Blizzard

We finally got to experience our first Nor'easter this past week, and got dumped with almost 20 inches of snow. Thankfully our friends who live closer to the stadium were gracious enough to invite us over to spend the night before the snow came so that we didn't get stuck at our apartment with no 4-wheel drive. It is more snow than this South Carolina girl has ever seen, that is for certain. I took a walk around our neighborhood yesterday and snapped some photos of my favorite old homes.

The snow was a little higher than my knees!

My friend's car is somewhere under all that snow!

Keri this house kind of reminds me of yours. Red door, white paint etc. 

 My favorite house in our town, it has so much New England charm!

An old dilapidated mill near our house. 

Coq au Vin

Coq au vin French pronunciation (lit. 'rooster with wine') is a French braise of chicken cooked with wine. 


Last night we had Mark Bittman's recipe for "rooster with wine," which I think is a hilarious interpretation of what SOUNDS like a fancy French dish. While this dish does taste fancy, it was incredibly easy to make, and The Husband ate it with much gusto and appreciation. I served it over grits because I am trying to get rid of everything in our pantry before we pack up again, but it would also be good tossed with pasta or over rice, or even in a bowl by itself. The recipe was taken from Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express. 

The thing I love about 'ole Mark is that he writes all of the recipes in Kitchen Express in paragraph format, with hardly any quantities included. He leaves plenty of room for interpretation and adding whatever you'd like:

Coq au Vin

Pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts to half-inch thickness and season with salt and pepper. (I used 2 breasts and cut them in half) Sear on both sides in a bit of butter; set aside. Add two carrots chopped into one-inch pieces and half an onion cut into wedges; cook until onion begins to soften. Add a cup of red wine, (I tasted mine beforehand to make sure it was OK....it was) a bay leaf, a teaspoon of tarragon, and a thyme sprig (all I had was thyme so I skipped the other seasonings). Deglaze the pan (swirl it all around over the heat) return the chicken to the pan, and cover. Simmer for about six minutes until the meat is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. 

**The chicken will turn a hilarious purple color. Do not be alarmed. I also added a handful of spinach and it was delicious! 

More Adventures With Aunt B

The fun with Aunt B just kept on rolling as we traveled to Newport and Maine to take in more gorgeous scenery. Since we aren't sure we'll be living here in the summer months, we figured we'd better take the bull by the horns and just visit even if it is cold. There wasn't much going on in Maine but we found our own fun...and ended up having a little food tour without even really trying! 

This photo was taken BEFORE Bekah fell on the slippery rocks in Newport. It was a blustery day

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We were really feeling frisky after our BORING house tour. Our tour guide was every bit the stereotypical tour guide and droned on and on about excruciating details like marble and granite instead of telling us personal stories about the home. We were sad that Bekah didn't get to experience the self-guided audio tour, but hopefully there will be a next time. 

We stopped at our nearest Chick Fil A (35 miles from here) on our way to Maine. If you can't tell, it was a really happy day for me. Thomas was so excited he shouted out loud in the food court. Everyone turned to stare, but we weren't even embarrassed. 

Here we are at Nubble Lighthouse in YORK, Maine. I wanted to take a picture with a sign for York but never found a very good one. The folks there talk a LITTLE differently than the folks in York, SC. It was freezing (and windy) but we had fun climbing on the rocks. Bekah held her ground and didn't bust her knee this time. 

On our way home, we passed When Pigs Fly Bakery. Thomas slammed on the brakes, pulled a U-turn and almost wrecked in order to turn into the bakery. If you've never been around an Austin and a bakery, you haven't truly lived. There were more types of bread than I've ever seen before, and we finally agreed on FOUR different loaves. Our favorite is the Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. It is simply divine! The bakery does supply to Whole Foods, but I don't know if they supply down South. 

