Hi Friends! Hope you’re having a fantastic Memorial Day weekend. Holy hot out there! Summer has (un)officially arrived .

Life is good in Dining and Dishing land. I work Sat and Sun at the vineyard; Sunday night my parents arrive (yippee!). They’ve been in England visiting with friends and family these past couple of weeks. When my mum realized their connecting flight home to Cleveland stopped in DC, my parents planned their trip so that they could spend the night with Louisa and I. It’s my dad’s bday soon, so it’s nice that we can enjoy it together close to the date. Plus, Louisa’s boyfriend Grantaferd in moving to DC this weekend! So much to celebrate.

A random collection of blogworthy meals…I’ve saved the most delicious for the end. Guess you’ll just have to keep reading .

French toast with seared banana, almond butter, coconut and maple syrup

Butternut squash waffle stack with almond butter and coconut.

A toasted waffle, topped with a mixture of butternut squash puree, Greek yogurt, honey and cinnamon. Layered with another toasted waffle and once again with the squashy mixture. Almond butter, coconut, serve! Take delight.

And now finally for the yummiest pizza to come out of Beth’s kitchen, ever.

Butternut Squash and Prosciutto Pizza

• Whole wheat pizza crust
• 1/3 cup Butternut squash
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• Salt & Pepper
• 5 mini balls of mozzarella, pat dry and sliced in half
• 1 cup of fresh spinach
• 2 slices of prosciutto
• 1 tsp. dried oregano

Preheat oven to 450F. In a small bowl, combine squash, garlic, salt & pepper. Place crust on a cookie sheet and spread squash mixture evenly over top. Meanwhile, sauté spinach with a tsp. of water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once spinach is wilted, pat dry and layer over squash. Add mozzarella, prosciutto and oregano.

Once preheated, lower oven temperature to 425F. Bake pizza for 7-10 minutes.

Serve, love:).

Oh yes!!

Louisa and I had pumpkin in place of traditional sauce on pizza once before at Rustico and it was love at first bite. And it’s not hard to recreate at home (this time with squash). So glad I did, it’s now been my supper two nights in a row .

See you later alligators. Once I’m back from all that Phillips family fun.

So yesterday was an exciting day! 6 months after moving in, my apartment finally has Internet . When I first made the move into this way-too-expensive home, I decided Internet was one of those non-essentials that I could live without in an effort to be thrifty. But I didn’t really consider how many times a day it’s helpful to pop online for something. I’ve felt so disconnected! Plus, I don’t even have a smart phone which I think makes me pretty much Amish these days. Good if you like yummy cheese, not so good for the life of a blogger.

So anyway. One of the things I’ve missed popping online for are recipes! So I’ve immediately put my connection to good use, for last night’s supper and this morning’s breakfast. It may surprise you, they featured sweet potatoes and oatmeal . It’s a sad little life I lead.

Tina’s recipe for sweet potato wedges is pretty much the most delicious way to make homemade sweet potato fries.

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My taters were a short and fat, so they are little less wedgey than the original.

Tossed in olive oil and sea salt…

And baked at 400 for 35 minutes, then crisped up under the broiler for 5 more.

Served with steam sautéed spinach with a drizzle of chocolate raspberry balsamic and a sprinkle of coconut. Delightful!

After supper, Louisa came over for salted caramel ice cream, Modern Family and to drop off Miss Amelia Bedelia for the weekend while she’s away camping in West Virginia. So far that satanic cat has torn down the blinds, stolen one of my earrings and made it completely impossible to sleep a wink. It’s going to be a fun weekend!

But at least I had this little breakfast waiting for me in the fridge.

Kath’s overnight oats! Basically a blend of oats, Greek yogurt, milk and banana left to soak overnight so they turn all doughy and soft (yum). Topped with banana, Justin’s honey almond butter and cinnamon. Although warm oats are the very best, cold oatmeal is much more appealing in these hot temps.

So there you have it! I think I’ll go check my email again (because I can ).

Hi! Hope you enjoyed the rest of your weekend .

Sunday morning was bittersweet, for after a yummy brunch it was time to say goodbye to our darling Cleveland friendies. So after my morning boot camp class, I headed over to meet up with the ladies at Silver Diner.

I just love this place. It might look like a blah diner at first, but the menu is surprisingly delicious! A lot of the food is sourced from local farms and I think it really shows in both quality and flavor. Who doesn’t love a solid breakfast?

I was pretty much starving after my morning work-out and these were amaazing .

Sweet potato pecan pancakes with griddled bananas and a side of strawberries. Oh my!

It’s always sad to say goodbye but it was lovely to have them in town for the weekend. I just wish everyone I love could move to DC and stay here with me forever .

In the afternoon, little Louisa-Bell came over so we could go for a walk. Our location of choice was Manassas National Battlefield Park, the site of the first battle of the Civil War! This historical beauty is only 11 minutes from my house, so shame on me for not going before.

