Crepe Cellar in Charlotte, NC

Last week for the Thanksgiving holiday, both my mom and one of my brothers came into town! Chris was getting here Wednesday and with mom and I cooking literally all day long, we wanted to go out to eat for sure. I had actually bought a Groupon.com deal a few months back with plans to take my mom and brother out that night..I had never been to The Crepe Cellar Kitchen and Pub, so figured it could be a good spot to check out.
Fortunately we did not have to wait too long for a table as we were starving. The place is super cute, low key and not a ton of tables. We started off with a glass of wine as they have great wine deals and could not pass that up! I ended up getting two apps for dinner, the Brie, pesto fries, which were to die for...

And then the mussels, which were in a Thai Chili Sauce and it was actually quite tasty, not too spicy at all and actually ended up being a little sweet, so it was perfect!


My brother started off with the French Onion soup, which he said was very good, full of onions and lots of cheese!

He was actually the only one to get a crepe- this one was stuffed with chicken, bacon and tomato and again quite tasty. The picture is not as good as I would like, but at least shows you how big the portions are;)

And lastly, my mom got the fish and chips and it looked and tasted KILLER! When I go back, I just may have to get it...along with the brie fries again..oink oink!

So overall I would say this was a good first experience at Crepe Cellar and I would definitely recommend it! Enjoy-

Jake's Good Eats in Charlotte, NC

A few weeks back after spending the afternoon with a few girlfriends at Dennis Vineyards in Albemarle, NC. Great little vineyard, definitely worth checking out if you are looking for something random and fun to do! On our way we ended up passing by Jake's Good Eats. I had heard about Jake's a while back on Diners, Drive In's and Dives and had been dying to check it out. So we decided on the way back we would stop for lunch! I am so glad we did! The place has such cute character, a farm, horses, lots of cool antiques and I would for sure go back!

We started off with some down home southern apps of pimento cheese on celery and deviled eggs topped with yummy bacon! It was delish and we polished it off in no time;)

For lunch, I got a fried FRESH fish sandwich- OMG, it was heavenly! The batter was perfect, light with a lot of flavor, the tomatoes were super juicy and the homemade chips were delish, especially dipped in honey mustard!

My two friends, Jenny and Tina both got the same thing...the BBQ Platter and they to, really enjoyed it!

So overall Jake's was a great dining experience and I am looking forward to going back to try their famous pork chops for dinner:) Enjoy!!

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER!!

Several years ago I came across an article online in the Charlotte Observer entitled "The Sainted Cookie". Being the cookie lover that I am, I printed it immediately! If I am not mistaken, I have seen this recipe quite a bit on the Internet over the last few years....apparently it was found by someone doing a review on the best cookies and traveling to several bakeries in NYC. This was the recipe they found and it won hands down. The article does go into more detail about different options on how long to let the dough rest and how much of a difference it makes in the end result. Now I must say, this is all from memory, as I mentioned I found this back in like 2008!! So I could be a little off, but either way, these are by far the best cookies I have EVER made!

The recipe is quite intense, using many more ingredients than most.
Here it is and it notes it is adapted from Jacques Torres.
-2 cups minus 2 tablespoons of cake flour
-1 and 2/3 cups of bread flour
-1 and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
-1 and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
-1 and 1/2 teaspoon of coarse salt
-1 and 1/4 cups of unsalted butter
-1 and 1/4 cups of light brown sugar
-1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
-2 large eggs
-2 teaspoons of natural vanilla extract
-1 and 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate discs or bar chocolate, at least 60% cacao
- Sea Salt
OK, so I do this recipe as described, except, when it comes to the chocolate, I usually do half a bag of dark chocolate chips and half a bag of milk chocolate chips.
1. Sift the flours, baking soda and powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.
2. Beat the butter and sugars with a mixer until very light, about 5 mins. Add eggs on at a time, mixing well after each. Stir in vanilla
3. Reduce speed to low and add in dry ingredients and mix until combined, 5 to 10 sec.
4. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate without breaking. Press plastic wrap over the dough and refrigerate 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches and can be in fridge for up to 72 hours** I did not put in the fridge for more than about an hour and I only used half the amount and froze the other as this makes about 4 dozen gold ball sized dough balls.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. You can line the pan with a baking sheet or parchment paper, I did neither and they came right off the pan.
6. Scoop mounds of dough onto baking sheet.
7. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt (to me this is what makes a HUGE difference in the taste- I love sweet and salty together). Bake  18 to 20 mins. I actually checked them at about 10 in my oven and they were PERFECT. So for your first batch, I would keep an eye out depending on your oven.
8. Transfer and let cool
ENJOY!!!!
I made these about two weeks ago for some family I had in town and they were gone in about 10 mins. I saved about 24 balls of dough and they are in the freezer ready to come out at dessert time over Thanksgiving and I am not gonna lie, I am ready for another one...or ten!! ;)

Enjoy-