ColoRADo

 

Loving beer as we do, we were long overdue for a trip out west and last month we finally made it happen.  We had an extensive list of stops mapped out before we even touched down in the Mile High City.

First on the agenda was getting a lay of the land, via scooter.

    

Three hours later and we were ready to taste our way through the city.

First stop was Wynkoop Brewing, Denver’s first brewpub, part-founded by the current governor of CO, John Hickenlooper.

 

WynKoop Brewing    

Nug Life Dry-Hopped IPA, Bad Habit Blonde Stout on Nitro, Dank AF IPA, Cucular Proliferation Salted Cucumber Gose, Colorojo Imperial Red IPA

Next we checked out the food scene at Avanti, a food hall offering many tasty Denver treats.  Hidden behind a shelf of books, we enjoyed post-dinner drinks at Williams & Graham before calling it a night.

Day 2, we tackled our first physical feat and were quick to note the altitude, yikes!  Over the next 3 days we visited a variety of breweries, restaurants, coffee shops, museums and parks.

Highlights include

1. Sassafras, the only restaurant we visited twice.  They offer a habanero and ghost chili bloody mary so hot it is served with a cool down shot:)

  

2. Sushi Den, freshest fish we’ve had outside of Koiso.

3. And so much amazing beer!

          

 

Trve Brewing 

Warmoon Golden Sour Ale with Beets and Grapefruit

Worship the Void American Wild Ale

Shadows of Light IPA

Solid Hex Foeder Saison with Watermelon

Cursed Mixed Culture Pale Ale

Scorn Pale Ale

 

Baere Brewing

Totes redux IPA

C3ipa

 

Black Project Beer

Shadow Factory Blood Orange and Boysenberry Wild Ale

Super Constellation Spontaneous Blend with Peaches

Gemini: Boloya Golden Ale with Coffee

 

Cerebral Brewing

Drone Uprising IPA

Time Crystal Galaxy IPA

Robot Librarian Imperial IPA

 

Stem Ciders

Grapefruit Citra,

Crabby Neighbor

L’anier

 

Ratio Beerworks

New Wave Strawberry Berliner Weisse

Hold Steady Chocolate Rye Scotch Ale with coffee

 

Epic Brewing

Son of a Baptist Imperial Stout

Oak & Orchard Blueberry, Boysenberry and Black Currant Wild Ale

 

Great Divide Brewing

Strawberry Rhubarb Sour Ale

Barrel Aged Yeti Imperial Stout on Nitro

 

Crooked Stave

Pure Guava Mosiac IPA

T’Oats IPA

Single Hop ESP06297 IPA

Trellis Buster Imperial IPA

Nightmare on Brett Raspberry Wild Ale

 

Little Machine Beer

Fun City Session IPA

Yafi IPA

B.B. Rodriguez Coffee Double Brown Ale

 

Finally, the reason we were in Denver in first place….drum roll….Amos Lee at Red Rocks!

 

The next morning we ventured North to Fort Collins.  We had the cutest “nest” as our resting place conveniently located between New Belgium Brewing and Odell Brewing!

 

Before checking out the town we made our way up to Arthur’s Rock in Lory State Park.

Post-hike we made our way to a few of the smaller breweries.

 

Funkwerks

Apricot Provincial Sour Ale

Pineapple Provincial Sour Ale

Raspberry Provincial Sour Ale

Jessup Farm Barrel House

Blood Orange Train Delay Dry-Hopped Pale Ale

Coco-Barbarosa Rum Barrel-Aged Coconut Infused Red Ale

UB Forty Red Wine Barrel-Aged Red Ale

UB Funky Oak Barrel-Aged Red Ale with Brett

NSFW Nitro Whiskey-Barrel Aged Coffee Infused Red Ale

Old Fashioned Wheelhouse Bourbon Barrel-Aged Brown with Cherries & Orange Peel

WheelHouse Bourbon Barrel-Aged Brown Ale

A Chocwork Orange Whiskey Barrel-Aged Stout with orange peel & cocoa nibs

 

And yes, those beers were as delicious as they sound:)

 

Day 2 in FC started with a run over to and through Colorado State University.  At this point in the vacation, I was no longer hungry.  But there was still room for beer by the time we arrived to New Belgium Brewing for our tour.  You may be asking why we would tour NBB when their east coast brewery is right around the corner from our house.  Well, now I know you have not been on this tour.  We had a delightful time before venturing less than a mile to Odell Brewing.

