Wednesday, September 19, 2012

State of the Hungry Lady

OK.  So.  Here is the earth...round and chilling.  But seriously, here's what's happening in Hungry Lady land.

You may have noticed a sever lack of posting going on recently.  It's not by choice, I promise.  It's more because of circumstance.  I thought it was only fair that I let you all in on what's going on in real life, so that you can hopefully forgive me the lack of posts.  Or at least understand where I'm coming from.

1. Grad school.  Y'all, sometimes I wonder why I decided that going back to school was a good plan.  Two classes that meet once a week, plus one Saturday a month, plus all of the reading and homework really takes it out of me.  I give up most of my weekends to get my homework done.  I do my reading when I get home from work in the evenings.  In short, school has consumed my life, and when I do get a free minute, I prefer to spend it with friends I rarely see because of said schoolwork.

2. Work.  My boss left for another position over the summer, and since it's a 2-person office, I was holding down the fort for a couple of months.  Which pretty much shot my stress level through the roof (mostly because being super busy at work coincided with a fast-paced, condensed, assignment heavy class over the summer).  I now have a new boss, but things aren't slowing down for me.  She's still learning things, so I'm taking on more than I normally would.  Which is fine by me.  I like to be busy.  But the moral of the story is that I used to use my work downtown to start posts or upload photos.  I don't have the time to do that any more.  

3. THE BOOK.  Like with grad school, I wonder why I thought trying to balance school, work, and writing a book was a good idea.  I am woefully behind on book researching, writing, and editing, so I need to shift my focus from blogging to booking.  

That said, I clearly need to work on my time management skills.  I'm just lucky I'm not trying to balance a family life too.  It's just me, which helps a little.  I have also developed a deep respect for those of you who do manage to balance work, family, school, extracurriculars, etc.  If you have any tips to share, I'd love to hear them.

Anyway.  The entire point of this post was to tell you that I'm still alive and well, I'm just stretched a little too thin at the moment.  I'll have a few posts here and there, but I really haven't been getting out much, so I don't have too much to write about.  I'll try to check in periodically, but The Hungry Lady is going to be operating on a limited posting schedule at least until February 1 when I send in the draft of the book.

That said, I really don't want to let things completely die out around here.  So, if you would like to submit a guest post, let me know.  I'm totally open to the idea, so we'll see what happens.  In the meantime, I'm going to practice my time management, keep up with work and school, and write a book.  Then, come February, this little blog will return to the upper part of my list of priorities.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Savory Brunch at Cafe Strudel

A few weeks ago, I finally got around to trying famed Columbia breakfast spot Cafe Strudel.  I had every intention of finally trying the oft recommended Hangover Hashbrowns, despite not being anywhere close to hungover.  And then I checked the brunch specials for the day, and I knew I had to change my planned order in favor of something a bit more unique.

R and I both decided to order from the list of specials on this particular Sunday morning.  He opted for a take on a classic eggs benedict: One with fresh tomatoes and avocados.  I had thought about ordering it, but of course, didn't want to get the same thing, so I had something different.  Which of course, didn't stop me from from trying a bite of R's.  The avocados were so creamy and just added a completely amazing bit of flavor to the dish.  I would strongly suggest ordering it if you get the chance.

Can't you tell how delicious this was?
Since I was determined to order something different, I got the other special on the list: Pulled pork and bleu cheese slaw french toast.  Yes, you read that correctly.  It was amazing.  Three giant pieces of french toast topped with a sweet and it spicy pulled pork and a tangy bleu cheese slaw.  Every single element was great on its own, but eaten together?  An otherworldly experience.  Unfortunately, it was way too much food for me.  I ended up leaving the third piece of french toast and just eating the pork and slaw.  Very seriously one of the best brunches I have ever had.

My mouth is watering just looking at this.
Bottom line?  Make sure you go out and try brunch (or lunch or dinner) at Cafe Strudel.  But, you'll have to wait a bit, as they are currently moving down the street to a new location.  Not sure when it will be up and running, but you can find out on Facebook or Twitter.


Final Rating

You can find Cafe Strudel on Facebook, Twitter, or the web.

Cafe Strudel on Urbanspoon