"Passion Crushes" and Cocktails, the Bob Peters Edition

I’ve been on a “passion” kick brought on by my TEDxCharlotte experience this past February. There’s nothing more beautiful than passion. Nothing. And it’s even more beautiful to see it in action.

I now have “passion crushes” (PC). For example, I have a PC on Chad Henderson of NoDa Brewing. If you haven’t seen his TEDxCharlotte talk, go watch it. Now. Even Guy Kawasaki thought it was awesome and posted it on his LinkedIn profile.

Chad's passion for craft beer caused my friends and I to come up with the verb to Chad to explain things that we’re passionate about.

Here are a couple of examples on how to use the verb:
"I’m Chadding over feminine leather for F/W13."
"You’re going to Chad when you see this TED video."

And then last night I met Bob. Bob made me want to turn him into a verb.

Let’s back up for a moment and start from the beginning.

A couple of weeks ago I crashed a Twitter conversation between Cassiday and Bob the Bartender and asked if they needed help tasting cocktails and, to my surprise, an invite was extended. The day couldn’t come fast enough, and neither could five o’clock.

I arrived at Pisces Sushi shortly after five and sat down at the bar. A kind gentleman provided me with a glass of water and I waited. Shortly after, panic struck. Was I at the right place? The right bar? Where were Bob and Cass? A familiar looking gentleman (Jerry) walked into the restaurant and walked to the back half of the restaurant. “Is there another bar,” I asked. Turns out that there was and so began our night of magic.

The drinks were poured and the conversation flowed. Nothing was made using pre-fabricated mixes. The drinks were infused with fresh produce, mixed with local liquors, and prepared using tools I’ve never seen before. Bob is one part artist, one part mad scientist, and infinite parts passion.

Cassiday, Bob, and some tipsy chick

Huge thanks to Bryan for opening his restaurant's doors to us and for Cass and Jerry for being fantastic sipping partners in crime. I’m looking forward to many more nights full of friends, food, and drinks made by my new PC!

Cheers!

P.S. Part two of this post is coming soon with pictures of all the delicious foods and drinks.

my favorite {Charlotte} things - Kennedy's on Monday Nights

I have a confession to make. As a kid I hated Chinese food and shellfish. At Chinese restaurants all I would eat was rice. Plain white rice. May be an occasional eggroll. May be. Throw in the fact that they served shellfish and it was enough to make me run for the door. I was 10 years old and couldn’t really go any further than out the door, into the cold harsh winter of San Jose, CA.

I hope you know I’m kidding about the cold harsh winter…

Over the years, my pallet matured and I quickly realized what I was missing out on. First came the love for Chinese food and then, in my late teens, the love for shellfish. It wasn’t until I was in my early 20s that I fell in love with lobster.

My family quickly figured out that we had to go to Chinese buffets during the weekend if we want to enjoy all-you-can-eat shrimp and crab legs. The boiled shrimp on ice never disappointed, however, the crab legs were not something to write home about to the motherland. You considered yourself lucky if you managed to snag a set of legs from the long lines of people waiting to get their share from the small pan on the buffet. Or, the buffet was completely dead and the legs have sat under a heating lamp for hours. When you got back to your table you quickly realized that they were overcooked, difficult to eat, and not that tasty.

Our other option was to wait till the local grocery stores competed for our crab leg business by selling them between $3-5 per pound. Those were the days! We would buy a minimum of five pounds for the three of us and cook them all at once and devour them as quickly as we could. However, the tasty hot goodness didn’t last for long. It takes a while to eat five pounds and the legs get cold, fast. The joy was short lived.

Crab legs haven’t been on sale in a while and the last time we made a batch (a very large batch at that) we fell into the ice cold crab legs funk.

Our last crab feast at home in June of 2012... that large pot was filled to the brim with crab legs, corn, potatoes, and sausage. Ten pounds of food for two people.

So we evolved and found a new way to enjoy all you can eat, perfectly cooked, hot and delicious crab legs without having to clean up the mess.

After reading countless reviews and scouting locations we decided on Kennedy’s Premium Bar & Grill on Caswell in Elizabeth. Our first visit was last October for our one year wedding anniversary. It was a quiet Monday night and we opted to sit at the counter facing the bar and the TVs so hubs could watch the football game. It was perfect. The $25 got us a house salad with all-you-can-eat hushpuppies and crab legs. The legs came out in sets of two and the waitress was proactive in asking us if we wanted a re-order. We did. Each time they came out steaming hot and we definitely overindulged.

We went back again this past Monday with our good friends and the restaurant was packed! We elected to sit at the counter again so we could get our hands on the legs with as little wait as possible. The service was fantastic and the legs even more so. I made it through four reorders before throwing in the napkin.

We’ll definitely come back again in the summer, when the patio is open and we can enjoy our legs during the warm summer nights in Charlotte.

Round one.

Bucket #4.

#instaGOOD: Monday, June 25th

As I mentioned in my last post, here is the first post in a series titled #instaGOOD.

Monday, June 25th – Day off.

My sister-in-law and I took it easy in the morning, recovering from the amazing Brothers of the Sun concert from the night before. We decided to check out Sleepy Poet Antique Mall, an antique market here in Charlotte that has been a hideaway and a happy place for me for many years. I could get lost in there for hours!

beautiful ring and bracelet,
located in the cases in the first row after you walk in, on the right.

purple bottles,
located not far from the jewelry cases above

The rest of the pictures from our trip were taken with my point-and-shoot and I will share those at a later time.

After three hours and two growling stomachs later, my SIL and I met up with my husband for dinner at Paco’s Taco in SouthPark. This place, no lie, has the best fajitas in town. I would know, I’ve had a lot of fajitas in this town!

Firestarter Margarita & Tres Leches!

And that, my friends, was last Monday.

Farmer's Market Loot: July 3, 2010

(photo by me)

Above is a picture of my local "loot" from the following:

• Pickles Farmer's Market - (NoDa)
• Atherton Mills Farmer's Market - also on Twitter (SouthEnd)
• King Street Farmer's Market (Myers Park)
• Amelie's French Bakery & Cafe - also on Twitter (NoDa)

All the veggies came from the first three locations listed above while the French bread (fresh out of the oven and better seen under the greens in the picture taken with my Blackberry) and French macaroons are from Amelie's.

Charlotte Food: Price's Chicken Coop

Located on 1614 Camden Road

the menu

mmm, fried chicken

The box that holds the greasy goodness!

My "small" dinner plate.

Price's Chicken Coop is by far one of my favorite restaurants in Charlotte. The concept is simple: Southern fried chicken, country fixins, and rot-your-teeth sweet tea. Price's also serves fish, shrimp, BBQ, and sandwiches. The food is seriously amazing but what amazes me everytime I go there are the people (see Tweet below). They're all amazing human beings and that's what makes Price's even more special.


There are a few things to keep in mind before you go to Price's:

• Cash only! (gift certificates are available and so is a small ATM hiding behind a soda machine)
• Get off your cell phones! (if you screw up your own order because you were distracted they're not responsible)
• Closed on Sunday & Monday (the two days I crave it most)

Price's is located on 1614 Camden Road, Charlotte, NC 28203

All photos taken by me.