Bang and roll

Happy almost Friday all! Not a lot going on over here just getting ready to finish up working my temp gig. It will be actually be somewhat bittersweet since I’ve gotten to know the guys there pretty well (well for being there seven days that is) and yes, all guys. There is no other women in the office which is very refreshing. I love my girls but I hate working with women. There tends to be so much drama and backstabbing that comes along with it and guys may bring drama, 95% of the time if they have a problem with you, they will go ahead and tell you and I can respect that.

When I do see the guys in the office, it’s great but that’s usually only for an hour each day since they go out into the field and sales calls. And the rest of the day is lonely. I would like to thank Youtube for helping me kill hours whether it be watching comedy

cute doggie videos

or listening to music

I love the new Trina song but this will always be my favorite

And that’s about it. I went to Bonefish Grill last night and can confidently say it’s my favorite Wednesday night place thanks to their $5 Bang Bang Shrimp special! They call it Bang Wednesday which I think goes along well with the notion of hump day.

I’ve never had the Bang Bang shrimp before but have been told multiple times how wonderful it was. The masses don’t lie, the shrimp was zesty and tasty. I love the bang bang sauce however next time I will get the sauce on the side since it was doused in it. A bonus is that it’s served over a bed of greens so it’s like a little shrimp salad for $5.

$3 glasses of house wine are equally enticing as well

And since sushi one time this week wasn’t enough, I went again for lunch today to Sushi Rock. This place is right near where I’m working for the week. It’s very unassuming in a tiny strip mall but I read online that they have lunch specials with a decent review so why not?

The first thing I noticed was there wasn’t a single soul in the place. Hmmmmm, it was still early so I didn’t want to judge them too early on. The second thing I noticed was their menu

All of their menu covers are record covers which goes with the name Sushi Rock. I absolutely loved that idea and the chance that I got a menu with the album of one of my favorite cd’s of all time made it even better.

Like Bluefin, they had both Japanese and Thai lunch specials that come with either miso soup or ginger dressing

My dad got his food first and I’ll admit it, I was having a case of food envy with his chicken and steak teriyaki. They didn’t do skimp on pieces of meat and it was loaded with tons of veggies!

He doesn’t like broccoli so I stole a few pieces while waiting for my lunch the #4 Special with sushi, sashimi and shrimp tempura

Holy cannoli—so. much. food. And only for $10, the same price for my lunch on Tuesday but with more sushi with substance. Sushi Rock didn’t have the chic, hip atmosphere like Bluefin but more of a quaint, neighborhood feel to it which I actually dig more. I don’t need to feel sexy when I eat sushi, I need to feel like I’m getting a good deal. I definitely got a good deal at Sushi Rock and can’t wait to visit again!

Do you work with more men, women or is it equal? Do you prefer to work with one more than the other?

Anyone else getting their bang on??

Red, White & Zink

On Thursday night, I attended my *teardrop* last Yelp Charlotte Elite event—-Red, White & Zink at Zink. American Kitchen

I wasn’t completely stoked for an outdoor event since it felt extra steamy and sultry this week but give me an open patio with cushioned chairs and lots of room and my vote can be swayed.

Since it’s an Elite event, we were presented with our ultra cool Elite gift of the year. Who knew there was a gift of the year?

I present……

Awesome red watches

Apparently,  I really enjoyed March 7th since I didn’t change my settings for a good hour (who am I fooling, I had someone change it for me since I’m not technical)Which matched my outfit, even better!

I shall take the watch along with me on my travels since I don’t own a watch.

Beer provided by New Belgium and wine provided by Three Girls

I instantly fell in love with their pinot noir

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And as always, I said I was going to leave after one or two drinks but we know that never happens. Sigh, how I long to be a woman of my word!

We also had some live music by Jonathan Brooks. This guy rocked! Ok, so I can’t really name anything he sang but I know I was jammin that night.

As for the food? WOW.

Some servers came out with trays of appetizers when we were having drinks

Duck confit flatbread

There were a few other appetizers going around such as the flatbread, tomato, basil and mozzarella kebabs and pork bellies. The main feature of the evening was their sliders

Both of the sliders were amazing however I heard there was a turkey burger one and another beef one topped with pimento cheese but didn’t see them so in my mind they really didn’t exist. The lamb one was excellent thanks to the tomato jam and the fact that , hello, it’s lamb and lamb is amazing. The angus one was so succulent it just melted in my mouth. Add the fact that it was on a mini pretzel roll, the salty taste of that and juiciness of the meat was the perfect combination.

