Beach,Burgers and Blue Moon

I just returned from a relaxing weekend at Ocean Isle Beach-OIB.

Our trip started by meeting some friends at Margaritaville for lunch.  Let me just say the the Cheeseburger in Paradise really lived up to its
name-DELICIOUS! and the RaspberryRita was very refreshing as we ate lunch outside with a cool breeze in our hair:)


Back at the house to top off our lunch (because you always need dessert) we had brought a Toasted Almond Blue Moon cake to celebrate our girls weekend.  If you have never had a Blue Moon cake I would highly recommend it!  It is one of my all time favorites and I have it every year on my birthday. The chocolate cake layered with Amaretto, ganache and buttercream and iced with  almond buttercream frosting and toasted almonds is to die for. We even had a piece for breakfast!

Does eating at Chubby Tacos really make you Chubby?

Just the name made me want to try it. How cute-Chubby Tacos. So I tried going after church one Sunday only to find out they are closed on the weekends. Well I told my friends about it and we decided to go last week. My friend Barb just happened to have a jump rope performance at the IBM rec center down the street.  So my Y friends and I car pooled to watch the performance and then celebrated afterwards at Chubby Tacos. It was a fun, little, hole in the wall kind of place. The food was good but the excitement and anticipation was better. We ate, laughed and took a few photos. If you end up going there make sure to use your coupon in the Raleigh Citipass book.

Eating In

Tonight we are eating in.  I know some of you will be disappointed to know we are not going out.  This year we have been asked to be in a dinner group with three other couples.  We meet 4 times a year and each couple takes a turn hosting. Tonight we are having a Spanish theme and I have been asked to bring dessert.  I decided to try my hand at recreating a dessert I tried at the Carolina Ale House.  They were dessert nachos- I am going to bake tortillas with cinnamon sugar and  layer them with golden caramel swirl chocolate ice cream and chocolate and caramel sauce and whip cream. I think I have already gained 5 pounds and I haven't even lifted my spoon yet.
www.carolinaalehouse.com

Tossed- throwing away lunch-no way

As many of you know my mom passed away in February and I have spent the last few months going through all her possesions. Along the way I have put things in piles to save, give away or toss (as in throw away).  Two of my good friends spent the morning with me sorting through the garage.  We loaded up two van fulls of stuff- one to donate to Goodwill and one to save and bring back to my house.  The rest of the stuff we tossed. After all our hard work we rewarded ourselves with lunch.  How ironic that we ended up eating at a restaurant called Tossed. I guess it was the theme of the day.

Where are you going to lunch today?

This has to be the question I get asked most often.  I love food, eating out and socializing with friends. In fact my husband has started asking me - so how many days a week  do you eat out?  I must confess that some weeks it was everyday-though not always lunch. I would throw in  a coffee once in a while.

Tonight for instance it was a friends birthday and we decided to go The Corner- a local spot that happens to have trivia on Tuesday evenings. I had a delicous salmon dinner while learning that a Bruin is a bear and the capital of Bosnia is Saryevo.

Who knows what tomorrow may bring. I am going shopping with a friend so I am sure we will have to stop and eat something.

I will let you know what I find.