Hi Ben!
Ben and Ryan met years ago through the men’s soccer league team they both played on in Orlando and he’s been a good friend of ours ever since. Ben appeared on the blog many times when we lived in Orlando and also attended our annual Friendsgiving party when we lived in Ocala, but this was our first time having him up to our new home in North Carolina.
Ben arrived in town on Friday and ever since his arrival, we’ve been running around town, eating lots of delicious food and soaking up all the beautiful autumn sunshine we could during his short visit.
The highlight from our weekend with Ben occurred on Saturday night after an awesome two-hour hike at Lake Norman State Park. Once we arrived back home, we showered and immediately headed into the city for dinner at Basil, a local Thai restaurant.
(For those who asked via Instagram, my top is from H&M and my skirt is from Express. Both were under $15!)
Ryan first dined at Basil when he traveled to Charlotte for work last year and came home absolutely raving about the food. It’s been on our list of places to go for dinner since we moved to the area and on Saturday night, we finally had the chance to take Ben and enjoy a bunch of delicious dishes.
The restaurant was smaller and more intimate than I expected for a popular uptown restaurant, but it was lively and a definite hot spot!
Once we sat down and ordered our drinks, we perused the menu and decided that sharing a bunch of dishes was the way to go. We started with two appetizers (the fresh basil rolls and fried wontons) and a large bowl of the Tom Kha Gai soup that easily served three of us.
We knew our meal was off to a great start because all of our starters were fabulous. (The soup was a definite favorite!)
For our main course, we split four entrees: The fried duck salad, Pad Thai, crispy red curry duck and the basil mixed seafood with brown rice.
We enjoyed every single one! There wasn’t one entree that didn’t get rave reviews from our table and we loved each fresh, flavorful dish.
After dinner, we talked about going out downtown, but while we were eating we started chatting about what we’d eat for our last meal on earth (which, yes, sounds like rather morbid dinner conversation, but it was interesting!) and we quickly came to the conclusion that the three of us share an intense love for ice cream. Ben suggested bringing one of our “last meals” to life and within 30 minutes, we found ourselves roaming the aisles of Target, selecting four different flavors of ice cream to bring back home for a rockin’ Saturday night ice cream sundae bar.
It was basically my heaven.
Once we arrived home, we each filled our bowls with a smorgasbord of ice cream, peanut M&Ms and whipped cream.
(Hi Sadie!)
You better believe I went to bed feeling like one happy little lady! It was a rather random Saturday night but any Saturday night that involves lots of ice cream is a good one in my book!
I’ll be sure to share a little more about our weekend activities later today, but right now I’m heading out to teach a barbell strength class. I’ll see ya later this afternoon!
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I love that picture of you and Ryan! Your outfit is adorable!
And my last meal on Earth would probably involve tons of cheese!
Anything with peanut butter and chocolate is basically my heaven, yuuum!
Your outfit is so, so cute! I love it & you look fantastic of course! All of that food looked awesome too!
My immediate go-to as my last meal on Earth would have to be a huge buffet involving any and all Italian food/pastries/drinks – everything. 🙂 Glad you had a great weekend! I love random Saturday (or any day…) nights – they are always my favorite!
Love that skirt, so pretty!! Ah that sounds like a perfect Saturday night. I have to agree I think ice-cream would probably be my last meal on earth or cupcakes, either way I’d be happy!! All those ice-cream flavours are delicious, you can’t go wrong creating your own sundae!! Have fun teaching, hope it goes well 🙂
((((whispers)))) this resembles last night with the eight year old.
xoxoxo
ha — we said we felt like little kids, too!! woohooo for ice cream! 🙂
I just loved your outfit! Where is your jacket from, I have been looking for a jacket like that. I could totally go for some ice cream right now and its only 8am!
The brand is Cole Haan but I got it on RueLaLa two years ago! 🙂
Ice cream is the best treat ever!!! I could never have enough! Nice selection!
Your outfit is too cute! And now I need to go get sundae ingredients ASAP 🙂
So fun! And you look gorgeous!
Well Ben is super cute!
Aaaaaagreed! I’m surprised more people haven’t said so!
I have no idea what my last meal would be! I think I’d need a small dish from every kind of ethnic group! Dessert would be ice cream-maybe phish food by ben and jerry’s or anything with chocolate and large chunks of goodness.
Is that Sadie in a vest….awww, too cute for words!!!!!!
What a fun weekend! Sundae bars are awesome and even better when shared with good friends who suggest it!
My last meal on earth would be pizza! Since I’m lactose intolerant I haven’t had pizza in foreverrr! Bring on the cheese!
I love the skirt, I have leggings on right now that are the same pattern!
Looks like you 3 had a blast, I remember being the 3rd in many a great couple of friends, good stuff!
Loved your outfit from Saturday night! The best part about your sundae party was the spontaneousness (is that really a word?!) that led to memories you’ll remember for a long time. Can’t wait to hear more about your weekend 🙂
Super cute outfit! Ice cream sundae bar for the win 🙂
haha I love the make your own sundae idea!! My bf and I do that all the time and looove it! We haven’t tried multiple ice cream flavors at once, though– guess we need to do that!
I bought salted caramel ice cream this weekend! Ice cream would totally be on my list too!
Ummm this sounds like my ideal weekend night! And weekday night. Loved your outfit, super cute. Can’t wait to hear more about your weekend.
I haven’t done a legit sundae in forever. I love m&ms on ice cream!
Super cute outfit! Great bargains. Good luck teaching your class!
your outfit is adorable!!! love it all! and YAY for ice cream nights 🙂 those are the best!!
