New Found Food Downtown

It was lunch time so I left my desk and headed out to get a drink to have with the lunch I had packed. I will usually just drink water but some days I want a sweet tea or an iced coffee from a nearby restaurant. This also gets me out for a little while. 

This day, I was really craving a fresh juice from a local juice bar. It was only a couple blocks from where I work so I headed that way. Sadly it was closed with a “For Sale” sign out front. I had to settle for that ice tea and head back to the office. On my way back, I had plenty of time to spare so I thought I would ride down town to see if there were any new places opened up. 

As I was cruising slowly down main street, I saw a man carrying out a to go order from this little underground place called Bayahibe Cafe. It used to be a coffee shop.

I did not know it was now open to something else, so I parked the car and went inside. You barely know there is anything here because all you can see is a small door squeezed between two large buildings that leads down into a basement cafe. 

I opened the door and made my way down the deep stairway and into the cute little cafe where I was greeted by a smile and the smell of delicious food. 

“I just saw this place and thought I’d come see what you have to offer”. She began pointing at little printed menus on the glass wall. 

“Wait, what? You have real fruit juice too?” I began to tell her about the juice bar that I first went to and it was closed. She said that was her friends place. What are the odds that I landed in a place that had what I was looking for? 

The smell of the Pastilles En Hojas enticed my taste buds so I had to order one to try. They are like tamales but wrapped in Plantain leaf pockets instead of corn. While my food was cooking, I noticed she was preparing a sweet coffee. She was adding marshmallows, cinnimon and other stuff I did not need. I told her I did not order a coffee and she said “I know, I made this special for you to take with you and try. It is Dominican Coffee. No charge.”

       

I was very grateful, gave her a tip and took the coffee along with my food back to the office. I never even got a juice. I plan to go back next week and try one of the fruit juices. I bet they are good. 

Sometimes you just have to look around to find places. Explore and don’t be afraid to try new things. 

Valentine Breakfast and Cake Pops

Happy Valentines Day! 

I hope everyone can find someone to call their Valentine today. Someone to share some love and sweetness with. If your single and alone, find someone who could use a hug. Your not alone on this day. 

When we woke up Sunday morning, Nick asked if I would like to try the new breakfast joint in town.  “Sure”, I said in excitement. I jumped up, threw my hair back and put on some bluejeans. I was ready. I love breakfast. It is my favorite meal of the day. It is also the most important meal. 

The place was called “Eggs Up”. The inside looked like a glamorized waffle house. We were seated and I started off with a vanilla cappuccino. I normally drink coffee with almond milk, but today I splurged and sugared up. Boy was it sweet!

For breakfast, I ordered the banana foster french toast. 

What did I think? It was ok but the caramelized glaze they put on top was globbed on and hard as a jaw breaker. They did not do it right. I just put it to the side of my plate and enjoyed the french toast, bananas and bacon. I made a comment to the waitress afterwards. She agreed and other customers had complained about the same thing. They had so many different items on the menu. We plan to go back another day and try something else. 

After breakfast, I went to church wearing my distressed heart sweater. 

I kept it clean so I could wear it again today to work. 

Speaking of work. I worked hard making cake pops for the office to enjoy as a sweet treat for Valentines Day. I have never made cake pops before. I guess because I have never been a fan. I do not like the texture nor the how sweet they are. But they are cute and favorite to a lot of people. 

The cake pops were easy to make but hard to cover with chocolate topping. It was hard to get the topping to look good on the ball of cake. It wanted to drip. If I laid them on wax paper, it would leave a flat spot. If I put them upright, the coating would run down the handle. So I had to just dipped them and held them while turing them until the cocolate would dry enough not to drip or run. It was time consuming. 

 

Cake Pops

-Cook a cake of your flavor.(I used confetti cake) and let it cool.

-Mix unitl crushed to the consistency of. Grits.

-Add about 1/4 to 1/2 cups of icing. Mix until well mixed. 

-Work into 24 balls.

- dip end of stick in the melted chocolate and stick it inside  the ball.

-Dip each ball into the melted chocolate. 

-Add sprinkles (optional). 

I placed each pop in a hole of a colander. This kept them from getting flat spots.

