Eating Around the Nation … in High Heels

Note to self: if you are going to attempt something named “Taste of the Nation,” do NOT wear your cutest purple high heels, even if they are fabulous. I got up in the middle of the night, after last night’s festivities and WOWZA! The balls of my feet are so sore! That’s because I took many, many, many laps around the room. More details below.

After yesterday’s big workout, I wanted to keep the rest of the day’s eats as light as possible to make room for the eat-stravaganza I had planned. And since we still have tons of pesto left, Lucas volunteered to make something amazing:

Grilled cheese, made with pesto, parmesan and romano, sharp cheddar, spinach and roasted red peppers. Served on a football plate, because it’s almost that time!

Frittered away the rest of the day:

Then got all dolled up — with the help of Twitter. I asked my followers to pick my earrings, and despite a close vote, there was one favorite:

And I added some special bling to the back of my dress — the pin that once lived on my wedding bouquets:

Sappy, but it was a nice moment … Lucas and I have been married for 3 1/2 years and I still feel so in love with him and grateful that he picked me!

After a brief pit stop at IKEA, to return some recalled blinds:

We headed over to Taste of the Nation, where we got our eat and drink on like Donkey Kong.

This night would have been fun no matter what, especially because all the money raised goes to two very important causes: helping the homeless, and ending childhood hunger.

But it was especially awesome because we spent the night hanging out with Caitlin and her AMAZING husband (who stunned Lucas with his knowledge of everything from snooker to American college football to medicine and more).

We all got our swag on, big time — somehow Lucas and I ended up with two bags of beer-related gear (which will be a major centerpiece of a giveaway he’ll be announcing on http://nighthops.com tomorrow!) as well as a bag of bread and baked goods (thanks, Caitlin — very stealthy). There were some food hits, some disappointing misses from big name chefs and restaurants, and two standout stars for me:

Chocolate stout cupcakes with caramel-mocha buttercream, with a chaser of freeze-dried ice cream. It’s not just for astronauts anymore, baby.

After a night like that we needed some a.m. refueling for the spirit:

And the stomach, in the way of flax-banana waffles:

And now, we need to go deal with the gaping hole that aforementioned IKEA recall has left us with.

It’s nearly impossible to fit 54″ windows X 2, so I may be channeling my inner Martha and making my own roman shades. Stay tuned.

Tagged as: Food, friends, Marriage, recipe, Recipes, Silly Tater Tot, Taste of the Nation, Yoga