One night I was really, really hungry. I ate a full dinner but my stomach was growling again in no time. Along with the tummy growling I got the sudden, and very strong urge for pancakes. I am not sure what got into me with the intense hunger and craving but I decided to give into both.

B asked how I would make the pancakes since we didn’t have any mix. I don’t need mix! I pulled out my handy dandy How to Cook cookbook and got to mixing. However, I wanted to health-ify my pancakes so I subbed out the white flour for whole wheat flour. Bad idea!

These pancakes were a fail in more ways than one. Not only did they taste like clay or dirt or something that I imagine to be very earthy and unappealing to the palette, they were also on the underdone side. What can I say? I was hungry and patience isn’t usually my strong suit, especially when I am hungry. Ask B, he can barely hold a conversation with me when I am hungry because I get so moody.

I made a nice, large stack of pancake, expecting to eat them for breakfast throughout the week.

I managed to choke down 4 or 5 of these guys over the course of a few days. Syrup, jelly and cream cheese helped mask some of the icky “earthiness” (for lack of a better word), but after those 4 –5 I bit the bullet and threw them out. Wasting food is one of my least favorite things to do however I could not force my taste buds to take it anymore.

What are your thoughts on wasting food? Do you have a good whole wheat pancake recipe to share with me?

Several weeks ago I received an email from Liberty announcing that they were going to start serving brunch and had a menu attached. I saw chicken and waffles and I was sold. I was so excited that I even posted about my anticipated trip to Liberty for brunch. Alas, I opted to go to brunch with some new friends that week and put Liberty on hold for one more week. Much to my dismay the chicken and waffles were not on the menu the next week!

The menu looked delicious, but I couldn’t hide my disappointment at missing out on the chicken and waffles (not to mention the appetizer I was eyeing).

Instead of ordering the heirloom tomatoes with grilled Vidalia onions I ordered the tomato soup with white cheddar popcorn.

The soup was good but lacking the chunkiness that I tend to prefer in soup. I mindlessly ate all of the popcorn before sharing with B. Sorry!

Of course B ordered the fried green tomatoes. We must always order the fried green tomatoes on any menu, and these did not disappoint. They were warm and crispy and had a delicious, chunky sauce.

For the 2nd course B ordered the French Omelet with country ham and duck confit. I have no comment as I am not an eater of eggs. Looks good though.

I order the chicken and dumplings.The chicken had this gorgeously delicious crispy skin, unfortunately the rest of the rest of the chicken was not done to perfection. The center was pink and I had to send it back to the kitchen to finish cooking. The sauce and the gnocchi and the chicken (once cooked properly) and the the veggies (there were carrots in their somewhere) melded deliciously in my mouth. As disappointed as I was about the chicken and waffles I couldn’t deny the satisfaction that this dish offered as well.

After the first two courses there was little room for dessert, but in an effort to be thorough I had to investigate and sample. The dessert table was in fact a smorgasbord with cakes, torts, cookies, brownies, and even Moon pies.

Upon tasting the desserts we determined that they were not made fresh. I think I could have picked up a similar, if not better, cake at my local Harris Teeter. However the brunch is only $14.95 for all three courses (plus I had a coupon to get one free). I more than got my moneys worth just on the chicken and dumplings.

Unfortunately I am now dealing with a situation of our debit card being charged more than double the amount (including tip) of our actual bill. I made a call on Sunday evening and have not yet received a response from a manager. Disappointing.

Do you prefer restaurants that change their menu regularly or ones that keep their menu the same?

Lately, I have been waking up hungry but have not really wanted to eat. My solution to temporarily satisfy my hunger without having to stomach a meal has been a good ‘ole glass of milk. Not just any milk (because that’s only good if there is a cookie or cake involved) but chocolate milk.

In an effort to make a better choice I opted for Ovaltine rather than Nesquik or chocolate syrup. Although, I really didn’t compare labels before buying.

If you notice the serving sizes the Ovaltine allows for 4 TBSP of powder per serving while the Nesquik only allows for 2 TBSP per serving.

When taking the difference in serving size into account it looks like Ovaltine really is the better choice with less calories, sugar, and fat with more vitamins per serving. The only downfall to the Ovaltine is the higher amount of sodium.

My mixture is usually about 1 1/2 c milk with 2ish TBSP Ovaltine.

I don’t love the ingredient list, especially with sugar as the first ingredient!

Although plain milk is the best option to solve my morning-time predicament it is not the tastiest for me, and it is important for me to find a balance between health and taste. So I will continue making my Ovaltine milk in the mornings to satisfy my taste buds and my rumbling tummy.

Trying to be a somewhat conscientious spender I try to pack my lunch as much as possible so a lunch out is a special treat no matter where I go.

A coworker who shares my foodie fascinations decided to give me a break from my ho-hum (only ho-hum because I have been too lazy to put much effort into putting together my lunch bag) packed lunches and offered to treat me to a lunch of soup salad and breadsticks.

The breadsticks were warm, soft, and garlic-y and the highlight of the meal.  Although I am now accustomed to crispy romaine lettuce or other greens in my salads I found something comforting about the iceburg only salad that used to be my preference.

Minestrone was my soup du jour and was chunky and warm but somehow still missing  something for me.  The entire lunch, food, company, and conversation were all a welcome diversion from my norm. Thanks Sal!

Amy was in the mood for sushi and chose a place near my house. Score! RuSan’s always seems to be so busy! It’s one of those places that every time I walked by I wondered what the fuss was all  about (in a good way not in a snarky, sarcastic way).

