Charlottesville

So I've lived here since November 3rd, but as of this week, I'm officially living and working in Charlottesville! That's right, folks! 

We're currently moving into our office and things are exciting, overwhelming, and smell of carne asada (note: there is a Brazo's Taco in our office park). :)

In fact, the menu is the first thing we officially hung up in the break room.

First of many lunches here - my chicken tortilla soup and fish aficianado taco @ Brazos.

The past few months I've been commuting to Richmond for work and as much as I'll miss that team and the great food(!) I'm beyond excited to get to know Charlottesville a little better and get starting with building our team here!

This past weekend Crista and Belen came to visit and I threw all attempts at behaving out the window. We ate, we drank, and we ate some more!

Upon their arrival on Saturday, I made a brunch of oat & molasses rolls with sorghum butter, English baked beans, brisket and sweet potato hash, candied bacon with roasted tomatoes, and eggs! 

Phew. You'd think we'd be full all day after a brunch like that, but you'd be wrong.

We headed to Albemarle Baking Company to pick up some bread and since we were already there... managed to consume some hot chocolate with homemade chocolate marshmallows, a slice of princess cake, and a cream puff.

We roamed around the shopping center for a bit and sampled some meats and cheeses... The pimento cheese at feast! is yum yum yummy! And we made a pit stop at The Spice Diva for a particularly spicy blend (their Zhug Hot Dip is hot, hot, hot and yummy, yummy, yummy!) that would be used in shakshouka the next day.

We did some shopping and I scored a gorgeous bench for the guest room - I'll be sure to post some final photos once this place is finally decorated. And then whadduya know, it was time to eat again!!!

(Seriously. If you hang with me, you have to be able to keep up with all of this food consumption.)

I introduced them to my new cheat meal of choice - gas station fried chicken. There is a gas station merely a stone's throw away from me - Brown's that sells some of the beeeest fried chicken and sides I've ever had. Ever. Feel free to judge away, but you're missing out!

Sunday brunch consisted of some of our local finds from Saturday - an absolutely gorgeous loaf of ciabatta from ABC, and shakshouka with goat cheese (and sans egg because certain people, who will go unnamed, have an aversion to perfectly delicious runny egg yolks). [Editor's Note: please know that these friends have since been canned. I'm sure you understand completely.] 

Then we headed downtown for some window shopping - and you guessed it! More food! :)

Thanks for visiting Belen and Crista! Joj's Bed and Breakfast was happy to host you! Looking forward to many more visitors and getting to know this city!