A Happy Place

I’m home from Asheville where I spent the last three days eating, drinking, hiking, yogaing, wandering and eating some more. It was a beautiful weekend with temperatures in the 70s during the day and the 50s at night. Asheville is one of my favorite places to visit and when I’m there I always feel content and totally relaxed. I love the bohemian vibe of the city, the electric mix of people, the focus on local shopping and food and the abundance of options for outdoor activities, from hiking to playing corn hole outside of a great local brewery. I know that I have written many posts about visits to Asheville and I hope that they inspire you to take a trip to this special place if you have the opportunity.

Here’s a glimpse into my incredible weekend.

{dinner at curate}

Artichoke “chips” with savory yogurt dipping sauce.

Kumato tomato salad with Spanish Bonita tuna, black olives and greens.

Mild pork sausage with white beans. So good. Maybe the best tapas of the night.

Pinquilla peppers stuffed with Cana de Cabra cheese.

Traditional meat canelones with béchamel sauce.

{dessert at french broad chocolate lounge}

I dream about this carrot cake.

{hiking mt. pisgah}

The beginning. (Target was the top of the mountain behind me.)

The end. Panoramic views at the top.

{lunch at the pisgah inn on the blue ridge parkway}

Mountain views from the dining room.

Lunch salad with greens, cucumbers, cauliflower, broccoli, cheese, sunflower seeds, sugared pecans, tomatoes, olives, dried cranberries, onions (picked off!) and a mix of honey mustard and balsamic vinaigrette. Homemade herb yeast rolls and butter on the side.

{scenes from downtown}

The most dog friendly city.

Musicians everywhere.

Community-centric. Local, organic, sustainable.

And random, random acts along the sidewalks.

{dinner at chai pani}

Appetizer sent out from the kitchen (you know that you love a restaurant when you live out of town and they still recognize you when you come in!).

Fried green tomato pakora.

Paneer uttapan.

Chicken thali with basmati rice, daal, raita, roti, kachumber, papadum and dessert.

{yoga at asheville yoga center}

I took a bhakti vinyasa class this morning and it was such a nice change of pace. The bhakti style of yoga focuses more on the spiritual connection with whatever your higher power is. Classes often feature chanting, pranayama (breathing exercises) and more free-form movement. We started out with kirtan (call and response singing/chanting) with a mantra our teacher gave us for our class – om namo bhagavate vasudevaya. After that we moved through a vinyasa flow where we built on to the sequence as we went. It was cool because the teacher gave us time to perform sequences on our own and add in poses that we needed from our practice. I love the class and wish I could take classes like this more often.

{brunch at laughing seed}

Laughing Seed Cafe is a vegetarian institution in Asheville and I’ve somehow never made it there until this weekend. Tofu benedictine – classic eggs benedict twisted: scratch-made biscuit, grilled organic tofu, grilled tomato, sautéed spinach and seitan sausage over grits with herb oil and béarnaise. Amazing.

{ice cream at kilwins}

Salted caramel.

Happy girl. Happy weekend.