I'm thinking that we should make this an annual thing. 

River Street & Savannah Sweets

When I ended my last post, we were still in downtown Savannah, headed towards River Street. Uniquely settled on a bluff with it's original cobblestone road, River Street turned out to be a great place to spend the evening. The views are accompanied by free trolley rides, cheap PBRs, and delicious cocktails. But one of the best parts about River Street is all the delicious sweets. 

                   

I have never actually had a Praline, but free fresh samples were abundant. Pecans covered in caramel? Yes please!

After wondering around River Street for a while, we stopped in at the Bohemian Hotel for drinks before dinner. While husband sampled some local microbrews, I enjoyed cocktails. 

But the real draw of the Bohemian, were the rooftop views. 

Downtown Savannah

During our first day in Savannah, we spent our time downtown. Savannah’s founder James Oglethorpe was a genius and mapped out the city into squares. This has allowed for expansion throughout the years, and for our sake it made the city extremely easy to navigate. So we parked the car and decided to explore on foot. 

My favorite part of the entire day was stopping in at the Paris Market. This shop was the perfect combination of modern and vintage. They sold everything from housewares to facial cream. They had quite the collection of antiques, including my favorite….teacups. I’m quite surprised that I managed to get out of there without going on a shopping spree.

Paris Market 

While I didn’t purchase anything in the store, I did stop in at their café where they were serving macaroons. Have I mentioned before that I love macaroons? So much so that they were parting favors at my wedding. I ordered a lemon macaroon and a salted caramel macaroon along with the White Wolf Tea. All of these lovelies were served to me on a vintage floral plate and in the most gorgeous yellow teacup and saucer. I love anything related to lemon, so the lemon macaroon was by far one of the best that I’ve ever tasted. This is not to say that the caramel macaroon wasn’t a show stopper too. The filling had chunks of caramel sauce throughout, making it really sweet. And hubby and I both agree, that the tea may have been the best we’ve ever tasted. If you are ever in Savannah, don’t skip this shop.

Paris Market 

Paris Market 

Paris Market 

We spent quite a bit of time in Paris Market, so after that it was time for lunch. As we (especially hubby) love beer, we headed to the Moon River Brewery for lunch. It wasn’t too humid out so we chose to eat in the beer garden and join some of the locals in watching the World Cup. 

Low Country Crab Melt & Sweet Potato Fries  

We ordered a flight of beer to maximize our microbrew sampling and there wasn’t one beer that we didn’t like. By far, my favorite was the Wild Wacky Whit. It was a wheat ale flavored with oranges and coriander. I could literally drink that all day. For lunch, we both had the special that day which was a crab melt. 

Once we started walking again, we were lured into the Savannah Bee Company shop for free honey tasting. There were about 15 different types of honey that you could sample as well as whole honeycombs. I didn’t like the honeycomb because of the texture, but hubby did so I’m glad that we tried it.

 

We also decided to sample mead. If you don’t know what mead is, it's basically any alcoholic drink made by fermenting honey so that can include beer and wine. Our favorite was the Ambrosia, which was a white wine with a honey undertone. We loved it so much that we bought a bottle to share with my inlaws and they loved it too.  

Of course I couldn’t escape Savannah without doing a little shopping. I find that buying a one of a kind item, especially jewelry in a local shop is the best kind of souvenir. So I picked up a bracelet at Villa Savannah. 

We spent the better part of the afternoon exploring more of the city, including stopping in at the infamous Leopald’s Ice Creamery. That place has a line wrapped around the building at all times of the day, but it’s definitely worth the wait. I loved the lemon custard while hubby enjoyed the jet-blueberry.

After all of this, the day was only partially over so we headed over to River Street for the rest of the evening (next post). I will share more on that tomorrow.