This is in my backyard?

The other day Court and I were out taping “Love your Community”’s in Chapel Hill. It was freezing cold that day and we had been on campus for over an hour and decided we needed to warm up and get some good food. What better to get on a cold brisk day than soup..but we didn’t want soup so we got …..pizza! I’ve said before I’m not a huge pizza fan, but Court said I had to try Pepper’s! For someone who doesn’t like pizza I really really liked it. I got a house salad with balsamic vinnagarette to start and it was also really good. The dressing wasn’t too strong and the salad came with mozzeralla cheese on which added a little extra flavor. They had a lot of different pizzas they had come up with but I decided to make my own, especially since you can do it by the slice! I decided to get a slice of pizza with feta cheese, spinach, and smoked chicken…it was soo good! The crust was thin, but not to thin, and they didn’t put a ton of sauce on it which allowed the other flavors to come through, and at the end of the meal I was full but I wasn’t stuffed which was nice. You know how you usually feel when you get done eating pizza, gross and overstuffed from all the bread and grease, it wasn’t like that at all. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal! So next time your in Chapel Hill and want a good piece of pizza check out Pepper’s!

As I started this adventure of discovering great local places to eat in the area, one of the places I first heard about was Irregardless. My colleague Ashley Sue said it was a must, it took me awhile but Ashley Sue and I finally made it down there for lunch. I must say, I wish I would have gone sooner. Irregardless was delicious! Besides the on-going choices on their menu the fact that they have daily specials absolutely amazed me, you never hear of that anymore, at least not as extensively as they offer. The owner, Arthur, goes to the farmers market every morning to see what is fresh and available and then builds his menu off of that. Terry, our waitress/manager, was such a help in deciding want to choose and also in filling me in on all the splendid things the restaurant had going on. You should definitely try Irregardless either for lunch or dinner, or live music or dancing, they have it all (and they cater)! Check out my video and see what I mean!

Like you all have heard many of times Courtney and I spent a day in Hillsborough, NC.  A lot of our time was spent at the Village Diner. While we were taping that morning everyone kept telling us about the Village Diner and how we had to go. So sure enough we went there to eat lunch, talk to the locals, and see what Hillsborough really is all about. We enjoyed our meal spending time with Ms. Ethel and talking to her daughter Teresa. We met a lot of great locals and learned a lot about the town. Check out the video and see what I mean! Don’t forget to pause and let it buffer before your play it!

So your probably wondering how those 3 go together. Well first we’ll start with today…MLK Day. As a station we participated in Triangle United Way’s Day of Service.  We volunteered at three different locations, The signature project at Knightdale High School, serving lunch at the Raleigh Rescue, and the SPCA of Wake County. 8 of my colleagues and myself went to the SPCA where we got to play with lots of adorable dogs, cats, puppies, and bunnies (which is my volunteering aspect of this).  The SPCA of Wake County requires almost 200 volunteers a day to make the facility run smoothly, so all the help they can get is great! When talking with Shirley, one of their volunteers we learned so much about the dogs, the facility and how rewarding the experience is for volunteers. So now your probably wondering how all of this ties into food and Valentine’s day right? Ok well let me tell you! The SPCA of Wake County is having their 4th annual Bark and Wine with your Valentine event. For the full press release click on the link, but it sounds like a really great time!

As I mentioned in a previous blog, last week Court and I got to spend the day in Hillsborough, NC. One of the best parts of the day was discovering  Matthew’s Chocolate! The store is new to the downtown Hillsborough seen and has been a huge success since opening in November. We had a lot of fun talking with Matthew and really enjoyed his chocolate..it was soo good..I don’t think I have ever had chocolate that good before! Check out the video and see what I mean!

Remember to pause and let it buffer through before playing it!