Feb 7, 2012

When Twitter Friends Become Real Life Friends

Today was another example of why I love abusing using Twitter. A few of my fellow tweeters and I bonded a couple months ago over a love of beets. A lunch to meet in real life was long overdue. We met at Square Onion, in I’On, for a meal that couldn’t be #beet. Winking smile

The beet-loving group consisted of Holly of GoCharlestonDeals, Trish of Vidalco Wine, Charles, a fellow food blogger, and Charles’ friend Muffy. When Holly first arrived, she noticed that the restaurant was featuring a beet special on Tuesday and told the chef she wished it was for today. Well, we lucky kids got a nice surprise – the chef let us sample the special a day early!

Beets, goat cheese, and arugula. Mmm.DSC00163

For lunch I had The Meredith: turkey with brie cheese, cranberry horseradish
sauce, lettuce and tomato on rosemary focaccia with a side of edamame salad.
DSC00166

I liked this sandwich, but next time I would get it without the lettuce and tomato. They didn’t go well with the cranberry horseradish sauce. The edamame salad was really good though.Square Onion on Urbanspoon

The company and conversation were delightful, but by far the best part of our tweet-up was the surprise Charles brought us. PICKLED BEETS.

(picture from Charles’ fb)

He pickled the beets in apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, kosher salt, cloves, and cayenne pepper. They were so good that I have to admit, they are already gone. Yup, I ate them all today. Charles, you need to start a beet pickling business immediately.

In other news, I ran for the first time since I hurt my knee FOUR weeks ago. The past month has been so depressing not being able to run, but I did get really friendly with some stationary bicycles. Needless to say, when I decided to do an easy run today, I was overjoyed to not feel the excruciating pain that I had been having for so long. I wanted to jump up and down on the treadmill with joy but I figured I better not hurt myself again.

My level of clumsiness is off the charts. Just today I sideswiped a pole in the grocery store, tripped over my own shoe, lost control of a grocery cart, accidentally dumped half my water bottle on myself at the gym, and burned my finger on a pan. I rightfully own this glass:

But hey, I entertain everyone within a 10-foot radius.

What’s your favorite social media platform from which you’ve made friends? For me, it’s definitely the blogosphere!

What’s your favorite pickled vegetable? Besides cucumbers, I love pickled beets and okra.