Rainy Mondays can be hard.
Ok, always. Rainy Mondays are always hard…
A few weeks ago I committed to making an effort to be more positive on this most glorious day of the week and joined the diva-licious Katie in her Marvelous in My Monday link up. This week I need to get back on that train.
What a better way to do it than recap some tasty food? I’ve been eating good this past week, and I have a LOT to share. This is a long one. That’s what shai said. Sorry… but not really. 😉
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To start it off, last Sunday my friend Kathleen and I went to an underground supper club hosted by Souper Jenny. she does these once or twice a year; the secret location and chef is announced the day before the event.
Our surprise chef was Omar Powell! He is the Chef de Cuisine at my favorite Indian Restaurant, Cardamom Hill (a James Beard nominee!), yet he is Jamaican with a French culinary training. I was beyond excited to see what he came up with!
We arrived at the secret location (a local pasta shop, Storico Fresco) and were immediately blown away by the stunning table setting!
Before the meal, we had the chance to walk around a bit and I got in the professional photographer’s way snuck behind the counter to grab a shot of Chef Powell and Chef-Owner Asha Gomez discussing a dish.
The first course was a small treat that left me way too excited for the rest of the evening. Soft farm eggs with ackee, cod, scallions, and bacon. The flavors could have easily over-taken the egg, but they were perfectly balanced in the delicate shell. There is nothing more fabulous than a perfectly cooked egg.
Next we were presented with a brown stewed chicken served over tun cornmeal, pickled onions, and fin herbs.
We questioned whether it was really chicken – I’ve never had a more rich, flavorful piece of chicken in my life. This could have easily passed as a tender piece of red meat. It doesn’t even look like chicken, does it?
I almost asked for seconds… and I did ask for the recipe!
The third dish was a Jerked Pork served with yellow yam augratin, mango, papaya jam, and all spice oil.
The flavor combination in this dish was perfection. The jerk was just the right amount of heat against the sweet fruit, and the creamy augratin. Augratin can often be too rich for me, but this yam was restrained and didn’t take away from the other components.
This next dish was my favorite of the night. I think… it’s hard to choose! It was a oxtail agnolotii (agnolotii is a stuffed pasta, like ravioli) in a pumpkin soup laced with all spice and black pepper tulie.
I’m a huge oxtail fan, and the agnolotii did not disappoint. However, what made this dish for me was the soup. I admired his use of all spice here because it is one I’m timid with. A little bit can go a long way. The burst of it here gave a depth of flavor to the soup, allowing it to stand out against a big flavor like oxtail.
Lastly, we enjoyed a sweet and savory dessert. This was a cornmeal pone with comte cheese, “drops,” and thyme honey.
I had not heard of drops before. Apparently they are a Jamaican street food candy. It’s a sugar-glazed, chewy piece of coconut. That sweetness with the thyme honey and the more savory pone and cheese was a storybook end to a memorable meal. I’d like to say I was too stuffed to eat it all… but I ate mine and half of Kathleen’s.
#sorryimnotsorry
Yes, I ate the flower too.
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I had another awesome meal with my mom last friday night. We went to a family favorite, Everybody’s Pizza.
This place is one that will forever have a place in my heart. They have been open since 1971 and this coming Tuesday is their last day in business. My parents used to go on dates there in college, and later my dad would take me as a treat on Friday nights.
He’d tell me stories about what it was like “back on the day” when then had communal seating and tables of strangers would share pies and pitchers of beers. We would eat an entire pizza and then polish off a giant order of bread pudding. There are staving kids in Africa, right?
In honor of my dad, my mom and I had one last meal there. We toasted my dad’s memory with beers and shared a giant pizza. Half cheeseless veggie, and half with extra feta cheese, portabello mushrooms, jalapenos, and meatballs. And then a bread pudding. We were only going to eat half… but you know that didn’t happen. 🙂
It was a great night sharing stories and eating one last meal at a local haunt. Everybody’s, you will be sorely missed.
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What do you do the morning after carb-loading? You take a trip up Stone Mountain! Mom and I met up with my friend Kathleen the next morning for a hike up the mountain in the gorgeous spring weather.