I think they turned out rather pretty and hope they are a hit at the party. I kept out two for Nick and my daughter to enjoy. 

Tonight we plan to stay in and enjoy a nice steak on the grill. We do not usually have good luck finding a place to eat on special occasions like this. By eating at home, I do not have to worry about finding something to wear and there is no wait. 

What are your Valentine plans?

One Tomato Two Tomato

Growing up my mom always made our eggs either scrambled or with a moon on it. “With a moon on it” was when the egg was cooked well all except the yellow, and then I would sop my toast in the runny yellow. I liked it also with ruffles. That is when the edges were fried to a crisp. It was the best. I think most would call that “Sunny side up” (or was it “over easy”?) I do not know the difference, so still at 52 years old, I call it “an egg with a moon on it”. To avoid the embarrassment, I usually will not order an egg in a restaurant, and if I do I just get it scrambled to save explaining that I want an egg with a moon on it and ruffles. 

One way I have never eaten an egg is called “Egg Benedict”. I always pictured it being a half raw. My daughter has convinced me that is is not raw and that they are really good and I would like it. So here we go.

I visited her in Charlotte this weekend for “brunch”. She had been wanting to try this place call  Ruby Sunshine. They specialize in egg Benedict. So if I wanted to try my first one, I wanted it to be in a good place that knows what they are doing. This place was so popular that we had to wait 2 hours to be seated. Our patience were running short but we decided to wait. We got there at 9:45and it was 11:45 by the time they seated us. I was no longer wanting eggs. I wanted a hamburger. But I stuck to brunch and ordered the egg Benedict. 

They had different recipes to choose from so I chose the “One tomato, two tomato”. It had two slices of tomato on a biscuit. One piece was a fried green tomato and one was a grilled red tomato. On top of that was the egg and hollandaise sauce. Come to find out that egg Benedict was basically just a poached egg. Which I never had either. 

 

What did I think? It still wasn’t as cooked as I like it but it was delicious. I loved it. Was it worth a two hour wait? Maybe, but nothing is really worth a two hour wait when your hungry. 

How do you like your eggs? Have you ever had Egg Benedict? 

Office Lunch

Last week, My bossman took us three ladies in the office out to lunch. We put an “Out of Office” sign on the door and headed down town. 

We had reservations at Barristers in the Esquire Hotel. You may remember me talking about this place a couple years ago when I took my husband here for his birthday. I was not to impressed then, but it was new. The prices were high and the plates came out with only enough food to feed and elf.  

Things have changed since then.

The wait staff was more personable, the music was different and you got more on your plate. I could not help but admire the new outdoor seating area. The have it gated to keep out the people from the streets. 

The walls were covered with a trellis of new plant growth beginning to climb as Spring reaches close. 

I ordered the grilled feta cheese sandwich with red peppers on sour dough bread and a side of squash. When we finished our meal, we ordered a piece of chocolate caked to share. It was absolutely delicious. 

The restaurant sits on the main floor of the the Esquire hotel. Before we left, the waiter took us on a tour of the coffee house they had recently opened on the bottom (basement) floor. It was called “The Notary”.

Until two years ago, this building had been empty forever. One of my blogger friends, Jack over at the shipslog blog, is from around this area too and may remember this building as the “Lawyers Building” and had a bank of the main floor. This was before my time. 

The hotel also has a has a roof top lounge and it has always been a goal of mine to get to the roof of this building. Unfortunately, the waiter would not let us go up there this day due to some construction still going. I see my rooftop visit in the near future. 

I’m glad we have this little elegant spot in the heart of town and I’d like to see more nice places open around here. It has always been such a ghost town and magnet for homeless people and drug addicts. Things seem to be changing a little. I hope. 

Our Valentines Day

We had a nice little Valentines Day. It was Sunday and neither one of us had to work. We decided to stay in bed longer than usual soaking up every little moment together with no alarm clock telling us to get up and get going.

Once we decided to get up, we grabbed a cup of coffee and a little breakfast. We each had sneaked a Valentine Card in each others seat at the table. 

After breakfast we sat around and discused what we were going to do today. “Well its too late now to get ready for church”. So neither one of us went. 

