“Never too old, never too bad, never too late, never too sick to start from scratch once again.” -Bikram Choudhury

Last weekend B and I went to dinner with his brother, AJB, and his fiancee, J5.  We decided to check out Square Peg, which recently opened in the former Marathon Grill on Walnut Street near Jefferson Hospital.  Square Peg has made good use of the space and has clearly taken some cues from chef Mike Levin's former endeavor, Adsum (not only does the Square Peg menu eerily employ the same font as Adsum once did, but it incorporates fried chicken, a Levin staple).  We started with the mac and cheese "grilled cheese" and the "tacos in a bag."

 
The mac and cheese "grilled cheese" was literally mac and cheese between two pieces of buttery bread, grilled... and it was heaven, especially when dunked in the "drunken" tomato soup that's served on the side.

The "tacos in a bag" is literally a fritos bag served with a hot frito, a carnita chili, burnt scallion, and queso crema mixture inside that you are instructed to dump on top of a bed of shredded lettuce.  It was decent, but is more about the fan fare than the flavors (although, if you decide to order these two appetizers together I would HIGHLY recommend dunking some of the extra fritos in the drunken tomato soup... yum).

After dinner we had a couple of drinks at Farmer's Cabinet before calling it a night.

 [J5 and I]

The drinks are good, but no joke.  Cheers!

"All my life I've kinda dreamed of being the best, and doing the best, and it hasn't always been easy for me. So I've been trying, but it's really special to have come such a long way, it's just really fulfilling." ~ Serena Williams

For Easter weekend I headed back down to Charleston to spend some time with my mom and sisters at the Family Circle tennis tournament (and, as an added bonus, I got to spend Friday with my childhood pal KMW before meeting up with the fam).  Although the first evening was pretty chilly, we braved the elements for the love of the game. 

 [sisters]

 [bundled]

Luckily Saturday brought much warmer weather, perfect for a couple of cold beverages and watching Serena Williams dominate Stosur.

 [pretty sweet seats]

 [blue moon seasonal - summer already!]

That evening we headed downtown for dinner at Muse.  The ambiance was great - a sort of Victorian style home on the interior - and the food turned out to be fantastic.  For starters we shared the cheese plate and brushetta.

Anyone who knows my family knows how much we like cheese so, needless to say, the cheese plate was a hit, and the mushroom brushetta was delicious.

For dinner my mom got a fish dish, my sisters split the softshell crab and scallops, and I also went with the softshell.

The scallop dish was so good that my youngest sister got swept up and forgot she was splitting and downed more than her half of the scallops before realizing she had to trade plates.  The softshell crab was amazingly light despite being served in a she-crab reduction and went perfectly with the okra.

We left stuffed and satisfied, ready for an early evening in preparation for a Sunday of travel and tennis.  Although I missed the finals, Serena ended up killing the competition and taking the title (and looking fierce in the process).  Get it girl!

"Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn." ~ Quoted by Lewis Grizzard in Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You

March, like February before it, was a hectic whirlwind of fun, food, and travel.  To kick off the month, B and I went skiing in Eden, UT (45 minutes outside of Salt Lake City) with his high school friends.  On our way to the rental house we stopped for dinner and I had my first In-N-Out Burger.

It was artery-clogging delicious.  In addition to my first time eating at In-N-Out, it was my first time skiing out west.  While this was generally a terrible winter for skiers,  we were lucky enough to get two feet of fresh powder our first day on the slopes.  If I had a complaint it would just be that skiing in that much snow is hard work!

 [Day 1 - white out!]

 [Day 2 - fantastic views and sunshine]

 [B getting radical in 2 feet of powder]

[B enjoying some chili in the lodge]

We had a fantastic time and I'm so thankful for B's friends who arranged a great house and great meals every night.  Can't wait for next year!

The weekend after our trip B and I enjoyed a little "bar hop" through Philly. 

 [the city at dusk]

We started at Oyster House with a dozen oysters and some bubbly.

Then we enjoyed the taco sampler and some cocktails at El Vez.

 [Julep Mexicana]

Next we enjoyed pork buns and a cocktail at Chifa.

 [Inigo Montoya]

Finally we had pretzels (with beer mustard cheese sauce) and beer at Bierstube.

Everything was fantastic and we had a great time enjoying the city.

The next morning I headed over to my in-laws house to shower my soon-to-be-sister-in-law J5.

 [mother of the bride, bride-to-be, and my mother-in-law]

[my shoes for the shower, courtesy of Tory Burch]

The following weekend was one of my favorite holidays of the year - St. Patty's Day.  For the fourth year in a row all of our friends gathered at the Bards for Guinness, green, and a great time!

 [my pals]

 [safety first]

[mayhem on the streets of Philly]

For the final weekend of the month, B and I were invited to a dinner party with my colleagues on the night of the big mega millions jackpot.  We didn't win but we had some great food and enjoyed a hilarious round of the newlywed game (B and I won!)

 [our favorite appetizer - smoked salmon, cream cheese, and potato and onion cakes - easy and delicious!]

 [Obamas in training]

[master chef]

The following morning B and I ran in the Phillies 5K at the ballpark.  It was my first 5K so I was somewhat nervous, but we had a great time and finished in 28 minutes!  After the run we treated ourselves to a well deserved brunch at Johnny Brendas.

I had the biscuit and gravy topped with fried eggs - a recent addition to their brunch menu.  The biscuit was fluffy and delicious but the gravy wasn't my favorite.

B had the chilaquiles, a traditional Mexican dish in which green salsa or mole is poured over crisp tortilla chips and simmered until the tortilla starts softening and then topped with fried eggs and cheese and served with refried beans.  It was perfection.

After breakfast we saw Hunger Games (I loved the first book so I was pretty disappointed in the plot cuts and the casting of Peeta - where was the charismatic beefcake from the book?!), I took a nap, and then we met up with some friends for drinks at Boiler Maker (formerly Blue Bear, Doc Watson's).

The ambiance was great, and they have an impressive tap list, but three of the four of us were served the wrong beer in our first round.  I attribute it largely to the fact that they have different beers in the upstairs beer but permit patrons to order from either so if you are sitting downstairs and order a beer from an upstairs tap (or vice versa), things can easily get lost in translation.  I'd like to try it again when some of the kinks have been worked out.

It really was a great month, and with the recent warm front April is shaping up to be just as fun.