Our original plan was to do the 5.4 mile loop around but of course we got hopelessly lost. In the end we walked for about an hour and a half, in no particular direction .

It was a totally gorgeous hike, I must say! Sadly, my body has decided it suddenly has allergies and poor Louisa has always suffered badly from them (sister nerd alert). Hiking through the grass all afternoon did.not.help!! We both ended up back at the car with streaming noses and puffy eyes and itchy throats. And then I almost drove off the road about 50 times sneezing my face off while trying to get us to a pharmacy.

But after an emergency trip to Walgreens and showers we were de-pollinated and good to go . So in the end, a worth it trip to one of America’s lovely landmarks! Gotta take advantage of the area when you can.

See you soonnn.

Cheers to the Weekend!

And what a beautiful one it is. Friday was such a lucky day, for I didn’t have to work, Jackie took the day off work and our favorite Cleveland friends Amanda and May came in town to visit.

We went to a small all-girls school together, which sounds super lame but in reality was the very BEST. We had 12 best friends and never did anything cool. We’d just hang out with each other non-stop and listen to Spice Girls and eat too much food and giggle uncontrollably about boys we didn’t even know. I’d pretty much like to capture those carefree days and stay there forever .

But now we are grown-ups. Which has some perks too… like being old enough to go wine tasting. But first, a little Magnolia’s at the Mill patio lunch to absorb our vino. Well actually, first a little vino to absorb our vino. Or something?

Sunset Hills 2011 Viognier. Last time we dined here I enjoyed the delightful 2010 vintage which won many awards and was completely sold out in their tasting room. But now it’s sold out everywhere! So it was the 2011 instead. Good but not as memorably good I’m afraid.

And some fresh bread with olive oil.

Me, Jack-Attack and Amanda

To eat, I had the Poached Pear Salad with salmon. Included in this dish: greens, figs, almonds, prosciutto, gorgonzola mousse and a poached pear with balsamic glaze.

Delish! Light and flavorful, perfect lunch for the warm weather .

Well almost perfect. Of course there was dessert!

We ordered one of these molten cookies last time we were here and I thought I had just died and gone to heaven! It’s a half baked chocolate chip cookie, served warm with ice cream, whip cream and chocolate sauce. So ooey gooey good! We shared two between the four of us.

Then it was time for wine. First stop, Breaux!

I’ve tasted Breaux’s wines at several festivals but I’d never tasted actually at the vineyard before. We stopped by on a good day too, for they’d brought out some of their 2007 library reds. They had a Cab Franc that was to. die. for.

Oh Virginia, how beautiful are you. It’s always so fun showing the area to our out of town friends. I feel like VA wine is such a new thing, people often don’t believe we have this gorgeous wine country til they see it!

Next stop, Hillsborough. I love, love the view from Hillsborough and I think their wines are quite nice too. So it was a return visit!

May May, me, Amanda and Jackie.

And finally, Sunset Hills.

Sunset Hills just happened to be open until 8PM (wineries usually close at 5) so we were able to prolong the fun! And all of a sudden our classy day of wine tasting turned into half priced wine-a-ritas on the porch, which somehow landed us at a Mexican restaurant drinking margaritas the size of my head, and finally in bed by 10PM. Yikes.  

An absolutely fabulous day with my fabulous friendies. It was back to the other side of the wine counter for me today which is almost but just not quite as fun . Later alligators! 

I feel so spoiled with delicious food lately! Even so, last night’s dinner at The Curious Grape definitely ranks as one of the best meals I’ve enjoyed in a while . As a disclaimer, I was invited by the restaurants friendly PR group and our meal was complimentary. The opinions however are of course, all my own.

So last night’s lucky dinner guest was…Jackie! We actually have friends arriving into town from Cleveland today so we figured a yummy dinner would be a good way to kick off our long weekend of Beth/Jackie and crew fun.

Sadly, we got stuck in lots of traffic on our way into Shirlington, so by the time we arrived we were starving!! And Jackie was pretty much ready to kill me. But hungry tummies makes everything taste better, no?

To begin we dove right into the braised pork empanadas with cilantro, pumpkin seed salsa & crème fraiche.

Crispy, warm pastry surrounding tender, spicy meat. Jackie and I both adore pumpkin anything and paired with that cool creme fraiche, the whole dish was perfection! And just enough to keep us going while we awaited the main event .

What I loved most about the menu is that each dish shows a recommended style of wine for pairing and several wines to choose from under each style. The right pairing can really elevate both components so much and this makes things easy . We enjoyed a half pour pairing with each course. I was excited to see some local VA wines in the mix, along with the rest of the main wine regions of the world.