You are adorable! I noticed Sadie was wearing a cute little sweater in the ice cream pic (too cute)! We are adopting a baby Vizsla in 2 weeks and I cannot wait to pick her up!!! My husband and I were at TJ Maxx this weekend and I bought her the cutest white sweater with a fur collar, and he of course made fun of me for it 😉 I was wondering, do you put her in sweaters a lot during the winter – do Vizslas tend to get cold easily with their short hair?
I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!!! Vizslas are the BEST! To answer your questions though… Sadie gets cold SO easily and is such a baby about it so we always bundle her up when it’s chilly outside. Sadie is also an odd one in that she likes wearing clothes (so strange!) and gets excited when she sees us grab one of her sweaters or jackets.
That’s adorable! What a fun idea to have an “ice cream bar,” ha — it reminds me of my childhood birthday parties. ; ) I love how balanced your lifestyle is, Julie!
Basil is here in Charleston too. It’s delicious!
I’m loving your outfit! I’m not sure I could pull it off, but you are totally rockin’ it. And yes, I totally agree, any evening that includes lots of ice cream is a win in my book! 😉
You look great in your outfit and so does Sadie in her sweater! I want to order my dogs some festive Christmas collars soon. What kinds of ice cream did you all get? My eyes are 2 inches from the computer trying to see!
What a fun night!! I love doing a sundae station with my boyfriend! Love your outfit!
Basil has been on our (rather long) list of restaurants to try in Charlotte as well. Everything looked amazing. Glad you guys had fun with your friend!
You look great Julie! For my last dessert on earth I would probably choose ice cream or cheese cake or carrot cake – so many decisions. Last food would probably be sushi!
Our family is a huge fan of ice cream as well. You must try making this hot fudge recipe sometime. It is seriously the best got fudge recipe ever and will spoil you because you soon realize how bad every other hot fudge is sub par to this one! It’s from the chocolate queen Maida Heatter, who writes amazing cookbooks on chocolate!
The World’s Best Hot Fudge Sauce
Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Chocolate Desserts
½ cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons sweet butter (unsalted, Dad), cut in small pieces.
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
Pinch of salt
½ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted (Maida says, “It must be Dutch to have the right color and flavor”)
Heat cream and butter over moderate heat until the butter has melted and the cream just comes to a low boil. Add both sugars and stir for a few minutes until they are completely dissolved. Maida suggests that, “The surest test is to taste; cook and taste until you do not feel any undissolved granules in your mouth.”
Reduce the heat and add the salt and cocoa powder; briskly stirring with a thin wire whisk until smooth.
Remove from heat and serve immediately. You may also store any leftovers in the refrigerator and reheat slowly in the top of a double boiler. The hot fudge sauce will become too thick to spoon out after refrigeration, so you should place the jar or glass storage dish in a bowl of hot water until enough melts to pour out.
YUMMMMMM. Thanks so much for taking the time to share this!
If I was part of your group, no one else would get any of the Ben and Jerry’s. Sorry.:)
Your outfit is amazing as usual!
That picture of you and Ryan is adorable! Definitely one to frame. And I love your Express skirt. So cute!!!
You and Ryan look beyond picture perfect in that Insta-photo!!
Thank you, Kailynn! <3 Also, I love the spelling of your name! So pretty.
“…any Saturday night that involves lots of ice cream is a good one in my book!” <—- THIS. Ice cream and fun people. What more could you ask for?
1. Is Ben single?
2. Can we have more Ben on the blog?
3. I love your outfit!!
🙂
Haha!! He IS single! 🙂 And I’ll try to convince him to come visit again soon!!
Haha, well if he ever decides to visit Canada, you know where to send him 😉
Sounds like the perfect end to the night! Ice cream would definitely be included in my last meal on earth.
I’ve been dying to try that Ben & Jerry’s Peanut Butter Fudge Core flavor- how was it?
SO, SO GOOD! The peanut butter cups were amazing and the core was so thick and fudgy! Definitely worth trying soon!! 🙂
What a fun weekend! Oh and I LOVE your skirt!!
That’s a really good Saturday night! And I’m loving your outfit. It’s so great to have friends in town, especially when they share your love of food!
Holy YUM!!!! I had a huge bowl of double chocolate chip Moose Tracks last night, and am not mad about it one bit 🙂
What a great photo of you and Ryan! Definitely frame worthy!
If it was acceptable, I could survive on ice cream alone!
You and me both!!!
Hi!
Completely random but I was wondering if you could share how you curl your hair. I love your curl in the pic of you and Ryan. Do you use rollers or a curling iron?
Love your blog! Thank you for sharing your life with us!
Jenny
That sounds like the perfect Saturday night. Btw your hair looks amaze!
I was just thinking the other day about what I would eat if I could have anything I wanted, and ice cream was my answer too! I’ve been wanting to try that Ben & Jerry’s, it looks soooo good. I might have to have a sundae night soon 🙂
Looks like a delicious dinner. It’s been a while since I’ve had Thai food, but I’ve been craving sushi lately. I don’t eat dairy anyone since I found it was irritating my digestive track so my Saturday night is a good one when it involves cake of any kind. Chocolate vegan cake for the win this weekend!
I have to say Ben is pretty cute!!!!!
Ha! I’ll pass this along! He’s also British… 😉
Cute with an accent?!?! Even better. If he still lives in the Orlando area, I live in Kissimmee. (Hint,hint 😉
He’s definitely up for meeting new people! He lives in Metro West. 🙂 Shoot me an email (pbfingers@gmail.com) if you’d like me to pass your contact info along!!
Such a cute weekend. Ice cream is definitely one of my favorite meals (especially good ice cream). It looks like a great way to finish a yummy dinner.
OMG I love it! You guys seem like my kind of people!!! Definitely checked the comments to see if I was the only one who noticed how cute Ben was! haha. And as always, you and Ryan are a perfect pair!! 🙂