They were great sports, cheering me on as I ran my sprints up the steep part. They even joined in for a couple of rounds!
Where’s Waldo?
The refuel was classic. Fro-yo from Yoforia for lunch! Fruit, dairy, protein… I got chocolate and Irish cream flavors with kiwi, strawberries, pretzels and a Reese’s egg. Is that not the BEST topping offering?!
This deliciousness fueled my trip to the gym for a killer shoulder and glute workout. Sprints + glutes in the gym = one tired butt.
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Finally, on Sunday, I rounded out the marvelous with a day of softball. My women’s softball team beat both male teams we played!
I think it was the lucky socks.
After the game we had a social, and I brough a St. Patrick’s Day treat for the team: Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes!! These cupcakes are an annual request… they don’t have to twist my arm too hard to oblige. 😉
This is a fantastically indulgent cupcake. The base is Guinness chocolate cake. I fill them with Irish whiskey ganache and then ice them with an Irish cream frosting.
I’m too late to post a recipe for the holiday… but if you’re interested I may do a post later this week. Let me know!
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It was a bit of a gluttonous weekend, but coupled with a LOT of activity. No regrets, but I’m really looking forward to getting back to normalcy this week!
Does your family have a nostalgia restaurant? Is it still there?
What is making YOUR Monday marvelous today?
my MONDAY is MAAAAAAHHHVELOUS because I covet your socks and may just go click click to google and get me some :0)
I used to play roller derby, so I have an insane sock collection: http://www.sockdreams.com/_pages/index.php.
Aw looks like you had such a great time – all that food looks delicious! And that fro-yo post workout…drooool! Definitely worth it!
It’s so sad that your restaurant is closing down :(, we have local haunts that we’ve been to quite often but nothing really nostalgic like that.
My Monday is marvellous because I’m going away tomorrow and escaping the horrible rain we’re having here haha!
Luckyyyy! It’s actually pretty here today, but I think it’s going to rain the rest of the week. Have a good trip!!
That bowl of fro yo looks absolutely amazing! Left me wanting some 😉 Happy Monday!
Sounds like you had quite the culinary adventure this past week that was filled with good times with great people too! I hope that sets you up for a great week!
Treat ‘yo self!!! 😉
You always do the coolest things! I haven’t been to Everybody’s in years, but I liked it and am sad that it’s going away. They had this goat cheese salad pizza that was really good.
are we living parallel lives again? yes, we are. Love your Marvelous and food and fun!
I know!!! We need to get it togehter one day. 😉
Woah I had to do a double take on that chicken- it looked like swordfish at first glance…I can only imagine how moist it tasted-YUM!
A great back & biceps workout along with a really productive meeting is making my Monday marvelous :)!
Doesn’t it?! It was the most incredible chicken I’ve ever eaten.
What a fun weekend!! Full of great food, time outdoors, and spending time with lovely people. Can’t beat that! I’m feeling marvelous today because there are only 5 more days until Spring Break for us!! Excellent!
Ah! Total spring break envy. 🙂
So I can’t even pick what looks the most appetizing in this post. Can i just have all of it? I never would have thought that it was chicken in that one picture…looks like pork or a nice piece of beef!
And that froyo just reminds me…I need a Reese’s Egg :-p
It tasted like a nice cut of beef! Craziness.
“Irish Car Bomb”?! You’re not worried about offending anyone then? 😀
LOL! It’s a popular drink…
Sounds like you had a great time – the supper club sounds like lots of fun. How sad about the restaurant closing. Glad you got to go and enjoy one last pizza there though. There is a pizza place in my hometown that would break my heart if it close. The owner is a good friend of my dads so we spent so much time there as kids (even back in the kitchen). One of the pizzas still on the menu he made up.
That’s so cool you guys created one of the pizzas!
And this is why I love that carbs and running go hand in hand, I need both in my life! What a fun weekend! And mmm, those drops sound really good.
Wow that’s so much fun stuffed all packed into a short time! That supper club dinner sounds so unique and delicious. Really want to try this “drops” candy now.
You have to go to the next one! You’d have been in heaven. 🙂
So much marvelousness in one single post!
Love the froyo.
