Ramblings, Travel

Things I’ve learned over a week in Charlotte

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  1. The people in Charlotte are nice.  Like SUPER nice.  Like almost weirdly nice.  I love them.
  2. Carwashes in Charlotte are a whole heck of a lot cheaper than in Ohio… 30% cheaper, to be exact.  Though, they will look at you funny when you ask to stay in the car as you go through the carwash.  Apparently, that’s not how they do it here in Charlotte.
  3. Everyone is really nicely dressed.  Not in a I’m-better-than-thou sort of way, but in a I’m-putting-my-best-foot-forward-today (and every day for that matter) sort of way.  I’m a fan.
  4. Chicken paws are not the same thing as chicken breasts!
  5. Speaking of chicken, why is the chicken breast at the butcher counter at Harris Teeter only $1.99 a pound???  That’s cheaper than the stuff they have on the shelves.  Mystery.
  6. Either u-turns are legal here or we’ve broken the law 7 times in the past week.  I’m hoping for the former.
  7. North Carolina is part of the South.   People actually have accents here.
  8. A Charlotte native can spot an Ohio accent a mile away… I didn’t think there was such a thing as an Ohio accent.  I was wrong.
  9. Public transportation is awesome.
  10. People are young here.  Like a city chock full of Doogie Howsers. 
  11. I’m pretty sure it’s possible to eat at a different delicious Charlotte restaurant for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for a whole year without having any repeats.  I may have to try that sometime.  Charlotte knows a thang or two about food. (Stay tuned for more on that topic!)

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Restaurants, Travel

End of Vaca

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Monday morning we left Charleston and headed to Botany Bay Plantation on Edisto Island.  We got a ton of great pics.  Here are just a few:

We munched on the remnants of food we brought from home while driving through the plantation.  For more information on Edisto Island, check out  www.edistobeach.com.

Then we headed back to Charlotte.  This time, Priceline got us a room at the Double-Tree in Uptown Charlotte for only $45 a night 😀

We really liked this hotel (especially because you get free chocolate chip cookies when you check in)…

The bed was lot more comfortable than Aloft’s bed, however you really just cannot beat the Aloft location!

Here are some shots of Charlotte:

Monday night we headed to Rockbottom for some cheesy jalapeno dip (hello $5 appetizers!) and drinks:

Then to Aria for dinner.

Aria was a lot fancier/swankier than I expected, but I thought the bartenders were pretty rude :-/

We ordered a Super Tuscan Wine to start:

We’ve never tried this type of wine before and we both really liked it!

We ordered the bruschetta for the appetizer:

This was actually served cold, which I thought was odd.  Then we got the vodka penne for dinner and added grilled chicken.  The pasta was super tasty, which made up for the appetizer.  Didn’t capture a photo unfortunately.

Aria Tuscan Grill on Urbanspoon

Tuesday morning, we went to the Holiday Inn’s Cafe Siena for our favorite breakfast buffet.  Walked around the city, then hit up Fuel on our way back to Ohio.

Jarrod is obsessed with Fuel’s chicken parm calzone.  I got an Italian sub which was also quite tasty:

And that brings us back to lovely Ohio.  First thing I did was head to Acme and buy an ABUNDANCE of produce.  My body is just craving healthy eating after a week-long restaurant binge!

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Restaurants, Travel

Last night I ate like a queen

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For dinner last night, Jarrod and I headed to Coco Osteria.  We found this restaurant last time we were in Charlotte and loved it not only for the food but also the location and lovely outside patio right in the heart of uptown Charlotte.

First thing first, we ordered a bottle of wine:

Though we love wine, Jarrod and I are not wine experts.  We usually order wine based on which name sounds the most appealing.   This wine was fantastic!

We ordered some bruschetta to split:

I think bruschetta is our #1 favorite pick for appetizers.  We get it pretty much everywhere we go, and it is ALWAYS amazing.  I love balsamic.. and tomatoes… and basil… and bread… 😀

We also had some of the house beans and bread, which was so simple and so tasty:

When we go out to eat, Jarrod and I often split an appetizer and dinner.  That way we get to try lots of things without overeating (at least not TOO much).  We split the bucatini with grilled chicken for our main entre.  This consisted of hollow spaghetti, caramelized onions, smoked pancetta, tomato sauce & shaved pecorino cheese plus the grilled chicken we requested:

A fabulous first night of food on vacation!

Coco Osteria on Urbanspoon

Interval Training:  Day #1, Week #5

This morning, I woke up around 6:30am to get my run in for the day before the streets of Charlotte got too busy.  I am now at 3 intervals of 3 minutes walking and 7 minutes running.  I was a little nervous about the jump in running time from 5 minutes to 7, but I think being in a different city really energized me.  I had to do most of my running on the sidewalk, which made me worry about my knee.  So I tried to “think light” as I was running and put as little impact as possible on my legs.

I really didn’t have a route in mind, I just kind of set out and turned whenever I came across a red light:

There are so many beautiful buildings in Charlotte, and also very many beautiful restaurants I’d like to try 😉

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What I ate

Canada, Greece, Repeat.

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Around the world and back again in three short meals 🙂  Geesh, I need a vacation…  Luckily, only two weeks til my Char-Char-cation!!!  (Charlotte/Charleston/Vacation 😉 )

Breakfast #1 = Canada

Canadian Bacon Eggins! Last night, I decided to whip up some eggins and use some of the Canadian Bacon I picked up at Trader Joe’s over the weekend.

I sprayed a muffin tin down with cooking spray, and plopped one piece of the Canadian bacon in each of 6 muffin tins.

Then I mixed together 9 egg whites, splash of water, S&P, red pepper flakes, franks red hot and poured it evenly into the 6 muffin tins. (Word to the wise – if you use a container with a spout it makes life A LOT easier 🙂 )

I cooked them for about 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

I had three of these little guys for breakfast with a dollop of ketchup.

Stats for 3 Canadian Bacon Eggins & ketchup: 147 calories, 6g carbs, 1g fat, 26g protein, 0g fiber

 

Breakfast #2 = Greece

1/2 cup Trader Joe’s nonfat vanilla greek yogurt with 1/4 cup each strawberries and blueberries.

Trader Joe’s greek yogurt was so tasty.  It’s not overly sweet, which I really liked.  I think I could have ate about 3 more servings of this 🙂

Stats: 133 calories, 23g carbs, 0g fat, 9g protein, 2g fiber

 

Lunch = Repeat

Leftovers from last night’s Chicken Couscous Salad!

So tasstttyyyy…

 

Last night’s smoothie

Since lunch was a repeat, I thought I’d showcase the lovely little smoothie I made last night. Everyday, I have a mid afternoon snack and a late night snack, each of which are around 100 calories. They are usually something simple like an apple or a bowl of low-cal cereal and almond milk, and don’t typically make it into the blog.

Last night, I was feeling up for a smoothie so I put the following into the blender:

  • 1/4 cup Oikos nonfat plain yogurt
  • 1 packet Truvia (Stevia)
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened Almond Breeze Vanilla Almond Milk
  • 1/4 cup each of frozen fresh blueberries, strawberries, and black raspberries

All blended up:

This lil guy was quite tasty, and he is quite the looker too 😉 !

Stats on the berry smoothie: 92 calories, 18g carbs, 1g fat, 6g protein, 4g fiber

 

Get those comments on the PB2 Giveaway page!  Pssst… you don’t have to create a blog to get a wordpress account!

Also, check out this Chobani Greek Yogurt Giveaway courtesy of Hillary at Foodie on the Run!!!

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