I remember when I was excited about being an “adult.” I had just graduated college, and I was waiting tables to pay the bills. But, meanwhile, I was planning to hit it big by scoring my first “real job.” I wanted to be a professional and one of those “ladies who lunch.” I wanted to be able to buy nice things and go to fancy dinners.

I found myself there and talking about the realization of the moment with my friend Sarah over one such fancy dinner at Ruth Chris (where all the adults eat) this weekend. It wasn’t my first moment of adultness, but it was still fun to chat about. (details on the outfit next time)

We had plans to go out of town on a girls’ weekend but ended up staying in town for a couple reasons. We decided a nice dinner out would still be fun while also being cheaper than gas, hotels, and multiple meals out over the course of a weekend getaway.

The weather was too gorgeous to eat inside, so we opted for the patio.

Cheers! Look how adult-y we are!

I decided to take advantage of the Ruth’s Spring Classic Menu. With one steak running you between $30-40 (for just the steak), the thought of 3 courses for $42.95 sounded like a steal.

{bread & butter}

I chose the arugula salad for my starter.

And for the entree – the reason I was there – a steak on a plate of sizzling butter.

Do you see that bubbling, beautiful butter!? I’m apparently developing a thing for butter. Let’s hope it doesn’t get too out of control.

Sarah got one of the spring menu items, too, so we ordered two sides we both wanted to share – garlic mashed potatoes…

…and broccoli au gratin.

We enjoyed a duo for dessert – a chocolate cake and berries with cream.

Everything was wonderful!

And look how pretty the patio looked by the end of the night. We even got to enjoy live music the whole time since there was an event going on across the street. Score!

Reader question: What’s the best part of being an “adult” for you?

As if Saturday wasn’t fun-filled enough already…

…we got a surprise on Sunday that Bailey was really excited about – an impromptu visit by my parents to help us with our house, namely the yard.

But first, I headed out for Caitlin’s bebe shower.

Caitlin’s shower was at FABO, which was a gorgeous venue – so colorful!

The shower was put together so well – from the cool straws to the great refreshments. I really liked the game they played where Caitlin had to pull random baby-items from a bag and guess what they’re used for. I had fun guessing what they were used for, too, since I hadn’t seen most of the objects before. Hey, maybe if I attend enough baby showers, I won’t be quite so baby-clueless.

And do you see that hat on Caitlin’s head? Her mom made that baby-shower-themed-hat for her! I talked to her about how she made it, and she was so proud of her creation. It was really sweet and a fun touch to the shower.

After the shower, I headed back to the Chic house to help out in the yard. We pulled weeds and did basic clean-up. You know…stuff most people know but our house-clueless selves need guidance doing.

I treated my parents to dinner to thank them for their help. We went to Mama Ricotta’s.

The rolls were hard to resist. I definitely had a couple, dipped into their red pepper olive oil.

And for eats, we got 2 family-style entrees – this penne with chicken, broccoli and a lemon cream sauce. It came out piping hot with al dente penne. It was mouth-wateringly good (as in, my mouth is watering thinking about it while I blog…yum!).

The family favorite was angel hair with meatballs, which i really enjoyed, too.

My parents really loved the meal, which made me happy. It was the least I could do before they had to head back home for the night.

Reader question: What did you do this weekend? Anything fun?

After my Zumbatomic training, I went home, baked up a double-batch of dough balls (that I prepped the night before), got ready, and headed out to meet up with some friends for a casual dinner…old-school-style.

{Jason with Carson, hubby, Matt with Liam, and Nate}

{Caitlin, me, Kate, and Kath}

We haven’t been able to get together with our whole group together since Kath moved, so we were really excited to see everyone…

…plus a couple adorable, new additions.

Nate was our grill-master.

{The spread}

We did a traditional pot-luck and had quite the spread.

{Chardonnay for moi}

I had a little bit of everything – salad, quinoa salad, grilled veggies, and a cheese burger. Everything was delicious as always!

{Liam & Kath}

For dessert, I brought sugar cookie dough balls (click for recipe) (sans the drizzle frosting), and Kath & Matt brought lots of Great Harvest goodness – muffins, scuffins, and Savannah bars.

