The little blue book is “Making your own biscotti and dunking delights” — I stole it from my mom 🙂
HOLY.HOT.DOG.
I’ve been doing A LOT of eating lately. It’s not my fault, really. How can a gal not fall victim to sensory overload in this food-filled city of Charlotte? Every street, every corner, every nook and cranny of this beautiful city is buttered with interesting restaurants to try–from fancy schmancy steak and lobster grilles to down-home-country barbecues to fabulous food trucks and every single flavor combination in between.
Let’s just say I’m in glutton heaven, and I’ve made it my personal goal to try each and every restaurant in the city. I’m dedicated to this cause.
As I try more and more places, I’ve started picking up on some of the soap-operaesque back stories of the local establishments. One that is particularly intriguing is the story behind The Penguin Drive-In in Plaza Midwood.
In the past, the Penguin was just one of those places you had to go. If you were a true Charlottean (yes, that’s what they call us), you’d been to the Penguin a hundred times and you’d eaten your fair share of their famous fried pickles. Newbies in town didn’t know what they were missing as they walked right by the Penguin’s dilapidated building and awfully awkward parking.
But then Guy Fieri stopped in at the Penguin for his show Diners, Drive-in, and Dives, and all hell broke loose. I’ll admit, I love the show, and I love seeing places I’ve visited on TV. It’s almost like for that millisecond when the image flashes across the screen you are actually a part of something famous. As if your emotional investment in the place somehow makes you a part owner, and you burst with pride when you see your baby on the big screen.
What, just me?
Anyway, due to some disagreements, two of the four guys who ran the Penguin left to open Pinky’s Westside. The remaining two owners couldn’t come to an agreement with their landlord, so they were forced to abandon the Penguin. The landlords of the building then decided to run the Penguin themselves, and the other two guys opened up the Diamond Grill, literally a block away from the Penguin. I think I’ve got that straight…
Interestingly, all three restaurants serve hotdogs and all three have fried pickles on the menu. The newly-owned Penguin has the “famous Penguin fried pickles,” Pinky’s has “Greg’s pickles,” and the Diamond has “classic fried pickles—the neighborhood’s first and best original recipe.” Can you smell the rivalry brewing?
Of the three restaurants, I’ve only been to the Penguin so far, which many other Charlotteeans are boycotting in favor of the Diamond. Let’s hope this post doesn’t get me blacklisted.
The Penguin had a TON on the menu that I wanted strike that NEEDED in my belly.
But as I perused the menu, one item made my heart sing.
The Ma… the Meatloaf Hot Dog.
Chili. Onion. Slaw. Seriously?!?!
Seriously?!
Let’s make brief note of the MONSTROUS side salad that came along side with a balsamic dressing was to die for.
But really, chili, onions, and coleslaw on a hotdog?! My world was officially rocked. Hands down THE BEST hot dog I have ever consumed.
Now that I know the backstory I feel it is my moral foodie obligation to give all three of the brawling restaurants an equal tasting. I MUST go to the Diamond and to Pinky’s to give their Weiner Wonderlands an equal shot. Seriously, it says Weiner Wonderland on the menu… get your head out of the gutter already.
Nutritional stats on the hotdog: 1 clogged artery, 1 full belly
Recipe: Jambalaya {bad things happen when I don’t eat}
Somehow in the past few months I seemed to have forgotten my passion for cooking. Let’s take a moment to ponder how the heck this is even possible. Somewhere between leaving a job of over four years, attempting to sell a house, subsequently becoming a landlord, selling off and donating an insane amount of my possessions, a crazy condo hunt, leaving my family and home state of 26 years, a HORRIBLE moving experience, starting a new job, and immersing myself in the culinary delights of a new city I forgot how much fun and just how darn rewarding a home cooked meal can be.
Blasphemy!
Through these past few whirlwind months I’ve been a little *ahem* emotional. Ok, not just emotional. Let’s also throw in irrational, brash, and downright scary at times. This Saturday I actually cried over burnt pizza. I CRIED, PEOPLE. And then I sat on the living room floor with my knees clenched up to my chest and just stared off into nothingness as my body seethed in furry searching for some sort of carbohydrate to peak my bottomed out blood sugar.
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: bad things happen when I don’t eat.
While I was in the midst of nuclear shutdown, the BF came over, sat down beside me, and put his arm around his little sugar feigning zombie. And we sat. And then he did what any good man would do: he didn’t talk, didn’t ask questions, he just got up from the floor sauntered over to the kitchen and made me a snack.
