Saturday, November 27, 2010

The Thanksgiving Feast for the Food Beast

There's a little issue in my life that O has dubbed the "food beast." Unfortunately, if I'm not fed at regular intervals my blood sugar drops and I become a tiddly bit cranky. But never fear, the Bergmann Thanksgiving feast was here. And a feast it was. 

The Bergmann's hosted 15 people for Thanksgiving this year including my parents. It was great to have everybody together! The night before we moved all the furniture out of their living room so we could all sit at one table. Trust me, it was quite the production, but the end result was fabulous!
The Thanksgiving table


Everyone sitting together, with the Cowboys game on in the background OF COURSE. 


But enough about the decorations, lets talk about the FOOD! First of all, I am the lucky girl marrying the lucky guy who's Dad is an amazing chef. O's dad is the owner and chef of Cacharel Restaurant (which is absolutely delightful if you're looking for a good French meal) and he never does anything simple or small, let alone Thanksgiving. For example, Mr. Bergmann baked a turkey, smoked a turkey, and then deep fried a turkey. Yep, that's right, three types of turkey!
The men, frying the turkey.
Unfortunately I gobbled up my first course with out taking a picture but I did get a picture of what in my opinion was the star of the meal: The Pumpkin Soup! That's pumpkin soup with coconut cream and cinnamon croutons, delish!! 


Then on to the main meal. I won't bore you with a description of every dish on the plate but lets just say I would have picked the plate up and licked it clean if it were socially acceptable to do such things.


Not only did we stuff our faces with delicious food, we also enjoyed a wonderful leisurely afternoon with family and friends!



My parents and I

Duke's Thanksgiving Bow

Isla and Lea (my future flower girls) made quick friend's with Duke!

 All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving and we had a blast! Even Duke got a little feast of his own.


 Hope you all had a wonderful, food and family-filled holiday!

Ciao!
Claire

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

OOOOOOKLAHOMA where the wind comes sweepin' down the plains!

Apologies for the lack of posts lately but a weekend wedding planning extravaganza and a little jaunt to "the Green Country" i.e. Tulsa, OK has kept me quite busy the last few weeks! The trip to Tulsa was short, spontaneous, and sweet, but the purpose was "could Claire conceive of living here without wanting to blow her brains out daily?" That's right, it's a possibility that we could move to Tulsa. I have to be honest and admit that I'm not 100% sold on the idea, but I need to appropriately weigh the pros and cons. So, here we go.

Pros:
-I could say I've lived in another state besides Texas (now don't get me wrong, I like Texas, but a girl needs to spread her wings, even if it's only 250 miles north!)
-Advancement of certain careers might be at stake
-They just opened an Anthropologie (double bonus points on this one!)
-They have a really cute little drag in the middle of town that reminds me slightly of South Congress in Austin
-It would be an adventure!

Cons:
-There is not a single Nordstrom in the state of Oklahoma...Thank God for online shopping
-I saw more Hillbillies in one weekend there than I think I've ever witnessed in my entire life (I'm talking full on overalls, a bucket fishing hat, with missing front teeth chompin' on some chicken wings... and this was in the middle of town, and it was a woman!)
-There are OU flags everywhere- Go Horns!
-I would be leaving a job I like, friends I love, and moving farther away from my family

We'll see how it pans out in the future. For now, I'm going to enjoy the holidays with my family (I'm so excited about my first annual Turkey Trot and Thanksgiving at O's parent's house!!) and attempt to not think about how my entire life could be uprooted in less than 3 months. 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!! (and if you so desire, score some loot on black Friday!)


Ciao!
Claire 

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Scotchy Scotch Scotch

Last Friday night was a bit of an adventure for O and I. We visited Nana for the first time for their Friday Night Flight tasting which included three tasty nibbles (and I mean nibbles, the food was bite sized and I had to order some sliders to satisfy my Friday night appetite!) and three tastings of wine from the Columbia Valley region in Washington state. The food and wine were good but the view from the bar at Nana is amazing! I see a happy hour there in my future for some half-price martinis!


I had my Man.


 Some GREAT company!



And ALOT of empty glasses of wine!

