Running, Cheese Plates, and Spontaneous Dates

Happy long weekend!! I'm beyond excited to have a long weekend for the first time in what feels like forever. It feels like a mini vacation and I can't wait to take advantage of the gorgeous weather!

We've finally had a little stretch of nice weather and it's been putting me in the best mood. Weekend plans? I've got a haircut and blondifying sesh today and I'm pumped for some Kiera time. Then later we've got some last-minute plans to meet up with Julia and her girlfriend down at the pier to watch some fireworks! I had no idea she was coming up from D.C. and these spur of the moment plans are my favorite kind. I'm hoping to hang up the new black and white print we got at the Italian Market last weekend, and other than that I'm hoping to play outside with Patrick and Maggie and do some recipe testing! Crap dip? Thai lettuce wraps? Who knows, it's nebulous (name that show).

I didn't really do any kind of recap of what we've been up to lately, so let's play a little catch up! (not ketchup).

Last weekend we were initially going to spend the day with Patrick's mom, grandma, and my mom, but Joe Biden's rally caused a little rain check since every road was blocked off near us. We were still super in to go to Belgian Cafe so we walked over there and had some grilled brie, mussels, and burgers. Can we talk about how grilled brie is the greatest thing?? Why haven't we been eating this more! We actually made it last night, more on that later.

When we were at lunch we looked up what was going on in Philly and saw that the Italian Market was that day, so we made it a little spontaneous date day and headed to the market! I'm so weird about having plans. I love having something to look forward to, but by the time it comes around, I just want a relaxing weekend. Spontaneous days like this are my absolute favorite--we don't have a set plan and get to wander around and just have fun moving from one adventure to the next. I was smiling and laughing the whole day, especially at our first grease pole climb. One of the hundreds of reasons I love Philly lol get some drunk people out in a festival and they'll climb on top of each other to reach the top of a slippery hot pole. Like...that's the only goal. I don't get it, but it drew a huge crowd.

We found an awesome print of Pretzel Park that we bought and I'm so excited to get it hung up today. I think our decorating is a slow and steady process in the new apartment but it's coming along. But I love this pic, especially since we used to take Maggie to Pretzel all the time when we lived in Manayunk. Manayunk always has such a special spot in my heart - it's where I lived right out of college, where I first moved in with Patrick, and where Maggie got to explore as a lil baby pup.

Okay let's get back to this grilled brie phenomenon. I think that was the first time we had it, at Belgian Cafe. They get these gorgeous grill marks on the outside, and the inside is gooey and melty and cheesy and you just want to crawl inside it and get cozy. They served it with some nice crusty bread, fruit and prosciutto. Genius! So simple, so delish, so perfect for summer.

Obviously we had to try this out for ourselves. We just got a grill pan last week (because hi, apartment living, no outdoor space for a grill) and it is literally the greatest thing! Patrick should be getting commission for these things. Seriously, he raves about it to everyone. All we did was get a lil baby wheel of brie, put that sucker on the grill pan, turned the burner on medium and BOOM. So easy, we didn't even grease the pan or anything. The outside of the cheese (is it still called rind on brie? It's not super hard or thick...that's what she said) grills up perfectly and keeps all the luscious melty cheese inside. We served it up with some apples and prosciutto, and had some other cheeses and that was dinner. And wine. My favorite way to end a long week.

Alright this is getting long, I'm gonna eat a banana muffin, make some coffee and maybe go for a run? Yes, I survived the Broad Street Run and now I'm crazy and contemplating running just for fun. There's officially something wrong with me. Until later my little chickadees

xoxo,

Kiera