I know, right?
Why can’t I see things so simply? Is it really just a man thing? Are women really just crazy complex, overanalyzing, (often) emotional basket cases? Whatever the case may be (lord knows I don’t have the answers) the BF does a pretty darn good job of reeling me back from Mary’s Land of Anxious Gloom by trying to insert some of the simple things into my life. Sunday morning he convinced me to simply sit on the porch and drink mimosas, and Sunday night we simply made jambalaya for dinner.
This was simply stick to your ribs delicious, guys. I’m serious. It gave the jambalaya we had in New Orleans a run for the money!
Jambalaya
Recipe adapted from Cooking Light’s Jambalaya.
- 2 links hot chicken or turkey sausage (cooked and sliced)
- 1 cup white onion (chopped)
- 1/2 cup celery (chopped)
- 1/2 cup green pepper (chopped)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1.5 cups uncooked long grain brown rice
- 3 cups fat-free low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 tbsp paprika (smoked, if you have it)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepepr
- 16oz cooked chicken breast (cubed)
- 14.5oz can diced tomatoes with green peppers and onions (undrained)
- 4oz shrimp (uncooked)
- 1/2 cup green onions (thinly sliced)
Note: I recommend Uncle Ben’s Fast & Natural Whole Grain Brown Rice and Harris Teeter hot chicken sausage or Jennie-O Turkey Sausage.
Step 1: Coat a large pot with cooking spray then heat over medium-high heat. Add sausage, onion, green pepper, celery, and garlic. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook 12 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.
Step 2: Stir in uncooked rice and cook for two minutes, stirring constantly. Add broth and all the spices and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes.
Step 3: Add chicken and tomatoes, half of the green onions, and shrimp. Stir, then cover and cook 8 minutes or until shrimp are done.
Step 4: Remove from heat, sprinkle with remaining green onions, and eat your face off.
Stats on 1 serving: 344 calories, 45g carbs, 6g fat, 33g protein, 4g fiber
Looking for a Jambalaya-for-one recipe? Check out this post.
Looking for a crazy, borderline incoherent, slightly volatile woman? Catch me on a day when I miss my midmorning snack.
Eff you monday.
My favorite part of the weekend is the early morning. That coveted part of the morning when most sane people are still sleeping even though the sun is starting to joyously creeping its way across the sky. Early enough that the roads are clear and the city is calm and you tiptoe even if no one else is around just because. I actually look forward to waking up early on the weekends–I dare say it actually brings me JOY. It’s my own little slice of time to do whatever the heck I want. To be agenda-free and commitment free. Time to think or not think. Time to just be, which happens to be my favorite time of all.
This morning, let me clarify—this MONDAY morning—I awoke not filled with bliss and excitement for the day but rather cranky, angry even, and ready to flip Monday a big fat bird.
Why can’t weekday mornings be peaceful and indulgent too? Who the heck put weekday mornings into a class of untouchables? And more importantly, WHY?!
So today I said “eff you Monday.”
And I plopped myself down on the living room floor with a special weekend inspired breakfast.
A little black coffee and a leggo my eggo topped with vanilla greek yogurt and blueberries:
And I sat and enjoyed my selfish unproductivity and this deliciously sweet breakfast while the precious weekday minutes melted away…
And then I did something just downright crazy. On this Monday morning I sat still for a whole 25 minutes and watched an episode of Sex and the City 
And just like that, Monday morning became ever so slightly less unbearable.
Technology-1, Mary-0 (plus #giveaway)
So over the weekend, I decided to do a little housekeeping on the blog and categorize all of my old posts. All 260 of them. Just so that I could have a nice little category cloud on the right hand side of the screen (check that shiz out!). Seemed like a fabulous idea, until last night I realized something I was doing was triggering random old posts to get flushed through the RSS feed.
Oooopsie!
I wish I could personally go into each and every one of your feeds and delete all the old posts. I even tried to hack into a few of your accounts to no avail 
The only thing I can do now, is offer you free Greek yogurt!
YoCrunch recently sent me a free coupon to give to a reader for their new YoCrunch Greek Yogurt line:
Honey, blueberry, peach, and strawberry low-fat Greek yogurt all ready to be mixed up with their all-natural low-fat granolas. Ummm sign me up! Or actually sign YOU up.
Just post a comment on this post (about anything your heart desires), and I’ll randomly select a winner Monday evening.
Good luck, and sorry if I made a mess of your RSS feed 