so, spring will officially be here on saturday! thank goodness! i’m not sure how much longer i could take this rainy, icky winter weather. what does spring mean? besides a quick trip or 2 to the tanning bed and super cute sun dresses - drinks outside of the patio! zink american restaurant on tryon has an awesome patio that is sure to be back just about every afternoon from here on out.

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When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.
-Henny Youngman

So Mt. Pleasant isn’t exactly Downtown Charleston, but close enough.  If you can break away from Downtown for a night, I suggest heading over to Samos on Coleman Blvd in Mt Pleasant. It’s a Greek restaurant that has a tapas menu and a full dinner menu.   It’s perfect for going out with a group of friends, having a bottle (or 3) of wine and grabbing some inexpensive aps for a great night.  When the weather is warm enough, make sure you call ahead and get a seat outside, it’s pretty close to perfect! And the food will keep you coming back for more!

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It’s no secret that I love sushi and if it were up to me, I would eat it all day, every day. When I got to Charlotte my first order of business was to find a sushi bar. After a few suggestions, my boyfriend and I stumbled upon Nikko’s on South. And what can I say, it was love at first bite!

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Ok, so as soon as you start dating a guy (or even see a cute guy walking down the street for that matter) you start to notice things about him that can ultimately make or break a relationship. Sure, some of the things may seem like harsh reasons for not wanting to date a guy, especially if you don’t really know anything about him, but a deal breaker is a deal breaker. Read the rest of this entry »

thanks to a blast e-mail we’ve all got a little bit of advice we should take into account every day …

As Ben Franklin said:

In wine there is wisdom.
In beer there is freedom.
In water there is bacteria.

In a number of carefully controlled trials scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 liter of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of E. Coli - bacteria found in feces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop.

However, we do NOT run the run that risk when drinking wine & beer (or tequila, rum, whiskey, or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.

Remember:
Water = Poop
Wine = Health

Therefore, it is better to drink wine and talk stupid, than to drink water and be full of shit.

I say drink up! Cheers!

Cooking and wine. Possibly two of my favorite things ever. Everyone needs to know how to cook. You don’t have to always try to cook a gourmet dinner for two, but you should know how to cook something easy, cheap, and really good. When my boyfriend and I started dating I would cook dinner for him, and I swear that’s what made him fall in love with me. It wasn’t that I cooked the best food he’d ever had … though it was probably pretty close … but cooking at home is just so much better than eating out all the time. Especially if you’re starting to gain weight, going out to eat constantly is the first thing you need to cut out. The portions are waaaay too big and whatever you can cook for yourself at home is going to be much healthier. So, take my advice and learn to cook something! Cooking is not hard, but it does take practice. I’ll give you some of my staple recipes so you can start cooking for yourself. Ok, so I’ll only give you what I put in it but no measurements … I never measure anything.

“Boyfriend Dinner” – you first have to understand that when I was growing up my mother wasn’t exactly the best cook ever. Quite the opposite actually, when I had toast at my friends houses I always wanted to know why you didn’t have to scrape the black stuff off because mom always burnt our toast. She came up with boyfriend dinner and at first we were all a little suspicious, but it turned out to be great. That’s how it got to be called boyfriend dinner – whenever I brought a boyfriend over for dinner for the first time this is what she would cook. So weather you’re having over your boyfriend, another couple, or just want something easy for yourself this is great!

1 or 2 big cans of Italian Style dice tomatoes

I can tomato paste – if you want thicker sauce, use the whole can, not so thick, half the can or even leave it out

Garlic! – I love garlic and I put it in everything, all to taste

Invest in a garlic press! It’s the one of greatest kitchen gadgets I’ve got. You peel the garlic, put it in the press and it comes out minced – that way you don’t have to cut up the garlic yourself and also don’t have to worry about having chunks of garlic in your food.

1 diced white onion

1 diced green pepper

Put everything into a big pot on medium heat on the stove and cover

Put salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper in sauce to taste

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts or 1 lb peeled shrimp – if you’re having people over for the first time for dinner go with the shrimp

When meat is cooked, add it to the sauce

Serve it over bowtie pasta

Top with feta cheese or goat cheese and toasted pine nuts (optional)

To toast the pine nuts put them in a pat on low heat for a few minutes and toss them around – do not put oil in the pan or the pine nuts will burn

Red Wine – I Love it! What more can I say? Not only does red wine make you forget about the day you’ve just had, but it’s also really, really good for you. Italians drink red wine all day long and look at them. They live forever. So what if the sulfites mite leave you with a little headache the next day, if the antioxidants can reduce the risk of certain cancers and heart disease … why not have a glass of red wine or two a night. No need to go out and get shwasty, just pour yourself a glass of red wine, get a good book and enjoy!