Time Machine [Thursday]: Kirsten’s Bachelorette!

So my [second] bachelorette party is coming up on Saturday!  (Visit my first one here!)  I can’t believe it’s actually here… that means that the wedding is really close right?  (Answer: Next month.  NEXT MONTH!)  To pump myself up for it, I wanted to flashback to an amazing weekend this past summer where we celebrated my MOH Kirsten’s Bachelorette Party in Avalon, NJ.

The bachelorette was a surprise for Kirsten, who thought that only our SJU girls (me, Kir, Georgia, and Mariola) were coming down with her sister for a girls weekend on the beach.  Kir’s sister, Ashley, and I coordinated efforts to get her out of the house and sufficiently surprised.  This is what greeted Kirsten when she pulled up to the house!

Ashley and I designed these cutie shirts to commemorate the occassion…

After Kir got home, we headed out to the beach to get some sun.  We couldn’t resist asking some cute lifeguards to take our picture

After a relaxing afternoon, it was time to get dolled up for dinner.  Here is the SJU crew, ready to celebrate!

We headed to the Rockin Chair for dinner, where I had an unbelievable meal of Crab Risotto and a Caesar Salad.  So good!

After dinner, we (drunkenly) headed home to change into our Bachelorette Shirts.  They look good, right?

And we headed out.  From here, I’ll let the pictures do the talking… but make sure you play the song of the evening in the background to really set the scene.  This song seemed to be on in every bar we were in, and now whenever I hear it, I think of the fun we had!

At the end of the night, we crawled back to the house, and devoured a special cake made by my dear friend Mariola.  The cake isn’t quite blog-appropriate, but damn, it hit the spot after a girls night out!

Looking back on all of the fun we had gets me so excited for Saturday.  I can’t wait to share all the fun with you all

Time Machine Tuesday–Cleveland Rocks, Part 3

When we lost saw our heroine, she was gallivanting about in sunny Cleveland, absorbing the beautiful city.

But I couldn’t wander for too long – I had dinner plans to attend to!  If I didn’t eat at any other restaurant this week I was going to eat at Lola – after all,  I had to show my boyfriend (Michael Symon!) my support. 

ow ow!

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Luckily the other two girls wanted to eat at Lola too, so we made a reservation for Thursday night.

While waiting for our table, we sat outside and ordered a glass of wine and the famous Lola fries with rosemary and sea salt.  Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of pictures (I’m still a bashful blogger), but these fries were memorable!

We finally got to sit down, and ordered the ceviche to start.  I’d had ceviche once before, but this blew it out of the water.  The jalapeño and the lime juice really brought out the flavor of the fish, and I couldn’t stop eating it. 

I followed up the appetizer with the. best. scallops. ever.  These were pan seared, and served over mushrooms and a basil reduction.  Guys, I don’t even like mushrooms but these were amazing.  Each one was full of flavor and were braised until they had an almost meaty texture.  I couldn’t get enough.

I also snuck a few bites of my friends’ meals – one had a pork chop over cheesy polenta (ALMOST as good as my dinner), and the other had steak.  All of our meals were amazing.

However, the crowning jewel of the meal was dessert.  I read the menu ahead of time, and told myself that for dessert, I was going big or going home… and ordered the 6 a.m Special.  Brioche French toast, maple bacon ice cream, and caramelized apples.  Holy yum.  The maple bacon ice cream scared me a little bit, but it was the best combination of salty and sweet, chewy and melty.  Only the best from an Iron Chef, right?

It doesn’t look like much, but it was such a special dessert!

Overall Lola was incredible.  The food was great, the atmosphere was fun (the wine list was on ipads!), and the décor was swanky and lush. 

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Our table was the one in the foreground… and yes those chandeliers are made of utensils!  So clever and eye catching.  I absolutely loved this restaurant!

This meal was in my top five of all time… the only thing holding it back from number one would have to be that I didn’t share it with someone that I loved.  Maybe next time I go to Cleveland

Where was your best meal?

Time Machine Tuesday – Cleveland Rocks, Part 1

Alternately titled: “How I ate my way through the Rock and Roll Capitol of the World”

And since I decided this post needs a soundtrack, please feast your ears on the first track:

Ok.  So.  Once upon a time, I was told that I was being sent to Cleveland, Ohio for training.  “Dear God!” you say, “WTF is in Cleveland?” My thoughts exactly, friends.  But alas, I didn’t have much choice in the matter, and away I went.

I arrived in Cleveland on a Sunday night.  I wallowed in my misery for a while, then realized that I actually had a pretty sweet hotel room, and ordered room service.  Boom.

(That couch and I got well acquainted.  Did you know that at 11pm, Nick at Nite runs back to back episodes of The Nanny?  Oh yeah.)

Second track of the soundtrack:

Anyway, I’ll spare you the details of the training that I suffered through.  Instead let’s talk about food.  I had no idea that Cleveland was such a foodie haven, so I was so excited to see not only good restaurants, but Food Network restaurants.  (Hello, my name is Cassie and I’m a Food Network Addict.)

First up, I went to Zocalo by Aron Sanchez on Monday night to watch some football.  Mexican food that totally hit the spot.  Amazing Zocalo Street Corn covered in Cojita cheese.  I am definitely remaking these in the summer time!

And the fish tacos…. I die.  They were so simple, but so good.  Plus the restaurant was gorgeous!

On Tuesday, the firm had sponsored a happy hour for our training class to get to know each other.  I had sworn to myself that I wasn’t going to Cleveland to make friends, and I was dying to try this Farm-to-Table restaurant that I found online, but I went to happy hour for a few drinks.  Well… a few drinks turned into more drinks, and I enjoyed myself, but missed out on my farm restaurant!   Oh well…

For the rest of my trip to Cleveland, check back soon!  This post turned itself into a novel