southern charm

I made a mental note to myself to look up all the ingredients in this cocktail so I could figure out what was sparkling... but I didn't note to note down all the ingredients in this cocktail, so it's a mystery that I was quite enamored by.

easy days

blueberry chocolate chip oatmeal cookies

The university has no mandated holidays for graduate students.  It's the hardest thing to explain.  "Student" isn't quite the correct word anymore.  Which I guess also balances out the "awesomeness" of not having to pay tuition anymore.  (Except, damn those student fees I didn't know about.  This is my only motivation to use the gym.)

Despite feeling my mind and body disintegrate from boredom and under use, I am going to miss those lazy days.  Easy, simple days.  When I could slowly wake up by the light of the sun at 9 am and eat breakfast for three hours before going back to bed for a nap.

quinoa burger from Spotted Dog (also watermelon beer is pretty great)

Liking all my fellow grads so far, but I'm missing Nance Pants and Nikki who were around 80% of the time to keep my brain awake and functional...

rewards on National Doughnut day

...to eat food and drink blueberry beers all day long.

if you wanna be skinny, eat this

Chapel Hill means frequent trips to Caribou and grocery stores and TOPO.  Chapel Hill means suburbia, so driving in circles and taking walks through residential homes.

grossest looking product I've ever seen

Madison doesn't necessarily not mean any of that.  But since I live downtown and haven't explored much besides that and campus, Madison means lively younguns.  Madison means walking everywhere lets me pretend I'm a "city girl."

satisfying that occasional hot dog craving at Sup Dogs (where they also have the kinds of tater tots potato dreams are made of)

No more easy days with the same familiar faces.  But that's the risk of growing up and moving on, I guess.  We were advised to stop thinking like undergrads - that's the quickest way to make the transition into the confusing unknown that is grad school.  Everyone knows I'm dreading the concept of more school, but part of me can't believe I'll only have two years to do all the things I think I can/want to do.  Are we sure it's possible?
Here's to hoping I'll make it.

mid afternoon gelato martini at Sugarland - looks like everyone had the same idea

put a bird on it

I don't believe in love at first sight.

The Black Bird isn't the most unique name, but when we actually wandered past it on our way to Double D's, I'm convinced I fell in love.  It was the open windows, the earthy colors, the glitzy bar, and of course, the birds on the wall, which reminded me of tattoos I would love to get if they weren't so overdone already.  Something about black silhouettes of birds just screams artsy and beautiful.

Well I went from hungry as fuck to food coma after one pimento cheese/mushroom/prosciutto omelet with sausage, roasted potatoes, and half of the giant buttermilk biscuit.  By the way, they literally put like a whole tablespoon of butter on the biscuit - I was quite alarmed.  But too hungry to care.

You can't go wrong with a fluffy omelet for brunch.  And the potatoes and meat really weighs down a budding hangover, so I could finish that $1 mimosa.

Oh and the abstract-ish nest lamp thing... so lovely.  If I don't paint birds on my body, I guess I'll paint them on my wall.  So many ambitions for my future permanent apartment.

I thought I was going to save stomach space for dessert at French Broad Chocolates, but too. full. too. eat. anymore. must. nap.  I went for an assortment of truffles instead, figuring I'd try to bring fancy flavor flare back to my parents even though it often fails (Dad really just likes his chocolate covered almonds).  Six pieces lets you almost choose one from each of their (seven) collections.  They all look and sound so enticing.  I loved the almost in-your-face spiciness of the canela picante.  And the lavender of the lavender and honey.  And the subtlety of the white jasmine.  I think if I decide to go the route of confectionery, truffles would be my go-to gift.

queen of leftovers

In my top three requirements for choosing a place to live or visit is: colorful food options.  Excuses to eat out.  Trying new things.  Getting fat unnecessarily.  All of it is good.

I demanded Lyd take us to Nine Mile after seeing her Instagram months earlier.  Niel and I both got the Cool Runnings (the names of the dishes are so Asheville).  It was kind of like three separate components (and rice) all supporting the chicken.  Beans and chicken (there was kind of an odd taste going on that wasn't my favorite), salsa and chicken (spicy and sweet), cheese and chicken (creamy and savory) with rice and chicken as a palate cleanser in between.  I don't have to tell you that there definitely wasn't enough chicken to be eating it that way.
The entire menu was filled with buzz words - Cool Runnings just happened to have a bunch strung together in one line:
blackened. check.
mushrooms. yes.
smokey. ooo.
gouda. mmm.
chipotle. mmm.
And I just saw a bunch more buzz words while revisiting the menu.  I would like to go back now.