Zink used to be located in Uptown Charlotte but closed and relocated. However, I like to think they stepped up their menu game with the move. While  I went to Zink a few different times  when it was Uptown, I can’t remember it. The food was that forgettable that I couldn’t even tell you if I had a salad, sandwich, entrée, etc. However, this experience was a complete 180 from when they were located Uptown. Maybe it was the ambience of their patio, live music and oh yeah, everything was free? Color me surprised because I was blown away. They also handed out coupons for free desserts that are valid through the rest of the year. Score.

The one thing that made it a sad evening was that it was my last event as a Charlotte Yelp Elite member. I’ve been to so many awesome events that have introduced me to not only new restaurants and vendors in the are but have also introduced me to an amazing group of people. Thanks Charlotte Yelp for everything in the past year, it’s been a wonderful experience.

Until we meet again, See you on Yelp, Charlotte Yelpers!

Distracted

So a little late for a weekend recap post but better late that never right? Yet another unexciting weekend and I am fine with that. Sometimes, I just want to do nothing social and get stuff done around the house.

  I think by the end of the weekend, Lincoln was ready for me to go back to work. Maybe because I  made him partake in a photo shoot?  Since he is a part Poodle, I figured he should sport a beret to show off his heritage!

Ok, I could see how he hates me doing stuff like this but it’s just too adorable to pass up. And this is what I do when I’m bored. I really do need to pick up a hobby.

Saturday night was spent in, which worked out perfectly since it was raining cats and dogs. When it’s raining, there is no way you can get me to go out, I am completely fine with staying in.

I had a dinner of leftover pizza along with a salad and some vino

Two glasses deep, I had the grand idea to make 3 Ingredient Muffins.

I used Spice Cake instead of the Devil’s Food Cake it calls for and used 1/4 bag of chocolate chips.

I love the Spice Cake addition and will use it again!

On Sunday I got alot of errands done in the morning then went to the gym and had a killer workout! I did 35 minutes on the Crossramp, doing weight loss interval with a resistance of 7, 10 minutes rowing then did an upper body workout including:

shoulder press (15 lbs 13 reps x3 sets)

bicep curls (15 lbs 13 reps x3 sets)

side bends (25 lbs 25 reps x 2 sets)

tricep extension (15 lbs 13 reps x3 sets)

concentration curls (15 lbs 13 reps x3 sets)

I felt great after this workout! I came home and replenished with a smoothie made with almond milk, ground flax-seed, fresh strawberries, frozen strawberries and Spiru-Tein Blueberries & Cream protein powder

Holy yum, this smoothie was fantastic! I love the combination of fresh and frozen strawberries and slurped this down! Oddly enough, I didn’t even get a brain freeze so that was a bonus.

I made chicken stir fry for dinner in an attempt to use up some of my quinoa that I bought last summer. I swear, I feel like I’m never going to go through this four pound feedbag but I have definitely put a dent in it. I wanted to use the quinoa for two reasons 1) obviously to use it up 2) to add some more protein to my meal since it packs an average of 14g of protein per cup.

I cooked two chicken breasts then set aside while the veggies were cooking. In the mix-snap peas, broccoli, bean sprouts and mushrooms. I whipped up a quick marinade of soy sauce, garlic, red pepper, black pepper and ginger and poured on the veggies while cooking. When near done, I added the chicken back in to simmer with the soy sauce mixture and soon enough it was done.

I laid the veggies and the chicken mixture over the quinoa. This tasted just like take out and filled me up for the rest of the evening–success!

Also, I’m distracted as of late.

Why you ask? Here we go……

*Work

I am getting ready to give my portfolio  away at work (about 150 accounts) so I am trying to make sure everything that needs to be done is done. I went into work for three hours on Sunday to play catch up and still didn’t get everything done so I am going to try my best to get it done within the next few weeks. And I have a few people that I am supposed to screw over tomorrow and not looking forward to it.  So, if you have seen an increase of drinking on my behalf, the job is why.

However on a brighter note, only 13 days left!  Along with that, I have an internship that I am starting so that’s starting to take up some more time in my schedule. It’s unpaid but it will give me some experience and will be able to put it in my resume. So, if I don’t post as much as I normally do, that is why.

*Family

I talked to my parents on Sunday and they told me that my dad was in the hospital last week since he was feeling dizzy so they wanted to check his blood and his heart. I love how they didn’t tell me this until four days after the fact.  I didn’t catch the whole story from him but they want to run an ekg on him to check on his heart and there is a chance he may need a pacemaker. He had a heart attack three years ago so this worries me and to top that off, my parents don’t have health insurance so that is just one more thing to worry about. 

