Category: that food life

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Our weekend in charming Charleston, SC

My husband Zack and I recently celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary on August 15th. In fact, many days in the month of August are special to us as a couple. Our first conversations happened shortly after I moved into my dorm building at MSU in August 2003. And August 21st is our dating anniversary; this week will mark 14 years together, which is absolutely wild!

We’ve been very lucky to commemorate our wedding anniversary with a trip or two in the past. Our first anniversary was celebrated in Traverse City, and our fifth anniversary was marked with a trip to New Orleans. This year, as Zack’s work schedule will continue to get crazier in the months leading up to November, our anniversary weekend seemed like a great time to get away for a few days. It also helps that Margot is old enough to enjoy a weekend away from mama and dada every now and then.

In considering where we wanted to go for this quick Friday-Sunday weekend getaway, we thought about places we’ve been to before and loved, such as New York City and Las Vegas. But after my trip to Portland, Maine earlier this year, it has become clear to me that there are so many cool places to visit around the country that we’ve never been to before.

Charleston, South Carolina has topped Travel + Leisure’s list of the Top 15 Cities in the United States for the last five years. It has felt like the city is becoming a top destination for a quick weekend getaway, thanks to its beautiful architecture, ever-growing food scene, and long history. Also, the show “Southern Charm” is probably the reason why so many young women are flocking there for bachelorette weekends.

For us, Charleston felt like the perfect spot to enjoy our anniversary together. And thankfully, we had some help from friends to steer us in the right direction while we were there. Here’s a rundown of where we stayed, what we ate (which was a lot), and what we did. Continue reading “Our weekend in charming Charleston, SC”

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Look ma, no “avocado hand!”

Blame it on the avocado toast. Apparently, people are injuring themselves at increasing rates, trying to get into their precious avocados.

It’s enough of an issue that it has a name: “avocado hand.” Joy Behar recently talked about her avocado-related injury on “The View,” and even our national treasure Meryl Streep fell victim to avocado hand back in 2012.

I have also accidentally grazed my hand with a knife while opening up an avocado, leading to a fainting spell in which my father in law had to catch me and help my unconscious body down to the floor of my kitchen. Thankfully, I didn’t need a trip to the emergency room. The only thing I needed to overcome was my embarrassment.

Since that incident, I learned to be especially careful cutting open my avocados, using a duller knife. But that doesn’t always get the job done, especially when it comes to removing the pit inside.

Then, my husband bought me one of the best kitchen gadgets I’ve ever used. I can now bid farewell to “avocado hand” forever. Continue reading “Look ma, no “avocado hand!””

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Postcards from Portland: A weekend with the Maine Squeezes

Travel for fun is one of the most special and wonderful things in life, and sadly something that doesn’t get to happen all too often. So when my friend Linda had a flight voucher and needed to get a trip booked, she put the word out to our group of friends last summer to see if we could plan a girls trip. This was such an exciting prospect.

It’s rare enough to get to travel with Zack for fun now that we have the girls, and funnily enough, we’ve tried to travel more as a couple after having kids than when it would have been a lot easier to sneak away for a long weekend here and there. But to be able to get away with friends, especially when there are multiple kids and pups and jobs involved, seemed like a marvelous idea.

After much discussion about time of year and focusing in on the east coast, we set our sights (and sails) towards Portland, Maine.

I will say that I didn’t know much about Maine, only that Julie “The Cat” Gaffney from “The Mighty Ducks 2” was from there. But the area looked beautiful as we began to dig into the details, and it checked off a lot of boxes: potential for water activities, a delicious food scene, and beautiful scenery.

We booked our trip for June 21-24, a sweet little long weekend getaway to a seaside town. It felt like it would take forever to get here, but now, the trip is in our wake.

And it was a delicious and wonderful trip filled with innovative meals, sea air, belly laughs, cute dogs, and lots of memories. I can’t tell enough people how much they need to go there.

Here are some postcards from Portland, Maine. Continue reading “Postcards from Portland: A weekend with the Maine Squeezes”

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Check out Batter Up Bistro

When it comes to restaurants and shops, the Lansing area has many locally owned gems that I love to visit and support with some major word of mouth praise. So when my friend Linda called last week to enthusiastically tell me about the place where she ate lunch that day, I had to know more. Especially when she said it was the best French onion soup of her life.

Batter Up Bistro on Michigan Ave. in Lansing opened in October. Previously, the space had been vacant for four years. Owner Cari DeLamielleure has created a cozy and beautiful haven just steps away from Cooley Law School Stadium and around the corner from where Clara’s used to be.