 

 

Up early the next morning we took on the last leg of our journey to Boulder.  Dressed and ready for a hike we…..went to get massages instead.  It was the perfect last day shortly followed by the best last night at Backcountry Taphouse.

 

This.Is.A.Beer.Bar.  Russian River’s Pliny the Elder + a variety of cellared Firestone Walker selections.  We toasted to a most excellent vacation and know this won’t be our last trip to Colorado. Cheers!

 

Back to the [beer] Basics

While Cuba was a delight and served me many mojitos, Cuba libres and pina coladas, I think it’s well known at this point that beer is my beverage of choice.  Thankfully, work and play, have recently taken me to two superb brewing destinations, Austin and Richmond.

“Keep Austin Weird” they say….didn’t seem that weird to me, but it was packed with delicious beer.

The adventure started at Craft Pride, an all TX beer beer bar, with samplings of Pint House Pizza’s Electric Jelly Fish IPA and Fully Awake Imperial IPA.  Topped these hoppy delights off with Via 313, Detroit Style Pizza.

 

Over the next few days, the I visited Zilker Brewing Co., Blue Owl Brewing and Lazarus Brewing Company for Bourbon Coffee Milk Stout, Anniversary IPA and the Parks and Rec IPA, Professor Black Sour Cherry Stout and Little Gose American Wild Ale, and Achille’s Heal, respectively.

And let me not forget to mention the food trucks of Austin-

 

^Las Trancas, Aimee’s Super Fantazmo and East Side King.  Deliciously perfected street tacos, falafel and Japanese fusion!

And finally, Jester King Brewery for Le Petit Prince Farmhouse Table Beer, Colonel Toby Hoppy Farmhouse Ale and Funk Metal Sour Barrel-Aged Stout.

 

A few weeks later, David and I made our way North to Richmond, VA for a little 5 year anniversary getaway.  Might not be somewhere often associated with beer, but it SHOULD!  The city was reminiscent of Columbia for us, about the same size, capital city on the river and large university in the middle of town, so we felt right at home.

The beer, the food and the city were all charming and the perfect locale for David and me to celebrate.  We stayed in the Jackson Ward neighborhood which, much like everywhere else in Richmond, is COVERED in street art!

Our first day we made a quick stop at Saison, a quaint beer bar and restaurant around the corner from our Airbnb.

^Stillwater Superluminal Sour IPA

Also enjoyed at Saison- Evil Twin Today is Yesterday’s Tomorrow Imperial IPA and AleSmith Nibs & Beans Speedway Stout

Days 2 and 3 were slam-packed with our favorite activities – morning run, followed up by brunch, cidery visits, beer stops and gallery browsing.  Coffee stops in-between kept us going!

 

^Virginia War Memorial

 

^Belle Isle

 

^Brunch at Perly’s, a Jewish Delicatessen

^Brunch at Tarrant’s, a once pharmacy turned southern food and drink haven

Ardent Craft Ales

^IPA Batch #14, Berliner Weisse with Blackberry Lime, Dry Hopped Cask Pilsner

The Veil Brewing

 

^Hornswaggler French Vanilla Chocolate Milk Stout, Bee Humble Double IPA, Sitdwn IPA and Broz Broz Night Night Citra Double IPA

Hardywood Park Craft Brewery

^Quadrahop Imperial IPA, Further and Farther IPA and Tropication IPA

The Answer Brewpub hands down had the BEST beer (and beer names:)) which we paired with their fabulous Vietnamese cuisine.

^Cash Me Outside How Bow Dah Oatmeal Stout, 2 Scoops Passionfruit and Guava Gose, Cosmic Crusher Triple Dry Hopped IPA, Benjemun Scholtz Imperial Brown Ale, Kromer Juice with Lychee and I’ll Have a Martini [pineapple, apricot, lychee] Gose.

Triple Crossing Brewing Company

^Double Falcon Double IPA

But our favorite stop overall……Blue Bee Cider!  This place, not like any other cidery we’ve visited, is located in Richmond’s historical horse stables.  The cider, styled more like a wine, was exquisite!

We enjoyed them all:)

^Hierophant, Charred Ordinary, Mill Race Bramble, Hopsap Shandy, Rocky Ridge Reserve, Harrison, Aragon 1904, Harvest Ration and the Firecracker.