A little bit of everything – watermelon, a dough ball, plus some Savannah bar.

I definitely picked up a couple more pieces of Savannah bar over the night – they were so good!

It’s funny how you can go for a long time without seeing your friends and when you see them next, it’s like time never passed. We had so much fun catching up with everyone’s recent life changes – from family additions to work. We’re definitely going to have to do this again soon!

Reader question: What’s your favorite thing to bring to a pot-luck?

A great game night should include the following: a fun game, a delicious meal, and a dance off.

Wait.

Oh, that’s just what we did with our game night this past weekend.

My friend Erica and I hosted a game night at The Chic House.

Our friends aren’t the biggest fans of cooking, but we had a great solution. Erica made chili, I was in charge of corn bread, and we asked everyone else to simply bring chili toppings. Okay, so we also asked my friend Sarah to make her famous cheesecake, but other than that, we left things pretty simple.

I had a bowl of chili with onions (a first for me, and it was awesome) and plenty of cheese.

And Erica does her chili Cincinati-style – with pasta. It’s a pretty awesome way to eat chili, and I definitely recommend it, if you’ve never tried it.

Dessert included Sarah’s cheesecake and some chocolate chip dough balls I whipped up earlier that day.

After eating, the gaming began. The word box was definitely my least favorite, while the drawing one was my most favorite. I’m pretty terrible at real trivia, but luckily, my other teammates picked up my slack on the red box. And Sarah and I split up the green box, which made for an interesting show.

My favorite moment was probably when Sarah chose a green card and kept making faces after reading it that screamed, “I have no idea how to act out this person.” She sighed, lifted up her arms and went “RAWR!” My teammate Amy screamed “The Hulk!”, and I followed up with “Shrek!” As it turns out, Shrek was correct. I still can’t believe we won that round in about 3 seconds from her interesting impersonation.

After my team lost, we held a quick Jekyll dance-off. Okay, it randomly came about, but it was still pretty awesome. I’d never seen “the Jekyll” before, but we convinced Shamecia’s SO to show us, and after some serious pleading, he gave in. I tried to find a YouTube video of what this dance looks like, but I can’t find one. It’s sorta similar to what this guy looks like after he drinks his concoction – think shaky hands. It’s a joke dance…sort of like “The Bernie.” You’ve seen that one, right?

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By the way, thanks for the sweet comments on my last outfit post!

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Reader question: What’s your favorite board game?

Here’s a great meal idea for the weekend – Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup. Hey – a recipe post finally!

I know I’ve mentioned having a few recipes queued up, but you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t been posting them very fast. I’m trying to focus more on putting out quality recipes than throwing up a recipe post for the sake of of blogging quickly. Not to mention, I have to read through my chicken-scratch notes and decipher all the scribbles and what not. I’ve found I have a couple recipes that I’m going to need to re-make so I can ensure I have accurate information for the recipe. I also have a couple recipes (like the Breakfast Cookies I mentioned on Facebook) that I’d like to continue tweaking. I’m trying to focus more on quality than quantity, but that’s not always the fastest method. Thanks for your patience!

(Now, watch me make more errors in the next couple recipes than ever before…Murphy’s law!)

But, back to this post…I first made this soup so long ago, I’m going to be honest – I don’t remember exactly how it came about. I do remember having leftover rotisserie chicken and being on somewhat of a tex-mex kick. It was also January, and I was craving something cozy and warm…like soup.

This recipe is hardly even a recipe, really. You just toss all the ingredients in a slow cooker and turn it on. But, since I know people like ingredient measurements and cook times, I’ll go ahead and share mine.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Here’s a great way to use up leftover cooked (or rotisserie) chicken, which gets transformed into this tasty, tex-mex style soup thanks to some simple ingredients and a slow cooker. Anywho, this recipe is pretty forgiving. I added my favorite tex-mex ingredients, but feel free to switch your faves in/out.

