Weekend Foodie Warriors – Take 35!

Hello hello, again, Foodie Friends 🙂 Hope you had a fantastic weekend! We have a shorter edition of Foodie Adventures, with a review of the new Neat Bourbon Bar, making eggplant parm with mom, and a girls brunch out at Stella’s Southern Brassiere!

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My friend Gloria was having her birthday party this weekend, complete with bowling🎳 and a pink-theme with fun foods like pink donuts, only pink starbursts, and pink lemonades!🎉🎁 I’m more of a purple fan myself, but it was super cute with all the pink glitter and party favors everywhere. 💟

I first met Gloria maybe four of five months ago, and she’s been a fun friend since she works in marketing too, we seem to be really kindred spirits. 😁

After bowling at Stone Pin (see WFW #23 blog here for my review of them!), we migrated around downtown, searching for a chill bar to hang out at, and Neat caught my eye! I almost missed it in the dark and I would hate to walk my awkward duckling self down those stairs in heels, but it had a really chill vibe and awesome decor!

I loved their marquee signs, the gray and exposed wooden look, and the recycling of their old liquor bottles into water jugs! I also loved the third pic I took above, caught a stranger in a candid wave smiling right at me. 😁📸

Neat Bourbon Bar has become famous for its smoked cocktails. My friend Donald also checked this place out a couple months ago, check out his video review here. 😁 The link has a cool video on Facebook of them smoking one of their bourbon drinks! Definitely recommend checking this place out if you enjoy a bar with a chill, laid back vibe, with a huge selection of both cocktails and more whiskey and bourbon than I thought existed. There’s a drink for almost everyone here. 😎

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My mom and grandma came down to visit this weekend, and one of my favorite things my roommate loves that my mom makes is her famous eggplant parm.

When she was a teenager, she used to work in an locally owned Italian restaurant, which is where she first learned to love eggplant parm! She always wanted to make a lighter version though, and that’s how this recipe (see link above for that new recipe on the blog) was born. She bakes instead of frying the eggplant and then makes little individual stacks so they don’t drown in sauce and cheese (not that that’s a bad thing ever!).

I’ve put some pictures in the recipe, but see the slideshow below for more! Definitely one of my favorite homemade Italian meals.

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I was super excited to have brunch with my friend Rosemary, I hadn’t seen her since my birthday in November! It had been wayy too long. We’ve mentioned this restaurant on the blog already (see the link here for #WFW #15), however, I had never been and neither had she and I had heard great things!

There’s a mini coffee shop right as you walk in, along with some local goods and a bar with a really cool back splash. They have a really nice outdoor and entertaining space too!

I started with a coffee latte (made with almond milk), and I added in their house made salted caramel syrup, which was delish! Reminded me of the coffees I had when I was in France, they stock Methodical Coffee which is an amazing local company!

This was in a cool neighborhood next to a park so it was a great midpoint location for the two of us. Would definitely go back or check them out for another meal later on!

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So how was your weekend Foodie Friends? What are your favorite chill bars to hang out in on Fridays that we should check out?? 🥂🍹🍻 Sound out in the comments below or let me know your suggestions of what dishes or places we should visit next. As always, feel free to like, comment, & share 🤗