Auburn and Football

My two weeks in Auburn were all too brief. I had so many things to do and people to see to fit into that relatively short period of time. It was so nice to be home, in a familiar environment. It was the little things that I enjoyed the most. The things that I really didn't even realized that I missed - the smell of my house, driving around at night by myself with the windows down and the music up, Auburn's campus, the feel of college football in the air, making a royal mess in the kitchen cooking, being lazy on the couch with Toby and Andrew watching TV. Right now Auburn is still my home. In a way, Auburn will always be my home - the same way Dothan will always be my home. But it makes me a little sad to come to the realization that Auburn will not be my home for much longer. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just change and change can be a little sad sometimes.

I ran a lot of errands while I was home (one of which was picking up my graduate school diploma!), packed winter clothes to bring back to D.C. with me, saw lots of friends and got to celebrate two birthdays, ate out at all the Auburn restaurants that I love (including Amsterdam's and MK's), cooked more than we could eat, and had lunch with some of my former professors. It was so nice to see them but it also made the fact that it was fall and I wasn't in school sink in more.

I also spent two days in Abbeville and in Dothan seeing my family. My Nana and aunts are all such good cooks and they cooked all my favorite foods. My dad and I went to see a movie and generally just hung out, since I had spent time with my mom at the beach. I miss all of them very much and it was great to see everyone.

The last weekend I was in Auburn, I was able to go to the Auburn v. Clemson game. It was crazy! And hot. Andrew's brother Chris came to Auburn to go to the game with us. I also found out last minute that Mr. Steve and Mrs. Ginny were coming for the game, so I was really happy to see them and tailgate with them.

 Hannah, Mr. Steve, and Mrs. Ginny tailgating at the Auburn v. Clemson game

As usual for sitting in the student section, we got to the stadium about 2 hours before the game started so we could get a decent seat. I typically don't enjoy sitting in the student section because of many reasons - you have to get there so early, it's hot and crowded and loud, you don't get the sit down (unless it's a TV time out, half time, or someone is hurt). But there is a certain energy in the student section that you don't get from sitting anywhere else in the stadium that is a lot of fun. Especially during the second half of this game when Auburn actually showed up to play football. We won by a field goal in overtime so it was pretty insane and I'm so glad that I went.

Hannah & Andrew at the Auburn v. Clemson Game

Rolling Toomer's Corner - An Auburn Football Tradition

Panama City Beach, FL

My trip to Panama City Beach, Florida for Labor Day was wonderful. I flew into the brand new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport bright and early on Thursday morning, September 2nd. The flight was quick and uneventful, the only interesting thing being halfway through the flight when the pilot came on the intercom and told everyone to look out the left windows of the plane. Out over the ocean, you could see the white line of Hurricane Earl, which was pretty cool.

My mom picked me up at the airport in Panama City since Andrew needed to stay in Auburn for his classes. It was really good to see her, especially since I had not seen her since May and her birthday was that previous Sunday. We grabbed lunch at a place I had never eaten before called J. Michael's Restaurant which is sort of catty corner from Capt. Anderson's. It was good, solid beach food but not necessarily somewhere I would put on my must eat list. 

We did a little shopping after lunch, walked out to the beach for a few minutes, and went to Capt. Anderson's for dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday. Capt. Anderson's is my favorite restaurant. Ever. And it's also one of my mom's favorites. As usual, we both got grilled grouper and as usual, it was amazing. So amazing, in fact, that I forgot to take a picture of it until I was halfway through eating it. We also had mozzarella sticks, salads, rice rolls, and cheesecake which was all fantastic as well.

The next day, we slept in a bit and got biscuits and sausage gravy at Thomas Donuts which is a great little donut shop on Front Beach Road. Once we got out and about, we drove around, did a little shopping, and generally enjoyed being at the beach (especially with my mom's dark blue convertible bug!) For lunch we went to place my mom had been a long time ago and I had never been - Hunt's Oyster Bar & Seafood Restaurant in downtown Panama City (no relation to Hunt's in Dothan.) Before I had tried Hunt's in Panama City, Shuckums on Front Beach Road in Panama City had my favorite baked oyster (I don't like raw oysters). Now Hunt's has won this title for me. They had such an amazing flavor and were baked, as most places do, with garlic and Parmesan cheese and butter. We also had fried shrimp, which were fantastic. Don't let the hole in the wall appearance fool you - Hunt's has gained a place on my must eat list for Panama City.