We decided to call up our daughter and ask her if she would like to meet us in Belmont for a Valentine lunch. She was exited and of course said yes.

We let her chose the place as we are always indecisive. She said she always wanted to try this little place called Jekyll & Hyde Taphouse and Grill. 

I felt funny going to a taphouse on Sunday. Daddy might would shame me. But thats where we ended up and it was delicious. 

We ordered off the “Brunch” menu. We placed our order and looked around while we waited. Nick said “This place used to be an old Ford Dealership”. They used a lot of the remains as decorations. He admired the surroundings and said “I could live in a place like this”. It was really cool how they remodeled the inside while keeping a lot of the character. 

Our food arrived. Me and my daughter ordered the Chicken biscuit with pimento cheese and pepper jelly. I had a side of fruit and she had tater tots. Nick ordered a chicken and bacon biscuit with a side of pancake. There was so many good looking foods on the menu it was hard to choose. 

For Valentines dinner, we had waited too late to get any reservations at any fancy place and all the steak houses had over an hour wait. We ended up at Sammy’s in the little town of Dallas. While we were there, I was able to show Nick where I now work. He didn’t know exactly where it was. Now he does. It was just a block away from where we ate. You could see it from the window. 

It was a nice day and I didn’t want it to end. I love spending all the time I can with my man. But work came early the next day. 

Over 50

I can officially say “I am now over 50”. I had my 51st birthday yesterday. It does not matter how many stay in orders, epidemics, and virus scares the world has throws at us, It still happened. We are all guaranteed a birthday every year as long as we live.

(Excuse the hair. I had just finished up a 3 miles walk.)

We normally go to the beach for my birthday, but under other the circumstances, we decided to wait. 

My daughter came home with a handful of goodies. Gifts in one hand and a Cannoli cake in the other. She also wanted it to be fun and brought birthday banners, and balloons. Later my daughter’s boyfriend came over and brought flowers and gave me a Hobby Lobby gift card. Isn’t that sweet?

My state still has a stay in order. Our Governor refuses to let things open up right now even though we have very low numbers of Covid19. 

Well, we didn’t let that ruin anymore plans. We piled in the car and drove about 6 miles into South Carolina where they are now allowing restaurants to have indoor seating at 50% capacity. 

We headed down to a little BBQ place out in the country called Courtney's and enjoyed a meal at the table. I will admit, it was a little weird walking in while cars were wrapped around the building for pick up orders. Once we were inside, there were only a few families there. We had to order at the register then find a seat. We sprayed our table down with hand sanitizer for extra precaution (per the boyfriend) and waited on our food. 

Things were a little different such as ketchup was in individual containers and drinks were in styrofoam cups. I like it that way though. I have always been skeptical to eating condiments that set on the tables for everyone to use from.

Afterwards, we came back to the house and had cake and ice cream while sitting outside. It was a nice evening and we sat there until dark. It was a nice birthday and I felt loved. 

Sometime before this month ends, my mom will be doing a big birthday dinner for my sister, brother, daddy and me. 

We all have a birthday in May......Good bye Diet.

Blueberry Grill

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I love cooking it and eating it. We never usually go out for breakfast anymore. I get up about about 30 minutes before Nick and I enjoy a cup of coffee and a lite breakfast. I remember the days we used to go to Bojangles or Hardees for biscuits and gravy. That was also 50lbs ago.

Down at the beach, there is a place near our stay called Blueberry Grill. It is located in a shopping area called Barefoot Landing. We see it often and I mentioned how I would love to try it one morning. So when morning came, Nick asked if I would like to have breakfast at Blueberry Grill. It will be something different from the ordinary. I threw on a sweater and jeans, pulled my hair back in a messy bun and brushed my teeth. I was ready in 15 minutes. You don’t have to ask me twice if I want a good breakfast. 

As we entered the restaurant, we were welcomed by friendly staff. They asked “would you like to sit inside or on the patio?’. It was a crisp 50 degrees morning and the sun was shining bright, so we decided to sit on the patio. 

They had heaters blowing from up above that was perfect for keeping the chill off. It was so nice and we could hear the birds playing in the planters and would often run onto the patio waiting on someone to drop some crumbs.