*Boy drama

An ex boyfriend of mine may be coming into town next month. He says he is going to but I have a feeling he is going to bail given his track record

*Location location location

My lease is up in July and I still have no clue where I am going to end up. Originally I thought I wanted to move north but now that spring is coming around, I’m not so sure about that. I definitely don’t want to stay in Charlotte but want to get out of the South and move somewhere reasonably priced. Unfortunately, the areas I would really love to move to on this coast cost an arm and a leg (Chicago and DC) If only I could afford to live in San Diego!

*Myself

I’m going through some personal issues with myself right now and doing a lot of self-reflection of who I am and where I am in life. Bottom line is, as much as I love myself and think I am bomb.com, I’m not 100% happy with the person I’ve become-inside and out. I have a lot to work on in that aspect. I choose not to talk about it on here because it would be Debbie Downer  and I really don’t want to get into details but that’s what’s up for me.

*Oral hygiene

Part of my molar fell out the other day, I don’t know how or more importantly, where it went?. WTF?

So that’s whats going on with me, what’s distracting you lately?

Occupying the night

Happy Friday Eve! Glad to see you all liked the post about Cecil’s stay in Charlotte. We had some great times and even though Cecil drank alot, he wasn’t hungover not one bit….strange. I’m happy to say that Cecil’s next stop will be in Boston, he is so excited for it since he is a huge history buff (ok, ok and Sad Adams fan!)

So this week has been a long one, which is weird since this weekend went by so quickly. Days have been dragging on at work and I am getting everything finalized there. They haven’t announced my last day yet but my whole work crew knows so I’m just counting down the days at this point (16 more days if you’re curious). I’ve been absolutely exhausted when I get home so my nights have consisted of:

*Quick meals

I love to cook but this entire week have just felt unmotivated to do so or have been mentally exhausted. I wanted to order in a couple of times but I stuck to my guns (and wallet) and decided to dine at home.

 Leftover enchiladas and salad

Seriously, how is Mexican food even better leftover?

-Easy, half assed chicken parmesan

I used whole wheat flour, chopped parsley, garlic and red pepper flakes, coated the chicken in it then cooked on the stovetop

I think this was the first time I didn’t have any shredded mozzarella on hand so I just topped with grated parmesan cheese. I also had cooked spaghetti sitting in the freezer so I microwaved that for about six minutes. That definitely helped me time wise since I didn’t have to wait for the water to boil, cook, drain, etc. And  there you have it-a quick, easy meal that I could also eat for lunch!

*Vino

*New restaurants

On Wednesday night, I went to the Crepe Cellar in NoDa. I’ve heard fabulous things about the Crepe Cellar from friends and reviews for both brunch and dinner. I love crepes any time of the time-whether it be sweet or savory so I was excited to finally check it out. This is a very small place with only nine tables in the entire restaurant with a small bar area so you have to be sure to get there at the right time or be prepared to wait since they don’t take reservations.

I started off with a much-needed beer-Belhaven Twisted Thistle

Ok, so everything on the menu looked good. They had po boys, french baguette pizzas, pastas and more but I couldn’t go to the Crepe Cellar without order some yummy, warm crepes so  I got the Queen City crepes-roasted chicken, bacon, cheddar topped with oven roasted tomato dressing.

Check out that lovely purple slaw!

The crepes were good but nothing out of this world. Perhaps I had my heart set on some crepes that would make me want to re-enact the deli scene from “When Harry Met Sally”  but sadly this wasn’t the case. They tasted like a hot wrap I could’ve ordered at an Applebee’s or elsewhere and was missing the magic touch.  Also, they didn’t have that much of a selection of crepes-about five or six entrees and the same number of dessert crepes. I would expect a place with the name Crepe Cellar to have more of a variety of crepes but I guess that’s not what they are going for.

*Workouts

Some lackluster….

When I went on Tuesday night, I just could not get into it. I did 30 minutes on the Precor elliptical and then just left-no cool down, strength training, nothing. I wasn’t in the mood to work out so I’m glad I got a little movement in but it was definitely a meh workout.

On the other hand, tonight was a kick ass workout!

It was a complete 180 from my workout the other night, I did 35 minutes on the Precor AMT then various upper body strength training such as chest press (40 lbs 13 reps x 3 sets), row (80 lbs 13 reps x 3 sets), lateral pull down (60 lbs 13 reps x 3 sets) and shoulder press (20 lbs 13 reps x 2 sets). When I walked out of there, I felt rejuvenated and ready to take on the world! Even if the dude on the AMT next to me smelled of sweat and sweet man juice and the other dude next to me was hacking up a lung. Hello, if you’re hacking up a lung, maybe you shouldn’t be working out? That’s why there is a thing called rest.

Speaking of fitness, for those of you who blog about fitness, have you joined FitFluential yet? FitFluential is a new company founded by Kelly Olexa and Jennifer Edwards  and it’s a wonderful way to put your blog out there while connecting  with some of the best brands around. I highly suggest you all check it out, you can sign up here ! You can also find FitFluential on Facebook and Twitter.

