Fall Fever

Woke up this morning with a craving for Pot Roast. What's a girl to do?! Drove to Publix to pick up pot roast supplies along with a couple of bottles of champagne. Hello, Saturday.

Start the pot roast around 1:30pm...5pm rolls around and it's time to eat!



What's missing from this picture?

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So, the carrots. The freaking carrots. What a freaking idiot. Quickly dump them in a pot with beef stock and my leftover herb bundle to boil until tender.



In the mean time, I have been enjoying champagne and hanging out with this dude.



I cannot complain. Except for the fact that's it's 95 degrees outside and I'm eating pot roast.

Fall fever in full effect.

Today: Toasted Head Chardonnay, Publix sub (turkey w/no cheese on wheat) and the new Cooking Channel.
Tomorrow: Sunday Funday in St. Augustine.

Loving life, y'all!

More 'pagne.

After returning from a week in Prague, I am slowly coming back to the land of the living. The food over there is SO GOOD but SO HEAVY. I have had my fill of dumplings (I will miss them and think of them often). I could tell you all about the different kinds of beer we drank, but I feel you must go over there and explore on your own. Every little bar/restaurant we visited had a different favorite for me. I cannot lie to you and say that I'm not already planning my vacation there next year. It's just the most perfect vacation spot.

So on to the real topic - Champagne! After a horrible week following vacation (read: interviewing for a job for two months and found out yesterday they have decided they aren't hiring at this time), I am blessed with an awesome dude buying me a nice bottle of champagne to help my Saturday be a hell of a lot better than my Friday. I discovered this champagne on my 30th birthday and really really enjoy it.



Champagne Pommery.

To quote the website, "An estate like no other in the world. Built in 1868 by Mrs Pommery to represent the House's image of modernity and extravagance, this Elizabethan-style chateau set in the very heart of the city of Reims attracts more than 90,000 visitors from all around the world every year.

The architectural style and the unique layout of the buildings, open to visitors, reflect the brand’s all-embracing aspirations.
The Estate, of 51 hectares, contains18 kilometres of cellars and gallo-roman chalk pits, where lay down 20 million bottles at 30 meters underground at a constant temperature of 10 degrees Celsius.

It is in the heart of this magical place that Pommery Champagnes come to life, surrounded with works of art in the cellars and the storeroom to mix elaboration and contempory art."

At $40 a bottle, it's definitely something I would buy on rare occasions but it's making me feel a lot better about life in general! Some girls like expensive bags & shoes. I'll just take the champagne, please.

Today is the perfect Florida winter day. It's actually sunny and warm with temps in the upper 70's. Every now and then a rain shower rolls on through.

So how am I celebrating? With a Publix Sub (no cheese! half for lunch, half for dinner) and a few Budweisers.
Doesn't get much better than this.

p.s. Bud in a can is much better than Bud in a bottle.

p.s.s. HUGE day tomorrow regarding work stuff and I am very anxious. These Budweisers could turn into a few plus a couple. Just sayin'.

Strawberries.

I remember learning my Mom's High School song while riding in the car when I was young. "We are the Planters, the mighty mighty Planters. Everywhere we go, People want to know.." You know the rest.

Yes, both of my parents are from Plant City, FL and in high school, they were the Plant City High School Planters. I think the mascot has since changed at Plant City High School to something a little more...well...not so country?? My parents both left Plant City, FL after graduating from high school, but strawberries have always been a HUGE part of my life growing up.

The annual Strawberry Festival in Plant City, FL is my absolute favorite festival! There's a local pride to be known as "Strawberry Capital of the World" during the winter season. When Florida was hit this month with 12 days of below-freezing temperatures, my first thought was all of the strawberry farms. It will be announced this week the amount of damage done to central Florida's agriculture industry, but my fingers are crossed!

Olives.

I love olives. Actually, I LOVE olives. I have ever since I was a little girl. I was the kid at Thanksgiving who would steal all of the black olives off of the hors' d'oeuvre (yeah, I looked up that spelling) plate and run around with them stuck on the tips of my fingers tormenting my older sister who hated olives. Sorry, Deven.

I was a black olive snob. I'm not sure if I even tried green olives until around 2002...and then the love affair evolved. Little salty bits of goodness. I went on a month-long road trip in 2003 and it was common to have a jar of green olives stashed in the console between the front seats to snack on during the long drives. I could tell you a few stories about when I discovered dirty martinis, but we're not even go there! Basically, I just can't get enough.

About a year ago, I tried Lindsay Naturals Green Ripe California Olives. Man oh man. These are the perfect olives! The perfect amount of salt, perfect texture, and this amazing buttery taste to the olive. omg.

Olives usually contain a ridiculous amount of sodium. Not these! Of course not - as I said, they're perfect! These natural olives have only 3 ingredients: Olives, Water and Sea Salt. They are available in green or black and have 115mg for 5 olives; that's about half the amount of sodium when compared to other olives.

Compare ingredients and sodium to Lindsay's Pimiento Stuff Spanish Manzanilla Olives:
Ingredients: Manzanilla olives, water, salt, pimiento, lactic acid, sodium alginate, guar gum, calcium chloride and potassium sorbate as preservative.
Serving Size: 5 olives (15g)
Sodium: 240mg

I have a special container that is designated strictly for olives. A few months ago, I made the mistake of storing coffee in this container for a few days. Dear Self, wtf were you thinking?? Coffee flavored olives are definitely not recommended here at Foodnography.

Only Olives! All the time!

My Mom's Chicken Pot Pie

This is the only meal I request when I go home. My mom makes the crust from scratch...it has celery seed in it which makes all the damn difference in the world. My dear friends, this is THE BEST CHICKEN POT PIE IN THE WORLD.

Email me for the recipe. She loves to share.

pagne.

6 months ago, I spilled an entire $50 glass of champagne on myself.

It still haunts me.

Speaking of champagne, I'm always on the hunt for a good cheap bottle. Today I purchased Depreville Brut for $8.99 from Total Wine here in Jacksonville. Eh...not horrible, but not that good. I'm still a J. Roget kind of girl for super cheap champagne. At $5.99 a bottle, you just can't beat it when you want to spend a Saturday afternoon getting the champagne giggles on a budget.

I also researched the difference between Brut and Extra-Dry which I've never taken the time to do. Did you know that Extra-Dry is actually sweeter than Brut? I didn't! I feel like a fool. Now I'm on the hunt for Extra Brut!

What's your favorite cheap champagne?

*side note: I know it's not really considered champagne unless it comes from that region, but "sparkling wine" irks me.*

Thanksgiving in New Orleans

Cracker Barrel Eggs in a Basket

Heaven.

I'm in a funk.  I'm glad it's raining.

Spring!

Clams by Nick Strate

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Red snapper with lemon butter thyme sauce, mashed red potatoes, and stuffing.

I've been drinking too much red wine and eating too much red meat.

mhmm.

Lately...