Beer Me!

Chad and I took the afternoon off from work this past Friday and headed to the Boulevard Brewery for their monthly Brewmaster Luncheon.  This was our first time at the brewery.  We had wanted to take a tour of the brewery a few times, but it requires reservations and they are always booked months in advance.  So we opted for the Brewmaster Luncheon instead...a monthly event hosted by one of their brewmasters, who gives you a mini-tour.  The brewery brings in a local restaurant who creates a beer-paired lunch.  The tour starts off with a brew or two in their tasting room.  Here's a couple pics of the mini-tour...

The brewmaster...

A few more tour pics...

The lunch created by National Golf Club north of Kansas City was superb!  Here's a few pics of the menu and food.  Each course was paired with Boulevard beers...one of them being a special collaboration beer brewed with Pretty Little Things gypsy brewers in Massachusettes.  

Afterwards you can hang around for another brew on their patio outside.  Even though it was sweltering on Friday afternoon, we chose to take in the view of the city!

We enjoyed ourselves so much!  We'll definitely be heading back there for another luncheon soon...maybe in the Fall when we can enjoy the patio a bit more!

Wedding Planning Vacay

Last week Chad and I jetted off to Clearwater Beach for a little mini-vacay and wedding planning!  I didn't take as many pics as I had originally hoped too...but also wanted some parts of our wedding to be a surprise for those attending.

When we arrived Wednesday afternoon, we jumped in our rental car and headed directly over to Chantilly Cakes for our cake tasting!  Yahoo!  I heart wedding cake!!  This vendor comes highly recommended by our resort & florist, so I'm sure everything will be fabulous!  We decided on a 3-tier cake with a variety of flavors.  We were very pleased that we were able to wrap everything up at that appointment. 
* Tier 1 - Almond and chocolate cakes with chocolate mousse filling
* Tier 2 - Amaretto liqueur and raspberry swirl cakes with vanilla mousse filling
* Tier 3 - Red velvet cake with cream cheese filling

We then headed to The Sandpearl.  We were so excited to be actually staying where we will be married in a few short months!  It gave us a better chance to explore the resort and get to know the staff.  One of my favorite things about the resort is that all guests are offered champagne or mimosas on arrival!  (You know I LOVE champagne!!)

We had a great view from our room onto the pool and beach areas. It was a rainy, cloudy day when we arrived but everything still looked beautiful!

Here's a few pics of our room.  I completely love the in-room Keurig and sanitized remote (which they do every day in addition to their twice-a-day room service)!

Soon after we arrived we had a lovely surprise from our resort wedding coordinator, Michelle...champagne & cheese!  We could not have been more please with our arrival!!

After devouring the cheese plate and exploring the resort a bit, we decided to take a walk on the beach in hopes of catching a good sunset.  Unfortunately, it was a bit too cloudy for a pretty sunset but we still had a nice stroll.

Thursday morning we headed next door to the Clear Sky Beach Cafe.  We found this place when we were down here in March and love it.  It's open for breakfast, lunch & dinner.  For Sunday brunch they even have a bloody Mary bar.  This cafe has good food and is reasonably priced...a great alternative to the higher-priced Caretta on the Gulf restaurant in the hotel.  Here's a pic of the patio...

The remainder of Thursday afternoon we spent at the pool taking in the sun...and some drinks brought over by the pool waiters!  LOVE!!  Our food tasting was scheduled later that afternoon...and let's just say that guests attending our reception will not leave hungry!  After the tasting I felt like I couldn't eat again until October!!  Everything was fabulous!  Here's what we tasted...and had choose from:


Hors d'oeuvres
* Bleu cheese & toasted walnut on cornbread crisp with honey drizzle
* Bacon-wrapped scallops
* Miniature crap cake
* Chorizo-stuffed mushroom with Parmesan

First Course
* Artichoke ravioli with chardonnay butter fondue & tomato basil jus
* Grilled lemon lobster on a porcini grit cake with saffron cream

Salad Course
* Arugula, spinach, bacon & pears with sherry maple vinaigrette & goat cheese souffle
* Heirloom tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, fennel salad, extra-virgin olive oil & creamy balsamic

Entree Course
* New York Strip with Cabernet demi
* Cocoa-encrusted filet
* Herb-seared grouper with lemon-beurre blanc

Such difficult choices!  Luckily we get to have all of the hor d'oeuvres...and add a sushi station!  Yahoo!  We picked one from each of the first course & salad course...keeping it a secret.  We also switched up the entree course to allow the guests an option between chicken, beef (NY strip) and seafood (Chilean sea bass).  So excited for this meal...as you know we appreciate yummy food!!! 


Friday morning we stopped at Starbucks in the hotel and then headed to our appointment with the florist, The Bride's Bouquet.  This appointment also went fabulously.  I can't wait to see the flowers, which we get to do the day before the wedding in case we want to change anything.  After that we headed straight to the Sandpearl pool making a pit stop at Tate Grill (also on the resort) for a quick lunch.  This beach grill is next to the pool/beach area and serves up some yummy eats!  We'll be eating food from Tate's for dinner after the rehearsal the night before the wedding.  Here's a couple of pics...