What’s been occupying your nights?

That’s amore!

On Thursday, I attended yet another fabulous Yelp Elite event at Vivace — Rat Pack Rendezvous! I’ve been to Vivace once before and only got to experience the downstairs bar and dining area. The event was held on the second floor, I was curious about the second floor since I have never been up there and saw people go up there when I went before yet no one ever came down, hmmm. What are you all about elusive second floor? Turns out they have a bar, open floor and gorgeous outdoor patio area up there.

It would be a gorgeous view of Uptown Charlotte on a clear day but it was overcast so there wasn’t a lot to see. The patio also faces the greenway and downstairs outdoor seating where they have live music in the summer. I could totally see myself lounging here in the summertime listening to some live jams….with a cold drink of course!

Wine was provided by Palm Bay International-Feudi di San Gregio and Bertrani wines not to mention beer provided by Miller Coors-Peroni.

And of course, there was a wonderful spread of Italian food from Vivace

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And boy did Vivace treat us well! They had charcuterie and cheese plates, flatbread pizza, mushroom pizza, fresh bread with chutney and balls.

Lots and lots of balls!

The first ball selection were the now-famous risotto balls.

I’ve never heard of such thing together but like all great combinations in history, I like both so the idea of the two together seemed like heaven. They had two selections of risotto balls-shrimp and mushroom which were equally delightful. I had to try both a few times just to be sure they were tasty. You never know how Italian wine can mess with your tastebuds so trying them multiple times was essential.

The second set of balls was dessert balls. I was actually too full to even try them but I heard they have chocolate truffles and balls with a raspberry glaze.

There was some entertainment for the evening- a Dean Martin impersonator which was good because I needed a distraction from the risotto balls.

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Good times had by all!

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What’s your favorite Italian dish?

Free antioxidants

 Since things were so crazy with my allergies last week, I completely forgot to post about the wine and chocolate pairing at Petit Philippe courtesy of Yelp that I attended. Petit Philippe is a “small, locally owned and operated wine and chocolate retail store with tasting room”

I’ve driven by this place a few times but wasn’t sure what it was about. When I heard they had both chocolate and wine, I got excited super quick because I love both items and the two together would be my idea of heaven.

On the wine menu:

*Trevisiol Prosecco Extra Dry

*Kermit Lynch Sunflower Cuvee Cotes de Rhone

*Esca Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

*Venge Silenciuex  Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

We gathered around and started off with the white wines. They told us about the company that makes it and what sets it apart from other vineyards. I was listening and sipping, well more sipping but I was waiting for the chocolate to come out and play.

Hold on, is that what I think it is?

CHOCOLATE!! It finally made an appearance!

There were four different kinds of chocolates offered-I wish I would remember what chocolates these were but give me some wine and no way to notate what it is and yeah, I don’t remember much. I remember a mojito one (sounds disgusting, surprisingly good though) and a salted caramel chocolate (my favorite). All the chocolates were fantastic, rich and made by a chocolatier in house….I think, I didn’t get that part but I did see someone’s card with the title of chocolatier. How did I miss out on choosing that career path? Once again, my advisor in college did me wrong.  My favorite wine of the night:

You can tell I like it by how I’m throwing it back like it’s a beer!

Sophisticated I am not. I can’t tell you if a wine is full-bodied, has certain aromatic characters, etc. I can tell you if I like it or not and that’s alright with me. Now if I could only put my damn pinky down when I drink….

Second runner-up

Definitely more of a red girl.

  All in all, it was a fun evening but I am not sure I would stop by Petit Philippe on my own.  They didn’t have a menu of different pairings for chocolate and wines, didn’t have sheets of paper and pens to write down what you liked and didn’t offer a lot of seating. They did offer a huge stock of wines to buy so it would be a great place to stop by to pick up something for a special occasion but that’s about it. I just don’t know when I would go there and what for if I don’t know what type of pairings they have.

Also, when I went to their Facebook page on the info section, the owners say “btw, we’re married”  Really? You’re business owners, act professional and stop talking about your marital status. If it were a personal page it would be different but on a business page?  That kinda turned me off.

I am definitely appreciative that I got to stop by there for a fun, free evening courtesy of Yelp and Petit Philippe but don’t see it as my new go to place for wine.

PS-Love Chick Fil A? I do! But definitely not as much as Christina from Hungry Meets Healthy. Homegirl slice should be the Chick Fil A ambassador wearing a cow print tiara and sash at all times since she is always pimping Chick Fil A out. You all should show her your love of Chick Fil A!

Is it so wrong?

