Gourmet Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar Tasting - Olive My Heart

A local blogger friend Lyndsey, from A Lovely Little Blog set up a blogger night at an amazingly cute new gourmet olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting room and shop called Olive My Heart.

This shop is local for me, in Hudson, Ohio

Image from Olive My Heart

The night started out with a perfect table of amuse bouche, from a restaurant I love, Nosh Eatery.  The chef prepared an assortment of appetizers that incorporated different oil and vinegar from the shop.  

My favorite was what you see on the little spoon tower, which included a type of fruit, cheese and topped with a flavored vinegar.  Yummy and so cute!

Dessert was a Dark Chocolate Brownie made with the Blood Orange flavored Oil.  Very good and different!  I think they have the recipe on their website here.

Since it was a private event, we got a fabulous tour from the owner Linda, and were able to taste anything and everything we wanted.  Such a great little event to do with a group of girls or couples!  All you need to do is contact them to set it up!

The array of Olive Oil and Organic Balsamic Vinegar was truly amazing.  They had any flavor you could imagine from Fig Balsamic Vinegar to Wild Mushroom and Sage Oil, which tasted like a Thanksgiving meal :)

Actually narrowing down what to buy was the hardest part, but very helpful that you can taste before you buy!!

If you aren't into the private party thing, don't worry, just drop in during their open hours, 7 days a week!

Olive My Heart is a great place for entertainment and gourmet food shopping!

This is a place I would love to take my mother, and return to soon.

Picture of the vinegar dispensers

Part of my dinner tonight...Tuscan Herb Oil made into dipping oil with fresh garlic, Italian seasoning and fresh bread to dip with.

Cannot wait to try out the Fig Balsamic Vinegar I also bought!

Summer Wedding Style

When attending a summer wedding you need to be aware of two things before selecting your outfit, the weather and the setting.

Assume that the weather is going to be hot, and dress in something comfortable and breathable.  Also, if you have wavy/curly hair make sure to wear it so it can stand the heat and humidity.

Footwear is important for the setting of the wedding, because you will want to wear flats or wedges if it is outside.  Otherwise your heels will be sinking into the ground!

I attended an outdoor wedding yesterday, and as you can see I wore a breathable dress, wedges, and did my hair in beachy waves.

dress Piperlime (similar here), shoes Aldo, clutch Francesca's

Here is a better close up of my accessories

watch Nixon, and bracelet gifted

Hope you had a great weekend, and find these summer wedding tips helpful!

Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza

I was at the grocery store a few weeks ago, and bought a Thin Crust Boboli Pizza Crust.

I knew there had to be a way to make a grilled pizza out of this.

By just googling "How to Grill a Boboli Pizza", I found these instructions on how to grill it.

They suggest that you use the thin crust when doing this.

After that I found a great BBQ Chicken Pizza Recipe from blogger Pioneer Woman.

She makes her own crust, but who really has time for that??

See below for my fusion of the Boboli grilling instructions, and the recipe from the Pioneer Woman.

Make sure that you slice the mozzarella as thin as you can, and coat the chicken with the BBQ sauce.

Here is the finished product!!  

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts

1/2 cup barbecue sauce

Olive Oil for Drizzling

Salt for Sprinkling

10-12oz, fresh mozzarella, sliced thinly

A Few Very Thin Slices of Red Onion

Dried Parsley, or Chopped Fresh, to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Salt chicken breasts on both sides, and place in an ovenproof dish.  Pour BBQ sauce over the breasts, and make sure to coat both sides.  Bake for 20-25 mins, or until done.  When you put the chicken in, preheat your grill to high heat.  Remove chicken from oven, dice finely, and set aside.

Brush olive oil on both sides of the crust, and grill each side 2-4 mins.  

Assemble the pizza...

Spoon a couple of tablespoons of BBQ sauce on the crust

Layer the cheese in a single layer on the bottom

Sprinkle the diced chicken on the cheese, and then the red onion 

Lastly sprinkle the parsley on top

*Note that the grill does not really cook the onion, so if you don't like it crunchy, I would slightly grill or saute it before putting on.

Put the pizza on the preheated grill for 10-20 mins(depending on your grill, and how hot it is).

Pizza will be finished when the cheese is melted, and the crust is golden.

This whole recipe does take a bit of time, but well worth it!  My BF still raves about it, and asks when we can make it again!

I love using the grill in the summer! 

What is your favorite summer grilled recipe??

Budget Friendly Find(BFF) Ray-Ban Clubmasters

Happy July!!

I have been super busy this month, with parties, cookouts, and my birthday, which was yesterday :)

I have a lot of good posts coming up, so thank you for hangin with me during this busy time.

Today I am bringing you a Budget Friendly Find(BFF) for the Ray-Ban Clubmasters, which are both from Nordy's.

Ray-Ban $145

Nordstrom's Brand $12

At almost $130 less, and free shipping, I'll take them!  

Love this style, and the price!!

Nashville Trip

Last week I had a great opportunity to travel to Nashville for work.

This was my first time, and I loved it!

Just wanted to share a few images from a restaurant I ate at and 

the Country Music Hall of Fame.

These are some images from the bar at a super cute restaurant called City House.

City House is in Nashville's German Village, and a place where you can often spot celebs.  Walking by you would never realize that it was a restaurant because it looks like another one of the cool renovated houses in the area.  The menu was small, but really great fresh recipes.  The bar offers a variety of very different, yummy house drinks.  Above, the drink I got was the Bandit, which is averna liqueur, grapefruit juice, ginger ale and lime.

I like their idea of using mason jars for their bar garnishes!

Left - FUN novelty cowboy boots that I would totally wear!

Oh and by the way...EVERYONE wears cowboy boots in Nashville, so if you are visiting you must bring a pair.  I didn't, and felt left out!

Right - A really beautiful dress worn by the legendary Patsy Cline.  The photo washed out the top of the dress, but it was something that I would shorten and wear now!

Taylor Swift's stage costumes from her tour.  This was the featured exhibit.  I thought it was really cool to see the actual dress and then a photo of her wearing it.  How about that blinged out guitar??

Between the fantastic weather, food, music scene, and history, Nashville is a place that I would definitely go back and visit!

Have you ever been?  If so, what was your favorite place??

Pop of color with a Bright Blouse

Just love this pop of color added to an outfit with a bright blouse!

Image from Sincerely, Jules

Here are a couple you might want to try...

Great Work Blouse from tobi

Sleeveless from Nordy's

Sorry for the lack of posts lately!  I was traveling for work, 

and went on vacation to Siesta Key, FL.

Here is an image of me watching the sunset on the beach <3

Retro Summer Look

I created this look based on something I re-pinned on Pintrest.

I just love the maxi skirt over a retro bathing suit.  Perfect look for Summer that you can easily re-create with some key pieces!