our christmas 2013.

as with all things worth celebrating, blakey & i celebrated christmas all week long!  we began last weekend with a puzzle by the beautiful christmas tree, our annual viewing of love actually, our first viewing of white christmas, lots of football, & a couple of days home together.

{my happy boys}

 {the little guy & green man & me & coffee}

 {the beginning of our a christmas story puzzle}

{after three days, success!}

on christmas eve, blakey was working away at the hospital, so i brought a christmas feast to the call team!  we enjoyed some truly delicious smoked turkey from moe's bbq, super cheesy mashed potatoes, & my favorite green bean casserole.  & for dessert - eggnog cheesecake!  a happy christmas eve in the hospital.  

as soon as blakey got home christmas morning, our true christmas celebration began!  we opened presents, watched tanky tear into his presents, facetimed & chatted with family, threw greenman over & over & over, & made our christmas breakfast tradition - migas & chorizo!  it was a beautiful day with my amazing husband celebrating the love of Christ.

 {the pioneer woman's amazing migas}

 {tanky LOVES opening gifts.

that must be why he tried to open our gifts early too.}

 {the awesome new le cresuet tea pot blakey got me!}

{& the GORGEOUS sorel boots blakey got me!

he really really spoils me.}

 {Christ the Lord, the newborn king is here!}

a very merry christmas to you & yours.  may we remember the joy of this day all year long.

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.

oklahoma - great food. cute kid.

y'all.  we had so much fun in oklahoma.  it was, as always, so wonderful to be home, to be with our families, & to spend time with each other.  & to be quite honest, this post is really just to brag that:

a.) oklahoma actually has great food &
b.) my nephew is pretty much the cutest little man ever.

for brunch in norman, syrup is the place to be.  this super hip little breakfast boutique is cozy & delicious.  oh, & their coffee is divine.  stumptown coffee out of portland oregon & baristas that know their stuff.  well done, norman, well done.

pub w is a fantastic american pub with delicious fresh baked pretzels, awesome burgers, & an impressive beer menu.  i certainly see this place many more times in our future.  "he was a wise man who invented beer".  i agree, plato.

& for dinner, the porters all went to the mule in oklahoma city.  a super fun gourmet sandwich & beer joint in the plaza district.  if we lived in okc, we would definitely frequent the mule.

oh!  & did i mention how stinkin cute my newphew is?!  allow me to show you:

{yummmmm.  birthday cake.}

{he's so good at sharing}

{father & son cheering on those sooners}

{i love you, little man!}

{& back to sweet home alabama}

love love,

kjp.

more fun in oklahoma!!

my quick two-day trip to ooooooooklahoma was filled with family & friends & lots of little malcolm & delicious food & a swanky new norman restaurant & oklahoma beer & lots & lots of fun.  it's always so nice to be home to see a few of my favorite smiling faces & eat some of my favorite food & see how my favorite state is growing up.  a lovely site to see.

our first stop was at our okc neighborhood bar, mcnellie's!  when we all lived in our lofts in midtown okc, we would walk down to mcnellie's at least once a week for pint night or three dollar burger night or when we needed a tasty beer & fried pickles.  it's a great neighborhood bar with an impressive beer draught beer selection - my favorite kind of place.

{my okie craft beer flight!}

{malcolm's grandparents were so happy to see the little man too!}

dad was pretty darn excited to take little malcolm out to his backyard playground to swing!  malcolm would get a big ole grin on his face.  it was adorable.

brent & ally's rehearsal dinner was a fabulous party in the beller estates' backyard!  it was a gorgeous sunny evening full of the people who love & support & celebrate brent & ally, toasts to the soon-to-be-wed couple, & the one & only big truck tacos!

{dad & my sisters}

{the amazingly adorable vandaveers}

on saturday, julie & i got to enjoy brunch at norman's fantastic new restaurant, scratch, with cari & aric!!  seriously, y'all, this place is so good.  it has fancy yet completely approachable dishes all made from scratch with an impressive seasonal cocktail menu devised by a hometown norman friend who started bittercube, the acclaimed cocktail & bitters company.

to eat, we had the quinoa crab cakes & flank steak sandwich with caramelized onions & chive aioli.  & for our brunch cocktails, the truman - a lemon & ginger sparkling wine beverage, of the older fashioned - a play on the classic cocktail, & the sparrow bee - a truly incredible drink with rum, honey syrup, & mint.  pooh, vacay brunch cocktails are so much fun!

