Hi and I hope your week is off to a great start. I never get to sit down to write a weekend recap on Mondays until mid-afternoon because I teach at 8:15a and 10:30a on Mondays and squeeze in a yoga class or run between teaching my two classes. I always feel behind the curve on my weekend post but I love starting my Mondays off with so much teaching and activity. I feel like it really energizes me for the week ahead.
In case you missed it on Friday afternoon, I wrote a long post about what my day-to-day work balance is and what goes into Tanner and I running the studio together.
Alright, the weekend! Let’s get to it!
FRIDAY
As I mentioned in my Friday post, Virginia and I had tickets for the symphony so I picked her up early to grab a bite to eat before the show. She suggested The King’s Kitchen uptown. I had never dined there but have heard great things for years. It’s owned by the same family, Noble Restaurants, that does Rooster’s (which you know we love) so I had no doubt that I’d enjoy it. I’ve been a Jim Noble fan since I moved to Charlotte.
Their menu is mostly southern but features everything from meat and three plates to scallops to duck breast and all sorts of other things. I got my mind stuck on the four vegetable plate because it reminded me so much of growing up in Georgia. My grandmother and I would always go to this restaurant called Cafe South in Milledgeville after church on Sundays and eat all sorts of good southern food. The veggies have always been my favorite part about meat and threes!
I chose butter beans, collards, mac and cheese, mushrooms and a biscuit. I had to choose between a biscuit and cornbread and I’d been craving a biscuit all week since my grandmother told me that my dad had baked some earlier in the week.
This is turning into quite a long dinner description but I have to tell you one more thing about The King’s Kitchen. It’s 100% not for profit. The profits from their sales go to feed the poor in our area and on top of that, The King’s Kitchen provides job-training, life-skills training, social etiquette workshops, financial management guidance and employment intern opportunities to Charlotteans
100% of profits from sales to feed the poor in the Charlotte region. Additionally, The King’s Kitchen partners with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Dream Center and other local area ministries to provide job-training, life-skills training, social etiquette workshops, financial management guidance and employment intern opportunities to Charlotteans in search of a new beginning. They help equip people for success who may have been previously unemployable in the restaurant trade.
This is a mission that I can stand behind. If you live in the Charlotte area, please consider dining at The King’s Kitchen and supporting their important and very needed cause.
We walked over to the Belk Theater after dinner for the Cirque de la Symphonie performance. You weren’t allowed to take videos or photos but y’all…it was AMAZING. The music and the Cirque performers were both incredible. The two-hour show absolutely flew by and Virginia and I were so entertained and immersed the whole time.
For an idea of the kind of incredible talent we saw, just watch a few moments of this video of Sasha Pivaral performing at another competition. She did a similar routine during our show and our mouths were definitely hanging open! If this show comes to your city, check it out!
When we walked out to pick up my car from the valet we found ourselves right across the street from The Ritz Carlton’s Bar Cocoa. I mean, how were we supposed to say no to a quick stop to pick up dessert to go?
I enjoyed a slice of the coconut cake with hot tea when I arrived home. I’m glad I was in oblivion when I ate this because right after I walked upstairs to go to bed and found out that Zoey had been sick ALL OVER the upstairs while I was gone. Poor thing. I was up until midnight cleaning the house and her.
SATURDAY
The theme of my Saturday was laziness until I finally got it together around 2 p.m.
I slept until 8:30 because of my late night (I ended up reading until 1 a.m….oh and Tanner was having a guy’s night at his brother’s so that’s how he missed all the fun…lucky him.). I made this mashed sweet potato bowl when I got up and considered going to the farmers market but laid around the house until I had to go teach at 11:15 a.m.
I taught my class and then decided that I needed to do something to snap me out of my tired funk so I went to a FlyBeats class at FlyWheel.
It was awesome! One of my favorite rides ever (I’m not the biggest cycle fan but getting more into it) and I felt like a completely new person when I left there. Amazing how a workout can totally shift your energy state. My mind was clearer and I felt about a million times lighter.
Since it was after 3 when I got home and we had dinner plans, I opted for a light lunch/snack of chicken roll ups with avocado, apple slices and white cheddar cheese inside. I also had a rice cake with hummus.
The rest of my afternoon was consumed with making this! Dorie hosted a small get together on Saturday night and I volunteered to make the cake.
I think it’s one of my favorite cakes that I’ve ever made…and it was relatively easy!
Everyone went crazy over the cake and I couldn’t believe how moist and chocolaty it was on the inside. I used this recipe from Ina for Beatty’s Chocolate Cake. When it’s Ina and the recipe has 2,000+ 5-star reviews, you know you can’t go wrong. FYI…I did use Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder in the cake instead of regular. I used this chocolate buttercream recipe but I doubled the butter, powdered sugar and cocoa powder but not the milk.
Happy birthday Dorie! <3
I had a few slices of Brixx Pizza at the party.
And of of course I had to sample dessert. We also had a selection of cupcakes from Cupcrazed…which are always yum!
SUNDAY
I made brunch for Tanner and myself. He had avocado toast on sourdough but I wasn’t really feeling more bread after the pizza + cake combo the night before. I had a bowl of roasted butternut squash mashed with banana, pumpkin pie spice and a splash of coconut milk.
After sitting around and working on the computer for a while, I needed to MOVE my body. I took off for a run around 2:10 with 4-5 easy miles in mind.
I was amazed to find that running was feeling all sorts of good yesterday and 5 stretched to 6 and then 7 and finally 8. Maybe there is some hope for the Charlotte Half after all! 😉
My last mile was my fastest mile!
Much in thanks to these ladies. I listened to a podcast for the first 50 minutes of my run then switched to music. These were the last four songs I listened to and man did they get me going!
Since I ran over what I had originally planned, I was majorly squeezed for time to get to the studio to teach my 4p. I rinsed off and then made a quick smoothie which I downed in the car on the way there. Lots of spinach, berries, banana, almond butter, omega-3 oil and collagen powder.
After class I did our weekly shopping at Whole Foods and then came home to relax for the rest of the evening. We had an easy dinner of chicken, rice and veggies and then started season six of Scandal!
Did you eat dessert over the weekend? If so, what was it?
If someone offered to bake you a birthday cake, what flavor would you request?
Did you do a long run or race this weekend?
Long run on Saturday (9miles) and fair food on Sunday (corndog)
My favorite cake is strawberry!!
Oh my gosh!! That cake you made is INSANE!