Continue reading “Check out Batter Up Bistro”

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Check out The Grand Experience at the Lansing City Market

Summer is (almost!) officially here, and one of the things I love the very most about the warmer months is the growing number of fun Lansing-area events and opportunities to enjoy the outdoors.

This summer, the Lansing City Market is the place to be for lunch and dinner during the week, thanks to The Grand Experience. The Grand Experience is a new initiative inviting locals to enjoy the scenery of the Downtown Lansing riverfront while dining on food from local food trucks and vendors in the afternoons and evenings — all summer long!

Continue reading “Check out The Grand Experience at the Lansing City Market”

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Favorite Costco finds in May

It has been awhile since I did a little write-up of my favorite finds at Costco, and truthfully, I have been sticking to a lot of the old standbys lately. But this week’s trip to Costco brought with it the discovery of a couple of newer items that I couldn’t pass up.

We met up with my friend Tessa and her kids to do a big Costco sweep and sample parade. As you can see, it was a bit of a blur.

Four kids, two moms, and infinite samples. The world was our oyster.

Continue reading “Favorite Costco finds in May”

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Check out DavePops

Last weekend at the Meridian Township Farmers Market, I met up with my cousins Brian and Rion for brunch at the Purple Carrot. While we were waiting, we saw our friend Josh Holliday, who told us that he just had the best popsicle of his life. Okay, tell us more, Josh! It turns out he bought a mango popsicle from a cute little cart across the bridge.

We could see the colorful umbrella pop through the trees and other vendor tents. After bringing our brunch over to a picnic table on that side of the farmers market, our little popsicle queen Stella asked if she could get one.

We walked over to the cart and met Dave of DavePops. All of Dave’s specialty popsicles are handmade and feature all natural ingredients, but one thing they don’t include is dairy! For anyone with a dairy intolerance, these would be a great treat. Continue reading “Check out DavePops”

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Rejoice! Baskin-Robbins is back!

As the days are warming up, it’s finally feeling like the perfect time to get a scoop of ice cream. In our area, there are a ton of delicious options (hello, MSU Dairy Store and Tasty Twist), but many of those spots aren’t very close to our house.

So when I saw a Baskin-Robbins sign pop up in the plaza along Grand River Ave. near Marsh Rd., I rejoiced. This location is the first one in the Lansing area in seven years. When we were in college, Zack and I often went to the one in East Lansing before it closed. And best of all, this location is very close to where we live.  Continue reading “Rejoice! Baskin-Robbins is back!”

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Crock Pot Classic: Sausage and lentil soup

While I still have a great love for my Instant Pot, there’s a special place in my heart for my Crock Pot. There’s something to be said for being able to throw ingredients into my Crock Pot and letting a meal cook throughout the day, filling the house with the yummy smell of the dinner to come. It’s a little more fool-proof than my Instant Pot, too. I still get anxiety about the quick release steam.

I have some standbys when it comes to the Crock Pot, but I have to say my favorite is one that I learned to make from my mom: sausage and lentil soup. This delicious soup only requires four ingredients. FOUR. It’s also incredibly easy to make, but that is thanks in large part to a beautiful little place I like to call TJ’s… Trader Joe’s. Cue the angels singing. Continue reading “Crock Pot Classic: Sausage and lentil soup”

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My favorite thing to bring to a friend with a new baby

I’ll never forget all of the wonderful things our friends and family did for us after we had Stella five years ago. One gesture that has stayed with me is when my friend Danielle came to visit our house and brought us homemade breakfast burritos. We warmed them up the next morning, after a long and sleepless night, and they were the most perfect and delicious thing.

For the last five years, I’ve continued to pay it forward by bringing breakfast burritos to other friends who have just had babies.

The genius of the breakfast burritos is that more often than not, friends and family bring over casseroles, Crock Pot meals, and sweets when they come visit. These are all amazing things and so helpful and necessary during the craziness of those early weeks of parenthood. But a good breakfast is so important to help fuel up and stay energized, particularly after a tough night.

I also love that the breakfast burritos are individually portioned, easy to freeze and then heat up, and can be eaten one-handed. No utensils necessary!

My friend Kristin and her husband Josh just got home after having their fourth son, and with it being Cinco de Mayo, it especially seemed like the perfect opportunity to whip up some breakfast burritos for their family.

Here’s how I do it. Continue reading “My favorite thing to bring to a friend with a new baby”