Mom's Garden

Before these last few weeks of summer fade away, I must share some lovely summer adventures we've had.  A few weeks ago, Superking and I went out to visit my parents who live in the mountains of northern Virginia countryside.  They have about 10 acres of woods just above the beautiful flowing Shenandoah River.  My dad is an avid outdoorsman and has been in the building industry in one aspect or another for most of his life.  My mom is a country girl at heart. They designed and built their own house up there in their own little quiet paradise.

One of the things my mom loves to do is gardening.  And she's always had a knack for it too. I, on the other hand, have the Black Thumb of Death when it comes to all plants, be they fruit, veg, or flower, with the exception of weeds.  If it was acceptable to grow weeds and make them look nice, I would be the Queen.

Anywho...as my mom took us on a little tour of her garden, it was bursting with greens and reds and yellows everywhere we looked.  Just about anything you can imagine growing in a garden, it was there.  Tomatoes (so many tomatoes of all different kinds), cabbages, squash, carrots, strawberries, peppers of various kinds, herbs, cucumbers. They even tried to grow peanuts but they didn't turn out so well unfortunately.  But everything else was vibrant and colorful.

my mom being goofy

one of their dogs, Buddy or Bella?

And she doesn't use any kind of pesticides either. So it doesn't get much more local and organic than that!

For our lovely dinner we had with them, my mom used plenty of her yummy produce in our meal, including this delicious tomato salad.  Beautiful red and orange cherry tomatoes mixed with a tangy balsamic vinagrette and fresh herbs and chunks of creamy mozzarella cheese. It was sweet and tangy and juicy; a perfect companion to a good juicy steak hot off the grill.

We also had luscious strawberries stuffed with a marscapone cream cheese and dipped in chocolate for dessert.  I could've eaten the whole plate they were so yummy!

And before we left we stuffed our pockets with as many tomatoes (even green ones...another post to come) and peppers and squash and cucumbers and honey (yes they have their own beehive too...again another post to come) as we could carry away!  Can't wait to share some more recipes with you from Mom's Garden!!

beehive full of bees and fresh honey!!

 

Happy Summer!

Capital Grille-a-licious!!

So last night was my husband's company Christmas dinner we have every year come December.  Some people really dread their holiday company parties but feel obligated to go so they don't look like the office party pooper.  We, on the other hand, actually really enjoy ours every year.  It might have something to do with the fact that the company is made up of only 4 people, and they all happen to be close friends and family of ours...my husband's boss Tony (and close friend), along with his wife, Lisa (who is also the business VP), my brother-in-law Matt (who just recently joined the company) and his wife, Gwen, plus my hubby and I.  All 6 of us are close and get along great.  And the restaurant we went to was very yummy and we all rolled out of there very full!

The restaurant is called Capital Grille, located in McLean, VA.  Its basically an upscale steak and seafood house.  "Be wined, dined, and dazzled" is their motto and they did not disappoint.  The decor was rich and warm as was the service and the food despite the bitter snow-flurrying cold outside.

(Be aware...most of these photos are a little dark as they were taken with my cell phone camera that has no flash and I was trying to take them on the sly so as not to look like some crazy woman taking pictures of her food...can anyone else relate?)

The first course was appetizers.  We ordered several different ones to share around the table.  Hubby ordered Wagyu Beef Carpaccio which was served seared and chilled then sliced razor-thin accompanied by a small arugula salad. Very unique and tasty.  My appetizer was prosciutto-wrapped mozarella served with a lovely tomato salad.  The mozarella was very yummy, like cheese sticks for the foodie snob.  And the tomato salad was sweet and juicy, drizzled with a balsamic glaze.  I'm not one to just sit and eat tomatoes but these, I could've eaten a whole plate of them!

The next course was soup.  Actually before the appetizers they brought each of us a sample of their butternut squash bisque...very creamy and squashy (in a good way).  So for our soup orders, hubby got french onion and I got lobster bisque.  Both delectable!

The French onion soup was covered with a warm blanket of gooey cheese and underneath a broth of sweet and savory onions.