And with that our anniversary/beer mini-vacation came to a close.:(  We made our way back to Asheville and 3 local breweries to round out our weekend.  Up next, Denver, Fort Collins and Boulder!

Cuba Libre, I’ll Have Another

{Cuba, that little infernal republic.  There’s no way to fully articulate the intricacies of this island, but I’ll do my best to detail the small portion I observed.}

I arrived to Havana with a refreshing 3 hours of sleep!  This was one of those trips that I had built up for so long, sleeping the night before was near impossible.  Havana is large, I knew this, but was somewhat surprised by the hustle as my taxi made it’s way down narrow city roads.

I arrive to my home to find two hosts, no hablan ingles aqui:)  This was the case for most of my trip and I unfortunately didn’t click the one extra button that allowed me to translate offline on my phone before leaving the states.  In hindsight, such a good learning experience.  In real time, a few frustrating moments.

Nevertheless, I drop off my bags and start my exploration of this remarkable city.  Think some of the most impressive colonial Spanish architecture ever constructed juxtaposed with the most derelict (thank you S*Town for the new vocab word:)) setting you can imagine.  For a southern comparison, I’d say think of Charleston and all it’s charm.  Now imagine no upkeep for the past 50 years.  Add in that probably half of the cars on the road are pre-1960s, foot traffic is as deep as motor, there are too many Ernest Hemingway – esque hats to count and cigar smoke fills every corner of the city.  Welcome to Havana!

 

    

Along my tour I popped in the local brewery. They served light, dark and black beer.

Day 2, the best day, was spent behind the camera.  Much like my Spanish, my photography skills could use some nourishment.  I spent this entire day with a local photographer canvasing the city.  He painted a true picture of life in Cuba while critiquing every shutter I took.  I could not have asked for a better guide and teacher than Luis.

I’ve wanted to become more comfortable and proficient with portraits and he pushed me to the next level in this skill.

 

 

 

The following day I met with my travel group atop our casa particular with vibrant Havana as our backdrop.  This was probably the aspect of the trip I was most apprehensive about….we all know people that could ruin a vacation and with group travel you clearly don’t know what company you will land with until it is too late.  Having spoke with many people that have recently traveled to Cuba, however, I quickly realized this was not an easy place to DIY.  Therefore, I opted for the group.  Our group was top notch and I cannot imagine making this journey without them.

The crew made our way to Vinales by way of stops at Las Terrazas and Soroa.  These stops were rural, quiet, picturesque.

 

The coffee here is top notch, as were other beverage offerings:)

 

Along this stretch of the journey, we frequented the beach and two farms, organic produce and tobacco.

 

The next day back in Havana, I finally got to run the Malecon, 5 miles of city to one side, sea to the other.  Later this evening I met back with my crew and cheers’ed to our last evening together.

We watched as the sun set over the water and listened as the cannon fired (yes that still happens every night).  My time in Cuba was far too short, but I know it will not be my last visit to this infernal island.

[more photos at https://adobe.ly/2pspTwi]

 

Guachi, Spring Version

Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I found out at the end of last semester that in order for two students to complete the rotation to Honduras, I would have to step up for the February trip.  I have historically precepted the summer trip and signing up for a second trip in 2017 was not on my to do list, however, it made sense for 2 reasons.  First and biggest, the students would only be allowed to go on the trip if a faculty member accompanied them.  In my experience this rotation not only attracts some of our brightest students, but also ones with a lot of compassion and willingness to serve something bigger than them.  I did not want the students to miss this incredible experience.   Second, I love going to Guachi.  (And guess there’s an underlying third in there too….I’m the typical type A pharmacist that would rather take an international trip in the middle of the semester to manage the pharmacy rather than send someone in my place:)).

With that said, I embarked on my first “dry season” trip to Honduras.  The trip carried out per usual, stops along the way until we reached our final destination of Guachipilincito.

 

The week was typical, mostly adult and pediatric medical consults.  This was the first year that I truly felt connected to the patients as my Spanish has finally advanced enough that I do not require a translator at ALL times.  I conducted intake with all patients one morning sans translator which was a very meaningful personal accomplishment. Two days of our week we hosted children, one of which I served as the dental assistant.  Having considered dentistry as a career more than a decade ago, it was cool to get more insight into dental care.  Having heard from the providers for many years that the dental health of the local children is terrible, I was grateful to see it firsthand, but also saddened given the small likelihood of resolution to many of the cases.  Nevertheless, the dentist was a huge asset to our team and we are very thankful that she chose to share her services with the community of Guachi.

