Local Eats: Duck Donuts

Since relocating to Charlotte in 2013, we have been on the hunt for some amazing fresh donuts. Living in Seattle, there were tons of delicious donut options: Top Pot, Mighty-o, Daily Dozen at Pike Place... you get the idea.  

We tried Dunkin' Donuts. Not impressed. Krispy Kreme? Snooze. And then we sort of gave up. My co-worker told us about MJ's Donuts down South but we could never seem to make it there on time before they would sell out -- and they sell out pretty early.  We had also heard about Your Mom's Donuts but this was before they had a physical storefront -- and they are located in Matthews so it's a bit of a drive from the city.  Joe's Doughs are pretty good but their storefront has yet to open and the donuts are only available occasionally though their pop-up shops at The Daily Press.

So, what's a girl to do when she's craving freshly baked donuts? Jake and I once got so desperate that we drove all the way to another town -- Harrisburg to a place called Granny Mac's Bakeshop {they have since CLOSED}. They had red velvet donuts! They were tasty, but nothing too special. Plus, driving over 20 miles for donuts seemed like a little much to me. We do live in a big city, but until recently there have not been any good options for warm, fresh donuts. 

Until now, that is... 

Enter Duck Donuts - a mere 7 minute drive from our apartment. They just opened a few months ago, but this could be dangerous. I was so excited to try their donuts that I got up early and went to pick up a few before work last Tuesday. I joked on Instagram that some people get up early to work out, while I get up early to eat donuts. How were they? Let's just say that I was VERY impressed!  

Their donuts are made to order and you can choose from a list of coating and topping choices. I made sure to take a copy home to study so I am prepared next time we are at the counter :) 

When the weekend came, I dragged Jake along with me so I we could try a few more flavors. 

Fresh donuts, all ready for toppings!  

These ladies are in charge of putting the delicious toppings on the made to order donuts. 

Our box-o-donuts. Left to Right, clockwise: Maple Bacon, Glazed with Coconut, Vanilla with Sprinkles and the Bare Donut. You read that right. Jake got a simple plain donut with no toppings. But he enjoyed it. So whatever floats your boat, I guess? 

If you are ever in Charlotte, you must check out this place. And no, this is not a sponsored post. I just love these donuts that much. The end.

P.S. I'm categorizing this post under 'design'. Because I don't have a Food category. And apparently all I've been blogging about lately is food. Oh well. 

PDQ Shake-off

The craziest thing ever happened last week. I got an email from someone asking if I wanted to participate in a fun, exciting blogging event and so I responded asking for more information. The blogger wrote back saying that the event would be in Charlotte, and we would be taste testing milkshakes for a local restaurant and the winner would be featured on their menu as a seasonal flavor.  I was thinking, this sounds right up my alley! So, I said I would love to participate. We exchanged social media accounts and I discovered that we lived in the same apartment complex after stalking looking at a million photos on her on Instagram. OK, what's the big deal, you ask? I told her which building we lived in and she responded saying that she also lived in that building (there are ~20 buildings in our complex). Isn't that the craziest thing ever??!? Such a small world! Here's to making new blogger friends!

So, onto the event. Last Wednesday, we went to PDQ in Concord for our taste testing duties. We got to grab dinner beforehand and let me just say that the food was really good! You may be wondering what PDQ stands for. Don't worry - I was too. It stands for People Dedicated to Quality. PDQ is a fast casual restaurant but it's nothing like the ones you're used to. They have no freezers or microwaves. Everything is made fresh on the premises. That really piqued my interest. The have a bunch of delicious home made sauces on the menu and we got to try some of them.  Below is the Spicy Buffalo Tenders Burger which was my favorite! 

After the Spicy Buffalo Tenders burgers, my other favorite item was Apple Slices and Toffee Dip. This stuff is so good, like one of the most delicious things I've ever tried -- especially the super secret Toffee Dip. If you go to PDQ, you most definitely should try it!

Other highlights: I tried Cheerwine for the first time too -- I had never even heard of it before moving to Charlotte, but it's BIG in North Carolina and it was good! Reminded me of cherry coke, but better. 

Onto the shake tasting. Every year, the members (employees) come up with different flavors that they would like to see on the menu and actually create small batches of the proposed shake flavors. That's where we come in. We tasted ten different flavors and voted on a scale of 1-5 which was the best. The winner will be featured on their menu as a seasonal flavor.

We are still awaiting the results, but one of my favorite flavors was the Coffee Cookie -- I'm hoping it wins. If anyone ever needs help taste testing, consider me your girl. Oh and we already went back to PDQ for dinner tonight. It was that good!

Signing off,
Kim 

#NWinSE

For my 29th Birthday Weekend, Jake and I had planned a weekend getaway to Asheville, NC {a short 2-hour drive from Charlotte}.  We had heard a lot about Asheville from Charlotte locals and even friends back in Seattle that said surprisingly that Asheville is a little like the Northwest. Really? All accounts sounded the same - hippies? check. foodies? check. amazing restaurants? check. a little rain? check {it is in the mountains after all}. The list goes on and on. We were a little skeptical but thought that we would see for ourselves and guess what folks?!?!? As usual - they. were. spot. on.  It is the craziest thing ever.