To buy tempeh on sale for $2 yet have no idea what to do with it?

I made tempeh once and it was meh. I am willing to give it another shot sooooooo, if you have suggestions on how to cook up this bad boy–let me know!

To think that the idea of public restrooms are nasty? When you think about it, you’re within arms reach of another person doing one of three things (hopefully that’s all), it’s kinda nasty when I think about. Even with all the advances that modern-day bathrooms have made, it just doesn’t sit well with me knowing someone is right there and I can reach out to them if need me. And what’s up with people taking the stall right next to you when there are tons of other stalls open? Don’t worry, no pictures here.

To think that Chick-Fil-A’s new Spicy Chicken Biscuit isn’t even that spicy?

They really need to kick it up a notch since I threw buffalo sauce on there and was without a mouth on fire.

To have no plans for dinner? I whipped up a bowl of brown rice with a Laughing Cow wedge, bbq tofu and green onions and it was one of the most simple and fantastic things I’ve made yet.

To get sushi from Harris Teeter after seeing it made right in front of me even though I swore off their sushi after a bad experience?

Who cares if I’m not sticking to my guns–it was fantastic!

To like Jennifer Hudson chunkier? I think she looks so ordinary now and I don’t think I could spot her out of a crowd. Now that I think about it-add Drew Carey to the list.

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To be proud of myself for not choosing fast food as drunk food? I went out for drinks with some of my old co-workers on Friday night after work to catch up on things. One of the guys bought me a Red Bull + vodka (which I haven’t had in ages) and enjoyed some $1 beers and it felt good to unwind since I never really do happy hour anymore. McDonald’s or Wendy’s would be my usual go to for drunk food but instead I went to Nothing But Noodles to use my last Groupon I had for it (they had an offer for $10 worth of food for $5 so I bought three last summer).

The noodles weren’t singing to me but I soon found out Nothing But Noodles is a bunch of liars because they did offer items other than noodles, who knew? Trying to be a healthy drunk, I ordered pot stickers and the Asian chopped salad and got a Diet Coke. I only had to pay $1.50 for all of that so I was a happy gal and was on my merry way to go scarf it down at home.

To still be unsure as to whether this was an orange or grapefruit?

It had qualities of both fruits and yes, while it was tasty, I don’t like how I couldn’t determine what it was.

To take a ridiculous amount of pictures of Lincoln just for shits and giggles?

That’s when he is looking at me that is. Most nights, this is my view of him

 

To dress like a homeless person all wrapped up at home so I don’t have to crank up the heat and drink wine straight out of the bottle?

Wait, don’t answer that one.

Oh yeah, this past week

I got all wrapped up in my posts about my birthday trip, Chobani giveaway and Frugal Friday, I really haven’t mentioned what’s been going on this week.

Sadly, not alot’s been going on. Just getting back into the swing of things at work, eating, going out and relaxing with my pup.

I did get to take a picture of something very random, that I am sure Amy will appreciate

I saw a picture of a computer chair in a parking garage that Amy snapped in her post on Wednesday. I commented saying how it reminds me of the extra chair in the handicap stall of our bathroom at work. Why an extra chair in there? No one knows why it’s there and I find it a bit odd. I like to think that some high-powered VP put it in there and makes her assistant sit in there with her while she does her business and spats out things that need to be done ASAP to her assistant. I drink a lot of water hence I run to the bathroom a number of times during the day but never heard anyone talking from that stall. Regardless, I want to get to the bottom of this because it makes me scratch my head each day.

Just ate some quick meals

I did a little bit of cooking since I had no frozen meals or anything on hand. I can do a frozen meal here and there but not every day. I made whole wheat spaghetti with a ground pork, spinach and onion sauce.

I browned the ground pork then carried over to a different pan where the spinach and onion were cooking with garlic, red pepper flakes and  extra virgin olive oil

Added the sauce to the mix to warm it up

And voila–dinner is served–topped with grated parmesan of course. Everything is better with grated parm!

I received some Christmas goodies from business partners I used to work with on Wednesday. I thought it was an adapter I needed for my second monitor but it turned out to be a huge basket full of chocolate. I automatically put a majority of the contents of the basket in the middle of the room for all to enjoy but had to take the non pareils and Coffee Go!

I went to Dolce Vita Winebar on Thursday night. They have sushi on Thursdays and Saturdays and it’s some of the best I’ve had in town. However, I don’t think a lot of people know about it which is totally fine with me–less time I have to wait for my fishy fish! I ran into Jessie after parking my car as her and her husband were just leaving from there and said the Avant Garde roll with spicy tuna was excellent (they put regular tuna on the roll) so I went in with an idea of what to order. I tried the Hawaiian Tropic roll last time I went but am always looking to try something new. Seeing it was Friday Eve and all, wine was definitely in order. I have two glasses of their Merlot. Umm, I seriously just typed it out as Merlow. Wow.

