When you’re in North Carolina….

Check out these restaurants*:

The Irregardless Cafe

901 West Morgan St., Raleigh 919-833-8898

This was the only mom-n-pop places Chuck and I ate in Raleigh. We weren’t in town for too long and we were very excited for breakfast at Bob Evans. Irregardless is a great little place with amazing food. The night we went there was a live guitar and fiddle player, jamming away while we ate by candlelight. Even at dinner time, there were many places to sit, so I wouldn’t expect a wait.

The Irregardless Cafe in Raleigh

The wine and beer list is quite extensive for such a tiny place, and if you’re a fan of Riesling, have a glass from local Shelton Vineyard. Offered in all but one of the restaurants we ate at, I brought a bottle home that I can’t wait to drink on Christmas Eve.

We shared bruschetta as an appetizer, which was delicious, but it’s not a size meant for sharing. Chuck had the seafood fra diavolo while I had a “small plate” of spinach and ricotta ravioli. The small plates that they offer are great because it allows you to eat desert. The key-lime pie is light and sweet, but if you’re a chocolate fanatic, I suggest to chocolate peanut butter crunch cake.

Their tea offerings are just as extensive as their wine and beer.

The café is just outside downtown Raleigh and parking is a bit difficult. It is on a one-way street so if you miss a spot on the street you may have to park on a somewhat questionable side street. Drive a little further down and you find yourself in front of a minimum-security prison. It is a busy area though, with lots of people walking around NC State U, which is along the main road. There was some construction, which will hopefully be gone by the time you go. Also, this cafe, like a lot of other places in Raleigh, closes between lunch and dinner, but if you can hold out until 5:30, I recommend it.

The Old 4^th Street Filling Station

871 W. Fourth Street, Winston Salem 336-724-7600

If Chuck and I don’t move to Winston Salem, we’ll have to make monthly trips to eat here at this converted gas station. On the coldest night of our trip we ate in a heated covered patio. My legs were a bit chilly, but otherwise it was the most perfect night.

I can’t even describe how amazing the food is. We shared the southern staple of fried green tomatoes as an appetizer and like at Irregardless, this portion is made for one, which is fine because it’s so good, I don’t want to share next time.

Their most popular dish is shrimp and grits, another southern staple, and it was probably one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. Chuck had chicken stuffed with spinach and brie, which I recommend trying if you’re not a seafood fan. It was also amazing.

Their menu comes with wine pairings so if you have a designated driver, indulge a little.

I was so full all I had was a cup of tea for dessert.

While the people we met everywhere were incredibly nice, when we told our waitress that we were on vacation, she sent out another waitress who gave us a great list of places to visit. And as a true example of southern hospitality, she wrote it all down. I don’t think she realizes how much of an impact her simple gesture had on us New Yorkers.

This is also on the slight outskirts of downtown Winston Salem and parking in their lot is limited. Expect to park on the street, but you don’t have to feed the meters after 6pm. Chuck’s cousin Dawn was surprised we found the place since it’s such a local haunt that most visitors don’t know where it is.

The Village Tavern

2000 Griffith Road,
Winston-Salem 336-760-8686

This restaurant shared the parking lot with our hotel, but we didn’t think to give it a try until Dawn suggested it. Since we could stumble back to our rooms we indulged in the alcohol a bit – me with two glasses of my signature Shelton Riesling and Chuck with the specialty margaritas.

Grab a house or speciality margarita at the Village Tavern.

This was one busy place, but we didn’t wait longer than 20 minutes for a table. We started with a plate of Buffalo wings and were glad we did because they were probably the best wings I’ve ever had. They even beat my beloved Trish’s. Unless you plan on eating wings as a dinner, share this app since the wings are big enough to fill you before your entrée even arrives.

I had the shrimp, spinach and risotto and I was incredibly sad our hotel didn’t have a refrigerator and microwave because I had to leave half the plate there. I highly recommend it, especially if you’re a fan of all three major ingredients. Chuck had the brick over pizza. He said it was good, but he wasn’t overly impressed.

Dessert, a white chocolate peanut butter cheesecake (I think) was to go because we were too full to eat it there. This gigantic piece of cake was amazing and definitely suggest you try it, even if it’s to go.

