Life on the run: Nutrition Bars

This is not going to be an in-depth review of all the protein and nutrition bars out there. Instead, it's going to be a brief listing of the flavors of Clif and Luna bars I've had recently. Just so you know.

Yesterday, Brooks Pharmacy only had one flavor of Luna bar and the only other bars they had were in the Zone. I was in a rush, running from Pilates to knitting (oh the exciting life I lead), so I just grabbed it. Lemon Zest. A crunchy rice-y bar with lemon frosting on one side. It was so-so. Kind of tasted like Lemon Pledge, but not in a bad way. Didn't make me feel sick to my stomach with sweetness, like the Cranberry Almond Clif bar did.

Today, I stocked up on 5 flavors of Luna bar (on sale for $1.00 each). I had a Cookies and Cream with white frosting and am glad I only bought one. Didn't really taste like chocolate at all, just sort of flavorless. Didn't make me feel sick though, and I wasn't hungry for about 2 hours.

I don't like Power Bars - nasty consistency, and the Harvest ones just don't taste good. Clif bars are too sweet and also too big - I feel like I should eat the whole thing but then I get sick of it and it's wasted. Also, they have a consistency like extra-dense dates. Really, not what I need when I'm hungry.

So far, the Luna bars have the best consistency.

Road Trip: North Carolina

I recently spent a few days with some friends in Cary, North Carolina. This is near the Raleigh/Durham area. It was my first trip and our host made sure to take us to all the hot spots for both tourists and locals.

First stop, the City Limits in Cary. This place has it all: mechanical bull, line dancing, dollar Bud Light bottles, and a black light so every speck of lint shows up on your black shirt. If you've been reading this blog for a while, or if you know me, you know that this place isn't my usual speed. But, I was on vacation and I have to say, it was a sight to see. Pulling into the parking lot, we came upon a pickup truck waving Confederate flags and another that had "balls" hanging from the trailer hitch. The ultimate in classy.

This is where I had my first Jager Bomb (as described in an earlier post). My friend (caught the eye of some supposed cowboys, one of whom turned out to be a lawyer in disguise. Anyway, they bought us shots. It took me abut 10 sips to finish it, since I was stuffed from dinner and had already had a beer. As you know, I liked it. The rest of the night I stuck to the Bud Light, mainly because it was cheap, it was really hot in NC that night, and I didn't want to be too hungover the next day. If you're in NC, and want to hear music that ranges from hip hop to country line dancing and the Electric Slide, with a little Bon Jovi thrown in for good measure, check out the City Limits. I saw a Less-Than-D-List celebrity there. No, I didn't go up and talk to him. We also spent lots of time watching a group of 3 guys perform choreographed dances to just about every hip-hop song they played.

The next night, we went to the Red Room in Raleigh for tapas. We had the following:

• Calamaris Fritos (delicious, cooked perfectly, great batter)
• Pan con Chorizo y Manchego (Chorizo flatbread with artichokes, peppers,tomatoes, Manchego and spanish paprika) My favorite. Basically a chorizo pizza. Chorizo is like, really rich, dense, and sort of sweet sausage, but with a hint of heat. Manchego is a mild flavored Spanish cheese.
• Quesadilla con Polo y Aguacate (Chicken and avocado quesadilla with pico de gallo and sour cream) Good, but nothing special.
• Patatas Bravas con Aioli (Fried potatoes in a spicy tomato sauce with garlic mayonnaise) OMG like the best home fries you've ever tasted!
• I had a glass of white sangria. So tasty and great for the summer. Sadly, I forgot to eat the maraschino cherry before the waitress (who sucked, by the way) took it away. Anyway, I'm thinking of making some over the weekend.

On Sunday, we drove to Wrightsville Beach, where I had a delicious and very filling bowl of seafood gumbo (tomato based spicy soup) at The Oceanic restaurant. We sat on the pier and looked at the ocean as we ate. SO relaxing.

Our last day was Monday and our host took us to Chapel Hill. We had a nice lunch at the Top of the Hill Restaurant, a brewpub. They have outdoor seating and you can people watch from this second floor patio. I had the Hugh Morton Mango Lager to drink. It was decent, with a hint of mango flavor - not too overpowering. I bought a sixer of cans of Rams Head IPS to bring home. On that note it turns out that a "Fragile" sticker put on the suitcase to protect the brew actually invites damage, as shown in the photo below.
























For lunch, I had the Smoked Paprika Chicken sandwich with beer battered fries. Tasty.

The IPA was good too. Pretty strong (6.0%) and reasonably hoppy. I gave a few away and I have one left in the fridge.

Overall, a good eating vacation. I could write another whole post about all the delicious food that our host made us but I'll leave you with just one short description. Easy appetizer: Fresh mozzarella (the soft kind that comes in balls), sliced tomato, and balsamic vinegar for drizzling. You could reduce the vinegar to thicken it, but the vinegar we used seemed thick enough to start with. I guess it depends on what you buy.

Delux, you did us wrong, but you saved it in the end

I went back, again, to Delux (in the South End, Boston, Chandler St). This time, the food was more of a miss than I hit. I got the BBQ pulled pork sandwich with a side of potato salad. My friend ordered the chicken special - boneless chicken breast with rosemary and other spices over saffron rice and beans. We shared and both had the same opinion. The potato salad was quite delicious, but the pulled pork was pretty dry. I've had much better. The chicken was delicious, but the rice was undercooked and quite crunchy. It was a shame. We ended up telling the waitress and she was very apologetic. She brought us the dessert special, on the house, which was really nice and totally appropriate. It was really good: marble cheesecake with buttescotch and chocolate and pecans on top, and a dollop of whipped cream. The perfect size slice to share.

We decided that we love the atmosphere and the beer is great (Tremont Ale on tap), and prices are right, but maybe we'll stick to the grilled cheese on future visits. I think I'd like to try the quesadillas sometime too.

Jager Bomb

I recently discovered the Jager Bomb, though I girled it up and had it as a mixed drink instead of the traditional shot form. Basically, it's Jagermeister and Red Bull. It's very tasty, sort of tastes like Dr. Pepper, and is good to have if you don't feel like drinking bottles and bottles of light beer, are too full to drink heavy beer, and are out waaaaay past your bedtime but have at least two hours to go before your head hits the pillow.

Cheers!