The Friday Five 1.4.13

1. What I’m Reading: I haven’t read a novel in a while. Book club girls: what are we doing?! For a refresher, I picked up The Elements of Style, an American English style guide on grammar and writing. Classic.

2. What I’m Eating: Roti Rolls came to Daniel Island on Thursday. Cory let me know ahead of time, so I was able to whip up a batch of cookies for them the night before. I love those guys and they deserve some homemade treats from one of their biggest fans.

In return, I got a Funky Farmer: a roti roll filled with curried local sweet potato, parsnip, carrot, rutabaga and ginger with braised greens and pickled beets. On the side I had a beet and arugula salad.

So worth standing in the rain!

Later that night, my friend Eric was at The Green Door, their sister restaurant, where he received some of the chocolately goodness. They knew we were friends and handed him a cookie. Charleston is so small and this made me smile.

3. Recipes I’m Bookmarking: Best Ever Beet and Bean Burgers. Say that 5 times fast. Then make them. 

4. What I’m Watching: Even if just one of you readers is a Parks & Recreation fan, then I will make someone laugh with this video. I cry laughing every.single.time.

5. GIFs I’m Loving:

PRETENDING TO LIKE A PRESENT

DRUNK FLIRTING

EXPECTATION

REALITY

WHEN I REALIZE IT’S FRIDAY!!!

Happy Friday! Have a wonderful weekend!

The Green Door

I have been keeping a secret from you! Forgive me, for I have been holding out on telling you about your new favorite lunch and late night spot downtown. You all know that Roti Rolls food truck has a piece of my heart. Okay, maybe a chunk. Cory and his crew have been serving up fresh, local, and spicy goodies on the side of the roads of Charleston. Very recently, they opened up a brick & mortar spot on East Bay Street, next to Big John’s.

While that corner of the street is low lit and sometimes a little creepy, The Green Door is not. You may be temporarily blinded by the incredibly green walls, but rest assure, your sight will revert back to normal as soon as your nose smells the goodness coming from Cory’s kitchen.

Before the restaurant’s actual opening, I was invited to the friends & family dinner to sample some of the menu items. I dragged convinced this cutie to come with me.

The Green Door is essentially an expansion of the Roti Rolls food truck. Here’s a sneak peek of what they’ll be serving.

At the event, we sampled some of the menu items, including fried chickpeas (whoops, 1 strike)…

…a mini Funky Farmer (curried local vegetables, seasonal greens, and beets on a roti)

…and The Green Door Burger (short rib, Thai chili pimiento cheese, kimchee, hoisin aioli, arugula)

Everything was delicious and I foresee myself stumbling in for a visit after a few vodka sodas. Don’t you love the honesty?

Thanks for the invite Cory! Good luck to you guys!

Locals, have you tried Roti Rolls or The Green Door yet? What’s your favorite item on the menu?

Panera Bread–Soups for Cold Weather

Though I don’t typically eat at chain or fast food restaurants, I will make an exception if I’m super busy. During the holidays, things get a little crazy and cooking isn’t always the best option. When Food Buzz informed us that Panera Bread now offers a variety of soups in their café, I was intrigued.
In college, I was mildly obsessed with their bagels and breads. They’ve got some incredible sweets coming out of that bakery as well. Cookies? Yeah, tons of those. For meal options, they’ve got sandwiches, soups, and salads. The “You Pick 2” combination allows you to pick 1/2-size portions so you can try a couple things.
For a quick lunch the other day, I checked out Panera’s menu and found a bunch of great items. There were so many different sandwiches I would have liked, but I wanted a light meal and opted for soup and salad.
I ordered the Asian Sesame Chicken Salad (al-natural, antibiotic-free chicken, romaine lettuce, fresh cilantro, sliced almonds, sesame seeds, crispy wonton strips & reduced-sugar Asian sesame vinaigrette) and Low Fat Vegetarian Black Bean Soup (plump black beans simmered in a spicy vegetarian broth with onion, red bell pepper, garlic and cumin).
I was impressed.
Some of their other soups include:

• French Onion
• Broccoli Cheddar
• Baked Potato
• Clam Chowder
• Chicken Noodle
• Vegetarian Creamy Tomato
• Vegetarian Garden Vegetable with Pesto

Yay for all the vegetarian options!

Do you ever go to Panera Bread? What’s your favorite combination?

The Friday Five 11.30.12

1. What I’m Reading: Oh, you know, cookbooks. This new one, Jerusalem, has beautiful photos.

2. What I’m Eating: As much as Danielle and I eat together, restaurant owners must think we are dating.  We went to Mi Xao for the third time in a week so we could try more of the menu. Give us a month, I bet we’ll have covered the whole thing. The owners are just so nice and they’re now blog readers. Hey guys!

Last night Dani had the red curry stir-fry…

…and I had the green curry. Mine was so spicy my lips were burning. Loved it.

