Grown Up Dinner.

Last night I attended an amazing dinner at my favorite restaurant, Noggin Room, located in the Perry Hotel. One of Michigan's own beer companies, Short's Brewery, teamed up with the Noggin to deliever a night of great food with complimenting beers. My boyfriend and I have been wanting to get involved with these events for awhile now, so when this one starting being advertised we decided to mark our calendars. I usually never take pictures of my food (mostly just my alcohol) but I had to do it for this dinner. Absolutely stunning presentation and delicious combinations. Here's the five course run-down:

First was the Loaded Bloody Mary Inspired Beer:

Vodka poached shrimp, garlic brined cucumber, and pickled peppers

Pork Empanada

Corn flour pastry filled with pork carnitas, salsa roja, and guacamole

Beer Selection: Cerveza de Juli

Buffalo Bratwurst Slider

Buffalo sausage patty, red cabbage kraut, pickled onios, smoked Jarlsberg and Thousand Island dressing.

Beer Selection: Noble Chaos

Dry Aged Filet of Beef

House aged beef tenderloin medallion, coffee and cognac laced demi glace, blue cheese and walnut crust with a roasted grape garnish.

Beer Selection: Wizard

Candy Corn Baked Alaska

Golden sponge cake and peach ice cream surround with meringue flambe {it came out on fire!}

Beer Selection: Peaches n Creme

Overall, it was a perfect evening. We had a reserved table of 3 couples who happen to be my most favorite people in the world, so of course there was plenty of laughter and good stories. The host was very funny and insightful too, so we will definitely be attending these dinners in the future. Another thing is this night made us feel so grown up. We paid a pretty penny for this meal and it was worth it. Now if only I could cook like that so we could have grown up dinners all the time... Here's to hoping!

 

So check out Short's Brewery. Their beer is one of a kind and simply fantastic.

Anniversary: Part 1

In the matter of a few hours, I will be climbing into a car with the boy to head up north Michigan to the beautiful Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island. I can barely hold in my excitement. Sorry boss man, this girl probably won't be doing too much engineering work done because I am in a constant daydream.

Last night was only part one of our anniversary extravaganza. We had an amazing dinner at my favorite bar... (yes, you read that right) at the Noggin Room then we scooted out for a movie date to see Lawless. Once we got back from the movie, we curled up and indulged in a little ice cream cake I picked up. It was delicious due to it was just cookies 'n creme ice cream rolled in cookie crumbs. Of course I topped it with a little 1 year candle. Sorry but we thoroughly enjoy the mussy lovey-dovey stuff.

 

Overall it was great laid back night... now its onto part two which is complete with:

• Golfing
• Waterpark fun
• Bar crawl in the city
• Riding a ferry over Lake Michigan
• Spa treatments
• Picnic on a horse-carriage ride

Can you see why I cannot wait to get up there? Anyone else in the need for a little vacation getaway? I want to know all of your weekend plans, loves.

Kabobs & Kitchen Karaoke.

Check off the “make kabobs for dinner” off my summer bucket list!

You know when you make plans to do something then put it off? Well this was one item my friends and I have been talking about but we actually made it happen. This weekend I met up with the boy and our best friend at a local market to pick up the kabob ingredients and adult beverages to get the ball rolling on our dinner plans. We went back to their house where the chicken was marinating and I started cutting up the vegetables.

Jordan and I are so anal about things that we even had to discuss what the proper order of the kabobs would be over a drink. Scotty just shook his head at us as we debated it. So the final conclusion was mushroom, green or red pepper, chicken, onion, and repeat. They turned out looking amazing.

The only downfall was it was raining during the day, so poor Scotty had to man the grill all by his lonesome while we stayed dry in the kitchen making red skinned potatoes and corn on the cob.

While busting out lyrics & dancing to Eric Church’s new album, Chief, as it played throughout the house, it was one of the best days this summer. Bad weather wasn’t going to bring down my favorite dinner or me singing into my beer bottle. Once we sat down at the dining room table {like a little family} I couldn’t stop thanking the boys for making my bucket list item come true. We ended up staying awake until 4:30 in the morning just talking and joking around. I woke up the next morning still full and very contempt. I really love this summer!

Anyone else using the grill this summer to make summer inspired dinners? I need ideas of other dinners to make with these two... I will over at that house more and more now, so help a girl out!

A Lakegirl with Wine.

Hello loves,

Well it’s definitely one of those mornings when I stayed out having too much fun on a school night weekday instead of going to bed at a reasonable hour. Yesterday at the end of my workday, my boss e-mailed a coworker of mine saying “grab Sarah and get to the bar. I am staying upstairs in this hotel and I want to set it up for you two to charge your dinner and drinks to my room.” We couldn’t have gotten there any faster… Literally we were racing to a bar on a Monday. {Really?} The night ended up being one of the best. I had an amazing dinner followed by walking around a wine cellar and being told to choose two bottles of wine to take home. I was one happy girl.

Haven’t tried either of them before… Which in my opinion is all the fun. So I apologize if there is any wine-induced posts in the next week or two. { I'm not really sorry though :) }

We also thought we should go for a walk downtown Petoskey to get some air and this caught my eye in one of the shop’s windows. They must of noticed me drooling a little bit because the next thing I know they are buying me this hat. Its like they knew I had a blog declaring myself a “lake girl.” {Ohh I hope not!}

So I guess it’s worth a pounding head today, but that’s the payoff of going out with the boss and coworkers… Everyone is in rough shape too. This morning when ever we would see each other, we would just start laughing while remember the good memories of last night. Its times like this when I like to say "Man, I love my job!"

Anyone else a wine drinker and has recommendations... I love trying new ones! Any good summer ones? I've always wanted to try to rate new wines and maybe keep a journal of them all. Mmmm maybe.