out and about in Frederick

It hit me last week as I was pulling flannel sheets off of our guest bed that we hadn’t had an overnight visitor since November! It felt so good to get the house ready for a guest, considering I haven’t hosted much in the past nine months.

Holly came up from Harrisonburg on Thursday night (bearing donuts from Strite’s, bless her heart) and we immediately fell into our pattern of non-stop chatter and laughter. And EATING. I am beyond thrilled that our baby friendship in Harrisonburg has weathered my move to Frederick. Holly and her husband and their two friends are opening a brewery in Winchester called Winchester Brew Works. I’m so excited for them!

I purposefully invited Holly to come up this past weekend so I could take her to Chartreuse & Co, a monthly tag sale set up in six buildings filled with antique/vintage (or faux-antique) goodies. I knew it would be a great place for brewery decor inspiration.

the second floor of the main barn at Chartreuse & Co 

I wanted these SO MUCH

We spent hours exploring the various buildings before heading downtown for lunch. I went to The Wine Kitchen a few weeks ago with my friend Sarah and loved it, and I knew Holly would enjoy it, too. We split the house made pappardelle starter and the mussels starter and each got our own Mexican BLT sandwich. We chowed DOWN. We should have split the BLT, but we were both doing the prix fixe menu. Everything was phenomenal, and it was nice to just sit and take our time with lunch. The stand-out dish was the mussels, which were cooked in a crazy delicious Thai-style broth. I asked the waitress for the ingredients (like I did with our favorite blue cheese sauce) because I’m dying to make them at home. Recipe to come!

The fabulous Holly w/ her wine flight! I had their yummy “Gossamer” cocktail. 

our starters

my Mexican BLT and the mussel broth

It was a beautiful day to walk around. One thing I love about living here is that we have a great downtown! We went to Relish, The Smokestack Studios, Treaty General Store, Retro Metro, Velvet Lounge, Tiara Day, Simply Beautiful Boutique, Firestone’s Market on Market, Hunting Creek Outfitters, and Muse. We skipped a lot of shops on Patrick Street because we were exhausted! I drove Holly through Shab Row and Baker Park and then we went home and put our feet up for a bit. We ended the night with Sardi’s Peruvian chicken and rented “Big Eyes” on Redbox.

Holly left after a breakfast of bacon, eggs and donuts, and I immediately swore to start eating better and went for a run. :) Let me know if you’ve tried any new healthful recipes lately!