{love you, caric!}

a fun weekend, indeed.  love me some oklahoma.

love love,
kjp.

our delicious birthday brunch.

for my final birthday 2013 celebration, blakey & i enjoyed a fabulous brunch at empire state south.  empire is hugh acheson's atlanta restaurant.  you might know hugh as the chef with the unibrow.  he was on top chef masters & is now a judge, is a james beard award winner, & was named a best chef by food & wine magazine.  so pretty much, he's a big deal.

the restaurant is super hip & comfortable & fun.  i would love to sit out on their patio in midtown & play a game of bocce ball in the summer.  maybe i should start planning a summer atlanta trip now...

empire serves the great counter culture coffee, so i was quite happy to start my meal with a delicious cup.


even after a gigantic & insanely good meal the evening before, this food was absolutely divine.  blakey enjoyed the english muffin with chicken & pork sausage, pepper jelly, swiss chard, candied bacon {candied bacon??  yes, please!}, & a fried egg.

my amazing brunch was hanger steak with the most delicious greens i have ever eaten, creamy oats, & housemade hot sauce.

& to complete our meal was a delightful orange & chocolate chip scone.  yummmm.

happy birthday to me & happy eating to us!!  birthday 2013 was a huge success.

love love,

kjp.

fun in philly!

oh my gosh, blakey & i had so much fun in philadelphia with julie byrd & benny boo & mr malcolm!  this was my first time to philly & it certainly lived up to the hype.  big city, much history, so much identity, great food.  & my sister is there!  & my bro-in-law!  & my nephew!  i am already looking forward to going back for more.

{so you are not confused by the lack of malcolm pictures...

mr malcolm will get an entire post to himself.}

wednesday morning, julie & i headed out to do our thanksgiving grocery shopping super early.  as it turns out, grocery stores are not bad places to be the morning before thanksgiving... if you arrive right when they open.  win for us.

{most beautiful pear display i've ever seen.

well done, whole foods folk.}

it would not be a love, the porters' vacay post without me showing you some awesome food we ate.  after our grocery shopping, julie took me to their favorite brunch spot in their neighborhood, green eggs cafe.  i wish i had a picture of their amazing peanut butter & jelly french toast or their tiramisu french toast or smoked lox benedict that we had on our second green eggs cafe breakfast.  or the gigantic red velvet pancakes that really is the size of a cake.  they are all a work of art.  but so was my super delicious apple & vermont cheddar melt with mushroom bisque.  so good.  

you can not go to philly without having a philly cheesesteak.  it's a rule.  & although pat's & geno's are the most famous cheesesteak joints, tony luke's is the best.  & we go for the best.

you also have to know how to order.  good thing we brought ben along to teach us.  "a whiz whit".  that's what you should get.  a philly cheesesteak with cheese whiz {not provolone.  whiz is the way to go.  you can turn up your nose to processed cheese all you want.  but not on a philly cheesesteak.} with peppers & onions.  oh my gosh, yum.

believe it or not, we did take some time out from eating to see philadelphia!  our first stop was the comcast center in center city.  it's the tallest building in philly & home of the "comcast experience", a beautiful 2,000 square foot LED screen that runs shows eighteen hours a day.  this day was the first day of the holiday video.  it was so festive & so fun.  

& at the end, it snowed in the building!  merry christmas time!

next up, LOVE park!  christmas village was up in love park, so we got to walk through the festivities while enjoying some tasty mulled wine.  love christmas time!

{funny fact: the sculpture was much smaller than we imagined it.

& then seeing it in these pictures... it's smaller than it looks!

weird.}

after walking through beautiful city hall, we went to reading terminal market for some tasty treats!  originally where farmers sold their produce, the market is full of all kinds of vendors from fresh fruits & veggies to fresh meats & seafood to chocolates & candies to jams & amish cookies & so much more.

{delicious cannolis!}

on our night out in the city, we went to this awesome farm to table called the farmers' cabinet.  one side had a beer bar with all sorts of manly reclaimed wood & chalkboard-esque beer signs.  the other side had a snazzy liquor bar with a seriously good beverage menu.  & the back was a fancy little restaurant with a seriously good food menu.  if we lived in philly, we would frequent the farmers' cabinet.

philly, you were so lovely to us.  looking forward to it again soon.

love love,

kjp.