Back to Familiar Goodness

I am now in Winston-Salem, NC. A city that is near and dear to my heart because it's the city I became an adult in. I spent 4 years in this city at Winston-Salem State University (GO RAMS!!!) So over the next several weeks I will be telling you all about some places that I am very familiar with. Some places that aren't new to me but are so special to me because I have loved them for so long.

I know you generally leave the best for last but anyone that knows me knows that I had to get to Cities as soon as I got to Winston! Cities is my favorite restaurant. Not just a favorite of mine. NO. It is my all-time favorite restaurant. It's not a chain (thank God)! It is this hidden treasure in Winston. Most people go to all the chain restaurants along Hanes Mall Blvd. Cities is away from all that and it is a collection of several atmospheres. It can be a family restaurant. It can be a romantic spot. It can be a great place for you to go with friends.

My boss was in town this week and she wanted to go out to eat so she could vent. So I took her to Cities. I ordered what has now become my favorite thing on the menu which is the Grilled Chicken. I know, I know. Grilled chicken sounds boring but this is the most succulent piece of chicken you have ever tasted. They take a boneless chicken breast and split it and beat it to flatten it out. Then they put it on a hot grill and only for a few minutes so it isn't dry. It is seasoned perfectly with salt and pepper and they top it with this lemon butter dill sauce. OMG!!! I cannot explain how wonderful this sauce is on this chicken. I always ask for extra sauce because I just want to take my bread and sop up every last drop of it. It is buttery goodness! Oh good Lord! This sauce is why God created chicken. This sauce was supposed to be on top of chicken. It makes the perfectly grilled chicken taste like chicken that Jesus touched himself!

Now that I have completed slobbered all over myself talking about this chicken, I can tell you about the delicious rice pilaf that they serve with the chicken. Now I love rice but Cities makes it special. They serve it in the shape of a pyramid! Its so cute but I tear it down faster than the pyramid building gods put it up! This rice is delicious but you know what makes it better....the lemon butter dill sauce that is dripping off the chicken! LOL!

I know you are probably thinking that what I really liked is the sauce. You would be wrong. I don't like the sauce, I LOVE the sauce. It is the perfect companion to this meal!

Due to the conversation, I didn't get to eat my dessert. I will have to go back so that I can tell you all about the best strawberry shortcake in the world! Don't worry. With me spending 6 more weeks in Winston. There will be several more posts about Cities. Remember the name and please, please visit when you are in Winston. It is the best kept secret in town.

Leaving The Ham!

I have been trying to think how to summarize my stay in Birmingham. I mean...I met very nice people and I ate good food but...I am sooooooooooooooooo ready to get outta here!

I had a great time eating my way around this city (or at least the part of the city closest to my job and hotel!). I will never forget the deliciousness of Chappy's with that Maple Turkey Croissant. Or that incredible Grilled Shrimp Greek Salad from Taziti's. And I didn't even get to tell you about my trip to California Pizza Kitchen. I know its not central to Birmingham but I generally do not like California Pizza Kitchen but this time I tried the Roasted Garlic Chicken Thin Crust Pizza! HOLY MOLY BATMAN! That pizza was so incredible. There was a ridiculous amount of roasted garlic chunks all over this pizza. The crust was extra crispy and was almost like flatbread. The chicken was thinly sliced and it was perfectly cradled under the cheesy goodness that was all over the pizza! OMG! This was FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC!!!!!

Okay I digress...I was supposed to be wrapping up Birmingham not continuing on and on about that faboulous pizza!

While in Birmingham, I also found a newfound appreciation for Jason's Deli. I'll be honest...I had never been so I was basing all my opinions of the place on what others had said. Well I finally tried it and I really liked it. Its not my favorite place but I found two things that I would go back and order over and over again. That Plain Jane Potato and this salad (I forget the name so maybe it was so great after all). The Plain Jane is full of butter, cheese, sour cream, and best of all BACON!!! You can't go wrong with any of those ingredients. And then they cover a potato the size of my head! Its a potato on steroids! Seriously! The salad that now has no name had pumpkin seeds, apples, dried cranberries, leafy mixed greens, and BACON! YUMMY! Then it is covered with this wonderful balsamic vinegarette. Good stuff all the way around!

Panera Bread gave me the best potato soup I have ever had while I was in Birmingham! I always get the potato soup but it is generally runny. This particular day the soup was thick and creamy and full of chunks of potato and BACON! It was seasoned perfectly and it was heavenly.

Ok, ok, ok...I have to stop. Overall my stay here was long but it was so good. I'm not going to miss it but I will have fond memories of it. Until we meet again...

Sorry for the delay...

I am currently experiencing technical difficulties in Birmingham. I have so much to tell you about but the internet connection in the Residence Inn is not great. I am taking a big chance writing this now.

