thankful thursday - a carbon leaf date.

this week, blakey & i got to see "our band" in concert!!  blakey introduced me to carbon leaf in college when he decided i needed to learn more about music.  because, confession, i know pretty much nothing about music.

{the first album he gave me was the rolling stones.  yes, i had heard of them, but i couldn't have named a single song.  turns out - i don't love the stones.  i know i know.  you think i am wrong.  & that's ok.  but i still don't really like them.}

carbon leaf was his second attempt.  & it was a huge success!  i listened to "life less ordinary" & "what about everything?" every single morning on my way to my internship in the summer of 2006.  every single morning.  & carbon leaf will forever remind me of that summer & my love.  

fabulous show.  fabulous memories.  fabulous date night with the byrds.  

i hope you can think of something today for which you are thankful.

love love,

kjp.

boom soon from oxford!

continuing with our tour of southern football, blakey & i headed down to oxford, mississippi with the mcgowans for a football day you really need to experience.  ole miss, my friends, knows how to party.  they are all about southern hospitality, tailgating, & even throw in a little football.  you just have to see it.

{our oxford friends - amy, ogden, & their bro-in-law, will}

{our ou/texas watch party}

the place to be in oxford is the grove - a 10-acre tailgating mecca in the middle of campus with tent after tent after tent & people as far as you can see.  historically, the grove was full of beautiful chandeliers & large flower arrangements & liquor only.  in fact, beer is technically still not allowed in the grove, although this rule certainly isn't upheld, as long as you're drinking out of a solo cup.  fellas wear collared shirts & ladies wear dresses.  & everyone is oh-so-kind.  it really is an experience.  

after a wonderful afternoon of tailgating, you can find a football game being played down the street.  but as we learned in oxford - "we may not win every game, but we never lose a party."

{gig 'em, aggies.}

love love,

kjp.

boom soon from tuscaloosa!

we finally saw it!  the incredible bryant-denny stadium, home of the tide, where alabama rolls.  it really is an impressive stadium.  the fifth largest football stadium with a 101,800 seat capacity.  it's gigantic & very pretty.  &, man, alabama really can play some football. 

{TL: the one & only bryant-denny.
TR: the walk of champions.
BL: the ridiculously long walk up to our upper level seats.
BR: our delicious gameday hotdog.}

 {the UAB docs}

we headed to tuscaloosa for an afternoon of tailgating with a few alabama & tennessee faithful UAB residents, attendings, & former attendings.  & we got to hang out with one of my favorite former urban cooks, matthew!  so much college football fun.

at halftime, when alabama had pretty much run up & down the field on tennessee, blakey & i headed out to moe's for some delicious wings & redneck nachos & a fantastic sooner football win!

boomer sooner from tuscaloosa!  

love love,

kjp.

apple pie, y'all.

making pie is super scary.  the crust has to be flaky & buttery yet firm.  the inside has to be soft & fully cooked but not overdone.  & you just have one shot.  good luck.  hope all that time & effort works out for you.

a couple weeks ago, i had the opportunity to make four bourbon apple pies for a private event at urban.  the lady planning the event was a graduate of a pretty prestigious culinary school, so i was a bit nervous.  a couple days early, i actually did a practice run of the apple pie, which i almost never do.  it turned out so well!  i even had some extra pie crust & apple filling, so i made adorable little muffin-sized apple pies for us to try & sold the big pie by the slice.

for the day-of pies, i brought in my tiny leaf cutters & decorated the edge of the pie with little leaves.  it was pretty darn cute in an appropriately ironic way.  {read: hipster}  i'm not going to lie or be humble here:  i am proud of these pies.

luckily for me, my fantastic manager was also proud of me for working so darn hard on them that he bought me the best thank you gift ever - a bottle of rombauer chardonnay!  i will bake just about anything for a bottle of rombauer.  keep that in mind :)

happy friday, friends!