Centrally located by the Hanes Mall, this eatery is easy to get to with ample parking. Check their Web site for locations throughout the south.

The Midtown Café Dessertery

51 S. Stratford Road, Winston-Salem (336) 724-9800

Chuck and I met Dawn and Matt for breakfast at this cute little café. While this place was fantastic, there was nothing overly impressive about the breakfast I had. It was great, don’t get me wrong, but nothing that really stands out. I would definitely go there again if just for a good meal and nice casual atmosphere.

Early Girl Eatery

8 Wall Street, Asheville (828) 259-9292

Chuck and I didn’t know what to expect when we got to Asheville. We had been using a mix of guide books and the internet to help us find places to eat, but there wasn’t anything that stood out in the books we had at the hotel and we didn’t really find any kind of reviews online.

Organic food is a staple at Early Girl Eatery in Asheville

We were exploring downtown Asheville on foot when we decided we were hungry. Unsure of where to eat I turned to a couple walking their dogs and asked if they were from the area. They weren’t, but heard from a friend that Early Girl Eatery was really good. It was two blocks away from where we were, so we thanked them and off we went.

It’s everything I’d expect from a causual southern café in terms of décor, but it was a true example of what Asheville is all about. The café specializes in organic ingredients and food grown with sustainable farming methods.

You can get breakfast all day, but at 8pm I opted for a burger with goat cheese (I added that, it came with American) and caramelized onions. Chuck got a chicken, goat cheese and bacon sandwich, which I had been eyeing before my decision to go with the burger. Both were fantastic.

Prior to that we had some more fried green tomatoes with goat cheese, grits and balsamic vinegar. While it was in fact delicious it didn’t beat the 4^th Street Filling Station.

Here is were I got a taste from the local Biltmore vineyard. I got myself a glass of white zinfandel. While the menu had an extensive list of local micro-brews, I was a little disappointed that at a café touting the use of locally grown food, this white zin was the only local NC wine. I’m assuming this is because all but a few were made with sustainable production methods.

The Green Sage

5 Broadway Street, Asheville (828) 252-4451

Imagine an organic Starbucks and you have the Sage Green Coffeehouse. I’d pop in to have the breakfast burrito again, which included eggs, tofu sausage, guacamole, tomatoes and cheese and to wash it down with some strawberry lemonade, but I wouldn’t expect to go in a lot.

Chuck wasn’t impressed with his fancy coffee drink, which he said was coffee with crushed ice and wasn’t a fan of his cheesecake.

It’s a nice place to sit and blog on your laptop with a cup of tea, but like Starbucks, it seems a little overpriced for something you can make in your kitchen.

*Please note that I’m not a professional critic, so I’m just tellin’ it like I see it.

North Carolina or Bust

The purpose of heading down to North Carolina instead of sunny Orlando for our first major vacation was to find out if it was a place that Chuck and I could find ourselves living. I had never set foot in the state and Chuck had been to Asheville once on a school trip. I had big dreams and fantasies about how amazing it would be to live there and I wanted to make sure I was right.

Irregardless Cafe in Raleigh is a great place to eat despite lack of parking an a nearby prison.

After six days in four cities and 36 hours of collective driving, Chuck and I decided that we want North Carolina to be our home. Now we just have to decide where exactly.

We decided on Cary/Raleigh, Winston-Salem and Asheville. Charlotte didn’t impress us.

We found that southern hospitality goes a long way in making you feel relaxed on your vacation. Even driving during rush hour in an area we weren’t familiar with wasn’t nearly as stress inducing. If you linger at a light a little too long or accidentally cut someone off (like I did) no one lays a firm hand on their horn to let you know how pissed they are.

Everyone we met – from cashiers to waiters – were incredibly nice. One waitress in Winston-Salem took the time to write down all the great places she told us to visit. People in New York may be nice enough to tell you where the hot spots are, but I can’t imagine anyone would take the time to write it down on a card. And if you think she was just looking for a good tip, I should mention that she wasn’t our actual waitress so the tip wasn’t even going her way.

Each place has its upsides and downsides.

Cary/Raleigh

Cary is a nice area near lots of shopping. Places like Target and Home Depot are nearby so if I need some milk, or a bottle of wine, I’m not too far from anything. Despite being developed it still has a rural feel. Both areas have done well during the recession and are on an upswing as they have always been ahead of the game in terms of industry.