My mom left to drive back to Dothan and Andrew left Auburn to drive to Panama City Friday afternoon. I had a few hours to myself so I spent them on the beach with a good book, of course. Andrew got there with Toby a little after dark. I was SO happy to see both of them! It had been since June 1st since I had seen Toby and since mid July since I had seen Andrew. We spent the next day being lazy, driving around, walking the beach, and watching football.

On Sunday, we went to St. Andrew's State Park. I had not been to St. Andrew's since I was very little and was looking forward to seeing it. There is a neat little bay area that is almost completely surrounded by rock where you can snorkel and see lots of different fish. We also spent time on the regular beach part where the water was crystal clear and extremely warm. We will have to start going to St. Andrew's more often when we're at the beach.

After spending the day at St. Andrew's State Park, we ate at a place Andrew had eaten at when he was in Panama City with his class over the summer - Captain's Table. Located almost next door to Hunt's, Captain's Table is another slightly hole in the wall looking place with amazing seafood. Andrew and I both had grilled fish (though I can't remember exactly which kinds), along with salads and key lime pie. Very good food and another addition to my must eat list.

The next day we were planning to leave later in the evening so we got up early and took Toby to the new dog beach across the street from Pier Park. Andrew and I learned last time that we came to the beach with Toby that he absolutely loved it, which was surprising to both of us. Even the water didn't seem to both him too much (though he certainly wasn't getting his feet wet on purpose). We walked up and down the beach with him a good bit, which he loved.

The entire time we were at the beach, there were people riding up and down the sand in golf carts - looking for and cleaning up tar balls we assumed. They seemed to be doing a great job because the one time we saw tar balls, they were completely gone the next day. It would take a lot for the oil to keep me out of the water or off the beaches. I love the Gulf beaches and they will always be my vacation spot of choice.

HOME

So tomorrow I will be getting on an airplane and flying HOME! I'm so excited. I'll be leaving bright and early tomorrow morning for the Baltimore Airport (thanks to a friend from work who is driving me out there) to get on my flight that leaves at 8:35am EST and arrives in Panama City Beach, Florida at 9:45am CST. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. Not only am I going home, not only am I going to be able to see Andrew and my family and friends and Toby, not only am I going to be able to eat good southern food until I can't move, but I'm flying into the BEACH. Andrew and I will be spending Labor Day weekend at the beach before heading back to Auburn on Monday evening. At some point, I will be spending some time in Dothan and Abbeville (likely Sept 12th-14th). I've been feeling a little homesick lately so I'm insanely excited.

Very soon, I will be doing this. I. Can't. Wait.

German Chocolate Cake

I don't have my limited decorating tools here in DC, but it won't stop me from attempting to make a pretty cake! A friend a work's birthday was last week and his favorite cake is German Chocolate Cake. I had never make a German Chocolate Cake (and actually never even tasted one!) but I'm always up for trying to make a new type of cake. It turned out pretty good and would definitely make it again. I'm discovering that almost any cake recipe that calls for buttermilk is going to be a winner.

A little trick I've learned is to make the actual cake portion a day early. Not only does this give you a little breathing room when putting everything together, it also makes working with the cake a lot easier. Cold or frozen cake just behaves so much better and is a lot easier to decorate than warm or even room temperature cake. I don't know about you, but I rarely seem to give myself enough time when making a cake to get everything done just how I want it and the decorating and assembly is always the step that suffers. Breaking the process up into two portions allows you to focus your efforts appropriately.

Just let the cakes cool down to room temperature and wrap well in plastic wrap and pop in the fridge for a few days. If you need to keep them for more than a few days, put them in the freezer (and if you really want to be sure they are well wrapped, put them in those giant freezer bags).

Oh - and isn't this cake stand just gorgeous?? But seriously, $65? No thanks. But this one, at $20, is just as cute and comes in multiple colors! Oh goodness, once I have a stable house/apartment again, I'm going to be spending so much money on kitchen stuff. And I should really look into taking a class or two on cake decorating because I'm really starting to enjoy it. I'm sure DC has tons.

I hate the fact that this picture turned out so yellow. Darn fluorescent lights.

