I’ll be spreading the cream cheese on rice cakes and possibly baking with it, throwing vegetables and meat into the miso soup to make it more filling, serving the pumpkin tea with a tiny bit of honey, trying not to eat the whole bag of Inner Peas as a snack, and eating the chicken sausages in soup or served on gluten-free bread with onions, peppers, and Frank’s Red Hot.

Have you tried any of these products? What are your favorite Trader Joe’s finds?

P.S. Did you know that Trader Joe’s will open any product for you to sample? I can’t remember where I read that but I asked to do it for the pumpkin cream cheese and they were very gracious about it. That stuff is aaaamzing, so I immediately threw it into my cart! Don’t forget the tip about bringing your own bag too.

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We didn’t realize that we should have made a reservation for a Tuesday night, but apparently they’re pretty tightly booked, even during the week. Luckily, there was a free table in outside seating, so we weren’t turned away.

Not one but two gluten-free menus.
It’s gluten freak heaven!
First up: warm gluten-free foccaia with olive oil and rosemary. The verdict was that you wouldn’t have been able to tell that it was gluten-free (which seems like a good test).
Though I’m not much of a wine drinker, I gave in to the peer family pressure to share a bottle. Apparently Le Muraie means The Wall- named so because the area where the grapes grow is very steep, so they have to build stone walls to prevent erosion. I’m no wine connoisseur, but no complaints about this one!
I made the fam pose with our wine glasses. I tried to make them feel better by reminding them that I’m not a full-time food blogger, so I don’t have to photograph every single thing I eat. I’m not sure if the reassurance worked..
I split gluten-free stuffed shells and gluten-free ravioli with my sister. She devoured all of hers; I hoarded mine for leftovers. They were kind enough to split both dishes, so we didn’t have to fight tooth-and-nail for exactly half of the meal (clearly we’re very grown-up). My favorite was definitely the ravioli because I liked the pasta to filling ratio (the filling of the stuffed shells was a bit overwhelming for me). The tomato sauce- or “gravy” as they call it- was great for both.
Because it was our first time at Bella Monica, we had to treat ourselves to dessert- creme brulee from the special gluten-free dessert menu for me and my sister (this one we did share from one dish. No physical fights broke out).

At the end of the meal, the owner stopped by to say hello, which was a nice personal touch. I mentioned that one of our old coworkers from The Raleigh Forum knew him, so we had an even more personal connection!

Overall, our experience at Bella Monica was fantastic. Though not cheap, the prices were very decent for high-quality Italian food. The atmosphere was great as well- classy but not stuffy (our waitress was wearing jeans). It would be a perfect date spot, especially if you eat gluten-free (no need to ask the waitress a billion questions about which dishes may or may not contain gluten). Best of all, the dishes reheated very well, which is relatively rare for gluten-free pastas.

We’ll definitely be back for another visit soon!

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Videri is a bean-to-bar factory, meaning they complete the whole process of sorting the beans, roasting them, and making the bars all in one place.

I got there a few minutes early and snapped some pictures of the space. It’s so cool!
 Bean-to-bar chocolate factory
A picture of what The Depot used to look like
 Linnie, the organizer of the event, brought us wine!
 She also coordinated a little get to know each other activity. Please note my favorite of my blog topic hashtags- #everything. Haha! Bloggers always say to stick with one topic, but I can’t bring myself to do it
Time for sampling- we tried dark milk chocolate bars, pink peppercorn, sea salt, and dark chocolate
 …and we did!
 Obviously the most important part Too bad we had already had our samples before the tour!

From left to right (bottom): Monet, Laura, me, Linnie, & Elisabeth. From left to right (top): Amy, Julie, Jessica, Sara, and Caroline. Normal…

..and not so normal. Had to do the fake real laugh picture- it’s becoming a tradition!

Videri is a fun and unique place to gather with friends, made even better by the fact that you can BYOB. Tasty Beverage Co is in The Depot too, so you can grab beer (they have gluten-free options!) before heading to Videri. The chocolate itself is a bit pricey for me ($7.99 per package), especially since I’m no chocolate connoisseur. I did enjoy sampling the dark milk chocolate and the sea salt chocolate though. The pink peppercorn is a strange experience- you can’t tell if you like it but you want to keep trying it!

Shout-out to Jessica, who purchased a bar for all of us to split when they ran out of samples!

