Michelle's bachelorette: wine-tasting!

Nothing like a good stormy day to relive a bright & sunny one, right?? A few weekends ago, a group of us girls got together to celebrate my sweet friend Michelle's last few weeks as a single gal - she's getting married next weekend! Michelle and I were college roommates (and sorority sisters, by chance, after we went through recruitment in year 2 and ended up in Pi Phi together!) for three years at VT, and I'm pretty sure I never would have survived college without her. I am so excited for her wedding, and I am looking forward to standing beside her as she begins her new life with her almost-husband.

Instead of a typical "bachelorette," Michelle requested something a little more low-key. We came up with a plan to spend the afternoon wine-tasting, and we had such a blast! We had a group of 6, and we spent the afternoon at two different VA wineries, tasting, eating, and enjoying the local wine.

Michelle and I

My sister and I

The first winery we went to was Barrel Oak, located in Delaplane, VA, where we did an outdoor tasting and then enjoyed a picnic that Michelle's mom packed for us. We had a great time sitting on the patio chatting and getting some sun.

From there, we headed off to Aspen Dale Winery at the Barn, located just a few minutes away from Barrel Oak. Our tasting there was a totally different experience - it included food pairings! At the beginning of the tasting, we were each given a small plate with ten little nibbles of food - some cheese, some meat, some chocolate. Then, as the tasting progressed, we sipped each wine alone, then added the food it was paired with, and tasted a whole new flavor profile. It was eye-opening! I'd love to do it again in another season. After we finished the tasting, we sat inside and enjoyed several glasses of Aspen Dale's signature sangria, which was incredible! So sweet and delicious - definitely dangerous on a hot summer day! We listened to live music and chatted, and before we knew it, it was time for our driver to pick us up again to head home. We had such a great day - Michelle enjoyed herself, and we all got to relax and enjoy a day out with the girls. Next up: wedding!

So beautiful! The barn at Aspen Dale

The whole group! So much sun.

Aspen Dale's sangria - I want this right now!

Page turners

Anyone who really knows me knows that I love to read - I have a voracious appetite for books, and am definitely one of those people who can lose myself in almost any story. As I've gotten older, I've found that I go back and forth between reading nothing for months at a time, and then reading everything I can get my hands on - just one of those ebbs and flows of life, I suppose. Lately, I've been on a reading spree, thanks to a random $10 Barnes and Noble gift card that I got in the mail. Normally, B&N coupons don't apply to nook books, which makes me sad, because I love reading on my nook. This one surprised me, though, and was good for anything! So I scooped up a book that's been on my "to read" list for quite a while, and followed that with another, and I've just now started my third book in three weeks. My brain is hungry! Here's a look at what I've been reading.

Amazon

 The Soldier's Wife

Margaret Leroy

One of my favorite genres is historical fiction, and I especially love anything set in the WWII era. This book followed the story of a soldier's wife, but rather than being set in Germany like many books are, it was set on an island off the coast of France. The imagery in this book was just fantastic - my mind's eye was over-flowing with the beautiful scenes of the island and the small village where the book takes place. The characters were easy to get into, and I enjoyed the time-progression: it moved smoothly through many years, without feeling like anything was left out. Great read!

Amazon

Blackberry Winter

Sarah Jio

My sorority's philanthropy is literacy, which is one of the things that attracted me to it in the first place, and in addition to encouraging and promoting literacy in children, they also do so among us members! Recently, Pi Phi launched a virtual book club called Pi Phi Pages, and this book is the first book on the list to read. I thought the book club sounded like fun, and the book sounded like a good read - so I added it to my nook. After the first chapter, I was hooked! This story featured the historical elements that I love, with a bit of mystery, and was just predictable enough that it was an easy read. However, there was a twist at the end that I wasn't exactly expecting, which I think is key to a great book! I finished this one in three days, and found myself really sympathetic for the main character. She was easy to relate to, even though I've never experienced what she had - the emotions portrayed by Sarah Jio are touching and realistic. I think this book set our book club off on just the right foot, and I can't wait to see what other readers had to say about it!

NC-bound!

Happy Friday!

I am finishing up at work, then headed out of town for the weekend with my mama... we're off to see a very special friend of mine: Ashley!