Just know this....Food is GREAT in Birmingham! Internet connection...not so much.

I will talk to you this weekend. Until then...

Chappy Greek

(Yesterday was pretty tiring at work so I didn't post anything. Hope this makes up for my absence because yesterday was a great food day!)

My day was very busy yesterday. I was putting together my first big shipment at work and making sure it got sent off with all the necessary paperwork. After a very physical morning (I was lifting heavy boxes) I treated myself to another great lunch at Chappy's! It makes me so happy! I decided to try something different since my wrap was sooooo delicious, I figured I probably couldn't go wrong with anything on the menu. My decision was difficult but since it was lunch I decided to go with a sandwich called the Maple Turkey Crossiant. All I can say is OMG!!! This sandwich was so amazing. Let me just start by telling you about the crossiant. It melted in my mouth like ice cream. It was so light and buttery. Each layer was to die for! Then with this perfect piece of bread they added massive amounts of this maple turkey. This turkey tasted like it had been prepared at the Honey Baked Ham Store. It was so flavorful and smokey but sweet all at the same time. And then I added my favorites lettuce and spicy brown mustard. This sandwich was amazing!

After eating one of the best sandwiches of my life, I headed back to the office to complete my work day. How many more boxes could I possibly lift? Well I lifted about 30+ boxes and prepared them to be shipped and then had to wait on the UPS guy to pick them up. After a hard days work, all I wanted to do was eat a good dinner and go back to my hotel room. I decided to try this little Greek restaurant by Chappy's called Taziti's. Anyone that knows me from Columbus knows that I love Greek food. I could've eaten Happy Greek everyday in law school and just about did!

I go into Taziti's and the aroma in the place is killing. I felt like I could've eaten everything it smelled so good! I walk up to the counter and look at the menu and I'm completely overwhelmed with all the options. But I decide to keep with my healthy kick and I get the Greek Salad with Shrimp. It sounds pretty boring but far from it! This shrimp was LARGE! Normally if you get shrimp on a salad they are so small you can't tell the difference between the shrimp and the feta cheese! It's sad. Not on this salad. There were nine big beautiful succulent shrimp draped in garlic, herbs, and butter. They tasted like the mediterranean...like GREECE! What I failed to tell you about this meal is that the chef (a 50+ year old black man) told the waitress to tell me that he prepared this meal especially for me....dirty old man syndrome!!! I don't know if he did something special to the shrimp for me or gave me some extra shrimp but either way...THANK YOU CHEF!!

I had a great Wednesday. Food was excellent which is good because due to the nonexistent snowy weather in Birmingham, I had to eat Jason's Deli and McDonald's for lunch and dinner respectively! All I know is that I have maybe two more weeks in Birmingham and I am becoming a Chappy Greek thanks to these two little places!

Afternoon Love Affair with Strawberries

Today was a slow day on the food front. I was so busy at work I didn't get the opportunity to explore with my food. I met up with an old friend today and we went to an oldie but goodie for lunch. CHEESECAKE FACTORY. You know, there is something about Cheesecake Factory that is oh so satisfying. I think its the fact that no matter what the price, you know you are about to get a plate full of food. Way too much food! But good food. I decided to get my usual lunch entree of a small plate of fried zucchini and the appetizer BLT salad. Both were absolutely delicious but not the highlight of the meal. Oh no....the highlight of my meal was the tall, cold, glass of strawberry lemonade!

Now, I don't know about you but I LOVE lemonade, especially strawberry lemonade. If I just want regular lemonade I can go get one from Chic-Fil-A but if you want the best strawberry lemonade experience of your life...RUN to Cheesecake Factory.

They seduce you with this nice, tall glass of strawberry lemonade. It is the perfect shade of red with all the seeds floating thru it. The seeds tingle every taste bud on your tongue so that you can experience every second of this perfect drink.

There really isn't a big secret to what they are doing at the Cheesecake Factory. Anyone can have this type of moment with this drink at any time if they just practice making it at home. Practice makes perfect! See the recipe is quite simple. They mix this strawberry concentrate into the lemonade but what makes it sooooo good is that the concentrate tastes just like the BACARDI Strawberry daiquiri concentrate that you buy in the frozen section of the grocery store. (And it probably is since the drink is made at the bar) And in place of the rum, they have added a shot of lemonade.

There is soooo much strawberry in this drink that you feel like you there is an eruption in your mouth. They mix all that together and pour it into this glass full of ice and the rim is encrusted in sugar.....ummmmmm. You just want to lick the rim of the glass!

