Best Restaurant Representing Charlotte

The time has come to select your favorite restaurant in the QC area! If you had someone in town the has never been here before, where would you take them? The only requirements are that the restaurant can't be a huge chain present in many cities, and it must be open for lunch and dinner services. Voting will be tabulated based on comments here. We will feature the restaurant here and post a review to our friends at Yelp, along with other social media publicity. Good luck and happy eating!

Late Night Mumble

Sitting in the dark at this late hour. Can't sleep. There's nothing wrong except that impending career change. Do I remain in a current role, or move inside? Either way, I'm certain the income will be better. What is there to lose? With as much knowledge that I have, even if it were to all end, and there was a cut in my near future, I can hold my head up and say, "Joe, you've done alright." Such a positive feeling.

Ernest Hemingway wrote in For Whom the Bell Tolls, "Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can depend on what you do today." This thought and living motto creed I have lived. Some of which extremely satisfying and others painful like a roaring fire to the skin. How does one teach this or learn it for that matter? Answer: it cannot be taught to another orally - merely lived and observed, while paying constant attention to the cause and effects of being. Experience. Learning. Willing to walk through changes to grow better. 

What have I done today through actions to grow? 

The day is over - it no longer counts. Tomorrow it begins again while striving towards progress and excellence.

Basil Pesto Chicken Panini

I came up with this a few years back for an outdoor Spring lunch. It's so good, make it year round or whenever fresh basil is available. Never buy jarred pesto. I don't know what it is but it could be the most vile thing known to culinary cuisine.

Basil Pesto:
1 cup basil leaves chopped
2 tbs grated parm
1 tbs pine nuts
1 clove garlic
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Put all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Drizzle more oil as you're blending to get the consistency you want. See how easy that was? Set this aside in a medium metal bowl in the fridge for now.

Sandwich:
1.5 lbs chicken tenders cut into bite size pieces
1 orange bell pepper cut julienne
1 yellow pepper cut julienne
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
6 slices provolone cheese.
2 cups loosely packed organic baby spinach
Fresh baked French bread divided into 3 equal sub like lengths & sliced in half to make a sandwich
Salt and pepper

Heat 2 tbs oil in large pan on medium high heat. Add the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Brown the chicken pieces. Once done, and please don't overcook (no pink inside but not dry as a bone), remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. Add 1 tbs oil and the peppers to the same pan you used for the chicken. Roast on medium high heat until tender and the skin slightly roasted.

Assembly: add the chicken and peppers to the pesto. Stir to coat well. Spoon out a nice layer of the chicken mixture onto the bottom half of one of your sub rolls. Layer baby spinach on top of the chicken. Add 2 slices of cheese. Put the top of the bun on. Throw the sandwich into a heated panini press. Press the sandwich flat and heat for 3 minutes or so until the bread is piping hot and toasted. Remove with a spatula onto a plate and cut in half. Repeat the process for the remaining 2 sandwiches.

Enjoy!

No Coincidence

For many years, I've been of the firm belief that there really aren't too many coincidences. The girl that left, the change of jobs, a move, the people I interact with... On one hand I'd like to think that I listen to that gut reaction. On the other hand, things are chosen for me - they are almost forced upon me. Take that one instance of having to leave a relationship. That one I thought would never end. It involved a move away and then back again within two miles of where I left off. Different person - different circumstances.

At the time I could say it was the worst thing ever. Now, as I drive by the old place, I am reminded that I am exactly where I'm supposed to be. It wasn't an easy travel either. As a matter of fact, this blog originated (under a different name) back at that previous location. When I flip through the thoughts penned out throughout that time, I am reminded that while things got crazy, I am happy and enthralled with the new life - a new life reinvented around love, passion, compassion and living life being real and true to whom we are. Nothing can be more satisfying than that - that feeling of knowing I made the right decisions, working my ass off, walking through the fire yet again, and remained true to myself. To me, there is nothing more important than that.

