Surviving a Georgia Summer

To survive a Georgia you need two things: appropriate clothing and ice cream cake. First the clothing issue….

One thing I do not understand- people who wear long sleeves and/or pants in the gym in the summer. How do they do it? 

I sort of understand if it is winter time.  Especially if it is one of those people that just reads a magazine/ talks on the phone while kinda moving their legs on the bike. You know those people I’m talking about? I’m sure every gym has them.

this girl is not raising her heart rate much!

 

But when it is 100 degrees outside, and the AC is terrible in the gym, even the fake exercisers need to wear some short sleeves and shorts! When I go to spin class, even a cotton tee is too much; I need a dri-fit tank top or I will die of heat exhaustion. (I’m only being slightly dramatic.) Some people wear pants in spin class. I think they are crazy….

What do you wear to the gym? Are these long sleeves/pants wearing gym-goers crazy, or I am just heat sensitive? 

On to the food. Yesterday was Dad’s birthday, and my sister and I cooked a delicious dinner!

We used two recipes from FoodandWine.com.

1. Grilled Green Bean Salad with Lentil Vinaigrette. This was so tasty and full of some of my favorite veggies, but it was a lot of work! Definitely a special occasion dish.

2. Sole with Lemon Cream. Except we used tilapia. The sauce was wonderful! It was rich and creamy, but it didn’t seem too heavy when paired with the fish. This dish was also much less work to prepare than the salad.

And of course there was cake. Ice cream cake actually. But not like you think…

Yes, this may look like your ordinary chocolate cake with powdered sugar (Dad is not an icing fan), but it contains a pint of ice cream in it! The recipe is actually called “Chocolate Ice Cream Cake (but not like you think).” Click link for recipe.

How do you like your cake? With icing or without? Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry…? Cold or hot? 

My ideal cake is a flourless chocolate cake with dark chocolate ganache frosting served cold with coffee ice cream…mmmm now I’m hungry .

Deja Vu?

Well, looks like I haven’t blogged in almost a month! What have I been doing? A lot of things I have done before:

1. I took the GRE again. The first time was during my senior year of college, pre-food blog. I took it again June 3rd and raised my score 300 points. Yay!

2. I went to Bonnaroo again. It was amazing– both the music and the getting away from Atlanta for a weekend. Some of my favorite concerts: Regina Spektor, Kings of Leon, She and Him, The National (okay, I fell asleep in the grass during this one, but I love the main singer’s voice), Jay-Z (yes, it was random. and awesome), and Phoenix.

3. I made these cookies, which I highly recommend, again for Bonnaroo weekend.

4. Not running. STILL INJURED. Just like last summer when I was having hip issues. I was better from August-December, and then I did pulled my hamstring and have not recovered. Boo.

But then again, this summer is nothing like last summer:

1. Chip and I just celebrated our 1 year dating anniversary. This is the longest that either of us has ever dated anyone before, and we are giddy over the fact that we are not sick of each other.

We celebrated by going to a lovely little restaurant called Palate. This restaurant gets most of their food from the Dekalb Farmer’s Market, and there is a garden in the back with fresh veggies and herbs. Also, they had a wonderful wine list and a charming outdoor seating area. 

I got the maple-glazed salmon with roasted fingerling potatoes and lima beans with an herb sauce:

Oh, did I mention this restaurant was super cheap? My salmon was $10.95. This dish would have been at least twice that at most restaurants of similar quality. 

Chip got the macadamia encrusted scallops with smashed garlic potatoes and green beans:

Both dishes were amazing. (Mine was better, IMO, but I am obsessed with salmon. Chip liked his better. What would you choose- salmon or scallops?) 

2. I work at Whole Foods. Last summer, I had only been into a Whole Foods maybe once or twice in my life (there was not one in my college town), and now I am there every weekend. Cherries are in season, and we had cherry-themed demos on Friday. After pitting cherries for a few hours, I made a goat cheese bruschetta with cherries and mint. OMG! It was worth it. I do not bring my camera to work, but here is a picture from the Whole Foods website with the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound (about 2 cups) cherries, pitted and halved
• 1/4 cup lightly packed mint leaves, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 4 slices rustic whole wheat bread, toasted
• 4 ounces fresh goat cheese

Step 1: Invest in a cherry pitter. WF had one for me to use, thank God. Let goat cheese get to room temperature for spreadability.

Step 2: Pit and chop cherries, slice mint leaves, and mix first 3 ingredients.

Step 3: Toast bread. I just cut up a baguette and threw it in the oven (375 degrees) for 5 minutes.

Step 4: Spread goat cheese on bread and top with cherry mixture. 

Step 5: EAT!

P.S. Attention goat cheese lovers! You know those small goat cheese logs you get at Kroger/Publix/normal grocery stores that cost over $5? Whole Foods’ 365 brand has a goat cheese log three times that size that costs $4.99. Whole Paycheck? Not always.