Summertime!!

Yesterday was my official first day of summer. I woke up around 10 & waited for my walking clothes to dry, then I headed off & did a 3 mile walk (I didn't get in my walk on Tuesday so I made up for it yesterday). Brad took off yesterday so we got to spend the day together. Laid around, ate Taco Casa for lunch (a great cheap mexican place, better than Taco Bell), then started to get ready for our night.

Brad & I made reservations at a new restaurant in town -- High Cotton -- we've been wanting to go but we always wait a couple months after a new restaurant opens so they can work out all the kinks. Overall, Brad & I were VERY pleased. We ordered a Four Vines Maverick Zinfandel & started the meal off with a cheese plate & the beef carpaccio -- both were amazing. The cheese plate had a brie, a midnight moon, a pecan-crusted chevre, & a hearty blue cheese with candied walnuts, fig jam, & apple to compliment. The carpaccio was delicate with the perfect addition of a horseradish sauce & arugula -- to die for!!

Where the overall meal was lacking the most was actually the entrees -- the flavor profiles didn't go together well. I had a bourbon-glazed pork with fried green tomatoes & jalapeno cheese grits. Brad had the duck with a carrot puree & bundled asparagus. The meals came out over-cooked so we sent them back; we typically aren't the "send-back" people but we had multiple reasons --

1. We were spending good money on the meal, you want it cooked right (especially pork & duck).
2. The primary owner of the restaurant was in from Charleston -- he needed to know how the kitchen was not up to par when it came to meat temps.
3. Brad & I are foodies & deserved it!!!

Ok, so they re-cooked our dinners - still not excellent but the amazing appetizers were counterbalancing the mediocre entrees. So we decided to make it even & go for a dessert. The chef's special was a coconut souffle -- now we all know how complex a souffle is to make so this would be the make or break. OH MY GOD -- it was so the deal maker!!! The souffle was pure egg white based & delicate with a butterscotch sauce -- so good!!!! It just melted in your mouth!!

Overall, we liked the restaurant -- we would definitely find ourselved returning to order a good bottle of wine & enjoy some wonderful apps & dessert; they just need to re-think their main courses.

Ok, so after High Cotton, we headed over the Bi-Lo Center to see Delirium by Cirque du Soleil. This was a live concert performance that incorporated the acrobatics & dance that everyone knows & loves from Cirque. The whole experience was stimulating -- music, dance, acrobats, wire-work, everything. It was so awesome!!!

Overall it was a wonderful evening -- a great start to my summer!!!