We ordered a cup of coffee while we waited on our meal. 

We both decided on the short stack of French toast made in a rich batter that was infused with brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Then dusted with powdered sugar. I requested a side of blueberries to add to the top of mine. 

I prefer instant grits but Nick likes what he calls “real grits”. So when he seen they had real stone ground grits, he just had to order some. I admit they were delicious.  

I loved everything about this place. The atmosphere, wait staff, and the food. It was a little pricey though but was worth it. We will definitely go back again sometime once Summer comes around and we take another trip to the coast. 

Blueberry Grill

North Myrtle Beach, SC

A Birthday and Pumpkin Painting.

This weekend we celebrated my sweet husbands birthday. His birthday was Sunday but I started it off on Friday by making reservations at a new upscale restaurant in town. The name of this restaurant is Barristers at the Esquire.

Barristers is located in the center of our little town, inside one of the oldest and tallest buildings. This was the old Lawyers building. It had been empty for years until it found a buyer who has spent a couple years making something out of it. 

This is my favorite building and I have always had this goal to get to the roof of it. There is just something about the size and architect of this building that makes me want to visit the top.

Well, so far I have made it to the first floor. That is where the new restaurant is. The rest of the floors are still under construction. It will soon me an upscale hotel called the Esquire.

Walking in, I immediately got a 1940’s vibe.  I have never been inside this building in my life but could feel the history all around me. With the smell of new paint, chandeliers and oldies music, we took our seats. It was quiet and only a few other tables were occupied. After looking at the menu, I was ready to make my tastebuds smile and my pocketbook cry.

I ordered the Ranch Steak with fingerling potatoes, mushrooms, and horseradish ham crumbs in a Demi Glaze. 

Nick ordered the Carolina Coastal white fish. Maui Maui was the fish of the day. It came on a bed of glazed sweet potatoes and Carrots. 

It was all delicious and we had a wonderful evening. 

Saturday, My Daughter came home and we all went to my moms for a big birthday dinner with Country style steak and gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, pasta salad, biscuits and lots of desserts. Nicks request was pound cake. She never lets us down on a good meal and dessert. We left stuffed and it was a lot better and more satisfying than the fancy dinner the night before. 

Sunday after church, my daughter and I made cookies and painted pumpkins. 

She painted hers a Disney theme. I opt to paint a butternut squash instead of a pumpkin. 

Scary huh?

Somewhere on the beach

"Somewhere on the beach" was my slogan last week while on vacation.

I think this was one of the best weeks we had at the beach in a long time. When we first arrived, we met up with some friends on the sand. It was suppose to be a couple we met last year and could hardly wait to see them again this year. Sadly there was only one. He and his wife split up, but we got to sit with him for a while and had some good laughs with him and his best friend. I really wanted to see my other new friend though. Maybe I will run into her some other time.

Nick has a brother that lives on a campground a mile from our campsite and we always take a walk down to see him when we are there. Nick has another brother that brought his family of five plus two friends down the same week. They were staying at a hotel between the two campgrounds. We all met up to play with the kids on the beach and had fun in the sun. Later that evening me and Nick walked up to the tikki bar to hear some music and relax under the sunset.

Toward the end of the week my daughter and her boyfriend came down to spend the day on the beach with us. They were staying near Wilmington and I was so excited to see them. After spending some time on the beach, we all cleaned up and met the rest of the family for dinner.

The arrows point out the brothers. They are all handsome but I think I ended up with the best looking one (yellow shirt). Dontcha think?

We tried a new spot about thirty minutes away in Little River called Crab Catchers. It was a small but mighty place that sits on the waterfront. I ate two pounds of crab legs. I hate I failed to get a photo but there was so much going on that I forgot. Me and Nick liked this place so much that we plan to go back again sometime.

It was a great week. It was nice getting to spend a day or so with family and friends. We never are all together like this except at Christmas. I’m thnking his parents were probably smiling down from heaven.

Breakfast and a SeeSaw

Saturday we spent the morning visiting my daughter in the queen city. She wanted to take us out to breakfast and a little walk around the area.

Her boyfriend came along too. He is a joy to be around. We parked at her uptown apartment and walked 2 miles to a little place called Roots Cafe. 