We also got to sample duck crepes and sweet potato & shrimp fritters that are part of their catering menu.

On our way out, Anh showed us that Mi Xao is BYOB. Good to know!

PS: HI JOY! It was nice to meet you. :)

3. What I’m Listening to:  Lykke Li – Possibility.

4. Recipes I’m Bookmarking:  Black Beans with Sweet Potatoes and Kale.

5. GIFs I’m Loving:

ONE HOUR INTO MY DIET

ALL DAY EVERY DAY

WHEN I GO FOR A RUN

I hope you all have a wonderful, blessed weekend! 

Highlights From My Weekend

To say this weekend was low key would be an understatement. But don’t you worry, I had plenty of fun.

Friday: I picked up my little brother after school so we could hang out for the weekend. He’s 16 and all he does is EAT. I’m jealous of how much he can get away with eating!

I ate my delicious leftovers from Mi Xao, a new Vietnamese restaurant in Mt. Pleasant. Eric and I went on Thursday night and it was everything I hoped it would be. I ask for a combination of two types of pho. My bowl had shrimp, rice noodles, ginger broth, bean sprouts, basil, lime, jalapeno slices, cilantro, onion, and scallions.

Eric had the wonton pho. We also had the spring rolls, pot stickers, and a can of coconut juice. Okay, I had the coconut juice. I wish you had seen Eric’s face when he tried it. He was not a fan. I happily drank it.

I’m fond of any restaurant that keeps a gigantic bottle of Sriracha on the table. Please look at my broth in the above picture. Now look at this picture, after I had clearly added a ton of the magical sauce. I left with teary eyes and a watery nose.

Saturday: I woke up and made my new favorite breakfast: a pretzel Flatout wrap + scrambled eggs (1 egg, 2 whites) + avocado + Sriracha.

I signed Amanda and myself up for the Charleston 1/2 Marathon. Eeehh, it’s real!

I browsed Hobby Lobby for some craft ideas and ended up finding a birthday present for Rachel…and a majorly sassy glue gun.

I went for an easy 4-mile run around I’On then proceeded to get LOST in the DARK for 30 minutes. I couldn’t find my car and had to map myself with my phone. Typical!

The little brother and I made dinner, watched movies, and ate too much candy and frozen yogurt. Later I suffered from some serious FOMO when I received this text from Danielle:

Sunday: I made crackers. Yes, crackers. I’ve made these twice now and feel the recipe is ready for the blog! Stay tuned. If you’re my friend on instagram, you already know that they contain rosemary, raisins, and walnuts. It’s a fantastic combo, trust me.

Amanda and I started Week 3 of our 1/2 marathon training.

I love having a workout schedule mapped out for the next 10 weeks. I’ll share it with you soon! Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

What were the highlights of your weekend?

What was the best thing you ate?

What I’m Loving Wednesday 10.24.12

1. I ate at Purée four times this weekend: Friday dinner, Saturday brunch, a juice, and Sunday lunch. What is wrong with me? Nothing.

Friday: I had the Asian Bowl: pan fried tofu in a chili garlic sauce w/ brown rice over a bed of greens, shaved cucumbers, carrots, ginger.

Boding had the Pad Thai: rice noodles with crushed peanuts, red pepper, snap peas, coriander, lime.

Saturday:  Danielle and I split two wraps: Grilled Chimichurri Seitan Wrap (protein marinated in homemade herb cilantro lime dressing then grilled) and Mo Mo’s Homemade Rosemary BBQ Wrap.

2. I’m not the most organized person when it comes to my belongings. My shoes are all over my apartment and my purse is always a mess. I’ve learned to embrace it and work well amidst the chaos. Check out my k-cup madness. What’s your favorite k-cup flavor?

3. On Sunday evening, Boding and I went to Trader Joe’s for dinner stuff. There was one pumpkin Greek yogurt left. Obviously I grabbed it out of principle.

I was just there for the bare essentials: Greek yogurt and wine.

4. I enjoyed said wine in my favorite Pier 1 chalk note wine glass and pajamas. Christmas pajamas…two months early.

5. Speaking of Christmas, the seasonal Clif bars are back! Peppermint Stick is the real winner of this trio. What do you think of them?

6. Now rewind back. Halloween is my favorite holiday and I’m excited for this weekend’s festivities. I went from wanting to be Cat Woman, to a cat, to something very different than either of those animals. Here’s one hint :I will be carrying these around all evening.  (Annabel/Hannah/Amanda --  shhh!)

7. Amanda and I are still on a running kick. We never plan how far we’ll run and kind of just see how we’re feeling at each mile. On Monday’s run, at 7 miles in we felt great so we continued. At 8 we still felt good. Neither of us wanted to stop at 9 because, well, why would you when 10 is right around the corner? ;)

Nope, we’re not training for anything…other than world domination.