OK! Let's Talk About The Beach

Miss me? I know, I've been back for 2 weeks without hardly so much as word. Sorry about that. I'd promise to do better, and I'll try...but you all know how that goes. We have a lot of food and drink to talk about, so let's get started!

Tod and I spent 7 glorious days in Rehoboth Beach at The Cabana Gardens Guest House. It is our oasis in the middle of our summer. We eat, we nap, we drink, we tan by the pool, we always say we're going to make it down to the ocean and we never do.

We both pack our own bars for this trip. Mine usually includes the fixings for Mojitos and various other Rum drinks. Tod is more of a Vodka fan and his bar reflects that choice. For some reason this year, we were laying by the pool the second day and I got a hankering for a Bloody Mary. Well, I don't usually have this hankering, so I hadn't packed anything that would allow me to concoct a Bloody Mary.

Luckily, right down the street, within easy walking distance, is Bin 66...a delightfully appointed liquor store. So, on go the flip flops and the t-shirt (I know! Me shirtless, try to get that image out of your head!) and off I go. What I wasn't prepared for was the entire shelf of Bloody Mary mixes they had to offer. I eeny-meeny-miney-moed one that turned out to be pretty good. Sorry, I don't remember the brand or I would share it here.

Once I got back to the guest house I set to work mixing. Now, I am not a fan of Vodka, so I made my Bloody Mary's with Rum. Gasp all you want, but Rum is so much smoother. Here is my first attempt.

Pretty, but not what I was going for.

The mix was really thick! It took a lot of stirring to get things incorporated. Also, as you can see, I didn't leave a lot of room for stirring. If I were making this cocktail at home, there also would have been more garnish, but at the beach...you do what you can and I did have fresh limes. The second round went much better.

Bigger is always better!

First, I went with a larger glass. Then when mixing the drink I added the rum and filled the glass only three quarters full with the mix. I then stirred it all up to mix it and then topped it off with more mix. This accomplished 2 things. It mixed up the rum and then allowed for the melting of the ice. As the ice melted it thinned out the mix on top so the drink didn't become watery towards the end.

What's to come? I want to have a party with a Bloody Mary Bar where you fashion your own drink. Course a Bloody Mary is typically a brunch drink, so the first hurdle is that I'd have to wake up early enough to have that party. My mother has given me some of her home made canned tomato juice and I would love to create my own Bloody Mary mix for future use. I'm sure Pinterest can help me find some recipes.

Despite Popular Opinion...

I am not face down in a ditch. I'll have all kinds of posts coming your way as soon as I write them this weekend. Vacation was wonderful, but getting back to work wasn't so much. I have been slammed! I came back to having to hire 3 new people. Let me tell you...that's been fun! NOT!

Said ditch

This all coupled with the fact that The Hubby accepted a job that means he has moved 2 hours away and now I am single parent of Molly means I haven't had much time to write. That and the fact that I have been trying to cram my Beach Level of cocktail consumption into the few hours I'm home in the evening means that even if I did write, you wouldn't have been able to understand a word of it.

Fear not! I will be back soon with amazing tales of vacation and who knows what else. Be afraid, very afraid.

Dinner Out: Thrive!

While in Atlanta, my coworkers and I went to my favorite downtown restaurant, Thrive! 

I have been here a few times in the past and it just continues to be wonderful every time. It's got an amazing contemporary interior and wonderful food. Here is my first Ginger Mojito, a concoction that I recommended to them 2 years ago and they have since placed on the menu.

A classic Mojito using their Ginger Beer instead of soda water...Yum!

Yeah, I had 6 of those...who could resist? Everyone knows how I feel about Sushi, but this restaurant has sushi items on the menu that are flash fried...they fry everything in the South. Because these are gently cooked I don't run into the usual texture problems I have with raw Sushi.

The Dragon Roll!

It consisted of spicy tuna and salmon, avocado and a spicy cream cheese. It is then flash fried for mere moments to perfection. I have got to find a place around here in Maryland that does this!

Filed Under: Things I Probably Wouldn't Eat

This southern delicacy was proudly featured in one of our meal areas at the convention I just worked.

Two great tastes...tastes great together!

I say "Southern Delicacy" because this is something I have never found in my grocery store. I suppose I should have tried it so that I could accurately report upon it's flavor and texture. But really, I couldn't make it past the packaging on this one.

While it kind of looks like Paté , I can't imagine that this concoction from Oscar Mayer is anything like Paté  Anyone ever tried it? Let me know what it's like in the comments.

A Little Fun Before I Go

As I leave for the beach this morning, I found this cute little video. Enjoy it, before the Disney corporation sues the pants off them!

Outta Here!

I know, I just got back from Atlanta, and it was ok. But now I am off on vacation to Rehoboth Beach and I can't wait. Look, I'm already packing!

Yep, the bar is in that cooler!

Packing for the beach is completely different than packing for my business trips. I start by making 5 lists...one for the clothes, one for the bar, a list of toiletries, the electronics get a list, and finally...there is an ETC list for things that don't fall into any of the above categories. So much more is involved in vacation packing. You have to have 3 outfits a day, the pool outfit, the lunch outfit and then later the dinner/bar outfit. Sometimes the dinner outfit can't be the same as the bar outfit, so then you have to have 4 outfits for that day.

I take a lot of mix and match stuff. T-shirts that go with shorts and later dress up with a bowling shirt for a bar outing. One thing I do not take are any kind of shoe that entirely encloses the foot. This is vacation and it's flip/flops and sandals from here on out!

I'll be sure to post about the first Mojito sipped while at the pool!

My Second Least Favorite City

Many of you have heard me talk about how much I don't enjoy Las Vegas Nevada. Now maybe if my work travels allowed me any chance to enjoy anything other than The Strip I would change my mind. But they don't and I haven't.

My second least favorite city is pretty much the same deal.

I can't believe they actually held the Olympics here?!?!?

Atlanta in July. The second worse place to be in the United States. I know, one of my favorite TV shows films here (The Walking Dead), but still it's unbearable. It's 100 degrees in the shade this time of year! UGH!

Also, I am downtown, not the best part of the city. Now maybe if the convention center were in Bucktown (Gay!) or Midtown (Slightly less gay) I'd be a little more enthused about it. Downtown you have a choice of about 6 restaurants, well unless you want to eat everyday at the CNN Center food court. But who wants to do that???

There isn't even a chance to run into Anderson Cooper, he's based out of NY!