Me and Nick just wanted something lite so we ordered a side of avocado toast. 

They messed up and gave us the whole meal plate which included 2 eggs on the side. I was ok with that as I love eggs and ended up cleaning my plate. 

We also shared a Latke with Poblano Cream Crema & green onions. It was a type of potato cake and was delicious. 

Afterward we walked down to a new doughnut shop tucked away in the back of a building called PepperBox Doughnuts. They offer different varieties of doughnuts each week. I chose the “Elvis”.

It was topped with a banana cream with a drizzle of peanut butter and topped with bacon. I only took two bites and I was finished. I’m trying to keep away from the sweets. But I just couldn't resist. 

My daughter ordered the Hibiscus Jelly filled. Hers was much better than mine. It tasted like real fruit and topped with sugar crystals.

While we were headed back, we came across a see-saw next to the lightrail and I had to jump on. 

We laughed and giggled like two little kids on a playground. I didn’t care who was watching. 

You can see her boyfriend sitting there probably thinking his girlfriend has a crazy mom. Haha.

It’s always fun to visit my daughter. Later we headed to my mom and dads to celebrate my oldest brothers 55th birthday. We had some good food, cake and laughs to finish off the night. 

Sunday Lunch

The weather has been hot here in North Carolina and very sunny. It is just too pretty to stay inside especially on a nice Sunday afternoon.

After church, Nick and I decided we wanted just a sandwich for lunch. Unfortunately it was grocery shopping day so we were out of sandwich fixings. That's when we decided to go out for another adventure to find a little spot to sit down and have a lite bite.

We ventured out to a little town close by to try a place everyone raves about called the Table and Market. As we walked inside it took us back in time. This restaurant was structured using old materials recycled from the towns historic buildings.

The bricking and roof are all original structure of what used to be an old supermarket. The shelving are from the town library which was the first library in the Piedmont of North Carolina. The bar tops and wine racks were taken from a Parr Yarn Mill.

We found a spot to sit down on the outside patio. It was so peaceful as we observed our surroundings. Service was great and the food was delicious. Oh, and we did get a sandwich but it was not a small sandwich. 

I ordered the BBQ sandwich with a side of slaw and Nick had the Italian club with a side of tomato. It was delicious and the meat was fresh deli meat prepared right there in the restaurants deli. 

We will definitely go back to this one again. They had a good looking brunch menu I’d like to try. It’s just hard to eat “brunch”. I’m old school where it’s either breakfast or lunch. Nothing in between unless it’s a stale danish with a cup of coffee. 

Poke Bowls

We always try to visit new eating places that come to town. The most recent is a place called Poke Bros . It is a franchise so there are other locations in different areas. I was excited to see one open up around here.

I have never had a Poke' Bowl so I was excited to try it.
I guess you wonder what it is. Right?
Well a Poke' Bowl is a Hawaiian Cuisine and basically Sushi in a bowl. If you like Sushi, you will like these. If you do not like Sushi then you still need to try it. What most non Sushi eaters do not understand is that Sushi is not always "raw" fish. I will not eat anything raw, not even cookie dough.

Poke' Bros. was a small "hole in the wall" place, located on the East side of town. The bright glowing sign hung above the entrance.

I could not help but think the sign pointed to the bakery next door.

As we entered, we walked up to the counter and placed our order. You can create your own bowl or pick from one of their signature bowls which is exactly what we did.

I chose from #3. The Hula (shrimp). Again. I stay away from the raw fish and stick with shrimp or crab meat. My bowl was loaded with meat and veggies. They added several sauces and toppings that I could not even pronounce. It was all perfectly layered on a mound of extra sticky, sticky rice.

The staff was super nice and offered us samples of sauces before they applied them to our bowls. They even let Nick sample a few pieces of raw fish that was cut into thick cubes. He liked it but I refused to even try it.

We were satisfied and amazed at how good the food was. We finished off our meal with some delicious Mochi Ice Cream. 

Mochi is ice cream wrapped in rice dough. They are fun to eat. I talked about them before on another post here.

We plan to visit Poke Bros again and try different varieties each time.

Have you ever tried Poke' Bowls?