Dinner at Vivace and a Winner

The title rhymes…I’m so clever. 😉

So it’s Sunday morning, almost noon and I’m in my pajamas again. I’ve been up and at ’em since 7 but enjoying rocking the comfy clothes. Let’s talk about my 7 a.m. wake up time, shall we? I didn’t get in bed until after midnight last night, it’s been raining all morning and I still woke up early and couldn’t fall back asleep. Bummer.

Instead of sleeping in, I’ve been quite productive. I uploaded the Foam Rolling 101 videos and they’ll go live later today. I’ll have a new post up when they do! I also cleaned out our entire fridge and freezer after seeing Kath’s ridiculously clean fridge when I was catching up on blog reading. And finally, I made brunch.

Overnight French Toast (with 1% milk instead of whole) with Great Harvest Cinnachip. Topped with a little bit of almond butter, a dollop of plain Greek yogurt, powdered sugar and maple syrup. Grapes, strawberries and French press coffee on the side.

Now, let’s rewind to Saturday. My long-ish run ended up being only 3.5 (slow) miles with Sullie but that was all I was feeling so I went with it.

Half of a peanut butter, banana and honey sandwich, half an apple and carrots after the run. I went back and made another half of a sandwich! 🙂

I had a pretty awesome afternoon. Manicure, pedicure, quick trip to the mall and filming Foam Rolling 1010. I don’t think I’ve had an afternoon like that in months.

We decided to use a Living Social deal and go to Vivace for dinner. I used dinner out as an excuse to get a little dressed up.

I’ve been to Vivace several times for lunch and happy hours but never for dinner. They have a great menu so I was excited to finally give it a try. We started out with bread, house made white bean spread (complimentary with bread – love that) and wine.

Brandon and I split a caprese salad for an appetizer.

The salad featured oven roasted tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, pesto, basil and balsamic syrup. The roasted tomatoes were a really nice change from traditional plain, sliced tomatoes. I am always a sucker for balsamic reductions.

We had a great server last night, James. I tend to be a little indecisive at restaurants and always ask a ton of questions. James was patient, personable and very knowledgeable about the food and wine. We actually ended up talking about my blog and I was excited when he brought out this fun amuse bouche.

Bruschetta with sundried tomatoes, goat cheese, shrimp and chili oil. Spicy and delicious!

I chose seafood risotto for my dinner and was pleased to learn that they offered a smaller portion for a lower price (so I could save room for dessert! ;))

If this was the small portion then I don’t want to know what the normal size was! I have a weakness for risotto and couldn’t say no to this tomato based one full of shrimp, squid, scallops and mussels.

Brandon selected the duck.

Seared breast, confit leg,fennel custard, cherry and duck brodo. I sampled a bite and it was excellent.

James told us that they were debuting a new dessert menu last night and I was happy to try it out! He recommended a few of his favorites, including a warm chocolate cake with house made gelato. Brandon and I were sharing and there was no talking him out of it in favor of something fruity. Chocolate it was…

Warm bittersweet chocolate cake with espresso gelato. It was to die for. Seriously one of the best desserts that I’ve had in a restaurant in a long time. I wish I would have taken a picture of it once we broke into the center because it was so gooey and delicious.

Just as we were finishing up and paying, I had some fun visitors!

Sarah and Heather are blog readers from Atlanta and Charlottesville who are in Charlotte for the weekend visiting friends. (Sorry the picture is blurry guys – it was great meeting you!)

I’m off to get ready for a hot yoga class. Brandon has agreed to join me. I’m so excited. We never get to practice together! 😀

Finally…the peanut butter chocolate chip bar winner.

Congratulations Courtney! Email me your address at peanutbutterrunner (at) gmail (dot) com and I’ll get your bars out this week!

Thank you all for your dessert suggestions. Brandon couldn’t pick just one so I’ll be featuring several over the next month or so. I’ll let you guys know what he selected soon!