semolina

Today I had lunch with Nica at Semolina, a new restaurant on the Corner. It is between Cafe Europa and Baja Bean, where _____ used to be. Neither one of us could figure out what was in the building before, though Nica was pretty sure it was a sandwich shop. Regardless, the space has been redecorated in a style reminiscent of Basil (probably because they are owned by the same people) with blue water glasses and low lighting. The dining area is on the second floor, and our thoughts about the atmosphere sum it up pretty well: "this would be the perfect place for a date!"

Now, for the food. Nica ordered the Quattro Stagioni pizza (in Italian that means four seasons) which had artichoke hearts, portobello mushrooms, prosciutto, red peppers, and of course, mozzarella. I got the Genovese, with pesto sauce, potatoes, and pecorino and mozzarella cheeses. Potatoes may seem like a weird choice for pizza, but it is actually delicious. The slices of potato provide a nice contrast to the cheese and crust, since the slices of potato are put onto the pizza raw before it goes into the oven. The crust of the pizza was really delicious, which is important, because in my opinion, a pizza can be ruined by bad crust regardless of how good the ingredients on top are. We each got the 8 inch version of our pizza, which was enough for lunch plus some leftovers. I also ordered a San Benedetto peach tea with my meal, which brought back memories of Italy (if only they had the European style Fanta, then it would be perfect!) The meal was really tasty, and I would definitely go back there again, maybe for dinner, because there were some appetizers and desserts on the menu that I wanted to try too.

My Genovese pizza. I had to take the picture with my phone since I forgot my camera, but I think it turned out pretty well! I might have to go nibble on my leftovers now...

weekend update

We all know that birthdays usually come with lots of delicious sweets and drinks, and this weekend was no exception. Though my birthday was on Saturday, the celebrations were on Friday because of a conflict I had on Saturday night with an ASB retreat. A group of us made the trek to Jefferson Vineyards, and afterwards we had a yummy dinner at Mono Loco, complete with happy hour priced margaritas!

An assortment of cupcakes from Capellino's Crazy Cakes. I'm not sure why cupcakes are such a craze now, but I like it. You can get all the flavor of a cake, but in one serving size. In this case, we cut them into quarters so everyone could sample. My favorite was the chocolate, of course, but the pumpkin spice (top right) was a close second.

Some of the wine selection at Jefferson Vineyards. The Viognier was my favorite of the white wines we tasted, though I ended up buying a red wine called Petit Verdot. According to the sommelier (I guess that was his title) the wine has hints of honeysuckle and apricot, which we could definitely taste when we tried it. It was very aromatic and fruity (clearly I'm not well-versed in wine language) while not being too sweet. Also, he told as that they figured out that women will choose wine in a blue bottle over a black or green one, so they started bottling another of their popular white wines in blue, pictured on the bottom shelves.

A passion fruit margarita at Mono Loco. Basically, it tasted like Juicy Juice. In a good way, of course.

milky ways

Some of you may (or may not) know that the Kroger here in Charlottesville has some of the best options for local milk, butter, and ice cream! (thanks to Sarah and Arley for that tip!) The company is called Homestead Creamery, which is based in a place called Wirtz, VA, near Smith Mountain Lake. My mom used to buy their milk from Good Foods Grocery in Richmond. I remember we always had two or three milk bottles rattling around in the back of the car waiting to be returned to the store. That's the great thing about it--you buy the milk and pay a little bit more for it than a gallon of Kroger brand milk, but once you return the bottle you get back two dollars plus tax. Then (after sanitizing them) the company reuses the bottles. Plus, the chocolate milk is amazing, and the butter is delicious. With 85% butter fat, it's definitely real butter. And the ingredients in the vanilla ice cream, with a French custard base, are all things that you can pronounce! The fact that it comes from a place a little over 100 miles away is just icing on the cake. Next time you're at Kroger, I would suggest picking some up, or if you shop at Harris Teeter, just make the short trip down to the other end of the parking lot for milk.

Picture from Ellwood Thompson, also in Richmond

harvest festival

Today Megan and I went to the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello. The weather was great (it's starting to feel like fall!) and there was a lot of produce for sampling. Throw in some local food vendors and the beautiful scenery and you have a recipe for a lovely Saturday afternoon in the Piedmont.

Concord grapes and pears. Yum yum yum.

It's kind of hard to see, but this is a yellow watermelon. It tasted exactly like a normal watermelon! This guy told me that this fruit is an "heirloom" variety, which means it was "grown during earlier periods in human history, but which is not used in modern large-scale agriculture" (thanks Wikipedia!)

 (Instead of margarine)---It's probably true. 

A "cashmere" goat. They were so soft! Apparently they also make great pets. And cheese (but we already knew that).

After my terrible experience with goat meat in Morocco, I didn't even consider this as an option for lunch.

Bees! We couldn't find the queen though. 

Not food, just pretty flowers. 


I'm still trying to think of a good sign-off,
Molly

taco night

Meals don't have to be fancy as long as they taste good! Roommate taco dinner complete with my homemade queso dip and Lauren's grandma's secret chicken seasoning recipe. I would have made guacamole, but for some reason I am the only person in the apartment who likes it...
Molly