It is a lot bigger on the inside than I would have ever guessed. There are more tables behind me, plus the bar is u-shaped and there are even more tables and booths on the other side.

The decor was fun with concrete floors, interesting light fixtures, and a lot of different kinds of art.

The menu was intimidating though with more than 4 pages of food to choose from. Their are 55 specialty sushi rolls! That doesn’t even count the basic rolls like the California roll and spicy tuna roll.

Looky! On dollar sushi rolls!! I had to take a picture as proof. I think I nearly fell out of the booth.

Amy’s plate.

I was tired after work and ready for some fun girl time with my cousin, and looking through all of those sushi items is just not something that I wanted to do. I kept my dinner simple with a [$1] spicy tuna roll and a shrimp tempura roll. Although both rolls were simple they were very tasty; and I look forward to taking B, who is pretty adventurous with sushi, to try it out as well.

I was sent the Berry Yogurt Crunch and Cinnamon Oat Crunch flavors to try.

Hmm…. In only have the nutritional stats on the Berry Yogurt Crunch and the ingredient list on the Cinnamon Oat Crunch. Not sure what happened there. Sorry!

Nothing too fishy about these.

I rarely eat a plain bowl of cereal with milk. Instead, I tend to eat cereal as a crunchy topped for yogurt or overnight oats, but I made it a point to try both cereals in a variety of ways (plain, with milk, with yogurt or overnight oats).

The verdict:

Berry yogurt crunch is just not my kind of cereal. I rarely like cereals that are fruity, however if you are a fruity cereal fan you will likely enjoy these. The fruity flavor was all through the flakes, so much so that I would consider swapping out my fruity pebble cereal topping on froyo for these! They worked out really well in yogurt messes where I already had other berry flavors going on.

Since I am not a berry cereal lover I had B give them a try too. He loves berry cereals and completely demolished the box after I got the few samples I needed. I never asked him for an official review, but I think the empty box speaks volumes.

I was really excited about the cinnamon oat crunch because it is a flavor profile that I tend to prefer. I really loved them at first taste too, they reminded me of Apple Jacks, one of my favorites cereals as a kid. Unfortunately, I found that they left a funny taste in my mouth afterward; my Mom tried them too and had the same experience. I was really disappointed.

In all honesty these are not products that I am likely to try again, but a big thank you to Foodbuzz and Kellogg’s for giving me the opportunity to try them.

When I was hungry for breakfast on Saturday morning I was excited to whip out a coupon for a free bagel from Bruegger’s. B and I split a sun dried tomato bagel with jalapeno cream cheese, which was just enough to hold us over through our bi-weekly grocery shopping where I got to use more coupons. Harris Teeter was running their super doubles promotion!

After our grocery shopping was complete we made a stop by a Charlotte institution, Price’s Chicken Coup. In all my years of living in the Charlotte area I have never eaten here and Saturday was just the time to rectify that injustice.

We ordered a 1/2 chicken mixed plate. I was a little piggy and hogged all of the dark meat. My bad. The plate included chicken, tater tots, hushpuppies, coleslaw, and a roll. B added on a side of potato salad for good measure. It was definitely some good eatin’!

Icehouse South End opened right about the time B and I moved to the Dilworth area. We had been before, when it was South End Brewery, and we were ready to try it again. I pass it everyday on my way to and from work and it has been very tempting for several weeks now.

Finally, on Thursday our hectic schedules and a Groupon led us to stop by for a quick dinner and drink. Actually, I didn’t have a drink, B did, but that counts, right?

We started our meal with the Thai Beef rolls.

I was a little bit disappointed with the sparse plating (I know, I am a food diva now), and the rolls looked like something I would buy in the freezer section at Harris Teeter, but to my surprise they tasted great! B and I especially liked the sauce because it had a little thickness to it that you don’t get with plain ole soy sauce.

For my entree I ordered the southwest BLT. It was good, but the chipotle flavor was a little to strong for me. My palette does not care for the smokiness in chipotle peppers. Otherwise it was a spectacular BLT, and the salad wasn’t too shabby either.

B ordered a pulled porb BBQ sandwich, which he, of course, traded with me when I didn’t love my sandwich. He is so good to me. The BBQ had a great smoky flavor (don’t ask me why I like smoky BBQ but not smoky pepper, no idea!), and the sauces on the side were a perfect compliment. I love a little sweet and heat combo going on.

We walked out of Icehouse with full bellies and a heaping plate of leftover (that didn’t last very long at all)!

The evening started off with a tweet up at Dilworth Billiards and then ended with a relaxing outdoor dinner with B.

Although moving can be a stressful and expensive experience there is an upside, in addition to loving your new house and neighborhood, of course. Coupons! It seems that when you move into a neighborhood local businesses love to send you coupons to give you a warm welcome.

I love coupons. They are the reason that I eagerly await the Sunday paper each week.

Anyhow, Brixx is one such business that was on the coupon welcome wagon. We had a coupon for a free pizza and Friday night was just the night to put that coupon to use.

We started our meal with wood fired pita chips and three dips (classic hummus, roasted red pepper hummus, and black bean dip). So colorful!

There was also a flight of beer involved. I have no idea what is what except for the one on the end. It was Fat Tire.

And for our [free!] pizza we ventured outside of our box. Our box involves Margherita pizza and that is it. It is so good that we don’t like to mess with a good this. This time we ordered the Chicken Florentine. It was delicious and we we patting ourselves on the back for trying something new a different.