Hit. The. Spot. The thing I like about Dolce Vita is even though they are a wine bar, the selection isn’t overwhelming. They tend to carry one brand or each wine which is perfectly alright with me since I tend to spend a long time deciding on one thing.

I went with Jessie’s suggestion and ordered the Avant Garde Roll with spicy tuna on top along with a Salmon Avocado Roll.

Both were absolutely delicious and very fresh. You could tell it was good because pre-sushi the conversation was flowing and our table chatting up a storm. The food came and we all went silent except for a few “Oh my Gods” thrown in there.

On Friday, I met up with one of my old co-workers for lunch since I have a BOGO coupon for Qdoba.

I am trying to be more aware of what I take in as of late since the last few months have done nothing for my physique. I don’t even want to talk about how much weight I’ve gained but point is….I’m not happy about it. Looking at recent pictures of myself brings me down a lot and I am starting to see the girl I don’t like.  So, no more nachos, beer and other bad stuff that I’ve been indulging in lately and I am going to start tracking my food again on Livestrong.com so I can get a better picture of what my intake is each day. When I did this, I lost weight. I stopped because I thought I could handle it but my gut (literally my gut, not a gut feeling) says otherwise.

I ordered a taco salad with grilled chicken, black beans and guacamole. So I know I just said I am going to be more aware but I laid off the sour cream and cheese and avocados have the good fats right??

With another week under my belt, I was excited to do absolutely nothing on Friday night but relax with Linky. But I has a super surprise waiting for me at my door–my secret santa gift from Tina’s Blogger Gift Exchange!!

My secret santa was Anna from Active Fingers! I was excited to see this b/c I’ve never read her blog before and love finding new ones!

I wanted to rip  through everything to see what kind of goodies I got but I read her notecard of course where she told me what everything was and get this—all home made—love it!!

The first item was a gorgeous green scarf that she crocheted herself. I love love love scarves and green is one of my favorite colors (if you can’t tell by the shirt I am wearing or the background of this blog)

I’m not afraid to admit it ….I’ve worn it since last night with the exception of showering. It is that comfortable.

Then I saw a jar of homemade salsa—maybe she saw I make Mexican all the time? I am so happy to have some new salsa with me and love that it is fresh.

Next item was chocolate granola. I imagine this being gone very soon!

Then I saw some gifts for my little man! This makes me happy because he is the apple of my eye.

He scarfed that bad boy down in less than two minutes.

He also got a tiny ball to play with that jingles. Yay for distractions!

We love our gifts—thank you sooooo much Anna for putting together such a kind, home-made gift basket for us!

The rest of Friday night was pretty blah. I have some funky sinus thing going on right now so one side of my nose is stuffed while the other is runny along with a scratchy throat and watery eyes. It’s hot. I turned to instant gratification for dinner and went with an easy meal of soup and crescent rolls.

Such a fabulous combination and took no time to make. Yay for easy meals!

After that I watched some tv and then got motivated around 9P to clean out closet with stuff that I am donating to Good Will or Salvation Army.  I donated alot this summer when I moved but apparently, I have more crap that I don’t use. I wound up with this beauty of a pile:

Along with a vacuum and a shoe rack that aren’t pictured. Now to itemize everything and pack it up, ugh!

Do you make donations to thrift stores? If so, do you write it off on your taxes or don’t bother?

And remember, Monday night is the deadline for my Chobani giveaway–if you haven’t entered–what are you waiting for?? Unless you’re lactose intolerant of course or don’t like yogurt.

Loaf. hummus. wine

I was in a baking mood last night. On a never-ending quest to have my co-workers adore me, I planned on making Peppermint Puffs. I love anything that involves peppermint and white chocolate but had a feeling these would be dangerous so would bring the majority of the batch into work. Sadly, I bought the wrong kind of candy canes. I don’t know how I picked up fruity candy canes, which by the way, just sounds disgusting . They look like normal candy canes and would’ve thought the fruity ones would’ve had different tropical colored stripes but I thought wrong. I wanted to bake something though and decided to tweak this Pineapple Coconut Loaf Cake recipe by Martha Stewart I made before.

Substitutions I made

*Added mini chocolate morsels (about 1/4 of the bag) and chopped walnuts (1 cup) to the mix (instead of pineapples)

*Subbed apple sauce (1 cup) for the sour cream

*Used 3/4 sugar instead of the called for one cup

*Used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all-purpose flour instead of the 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

The mix

With that Chocolate Walnut Coconut Loaf Cake…..

