(And I wasn’t drinking!)
We had some major storms here this afternoon that knocked out our power for over 2 hours! The above is me trying to study for my Food Comp exam by candlelight. This was at 5:30pm, so you can see how dark the sky was too! It’s amazing how much studying you can get done when there’s no Internet, TV, cleaning, cooking or other powered activities to distract!
Prior to the storms, I had a banana and some crackers for a snack 🙂
The husband got home around 6:30 and we debated what to do about dinner over some Kashi crackers and PB (I had 2)
Duke Energy’s automated system said our power was going to be out until 9pm. We did not want to open the fridge or any dinner items to keep it as cold as possible (we’ve lost too much food to power outages!) and we decided that going out to dinner at a powered place would be waaaay more fun than eating crackers or tins of sardines for dinner (since our bread was in the fridge!)
Once we made the decision to go out to dinner, we got really excited!!
………….and then the power came back on juuuuust as I was putting on my shoes.
For about 2 minutes we reverted to our original home dinner plans, and then quickly revered back to the restaurant. And we were on our way!
We tried a new place called Bricktops in the area. We wanted something cozy and casual (nice power outage setting).
And because it was a special occasion (me not being in Chem on a school night and of course the outage), I ordered a drink. Despite the fact that I always want a glass of wine in my hand, I was in a beer mood so I ordered a High Sierra.
We usually research restaurants and menus before going, but since this was spur of the moment we just went based on location and outdoor signage. At first glance, the menu wasn’t that extensive and it was kind of expensive for what you got. I was pretty disappointed. I was going to get the Palm Beach Salad (avocado and crab "salad"), but found out it was a small layered stack instead of a big plate of salad, so I chose the "boring" Grilled Chicken Salad instead. It turned out to be PERFECT! Grilled shredded chicken with red peppers, corn, carrots, cilantro, peanuts (the secret ingredient!) and a delicious citrus vinaigrette. I ate it all
Citrus dressing on the side –
(Argh! Our power just went off and on again and I lost part of this post!!!!!!)
The hub ordered a rotisserie chicken, and I had a bite. It was actually one of the best chickens I’ve had!
So all in all, a good dining experience! Very fresh tasting ingredients.
We’ve got a run planned for the AM. I don’t have my early class again! Tomorrow in Food Comp we’re making 5 recipes chosen from our class projects where we had to make a recipe healthier in some way by altering the ingredients. I did my project on a low-fat frittata but didn’t really want to recommend it for my group because it’s kind of boring, so we’re making a Coconut-Pecan Pie. Despite lowering the fat, it’s still not very healthy! There are a few other dishes, but I decided to make a wrap for lunch (with no sides) and not make lab my only lunch because nibbling my way through probably wouldn’t leave me very satisfied.
No chem tomorrow either, but LOTS of studying for Sports Nutrition final exam on Thursday.
Night!
VeggieGirl says
Terrible storms here as well, but no power outages. Thank goodness your power is back on now!!
yaz says
No storms in CA we have fires. 🙁
Your salad looks tasty. What’s the broth Matt’s chicken was swimming in? or is it just the chicken’s juices?
Hungry says
FEED YOUR HUSBAND!
He looks ill.
Bev says
We were driving to South Carolina and we made a quick stop for lunch and it was raining so hard so we eat at Bricktops ( We were looking for Earth Fare )
I loved the interior .
Melissa says
isn’t it amazing how much more you get done when there is no electricity? when i was in australia spring of 06 we got hit by a category 5 cyclone and ended up with no power for almost TWO WEEKS! i definitely got a lot of studying done then…especially in the middle of the rainforest!
but it looks like you got a good dinner out of it, so yay!
sarah says
i hate thunderstorms but LOVE power outages. we definitely would have opted for ‘out to dinner’ as well! that place looks cozy and tasty — i just looked at their menu but it looks like no RDU locations, oh well.
you must be so excited your schedule is improving 🙂 i know i appreciate the free time so much more after having a super-hard month or two.
Em says
that salad looks mighty tasty. I love it when they shred the chicken… I hate having the 3 huge pieces just slapped on top!
Kath says
yaz ,
I think it was just chicken juices and seasonings.
Hungry ,
That’s rather rude.
Melissa ,
TWO weeks! My goodness. We went 4 days without during Hurricane Fran in 1996. Going without electricity isn’t horrible (it can be fun and eye opening) but it’s losing the food in the fridge that makes me cringe.
Kath
Kim says
Hungry,
Matt looks perfectly healthy to me. Most of my guy friends who are active and don’t have emotional eating issues tend to have little excess body fat.
mh says
matt, I think you look absolutely adorable! I guess if your not obese like the average american..you are sick! haha! you and kath are too cute- keep up the great work
Cupcake81 says
Matt looks great. Healthy and handsome as always!!
LinZi says
Keep up the nice work! Look forward to reading more from you in the future. I think it will be also nice if you add “send to email” tool so people can forward the articles to their friends easily.