  

Over the week, 202 patients were evaluated and treated including several home visits and 508 prescriptions were filled.  The clinic operations were similar to previous years, however, this trip stands out among others for me personally given some new activities I was able to join.   After much work, the trip has finally developed to the point where the day-to-day pharmacy tasks flow seamlessly which affords me more time to explore other areas of interest.  The most informative meeting this year was with two local physicians, one private and one government funded, as they detailed their drastically different practice models.  I was intrigued to learn that the private practice has much more readily available pharmacological therapies than I have ever seen in Honduras.  Going to the private physician clearly seems to be the better choice in regards to the resources available, however, his consults and therapies come at a cost and that limits access tremendously.

  

A new component of the trip this year was the addition of a health fair.  Results from the community survey completed by Brown University undergraduate students in 2016 revealed the community wanted to connect with our team outside of a healthcare consult and so our board decided to host a community health fair.   Over 100 residents attended the health fair that offered educational booths, two health-related plays put on by local children, a salsa lesson and a healthy snack (provided by yours truly).   The event was a great success and will now become part of our weekly brigade events.

 

Saturday morning we tidied up the clinic and dorms and said goodbyes to our support staff for the week.  As in years past we start the first leg of our journey out of Guachi on foot to illustrate the trip locals have to make to get medical attention the 50 weeks of the year we are not in the clinic.

 

Of course, none of us are actually ill, we have optimal hiking shoes and are equipped with gallons of water.  The thing is we cannot truly put ourselves in the place of the locals, we can only mimic a small portion of their daily lives.   Year after year this is a hard concept to grasp….our team is so [lucky] to return home and practice in well-maintained institutions, sleep in comfortable beds, plan vacations, overpay for food and on and on.  Why are we the lucky ones?  As a professor, as a pharmacist, as a brigade member, as a human I cannot answer that question.  But I can and will continue to make (at least one annual trip) to Guachi, recruit students to join me and encourage everyone to check out the awesome work of Shoulder to Shoulder.

See you in July, Guachi!

It [was] Fall

So here we are…almost 10 days into 2017 and I pull up my blog tonight…and I cringed!  Last post October 7th.  I debated not even attempting to catch it up, but then remembered why I do this to begin with and quickly switched gears to retrieving the many photos captured this fall!

Up until a few years ago, I spent countless hours documenting my life via a scrapbook.  Thankfully, blogging came to be and is trendier, less expensive and a heck of a lot easier.  Still, how upset would I be years from now looking back on my digital scrapbook to find three missing months of my life all because I could not carve out an hour of time. So without further ado, I present fall 2016.

We hosted, we cheered, we celebrated, we imbibed, we had a blast.

Reunited with several special friends

Finally reunited Amos Lee 🙂

Completed my fourth half marathon

Played dress up

 

Enjoyed a Coffee Break on draft (in public)

Spent the day at Camp Blue Skies

Tried my hand at golf again, still a struggle

Admired gingerbread houses at Grove Park Fun

 

Said yes to the dress, well Carrie did:)

 

Celebrated Christmas with friends and family

And topped if off with a few delicious brews

^Westbrook Mexican Biscotti Cake Break

^Wicked Weed Dark Arts Wild Imperial Stout

^Heavy Seas Siren Noire Imperial Stout

^The Bruery Melange No. 14 American Strong Ale

^Westbrook 5th Anniversary Chocolate Raspberry Imperial Stout

^Cantillon Zwanze Day 2016!!

And there you have, despite my shortage of timely posts, fall 2016 did commence.  Maybe I’ll add blogging to my never-ending to do list:)

Cheers to 2017 from the pups!

Home Improvement, Gamecock Woes Continue

We are inching ever closer to completion of our home improvement (just a few more hours of staining to go), however, when the chance to head out of town presented, we jumped at the opportunity.  With the new pharmacy, days off are nearly impossible to come by for David and any year we do not attend the first football game of the season I am deeply saddened, so a trip to Nashville for the Vanderbilt game was the perfect getaway earlier last month.

While our team is not looking so good as of lately, we did manage to squeak by with a victory in the last 30 seconds of this one.

Now, Nashville is a happening place, some of which was a fit for us, other places not so much.  But alas, we found somewhere we felt right at home, Pinewood Social.  Imagine a coffee shop, incredibly inventive bar, exquisite food and vintage bowling alley along the river.  Yeah that’s Pinewood Social.  We spent the majority of our time in Nashville here.

