Updates of Life!

It's been almost a month since I posted, which is not good in the blogging world. This semester has started out busier than ever. Every semester is busy, but I'm in class/on campus a whole lot more than I have been in past semesters. Although busy, classes have been going well so far. I may not say that after next week because I have two tests, one midterm and one very time-consuming design project due.

One of the reasons I have been in class more this semester is because of my design class. Even though we only get two credit hours for the class, we meet for six hours in-class each week. However, this class is probably one of the most beneficial classes I have taken during my college career. I'm learning how to use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. The class is a ton of work inside and outside of class (especially for two credit hours), but I enjoy learning how to use these programs and think it will be really beneficial in the future.  Maybe I will post some of my work eventually :)

Another update about my life - I'm training for a half marathon! I'm planning to run one on March 31st, so I'm heading into week six of my twelve week plan. Usually I don't like it when we have mild winters, but I am so thankful this year because I get up and run early in the morning 3-4 days a week.

Hopefully I will have some recipe or craft posts for you soon! I have been dying to bake this week but haven't had the time. I'm planning on making some cookies tomorrow, so I will try to post them if they are yummy.

Have a good weekend!

Cake Decorating 101

You volunteered to bring a cake to a party. You have no idea how to decorate. No worries, I've got you covered. Relax. You don't have to go buy a Wilton decorating kit or scour the internet for ideas. 

The easiest decorations are non-edible. It's alright if you have to take them off before you cut the cake. No one cares what the cake looks like after it's cut. Fresh flowers are a great way to top off a cake. This past Christmas, I decorated a cake with ornaments. Andrew's graduation was a few days before Christmas, so I combined Christmas and Clemson with these decorations. 

I had to make the cake two days in advance, so it worked out really well to pile these ornaments on top of the cake. Instead of stacking the ornaments and hoping they wouldn't roll off, I used a hot glue gun to make them stick together. The topper was also really easy to transport and move since it was all in one piece. 

Ribbons are also a great way to decorate. Just wrap a thick ribbon around the circumference of the cake, put some fresh flowers on top and everyone will be talking about your cake. 

"At the Chef's Table" Tour

I found out about "At the Chef's Table" Tour this past August after my boss posted about how good it was on Facebook and Twitter. The tour is lead by local author and historian John Nolan. John teamed up with the Table 301 restaurant hub and together they have come up with a tour that gives participants the chance to dine at five different restaurants over the span of a few hours.

After reading about it online, I knew it would be the perfect birthday present for Andrew. Unfortunately, his birthday is in December so I had to wait four long months to give it to him. We finally got to go on the tour today and loved it. At each of the five stops, one of the chefs came out and talked to our group and told us how the dishes were prepared. With the exception of Nose Dive, all of the restaurants were closed during the tour, so we had the whole restaurant to ourselves. Here's a little recap of the places we went and what we ate. 

We started out at Soby's on the Side, where we sampled several items from their catering menu. Here's what's on the plate starting with the metal cup and going clockwise: Passion fruit creme brulee, open face Reuben with slaw, BLT with candied bacon and sun-dried tomatoes, toast with brie and lingenberry jam, and portabella mushroom with curry chicken and arugula.

Our next stop was Nose Dive, where we were taken to the upstairs loft. We ate Minuto soup, which is somewhat similar to chili, but it's main ingredient is tripe. I found out tripe comes from the lining of a cow stomach. So that was...neat to find out. This was actually my least favorite stop, but not because I don't like Nose Dive. The soup was just way too spicy for me, but I think the restaurant is great. 

Soby's was next on the list where we were offered two different drinks along with an entree. The drink on the left is made from muddled strawberries, mint leaves and club soda. The drink on the right is a fig bourbon mixed with lemon juice and club soda. 

This is the snapper we had at Soby's. It was served over hummus, chick peas, kale and cauliflower. 

We headed over to Devereaux's and tried some grouper served with carrots, polenta and mushrooms. 

We finished the tour at the The Lazy Goat with some champagne and this lovely cake. It doesn't look like it in the picture, but it was a huge piece of cake. The pastry chef made a vanilla cake with a hazelnut filling. The cake was covered in chocolate ganache and topped with toasted almonds.

I would highly recommend this tour to anyone who loves food or Greenville. Between stops, John would tell us about the history of Greenville. I found out some interesting things about some buildings downtown, and he also showed us old pictures of downtown Greenville. It was neat to be standing somewhere along Main Street and then see a picture of how it looked in the same spot a hundred years ago. 

I also really enjoyed being able to meet the chefs and hear about what goes on in the restaurants every day. Our tour group had 24 people in, but I think our tour was larger because they didn't have any tours during December due to holiday parties. The minimum people the tour needs is 6. 