The Lobster bisque was rich and creamy with huge chunks of sweet lobster. The waitress even topped it off at the table with a few drops of dry sherry. I could just go swimming in that stuff!

Next the entrees...hubby ordered king crab legs.  And let me tell ya, they were the King of king crab legs!  When he pulled the meat out, they were like thick crab hot dogs!  That may sound weird and gross but trust me, it was wonderful!

For me, I ordered lobster and crab stuffed shrimp.  It's like, okay, how many different types of seafood can we cram into one dish?  But again it was lovely, lightly breaded and roasted with a touch of wine, served on top of a light tomato sauce.

The sides were ordered a la carte.  The side we got was parmesan truffle fries.  Fries, maybe a little unrefined, but served like this, they were delish!  Although at this point we were starting to get full and wanted to save room for dessert so we ended up boxing most of my shrimp and all the fries to take home.

And last, but certainly not least...dessert.  My favorite part of every meal.  Heck, dessert should be a meal all on its own.  But thats a whole other blog post.  Hubby's not a big dessert person (I know, weird huh) so he didn't get any.  But our friend let me take a picture of his dessert to share with you.  It was a light and fluffy vanilla cheesecake topped with raspberries and blackberries, drizzled with strawberry sauce and sort of flambeed with a sugary crust on the top.

My dessert was the restaurant specialty, Fresh Strawberries Capital Grille.  Fresh sliced juicy strawberries, (one of my favorite fruits ever), topped with handmade vanilla ice cream and wonderful sauce made of ruby port and Grand Marnier. Oh to die for! I tried my best to refrain from licking the bowl after scraping every bit of that sauce I could get on my spoon.

Needless to say, the dinner was a hit.  I must also add that I appreciated the more petite portion sizes of the appetizers and soups, and even the desserts...just enough so you could have a taste, maybe share with friends and have room for the next course without feeling like you were going to be sick. All in all great food, great friends, and...great food. (Yeah I know, I couldn't think of anything else to say!)  We will definitely be adding this place to our list of restaurants to visit again in the near future.

Hunter's Head Tavern

Today hubby and I went on a little road trip to Skyline Drive.  It was so gorgeous! The fall leaves aren't quite at peak color yet but there was enough color to still enjoy the views.  We stopped at probably close to 20 overlooks to gaze at the beauty of the Shenendoah Valley and the surrounding mountains.

On the way back home, we took a little detour into Upperville to visit a little hometown restaurant we've been wanting to go to for a while.  Its called Hunter's Head Tavern.  Its a quaint English style pub that specializes in organic straight-from-the-farm ingredients.  The restaurant works in conjunction with a nearby farm called Ayrshire Farm....sustainable, humanely-raised meats, and organic produce.

The atmosphere was cozy, even sitting outside on a cool fall evening, and the food was comforting.  The bar area, typical pub look, with the menu written on a chalkboard.  They give you your table number written on a wooden spoon which you then stick inside an empty wine bottle that adorns your table. The floors were made of old creaky wood and there were a couple fireplaces here and there.  The outside seating area on a stone patio had wooden tables with matching bench chairs and it was covered by a white tent decorated with white lights.  A tree sitting next to the patio was also covered in the pretty little white lights making the whole area seem like we were at a quiet outdoor party.

First they brought us a small loaf of freshly baked bread...soft on the inside and crisp on the outside.

 Hubby ordered a ceasar salad, and filet with mashed potatoes and carrots.  Nothing super special or out of the ordinary but yumma yumma nonetheless.

 I ordered spicy sweet potato soup which was served in this cute little pewter cauldron...so creamy and not hot spicy but spice spicy, like maybe cardamom or cinnamon or nutmeg?  I don't know but it was heavenly.

 I also ordered their seasonal lasagna, which was unlike any lasagna I've ever had.  First of all there was not one sign of a tomato.  Instead it was pasta layered with butternut squash, sage, and goat cheese.  It was topped with some kind of white creamy cheesy sauce.

 Very unique and very yummy and also very rich.  Needless to say there was no room for dessert. :(  Maybe next time!