Raleigh is full of historic homes, some of which are for sale

A lot of construction leads me to believe there is some urban revitalization, which is positive. There are about five major universities in the area plus NHL hockey team, the Carolina Hurricanes. Raleigh/Durham airport has a Southwest hub, which would make coming home cheap and easy.

Nearby is Durham and Chapel Hill, which give us more options as far as jobs are concerned.

The minimum-security prison on the outskirts of downtown Raleigh is a little bit concerning. There isn’t much in the area near it aside from a really great café and some apartment buildings that Chuck and I wouldn’t be living in anyway, but I’m not sure how I feel about it.

While there is a lot of construction there also seemed to be many vacant storefronts, which is to be expected during the recession. A little research would be needed to find out what the status of these storefronts is. Downtown has an urban feel to it, but I wasn’t overly impressed with what I saw.

Winston-Salem

Winston-Salem seemed well-kept and developed. A major mall is in the area along with a nice downtown. We were 3 for 3 with the amazing restaurants that we dined in the two days we were there (check out my reviews here). Like Cary, Winston-Salem has urban and rural living so Chuck and I could live on the outskirts of town, but still be 10 minutes away from anything we might need.

The bungalow of tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds, Reynolda House, is now a museum and art gallery.

Chuck’s cousin, Dawn, and husband, Matt, live in the area so we would have a built in support system, which is a plus when moving to an area you are unfamiliar with.

Winston-Salem is part of the “triangle” that includes High Point and Greensboro, which also gives us more options as far as employment opportunities.

While the area is developed, Winton-Salem is a two-industry town with tobacco and furniture leading the charge. Both industries are on a downswing as people quit smoking and furniture being outsourced to China. Matt admitted that W-S has been trying to bring in more industry, but it has been a slow process.

Asheville

Asheville was the most visually pleasing of all the areas we saw. Nestled right against the Blue Ridge Mountains this small town had a great feel to it. An incredibly artsy and progressive town signs in storefront windows urged shoppers to buy local. Many restaurants and cafes use organic or sustainable cooking and many people walk to where they need to go.

Asheville, a progressive mountain town, has an amazing business district.

A gay bar on Broadway and a “tobacco” shop leads me to believe the area is incredibly open-minded, in a state that is traditionally less so. The town seemed full of imports, with few being Asheville natives.

Unlike Raleigh or Winton-Salem, Asheville has no large towns nearby that could offer additional employment unless I wanted to work on a cow farm. The cost of living is slightly more expensive and while the people were nice, I got this feeling that the town was full of people that would burn you at the stake for using a plastic water bottle or driving a large SUV.

If Asheville had the opportunities that the other two areas have it would be the clear winner, but I’m concerned with the lack of industry. It’s also incredibly rural, which is something that appeals to Chuck, but not me. I don’t like feeling trapped between cow pastures and mountains.

I’m also unsure how to tackle the idea of moving.

Do we apply for jobs in all three areas that we like to broaden our chances of finding employment (Chuck’s idea) or, do we focus our efforts on one area (my idea). We don’t plan on permanently settling anywhere until we have children old enough to attend school, so the option to move from one area to another is there.

I guess we’ll have to work those details out, but for now, I’m excited that sometime next year, I hope to call North Carolina my home.

Leave it all Behind?

I saw this Forbes.com article today on my Yahoo! home page.

Best Bang for Your Buck Cities

I’ll admit that at first I didn’t read the whole article all the way through. I skimmed down to the end where I saw the “Read full list” link and found that three of the places I’ll be visiting this week were pretty high up. (I’ve since read the whole thing) It’s the second time I’ve seen some good news out of North Carolina. The first one was this article about America’s fastest recovering cities. Raleigh was in the top 10.

I’ve been so obsessed with this trip and the possibilities that might come from it that I’ve all but forgotten the little mini-trips that Chuck and I planned on taking. We would still like to go to Maryland and North into New England. Places like Salisbury and Providence are on the physical list, but mentally, I had almost excluded them.

What brought them back to the forefront of my mind was visiting my friend Lex for her birthday this weekend. I’ll be missing her big birthday bash because of my vacation so I took her out to the Cheesecake Factory in White Plains. For the most part many of my friends are within a couple hour’s driving distance. I’ll admit that even though I graduated almost five years ago, I’m still having trouble adjusting to not having my friends around at all hours of the day like I did at Manhattanville.