There are so many restaurants to which I can associate so many family memories too 🙂
Thanks! I’m enjoying it while I can! 😉
I saw glimpses of this supper club, WOW everything looks fantastic! and the pizza… glad you were able to enjoy one more dinner, and toast your dad!
my dad and I have two favorite places for our Sunday lunches… and I’m hoping soon we can get rid of is feeding tube for good and eat there again! 🙂
happy Monday girl!
I hope you and your dad get to have a Sunday lunch again very soon. Thinking of you guys!
Refuelling with froyo – I’m definitely on board with that 😀 Looks like one TASTY weekend, and I love that you’re not afraid to go out and enjoy. Work hard, play hard… right?
Indeed! Why not have a little reward? 🙂
Vishnu and I went to Everybody’s once – LOVED the pizza. I’m sad that they’re closing down. 🙁 But am glad that you and your mom got to eat there one last time. How special!
I’m so surprised that Everybody’s is closing down, but it sounds to me that you sent them out in style. Most of the restaurants my family and I ate at when I was younger have closed down, but Matthew’s cafeteria is still there and so is this little German bakery that was on the way to our lake house where we would stop and get giant gingerbread men!
I want your cupcake recipe, but not for two more weeks. Then I can have sweets again! 😀
LOL! In two weeks, I will send it to you. 🙂
I’m SO jealous! I want to be a part of an underground supper club SO badly!
YAY!! I am so happy you joined in again!! You make me so happy!
Ok, there is so mcuh good in this post and I have to comment on that resses egg in the froyo! How damn awesome! Seriously the BEST froyo topping ever and I am jealous!!
Happy week to you beauty!
I always love reading the posts! I need to pull it together more regularly. 🙂
Hope you are have a marvelous week!
We never really went out to eat when I was a kid, so there isn’t a particular restaurant that I can think of that evokes feelings of nostalgia in me. There are particular meals my mom and dad used to make that can do that, though!
OK, so doesn’t Asha Gomez look a little bit like Mindy Kaling? I mean, I have since imposed Mindy’s personality on my memory of Asha, into this hybrid funny girl chef of awesomeness.
I had to google Mindy Kaling, but yes she does!!! I’m eating at her place on Thursday… wanna make a trip down to ATL? 😉
All looks fabulously delicious. Especially the cupcake.
We had some fro yo when in Chattanooga this past weekend and they had Reese’s Egg offerings as well. I didn’t get it (bec my cup was already way too full) but now I’m regretting it!
Tina… ALWAYS make room for Reeses. 😉
Reese’s eggs for topping? Whoa sounds awesome.
It kind of made my day. 🙂
um lucky charms on top? delicious
Yes, ma’am. 🙂
Your eats look delicious! I’ve been trying to be more positive about Mondays too. Good idea doing the Marvelous link up!
Thanks! It really does help… I was suprised!
The underground supper eats look amazing! Sounds like a great weekend of eating and I’m so glad you got to have Everybody’s before they close. Reese’s eggs are the best and oddly I only eat reese’s during Easter. haha
Danggg, that food all looks tasty! And that cupcake, holy moly that sounds divine!
Refuelling with fro-yo is totally the best thing. Happy Monday, glad you’re joining in on the marvelous fun!
Oh, it was. The cupcake AND the fro-yo.
Hope you’re having a good week!
The underground supper club sounds fun, the food looks amazing! I need to borrow some of your positive Monday thoughts! Pouring rain, back to work and school is making Monday seem less than wonderful.
I feel you. We had tornado woarning all day! Come on, summer!!!
Pretty sure you know the answer to your question.. YES we want the recipe to that deliciousness that is Guinness and whiskey mixed into a sweet!!
My Monday is marvelous because.. I am on Spring Break from work for 2 weeks 😉
LOL! Ok… twist my arm. 🙂
Three cheers for spring break! I’m petitioning my boss for one…
Nam, you have fun!!!! Food fun & fun fun!!! Loved all the pics but I don’t know how you eat all that stuff! I can’t eat that much in 1 sitting PLUS at 5’1″, well, even when I was younger I would roll out! 🙂
Great to see all the fun you have – I love living vicariously thru you! 🙂
LOL! I like to surprise people with the amount of food I can put away. 😉
I just have to tell you how amazing it is to see that uber fit fitness lady like yourself has a gluttonous weekend from time to time, doesn’t feel bad about it and even tells the world about it! I just recently found your blog and you are a great inspiration for living a fit life in the real world, keep up the awesome work!