By now I'm sure you are asking what makes this strawberry lemonade so good? Well I will tell you. Once it is gone....they give you FREE refills!!! OMG!!!! They just keep coming back giving you more and more!!! (I guess I really paid for it since the drink was $4.50.) I was so excited I got a to-go cup of strawberry lemonade and it was just as good in the car and at my desk.

I'm telling you....I didn't try a local spot today but I had an afternoon love affair with some strawberry lemonade. It was a great afternoon!

Chappy Happy

Today was my first day of my new job. My whole complaint about this job has been that the people in charge aren't organized. So when I made it to the office this morning. I wasn't surprised to hear that two of the temps that were supposed to be working weren't coming. So now in a job where I am supposed to be a supervisor, I am doing other stuff to compensate for us being understaffed. I WAS DOING THAT IN THE TRUST DEPARTMENT WHICH IS WHY I WAS SO UNHAPPY!!!! CAN SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE PEOPLE JOBS!!! (just in case you didn't know, i was screaming that last sentence) Luckily for me the people who did show up, my manager & one temp, were extremely cool. We worked hard and we worked well together to get some stuff done.

Anyway....the highlight of my day was lunch (of course!). At first I was told I was going to have to go to Wendy's. YUCK! DOUBLE YUCK!! Instead, I got to go to a local favorite called Chappy's. The name suggest that this is a hole in the wall in a shopping center somewhere. It was in a shopping center but it was actually a nice deli!

I had one of the best wraps of my life! YUMMY!!! It was called a Chicken Bleu Wrap. It was filled with this perfectly grilled real chicken breast that was sooooooo juicy! UMMM.... And then it had big leafy lettuce that was so crispy! UMMMMM................... And then they had the audacity to put fresh strawberries and peaches in the wrap. CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And they topped it with a mountain of bleu cheese, almond slivers, and balsamic vinegariette. HEAVEN!

I was having this crazy explosion of flavor in my mouth. The grilled flavor of the chicken. The sweetness of the fruit mixed with the tangy/saltiness of the balsamic vinegariette. And then the crunchiness of the almonds mixed with the creaminess of the bleu cheese. Wrapped in this light white tortilla.

It was so delicious. It made me so Chappy Happy that I will probably go back tomorrow for some dessert. Can you scream BANANA PUDDING AND RED VELVET CAKE!!!! OMG, OMG, OMG!

On a day where the temperature didn't get above 30 degrees, I felt warm and fuzzy all over because of my Chicken Bleu Wrap. Maybe Birmingham isn't so bad after all..........then again, it's only Day 1.

Sweet Home Alabama

This morning I woke up knowing my fate couldn't be avoided anymore...I was going to Birmingham, AL. BOOOOO!!!! Although my excitement was very subdued, I knew just what to do to get me ready for my road trip. The same thing I always do when I leave NC...go to Bojangles!!! YAY!!!!

You never truly appreciate the Cajun Filet Biscuit Combo with cheese until you can't get it! And this morning they must have known that I needed it to be really good because that was the best combo ever!! My biscuit was full of buttery goodness and it was actually HOT! OMG! My fries had extra seasoning without me asking for it and my tea was extra sweet (which means it was pretty much syrup, just the way I like it!). The cajun chicken took over the biscuit and the cheese was melted to perfection. YUM!!

Now that I had my traditional departure breakfast, I was ready for the road. Drive was perfect (except for the hawk that almost flew directly into my windshield). I didn't even stop until I got to Talladega to get some Starbucks! I was like Ricky Bobby when I saw that sign. I dashed across the highway off the exit and into the drive thru. There is nothing like an iced coffee with 4 splendas when you need a pick me up.

Now I am in my room wishing I could re-create that breakfast from this morning. :( I'm off to find my first meal in Birmingham, hopefully it's a good one...

A New Beginning for the New Year!

So everyone has been telling me to start a blog for all my recipes, food critiques, and travels. Well I thought the best day to make a move would be January 1, 2010. My first post will be about the first traditional meal of the year: New Year's Dinner

Out of all the holidays, the traditional New Year's meal of collard greens, black-eyed peas and pork is my least favorite. YUCK! I know others thoroughly enjoy it but I am not a fan of any of those items. I only eat them because of what they are supposed to represent...collard greens (money), black-eyed peas (change or wisdom) and I'm not sure what pork represents (probably just high blood pressure)!

I remember liking all these things at some point but now I would rather pass! And I don't dislike pork (I heart BACON. YUM!). I dislike pork roast. I absolutely don't like black-eyed peas (there's no preparation that will change my mind!).

Although my least favorite meal, I do love spending time with the family while they scarf it down like its the only way to have good fortune throughout the year!

I'll keep you posted about the meal but I know my day will go the way it generally does...I will be thinking about what I will get to eat once all this food is gone! Thank GOD for January 2!