Becoming a Martini Connoisseur

I'm far from being a connoisseur but I do love to drink them. Now I just need to master the art of making them at home instead a paying $10+ for a martini when I go out.

My personal favorite are dirty martinis (vodka, not gin) with blue cheese stuffed olives so that's my recipe for today. Here's what we're gonna need to become a martini connoisseur:

Dirty Vodka Martini w/ Blue Cheese Olives

Vodka of choice:
Grey goose is the best in my opinion but I'm often stuck buying slightly cheaper brands so whatever fits your budget.  We'll need 3 oz of vodka per martini.

Dry Vermouth:
Only need a splash or about 1 oz per martini.

Blue Cheese Stuffed Olives:
These can actually be purchased in liquor stores or you can make your own by stuffing queen size olives with blue cheese crumbles. Will also need about 1/2 oz olive juice per martini.

Shaker:
 Fill shaker half way with ice and shake all liquid ingredients well. A variety of shakers can be found at Amazon such as this one:  Premium Cocktail Shaker Set - 24 oz Stainless Steel 

Martini glasses: 
Serve in cute martini glasses & garnish with blue cheese olives.

I have this set at home and, for $9.99 from Amazon, you can't go wrong. (It makes you feel drunk just looking at the glasses) Kidding. But seriously, they're really cute and durable glasses.

Libbey 4-Piece Z-Stem Martini Set

 Hopefully it turns out looking something like this:

Cheers!

A Chinese Recipe You Won't Screw Up

I cooked Sweet and Sour Chicken for the first time last night and it came out really good so had to share. I searched several recipe sites and decided to go with this recipe from the Food Network. The recipe was very easy and didn't require any out-of-the ordinary ingredients.

Sweet & Sour Chicken 

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 boneless chicken breasts, cut in cubes
Salt & pepper
1/2 cup chopped red pepper

1/2 cup chopped green pepper
4 teaspoons cornstarch, mixed with 4 teaspoons water
1 cup canned pineapple chunks, drained with 1/2 cup reserved juice
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons vinegar
1/4 cup chicken stock (I used a little more)

Directions:

Heat oil over medium high heat in a large skillet pan or wok. Season chicken to your liking and add to pan. Cook chicken until golden and remove from pan and set aside.

Add red and green peppers and cook for 1 minute. 

Stir in pineapple chunks, juice, sugar, vinegar and chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Simmer until sauce begins to reduce. Stir in cornstarch mixture and bring liquid to a simmer. Stir in chicken strips and cook for 5 minutes. 

Serve over rice.  I used brown rice.

Joining Jessica and Ashley for Taste of Tuesday.

Enjoy!

Weekend Whereabouts

I've gotta admit, the only thing I love about Mondays is recapping the weekend and going through all the photos I may or may not have taken. Luckily, I had another great weekend with some fun photos. 

Friday Date Night:

~ Dinner & drinks at TGI Fridays. I get the Tropical Berry Mojito every time I'm there. So good!

~ We tried the Mac & Cheese bites as an appetizer which were pretty good.

~ After dinner we went over to a local Entertainment center/arcade place and I kicked some a** in skeeball. (I usually suck at this game but somehow got a lucky streak).

~ Finally ended the night with some Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat beer.

Saturday - Special Olympics Benefit:

~ On Saturday night we attended a fundraiser for the Special Olympics of Central Florida. I got a picture with the painting I helped paint for the auction.

~ We played some black jack for "funny money". Both K and I got black jack and won some gift cards. Yay!

~ There was also live music, free cocktails, and several tents from local restaurants offering food samples.

~ This was a really fun event and all the Special Olympics athletes got sponsored from the proceeds.

The event ended early so K and I went home and hung out around the new fire-pit we got in our backyard with a glass of wine.

Sunday - Lunch with Friends & Football:

~ We met up with some friends that were in town visiting for lunch at one of our favorite restaurants.

~ Had a peach martini and the bang bang shrimp tacos are to die for!

~ The rest of sunday was spent relaxing at home with some football. 

Joining Sami for Weekend Shenanigans.

Cheers to a new week!

Weekly Friday Recap

#1: I'll start off by apologizing for being MIA most of this week. I was at a Digital Media conference for work and have not had much time for myself. The convention was fun though and got to network with a lot of professionals in my field.

#2: I was excited to find out from Stephanie over at Fusion Chronicles that I won the Red Lobster gift card she was giving away. Coconut shrimp and cheesy biscuits are calling my name!

#3: Love my new nail color. I wish I could remember that exact name but it's the newest turquoise gel color at my nail salon.

#4: My latest accessory purchase: a Florida pendant & necklace. You know those cute little boutiques? My hairdresser's new salon now has one and I'm VERY afraid. The jewelry and accessories are gorgeous!

#5: My cooking experiment for this week included pesto & parmesan crusted pork chops with spaghetti squash which had chopped mushrooms and zucchini sprinkled with feta cheese. Both K and I really enjoyed the pork chops and the squash was pretty good for my first attempt. I'm going to experiment with different spaghetti squash recipes since it's a healthy alternative to pasta.

Joining Lauren and Darcie today for Five on Friday.

Enjoy your weekend!!

What Does Your Wine Say About You?

