MIA

Hi Jill - sorry for not blogging. I'm in Asia right now but I promise to blog when I'm back home. As for Rocketdog, I don't know what the heck happened to her! She's been home for a week now and should have plenty to blog about from her European trip but I have no idea why she isn't blogging.

For now, I'll just have to blog without pictures. Mr. Moc and I have been doing plenty of eating while vacationing this past week. We've been eating a lot of great Taiwanese food for cheap. Cheap food is so easily accessible here. All you have to do is walk out your door and within a few steps, there should be something you can pick up and eat while you walk. Of course, you can sit if you want - most places have little tables set up on sidewalks for a quick bite. Mr. Moc left this afternoon to fly home. I'm in Taipei for a few more days before I head to Singapore. After my meetings in Singapore, I will be meeting up with PigPen who is flying into town early Saturday morning. We have about 36 hours to eat our way through Singapore! :)
--MM

Shrimp 'n' Grits

My lunch from Mertz - grits with shrimp! I heart grits. --MM

Fried Chicken 'n' Fixin's

Rocketdog's lunch from Mertz - fried chicken (white meat) with collared greens and mac 'n' cheese (bottom picture).

Mr. Moc's lunch from Mertz - fried chicken (dark meat) with candied yams and cole slaw (top picture). --MM

Cornbread

Please see Rocketdog's post entitled "Unsweet tea please" for more details. Mertz has BEST cornbread I have ever had...EVER! They bring it out of the oven fresh and hot and then you slather on the honey butter so it oozes into all the nooks and crannies. yuMMMMy!! --MM

Crab Cakes Benedict

Alright, it's been a while since I blogged. I've got some catching up before my trip to Asia this weekend.

What you see here is one of my favorite breakfast foods. Unfortunately, I can't get that anywhere in Cleveland. Actually I think there aren't too many places that offer this dish. I had this yummy dish of Crab Cakes Benedict in Baltimore at a place called Blue Moon (I think that was the name of the place). Crab cakes benedict are just like eggs benedict but the eggs are replaced by fresh lump-meat crab cakes. YUM! --MM

happy birthday roomie

Tomorrow, well, today, August 8th is my roomie's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROOMIE!
In honor of her, I made some red velvet cup cakes with cream cheese coconut frosting. I made these from sratch and it was tricky. I had to use red dye, haha. And I made twice as much frosting as I did cake batter, so I have some left over which I froze and maybe can use in the future. Unfortunately I won't really be able to celebrate Roomie's birthday with her as I will be on plane all day to Europe. (which is also the reason for the spurt of blogs, i will be mia for a while). Anyways, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROOMIE (again!!)

--RD

tender greens

My roomates and I went out for dinner last night at this new restaurant that opened up down the street from us. It's called tender greens. It's pretty cool they have a simple menu and you order at the counter and they bring it out to you. It's mostly salads, but they also have a meat option that comes in the form of a sandwich or hot plate. The hot plate comes with a side salad and mashed potatoes. It was really good. I got the ahi tuna hot plate which came with salad with spinach, nuts, goat cheese and the mashed taters. I think MM would like this place. Anyways, afterwards we went to go watch Talladega Nights. They shot a lot of it in charlotte. "Dear 8 lb 6 ounce baby jesus..."
--RD

unsweet tea please

Sorry, MM and I have been gone, we both went down to take a visit to North Kakalaki to visit the parental units. Anyways, one of my favorite places to go when I go back to Charlotte is Merts. It's a southern/soul food restaurant in downtown Charlotte. When I lived in the city I worked right across the street from it and I have to be honest I wasn't that big of a fan of it. Mostly cause everything is fried, sweet and cooked in lard, which is the secret to southern cooking. But since I have moved away I have missed it cause I can't get it out here. I guess I secretly liked it when I was there I just didn't want to eat there a lot cause I didn't want my arteries to stop working. I would also take any friends visiting from out of town there, so they could experience southern food. Anyways, this is my usual there - fried chicken (white meat please), mac and cheese and collard greens. The corn bread is to diiie for there, esp when its right out of the oven. I am also a huge fan of their banana pudding, but I didn't have room for it this time. Oh, and as with any southern restaurant if you want ice tea, you have to make sure you order unsweet tea or else they will kill you with the sugar.

--RD