What a lovely few days away it was. Although my Thursday night flight was majorly delayed and didn’t end up getting into Cleveland until 2:30 in the morning (!!) it was all uphill from there. Especially because my big brother Richard ended up driving home to hang out at the last minute! I haven’t seen him since January so it was very exciting.
Although I was not blogging while away, I was taking a whole bunch of pictures. So here we go, day by day – ENJOY!
Friday
Lunch at Sergio’s in University Circle:
Seared salmon salad.
Coconut butter cake. We split this slice among the three of us although I’m pretty sure once we had a bite, we all wished we had a piece each! It was so. flipping. good.
Blogger meet-up at D’Vine Wine Bar:
Glass of Pinotage.
Seared halloumi and watermelon salad. I wasn’t super hungry after our delicious lunch so this was just perfect for dinner. I’ve never had a salad like it – it was heaven!
Also delightful, these lovely ladies!
Allison and Heather. So glad we had a chance to get together while I was in town. I’d met Allison once before but Friday was my first time meeting Heather. It really was such a fun evening! And it made me quite sad that we can’t do it more often. Cleveland bloggers are wonderful :).
Saturday
My brother, dad and I spent the morning shopping at Westside Market. I lurrrve the Westside Market – one of my favorite things in Cleveland. So much amazing produce, meat, cheese, bread ect. ect. ect. A very impressive market! After we had lunch at Great Lakes Brewing Company.
Pilsner.
Forest Mushroom Pizza. Swoon :).
Rich and my Dad. Rich kind of looks like he’s going to punch me. Hm.
After, Rich and I went to the mall and I bought some good running shoes! My shin splints haven’t defeated me yet and I’m hoping that with a good pair of shoes my half-marathon is still happening :).
Saturday evening, I had a few of my old high school friends over and cooked them supper. I haven’t seen them since I finished my culinary program so it was time to utilize my new skills!
Butternut Squash and vanilla bean risotto.
Corn and radish salad, courtesy of my dad.
Strawberry, feta and caramelized walnut spinach salad.
Rich, Steph, Amanda, Kris (and baby belly!) and May.
And Steph brought us a delish chocolate peanut butter pie to finish things off.
We all grow up and life carries on in a zillion different directions but there’s nothing an evening with old friends. And luckily Rich was very patient with everyone’s girlie shrieking :).
Sunday
Of course no visit to Cleveland is complete without a visit to Lucky’s Cafe! My mum, dad, Rich and I had a yummy brunch together in their beautiful garden.
Vanilla bean waffles with strawberry-rhubarb compote, whip cream and caramel. So homemade = so delicious.
Sunday dinner was held on the deck.
Pimms!
Westside Market chicken sausages, grilled veggies and Saturday night’s corn salad.
And there you have it! Like I always say, I swear we did lots more than just eat! But with all this deliciousness, who cares about that stuff, right!? :).
See ya tomorrow!
– Beth
That risotto looks awesome! What are the chunks in it? It looks like squash, maybe?
Ok, wow, just re-read it and it clearly says Butternut Squash. Self embarassing moment!
haha, aw…that’s okay! we all have those from time to time :).
WOW! That is one awesome weekend of eats. Brunch! My favorite meal out. Those waffles look out of this world. And I would be all over that Coconut butter cake…anything with coconut is delicious. You got to meet two of my favorite bloggers too! Love those ladies (and you too!). Such a fun meet up
It was indeed a very fun meet-up! Hopefully I’ll make my way down to Charleston for a meet-up some time in the future :).
your risotto looks amazing, you have to teach me how to make it!!! That’s such a chef-style cooking 😀
Friday night was fun – It was great to hang out! Glad you had a great rest of the weekend!
I have to get my butt to Lucky’s one of these days…. 🙂
YUUUM! Looks like some great meals!
Looks like you had a great weekend!!
That squash risotto looks pretty fantastic.
Looks like you had a great trip filled with great eats!
i’ve missed you, my dear! 🙂 i’m so glad your weekend trip was a smashing success! soooo many mouthwatering eats! i’d like to recreate a butternut Squash and vanilla bean risotto at home! it look so flavorful! and that coconut butter cake has got my mouth watering!xo.
Great to see you the w/e. Even if it did get off to such a bad start.
I’ll have to remember not to fly with you!
Thanks for having me!! See ya in Sept :).
I know one of your friends in that picture! Stephanie and I were in the same sorority at B-W! I knew this would happen sooner or later!
Looks like you had an awesome weekend back home. Next time you are here, hopefully it will workout where I can finally get to meet you!
How crazy is that!? I’ll have to tell Steph. Yeah, I’m bummed we didn’t have the chance to meet up but hopefully next time we’ll be able to – it’ll have to be a celebration for finally getting together! 🙂
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