It was delicious, the apple sauce gave it a moist texture but it still held together and it was sweet but not overly sweet. Speaking of not overly sweet, I forgot to mention an interesting remark towards me at Autozone yesterday. I went there before going to Value Village to pick up an air filter and an elderly papi chulo named Pedro was helping me. When I scanned my credit card, I grabbed a pen to sign the receipt but he told me that I had to sign on the machine. I would usually due that but I wasn’t quite awake yet and jokingly said “Oh sorry, I can’t function yet because I didn’t have my coffee” Then Mr. Pedro patted my hand and said “Maybe you don’t need coffee, maybe you need some love in your life.

W

T

F????

I’m sorry but how does that come into play? Is it that apparent that I am single or high-strung? Right there, I wanted to give him my mother’s phone number so they could discuss my love life. On a related note, I’ve been singing Bieber’s “Somebody to Love” all day long. I think Lincoln is starting to tire of it though since I’ve been singing to him and giving him kisses. Maybe Mr. Pedro was right? Sigh.

Going back to work today was rough. There was no traffic going in and I got to work in record time. There really wasn’t much to do today so we sat around schmoozing for a few hours and did some busy work in between. We decided to go out for lunch instead of dining in the break room and went to The King’s Kitchen. This is a newer restaurant in Uptown Charlotte  that’s a not for profit restaurant serving up southern cuisine. Their employees are people who are formerly homeless trying to get back on their feet, people in recovery and at risk teens. Plus they do a lot of giving back to the community so I feel warm and fuzzy about patronizing The Kings Kitchen. Their Country Fried Steak was the special of the day and nothing else was really singing to me.

Another thing I like about it is that although it is heavy, comfort food they don’t give you an insane amount of food. When I worked at Cracker Barrel (you can stop laughing, I worked there for four years), the country fried steak portion was absolutely ridiculous and easily two times the size of this one. It was just enough and I got mashed sweet potatoes, cole slaw and wilted spinach on the side and I received my card to the clean plate club in turn. The sweet potato mash was some of the best I’ve ever had and wish I would have gotten double of it. Needless to say, I was in a food coma afterwards and didn’t want to work the rest of the afternoon.

I went on another shopping spree after work….to Trader Joe’s! I don’t visit the location closest to me that much because I hate the parking scheme. It has a parking garage only and with having watching too many thrillers in my day, parking garages freak me out. Apparently, my inner wino was telling me to buy some wine so that I did

And my wine rack no longer looks pathetic with one bottle of wine sitting in it

I also remembered to pick up some hummus when I was there, it’s been waaaaay too long since I’ve been without

Which then turned into dinner out of pure laziness. I was going to have leftovers and cook up a side dish but I just wanted to put on my fleece pj pants and sit down. And I’m fine with that, I’m an adult so I can eat whatever I would like for dinner.

I was a huge fan of TJ’s Three Layer Dip when I tried it earlier this year, especially the cilantro hummus portion. But this time around, I really wasn’t feeling the cilantro. I think it was a bit too much for me so I stuck to noshing on the original and red pepper portion instead.

And with that, I want to go to bed. Just being back at work for one has left me mentally exhausted. Is it sad if it’s 7P and I want to go to bed?

I’m happy to see that you all approved of my ugly sweater. I think I am going to doll it up with lights and possibly jingle bells. I can’t wait to see everyone elses! Be sure to check out The Fitness Dish for my Friday 5 Websites I Visit When I Need a Laugh!

No kale no sale

 Hi all!

One of my fest friends from college in on Friday afternoon. We met up at my place then walked over to East Blvd Bar and Grill before taking her to the airport. I love when I see friends who I haven’t seen in a while and it feels like just yesterday you saw them. It was great catching up with her and reminiscing about our crazy times in college and I miss that. Yeah, I’ve made friends here but not like the friends I made in college who know me so well,  feel like I confide in as much, who really get me and I can be myself around. I just miss that.

They have a pretty awesome appetizer special until 6p everday with a mini appetizer menu. I was milling over the selections but knew I wouldn’t be eating later that night. I decided on the classic of chicken tenders and fried potato chips with a dijon honey mustard sauce and it was great. Sometimes you just can’t go wrong with bar food.

She got the nachos. I love when friends are down with me taking pictures of their food. And wtf, that is the small portion. I need to go back there again just for that.

Saturday, I went to Great Grapes wine festival I’ve wanted to attend this for a while and seem to miss it every year so I was excited to finally try it out. It’s a wine festival featuring North Carolina wineries along with other vendors such as food, jewelry and more. It was gorgeous when we got there but soon it was almost unbearable with the sun beating down and barely any shade near the vendors. It would have been perfect on an overcast day when it was cooler out but if I would have known it was going to be that hot out, I wouldn’t have gone. I am such a diva when it comes to hot weather and was just miserable.

