Sweet Visit: Cleveland

Summer is the best time to be in Cleveland and this past weekend I got to visit with some of my favorite people. Since my friends there are just as fanatical as I am about food, my trip was mostly about what what to eat and when. Dinner at home with Kobe burgers from  Mr. Brisket (an old school butcher in University Heights), Saturday brunch at Fire, strawberry and white chocolate sorbet at Churned, and Sunday brunch  on the lovely patio at SOHO Kitchen + Bar...we ate and drank very well. 

Churned

Breakfast michelada, SOHO Kitchen + Bar

The best part of my weekend was, I believe, one of the nicest things to do during a Cleveland summer. We picnicked and drank wine lounging on the lawn at Blossom, the summer home of the inimitable Cleveland Orchestra. We heard Emanuel Ax play Mozart and Chopin while working our way through a picnic of sandwiches from Murray Hill Market, dessert from A Cookie and a Cupcake, and two bottles of cheap wine. The music (accompanied by singing birds and later, crickets) was blissful.

picnicking

accessories

dessert

We ended the night with cocktails, french fries, and a cheese plate on the patio at L'Albatros, my favorite in Cleveland. Perfect.

Sweet Visit: South Florida

It took a year of daydreaming (Italy? Palm Springs? Miami? Kansas City?) but Matt and I finally found the most perfect location for our wedding- a villa (complete with a resident peacock named Sir Winston) in Coconut Grove.

Our chuppah will be set up between the arches.

My family scoped out the location first, and told me to come to Florida as soon as possible- there was only one date available in 2013! So this past weekend, I took a quick trip south and it's true- the venue is  perfect for us. We'll be married in the courtyard (fingers crossed for no rain) April 27, 2013. Matt and I are beyond excited.

It was just ladies this weekend- my father was riding his bicycle through Georgia (and perhaps that was a good thing for him- last time I was home he very gamely went wedding dress shopping). After seeing the venue we had a lovely lunch at the Peacock Cafe.

Then it was on to Sasha's Bridal to place the order for my dress and a quick trip to Saks for preliminary MOH dress shopping for my sister. It was a truly delightful day.

So many dresses!

Since there are lots and lots of wedding blogs already, I'll keep wedding-related posts to a minimum unless I feel there's something particularly newsworthy or lovely...

Sweet Visit: Louisiana

Not as exciting as New Orleans but sweet nonetheless- I flew to Alexandria, Lousiana to meet Matt for a lazy weekend.

The four-gate (and very new!) airport

If you want to really, really spend time with a loved one or ones, with few distractions,  go to a tiny town. We took walks, ate delicious crawfish (Saturday night) and fried chicken (Sunday lunch), sat by a fire pit, had cafe lattes in the picturesque town of Natchitoches, Louisiana (Steel Magnolias was filmed there!), and read in the sun. 

A pretty bench in a pretty town

My first time eating (whole) crawfish

Lunch in Lecompte, the pie capital of Louisiana

It was a thoroughly delightful weekend.

Sweet Visit: New Orleans

I can't think of a much better way to spend three short days than Passover/Easter in New Orleans.  Matt had a much-needed weekend off and we meet at the restaurant of our hotel on Friday night. Any vacation that starts off with a Sazerac (the local specialty) and a plate of prosciutto served with something I can only describe as "savory beignets" is bound to be a good one.

We woke up Saturday morning and took a walk around the French Quarter, where I could not stop taking pictures of darling houses:

Along with some friends, we had Saturday afternoon cocktails next to the pool- I had a pink gin fizz:

pink gin fizz

Dinner Saturday was at Cochon, a Cajun-Southern restaurant where I had oyster roast, soft-shell crab, and strawberry pudding. This all served as very good padding for a night exploring the French Quarter and Bourbon Street. We begin Bar Tonique, made our way down Bourbon Street, and ended at the bar at the The Saint Hotel. Somewhere along the way, Matt bought me a Mardi Gras mask. It was a very, very good night.  

The clock in our hotel lobby

We had Sunday brunch at Atchafalaya, off Magazine Street. I had deconstructed oysters casino on top of a corn cake. Delicious. 

Matt and I split a beer while waiting for our table.
No open container laws= quite the party on the sidewalks while waiting for a table. 

I'm planning on reading Beautiful Crescent: A History of New Orleans as soon as I can take it out from the library to learn more about the history of New Orleans. I'm so fascinated by this gorgeous, decaying, deeply weird city. 

* an administrative note- you can now follow Sweet Heartland on Instagram!

Sweet Visit

My parents came for a visit last week and I had to do some serious considering about what to show them, where to take them, what to feed them (in my family this is always the largest concern). I forgot to take many pictures but I tried to hit all the important Kansas City spots...

According to an informal poll, Oklahoma Joe's is the best in Kansas City for barbecue, followed by Arthur Bryant's. Arthur Bryant's serves their pulled pork with a pile of Wonder Bread AND they have sweet tea- I went to college in the deep South and I have a fondness for sweet tea. However, Oklahoma Joe's is in an actual gas station and their ribs are not to be believed.

 There is no table service at Oklahoma Joe's. You are left to contemplate the menu while standing in a line that sometimes reaches out to the sidewalk. 

I opted for a slab of ribs, a pile of pulled pork, and Texas toast (made from Wonder Bread). Delicious. 

Another big food hit was Genessee Royale. It's in one of my favorite neighborhoods, the West Bottoms which deserves it's very own post (and will get one soon, since I did some poking around there last week). Genessee Royale is my favorite place for Saturday brunch (Sundays are for Record Bar) and they are home to fried chicken on a biscuit with gravy, my favorite ginger beer, and according to my mother, the best coconut cream pie. 

Matt and I also had my parents over for dinner. This was a first for me, and since my mother is an amazing cook, it was a little stressful. In the end, I went with grilled pork since I've made it before and it's extremely undemanding:

GRILLED PORK

Get some pork tenderloin, preferably organic. To be honest this pork was from Costco and it was still great. Put the pork in a dish, pour olive oil over it along with a fistful of herbs, salt and pepper, and minced garlic. Marinate for at least 3 hours. Preheat your grill (we use charcoal) and grill for about 13 minutes on each side. 

I also like to quarter small potatoes, drizzle them in olive oil and herbs, wrap them in tinfoil and grill them with the pork. In order for for them to be done on time, you have to put them on the grill as soon as the charcoal is lit. 

Since my parents mostly don't drink, I made them limeade- their favorite. I used a Mark Bittman recipe for salty limeade. Next time I would add a tiny bit of cayenne pepper and perhaps vodka. 

Note: It takes a long time to manually squeeze this many limes. 

And this is all the juice you end up with! It was worth the effort, though. I made strawberry shortcake for dessert and we had some friends over so my parents could meet them- all in all a lovely time. 

My parents just HAPPENED to come when the Yankees were in town- my dad is a huge fan. So we went to my first Kansas City baseball game and the Yankees won, naturally....

Some other highlights that I don't have photos of- a bike ride with my father, a trip to the amazingly old- fashioned department store, Halls, and on the last night dinner at a sweet French bistro.