Buttermilk Biscuits

I've mentioned these biscuits before so I figured it was time I posted the recipe. Homemade biscuits are pure heaven. I don't know how else to describe them. They are comfort food to the extreme. You can do so much with them - covered them with strawberries and cream, fill them with ham and cheese, smother them with gravy, or just eat them butter and jelly. Biscuits make my heart sing.

I found this recipe from Alton Brown about a year ago and I've been using it ever since to make biscuits. As Alton is from Georgia, I knew these would be pretty good. However, I need to get my Nana's recipe because I bet it's even better than this one. This recipe uses half butter and half shortening for the fat. I remember watching Alton Brown make biscuits on his show Good Eats on Food Network once and he said this is because butter gives them a better flavor but shortening gives them a better texture. So half and half is the best of both worlds.

Give them a try! You won't be disappointed. The work is totally worth it.

Georgetown - Pizzaria Paradiso and Georgetown Cupcakes

Moriah, Josh and I decided to wander down to Georgetown for dinner tonight.  I had only been to Georgetown once before and it was very briefly just to stop by the Apple store so I wanted to go again.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with DC (which is likely most of the people reading this), Georgetown is a very nice, wealthy area located in northwest DC on the Potomac River waterfront.  It contains lots of high end, boutiquey stores, tiny restaurants, and hip bars.  

We ate dinner at Pizzaria Paradiso, a local pizza restaurant with two locations - one in Georgetown and one in Dupont Circle.  We had all heard good things about it so we were looking forward to trying it out.  They don't take reservations so we had to wait about 45 minutes to sit down, which actually wasn't a big deal on a Saturday night in DC - in Georgetown no less.  They brought a complimentary assortment of olives to the table when we sat down but as none of us liked olives, we didn't try them.  We ordered the garlic bread as an appetizer, which was significantly different than your traditional garlic bread.  It was toasted bread, served with whole roasted elephant garlic.  It was very interesting but I'm not sure it would be something I would order again.  For dinner, I ordered the Bosco pizza - which was mozzarella cheese with tomato, mushroom, spinach, and red onion but I subbed the spinach out for sausage (because I love sausage on pizzas).  Josh got the Genovese pizza - which was pesto, potato, and Parmesan.  Moriah got the Paradiso pizza - with soy Mozzarella.  Again all the pizzas were good but they didn't blow us out of the water.  I think the pizza at Matchbox in Chinatown was much better.

Before we ate dinner, we walked across the street to take a look at Georgetown Cupcakes.  They are part of a new TV show on TLC called DC Cupcakes and had a line out the door to prove it.  Someone walking around said the line was about 45 minutes.  We really wanted to give them a try, but we had dinner soon and didn't have time to wait.  We finished dinner about 15 minutes before they closed so we ran across the street to get in line.  We ended up waiting about 30 minutes to get inside, which wasn't a big deal because it was really nice weather outside and we made friends with our line mates.  I was fully ready to complain about how people only bought their cupcakes because they had a TV show and not because they had good cupcakes but boy was I wrong.  We ordered 2 red velvet, 1 mint oreo and creme, 1 birthday cake, 1 caramel, and 1 ginger peach.  They were amazing.  I think my favorite was the red velvet.  The cream cheese icing was sweet but not too thick or heavy.  I would really like to go back to try the key lime, strawberry, and lemon berry cupcakes, which they didn't have tonight.  They were $2.75 a piece, $15 for a half dozen, and $30 for a dozen which - yes, is expensive for cupcakes - but they were a good treat and I thought worth the price.

Me in front of the trays of different cupcakes

The half dozen we got - Mint Oreo & Creme, 2 Red Velvet, Birthday Cake, Caramel, and Ginger Peach

BBQ Chicken

Right before I left for DC, Andrew and I visited some friends in Huntsville for the weekend which happened to be Memorial Day weekend.  We all wanted to grill out for Memorial Day but the weather ended up not cooperating so we had to resort to indoor BBQ.  This is my easy way to do BBQ chicken in the oven.  You don't get all of the smoky charcoal flavor that outdoor grilling gives, but you do end up with some pretty darn good BBQ chicken.  This is also a relatively cheap main dish to serve a large number of people as party size packages of chicken drumsticks or wings, whatever your preference is, are usually $5-10.  There really isn't much of a recipe for this but I'll cover the basic steps below.