It's been a crazy couple of weeks. It all started with apartment hunting right after the holidays, which led to 5 offers, pros/cons lists of each place and a final decision to downsize by nearly 500 Sq. Ft! Then there was a snow storm the weekend we were planning to move, which cancelled the move; the unpacking of way too much stuff in a space that can't hold it all; a massive and furious moving sale, plant dig and numerous trips to donation drop offs; and finally being able to celebrate missed birthdays and dinner parties. In between it all, midterms and now finals! There were days we couldn't look beyond the next 24 hours and we couldn't imagine when the moving would finally end, but we're all moved into our new place and living among boxes until we can come up with creative and stylish storage solutions. Although it was a move we were forced into, we couldn't be happier in our new home.
This kitchen will be greatly missed for its massive size, its insane amount of storage and the many great meals we prepared for family and friends.
This cupboard took us two weeks to pack up! Every time we opened up the cupboard and tried to envision where we'd put all this in our tiny new kitchen, we'd have mild heart attacks. It all currently lives in a large box on the kitchen floor with no clue as to what we're going to do with all this.
We traded all that space, quaint neighborhood and living with a yard for these views (and we haven't missed or regretted the decision).
After turning in our keys at 11pm on a Tuesday, we had late night happy hour burgers at our beloved neighborhood spot 5Q. We remember dreaming of this place on our travels during days when we just wanted a beer and a burger. It felt ceremoniously appropriate to spend our last night in the neighborhood here.
We finally made a trip to the grocery store, but for such things as cleaning supplies, wood furniture shims and cat food. On the way there, we saw notoriously long-wait Screen Door had no one in line. We decided, at the last minute, to stop for dinner, and now we understand why this Southern food restaurant is always so packed. Our beef brisket and fried chicken dinner was absolutely delicious, plus their wall of house pickles was an inspiration for our new kitchen.
We've been living in our loft now for 3 weeks. Just recently were we able to go home after work, instead of back to our old home to pack and move more things. Which meant we finally had an opportunity to explore our new neighborhood and was overjoyed to find out our favorite taqueria in the city just opened up a spot only 7 blocks from our new place! We're going to be eating our way through their menu.
We're also ridiculously close to the new World Foods Market, which we were surprised to find reasonably priced general produce and fresh foods, but their pantry items - no so much. They also have fancy specialty foods, which we think we'll indulge in from time to time.
Our first evening out with friends in a long time was to amazing little bar Tanuki. This bar is definitely of another realm, specializing in Okinawan drinking foods. The food was insane! We opted for the highest price point Omakase (Chef's choice) and almost immediately the food started flying at us. It was dark, there was drinking snacks in front of us, good company and Japanese horror movies on screen, needless to say we only capture a few photos before giving up and digging into our meal.
Pictured are light Korean beers Hite, fish sauce caramel corn (insanely good); trio of salads (octopus, jellyfish and seaweed; and kimchi bacon and blue cheese buns. Not pictured, but part of the meal was buttered trout over rice; braised duck and shaved brussel sprouts; hanger steak; pork cheeks; house kimchi; edamame; soy sauce squid jerky; spicy cinnamon tea quail eggs; crab legs in herb sauce; fresh oysters; broiled mussels with manchego cheese; miso soup; and probably a few more items we simply can't remember. There was so much and it was all insanely good.
The weekend wasn't over yet, we still had a belated birthday celebration, this time in the form of a brunch at the Country Cat. Right on par with our meal at the Screen Door, the Country Cat's food was comforting and delectable on this rainy late winter/early spring morning. The food is whole hearted American breakfast bumped up 10 notches. The usual breakfast suspects were there - Cast Iron Skillet Fried Chicken ($15), the spoon bread was so yummy; Chili Pork over Grits ($13); Insane Pork Fat Biscuits & Gravy ($11); and Chicken Fried Steak ($12). The Proud Mary (their version of a Bloody Mary) was delicious as well. Oddly enough the only plate a picture wasn't take of was Anne's Braised Beef Hash, with chunks of braised beef the same size of the home fries ($12).
It was so nice to have a weekend to relax, enjoy a meal not out of a plastic container and finally talk to our family & friends about something other than moving. So, what's everyone been up to?