Joe's Whiskey Barbecue Sauce

This is so easy! Just remember that if you reuse the same sauce used to baste raw meat, I will stab you with my grilling fork unless it is boiled off to eliminate cross contamination... You'll only need about 2-4 tablespoons of bourbon. How much you buy and drink while making the sauce is up to you. I am not responsible if you stumble into the grill on a drunken stupor. :) Enjoy!

Whisk together 2 tablespoons of ketchup with 1/4 cup of distilled white vinegar in a saucepan over low heat. Next, add 1/4 cup molasses and two tablespoons of deli style mustard. Add 1 tablespoon pure chili powder. Add 1 teaspoon each ground cumin, dried oregano, and fresh ground pepper. Add 2-4 tablespoons of bourbon.

Simmer this for about 20-30 minutes, stirring often. Add salt and hot sauce to taste. If you really want to sweat, find a nice habanero hot sauce instead. Feel free to adjust the other ingredients as you see fit. I will often cut back on the vinegar, add more bourbon... you know the drill.

Chicken on the Grill

Let's top the summer off with a kicking good piece of chicken!
What you need:
1tbs paprika
1tbs garlic powder
1tbs dried oregano
1tsp dried rosemary
1.5tsp salt
1tsp ground pepper
barbecue sauce (homemade or Sweet Baby Rays)
8 bone-in chicken thighs

Your favorite wood chips soaked for 30 minutes and drained - I will also use pellets in a tin foil pouch with a small hole punched in the top center

Mix together the first six ingredients and rub the thighs with these mixed herbs. Let them stand for 1 hour at room temperature.

Get your grill going and set on medium-high heat (set it up for indirect cooking)

Sprinkle the chips on the charcoal or add your pouch to the grill. Grill the chicken over the direct heat areas for 3-5 minutes per side. Don't allow flare ups. Transfer the pieces to the unheated portion of the grill and cover the grill. Cook for 5 minutes. Brush both sides of the chicken pieces with barbecue sauce and cook for 5 more minutes.

Check to see if they're done closest to the bone. No pink should be visible. Temperature should be 160 F. Continue cooking as needed. Cover done pieces with aluminum foil until ready to serve.

Do not re-use the barbecue sauce if you used for brushing unless it is boiled off to eliminate cross contamination.

The Lawn Tracker - Page Two

What a Tim Allen moment! Future father-in-law pulls in, looks at my enormous pile of supplies and says, "Wow!" Oh yeah! See the picture on the left. This portion of the tracker is the continuation of the last. The first post started off at the Fall. I have made some adjustments based on what I saw over the year. Most notable was changing the type of seed to straight Kentucky 31. I used a Carolina blend the last time. I got some weird flowering weeds in the Carolina blend.

I started September 1. The summer temps backed off early. The rains were good timing too. This is earlier in the season than the last time. I used four bags of Kentucky 31, six bags of lime and three bags of 10-10-10. I used no lime this time last year. This is the second time I've added lime. On a hunch, my soil/clay isn't suited for fescue.

I cut the grass low one week before. This allowed the grass cuttings time to mulch in. My spreader was set at half way for the lime and the fertilizer. My spreader number is 15. I wanted to go heavy seed this time. I went up to 20 on my spreader for the seed. I went over the areas that looked like it needed more help with a secord or third pass with the spreader.

When it was all done, I got lucky. It started raining moderately for an hour or more. For a good yard, I'm coming to the belief that I have to be a weather person to a degree. My company has one on staff that predicted a cooler end of summer. It hasn't been anywhere close to the century mark. It was 93 on the day I seeded, but the temps have dropped to upper 80s to 90° with rain. I downloaded the weather underground app. It's a huge help.

Based on these results, my goal is to take care of weeds early Spring and lime again. I have considered using a weed and feed instead. In every article/blog/online source, it sounds like crab grass takes about 7 years to control thanks to the germination cycle. Once I see how the new seed takes off in those areas, I'll make a better judgement on the product.

How's your lawn? Are my pains in the yard helping? What do you do? Comment below :-)