In addition, we checked out the local beer and running scenes.

On our second evening we turned in early after tuning in to Band of Horses (yeah, they were playing a free show directly outside of our hotel) so we could make it back to Asheville the next morning for more staining!

Back at home, we are now watching/suffering through football season on our almost complete new deck.

 

Our team may disappoint, but we have managed to establish a great venue to watch sports that serves up a farm to table menu, pours local brews, requires no reservation and welcomes your four-legged friends.  Cheers!

PS- This one’s engaged!  MOH status achieved:)

 

The paint?? Cheque leque!

Recently, amidst a summer full of home improvement fun (no sarcasm there…), David and I have been making the effort to recognize and appreciate all of our good fortune and the fact that we can even do home improvement.  The frequent day-to-day delays and changed plans, however, did wear us thin on quite a few occasions.  And even though we tried to keep each other in check, I find that the perspective I needed resided in the small community of Guachipilincito.  You see there it does not matter if the bill for your electrical work is higher than anticipated or the paint you chose is not the right blue.  Electricity is a luxury and discussions of paint color merit no worth.

Immediately upon arrival to Guachi you (and I say you because if you went, you would experience the same) are met with some of the happiest faces and most grateful words imaginable.  The smiles are large despite more than half of the community reporting not having enough food earlier this year, despite having never seen a dentist with a mouthful of cavities, despite walking hours over mountainous terrain in sandals for medical care.  The words are thoughtful despite knowing you’ll only be there for a week, despite knowing you may not have the medicine they need, despite knowing you just might have more luxuries in your carry on then they will ever be afforded.

And while these facts do not sit well with most, this year many positive aspects were revealed to our team-

It is raining for the first time in over 2 summers!  It is green everywhere you look, corn is coming in and hopefully the figures related to food needs improve.

Locals with chronic diseases are understanding them better and recognizing the need for medication therapy.

The dental education that has been provided for many years is being retained by the children and they are eager to get new toothbrushes.

This summer’s team was small, but mighty.  With just 9 gringos in our brigade, us pharmacy folks, 3 students and myself, nearly made up half of our group.

Matched up with 3 translators and our brigade coordinator, the week was ever successful, though, as we cared for locals and continued to learn more about the happenings of  the Honduran government, Shoulder to Shoulder initiatives and community needs, all of which afford us a better understanding of how to provide the most optimal care.

^Food distribution day, this is the feeding program our board sponsors for women that are pregnant or breastfeeding and children <5 years old.

^Jose/Pepe/Joe working incredibly hard to keep the clinic and quarters functional during the week.  Many thanks!

^Clinic days for school children

^Wingate Pharmacy Rock Stars

^Scenes from early morning runs in Guachi

^Fluoride varnish application

^Exploring Concepcion on the journey home

And just like that, our week in the picturesque community of Guachipilincito came to a close.  While it will be a year before I return again, this place will stay fresh in my mind and heart as our team continues work with each other, Shoulder to Shoulder and Guachi locals to improve the services we provide.  And about that paint color…well the blue has grown on me after being back home, but more importantly the front gate at the clinic got a fresh coat before we departed.

It is shiny.  It is a vibrant.  It glistens in the sun.  And I bet you not one person has questioned if it’s “the right red.”

 

If you’d like to contribute to the efforts in Guachi,

Donate HERE (add Guachi to the donation allocation)

 

Stay Thirty My Friends

So far 30 has been a whirlwind, hence, I am writing about the festivities nearly two months later. It was quite the blessing that this milestone birthday fell during my spring break giving me ample time to celebrate.  The week started off as a surprise trip to see friends in Myrtle Beach and was followed up with a lovely stay on Shem Creek in Mount Pleasant.

^Dinner and Drinks at Co Sushi

^Japanese whiskey tasting at Perrone’s

By day we biked, kayaked and ran.  By night we ate, drank and reunited.  All in the ever picturesque Holy City.

^The Barrel where we enjoyed-

Prairie Artisan Ales Ape Snake, Farmhouse Ale

Freehouse  Mullet, American IPA

Lagunitas  High West-ified Imperial Coffee Stout

Anderson Valley Wild Turkey Bourbon Barrel Stout

^Farrago Threeve, cognac and wine barrel aged ale, A Little Blue, tart wheat,  And Again, American Pale, More Bitter More Better, American IPA and PB&J at Edmund’s Oast.

