Hello from Chapel Hill, North Carolina!
Anne and I are having a great time so far. We spent the entire day taking part in many of favorite activities, including exploring, eating, drinking, chatting, and yoga-ing. Yoga-ing is a word, right? I thought so.
I landed in Raleigh around lunchtime, so Anne picked me up from the airport and drove us straight to lunch at Sandwhich, an adorable restaurant specializing in homemade sandwiches and salads– all of which are made in the “slow food” manner. Nearly everything at Sandwhich is made from scratch.
The menu also includes draft and bottled beer, wines by the glass, and other house beverages. Of course, my attention was immediately drawn to the local microbrews on tap. New state = new beers to discover!
Clearly, Anne and I took advantage of the beverage menu. We each ordered an adult beverage (Carolina Brewery Copperline Ale for me), a glass of water, and Sandwhich’s special Moroccan-style iced tea made from whole green tea leaves and fresh mint.
To eat, I ordered the Gruyere & Mushroom Pressed Sandwich, which was served on sourdough bread. It tasted amazing, and I devoured it. Man, I love cheese. And mushrooms. Oh, and bread, obviously.
After lunch, Anne and I explored the UNC campus and surrounding area.
It was a beautiful dayāāsunny, warm, and perfect for flip-flops. I’m so glad that I brought mine! My feet were happy!
What a gorgeous campus!
A little while later, Anne suggested taking a Power Yoga class at her favorite local studio: Franklin Street Yoga. The class had a great mix of challenging strength and balance poses, and my tight legs got a good stretch.
After yoga, we headed home, quickly showered, and headed to dinner with Anne’s boyfriend, Matt, and her friend, Lauren, who I met at the National Half Marathon a couple of weekends ago.
The restaurant of choice wasĀ Allen & Son Bar-B-Que, which is a cute hole-in-the-wall restaurant about 20 minutes outside of Chapel Hill. I guess Anne and Matt were āin the knowāĀ because I would have never guessed that this place had good food by the looks of it!
Thankfully, the interior and food were a lot better!
I’m not much of a barbeque connoisseur, but I really enjoyed everything I tried for dinner, especially the hushpuppies! Holy yum! Who knew fried corn bread was so delicious? Actually, I shouldn’t really be surprised, huh?
My dinner also included a barbeque sandwich served on a sesame bun with coleslaw inside. I also added quite a bit of hot sauce.
On the side, I had some fried okra.
No meal is complete without dessert, so I bought a chocolate chip cookie to go. Perfect.
I’m pooped after such a busy and active day.
Good night!
81 Comments
What a great day! And all I could think about after the first picture of this post was I love those jeans you are wearing!!
Allen & Sons: We were visiting from out of state (possibly moving to the triangle). Anyhow, we put BBQ into our GPS and we ended up there. YUM! I loved the place! I’m glad you enjoyed it as well.
Such a wonderful day with a good friend š
I need more barbecue in my life.
This is great. I’m hoping to go to UNC for grad school one day! It looks like heaven! My sister will be going to college in Greensboro next year, and I can’t wait to get acquainted with the state.
Hush puppies..yummm! I do the same thing sometimes at restaurants with ordering multiple drinks š Everything looks really good!
Those hush puppies look delish! Enjoy NC!
Hushpuppies are the best! Sadly, here in the west they are hard to find.
My two favorite fried foods – hushpuppies and okra! Yum yum yum!
Wow, Chapel hill is such a cute little town. I love that gazebo.
What a beautiful campus! I’ve never had hushpuppies before. I think I need to add that to my to-do list because they look kind of amazing š
Yum, yum, yum! Ship that food from NC straight out to CA! I love perusing college campuses, as well as trying new, fun places to eat in town…looks like you did BOTH and this was a really fun read. Glad you are spending time with friends!
I grew up in Orange County [The OC, clearly]
So glad you got a taste of hushpuppies and BBQ!
@Kath: whoaaaa you diddd???!!! haha sorry just so surprised! I thought you were from the other half of the U.S. all your life. I’m in the OC š holla.
So fun to see a post full of places I have been! I was right across the street from Sandwhich Friday and nearly stopped in for lunch š Hope you are having fun in Chapel Hill and good luck in the race tomorrow!
I’ve never had iced Moroccan mint tea only the traditional hot brew. This looks great though! If you like that you might like my traditional Moroccan Mint Tea recipe: http://culture-connoisseur.blogspot.com/2011/02/moroccan-mint-tea.html
Aaaahhh! I can’t believe you are in Chapel Hill! I follow your blog but have never commented. I’m from CH and recently moved to Pennsylvania. I’m so homesick I nearly cried when I saw this post. I <3 Allen & Son's. There are so many good restaurants in CH, you will have a great time.
Chapel Hill looks gorgeous.
And it looks like you are having a wonderful time – Have fun!
Who knew fried corn bread was so delicious? This girl! I’m a vegetarian, but am always totally down to go with friends to seafood and/or bbq places just for the hushpuppies!
Ohhhh this Seattle girl is so jealous of wearing flip-flops and springy dresses!!!! In addition to all the stereotypes, we’ve had record wet and cold weather!!! BOOOO!!!!
(needing to hop on a plane to remedy my minty-white skin!)
This looks so fun! I’ve thought about doing one of these kind of races before, they look like a good time!
I had one question though, how did you manage to take all those pics without your camera getting covered in mud and water?
I was just catching up on missed blogs while I was on vacation, and find it hilarious that you were drinking Moroccan-style iced tea while I was in Marrakech, Morocco enjoying Mint Tea from the source š I LOVED it… hope you did too!