Definitely serve this with tortilla chips. I went low on the salt on this recipe since tortilla chips are already so salty. If you skip the tortilla chips, you may want to add some additional salt, to taste. Oh, and please add some cheese. The hot soup, crispy tortilla chips and melty cheese is what really made this dish special for me.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 4-6 hours
Yield: 4-6 servings  

Ingredients:

• 4 cups chicken broth/stock (1 32-ounce box)
• 2 cups cooked chicken (I used about 1/2 a leftover rotisserie chicken but any type will do)
• 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes (with juices)
• 1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 large onion (or 1 small), chopped (about 1 cup-ish)
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 – 1 teaspoon salt (err on the side of using less if you’re going to top your soup with tortilla chips)
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• pepper, to taste
• grated cheese, optional, to top the soup
• tortilla chips, optional, to top the soup
• fresh cilantro, chopped, optional, to top the soup

Directions:

• Add all ingredients to a slow cooker. Stir to combine.
• Cook on low heat for 4-6 hours, until vegetables are tender to your liking. Season with additional salt and pepper, if needed. Note: Remember to go light on the salt if you’re topping your soup with tortilla chips.
• Serve with your preferred toppings, like grated cheese, tortilla chips, and fresh cilantro. Enjoy!

You may also like:

• Slow Cooker Beef & 3 Bean Chili
• Mom’s Slow Cooker Pot Roast
• Southwestern Quinoa Veggie Burgers

Happy cooking!

By the way, would anyone be interested in a stove-top (and faster) version of this recipe? I’d be happy to play with a different preparation method. Leave me a comment if you are.

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Reader questions: Are you planning to make anything fun food-wise this weekend? What are your favorite tex-mex ingredients?

I went to the local bowling alley last night. Why? The obvious answer is that I was there for…

…dinner! Yup, you read that right. I went to a bowling alley for dinner.

Last night, I had the opportunity to serve as quasi-press at a special preview event for the recently revamped George Pappas’ Park Lanes, now known as Ten at Park Lanes, in Charlotte, NC.

From their press release:

“The popular George Pappas’ Park Lanes is undergoing a renaissance. In addition to a new name – Ten at Park Lanes, the Montford institution will feature a restaurant featuring scratch-made comfort food and expanded entertainment areas.”

I was invited, along with other local food fans, to try out some of the restaurant’s new menu offerings. (The event was free, and I wasn’t paid to blog about this. I just thought I’d share my photos and thoughts from the evening.)

We started with a fruity cocktail on their newly renovated porch, and then headed to a covered section for more foodie-fun.

I ran into Gwen at the cocktail portion of the night.

{The covered area of the new porch}

After a quick intro and walk-through of the menu, we were off the races.

{Our new friends – Carly and Tony}

{the menu – love the graphic design work here}

Everything was served family-style to the various tables of four.

The first course that arrived was the fried pickles & jalapenos. My spice-tolerance isn’t very high, so I normally shy away from jalapenos, but these were really good. Admittedly, I only had the ring-shaped ones, sans seeds, but I enjoyed them. I always love a fried pickle, too. I liked that the ones here are chip shaped.

Next up, we had the PBR Sliders and Smoked Pork Belly Skewers. The sliders actually did not have Pabst Blue Ribbon in them, as they explained in the intro. I believe the PBR in the name represents the key ingredients – prime rib, bleu cheese, and roasted sweet onion. The slider was good, as was the pork belly slider, but some of the other dishes were better, and I’d probably order them first if I came back here for dinner.

I really loved the Carolina Greens Salad. I thought all the flavors went together nicely, and I really liked the vinaigrette.

{an apple pie cocktail}

One of my favorites was the BBQ Chicken flatbread. This tasted a lot like Brixx’s BBQ chicken pizza, which is my favorite-ever BBQ chicken pizza. I thought the flavor of the sauce was spot-on, and I loved the topping of fresh cilantro to brighten the flavor.

The Fifty-50 Retro Burger was probably my least favorite. This one was touted as the bacon-fanatic’s burger, and I can see why. The patty is basically made with half ground beef (a blend of short ribs and Angus brisket) and half bacon. Plus, there is an additional piece of jalapeno bacon on the slider. I thought the idea was unique, but I’m big on texture when it comes to bacon. I don’t like when it’s soft or chewy. I prefer my bacon crisp for whatever weird reason. The bacon that was mixed with the beef in the patty stayed really soft, so it was just a texture thing for me. The slider well prepared and had a nice presentation. It’s a cool concept – just not for me.