My favorite quote of the night: someone commented that it was a hospital pill line because we all had our hands out to get chocolate samples. Somebody else piped in with, “This is the best hospital ever!” Haha, girls and their chocolate…

Thank you to Linnie for organizing the event, all the girls for coming out, and Videri for hosting us!

Please feel free to use the photos from this post. Just link back to cmroman.com!

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On Friday, I dropped by Trader Joe’s to pick up a few treats for the showroom crew, then headed to the building off Capital Blvd at 2pm. I took off two hours later after making this cheesy chicken & wild rice casserole and this heart of palm salad, touring the showroom, giving samples of my food to employees, and chatting about everything from Tutti Frutti to Ivy and Leo to Michael Franti to an infomerical for an interesting feminine product…

The highlights of my day:

Treats for Wilkinson Supply Co employees [apple cider, sparkling blood orange juice, yogurt covered almonds, and mini milk chocolate peanut butter cups]

My state-of-the-art kitchen for the day! I had some serious kitchen envy and (half) joked that it would be hard for me to return to my normal kitchen, which doesn’t have an amazing induction stove top that boils water in about two minutes (though I don’t think I can afford one any time soon!).

All the ingredients for the cheesy chicken casserole [I made a failed modified cheese sauce since the original one called for flour and I wanted something gluten-free]

Ingredients for the heart of palm, tomato, and avocado salad [not pictured- cilantro and scallions]

 Chopping onions for the chicken casserole

We saved time by using Ready Rice [microwave for 90 seconds] and roasted chicken from Trader Joe’s

Pretty cool microwave!

Sauteing onions, carrots, and celery on the amazing gas stove [I wish I had let them saute for a bit longer]

Layering the casserole [chicken, rice, and vegetables]

The convection oven was so cool- it has tons of settings for different dishes. We chose generic casserole for mine

Total cook time? About 10 minutes for an entire casserole. Crazy!

I loved this easy heart of palm salad and it was fun to introduce some of the employees to a new food

——

At the end of the day, employees came by the open kitchen to sample the casserole and salad. I heard a lot of oohs and aahs, so hopefully they really liked everything! My verdict: I loved the salad and would make it again in a heartbeat. I felt more neutral about the casserole [partly because of the lack of cheese sauce!], but I would make it again with several changes, including more spices. It would make a great easy dinner if you buy the chicken pre-roasted and microwavable rice, like we did.

Overall, I spent the day pretending I lived in a house with an amazing, state-of-the-art kitchen [who cares about the rest of the house?!]; meeting a fun group of employees; and trying out two new recipes. Definitely winning [I refuse to let that phrase die!].

Thank you so much to Janelle and the rest of the Wilkinson Supply Co for this cool, unique opportunity. I had a blast!

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Lake Johnson at night

Here’s my progress:

• Lunch at PieBird
• Brunch at Humble Pie {When my friends from DC were in town}
• A special exhibit at the NC Museum of Art {Rembrandt}
• Show at DPAC {Chicago!}
• Show at NC Theatre
• Concert at Lincoln Theatre {Breakfast Club- plus TEDxRaleigh}
• Concert at the Amphitheatre
• Farmers’ market {Crawfish Day!}
• Day at CAM
• All lakes
• Tequila tasting at Jibarra {Did a vertical tequila flight with friends, then traveled to Calavera for margaritas!}
• Chocolate tasting at Vidieri {Did it but hoping to do it for an upcoming bloggers’ event}
• Beer flights at Tasty Beverage Co & Big Boss Brewery
• Pullen Park, post-renovations {Took the kids I babysit there}
• Museum of Natural Science
• Lunch or dinner at Lilly’s Pizza
• Brunch at Poole’s Diner {Girls’ brunch!}
• Listen to jazz at Zydeco
• Hurricanes hockey game
• Drinks at Boylan Bridge Brewpub {Several times but our upcoming Change the Triangle social is there too}

NC State Farmers’ Market

What else is on your Raleigh to do list? Which of the things above have you done?