Back and Side of Biltmore

{1} There was a kind of major rain storm {not that bad} as we made the trek over and it hardly rains in Charlotte so that was the first odd thing that reminded us of Seattle. {2} We drove through the little downtown and saw a ton of restaurants, shops, etc and that reminded us a little of Portland - a little smaller city but a super cool vibe. {3} Fast forward to Sunday - several people singing in the streets with makeshift instruments. Where the eff????? OK, I'm getting ahead of myself like I usually do. Let's start where all good stories start.... from the beginning.

We arrived on FRIDAY evening, hungry hangry and tired. I was proud of myself because we made it the whole way without having to stop for a bathroom break or for dinner. We didn't have any plans or reservations for dinner because we thought we would grab something on the way but it turns out that I held out and we were able to have our first meal of the trip actually in Asheville! Since we were starving, we didn't have much time to figure out a place and I decided that we would go to the hotel restaurant. Which, let's face it - is usually a snooze. But, this one was amazing. That's when we knew that we were onto something. We stayed at the Aloft Asheville which is barely 2 years old and ultra modern... are you surprised? We decided that as much as possible we are only going to stay at nicer {read: modern/minimalistic} hotels from now on. It was amazing and totally our style! 

Dinner was around 8:30 pm at Blackbird. We tried the meat and cheese board. Amazing. So fresh. Then we both got the Surf and Turf burger with fries. And we had to try some wine! Overall, a fab meal - quick, easy and delicious! After dinner, we headed back to the hotel cause we were exhausted and we're old like that.       

SATURDAY was the main event - The Biltmore! Do you know about this place? I was reading a book probably a year or so ago and that is where I first read about it. The book is called "At Home" and it is a very fascinating read. I highly recommend it! Anyway, The Biltmore was built in the late 1800's by George Vanderbilt II {he was 32 at the time and had $100 million dollars which was approximately 1/87th of US GDP}. The home remains to this day the largest privately owned home in America. It has 250 rooms and is over 175,000 square feet. When I found out that this was in North Carolina, I got super excited! Since we've been living in Charlotte, we've seen tons of Biltmore commercials on TV. Here is one of the commercials in case you want to bask in the gloriousness for 32 seconds.

View from the Porch

Side View

Details

Can you tell I took this? #selfie

Amazing Architecture

A few Fall Colors 

#selfie

My Fall Uniform. Chambray, Statement Necklace, f21 Coat… 

One of my favorite shots!

Gardens and Pools

Jake's version of the #selfie

When we arrived it was so foggy… but it did lift!

Anyway, we had to reserve a time since it's really busy on weekends and it's already decorated for Christmas so literally hundreds of people show up and it's just plain craziness. We arrived at our scheduled time {definitely pay the extra $10 for the audioguides} and spent 2.5 hours exploring the house. We didn't get to check out all 250 rooms, but we did get to see about 50 or so.  The bad news is that there are no photos allowed inside so you'll have to google it or go to their website for more real photos. As expected, the house was top notch. They seriously thought of everything. It was just an incredible spectacle and I couldn't even begin to describe it. You must go see it! It's pricey, but totally worth it!

After the tour, we checked out Cedric's Tavern {located on the Biltmore property} which is named after the beloved family Saint Bernard. Isn't that just the coolest thing ever? They had his actual collar on display in the restaurant and it looked ginormous! Even the lunch we had at this random (OK, well Biltmore) tavern was delicious! After lunch, we got ready for dinner and headed out to Curate {spanish tapas restaurant that was recommended to me} and it was the food highlight of our trip. We tried six different dishes from fried eggplant with honey and rosemary to sherry mushrooms and we loved every single one! We had such a good time. And this was "officially" my birthday dinner so it was a huge success! Yay! Sorry, no food photos - I actually stopped taking photos of my food after I read an article titled something like "Why I stopped Instagramming photos of food" and it was actually very poignant. So I will try not to post/write about/blog photos of food unless it's an emergency {say, I'm at Inn-N-Out or something of that nature}.  After dinner, we lounged again. I kind of like this new, I'm-29-thing-and-I-don't-have-to-go-out-clubbing-anymore. Well, technically I didn't actually turn 29 until Sunday…

SUNDAY was my actual birthday and the last day of our trip. We grabbed brunch at Chestnut - I had the special which involved stuffed french toast with cream and topped with apple compote. Trust me - anytime anything comes with a compote, it's good. After brunch, we walked around the town and actually wandered into an old church {Basilica of Saint Lawrence} which was really beautiful. We heard a couple people playing guitars on street corners but the weirdest thing we saw was a makeshift band on a street corner. Like they had homemade instruments. Kind of random and actually super cool. I made my way into Boutique Lp and picked up a lovely bracelet {actually Jake picked it up for me} … gotta love birthday presents! I found out it was handmade by an artist in Asheville which is pretty cool. I'm sure I will instagram a photo of it soon.  On our way out of town, we drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway for about 5 miles because I wanted to see it. The Fall colors were past their peak this year but we will be sure to catch them next year.  I  really loved Asheville so much and hope we go back again soon!

xoxo,
Kim