If I move to North Carolina seeing them will become a once a year thing instead of once a month thing. As someone who is so dependent on her friends for emotional and physical support, I feel that it would make me even more sad to be so far away and know that I chose to be that far.

But, while all of my friends have moved on to the next stage in life I stumble behind. At one of the oldest I’m also the furthest back in life.

Do I struggle here so that I can have the comfort of knowing my friends are nearby?

Or,

Do I move away to a place that can offer me the life I want to live, with the man I want to live it with, but give up the physical closeness Long Island offers me now?

Life is a Highway

My first car was a 1999 Ford Escort. It was hardly the sports car, but with my lead foot I certainly drove it like one. In high school I was one of the few that had my license and a car so I was responsible for toting everyone around.

I put 53,000 miles on my 2007 Toyota Corolla since purchasing it in Sept. 2007

Back then I would volunteer to drive on all road trips. I wouldn’t hesitate heading into the city or out to Montauk on a whim. My friend Christine and I would get in my car and just drive around Long Island for hours with no destination in mind. I got my first taste of rush hour traffic as I would travel 20 miles to my job as a lifeguard in the summer.

I had such a deep love of driving that I would often travel far distances only to return a day or two later. Like when and old friend and I hopped into my car and drove about 10 hours from Holbrook to Norfolk, Va. to pick up my ex-boyfriend, only to turn around and come back less than 24 hours later. Another ex-boyfriend lived in Pennsylvania so I spent many hours driving on Interstate 80 only to return after a day and a half.

That all changed two years ago.

My 90-mile commute to and from work each day has officially broken my love of driving. Driving in Nassau County is one of my most hated tasks. Thanks to my proximity to Ocean Parkway, I sit in minimal traffic, but it is still enough to suck the life out of me. My back hurts, my hips hurt, my knees hurt, all pains that I attribute to sitting for long hours.

Each day I come home tired, irritated and cranky. I’ve come home crying and incredibly angry. Now, I avoid driving whenever possible. I still do my long trips, but I do them with some resistance. I know it’s the only way I will see many of my friends and I can usually focus on how happy I am to see them rather than how irritated I am driving through Nassau and the city.

Two years ago a road trip down south would have excited me. Now, I’m dreading every minute of it. We considered flying and renting a car, but the cost was so high, neither of us could spend the money in good conscious.

For as much Chuck loves driving, he has little patience with people on the road and can quickly become angry. He starts driving like a jerk and I yell at him and before we know it a fight has erupted because some guy didn’t signal before changing lanes. He is also no Magellan as he lacks an internal compass. He still gets lost going to the sushi place we go to at least twice a month if we go from my house.

In order to keep the peace, I already drive for most long trips. As irritated as I become, I have more patience and in the end, my sacrifice keeps us happy. Because of that, I anticipate driving 99 percent of the time down to North Carolina, through all the cities we plan on visiting and back north to New York.

This makes me feel kind of resentful, but I’m not as angry at my boyfriend as I am for the long commute that caused me to feel this way about something I used to find so enjoyable. Two years of traffic, rude and  incompetent drivers has made me hate stepping foot in my car.

My Escort finally broke down in 2007 with less than 89,000 miles on it. I now pay an obscene amount of money for a 2007 Toyota Corolla that  has 67,000 miles.

If life is a highway, these days, I’d rather take the train.

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Move out date: 2010

A week from today Chuck and I will be heading south toward Raleigh, N.C. in search of a better life. I’m not sure if we’ll find it there, but I’m looking forward to a real vacation anyway.

With each of us growing increasingly frustrated with our living and financial situation, we’ve decided to make 2010 the year that we pack our bags and move out of the house no matter what it takes. Of course, this is easier said than done, but it’s not going to happen if we just wait for some invisible power to drop a job and a house in our laps.

As with most plans, we go into this venture with a lot of flexibility. We’re setting our sights on North Carolina, but are willing to go wherever we get an offers for a job that allows us to cohabitate. At this point, that includes Long Island.