All in all, not a bad start to a Saturday night, but then we headed over to the Dallas Design district for the Dewars Discovery event. Now, I've never been a scotch drinker, give this girl a glass of Sauv Blanc or a vodka soda with a lime and we're in business! But I thought to myself, no harm in trying something new. Plus it was free. It started out with a drink called the Dewars smash (it was like a mojito with scotch) which, truth be told, I thoroughly enjoyed! 

V and I with our Dewars Smash

Then it turned into an educational seminar on the history of Dewars and how it is made. When we arrived at the tasting room and sat down, this is what was sitting in front of us: 

 Chemistry was never my strongest skill (I'll admit I went to TCU because it was one of the only programs where I didn't have to take chemistry). But this was a whiskey chemistry set, so how could you go wrong?? After the speaker gave us his spiel on the history of Dewars and said "scotch whiskey" more times that I thought humanly possible in one hour, we got to make our own scotch from these test tubes. Mine tasted like shit (like it burned my esophagus...). Fortunately, we got to taste some iced Dewars 12 year after making our own and I just dumped my unfortunate concoction of honey, floral, vanilla, and smokey into my glass of iced scotch. After that, I don't remember tasting anything.

Ciao!
Claire

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Things I'm loving right now

KXT FM 91.7

O stumbled upon this local radio station a few months ago and passed it on to me. I must say that I LOVE it!! I unfortunately like it so much I was jammin to an old Fugees song (yea remember them??) missed my exit and got stuck in 5:30 mix master traffic... You never know what is going to be playing when you punch in this radio station. From classic and indie rock to Celtic Irish jig music it's always a different song that you haven't heard six thousand times like on MIX or KISS FM. So go a head, open your ears and check it out!
 

Nordstrom Half Yearly Sale

Oh Nordstrom, how I love thee. I especially enjoy when you have a sale in which I get double points on my Nordstrom card!! BUT I believe by very favorite thing about you right now are these: Get in my closet!
Via Spiga Evanna Lace Bootie


Dermalogica daily microfoliant 

I had a dilemma at Ulta yesterday: Bliss Pore-Perfecting Face Polish OR Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant (I know, I know, how did I decide??) I went with the stuff that slightly resembles an illicit substance and I'm so happy I did. It makes my face feel soft as a babe's bottom and my pores have never been so clear. It's amazing. Get you some!!



  The Holidays!

It's like the clock struck midnight on October 31st and the holiday commercials began flooding the airwaves. I can't say that I mind them, it kind of puts me in the spirit. I can't wait to decorate for Christmas (is the first week of November too soon?).  I'm also excited about O and I's annual Holiday Party, which rumor has it will have a tacky Christmas sweater theme (throwback to college anyone?)!! I'm stoked.

Hope y'all are starting to get into the Holiday spirit! Stay tuned, next up is O and I's Friday night flight at Nana and Dewer's Discovery tasting experience!  

Ciao!
Claire  

Monday, November 1, 2010

Trick or Treat

I didn't sleep a wink last night. It was either a) severe distress over the Rangers losing their 3rd World series game (doubtful) or b) as the incredibly intelligent person that I am, I made O watch Paranormal Activity because I "have to watch a scary movie on Halloween!!!" (probable). That movie is shit-your-pants scary people. It gets you when you least expect it and leaves you feeling creepy in all the wrong places. So from now on, I'm taking O's approach to Halloween: "Dress up like an idiot and get drunk with your friends." Fortunately for us this year, we got to do both. 

Introducing the main players of All Hallows Eve

 Sweeny Tod and the Mad Hatter joined the fun

 So did Alice and our other version of the Mad Hatter :)

 The Bartender and the Beer Maid. We made a good team.

 It's not a party without The Dude


So after two (or maybe three?) glasses of liquid courage, I managed to put my Beer Maid costume on again this year. I felt like a German sausage...BUT on McKinney a man did lean out his car window and attempt to snap a picture of me with his camera phone in which I promptly yelled at him "you better not put that on the internet creeper!!" So I guess I still got it...
 
Whoa sweet, who brought the Keg?! 

 Hope you all had a FANTASTIC Halloween!!!
Ciao!
Claire