  

^Lunch at Leon’s Oyster Shop post-biking morning!

^Quick stop at The US Customs House, scene of our engagement!

^Tour of Shem Creek via kayak.

^Just like college, Margaritas and Mexican at Minero (our restaurant choices have matured:)).

^Finally made it the Gin Joint (I know everyone else has been like a dozen times).

^Post-run refreshments at The Daily.

^Checking out local breweries, Tradesman and Holy City, where we sampled Coconuts and Bolts Stout, Circuit Breaker IPA, Ginger Spice and Everything Nice Red Ale & Aussie Sauce IPA, S’more of the Worlds Imperial Stout and Cap’n Banana Bread Hefeweizen.

^After the local brews we enjoyed a spicy dinner at Low Country Creole.

Later in the week we ventured further South to visit our favorite Savannahians for more merriment.

 

^Carrie and Taylor made a delicious birthday dinner while this guy and I caught up:)

^Cocktails at Jazz’d and truffles from Lulu’s + a 30th birthday nightcap.

We returned fully revived after a week of celebrating and to my shock a surprise birthday!   Props to David:) (and Carrie).

While the week to mark my 30^th year was nothing short of perfect, it seems this decade is just getting started and there are a lot of good times to be had up ahead!  Up next on the blog, home improvement (finally)!

One Image, One Year

For the first time in our short, married lives together we will not have a new years card.  While this saddened me greatly at first as I continued to think on it, I realized the card is simply one photo, a staged picture, an inaccurate representation of what we hope the future year will bring.

Last week, I (along with a lot of other instagrammers) posted my “top 9:” the nine photos that received the most “likes” on instagram in 2015.  While all nine photos showcased good times,  if it were up to me, I would likely select a few that did not make the post.  When I think back on 2015, here are the images and corresponding memories that come to mind-

I finally partook in hash running and discovered it is precisely as fun as it looks.

 

Sweet Owen decided to eat toy and subsequently required emergency surgery.

I had a very graceful tumble off my bike resulting in a month of daily bandaging.  Thank goodness for maxi skirts!

David and I took home repair into our own hands and successfully completed a project well out the scope of our pharmacy training.

My efforts in Honduras finally aligned with an academic purpose and I traveled with and precepted a student for the first time.

I discovered beets and beer are a great combination at Fonta Flora.

David and I made three art purchases (below our first!), two that we decided on together and another that was cider-induced.

David had a stache. Seems it may make a reappearance in 2016 as well.

The “Rose” (rose-uh) became a Taylor churchhouse porch-drinking staple.  Mix equal parts Westbrook Gose and Stiegl Radler.

David and I returned to Maui for the Maui Half Marathon.  Countdown til the next trip….we wish;)

So next week you will not find a New Years Card in your mailbox from The Taylors, but know that we hope your 2016 is as blessed as was our 2015.

 

Cheers!

End of Year Festivities

Despite a variety of Fall activities that have commenced and cold- weather dishes and brews that have been consumed over the past month, it sure has not felt much like Winter is forthcoming.  Thankfully, though, the forecast has been delightful and provided ample opportunities for time outside.

We had two of our fav South Carolinians up to the mountains.

We hosted another oyster roast.

I got away for a few days to the sweet little town of  Saluda, NC for girls weekend.

 

We traveled down to Savannah again for Thanksgiving hosted by Carrie and Taylor.

  

  

^Even Southern Living agreed this was quite the tablescape.

^Our host can multitask.

^Taylor on the bird.  This electric knife is older than him I believe.

^Wish I could say this was a staged photo or that these items were not necessary again this year….but that would be a lie.

^Turkey Trotting + a PR:)

^Checking out the local beer scene (Service Brewing) in the Coastal Empire

We got tacky twice. First at Keller William’s Fashion Victims Ball and second at a Christmas sweater party.

 

We’ve been pairing our stouts with squash!

^Turkey lasagna squash and acorn squash + kale tabbouleh salad.

We’ve been keeping up with the Panthers!  And while we may be perceived to be getting on the band wagon…

1st- That is clearly not our style.  You do know that we pull for South Carolina, right?

2nd- We pull for South Carolina so please just let us have this one.

Finally we celebrated the season with team fun!  And while this photo may be blurry and some of our nights too:), this crew has grown to be our local family over the last year and for that we are very thankful.

Cheers to a Happy Holiday!