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.

my favorite {Charlotte} things - LaVida Massage at the Promenade

Last week was a bit stressful… nothing I can share at this moment in time because it is yet to be determined what will come out of it (Vague is my middle name). So it was perfect timing that I had a one hour massage and a one hour facial scheduled for last Saturday at LaVida Massage at the Promenade.

I carry all of my stress in my shoulders and constantly suffer from back pain. Wearing high heels, carrying a 30 pound purse and sitting at a desk all day doesn’t help either. On more than one occasion, a clinical specialist recommended that I get massages frequently for the sake of my health and sanity. Unfortunately, getting frequent massages has not been on my radar because I assumed all establishments charged resort level fees and the monthly membership places were scams, like the gym… once you sign up you can’t get out. You know what happens when you assume… right? But more on that later.

My appointment was at one o’clock but I recommended that you show up 10 minutes early to fill out paperwork. When I arrived I was greeted by sweet Christina at the front and was right away offered water or tea. I took her up on the offer to hydrate before my session. The paperwork is not as involved as it may sound. You fill in basic information and a brief health history, but nothing like you would at a doctor’s office. Massage therapists are healers and they need to know certain things so they know how to help you but also how not to hurt you.

I was whisked away promptly at one o’clock to the therapy area by my therapist, Sydney. She asked me what type of pressure I prefer and I let her know where my problem areas were (shoulders & wrist injury). She left the room so that I could get undressed and under the sheets. My biggest personal issue when getting a massage is that I can’t stop thinking about stressful things and remembering to breathe. The bed was heated and felt heavenly and I quickly felt my body relax and my mind started to drift with the music playing in the room. Perfection. She worked my muscles like a true therapist, concentrating on my problem areas and paying special attention to my injured wrist. It felt like time slowed down… a feeling I don’t get to enjoy often.

I’ve had my share of massages in my life. They have ranged from horrible to absolutely amazing. Let me tell you, I was putty by the time Sydney was done with me. Walking and talking proved to be difficult. It was that good. But they weren’t done with me yet! Next up was my one hour facial with Glen-with-one-N.

This was my first facial ever and I had no clue what to expect. Once again there was a consultation prior to the service, this time about my skin type and what I do to it (SPF 15 daily and nothing else… I sleep with my makeup on, shame on me!). The combination of Swedish and European Russian blood has served me well so I have been pretty lucky when it comes to my skin. I do break out on occasion but thankfully most of my breakouts happened during my teen years. Once again I stripped to my skivvies, got on the heated bed, closed my eyes, and let Glen-with-one-N take care of me. Glen was very good about letting me know what he was doing to me but without talking too much that I couldn’t relax (I have a horror story from the time I got an overpriced massage in Vegas...!).

His hands were magic. MAGIC! The treatment was fantastic. He used a steamer on my face that smelled like the Amazon. I thought I was relaxed after my massage but this put me over the edge of relaxation. But the amazingness did not end there. While my mask was setting, Glen gave me a foot massage that topped the one I got in Beijing in 2008. Yes, I remember things like that.

I was drunk on relaxation and didn’t think I would be able to drive by the time my sessions were over. It also made me realize that I need to get a massage more often to wipe away the stress.

Stress kills.

Remember that massage membership assumption I mentioned earlier? It was wiped away, just like my stress. LaVida offers a no pressure, month-to-month membership that is transferable. This is music to my ears because I’m always skeptical of anything membership related. This means that if I skip a month, I can have two massages or facials in one month or I can let my wonderful husband go in my place. As a member, you can also purchase additional services at a discount each month.

Some say a massage is a luxury that only a few can enjoy. I say that it is a necessity that is affordable and even covered by some insurance plans! Yeah, that’s right, you can get all or part of your massage reimbursed but you’ll have to check with your insurance company on the necessary steps to take. Don’t we all want to be healthy and happy and stress free in the new year?

Give LaVida Massage at the Promenade a try and let them melt away your stress and tell them in the Queen City sent you!


Disclosure: LaVida Massage at the Promenade provided me with their services at no charge in return for an honest review.

my favorite {Charlotte} things: Charlotte

my most liked instagram photo to date :)

My first my favorite {Charlotte} things is Charlotte itself. I have lived in this area since 1995 and have seen Charlotte grow into a beautiful, vibrant city. Just this morning I almost drove into a concrete wall while admiring the gorgeous skyline. It takes my breath away.

There was a fantastic article published recently in the Charlotte Viewpoint titled Keeping the 'Viewpoint' in Charlotte. It outlines just how far we've come just in the last ten years.

To think that just ten years ago I couldn't wait to get out of Charlotte and move somewhere else. Now, I can't imagine living anywhere else.

What's your favorite thing about living in Charlotte?

my favorite {Charlotte} things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,
bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,
brown paper packages tied up with strings,
these are a few of my favorite things.

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels,
door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles.
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings.
these are a few of my favorite things.

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,
snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,
silver white winters that melt into springs,
these are a few of my favorite things.

My favorite movie growing up was the Sound of Music and to this day remains in my top three. The older I got the more I understood that the movie was more than just a musical and appreciated it even more.

I saw the movie recently during Christmas on ABC and got inspired for a new series on this blog. I live, work, and play in Charlotte. I have a tumblr where I post about {the five senses} in the Queen City. It only feels natural to show you my favorite things in the city that I love in hopes that you'll love it as much as I do.

Cheers!