Monday, January 20, 2014

A Weekend in the Neighborhood

Andy and I had such a fun and relaxing weekend. We had a perfect balance of time out and about, and around the house (we watched 'The Mask' on Friday night - have you seen it since the 90's?? So funny!).

Friday night we walked to our neighborhood liquor store, Grape Expectations, for their 14th anniversary celebration. We love the selection there, and how friendly, knowledgeable, and personable the staff is. We support them as much as we can. And we really supported them Friday as we left with bombers, six packs, and bottles of wine! Oopsies. Since it was their anniversary, they had bubbly and cupcakes to share, too! Yum :o)

<Just take the damn picture already so I can eat my cupcake!>

Back at home we cracked open one of our new bombers. It was delicious! We bought two with the intent of sharing the second with friends, but we are keeping it for ourselves instead (shhh!).


Imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels. Yea, I'm not sharing.

Saturday morning we went to brunch with our friend, Christine. We went to Oblio's, our favorite place in Denver! Andy and I always go to their location just a few blocks from our house, but they just opened up a new location in Cap Hill and serve brunch as opposed to just dinner. The owner was there during brunch and he sat with us for a bit. There's been so much work put into this new place! I love seeing the pride he has for his restaurant, and am so happy to see it get new business. Needless to say, we will be back!

 Beautiful bloody bar. Too bad I don't like bloody Marys.


After-brunch beers at Vine Street Pub & Brewery, of course!

Andy and I went out to a fancy dinner Saturday night. Andy's boss has him take me out every year for Christmas since we aren't able to be back in Milwaukee for the annual company Christmas party. Isn't that so thoughtful?? I always feel so special :o) This year we got all dressed up and walked to Tables, a nice restaurant in our neighborhood. It is such a treat to not dwell over if we can afford to get an appetizer or if we can get anything other than rail whiskey in our drinks. After dinner we went across the street to Neighbors, our neighborhood wine bar. The owner was working the bar and we spent hours talking to him. We stayed in the bar chatting and drinking good wine well past their posted close time! It was a really special night. Thanks, Bill :o)








Sunday morning, not so special. We slept in...a little ;o) When I finally pulled myself out of bed, I was delighted at what a beautiful day it was! We hopped on our bikes for an afternoon ride around the neighborhood. We stopped in Spinelli's Market to buy some cheese for a beer and cheese party we're going to this upcoming weekend. Andy and I needed help choosing cheeses to pair with the beers we bought at Grape on Friday. We got some good ones - I can't wait to try them!




How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun with your days off?

-Breanna

7 comments:

Unknown said...

You guys are so enjoyable. Just love reading this!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like it was a great weekend! Lol'ed to 'Just take the damn picture already so I can eat my cupcake!'

Highlight of my weekend - my roommate made sushi, got the fireplace going, and we played an intense chess match by the fireplace listening to his favorite composer Rachmaninoff (first time hearing him; very good chess music). It was an epic and honorable battle! :)

Anonymous said...

P.s., Oh yeah. Oops. Randy.

Breanna Hanson said...

Awesome weekend, Randy! So what's the secret to making edible homemade sushi?

Also, super jealous of that fireplace!!

Anonymous said...

It was very good! Not sure (yet?) what the secret is for good tasting sushi, but as far as the making the sushi is concerned, my friend said, "Buy good nori!" If the nori isn't good, it will break apart when rolling and making it. We didn't have anything that was completely raw that night. We ate the following:

Pickled mackerel
Shrimp
Smoked salmon
And something else I can't remember... but the last one had cream cheese which made it even really tasty. Okay, I guess that's one edible tip: cream cheese! Perhaps, a Wisconsin Roll to invent is in the near future.

Using the fireplace, especially with it being so cold, is awesome. :)

Randy

Breanna Hanson said...

Nori! Got it :o) I have a sushi rolling kit, so with my new confidence you gave me, I think I will try it out again!

When I lived in the house that stole part of your tooth, the roommates and I (ok ok, just Nick) made a sushi roll that had string cheese. It was awesome and would be perfect for your Wisconsin roll.

Also, sorry to hear it is cold there. It's been close to 60's here this week.

Anonymous said...

[shakes fist] That darn wall. Lol. Ooh... Wisconsin roll with string cheese! That will be a must next time!

Yeah, you should go for it! If you make sushi... pictures, please? :)

Randy