Let's Hear it for the Newtons!!!

I think my love of fig newtons is well documented.  

Last night, while getting my facial, L.A. (my darling friend and facialist) said to me:

'What did you have for dinner?'

And I said 'Four Fig Newtons.'

And she said 'Remember that commercial?' 

And I didn't - but we looked it up - and here it is.....

Oh, Nuts!

My pursuit of less flab sent me off to the Teeter in search of healthy snacks.

I found Emerald Dry Roasted Almonds. 

Oh my God, y'all.  They are my new favorite thing in the world. 

I want to mainline them. 

I don't think I'm going to have a problem choosing a handful of almonds as a healthy snack from now on.

And please, if they're not healthy, please nobody tell me.  Just let me enjoy them.

Bacon Ice Cream: It's What's for Breakfast

I dreamed about bacon ice cream the other night. 

Y'all, I would SO eat bacon ice cream.  I mean, really.  Happily.  With excitement. 

I've always sort of had an unrequited lust for bacon ice cream.  I just figured it was part of my whole Southern Appalachia pork predilection.  

But when I googled it, it is apparently a real thing and not just a figment of my bacon obsessed imagination. 

Is it a Southern thing?  Is it a hillbilly thing?  Is it just a bacon thing?  Has anybody out there actually tried bacon ice cream? 

Do tell.....

15 North Roadside

Charlotte Peeps!  Have you eaten here?????

It's located at 1513 Montford Drive.

Go.  Eat Pork Chops.  Thank me later. 

And the non-Charlotte Peeps?

One word.

Roadtrip.

Fig Newton Frenzy

Y'all, I'm so all about fig newtons right now. 

It's not even funny.
Image:  Fresh Figs by Honey & Jam Photography.

A Helpful Hint...

If you're having a little informal party and you need to serve a little something sweet, get a bag of M & Ms and put them out in a pretty bowl.

Everybody loves M & Ms.  They can't help it.  And it's hard not to have fun when you're eating a handful of M & Ms. 

I'm just sayin'.

Fiamma

My darling friend and I had dinner at Fiamma last night.

A-mazing.  Really.  I forgot I was in Charlotte for a minute. 

You have to put aside the fact that it's in a strip mall....  It doesn't matter.  The food is outstanding.  The service is so, so, so excellent.  The wine.  The dessert.  The FOOD. 

We ate like little pigs and left like....two very happy, stuffed little pigs.

Go there.  Immediately, if not sooner.  

And if they will give you the melon with prosciutto, dates and aged balsamic, don't just sit there!  Order it!  Devour it!  And if you have any illusions that you will want to share it with the other people at your table, let me disabuse you of that notion right now.  You will not share.  I told my friend - "get your own".  She didn't understand.  Then when it came, she understood.  It's not shareable.  So spare yourselves the agony and resentment and make everybody get their own.

Just sayin'.

And if your waiter tells you what to get and how to order it, listen to him.  He knows what he's talking about.

The Loco Lime

There seems to have been an explosion of Mexican joints all over Charlotte!

Last night I had dinner with a friend at The Loco Lime over on Central Avenue. 

Half off margarita night....

I don't remember anything after that. 

Manzetti's

Manzetti's is closed, y'all!

My Manzetti's!  My place!  In my neighborhood! 

Closed!

And they didn't even say goodbye. 

Now what am I gonna do for a good steak in a place that I don't necessarily have to dress up for?  And I'll never get a decent crab cake again in Charlotte.

I am distraught!  Forlorn!  Bereft!  Disconsolate! 

I blame George W. Bush for this.

The Cafe Marquesa

The Cafe Marquesa is my favorite place to eat in Key West. 

The food is great.  The waitstaff is excellent.  They gave me perfect french martinis (in fact I think they started my whole french martini thing).

But the actual restaurant.  The space.  The light!  My God, the light. 

I don't know how if happened or if they did it on purpose but the light is so sublimely beautiful to me.  It just radiates through the windows and the whole place seems to glow.  I was so happy just to sit there and sip my drink.  I think it's what restaurants in Heaven should be like. 

I just loved it (again) and I'm so happy that  I got to go.