I ran across this today and thought it was cute. I'm a huge wino and love all types of wine but my go-to wine for the past few years has definitely been Pinto Grigio. 

I'm not gonna lie, I've also been buying boxed wine a lot recently because you get more for your money and it lasts longer than a bottle.

I def don't discriminate when it comes to wine and if I happen to be in the mood for red wine (Cab), I prefer it chilled or with ice...

What kind of wino are you?

Girls Reunion Weekend

What an amazing weekend spent with my college besties! We certainly can still party like we're 21.... Lots of stories, laughing, drinking and eating was had on Sat and Sun.

On Friday, K and I ordered dinner and stayed in to watch a movie. We got Spring Breakers from RedBox and it turned out to be a lot crazier than we expected. I don't recommend it :-P

Saturday:

~ On Sunday, I made breakfast for K and I and then headed out to a hair appointment.

 ~ I got my highlights touched up and added in some burgundy foils, which I love!

~ Met up with two of my college besties to start our reunion weekend to celebrate the life of our friend that passed away last year.

~ After lunch we hopped around downtown Orlando to some of our favorite spots.

~ Several fireball shots were had.

~ Later that night we went back to my friend's house and told stories around the fire.

~ We walked to a late night bar for one last fireball shot to end our Saturday night.

Sunday:

~ On Sunday I met back up with the girls for Brunch at this cute local spot downtown Orlando.

~ I got to try chicken and waffles for the first time and it was AMAZING! We also had the largest pineapple mimosas. Ever.

~ Afer brunch we went to a sports bar to play some skee ball and test out a few different beers. 

- My friend bought a Pizza flavored beer and I tried out a Bannana Bread flavlored beer along with several pumpkin beers and other seasonals. 

~ We had some photobooth fun and did some catching up over beers and finally called it a night since Monday tends to come way too quickly.

I was an awesome sunday funday and reunion weekend with my college girls!

Joining Sami for Weekend Shenanigans.

Hope you had a great weekend too :-)

High Five For Friday!

SO happy Friday is finally here! Unfortunately, I can't say it's going to be a relaxing weekend but nevertheless it should be fun cause I get to see some of my besties from college...

We are having a reunion to celebrate the life & birthday of one of our girl friends that passed last year July.

1. Pretty sunsets from my backyard.

2. Since I got a keratin treatment done two weekends ago, I'm loving how silky and frizz-free my hair has been. My color & highlights have also held up really well although my roots are in a need of a touch up asap.

3. K and I both ordered the new iPhone 5s from Target which should be arriving this week. I was able to trade my 4s in for $173 at Target.

4. Got spoiled with some Cuban food this week (#cheatmeal). Baked chicken, plantains, rice & bean, and salad. It was delicious!

5. K and I are now 5 months into the health and wellness challenge that my company is putting on for employees and their spouses. K has already hit his 6-month goal of losing 20 lbs and I have lost the extra weight but now working on gaining some muscle. We're excited about the new lifestyle change we've taken on and hope to be able to maintain it moving forward.

Joining Lauren for H54F and Darcie for Five on Friday.

Hope you ladies have a good weekend!

A Familiar Face on "The Voice"

Congrats to Tessanne Chin who killed it on The Voice on Tuesday night!

 Let's just say as a fellow islander, I have been following her music for many many years. She has an amazing voice and we all knew she had the potential to become mainstream one day. I think she might have just gotten her big break!

  

K and I went to a Reggae Love Fest a few years ago and were blown away by her voice. (We almost chose one of her songs for the first dance at our wedding, no kidding!)

Very proud of you Tessanne and everyone in the Caribbean is rooting for you!!

Weekend Celebrations

On Friday, K and I did our usual dinner date and then we picked up some Pumpkin beer to enjoy at home. 

On Saturday, I went to the gym and did some errands before going to a friend's 30th birthday pool party.

- New seasonal pumpkin beers at ABC. We decided to buy Shocktop Pumpkin Wheat which was delicious!

- K got spoiled with breakfast in bed on Saturday morning,

- We went out and to get some raw oysters for lunch since we were both craving it.

-K and I at our friend's pool party.

- Loved the 30th birthday cake which was in the shape of a burger.

- K and friends playing flip cup. 

- The pool party was a blast with lots of cold drinks, BBQ and dacing

- September birthday boys.

- Chinese take out was on the menu for Sunday. Perfect for a lazy day at home watching movies and football.

Joining Sami today for Weekend Shenanigans. 

Hope you had a good weekend too!

Weekly Friday Review

TGIF ladies! I'm excited to entertain some friends visiting this weekend and enjoy the sunny weather here in Florida. It certainly doesn't feel like fall here and I'm lovin' it. Here's a quick review of my week...

1. I've been enjoying new Fall coffee flavors at the office this week.

2. Express package arrived with some goodies - new jeans and black pants for work along with a black/silver wristlet.

3. I've been pretty good lately keeping up with regular manicures and trying new color combinations.

4. Put together a care package this week for a homeless lady that I've seen for years sitting on a park bench downtown.

5. My Tory Burch beauties arrive yesterday - I'm excited to finally own a good pair of sunglasses.

Joining Lauren for H54F and Darcie for Five on Friday.

 

Have a great weekend!