Apollo, God of Hamburger

I thoroughly enjoy trying new things and going new places.  Tonight, we went and tried Apollo Burger.  I love local (non-chain) food places.  Back in Virgina we used to go to this place called T-n-T Ta Go.  It was heavenly.  It was all home made food run by these awesome ladies.  They were so nice.  They had a potato soup to die for.  I've been trying in vain to replicate the soup.  They also had this amazing chicken salad sandwich.  Honestly, there wasn't a single thing we could find that wasn't good.
I digress.  So we go to this burger place.  I pass it every day on the way to work and we finally decided to try it.  It was as good as I thought.  I have this theory on how to tell a good restaurant before even eating there.  If you see (classy) old people coupled with other generations of people in a hole in the wall restaurant, it is probably good.  They've probably been going there for years and they usually know what's good as far as older food joints.  I created this theory based on where my grandpa goes to eat or why he says somewhere is good and through observation.  Apollo did not fail us today.  It looks run down but it has got some good burgers.  The Apollo burger has pastrami on it with the hamburger and it is surprisingly really good.

On a totally different subject, a year ago Dennis and I started a notebook together.  Originally we wrote to each other and took turns with who had it.  Once we got married, we used it to document our travels.  Since it has been a year, I am going to show off a few of my favorite pages.

Plants from Illinois

The leaf on the right was written on while drying and has words engraved on it.  We think its awesome.

There are so many pages.  I chose my favorites.  Which happened to be all plant pages. There are so many pages filled with writing and postcards and packets and maps.  We started it a week before we got engaged.  So our wedding, honeymoon, trips across the country, life in Virginia, and any other adventures can be found in its cover.  We have to hold it closed with thick rubber bands.  We also have a postcard from every place we stop with a short description on the back.  At the end of our first year we're going to bind them together to make a book.  So!  A sneak peak at our book. 

Scones

So those who know me know that bread and I have been good friends for a very long time.  I love freshly baked bread of any and all sort.
Today, I made one of my favorites.  Cream scones.  These are my favorite any time of day but especially for breakfast.  I got the recipe years ago from a blog of a lady who was living in England.  I can't remember what its called though. It is my all time favorite scone recipe. I grew up with an aunt and a great aunt who loved England and all things tea and scone.  So the fact that this recipe is my favorite is a big deal.
So here it is.
Cream Scone
2 Cups Flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 Cup sugar
1 pint (2 Cups) Heavy cream (this needs to be the thickest, heaviest cream you can find.)
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Combine the first 4 ingredients with a fork.
Slowly mix in the cream.  You may not use all the cream so do it slowly.  I usually put an entire cup in and then slowly add it till its sticky to the touch.
Knead it a bit.  Then transfer to a baking sheet (or a cutting board). Pat into a 10"circle and cut into 8 wedges. Seperate them.
Melt the butter and brush on the scones then sprinkle the sugar on the scones.
Bake for 17 minutes. 

Oh honey

So last week was my birthday.  My sweet husband made me a cake on my birthday.  I worked all day and I came home to a birthday cake.  I was so excited.  That Sunday my uncle made me cinnamon rolls and a birthday dinner.

That is a candle on a cinnamon roll.

We've just been hanging out.  We took an adventure to Cheesecake Factory, but other than that we've had a pretty quiet existence lately.  Dennis just got a job at Home Depot so he has started working there.  I'm excited.  I want an herb garden so badly.  I even bought cilantro from the dollar section at Target. I just want them so badly.  I'd also love fresh vegetables.  I want to do the Bountiful Baskets so badly but I've been trying to wait till we both had built up a steady amount of money.  So.  Fresh food!  Huzzah.  We also took a trip to the library.  I've picked up reading again. Which I love. 

Cadberry Eggs are Manna

So this weekend we took a trip down to see his grandma and both his parents who drove her home from good ol' California.  We celebrated my birthday, his uncles, and his grandma's all of which are this week.  We had too much cake and it was fun.  My mother in law got me so many bee themed things.  So bees are the theme this year.  Side note:  Every birthday or gift giving holiday results in an overwhleming theme for me for some reason.  Christmas it was puzzles this year.  My birthday is bees.  One year it was red.  Another it was kitchen supplies. A different time it was headbands.  Its kind of funny and unintentional but it is a real pattern.  I enjoy it. I didn't take a picture but BEE THINGS. Oh and boots.  Both of which suit me just fine. 

I've been a bit out of it due to being headachy and generally achy and feverish for a few nights.  It has been a bit of a rough day and night for me. However, I got a picture with that beaver.  Bam. 
Also to make my weekend even better and add a factor of complete surprise I got a package from my dearest friend. I was so excited! It was full of wonderful amazing things and I am so lucky I have an amazing friend/pen pal/once upon a time roommate/and fellow Disney lover.  It is seriously the best.

In case you can't tell, my birthday is this week.  Which is pretty cool. 

Southern Woman

So. I am very into experiences.  While we lived in the south I immersed us in southern culture.  Everything from barbeque (real style) to Cheerwine (a soda only sold in the south with a taste similar to cherry Dr. Pepper and a weird after taste) to attempting to pick up a sweet heart southern accent (like an Oklahoma one.  One of the cute ones.)  One of the biggest things I became intrigued by was making the perfect biscuit.  I'm still fighting for that accomplishment.  I have two main recipes I've tried.  One of them my culinary inclined aunt/mentor gave me.  I've tried it so many times.  Anything can affect them.  The kind of flower, the temperature, how frozen the butter is, etc.  Sometimes I'll master the flavor.  Other days I'll get the texture. Some days I completely fail and get a bland tasting roll.  But I will prevail!  I know it.  I am so determined. Some old lady in our ward told me every southern woman's secret is biscuit mix.  I refuse to give into that. I want to accomplish this extraordinary feat. 
Here is the main recipe I use.  Southern Buttermilk Biscuits

Antiqueing

Today Dennis and I went to the antique store.  We love antiques.  We went while we were dating and numerous times while we lived in the south.  My reasons for missing the south are slowly growing and the antique shopping is one of them.  The south had the most wonderful antique stores and antiques just in general.  We adored the history.  Anyway back to the present.

We love shopping around.  There are a few things we are looking for.  Me, I'm looking for a trunk.  Dennis is looking for a myriad of things.  I've also gotten into frames lately. We just love to look and dream about the antiques.  We could spend all day looking.