 With wine, I am more of a dry wine girl and alot of the vendors where more sweet so I only found a few that I liked but it was nice to try new stuff. I thought I could handle a few sips of the sweet wines they offered but it was too sweet for me then stuck with dry’s. Had I know it was going to be so hot and more sweet wines, I would’ve stayed home but it was a good time regardless.

Wine slushee? Yes please. This was refreshing and tasty and totally worth the $5 (free tastings but $5 if you wanted a full glass of a drink)

The pretzels and crackers we ate in between tastings didn’t keep us too full so we went looking for nourishment afterwards. We went to Paco’s Taco’s, a new Mexican inspired restaurant in the South Park area. So the name seems like a Mexican place but  I was confused by the theme of it. It had a menu full of Mexican food, the decor seemed more Western Route 66 -sh and the music was random as well. Being one that loves random stuff, I enjoyed it even if I was perplexed Service was great and the manager even stopped by after to see how everything was and how we thought everything tasted and if it needed any more flavor or seasoning. I thought that was really awesome that they asked our opinion (even if they really didn’t care). I got the ceviche which was served like a parfait in a dessert cup so I found that different but it tasted fresh as well did the chips and salsa.

I woke up this morning (no hangover thankfully) and you can tell fall is definitely her! That being said, I was in a soup making mood today. I was toying with the idea of making chili but I’ve made that tons of times and decided to try a new soup recipe that I saw in a Rachael Ray Everyday issue I had sitting around from last winter. I tried the Bacon and Kale Minestra because I love bacon and wanted to try kale since I’ve never cooked with it. I see raves all over the blog world regarding kale–in stews, kale chips, etc. so I have been anxious to try it and figured this would be a flavorful and seasonal recipe to try it in. Everytime I hear the word kale, I am taken back to waitressing at Applebee’s in college where they would never let a plate leave the expo line without kale. They always used to say “No kale, no sale” and now I have that running through my head.

I also wanted to try this recipe because I am a sucker for all kinda of stews and thicker soups. I really don’t make brothy soups that much so figured it would be nice to mix it up a bit and the fact that it’s a healthy recipe made it even better! I made a few modifications—I used turkey bacon instead of regular (I had a coupon that allowed me to buy it for $.41 yesterday so I am using that up), I only used six cups of chicken stock instead of the called for eight because I mentioned, not a huge fan of the brothy soups and added black pepper to taste.

I love that the finishing garnish was grated parmesan—funky? I was like parmesan on kale and bacon soup and didn’t think it could be good but it was the perfect finishing touch! I recommend this recipe–it was easy to make and it made about six servings as opposed to the recipe which said it makes four. As always, you lie Rachael Ray. I have a love/hate relationship with her. I love her ideas but hate the cutesy names she calls things—stoups, sammies, etc. I love her personality but hate the overexaggeration that comes with it. I have  a subscription to her magazine which I absolutely love but hate that it’s only her on the cover most of the time. It’s annoying and creepy in a Oprah kind of way (don’t get me started on Oprah-I think I’m the only white woman who doesn’t love her). Anyways,  someone (not me) wrote a letter saying how they would like to see some variety on the covers and not just Rachael Ray and they actually put kids on the cover with her the next month after that so cheers for variety.

After slurping one and a half bowls down, I went to Freedom Park and walked for 35 minutes. I am going to try to start running again when it gets a little cooler. I can’t believe it’s been since April since I’ve ran and I’m looking forward to starting up again.

I found some canned pumpkin this morning and got to cooking. I was going to make muffins but didn’t have all the ingredients so I went with the pumpkin bars I made last week. I make a few modifications with this as well–I used whole wheat flour, added chocolate chips (because chocolate makes everything better) and used 1/2 apple sauce and two tbsp butter instead of half a cup of butter.

After I made these I saw Brittney’s post with her recipe for pumpkin cookies. I will be making those next time around!

This afternoon consisted one one thing: Entourage marathon. I was so happy to see it on Spike since I haven’t had HBO for a couple of years and it’s one of the shows I miss.

Dinner was a quarter chicken leg that I got on sale at Harris Teeter last night ($2 for 2 legs) along with roasted potatoes and kale chips

I love this sauce and the fact that it’s only $.92 makes it even better.

So, why didn’t I try kale chips before?? These were fabulous and were crispy just like a potato chip. I added extra virgin olive oil and oregano to mine instead of the standard salt and pepper. I will definitely be making these again!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend-how is it over already? Anyone do anything fun? My weekend was kind of laid back again which I am starting to dig. I don’t need to be going out every weekend, spending tons of money and being hungover.