Since I refuse to put myself into financial prison for an over priced, over taxed home on Long Island, I don’t plan on settling here permanently, but if the right job with the right salary was offered I’d stick around for a while.

There's a lot on Long Island I don't want to give up, including friends, family and the nearby ocean.

It would be nice to be close to friends and family for a little while longer instead of isolating ourselves in a state 10 hours away.

Right now our plan is to move out without any concrete direction on out to achieve that goal. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. It’s good because it offers us flexibility and save us from disappointment with our die-hard plan doesn’t work out. It’s bad because it leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

Where will we go?

What will we do?

How will we pay for it?

I’m not really sure how we’ll do it, but in 2010 I’m packing my bags and moving out.

The Last New Year’s?

My parents are pretty cool.

Since I was a teenager they let me host parties here at my house. Of course there was no boozing going on until we were all of age, but those parties were pretty fun. I had a lot of good laughs and I think my friends did too.

A few years ago, I’m not sure exactly when (I think it was ’03-’04), a group of friends and I tried to figure out what we would be doing for New Year’s Eve. We all still lived with our parents and we were all broke. We were home from school so partying in Dammann  3-7 wasn’t an option. I decided to host a party knowing full well that no one would mind that it wasn’t a raging kegger and it would be a relatively laid-back kinda evening.

Since then I have hosted New Year’s at my house. My parents being just a tad more boring that I am stay home and keep out of sight.

Every year starts with a hard-core game of Taboo that guarantees much laughter.

I don’t have a basement so they gladly keep on the DL while my friends and I have run of the rest of the house, drinking wine and playing a billion rounds of Taboo.

Last year, with the possible plans of moving to Rochester, I proudly exclaimed that it would be the last New Year’s in Holbrook. Now that 2009 is coming to an end and I’m still in Holbrook I thought long and hard about having hosting New Year’s.

For a good month, I decided I wouldn’t. My birthday is a week prior and I am already having enough trouble dealing with turning 27 and still living at home. I didn’t need New Year’s to remind me that Chuck and I failed at moving out this year. I quietly decided just to forget it.

Last month Chuck and I decided to take vacation down in North Carolina and check out our prospects. With a possible move once again upon us, I rethought the party. Sure, I am still depressed about turning 27 and being light years behind my friends, but what if North Carolina actually works out? What if this year is actually the last year in Holbrook?

No painful heels here. New Year's Eve at my house is all about comfort.

What if next year I’ll be living in North Carolina and no one can come visit? I would regret giving up the party that I’ve made my own.

Since quietly deciding I would host another New Year’s I’ve been asked three times by friends if I would be.

Maybe I’m the only one that minds spending New Year’s in Holbrook.

Makin’ a Move

Chuck and I began thinking of relocating before we even met.

I was laid-off from Four Seasons Sunrooms where I worked as an executive assistant in January 2008, one week before my one year anniversary. I took a week “vacation” then promptly started my job search. I often searched for positions in the Albany area since at the time, I had a slew of friends in that neck of the (literal) woods.

It wasn’t too long after I was laid off, I met Chuck and we began dating. Things were going to well that I kept my searches more local in the event that possibly, just maybe, I found something good.

Chuck had also been laid off in January. His graduate program at Adelphi University had been cut a week into the semester. Already going back to Adelphi under stressful circumstances, he considered moving to Tennessee where a friend was living in a cheap apartment with a decent job.

Moving was on hold until later that year when he decided to go back to Rochester University and we had loose plans to head up north. Knowing Rochester had a problem with unemployment even in good economic times, I was nervous, but I was sucked into a cheaper lifestyle of living.

Our best apartment find, was a two bedroom, 1.5 bath townhouse that was under $1,000 a month. That’s if we had the money to spurge. I could deal with the snow and ice and cold 10 months out of the year.

I was terrified, but excited.

Had our plans worked accordingly, I wouldn’t have started this blog because I would no longer be living in my parent’s house. I guess things happen for a reason.

So, almost a year later, we find ourselves in a similar position. Instead of moving north, we’re looking south.While we have a list of potential locales that we’d like to check out,  right now, North Carolina is leading the charge with its cheap living and lack of masters-to-teach requirement.

We’ll spend six days down below the Bible belt in good ‘ol country living.

A year later, I find myself terrified, but excited. We’ll see how I feel this time next year.