The mac and cheese was awesome and reminded me of my dad’s version. The baked beans were pretty good, but a little saucy for my liking.

My other favorites were the ribs and pulled pork. This is probably a good thing because, as I understood it, Ten at Park Lanes wanted to be known for BBQ. I thought the ribs were nice and meaty and had a great glaze. Plus, I liked the crisp outside and tender inside. The pulled pork was nice and smokey and went well with the sauces.

They had four tasty sauces by the way: jalapeno coffee, chipotle apricot, honey comb, and piedmont-something (I can’t remember the exact name of the last one). I thought it was cool that their sauces were all so unique and distinctive. I tried all of them except the chipotle apricot and liked them all. The piedmont was my favorite of the group.

And for the last course – homemade moonshine pecan pie. I could just barely taste hints of the moonshine, which made for an interesting flavor. The inside was very soft and sweet, and the pie had a thin crust, which didn’t stand out as much as the filling. I think this will be a nice addition to their menu, especially since I don’t seem to see a lot of pecan pies around town.

After dinner, we took a quick walk around the revamped bowling alley. I think people are going to love the outdoor area. They have cornhole, plenty of seating, and plans to add bocce ball and ping pong tables.

{The new bar}

{the new bowling area}

One of the things that I really liked about their remodel is that they strove to stay true to their roots.

From the press release:

“Williams says the bowling alley has been renovated to look more like it did when it was built. “We want to honor the building — the look and the architectural style,” he explains.“

{front desk}

They offered us the chance to test out the bowling alley, but hubby and I decided to call it a night.

I really like what they’ve done with the Park Lanes bowling alley. We have a nice bowling alley uptown, but that one is very modern and swanky. I think I’d probably end up spending more time at Ten at Park Lanes since it has more of a casual, neighborhood atmosphere. Plus, Park Ten has all the from-scratch, comfort food eats!

What do you think? Does this look like somewhere you’d like to visit (even if you don’t live in Charlotte, what do you think based on the pictures)?

I’m already ready to go back to Asheville. We had so much fun and enjoyed so many great eats! You can check out my Asheville posts by clicking here to go to the first one. Then, look for the “Next” link at the bottom of the post, after the comments, and click on that link to view the next post, etc. Or, click here to go to my last post, and check out the list of links to the others.

Now, onto the rest of my vacay week…

We headed to my family’s house after leaving Asheville. It’s about one hour away, so it seemed to make sense to stay in the area and spend Easter with them. I’m still in seek-relaxation mode, so all I really wanted to do was spend some QT with the fam, rest, and enjoy tasty eats. That was easy enough…

Dad made his famous breakfast potatoes the first morning while mom was at work.

My mom actually ended up working two 12-hour shifts while we were there, so we decided to keep things extra low-key for Easter dinner. We had plans to cook a big turkey, but my parents forgot to take it out early enough to let it defrost. It ended up working out okay, because I think everyone was pretty tired for various reasons. Hubby and my dad ended up purchasing two already-cooked rotisserie chickens from the grocery store.

While they were out shopping, mom and I harvested almost all the leaves of this swiss chard plant from their garden.

We had a big bowl full, but I knew they’d shrink down.

I sauteed them with olive oil, garlic, chicken broth, salt, and pepper.

The Easter spread – rotisserie chicken, saffron rice, steamed green beans, sauteed swiss chard, and cranberry sauce.

The next morning, I woke up to a treat. Sis was baking. Not only was she baking (trust me, anything she makes is delish), but she was baking something extra-cool (to me, at least). She recently told me she’d adapted my Green Monster Muffin recipe to something new – Acorn Squash Muffins. These were exactly what was going in the oven as I walked downstairs to pour my morning cuppa joe.

I wish we had a way to share smells through computers, because these smelled wonderful. Fresh-baked muffins are a frequent occurrence at my parents’ house and really smell like home to me.

{The breakfast spread}

Sis wrote down her adapted recipe for me, so I’ll share it on the blog sometime if you’re interested.

And our last meal of the trip – teriyaki shrimp, zucchini with onions, steamed rice with a drizzle of soy sauce, and my sis’ famous miso soup. I really wish I had this for lunch again today!