Managed to represent all the countries at Doc Cheys, post hike.  Lyd with China, Lisa with Singapore, Niel with Thailand, and I got bibimbap for Korea.  I usually avoid ordering this if it doesn't come in a hot stone bowl, but I wanted all the veggies.  And I needed a rice dish because they provide furikake seasoning at the tables.  Shit's an easy way to eat your way through like six bowls of white rice without realizing.  Which reminds me, I need to find an Asian grocer around here.
Anyways, I'm usually skeptical of Asian restaurants that don't have a specific national theme (how can you offer bibimbap, pad thai, singapore noodles, AND sichuan stir fry that are all authentic and tasty?), but it was good.  I was satisfied.  And the lightly fried tofu cubes were my favorite part.

Our fancy meal of the weekend was at Rezaz, where we had the peppiest waitress in the land, who was very enthusiastic about the strawberry lemonade cocktail and made a passion fruit concoction for Jamie.  The pictures of the food were such eye candy, I definitely fell for it.  And then I felt bad when Niel only got three little raviolis but it's okay because he got leftovers.  Lyd and Jaime got the signature seafood paella (excuse the poorly taken photo), and I would've been all over that if I hadn't seen fried haloumi.

Isn't it so pretty?

With fresh tomatoes, eggplant, dolmades, and pita.  Ugh, yum.

You bring souvenirs home; I bring leftovers.

This isn't ethnic, but I've never come across siamese pretzels in all my years of eating family-size bags of pretzels in no more than two sittings, so I guess you could say it's somewhat foreign.

cute mountain town is cute

This is our selfie behind a vacant and dewy spider web:

I can't tell if it's because I've been cooped up in one place for too long that all new places cause a sort of fascination and enthusiasm.  Or I could be easily impressed (i.e. Pittsburgh wasn't so bad despite Bernard's less than favorable opinions).  It's possible both reasons go hand-in-hand.  I mean, I haven't been to a city I really didn't like (although the question of permanent residence is a different matter).

happiness in words

 Throwback to the one night I spent in Charlotte in order to eat a buttery grilled cheese (but the sprouts make it healthy... right?).

I haven't been able to depict my happy in pictures since Sunday.

 Happy is spending a couple hours discovering the things you've always had in common.  Why-didn't-I-meet-you-sooner syndrome.

Happy is not campus food, as I learned.

Happy is thinking about spending my spring break driving around my desert homeland.  I have yet to do the post-grad self reflection//yolo-ing around the world business.

Happy is not this floating, jumbled gray mass that represents my future.

Being forced to re-evaluate my future.  Why do I buckle under pressure when it comes to life decisions?  That's not what you wanna hear... I mean, I'm totally in control of my life (and not prone to being dragged to the most shameless spot in Durham)... 

flaming amy's

 Thank you Trey and Syrus for introducing us to Flaming Amy's in Wilmington.

It was my second time there when I realized that it's not a chain restaurant ----> must visit every time I go to the beach now.

Andrew and I came back here when we got lost trying to find Boca Bay (note to self, still must find and try their ceviche).

 Definitely rivals that of Chipotle in size.  Taste is still a bit debatable for me because I do love the freshness that Chipotle burritos bring (and the fact that it makes me fill less guilty when I'm struggling to get up from the table), but I'm such a sucker for things with an Asian twist (why didn't I just get the Thai burrito?), so two points to FA.

I got the house name burrito with cajun tilapia (could've used more vegetables in my opinion), and Andrew the jerk chicken.  Between the two of us, we polished off seven or eight cups of their assorted salsas, my favorite being the wasabi avocado because it adds another layer off "spicy" to all the traditional hot sauces.  It's funny because those tattooed regulars probably thought we were being wasteful Asians.

Speaking of, this is even more incentive to get the tattoo that I've been developing in my imagination.  10% discount on Tuesdays :)