To tide you over, I'm sharing a few photos from girls weekend. Mainly of the food we ate on the 3 day weekend that took me from Harlem to Hoboken. Lots of these are with my cell phone camera because it was ungodly hot on the east coast last weekend and carrying a big honking camera (that I still don't really know how to use) was just too much.
I started at Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem with old friends Shannon and Clara. To quote Shannon when Clara told us where we'd be going... "I'm not leaving till my waist band snaps". Well ok then! Challenge accepted...
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| Clara, Shannon and Rachel in Boston in 2009 |
We chowed down on fried green tomatoes that made you forget how far north of the Mason-Dixon line you were.
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| Fried green tomatoes at Dinosaur BBQ |
Then there was a smorgasbord of pulled pork, ribs, and some amazing mac n cheese.
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| Pulled pork, slaw and butter potatoes |
And finally, a little bit of dessert with some fresh berries and shortcake. Thank goodness calories don't count on girls weekends!
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| Fresh berries and shortcake |
After that I made my way to Hoboken to meet up with my college girlfriends. We met when we were freshman and sophomores at Virginia Tech and we've been holding a "girls affair" annually for the past 7 years. The location and activities may change, but the junk food and trashy magazines (ok, and wine) are a constant.
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| The staples of girls weekends |
To complement the theme, I brought our hostess this bacon and chocolate chip pancake mix as a thank you. It's from an unbelievable store in Chicago called Vosges Haut Chocolates that was one of the first to get on the bacon and chocolate train. I'm regretting not getting one for myself but something tells me I'll be rectifying that soon!
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| Mo's Bacon Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix |
Our weekend in Hoboken let me indulge a number of my "eater" passions. We swung past Carlo's Bakery from the TLC show "Cake Boss". Instead of seeing Buddy, the head honcho, we saw a line over a block long in triple digit temperatures and immediately continued on to an air conditioned bar.
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| In the battle of baked goods versus air conditioning... the AC won. THAT'S how hot it was! |
We also stumbled upon the Garden of Eden Gourmet Market. It's the same chain featured in the Bravo tv show "Rocco's Dinner Party", which my Mom has just gotten me hooked on. I swooned, freaked out, made someone take a photo of me and in general, made enough of a fuss that the girls wanted to come inside to see what all the commotion was about.
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| Hi Mom!! |
Seriously, how drool-worthy is this place?
I would have taken more photos but we had decided to come back later to get dinner and I didn't want to get the boot before I'd even had a chance to sample the goods.
To add insult to injury, the prices were reasonable! They were the same or less than I'd pay in Chicago. I pretty much want to move in upstairs.
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| Goodbye Garden of Eden, I will miss you |
We ended up walking about 4 miles in 95+ degree temps with humidity. So when we saw a Crumbs Cupcake store, I felt about zero guilt for stopping in to try something. All my NYC friends rave about it so it felt wrong NOT to go eat a cupcake.
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| Hello lovelies! |
We picked up red velvet and original chocolate. They didn't disappoint!
It was an amazing weekend. These visits are just good for the soul. They're full of belly laughs, gossip, girly movies and bad reality tv. We rehash old memories and admire how far we've all come while remembering and appreciating who we are at the core. They remind us of how blessed we are to have friendships like these.
After all, not just any friends will stage an intervention to tell you it's time to give up the jean jacket. And then still love you when you refuse and continue to bring it everywhere :)
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| Modeling the various jean jackets I brought to Girls Affair 2008 |
Until next time ladies,
xoxo
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