Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Yelp-A-Licious!

So anyone who knows me knows that I am a big Yelper. I love the site, I've met so many great people through it and I enjoy everything from the "foodie" Elite events (certain Yelpers get deemed Elite each year based on a number of variables, from frequent reviewing to positive participation in the site and being, as Yelp's tagline is, providers of "real, honest, reviews" of businesses in their local community). It's a pretty cool thing and you can check out my Yelp page here: www.carrienealland.yelp.com.

Yelp just got even cooler in my book, last night, with the Kickoff Party for "Yelp Helps": a month of activities with Yelpers working with over 20 local charities to do good and raise money for great organizations in our fair city. I volunteer with The Junior League of Atlanta and this year am again working with Open Hand (two outstanding Atlanta nonprofits) but was not familiar with most of the participants in this Yelp series.

Last night, we were invited to the Georgia World Congress Center (hadn't been there in ages!) for a night of fun, introduction to the participating charities, and - of course! - food. When these things come together, and the night raises a few thousand dollars before the month of events has even started, how can it not be awesome??

Fun for a good cause!

From learning about two new organizations with whom I definitely want to volunteer - Ahimsa House (visit www.ahimsahouse.org) who work to rescue pets caught in domestic violence situations and find them new and safe homes (I was shocked to learn that more than 71% of domestic violence victims report that their abuser has threatened, harmed or killed their pet!!), to Atlanta Pet Rescue and Adoption (check out this upcoming event on September 23rd - www.pawsintheparkatlanta.com), I was excited! Yes, I have a love for animals and since I already do other volunteer work with organizations like Open Hand that focus on feeding critically or terminally ill people, and Junior League which focuses on women and children at risk, I look forward to trying something different over the next weeks!

And while we got to peruse the information about all these great organizations, there were "snacks." More than snacks, really - Billy and crew from the awesome Cypress Street Pint & Plate were there (their Philly cheese steak is awesome and they had mini versions plus meatball sliders for us!) and gave coupons out, Maddio's Pizza was there with a blue cheese pizza among other options (more coupons, score!), Googie Burger was in full force with a whole kitchen wagon set up to make full burgers and fries, OMG cupcakes . . . the list goes on. This is why it "pays" to be a Yelper!

This makes my heart happy - we always have fun at Yelp events and there's always good food and fun people, but when you can also party with a purpose . . . that's way cool. Looking forward to a great month of fun, friends, food and new experiences with some of our city's best charity folks!

Yours,
Love Bites,
Carrie Neal

P.S. If you're interested in learning more about "Yelp Helps" - visit the Yelp  Atlanta home page  and check the bottom right side of the home page for full details on all the organizations that will be involved, and event dates as they are posted!!


Visit www.yelp.com/atlanta for details!!




Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Breakfast For One

One thing I have discovered in the past several years is how much I love cooking for people. I love cooking in general now, but I especially love doing it for someone(s) I love.

The Boy works crazy hours. He travels a lot and he's often in the office on weekends. But he makes time for me - we typically eat one to three meals a day together and I have to sneak to pay the check sometimes, as he always does. He is so good to me.

We're also both insomniacs. Seriously, we have discussed needing to be "put away" for two weeks or something in a sanatorium (is that word even used these days?) and drugged so we can sleep.

So when we had dinner last night and he texted me several hours later to see if I was still up - of course I was, though it was after 1am - and told me he was on the way to the office to pull an all-nighter . . . what did I do?

I stayed up and made him food. I know how he is - he'll work till he's beyond exhausted, he'll forget to eat unless our friend downstairs who runs a cafe takes him something because she saw his car in the office lot at 6am and knew he'd been there hours, or he'll finally take a break for "lunch," (this could mean what I call "linner- lunch + dinner" as he doesn't get to it till 4pm) but likely take work with him.

So in the middle of the night, what made my heart happy? Making blueberry muffins and my special deviled eggs (they have pimento cheese and bacon in them and you would looove them!) and I added some fresh, end-of-summer canteloupe and a card. We do that, because we're schmoopy, and give each other cards. This one had Pooh on the cover and was blank inside, so I could write a quote inside:
"“How do you spell 'love'?" - Piglet
"You don't spell it...you feel it." - Pooh” 
― A.A. Milne

You can also do it with food, or attention, or time. All, actually.
This is stuff of which life is made.

Yours,
Love Bites,
Carrie Neal
Because this picture is better than the one of my own eggs (theirs inspired mine!),
here's a shot of the
delicious H&F selection!!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

The Sweetest Birthday Ever!

It was tiramisu. For my birthday. I love tiramisu and I love the Boy more. He flew me to New York for the day, for my birthday - a surprise he sprang on me the day before . . .

He took me to lunch at the place my daddy took me on my first-ever visit to NYC, for my 13th birthday, and he remembered the story I'd told him at some point (and we share a love of Italian so it was a great bet all-around).

This is part of what inspired me to launch my new website - food and relationships - two of my most favorite things (we'll get to shoes, later!!) - and how they connect. How we bond over a meal or a drink - how food plays an integral part in our romantic and our family relationships - how we care for people, whether out or at home, with something as simple as a cheese plate or as fancy as a prix-fixe dinner. This inspires me. To love, enjoy and care for people I adore - and listen and talk over a good meal - these are the things of which life is made of, if you do it right.

Stay tuned for my adventures in life, food and love. It'll be an interesting journey!

Yours,
Love Bites,
Carrie Neal