Big houseboat groovin'

75 foot houseboat.
Marshall Steam Station sunset.

Larry.

We had the pleasure of going to a high school graduation party tonight on Lake Norman. Our friends, Larry and Claudia, had a houseboat party for their son's graduation. They are friends with one of the top NASCAR drivers and he was kind enough to lend them his awesome houseboat for the night. The great thing about living around all these racing fellers is that they all have cool stuff and most of them are nice enough to share with others. Often they are traveling around the country for their racing shows and they don't have enough time to use their cool stuff anyway. So on this night, we were able to go to a great graduation party. Plenty of super food from a new Italian restaurant, Portofinos, including linguine with clam sauce and mussels and, of course, some calimari. A great antipasto and some super desserts and kids having a great time celebrating their graduation and sliding off the sliding board on the back of the 75 foot houseboat. We rode through a storm and emerged to see an awesome sunset next to the power plant.

Tin Tin Buffet

Tin Tin Buffet.
Custom made soup on the left. Chicken feet and dumplings on the right.
Sushi, center top.

Located in South Charlotte on Johnston Road near I-485 this Asian Buffet is perhaps the best in town. Unique to Tin Tin is its soup bar where you can choose your noodles, broth and other contents from a number of choices. Also, there is a wide variety of dim sum including dumplings and ham hocks and more obscure items such as chicken feet in black bean sauce as well as sea cucumber on occasion. There are crawfish and sushi and there is neat kind of Indian breads. If you are in the Charlotte area and you like excellent fresh Asian food, give this place a try.

Small town pleasures

D.E. Turner Hardware over 110 years old.
Plymouth Roadrunner Superbird.

On the way downtown.

The Moor.

Our town was once a mill town where most of the people worked in a textile mill that manufactured towels and later manufactured denim. It's interesting that the town has as its logo a "Moor" although the town's name is derived from a fellow named Moore. The Moor logo was originally adopted in the 1930's as a symbol of the mill and the Turkish towels it manufactured. I would imagine that Mooresville is among very few towns in America that has a dark complexioned, likely Muslim fellow on a horse as the centerpiece of its logo. In recent years, the town has gotten away from the use of this logo, which is a little sad. The mill is long-gone and the town economy evolved into one based on motorsports, the Lowe's corporate headquarters and quick commutes to Charlotte for those employed there. The town grew and lost some of its history but a visit to the still intact downtown brings back memories of that history. We can ride our bikes there and did so today and got to enjoy a car show. In order to participate, the cars must be more than thirty years old. Anyway, it was a treat to go downtown and check out the cars and the people and kind of throw back to the old days.

A slow food day. . .

Grilled soft shell crabs with all the fixin's.
It's a rough life.

Went down to the Davidson Farmer's Market this morning. It has turned into quite a little market. There are fresh vegetables of course, but much more: artisan breads and cheeses, wild and cultivated mushrooms, fresh flowers, locally grown meats, etc. There are professional farmers, Mennonites, slow food movement purveyors, and dabblers from every background. It may be a little more expensive than the local grocery, but there are deals to be had. Today I grabbed some pork and chicken liver pate made just yesterday by Charles, a French chef. He sold me a nice sized pack for $5.00 (regularly $6.00 but reduced for D-Day, he said). Not exactly within my low cholesterol diet but it tasted and looked too good to pass up. Got some squash and some killer shiitake mushrooms as well as some basil and leeks. Found a guy selling fish on the side of the road and got some fresh, never frozen, soft shelled crabs. Came home and stir-fried the basil with the mushrooms, added some local sweet-hot relish and some black beans for a killer accompaniment to the crabs, which I grilled. Threw in some grilled squash and leeks and rocked it all on the front porch. Click here for some footage from the Farmer's Market last year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lvtb_A5ge5k

Plaza Midwood Thursday Scene

The cool sign at the Penguin.
Rainy Night outside the Penguin.

What's great about living close to Charlotte is that we can jump in the car and within 30 minutes be enjoying some of the "city" lifestyle. Whether it be to one of the many authentic ethnic restaurants or to hear some live music, there is usually something decent happening in this quasi-southern burg. On this very rainy night, our daughter P and I made a run down to the Plaza-Midwood section of Charlotte. This section is known for its arty vibe, cool clubs and funky stores as well as an historic residential district that is popular with the open minded crowd. The famed Penguin pictured above has been featured on the Food Network for its nasty hot dogs and hamburgers and all the greasy stuff that goes along with it. I used to be all over this kind of food but am no longer. I'm now on the heavy low cholesterol, low sugar gig. But on this particular night, we needed to kill some time before we went to see Benji Hughes at a place called Petra's. So I had a footlong and vegetarian P ate some cheese fries. Then we went to Petra's, an ostensibly gay bar, to see that pop genius, Benji Hughes. See the vid below. Benji has a super record called "A Love Extreme" and you need to switch right over to your itunes and make the purchase. It is a record that you will listen to over and over again. Anyway, it was a fun night and a chill groove in a hep section of town. Peace out.