Day Three - Pigging Out

Friday morning was a whirlwind of activity. Jake went to work for a half day while Carla and I ran errands.  It was still early, so we went to breakfast.

Then we went to Home Depot, Kroger’s, Kohl’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, and finally Best Buy. We were back home by 11:00 a.m. Carla did some things while I packed a small suitcase.

I got a call from Guardian Alarm Company on my cell that one of the buildings at work was having a problem. I am always “second” on the call list, the official reason being that I “live so close” (I think its because nobody else wants the responsibility). Guardian was getting a water flow alarm signal from Zone 22 in Building 3 and somebody needed to investigate and reset it. Then they had to call Guardian back with an okay.

So, I tried to call my boss, Lenore, to let her know. Unfortunately, I fat-fingered it and accidently called my son Jeremy (they’re next to each other in the phone directory). I quickly explained, hung up and called my boss. I just got voicemail. So I sent her a text. She responded and asked what was up. I explained in detail and she sent me a text saying she was in a meeting with the Maintenance Department and would pass it on. So, I did my duty.

When Jake came home, we loaded the car and left for Charlotte, North Carolina, on an overnight foodie road trip. We drove through intermittent rain on the scenic route.

It was my first time in Charlotte (other than the airport) and I was impressed at the large amounts of green space. It was much more sprawling than I had expected, but only a few tall buildings.

We ate a late lunch at the Cowbell Burger and Whiskey Bar. We just got two appetizers so we wouldn’t spoil our dinner. One was fried pickles with a house-made buttermilk herb dressing. The other were fries with roasted garlic aioli, buffalo sauce, Parmesan cheese and fresh herbs.  

 

From there, we went to our hotel. I unpacked in my room and took a short nap.

Then we went to dinner at the Soul Gastrolounge. Parking was a problem but we finally found a spot, and then took a long walk to the restaurant.  When we got there we had to walk up a metal stairway (outside the building) before finally getting in.

It’s a small, hip place that fills up rapidly (after a short while, they were three deep at the bar, waiting for tables). But there was a table left. Well, I say table, but it was a loveseat, with a coffee table and two different style chairs (I told you it was trendy).

We ordered off their tapas menu so we had small dish after dish of food. It’s not in the correct order (we ordered from light to heavy) but here’s what we ate:

Garlic shrimp skewers, 

 

Sashimi tuna tacos (marinated diced tuna in fried wonton tacos with marinated cucumbers and sriracha mayo), 

Asian glazed pork belly tacos with watermelon salsa (sounded weird as hell, but it was fantastic and my favorite), 

Bone marrow (garlic roasted beef bones with parsley salad and toast),

Rocky mountain oysters (deep fried veal with spicy ranch),

Liver and onions (brioche toast topped with creamed bacon, southern fried foie gras and pickled red pearl onions),

and fried brussel sprouts with a brown butter, bacon and balsamic vinaigrette.

All in all dinner took over two hours and it was worth every minute!

The long walk down the stairs and to the car was needed, LOL!

We went back to the hotel and rested up for a bit. Then we played cards for a while in my room. Jake and Carla left for their room and I read until bedtime.