As you can see, the food of the long weekend was stellar. As for relaxation, hubby and I watched the whole first season of Game of Thrones, plus we got to see the first episode of the new season. Sometimes there’s just nothing like totally vegging out in front of the TV. We also managed to eat BBQ at my favorite joint in town, play disc golf, sleep in, and visit my favorite G-Vegas coffee shop.

Reader question: How was your weekend? Did you celebrate Easter? Did you do anything special?

I let hubby make plans for our last dinner in Asheville for this trip. After some time relaxing on the porch, we got ready for dinner.

Cúrate had been on my list (of restaurants I’d researched before the trip), but after a high recommendation from one of the guys working at the B&B, hubby was ready to make reservations.

All the Yelp reviews I’d read said to sit at the bar (or “tapas bar” or “cooking line”) if you could. I wasn’t sure exactly what they meant (like a traditional bar?), but as it turns out, there really is a long “tapas bar” in the middle of the restaurant. On one side are bar stools and a long counter, on the other, a dozen chefs prepare various tapas plates.

{The view to my left from our table}

Hubby had tried to indicate that we wanted to sit at the “cooking line” in his OpenTable reservation, but they must not have had any availability there because they sat us at a four-top next to the bar. We figured it was better for our party of 3 anyways.

{Table setting}

{The menu – it was quite large}

I thought the silverware/napkin/wine list had an interesting presentation.

Even though we read on Yelp that the sangria wasn’t very good, we tried it. I love sangria!

The sangria is prepared table-side with a whole bottle of wine.

The sangria wasn’t really our cup of tea. I know Cúrate is known for serving authentic Spanish tapas, so maybe the sweeter, fruitier sangria I’m used to (and was more what I was expecting) isn’t how sangria is actually supposed to taste? This one tasted like red wine with a splash of fruit juice. I wouldn’t say it wasn’t good…just that it wasn’t what we expected. It did grow on me as we continued with dinner.

We each selected a couple tapas to try. On our first order, we requested three – the bread with olive oil and fresh tomato was one of them. Hubby and Sis really liked this one. I have an aversion to bread when it gets soggy (with the exception of French Toast), so this one wasn’t my favorite. The bread was nice and crispy on the bottom but not so much on top.

Also ordered on round 1 was the cured Spanish ham, which came out with what appeared to be more of the tomato-bread. The ham had a great flavor and was really tender.

I read mixed reviews on the garlic shrimp on Yelp – some people said it was the best tapas on the menu while others said it wasn’t good. We decided to order it anyways in our first order. Personally, I really liked the shrimp. They were very tender, and the garlic slices were really tasty.

Everyone seemed to love the eggplant on Yelp, so even though none of us at the table particularly liked eggplant, we decided to try it. I would have liked it more if it had been more crispy. But, the flavor was really good – fresh rosemary and honey. Oddly enough, it tasted a bit like French toast (doused with honey instead of maple syrup).

We also tried the potatoes bravas, which we all really liked.

And for the first time in my life, I ordered olives at a restaurant. Thank you, Chez Panisse for converting me to an olive fan. There were 3 types of olives in the jar. I thought they had great flavor, and I really liked the presentation, too.

Sis and hubby really wanted to try the sausage with white beans. I’m not normally a sausage fan, but I really liked this one. The sausage had great texture and flavor, and I really liked how the beans were slightly crispy.

All of the desserts on the menu were cold – ice cream, mousse, sorbet. I’m more of a cake, tart, pie and other warm or room temperature dessert type of girl, but the rosemary ice cream with almond sponge cake and candied orange sounded really good. And it was. The cake was really light and airy, but it went well with the ice cream. I especially liked the candied orange peel.

There were a couple other dishes that we wanted to try, but we ran out of room in stomachs. We’ll have to try those dishes next time!

Dad asked me to find the impossible – somewhere for dinner that was cheap, had good service, had great food, and wasn’t too far away. I really wanted to check out one of the Facebook recommendations, but they were all a little too expensive, unfortunately.

I did manage to find the chupacabra – a local restaurant with delicious food for a low price tag.

For dinner, we visited Homegrown.

Homegrown features a new menu every night. They keep costs down by using ingredients from local farmers.