If you decide to go on a tour, you may not eat what we ate today. There is no set menu, though the restaurants typically serve one of their famous dishes. Both Soby's and Devereaux's served some type of seafood today, but it wasn't planned that way. The cake we had at Lazy Goat wasn't even on the menu, it was just something the pastry chef was experimenting with. I would love to do the tour again and taste more menu items. The tour would be a great gift or creative date night to any foodies. 

2011 in Pictures

With 2012 right around the corner, I thought I would take a little bit of time to reflect on 2011 and share my year in pictures with you.

January - Kick off the year in Atlanta at Passion 2011 with 20,000 other college students

January - After having a white Christmas, we get more snow in January and the first week of classes gets cancelled!

February - Tour the grand state of South Carolina with CU Singers to recruit!

February - celebrate 2 years with Andrew. There he his hula hooping his little heart out in downtown Greenville - can you see why I like him? 

March - meet designer Carmen Marc Valvo!

March - Attend a wedding in Charleston over spring break

April - run our first 5K

Easter

May - start my last summer break by going to the beach with some friends for a few days

June - visit the beach again with the fam (plus a few friends)

July - Andrew is a groomsmen for the first time in his old roommate's wedding. Cue the beginning of many engagements. 

August - visit Colorado with Andrew's family

Colorado

September - Attend the ring ceremony and get my class ring! This is me and President Barker showing off our rings.

September - November - attend lots of Clemson home football games

November - bike the Swamp Rabbit Trail with the roomies

November - our last home football game as students :( Clemson goes undefeated at home this year!

December - After a less than stellar game against the Gamecocks a week earlier, Clemson comes back and wins the ACC Championship in Charlotte.

2012 will be my year of transition - graduate college, hopefully get a job and go into the real world. Scary to think about but exciting at the same time. I can't wait to see what God has in store for me this year!

25 Ways to Wear a Scarf

I came across this video the other day and wanted to share it. 25 ways to wear a scarf in 4.5 minutes. This girl shows us how to do each one. She does go pretty fast, but it's easy to pause the video at the one you want to learn and watch her do it slowly. Some of my favorites are The Celebrity, The Hidden Knot, The Magic Trick and The Braid. Not only is the video helpful, but she makes it entertaining to watch. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Hello blogger friends! Sorry it's been a while since I've posted. Over the past few weeks I've been finishing up school, Christmas shopping, working, catching up with friends while I'm home and lots of other fun things. I will say this "break" has been the busiest break I've ever had! I'm looking forward to some downtime after Christmas. Unfortunately, I have not had much time to do any Christmas crafts :(  I have a done a little baking and will update the blog soon!

My family also got a new little puppy last week. Our lab of 10 years died about a month ago from liver failure. Everyone missed him a lot so we started looking for a little Christmas puppy. We found one nearby that we were interested in and ended up getting her. Here are some pictures of little Kinley.

Isn't she the cutest? I promise I won't let her start taking over the blog though. I just wanted to post a few pictures to show you :)

Hopefully I will be posting again soon! 

Merry Christmas!

Cranberry Salsa Cream Cheese Dip

I came across this recipe on Pinterest a while back and was waiting for the right occasion to make it. I originally planned to make it as an appetizer for Thanksgiving, but ended up making it for a football game a fews days after. It was a huge hit and super easy to make.

It only takes about 15-20 minutes to put together and then is supposed to sit in the fridge for four hours. However, I didn't read that part until I had already made the salsa and kick-off was 2 hours away. It only sat in the fridge for about 2 hours and was perfectly fine. I also only used one package of cream cheese for the base layer and took the jalapeno seeds out since I'm not a  huge fan of spicy food. The recipe comes from a blog called Jamie Cooks It Up! Definitely will be making this for some holiday parties.

Cranberry Salsa Cream Cheese Dip
1  12 oz package fresh cranberries
1/4 C green onion, chopped
1/4 C cilantro, chopped
1 small jalapeno pepper
1 1/4 C sugar
1/4 t cumin
2 T lemon juice
dash salt
2  8 oz packages cream cheese
  
1. Put your cranberries in a food processor. 
2. Chop up your green onion, cilantro, and jalapeno pepper into small pieces. Take the seeds out if you don't like spicy foods. Also, be sure to put on a pair of rubber gloves or something when taking them out. 
3. Add all ingredients (but the cream cheese and the wheat thins) into a bowl. Mix them all together, cover and store in the fridge for at least 4 hours. The sugar needs some time to soak in to the cranberries and break up their bitter taste.   
4. When you are ready to serve, place your cream cheese bricks on a plate.
5. Spread the cream cheese out as evenly as you can.
6. Pour your cranberry mixture over the cream cheese.
7. Spread it all around.
8. Serve immediately with Wheat Thins, Ritz Crackers or Tortilla Chips.