Farm Fresh Hangover Detox Smoothie -- for someone you love

One perk of being a graduate student here is the numerous social hours -- monthly happy hour and First Friday at Five, biweekly TGIF, spontaneous outings, etc. It also helps to have brilliant and generous friend who offers to pay for beer as his new Science article is getting super hot. It's no surprise then we got to kick start our weekend with some free pizza and beer, from where D and others moved on to a restaurant downtown for dinner, and continued with flowing delicious beverage, until...until it's time to crash. (I got home early, not 100% by choice -- I was still recovering from the night before, from pitchers of Negra Modelo at the allegedly best Mexican restaurant in CT.)  D's hangover today was only natural -- I just need to find a CURE to it.

This brings me to another perk of living here -- an awesome food co-op and a great farmer's market a few blocks away. Fresh from the market today -- garlic greens, rapini, and a cherry tomato plant.

Simple Stuffed Mushrooms with Minced Pork-- fancy dinner?

I know, I know -- it was Memorial Day yesterday, and I should have posted something about grilling. The fact is, we did have an awesome BBQ event in Wooster square: from a delicate salad with pomegranate to freshly baked bread to a 2 lb turkey drumstick to numerous hotdogs and hamburgers and kebabs to home-made  graham crackers and marshmallows among a gazillion awesome things. Unfortunately though, all of us were too busy consuming, and none of us took any foodie pictures!

So I'm here to talk about something else: stuffed mushrooms. Just slightly a different vibe, but I guarantee you'll like it!

Fresh Herb Roasted Chicken Thighs with Asparagus and Cauliflower -- quick (and balanced) weeknight dinner

I was going to write the past weekend, including the last show of the season at the Yale Rep, hanging out with friends at our place catching up till 3 a.m., a tasty Mother's Day brunch with D's family, a great run of Dungeons and Dragon's, and a Game of Thrones viewing party...Then I quickly realized that we were so busy DOING things, that we only took ONE photo, for all that have happened!

Though this photo is of my favorite people -- J&C enjoying their fluffy chocolate pancakes at the Mother's day brunch. The pancakes were bigger than their faces! J kept saying that his hands got dark (because of the melted dark chocolate chips), yet both seemed to have enjoyed lunch very much. They finished the pancakes without a single drop of maple syrup. I love how they stuck to the true taste of a plain old chocolate chip pancake! The brunch for adult included bacon & salmon eggs Benedict (with homemade hollandaise sauce), hash browns, more bacon, and mimosa (of course)! We were too busy eating and chatting for pictures. So...I won't be writing about that.

Instead, I will be writing about random dinner, that I happened to snap a couple shots before it was gone.

One-step Cocoa Frosting for a Chocolate Birthday Cake -- birthday recommended but not mandatory

We've been having too much fun since last Friday -- so much that I have not yet got a chance to update about our beer hopping and a joint birthday party.

I arrived at the beer hopping late, thanks to a hectic clean room schedule. Nonetheless, I had LOTS of fun, discovery local businesses and such. The most impressive pit stop would have to be our local brew shop luck &levity without a doubt. The six home brewers there brought over a dozen tasty beer, from bitter stout to sweet rhubarb to Belgian wheat. What a great treat!

(I found this picture of us chilling from the brew shop website.)

Pig Roast with Old Friends!

Some friendships are meant to last -- you don't necessarily have to talk every day, but in the bottom of your hear, you know the bond is and always will be there. Last weekend we drove down to Dobbs Ferry, NY to visit a friend that we hadn't seen for 3 years, over an awesome pig roast!

It took us a while to get there (Friday traffic is always the worst), plus it took a long time for us to find a parking spot. We kept circulating a block down from the eatery, and the smell just made us salivating.

It was so nice to see L, J and their lovely lovely boy N. N is the first baby that D and I have ever held. I still remember how nervous we were since last time we saw him, he was still a tiny baby with a wobbly head -- we were so afraid of breaking him that we held our breath having him in our arms. I couldn't believe that he was a real boy, talking and singing and all that!

I ordered the swine and wine dinner, which includes a three-course dinner with a wine pairing for each. D opted for the hogs and hops (beer pairing) instead, and we were able to have the "full" experience both.