I think they also save a bit of money by not having full on waiters – you order at the counter…

…plus the decorations are quite simple. I thought the place was cute, and I didn’t mind not having a waitress waiting on me the whole time. I just wanted good food for a low price tag.

After ordering, you get a seed packet with a number so they can deliver your food later.

Hubby had the Philly cheesesteak (which had much thicker meat than traditional Philly cheesesteaks) and dad had the trout with beets and mashed potatoes.

I ended up ordering the buttermilk fried chicken breast with beets and sesame greens. I was really excited that the chicken was actually boneless/skinless with a mushroom gravy. If you’re a die-hard traditional fried chicken fan, you may want to skip this. Personally, I don’t love chicken skin, so with this dish, I was able to enjoy the crispy goodness of the fried chicken breading. Yum!

Homegrown was fantastic. It was a little north of downtown Asheville (only a few minutes), but worth the drive. Definitely check out Homegrown if you’re in town. They have super low price tags (most entrees were around $10-11) and great people working there.

After dinner, we headed back to downtown to check out a place another friend, Gina, recommended – French Broad Chocolate Lounge.

Even though it was Tuesday at 10pm, there was still a line. We were a couple out from the door when we started, but the line moved slowly. I’d read on Yelp.com that the food was worth the wait, so I used the time to select my choices.

I ordered the quintessential chocolate cake…

…and a lavendar-honey hot chocolate. I felt like I should order the organic milk with the chocolate cake, but I really wanted to try the hot chocolate and wanted to try to hit all of my must-tries.

I read a lot about the liquid truffles, but my family wanted to take dessert to go, and I figured the liquid truffles would be better if we were staying there.

We also tried a couple “perfect” chocolate chip cookies, which were good, but would be in tough competition with my dough balls. 3

My friend Gina highly recommended the chocolate creme brulee, but those didn’t seem like they’d be as good to-go.

We left with a brownie, a pecan tart, a couple perfect chocolate chip cookies….

…a lavendar-honey hot chocolate (yum!)…

…and that chocolate cake! Wow – delicious chocolate sweets, and yes….worth the wait.

We loved the great local eats! Yum-yum!

We’ve been quite busy here in Asheville, so I haven’t been able to blog quite as fast as I’d like. I’m trying to catch up a bit now.

After our gorgeous afternoon at the Biltmore gardens, we headed back to the B&B for a quick refresh before dinner.

Then, we headed out to check out a place my friend Dana recommended – Jerusalem Garden Cafe.

The interior was really pretty.

Dana told me about a cool back room where you can sit on the floor, but it wasn’t meshing well with my parents’ knees.

We ended up sitting in the front room.

Sis and I had Moroccan tea.

And we dined family-style, ordering 4 entrees to share among the table: salmon with artichokes and capers, cous cous with chicken, the chicken kabobs and the vegetarian combo.

We had a full table of eats. Jerusalem was in the downtown area, almost across the street from one of the Tupelo Honey Cafes. If you’re in the area and you’re looking for good food, definitely check this place out. I didn’t think their vegetarian combo was as good as the one I get in Charlotte, but it was good. The other entrees were really-really great, so I’d stick with one of those. The salmon was tasty and you got a big portion. The grilled chicken kabobs were tasty, and I really liked the cous cous, too. All in all, you got pleasant atmosphere, good service, and tasty eats for a pretty reasonable price and no wait.

After Jerusalem, we hit up another spot my friend Dana recommended – Dobra tea.

I’d read online their menu was quite large, and it really was – not sure if you can tell from the photo here. Luckily, our waiter was very friendly and helpful in ensuring we made a good selection.

After ordering, Sis and I wandered around the shop a bit.

They have teas on display…plus local pottery and other goodies for sale.

We were most interested in the dessert display, though.

The inside has a great Zen feel. Like Jerusalem, this place has on the floor seating in the back and regular tables in the front.

I ordered the herb tea with a mint flavor.

I also had to try the Lavender blossom cake, which was great.

I really loved Dobra tea – I can see this being a must-stop every time I visit Asheville. I already want to go back on this trip so I can try one of the teas with caffeine!

All in all, we had a great Monday!