Sometimes a girl just needs a mountain getaway with her gal pals.
In my case, as usual, it was less mountain-focused and more food and drink-focused. *Shrugs* I know what I like.
Last weekend I spent the weekend in Asheville with two wonderful friends who I hadn’t seen since leaving Madison last year. BUT before the fun could begin, my first stop was to meet Tommy in Burlington so he could change my windshield wipers. First piece of advice: find someone more motivated than you to change your windshield wipers so you can see while driving.
And then I was on the road. With snacks.
We stayed at the Grand Bohemian Hotel, right next to the entrance to the Biltmore. Sarah and Ellen had never been so they visited the Biltmore on Friday before I got there. I met them at the hotel and we decided on Wicked Weed for dinner. For dinner I scarfed down a delicious black bean burger with spicy pimento cheese. One of the many reasons I love living in the south is the ubiquitous pimento cheese. Pimento cheese = life.
I enjoyed one of their stouts before dinner and then this “basic white bier”. Basic white beer for a basic white girl like me.
Saturday we went for a brief hike/walk along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The leaves weren’t as bright and colorful as I was hoping but the mountains were beautiful and it was a perfectly warm fall day.
We went to Sierra Nevada for some post-hike beers and lunch. In the middle of a warm day I’ll almost always choose a light beer so I went with their Kellerweiss and it hit the spot.
For lunch I had a ham and arugula pizza. While the pizza tasted delicious, this is the saddest-looking arugula probably ever.
Sarah and Ellen are much classier than I am. They split the beef tartare. For those among me, that would be raw beef, and at Sierra Nevada, it comes topped with a bitty raw quail egg. Sarah and Ellen put the beef on toasted bread and then seasoned it with chopped onions, pepper, salt, and parsley. Classy betches.
The rest of the day was filled with belly laughs, a blind wine tasting in a bar/escape room venue that we just stumbled upon, more beer, and a pumpkin spice martini made with pumpkin “pure” – a drink of pumpkin-y goodness and a menu typo.
Second piece of advice: Find company you love. Laugh belly laughs. Eat local food. Rinse and repeat as needed.
I leave you drooling over this AH-mazing breakfast from Sunny Point Café before heading home. Huevos rancheros – black bean patties, fried eggs, potatoes, salsa verde, cilantro crema, and tortilla chips. Not to mention the oatmeal banana pancake with dreamy maple pecan butter. I’m drooling and reminding myself that I vowed to find a recipe for pancakes like that. Officially added to the list.
