Will Jump For Bacon

My weekend consisted of three main things in large portions: strawberries, jumping around in Plyo Max class and lots and lots of bacon.

On Friday we drove into the country for strawberry picking.

The berries were oh-so-perfectly ripe!! And warm in the sunshine.

Mazen had a great time and got the hang of it quickly!

Lauren and her boys were here in Cville visiting, so they joined us for the morning so we girls could catch up.

Lauren brought me this savory snacky granola her friend Sarah makes. I tried the curry and think it’s quite tasty!! Can’t wait to try the Spicy Thai and Balsamic and Olive.

My local girls!

Friday night was the May ACAC Social Happy Hour. This month’s theme was a mixer between the Downtown and Albemarle Square locations, and we did a mix of core, strength and cardio, ending with a burst of dance jumping with Chris.

Afterwards we were treated to a lovely rooftop dinner from MAS! They had lots of tapas, including bacon wrapped dates : )

Plus a keg from Champion!

Chris and Vanessa assembled these sprinkled ice cream sandwiches by hand all afternoon – a delicious treat to end the night.

I took a hot bath and tried to recover my muscles before doing more athletic conditioning in the morning!

Mazen met Sylvia in Kidszone, and they had a breakfast date together, and I was off for a dance party. I love Chris’s version of athletic conditioning because there are no props – just lots of plyo jumps and great club mix music! You really get in the zone and don’t stop moving for 55 minutes.

After a quick shower we got the kiddos and took them to the market to run around a bit. Cinnamon Chip bread is always a hit!

I tried one of the Bageladies bagel breakfast sandwiches I’ve been hearing are so good – and it was!

Plus half a Caribe juice.  Loved the passion fruit flavor! Shout out to Meg!!

M and I walked home (man that was a long, hot walk!) and chilled out inside for a while.

At noon we had a babysitter (“friend” as Mazen called her!) and I headed back out and met Matt at Cured Bacon Festival! The Cured Fest peeps asked me if I would recap the event in exchange for a couple of tickets, so of course that was an offer I couldn’t turn down : ) Sure, I’d love to eat allthebacon!

A dozen of Cville’s finest restaurants used The Rock Barn’s bacon to create 2-3 signature dishes each that we devoured. Matt and I started with a dozen tasting tickets and narrowed down our tastes to the following dishes to try:

Brookville // The Ultimate Rock Barn Bacon Grilled Cheese with Monastery gouda on ABC pain de mie

The Rock Barn Lardon Salad with Manakintowne frisee, garlic croutons, cured timbercreek farm egg yolk and VA Vinegar Works white wine vinegar vinaigrette

Fossett’s // Smoked bacon rilette in epi baguette with romesco sauce

Ivy Provisions // BLT Soup & Bacon FACE (Fried avocado, Egg, Cheese)

Yes, that deep fried avocado stuffed with cheese was the BEST THING EVER!!!!!!!!!

Maya // Open faced sandwich with jalapeno cheddar corn bread, fresh buttermilk cheese, bacon and pickled green tomato relish

Rapture // Smoked Bacon & Pimento Cheese Grits souffle topped with candied bacon and charred corn salad, bacon vinaigrette

BBQ Exchange // Virginia Berkshire Breed Bacon, somked on green hickory cooked “sticky love style” served on bacon-cheddar biscuit with baconaise with a Caramel-Bacon brownie with marshmallow fluff

And two more amazing desserts…..

Brookville’s Rock Barn Ice Cream Sundae with bacon fat waffle cone and whipped cream

And finally…my favorite food of the day – Ivy Provision’s Bacon s’mores – a maple cinnamon homemade marshmallow with molasses shortbread and candied bacon.

YES

YES!!!!

After tasting the dishes, everyone had the chance to vote for their favorite with voting dollars benefiting the Local Food Hub. We split our votes between Ivy Provisions and Brookville! Great job on the creativity guys. You know how it takes 20 minutes for your stomach register you are full? Mine told me it was full about two minutes into this festival.

Starr Hill was the beer sponsor and had some pretty interesting beers too – a really spicy habanero beer and this PB2 beer that was actually really good!!

But this one was my favorite – bacon + chocolate + vanilla reminded me of a bacon chocolate chip cookie!

We are hanging out on the yard for a bit more before heading to a friends’ house for dinner.

Happy weekend!