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Food at Miss Saigon

• A homemade cleaning-out-the-fridge meal at my friend Karrie’s house
• I discovered two great new adult beverages: vodka press {flavored vodka, soda water, and Sprite. Try it with raspberry or cucumber vodka!} and a delicious drink from Bangkok Joe’s. I forgot the name, but it was vodka and lime juice muddled with lemongrass, ginger, and Thai sweet peppers
• Bangkok Joe’s {down by the Georgetown waterfront} also has an amazing happy hour seven days a week from 5-7pm. We missed happy hour by 4 minutes, so I ordered the shrimp summer rolls {gluten-free though they can’t guarantee that food items aren’t cross-contaminated}
• Saxby’s Coffee at 35th and O in Georgetown has delicious iced coffee and fantastic service. If I lived in the area, I might just become a convert from Starbucks. It was fun to go there for a few days and have it feel like my local coffeeshop
• Karrie was moving out of her place in the Palisades, so we stopped by Jettie’s for lunch before helping her move. I ordered the Altar Rock salad, which was pretty standard but very good! It was huge, so I snacked on the leftovers after moving a few items
• I had my heart set on Ethiopian food, so after criss-crossing the city looking for a place that ended up being closed, we went to our tried-and-true place: Dukem on U St. We ordered two combination plates and had a race for which side of the table finished first. We’re cool
• Since I’m on an ethnic eating binge, we went to Miss Saigon on M St and ordered the grilled meat combo {grilled beef, chicken, & pork with rice vermicelli}. It was huge, so I recommend sharing it
• Already mentioned our make-your-own bibimbap from Rice Bar on 19th St
• On my drive home, I asked Sara D about places in Richmond to grab coffee and she suggested Urban Farmhouse. I’m currently enjoying an iced coffee as I write this post! Thanks Sara!

Urban Farmhouse in Richmond

Thank goodness for Foursquare or I never would have remembered all these places! All in all, a lot of both new favorites and old haunts, which make a happy, full, caffeinated, and occasionally tipsy Cristina!

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I get to browse Pinterest, pick a recipe to make, and pretend to be a professional cook for a day? Of course I said yes right away.

But I need your help! What’s your favorite Pinterest-inspired recipe {preferably gluten-free}, either one you’ve made or been dying to try? Shoot me the link in the comments or via email, text, Twitter, gchat, telepathic message, etc. If I choose your recipe, I’ll be sure to link to your blog as a way of saying thanks

Check out the previous Pinterest to Plate blog posts and follow Wilkinson Supply Co’s Pinterest board!

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Photo credit

Amplify phone speakers by putting them in a ceramic bowl

Photo credit

Can’t quite finish your iced coffee? Put it in the freezer overnight and fill it up with cold-brewed coffee the next day. Voila- just like a coffee ice cube!

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Now that I’m a wild child who makes sweet and savory salads {like watermelon & feta!}, I decided to try a peach & tomato summer salad from MyRecipes.com. It turned out so well and I would absolutely make it again. It would be the best salad to take to a July potluck!

For exact measurements, see the recipe or just follow my haphazard winging it approach (serves 1).

• Chopped red onion
• 1/2 ripe peach, pitted and cut into wedges
• 1/2 large tomato or a handful or cherry tomatoes
• A dash of red wine vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil
• A very small spoonful of honey
• A dash each of sea salt and ground pepper
• A small handful of crumbled feta cheese
• A sprinkling of torn basil leaves

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Jubala was so cute! I loved the atmosphere and the warm but chic decor. It was pretty quiet most of the afternoon, but around 4pm, it got a bit busier. The girls next to me were chatting about weddings and the people across the way were playing board games. All in all, a fun vibe but quiet enough that one can be productive.

The service was fine but didn’t blow me away. I ordered an iced latte with vanilla and almond flavoring, but it was a bit too sweet for me, even though I asked for light syrup.

I would definitely go back. It’s a bit of a hike for me, so I would only go back to work for several hours. I plan to order a plain iced coffee next time!

After I finished my work, I stepped outside for a quick tour of the rest of the village. Unfortunately, most of the stores closed at 5pm on Sunday and I finished right at 5!

I realized I had heard of a few of the merchants but didn’t connect all the dots until I spent an afternoon wandering around!

• Vinos Finos: They tweeted me awhile back; still need to check out their free wine tastings on Tuesdays and Saturdays!
• Savory Spice Shop: I also found out about them on Twitter and added it to my “To Try” list on Foursquare! I didn’t get a chance to go in but I will next time.
• Mavalios: I hadn’t heard of this tea cafe and gift shop, but I peeked through the window and it looks so cute!
• Henry’s Gelato: Gelato. Enough said.

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