More Food

Mer invited me over this morning for a frittata made up of Thanksgiving leftovers! YUM:

With some potatoes and toast! Delicious.

Also, one of her famous cappucinos!

Later that night, she had a bunch of people over for burgers. These weren't just any burgers though. These were YASU'S burgers. These were burgers like I had heard people talk about. People that talk about "the best burger" or whatnot. Athens doesn't really have a place with a PHENOMENAL burger, and whenever I go to cities, I don't usually go out for burgers.

Now I understand. These burgers were PHENOMENAL.

Mmm, brushing butter on the buns. BRUSH IT!

Ready to go!

Lining up!

Get some, Joey!

The line.

YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!

Cross section.

After burgers, we went to Casa! Joey and Christina:

Michelle had a bloody mary.

Renee had never had an Irish Car Bomb before! So of course we had to do one!

Go go go!

Joey wins!!! I am a close second.

I love watching the aftermath of a round of Irish Car Bombs. I must have really loved that one, judging from the way I'm licking my lips and patting my belly. Aw, Renee is still going!!

Clapping!

High fives! Go team!

Next up, a round of unicorn pegasuses. Brooke!

Christina!

Marco! He wanted to get his on his leg so he could be like his BFF Aaron.

Michelle!

Thanskgiving 2008!

Every three years, Mer's friends from out West come to Athens to celebrate Thanksgiving. This year was the year, which always means a FUN Thanksgiving!

Yasu is a chef in San Francisco, and this year he and Renee masterminded a FANCY Thanksgiving menu! I've never had such a fancy Thanksgiving in my life. Everything was DELICIOUS.

Here is the complete menu:

*Thanksgiving 2008*

Roasted turkey with aromatic gravy
--brined turkey with mixed herb rub
--carrots, onion and celery with turkey drippings

Sweet/savory crusty bread stuffing
--crusty bread, sausage, fennel and currants

Brown sugar crusted brussels sprouts with bacon
--Brussels sprouts, brown sugar, bacon and rosemary

Grilled pork tenderloin with shiitake cream sauce
--pork loin, shiitakes, cilantro and cream

Roasted beet salad with warm goat cheese over arugula and endive
--beets, arugula, and endive
--goat cheese, parmesan, cream and breadcrumbs

Baked butternut squash and sweet potatoes with sage cream
--squash and sweet potatoes
--sage brown butter and cream

Coriander/cumin/orange glazed turnips and carrots
--turnips, carrots and orange juice
--coriander, cumin and chicken stock

Braised kale, chard and lettuces with caramelized onions and balsamic
--kale, chard and grean leaf lettuce
-caramelized onions and balsamic reduction

Roasted potatoes with garlic confit and thyme
--potatoes, garlic and thyme

-cranberry sauce (made by me!)
-pumpkin and apple pies (made by Mom!)
-Village Bakery whole wheat dinner rolls

Click here to view Thanksgiving photos!

Thanksgiving Eve

The night before Thanksgiving, NBIA staff & friends went out to celebrate the holiday. We decided to have a round of Irish Car Bombs, and we asked a man at the bar if he would take pictures of us for my web site. He didn't actually take any pictures until we were totally finished!!! Check out the look on my face, you can tell I'm SUPER concerned about the fact that I saw NO flash the whole time we were chugging away:

As a consolation prize, we asked him to take a photo of us holding up our empty glasses, but this picture ended up with a bunch of us cut off and a shadow covering half the shot. FAIL!! Obviously we would need to have another round later, and properly document it.

Carla introduced me to a fun camera game that I had never heard of before. It's called Around The World! One person takes the camera, and takes a photo of them and the person next to them. Then, they pass the camera to that person, who takes a photo of themselves with the person on the other side of them. The camera goes around the whole group and you get a fun set of photos!

AROUND THE WORLD! GO!

TJ and Carla!

Me and TJ!

Me and Leah!

Billie and Leah!

Jason and Bille!

Carla and Jason!

Alright, time for another round of Irish Car Bombs. And this time, we were determined to get proper photos. TJ was in charge of the camera this time!

Jason is clearly the winner of this group! Notice that there is one extra car bomb on the table.

The bartender came by and drank the car bomb. SO FAST. It was amazing.

A Visit From Beth

Beth is moving soon, to be a lawyer in Seattle! She came down to Athens for a visit before moving out of the state. First things first, LUNCH! We went to Bagel Street Deli!

We both had the Sunny Hummus on an everything bagel.

After lunch, we walked around campus.

Shoes hanging above Jeff Hill.

That night, Beth, Ben and I went to Casa and enjoyed a pitcher of margaritas! And dinner, of course.

On our way home, we passed this truck that someone had Saran Wrapped. HAHAHAHAHAH!!!

Hee!!

The next morning, the frost on the window in the bathroom was BEAUTIFUL!! I know that it means we have crappy windows and they shouldn't get all frosty and stuff but look how pretty:

The Village Bakery has bagels now!!!!!!!!!!! This is huge. I love bagels. It was a DELICIOUS bagel, too.

Mmm, and a macaroon for dessert!

Happy Birthday, Leah!

Tonight we celebrated Leah's birthday at Casa Nueva! The special for the night was French Onion Soup. Five of us wanted to order it, but they only had enough for THREE!!! I was one of the ones who ended up getting it. When they brought out our dinners, they had made little BABY french onion soups for the people who didn't get to have it. LOOK at how cute that little baby soup is!!! AW!!!!!!!!

I also had the Autumn Salad, which was delicious.

Yumi got Leah some SUPER pretty earrings!

Tapas Cooking Club

Tonight, Valerie hosted a tapas-style Cooking Club at her house! We all made an appetizer dish, focusing on presentation, and served them with a wine pairing. Everything was so amazing, better than a restaurant! After hours of eating and drinking, we played several rounds of Balderdash.



Click here to view Cooking Club photos!

Poker Night at Summer & J's, Featuring Marco

Summer and J hosted poker in their barn tonight! Ben and I tried two new beers, Pyramid Snow Cap, and Leinenkugel's Fireside Nut Brown Ale (not pictured). The Snow Cap was good, the Nut Brown was AMAAAAAAAAAAAZING!!!! It was so nutty, and mapley, and caramely.

Rose took off with my camera and took the rest of these photos! Mmm, Snacks!!

Tom and Angela were at my table.

The other table.

After I lost, I played euchre with some other losers. At one point, I headed up to the house to go to the bathroom, and when I got back, Aaron and Marco were giggling like little girls!!! And they would NOT tell me why!!! The next day, when I looked to see what pictures Rose had taken on my camera the night before, I discovered what had happened. Marco had decided to take my leather vest, wear it as a top, and pose while Rose took pictures!!