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday - these wonderful friends.

oh my goodness, we had an amazing time in the isle of palms & charleston.  really, we had an amazing time with our friends.  it was an incredible week filled with sun & rain & the beach & the city & dogs & wine & food & food & more food.  an absolutely wonderful week.  & i'm going to tell you all about it soon.

i am so thankful for these friends.  we are so thankful for these friends.

i hope you can think of something today for which you are thankful.

love love,

kjp.

we're moving to kc!!!

ladies & gentlemen, we are moving to kansas city!!  blakey matched at the university of missouri - kansas city for the maternal fetal medicine fellowship program.  in normal person's terms that means:

a.) blake is a rockstar.  but we already knew that.
b.) he has chosen to do years 9 through 11 of post-graduate education.
c.) that training will be in high-risk obstetrics.
d.) we will be moving back to the midwest in june 2014!

we are absolutely thrilled.  excited about moving much closer to home, excited about a brand new city to explore & fall in love with, excited {well, blakey is} about snow, excited about watching tanky frolic in the snow, excited to eat cow much more often, & very very excited to be able to hop on home on a whim or for a weekend or for a football game or for a birthday or for whatever it is we want to pop on home.  oh yeah, not to mention the fantastic training blakey will be getting.

many fun times ahead.  both our last months in birmy & our next three years in our new kansas city home.

love love,

kjp.

fall weather is here!

{my pumpkin cupcake with spiced maple cream cheese frosting}

oh my goodness, it is beautiful outside!  it is a little bit chilly {low 60s in the morning & low 70s in the afternoon... i am so not prepared for winter.}, a little bit breezy, & a little bit cloudy.  isn't it a fabulous change from the hot, hot summer?  it makes me oh so happy.

this gorgeous weather is supposed to continue into the weekend, so we are going to celebrate with a big batch of soup, lots of football, & a night in with tanky.

ps i know most of these photos are HORRIBLE.  the beautiful first one is by the fancy photographer who takes pictures for urban's website.  the rest are from my very very kind manager's phone, which he is allowing me to borrow while my iphone is dead & until my new iphone arrives.  hopefully tomorrow!  then the photos will not be amazing but at least they wont be blurry.

{apple fritter donuts}

happy friday, friends!

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday - farewell mg.

one of the most lovely persons i have ever been so lucky to know is leaving urban tomorrow.  marygrace is our amazing bread baker & my fabulous baking assistant.  she is a true joy, full of light, laughter, depth, & wisdom.  it's truly been an honor to work next to her in our bright little urban baking world.

marygrace - i wish you the absolute best on your next adventure!  excited to see you grow, my friend.

i am thankful for you.

&, friends, i hope you can think of something today for which you are thankful.

love love,
kjp.

brightening a day with flour & sugar.

one of our customers at urban that has been a regular since i began over three years ago has been in a bad mood lately.  he's usually a cheerful fellow, always saying hello & inquiring about our lives.  but lately he's seemed down, sad, not himself.

this fella happens to very much like my blueberry muffins with blueberry jam on top.  he has inquired about exactly how i make them, make the jam, make the crispy topping.  he frequently asks if i am going to make them on any given day.  he is very kind about these muffins.

so yesterday morning, i decided to whip up some muffins as quickly as i could, in hopes they would be out of the oven before he came in for his cappuccino.  luckily, he was sitting down with a newspaper when they were finally done.  i took one to his table, fresh out of the oven, & asked if he would like a muffin.

shocked, he looked up at me & said yes, he would like that very much.  i set it down, warned him it was quite hot, & walked away.

when i came back out front a bit later to put out the rest of the muffins to sell, he walked up to me & with tears in his eyes said "you have no idea how much i needed that this morning.  not the muffin, but the gesture.  thank you.  thank you so much.  thank you."

sometimes all it takes is a little flour & sugar.

i am so thankful for that experience.

i hope your days get much better, robert.

& i hope your weekend is absolutely wonderful, friends.

love love,
kjp.