We'll be visiting this girl and her sweet little family for the weekend in Fayetteville! Ashley is my grandbig from my sorority (my big sister's big sister - fun fact: L2 is my big sister), and we have been the closest of friends since pretty much the first day we met. After she graduated, she ran off and got married and popped out the CUTEST twin boys I've ever had the pleasure of knowing (...there haven't been many, but they are still definitely the cutest), and I have been promising to visit for a long time now but haven't made it happen! We are remedy-ing that this weekend. There will be toddler soccer practice, wine, and lots of fun to be had - hooray!

Have a great weekend!

Pi(e) Day: Banana Pudding Cream Pie

Yesterday was Pi Day! (3/14... 3.14... get it??) I don't claim to love math - quite the opposite, in fact - but Pi Day makes me happy because it always reminds me of my sorority sisters. As members of Pi Beta Phi, we always had to do something special on π day!

To celebrate at work, the folks on my floor had "Pi(e) Day" (of course!). For my contribution, I decided on something simple but delicious, and homemade, to boot (always better than anything store-bought!) - Banana Pudding Cream Pie. This is basically banana pudding in a pie pan, and it's super easy to make. In fact, I felt a lot like Sandra Lee - semi-home-made = 60% store-bought, 40% homemade! Call me bananas (pun intended...), but this pie was spot-on. Cool, creamy, crunchy, and might we go so far as to say, healthy?? There is fruit in it after all... Ha!

Want to make your own? Here's what you'll need:

• 1 box of Nilla Wafers
• 1 small box of banana-cream flavored sugar-free, low-calorie pudding (I used Jell-o brand)
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 2-3 ripe bananas
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2-3 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

And here's what to do:

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Put mixing bowl and beater(s) to be used for whipped cream in the freezer to chill. 

2. Put ~35 Nilla Wafers in your food processor and blend until all cookies have been reduced to fine crumbs.

3. Pour melted butter and Nilla crumbs into pie pan; mix and smoosh (technical term) so that entire bottom of pan is covered (but not the sides).

4. Put pie pan in oven (preheated to 350*) to bake for about 15 minutes.

5. While crust is baking, thinly slice bananas (about 1/4" slices).

6.  Make pudding according to directions on package. Put in fridge to set.

7. Take a break to share delicious cupcakes you bought over the weekend with your husband. Red velvet is amazing. Nutella was also fantastic. Clearly I was on a sugar binge on Monday night. Oops.

8. Remove pie crust from oven and set aside to cool. In the mean time, make whipped cream. (Homemade is legit - a million times better than Cool Whip!) Pour heavy cream into mixer and set on medium high. Then leave it alone until soft peaks start to form. Once that happens, add powdered sugar and vanilla, and continue mixing until it reaches "whipped cream" consistency that you prefer. (Full disclosure - I got distracted and let mine go a little too long - it's a bit stiffer than I would have liked! Still delicious, though).

9. While cream is whipping, line edges of pie pan with whole Nilla Wafers.

10. Layer pudding, banana slices, and Nilla Wafers in pie pan. I started with a spoonful of pudding to make the base, then did bananas, wafers, pudding, wafers, bananas.

 

11. Spread whipped cream evenly over the top.

12. Insert toothpicks and cover with Saran wrap (the toothpicks are so the plastic doesn't stick to the whipped cream, of course!). Place in fridge to chill over night (overnight is ideal; as long as possible works well, too. The longer is has to sit and let the flavors mix and meld, the better!).

Done! Part of why I love this recipe is because each part can be done while you're waiting on another part - there's no just sitting and waiting for the crust to bake, or pudding to firm up, for example. It was ready to go in a snap, and I had the pie in the fridge and the kitchen cleaned up before one period of the Caps game was finished!

Note: vanilla pudding would work just fine, but I love the banana flavor. This would also be good with chocolate, but not quite as refreshing, I don't think!

As a final step (that I forgot to document), I drizzled caramel sauce over the top of the pie right before serving it. A little extra sweetness never hurt anyone - and in fact, I think it added just the right extra oomph! Wondering if my coworkers loved this treat? Well, the proof is in the pudding (pie):

Just 30 minutes after setting it out. Gone!