Thank you SO much! It’s all about balance… if I was trying to be “perfect” all the time… well, I’d be horribly imperfect. 😉
Holy food overload. There is so much deliciousness here from secret dinners to pizza pies, Irish cupcakes and a Reese’s egg. I think I would chew off my left pinky toe for a Reese egg right now. I’m also not even the littlest bit surprised your women’s softball team tore apart the boys team. You go girl!!
Thanks, Meghan! I hope we can keep it up. It’s fun to give the boys a run for their money. 😉
Seriously?! There is just TOO much to comment on…you leave me with no other choice than to post my comment in list format! 😉
1. How the hell do you find all these underground dinner parties?! Did you join some sort of foodie cult? If you did, I wanna know, do they serve Kool-Aid flavored kombucha? And if so, can I have some?
2. How do you eat the egg out of the shell without it breaking everywhere? Yeah, I’m THAT uncultured girl! 😉
3. That chicken dish! OMG! And I’m guessing the cornmeal underneath was like a creamy polenta? Wait, don’t answer that…I’m already drooling!
4. I will FOREVER be a fan of agnolotii after my last Atlanta trip. And oxtail is so on my bucket list!
5. Your mom is a frickin’ babe! <- make sure she see's that! 😉
6. I had to laugh out loud at the OBVIOUS contrast in pizza toppings…and then I proceeded to drool all over myself as I tried to lick that bread pudding off my screen! My ULTIMATE dessert weakness is bread pudding!
7. I can't believe you worked out after that fro-yo…I'd have thrown up for sure! Lol
8. But seriously? They had WHOLE Reese's eggs? How cool is that?!
9. Your socks remind me of Punky Brewster…and I want them!
10. Still working on those Lucky Charms marshmallows I see? Lol
My nostalgia restaurant WAS Stratton's…a 50's diner in the middle of town that is NOW…a CVS pharmacy! 🙁 They had some of the BEST fried mushrooms, yeast rolls, and warm brownie sundae's I've ever had in my life. And I spent practically half of my teenage years in that place!
Can I first just say that your commnets rock my socks off?
1. I’m on every email list known to man. My inbox is out of control.
2. NO idea. I’d mess that up in a hot minute!
3. Sort of… it was cornmeal but not grainy in the least. A thing of beauty.
4. Come down here! We can knock that off your list several times over.
5. HA! Emailing her this, as she doesn’t read my blog. #lame
6. I was hoping someone would noice that! We wanted ALL the foods.
7. I also baked the cupcakes pre-workout. I think the sugar-high fueled me.
8. They also had Thin Mints. I refrained… but may go back this weekend. I still want a Tagalong!!!
9. One of the guys we played called me Punky! And another called me Rainbow Bright. Remember her???
10. It’s like the never-ending bag! I am forever indebted.
Yeast rolls… this reminds me. Next time you come we are going to The Optimist. Those rolls will bring a tear to your eye. I’m NOT exaggerating.
Omg, Rainbow Brite! I haven’t thought about her in YEARS! I used to have a little RB doll that I carried around everywhere! Lol And seriously, YES, next trip…oxtail and yeast rolls!!
PS, your Tagalong pancakes are coming…eventually…I promise! 😉 xoxo
Chocolate eggs on fro yo just sounds way too awesome. All of the food you ate over the weekend looks amazing!
Thank you! It was a food-success, for sure. 🙂
OMG so much to look at and admire in this post! And yet the one thing that I can’t stop thinking about is how much I want your striped socks.
sockdreams.com – it will change you sock-life. 😉
Which is worse: a rainy Monday, or a snowy Tuesday? I’m leaning towards the latter. IT’S ALMOST THE END OF MARCH STOP FRICKING SNOWING CANADA.
Ahem.
Want the cornmeal dessert baaaaaadly.
Awwww… watching the weather makes me incredibly happy I’m in the south. Hold strong! Summer is coming… one day…