One mile from the bakery was Bob's Clam Hut, which we'd seen on Diners Drive-Ins and Dives. It was 4pm so supper would've been premature, but we shared lobster stew and clam chowdah. They were both wonderful and the lobster stew especially impressed us with the amount of lobster meat. 

We then drove into Boston to show Bekah around and have dinner at Rino's, also a Diners Drive-Ins and Dives location. Lots of people have told us that Rino's is an absolute necessity, so we were pretty excited to end Bekah's trip with some local Italian food. We got a little lost turned around and were confused when our GPS took us into a neighborhood and said "you have arrived" when there were no neon restaurant signs anywhere in sight. Suddenly, I looked to my right and saw a sign that said Rino's but was definitely not turned on and definitely not open. I said "um, guys, I don't think Rino's is open today." Thomas shouted "I'm going to cry!" while Bekah sat in the back seat, speechless. I googled on and found that the Rino's owners happened to be taking a winter vacation December 23-January 10. It was January 8. Thomas plummeted into depression, our GPS promptly quit working, and Bekah and I fell into uncontrollable giggling. We then went the wrong way on the interstate, almost ran out of gas, and 2 hours later arrived at another Italian place close to our apartment. Bekah got a good dose of what travel with us is really like. We had so much FUN with her being here! 

Aunt B

Aunt B is here, aka Thomas' youngest sister, Bekah. She is spending the remaining days of her December break from Clemson with us, and Bekah+Margaret usually equals an interesting combination of events. Yesterday we went for a 2 hour hike in the local state park. We channeled our inner 10 year old and tried our hardest to break the ice on the lake we were hiking around. Like, we tried really hard. 

Here is B, very excited about how deep her feet were sinking into the snow. 

 My first attempt at breaking the ice, which included a 5 minute search for a rock that looked large enough. 

 Attempt #2, which including prying the ice up from the bank with a stick. This worked much better than the rock, and even garnered a large crack that went across the ice which appeased me momentarily.

Bekah was confident I'd lost my mind and was turning into a savage. 

Last night we made Pioneer Woman's Baked Fudge.  If you've never tried it, go do so immediately. It is A. easy  B. the best thing you'll ever taste this side of Heaven. C. Make sure you put some coffee ice cream on top.Thomas watched in fascination as we morphed into chocoholics and even pointed out that Bekah had gotten chocolate on her HEAD. 

And then this morning, Bekah was shouting at me for the way I store my salt, as she'd mistaken it for sugar and placed a heaping spoonful into her morning coffee.  The best part of this story is that Bekah did the same thing with the salt in her coffee when we lived in Clemson. COME ON BEKAH. Learn from your mistakes.

Bekah asked me to post this in order to take a poll and see which one you think the sugar is.....

Dan and Cathy

My parents got to come up for a 4 day visit and we had such a fun time showing them all around New England. We packed a lot in their trip and have plenty of photos to prove it. I have a hilarious amount of photos in which my father is not smiling, and then a picture right after that before which we all said "SMILE like you mean it." He is a hoot. We took them to our new favorite city of Newport, RI so that they could see the mansions and enjoy the Cliff Walk. They didn't let us down and enjoyed every single minute of our time there. 

 {Yes, Thomas wore shorts on January 1. Yes, he is crazy.}

 We all loved touring The Elms, and my dad even got in trouble for opening a historical drawer in the house. My mom especially enjoyed listening to the house tour on her very own headset and did not break ANY rules.

 We had a fabulous dinner at The Clarke Cooke House by a roaring fire. We will be going back again for the best clam chowder I've ever had. Seriously.

We also got to watch the Patriot's wallop the Dolphin's yesterday, and my parents enjoyed the people watching that is inevitable at any Pat's game. People here wear/own jerseys like I've never seen before. And let's just say folks use language to cheer for their team that we don't exactly use {as frequently} at a Clemson game.

Lord willing they can come again next year and we'll have a place that is larger than 700 square feet and more than one bedroom and tiny bathroom. But regardless of the tight squeeze, we had a wonderful time!