Shopping Sunday

Hello my friends.

I know there has been a lack of posting the last week or so. It pretty much went by in a blur so I don’t even remember what I made. Or ate.

But I can at least talk about yesterday and today.

Yesterday morning, we met up with my friend Emileigh at the most adorable coffee shop in the world called Cafe La Violetta. It looked almost like it was someone’s house inside and covered in unique vintage decorations. I wish I got pictures of the inside but they did serve our cappuccinos on a silver platter.

Last night, my husband and I went to a new-to-us restaurant called Australian Bar & Kitchen in the Nuremberg Altstadt. We started off with drinks and went for the special called the Australian Mint.

This magical concoction was comprised of gin, lime juice, gingerale, mint, and simple syrup. We may or may not have had 3 of them and caused the waiter worry that we were driving (don’t worry, we weren’t. We are a 5 minute walk to this restaurant).

For maybe the first time ever, I wasn’t in the mood for a burger and I actually chose the vegetarian meal called the Outback Veggie.

It was a polenta cake with spinach sauce and avocado-feta-cream with a fried hardboiled egg on top. It was pretty amazing.

Tim got the Way Far Down which was a mixed grilled with chicken, beef, and kangaroo. Yup, you heard that right. kangaroo.

Along with sweet potato hasbrowns and a salad. The kangaroo definitely did not taste like beef or chicken. Maybe a cross between both? It was good though. At this point, the place got really busy and we had been lucky to snag bar seats. It had a very cool vibe and a huge map of Australia on the ceiling. Good day, mate.

Today was shopping Sunday here in Nuremberg. What is that, you ask? Well, usually everything is shutdown on Sundays. But a few times per year, the city opens up for a “shopping Sunday.” Between that and the Easter Market, the city was seriously hopping. Like Christmas market packed.

My husband desperately needed a wallet and lo and behold, there was a wallet/leather goods stand within the Easter market. The best part was this adorable dogged that popped up out of nowhere while we were looking.

Oh and I got Dunkin’ Donuts. #noshame.

It was a very successful trip and then we walked back home so we could Facetime/Skype with our parents and make dinner.

I am SO excited because I got a new cookbook from my amazing friends, Liz and Jess. It is Happy Cooking by Giada De Laurentiis. I love Giada in the first place but it is full of delicious, healthy, and practical meals. I was drooling over the pages when I read through it. I can read cookbooks like a book. I’m serious.

I chose to cook her Chili-Rubbed Pork Chops with Pineapple Salsa.

 

It was scrumptious and tropical! The only downside is that I have NOT been able to find fresh cilantro here (called koriander). At all. And now I’ve learned that I use it a lot, including in this recipe :(. I settled on using green onion and parsley just so there were some fresh herbs in the salsa. I just made a side of roasted potatoes to go with it. Can’t wait to cook more from the book!