#darksideofthemoo

[sonusmagus]

according to @ginatywharton truck drivers have massive and permanent erections called prisms .. no wonder Syd Barrett went mad! #DarkSideOfTheMoo (at Sonus Magus Music Shop Glastonbury) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSIDXv3sbBl/?utm_medium=tumblr

[mybillboredpnx]

#darksideofthemoo #lol https://www.instagram.com/p/CFCvmyVjePk/?igshid=1fog4rcrkg8rt

[mybillboredpnx]

#darksideofthemoo #lol https://www.instagram.com/p/B2VW4UJDjXV/?igshid=1in86t1fpindn

[rickgnva]

Cigar night at Tin Cannon #TCBC #cigar #DarkSideOfTheMoo #milkstout #GainesvilleVa #vacraftbeer (at Tin Cannon Brewing Co.)

[thermoworks-blog]

#Repost @borntogrub ・・・ UNC didn't win tonight. Villanova didn't win tonight. I won tonight. #beef #steak #carneasada #meat #rare #biggreenegg #bge ##egghead4life #glutenfree #healthy #healthyfood #paleo #protein #rosemary #filetmignon #workingout #ncaa #borntorun #borntorun #feedfeed #darksideofthemoo #bbq #grill #seared #crossfit #bourbon

[abillity]

So my lady and I went in this blank white building for some coffee few weeks back, grabbed a menu and realized it was a burger joint with some exotic meat...had a mike bison burger...alligator sausage...I was like man this place is fun. I could make some perfect art for this spot. Took a pic of the building and digitally drew my ideas on it. The rest as they say is history. Never doubt yourself. You're an amazing work of god! Follow your dreams and please never EVER give up #followyourdreams #believeinyourself #darksideofthemoo #mural #streetart #jerseycity #thankyou @themoofoodtruck

[agirlnamedfoo]

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Wow, has time flown by these past few weeks! I have been one busy bee, which is strange because a month ago my weekends were incredibly uneventful.  Spring has sprung though and with it came baby showers and christenings, birthdays and outings all in the name of friends, family and good weather!

It all started with an evening out with my rad cousin Ben who was visiting from San Francisco on business.  He was staying in Princeton, so my boyfriend and I took him to Alchemist & Barrister in downtown Princeton, and what a great decision that turned out to be!  Big plus for us was they had MEAD available on the menu, and not just your standard honey mead, but really awesome concoctions that we simply had to try!  My cousin had an apple pie mead that he very much enjoyed, the bf had a bourbon barrel mead (the actual name is escaping me at present...please don’t hold me to specifics) and I had a Viking mead with elderflower (I think...again, the name evades me.)  Despite mixed reviews I read online, all three of us found the bar extremely enjoyable!  Sure, the service was a bit slow, but they weren’t inattentive; besides, I’d rather slower service than feeling like I am being rushed out the door.  We entered through a quaint side street and the hostess was ready with our reservation and sat us in our own little nook that provided a bit of privacy, but still a view of the bar.  The pub was exactly how one might imagine a pub, tons of beer on tap, and a little rustic with plenty of wood and brick. It was a little noisy, but not to be unexpected at a bar on a Friday evening.  One of the more amusing parts of the evening for me, after reading reviews about seeing college kids on first dates, was lo and behold; right across from our table sat a college couple on an appropriately awkward first date!  Not exactly a story I will tell my grandchildren, but it amused me nonetheless.  

Yelp reviews would have you believe this place served overpriced dive bar food.  I can tell you with certainty that was absolutely NOT our experience. We had the calamari for an appetizer, which we gobbled up and got rave reviews from all three of us!  My favorite part was my burger though (and that says a lot because I am normally not a burger person.)  I ordered “The Throwback Burger” with port wine cheddar and sweet red pepper relish - OMG delicious! Why don’t more places use port wine cheese on their burgers?  Per their menu, it is a throwback from the original burger from 1974.  I don’t care whehn it came from, either way that is a burger I will definitely have again; and to top it off their french fries were delicious!  That double fried, crispy outside, soft inside, all around fantastically terrible for you french fry!  We had to park in a deck down the street, which was actually a blessing because street parking would have been nuts (after that meal I could use the walk anyway) and after almost 3 hours it only cost us 4 bucks.  Not too shabby when you’re used to city pricing!  

 The next day my friends and I hit up the Mercer County Food Truck Festival, which was a pretty sinful event for a girl trying to lose weight.  On the plus side though my friend and I got to try a Kangaroo Sausage Sandwich for the first time, (which we shared) at the Dark Side of the Moo truck, which had an array of “exotic” game available to try.  My boyfriend got what I considered an alligator parm, which was pretty darn delicious. This truck’s wait was pretty serious though, even before the lines got long. We had friends that went later on in the day and after waiting 1 hour without receiving their order they just asked for their money back; but all in all their food was delicious, if not speedy.

