Whimsy Travel: Berry Hill Resort: South Boston, VA

We were able to make the trek to Berry Hill for my birthday. The mister ended up surprising me and it was funny once I figured out where we were headed. I grew up about half an hour from South Boston and if you would have told me ten years ago I would be going for a weekend away there, I probably would have laughed in your face and...the joke would have been on me. 

I drive through South Boston and Halifax on the way to visit my parents at least once every six weeks. I have loved seeing the changes over the past few years and the best part is that the town hasn't lost it's small town character. I can't even rmember the amount of times I spent there growing up. There are quite a few delicious and I mean really excellent high quality restaurants and the resort itself gave us no real reason to even leave if we didn't want to. 

Driving up the tree lined road and seeing the house just put my mind in relaxation mode and taking time to test out the rocking chairs on the grande porch was one of my favorite moments of the weekend. 

They have the main restaurant which we devoured our brunch, still drooling over my banana brulee french toast!  They also have a more casual tavern. Admittedly, I prefered the tavern. It just screams 'history' and the wings were so divine! They had really good drink specials going on as well. 

Our room was really spacious and had a great balcony with a nice view where we enjoyed chocolate covered strawberries and champagne. Then, my husband treated me to a spa service that was severely needed and what a treat it was! I loved the atmosphere and they offered an abundance of services on short notice! Afterwards we took a dip in the heated pool and spent some time in the sauna. 

If you are looking for a weekend away, I definitely recommend the Berry Hill Resort. It's about an hour from Lynchburg and an hour or so from Raleigh/Durham.

Warm Goat Cheese & Salsa Dip

I have a super easy but very tasty appetizer for you all today as part of the Fiesta blog hop!  More and more lately I have found myself on the hunt for simple recipes. I have tendencies to go all out for gatherings to serve really creative and festive dishes for my friends. I still love doing those things, I have just come to a happy medium. I was becoming so flustered and spending a lot of money and only recently have I leaned more towards simple dishes but ones that still packed a powerful punch in the taste department. I think today's appetizer fulfills those standards. 

I am really pumped to be a part of today's blog hop that is all about Mexican food. Yum, my mouth is already watering imagining what the other bloggers have prepared for us as well! When we did the Italian hop last month, I added quite a few new dishes to our repertoire! The idea for my dish today came from one of my favorite local restaurants, Tazza Kitchen. My go to appetizer there is the  warm goat cheese and marinara dip they serve. It is a hit with everyone and I think this version is pretty delish in its own right!

I just used a plain goat cheese this time, but a flavored one would probably work just as well. Our local grocer had an onion and garlic version, YUM! I used a homemade taco seasoning but you could easily use store bought or any spices that you like. I used a homemade salsa verde and some shredded Mexican blend cheeses. 

The best part about this is that from start to finish takes less than 20 minutes with only about 5 minutes of prep time!

Ingredients

4 oz goat cheese log

2 tbsp taco seasoning

1/4 cup salsa

1/4 cup shredded cheese

preheat oven to 325 degrees. 

Pour taco seasonings onto a plate, roll goat cheese in seasonings until completely covered. Place log in a small baking dish and, using your fingers, press down to flatten goat cheese. Pour the salsa over the goat cheese and top with the shredded cheese. 

Bake about 10-15 minutes or until shredded cheese has begun to melt. 

Serve with tortilla chips. And probably a margarita or even a Paloma.

You can mix this up to suit your taste in quite a few ways. Maybe mix the goat cheese and some queso. I think I would like it with a more spicy and robust red salsa next time. and I want to try it with shredded queso vs the Mexican blend. You really can't go wrong!

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