This 2008 Yamhill Valley Vineyards from Willamette Valley OR Pinot Noir was my absolute fave wine of the night. Light but so very flavorful and complex! Adore.

For my main, I had the pan-roasted sea scallops with black rice, bok choy & plum wine beurre blanc.

Although I LOVE scallops, I was unsure about ordering this dish because the sides weren’t sounding all that exciting to me. But they came highly recommended by our waiter and I’m so glad!! The rich/light flavors and textures were so incredible together and the scallops themselves, seared to perfection.

We’re not done yet! One of the restaurant’s kind partners sent out a mini cheese plate for us to share. Great cheese really is as complex as wine and it was great to hear a little of the story behind each of her selections.

My favorite cheese is down at the very end, Teahive (Utah) fruity, bergamot, aromatic, buttery, semi-soft cows milk.

And finally my friends, dessert . I was feeling rather full by this point, although Jackie was trying to convince me we clearly needed two desserts to share. I convinced her we’d try just one, but after enjoying this little beauty I suppose we could have splurged on two!

Strawberries and almond shortcake with white chocolate almond ice cream and rhubarb coulis

Oh my. The highlight was absolutely that gorgeous little scoop of ice cream, house-made with big slivers of crunchy almonds throughout. Kiss me on the face, it was good!

An awesome evening of amazing food, amazing wine and my bestest DC friend. A huge thank you to all of the lovely staff at Curious Grape for a memorable evening. We will definitely be back!

Bye bloggies. See you during/after our weekend of high school friendy fun .

Hi Bloggies! Happy Tuesday.

Since my work week was Thurs-Sun, Sunday night was kinda like Friday! How exciting. Once I got home from the vineyard, I got some veggies roasting and then popped The Shred into my DVD player to get my sweat on while dinner cooked. Multi-tasking you see!

I made almond butter crusted carrots and red potatoes which, like everything nut butter-related, is pretty much the most delicious thing ever.

I just chopped up the potatoes, added a bunch of carrots and tossed them with 2 tbsp. of Justin’s Honey Almond Butter, a 1/2 tbsp. of olive oil and some salt. In the oven at 400F for 40 minutes. Easy peasy!

And topped them with a dollop of local Setter Mountain Cabernet wine jelly that my sis bought me a little while ago. Because what goes better with almond butter than jelly? Almond butter, jelly and wine of course .

Then my darling Jackie came over for our usual Sunday night wine date. In an effort to keep things exciting, recently we’ve been inviting cupcakes to the party too .

And with our cupcakes, some Rose from Stinson Vineyards. It’s a bottle I purchased during our trip down to Charlottesville a few weeks ago. It’s very unique, made with 100% Mourvédre – a dry wine with a hint of smokiness. I loved this!

Of course, it was a great night of catching up.

Then yesterday, it was time to get all of my neglected to do’s done, with a scattering of fun included throughout . I made it to an AM Body Pump class for the first time since before my half-marathon. I am feeling it today!! How I missed the burn. Then met my friend JoAnn for lunchtime salads at Sweetwater Tavern and met Joelle for our usual Monday dinnertime pho.

It was super rainy all day yesterday so a warm bowl of soup hit really the spot! Vegetarian pho with tofu this week.

So there you have it! See you again soon loves.

Hi Friends! I hope you had a nice weekend.

Saturday night I was invited to attend Chobani’s inaugural blogger dinner, held right here in DC! It was great to meet some of the friendly faces behind the yogurt company, spend time with local DC bloggers and of course, eat lots of great food .

We dined at The Federalist, near McPherson Square. I’d never been there before and was mega impressed! We sat in a private room that looked like a cozy little library, with rows of books lining the walls. Two tables of six made a nice sized crowd and good conversation.

The menu was so much fun! I knew each dish would contain Greek yogurt, but I had no idea just how creative the kitchen was going to get.

For our first course, White Gazpacho with sustainable shrimp and minted yogurt. I just adore mint! It added a real freshness to this creamy dish. The soup was also garnished with slivered grapes, almonds and olive oil. So many unique flavors that really popped together. 

I was so torn over what to have for my main! In the end I chose the Ricotta Agnolotti because I love, love, love fresh ricotta . In this case, it was made with Chobani! The dish also included wilted arugula, radish and preserved lemon butter. The house made pasta had just a touch of chew, the ricotta was creamy smooth and that preserved lemon butter – so fresh yet so rich! Oh my.

And finally, a Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta with preserved strawberries, shortbread cookie, and pepper syrup. Of course I loved it! How could you not? My favorite part of the dish was the pepper syrup which was spicy, sweet and so very unique. Really took the dish to a whole new level!

A fabulous evening of delicious food and wine and great company. I was already a Chobani devotee but now that whenever I crack open a yogurt it will remind me of this supper, I might just have to have one at every meal . Thanks Chobani!

See you tomorrow bloggies.