There, of course, was a beer tent with an interesting set up.  You stood in an extremely long line to buy tickets for beer, but you could buy as many tickets as you wanted to avoid standing in line for MORE tickets.  Of course we didn’t fully understand this until after we bought our measly about of tickets, but it worked out for the better, as 1. I really shouldn’t be drinking that much beer 2. I was going out later for my friend’s birthday which meant more booze (ouch!) and 3. the clever people were depleted of 3 out of the 5 beers they had available by 1pm...I’m really not sure how they made it to 7.  Nonetheless we had ample refreshments and moved on to our second truck of the day: The Cow and the Curd.

Literally, a truck that sells batter and fried Wisconsin cheese curd.  This has to be, by far, the best and worst thing I ate the festival.  You may be thinking, “Oh, that is just a fancy mozzarella stick” and my oh my would you be wrong...OK, you wouldn't be THAT wrong. I was genuinely amazed though at how silky the Wisconsin cheddar was, and it was surprisingly not as greasy as I anticipated.  While standing in line, as soon as I saw cheddar I imagined the jalapeno and cheddar poppers you get at a dive bar, dripping with grease and each bite pushing you closer and closer to a coronary.  This was the exact opposite of those monstrosities .  The breading was light and crisp and the inside gooey and delicious. They had 3 dipping sauces available, siracha mayo, chipotle ranch and I believe it was a smoky ketchup.  There were 4 of us so we split two orders, we only got the siracha mayo and chipotle ranch and both sauces were fantastic.  I’m glad this is a Philly based truck, because if it was local I would be in BIG trouble.  Check out this video from their website thecowandthecurd.com for more information.

The last truck we visited was Bonjour Creperie, which if the name didn’t give it away, is an authentic crepe truck. They have breakfast, savory and dessert crepes; my friend and I split a dessert crepe with fresh strawberries, dark chocolate and whipped cream (we didn’t get very original there) and my boyfriend got a s’mores crepe with nutella, crushed graham crackers and mini marshmallows.  His crepe was gone in a matter of minutes, and our crepe was light and deliciously sweet, not too much not too little.  It was a great way to end the afternoon.  They also had live music playing throughout the event and people brought blankets and chairs and really made a day of it.  Now that we know better we will do this for the Fall Festival!! Bon Appetite!

Later that evening I went to celebrate my friend’s birthday, where after pre-gaming and an inordinate amount of pigs-in-a-blanket (more poor diet decisions) we went to The Rail House 1449 and partook in some delicious craft beer and got to listen to a pretty jammin live band...no idea who they were, but they rocked.  The bar was really nice, a little bit of a punk/hipster vibe going on that night, but that never bothers me...it had the fun vibe of a dive without being disgusting. As the night wore on though, and I am not sure if it is because I am getting older or if it was from the long sun drenched day at the festival, the music became much too much.  I literally couldn’t hear a word anybody said to me unless they pretty much made out with my ear while saying it (gross), so I just smiled and nodded and chose to enjoy the music vs. conversation because THAT I could definitely hear. 

 Above is the band that played, in truth they were a lot of fun and I enjoyed them immensely. I was thrilled though when a friend suggested we relocate to a quieter venue, and after a creepy detour (totally my bad - stupid GPS), I got my fabulously stumbley (happy birthday!) friends over to Meatballs & Brews, where I had one last beer, got the girls water and had the pleasure of listening to some AWESOME karaoke.  It isn’t often you get to hear quality karaoke singers outside of the Village, but this group was amazing, and it was a nice change from drum solos, saxophones and guitar riffs.  The bar also had a pool table and outside area in the back, and according to the birthday girl’s sister, the food is pretty awesome as well.  Will get back to you on that if I ever get to experience their all-American cuisine.

Another thing to point out, that was throughout this entire day, I did not have or even crave 1 cigarette.  Sure I stepped outside to use my e-cig (and to escape the noise) but I didn’t even ask to bum a cig from the many smoking around me! Two months cigarette free, totally proud right now!!

The NEXT day I had a baby shower to attend for an old friend from elementary school, which I carpooled to with my best friend; another old friend from elementary school.  It is awesome that we have all stayed close over the years and I am over the moon about this little bundle coming literally any day now. We don’t know what she is having, but my guess is a boy.  My friend and I were able to sit at our own table, which we enjoyed immensely, caught up with old friends and then stared at a long table of food. (My poor diet!)  Luckily it was sandwiches and healthier salads...I may have overdone it on the cheese though.  Can I pretend it is OK because I said no to the cake?  

We played your typical baby showers games, plus one I had never heard of before, “Guess the Gestation Period.”  Psh, well I didn’t do well in biology, and I am pretty positive the gestation period of a blue whale wasn’t covered, but what the heck!  As it turns out my friend and I are pretty excellent guessers though, and we each won a candle from DC Candles, which is a home based company out of Carteret, NJ.  They sell handmade & poured organic soy candles with pretty awesome scents.  If interested you can check out their Facebook page, it is always wonderful supporting small business!  

It was this weekend that motivated me to start my blog and keep working towards my goals.  It was the following weeks that flew by and sent me into a guilt spiral for not keeping up with said blog.  My sincerest apologies.  For the sake of length (and this is already pretty long) I will put the other weekend activities and weight loss successes and failures in other...not so lengthy posts. Until next time!