Friday night we headed to one of our other favorite beach grills that we found when we were here in March, The Palm Pavilion.  It's a great place to watch the sunset.  I failed to take pics of the place but managed a couple of us.

What a fabulous trip!  We headed home Saturday evening after spending the morning at the pool!  Thank goodness we were completely relaxed given we were delayed in Tampa for over an hour due to a storm, and received thoroughly soaked baggage upon our return to KC.  Now it's back to reality and finalizing all those minute details that come along with a wedding. We cannot wait to share our special day with everyone!!!

Mini-vacay here I come...

This weekend was filled with lots of errands...confirming bridal jewelry, swimsuit shopping, Sperry sandal buying, and numerous other mindless tasks.  Saturday we ended our errand-filled day with dinner at Gram & Dun (super yum) followed by the Royals game.  The game was sweltering but fun was still had!  Here's a pic of Chad with Jen & Jeff in the 360 Club cooling off with a cold brew...

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Saturday night, after we returned home from the Royals game, we headed down to the City Market where they were having the KC Glow Run.  This is a nighttime 5K run where the runners all have on different glow sticks.  There were a ton of people down at the race.  We got there about 40 minutes after it started, and there were still hundreds waiting to start.  It seems as though they were letting people go in waves.  It was great people watching as many of the runners were in very creative dress...including balloons, tutus, hula hoops, wigs, etc.  It was a very humid evening and must have been a tough course as the River Market is quite hilly.  We heard several of the runners mention that they experienced some of their worst times.  Here's a very blurry (sorry) pic of many of the runners still waiting to take off...

Sunday after more errands, I decided to make a new recipe from the Skinny Taste website...Edamame Fried Rice & Asian Meatballs.

Here's the recipe for the Asian Turkey Meatballs with Lime Sesame Dipping Sauce...
Meatballs
1 1/4 lean ground turkey
1/4 c. panko bread crumbs
1 egg
1 Tbsp. ginger, minced
1 close garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
3 scallions, chopped
1 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp. sesame oil

Dipping Sauce
4 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp. sesame oil
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. scallion, chopped

Preheat oven to 500F.  Mix turkey, panko, egg salt, scallions, garlic, ginger, cilantro, 1 Tbsp. soy sauce, and 2 tsp. oil with your hands until combined well.  Shape 1/4 c. meat mixture into a ball and transfer to a serving dish.  Repeat with remaining mixture.  Baked until cooked through, about 15 min.


For the dipping sauce, mix together the soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice & water.  Add the scallions.  Drizzle the meatballs with 1 Tbsp. of the sauce.  Serve the meatballs with the remainder of the sauce.




Excited that tomorrow is already my Friday!  Yahoo!  We're heading down to Clearwater Beach on Wednesday for some final wedding planning.  Super excited for this trip!  It entails a trip to the florist, cake tasting & food tasting.  We've decided to turn it into a mini-vacay and actually relax a bit while we're down there, so we've only scheduled one appointment per day.  See y'all Sunday!  I should have lots of pics to share then!!



 

All Star KC

It's been so crazy hot lately, so we haven't really been doing much of anything aside from hiding inside in the air conditioning.  We've been complete bums!  The days seem to just come and go.  Thank goodness it's supposed to cool down after today.  We might even be able to enjoy some time outside on the patio!!

We went over to Jen and Jeff's house for the 4th of July in the afternoon. The meal was a bit "non-traditional" for the 4th.  Our theme...Mexican Independence Day!  We had grilled steak fajitas, pico de gallo, guacamole & chips!  Yumm-o!  It was a fairly small group, and given the heat, we all stayed inside.  The best part was a couple of us were leaving.  One of the guys, Kelsey, realized that he didn't have his phone after he got up from the couch.  After calling his number, we could feel the couch vibrating!!!  Ha!  What took place after that involved taking some of the couch apart, turning it upside down and a little guy on guy action!  LOL!  I'll let the pics tell the story, but all I could think of while watching this debacle was...

How many meteorologists does it take to retrieve a phone from a couch?

We're basically laying low again this weekend.  However, we did make it out of the house yesterday to take in some of the All Star Game festivities.  We headed to the All Star Fan Fest.  We grabbed lunch first in P&L and then walked about 5 blocks to the Convention Center.  It was a brutal walk there and back!!  Here's a couple of pics that we managed to take while braving the heat...

There's a free trolley that is running around the city during the All Star festivities to take fans here and there.  Good thing we didn't rely on that to take us back to our cars!  It looks like the heat got to the trolley too!  LOL!!

Cheers!  Hope everyone has a cooler week!!  Again, we have no plans...but we're looking forward to our mini-vacay back to Florida in 1.5 weeks!!!