My Famous Girls Getaway Recognized: 7 Reasons I Loved It.

Thank you HULU.com. After 2.5 years, I have been wanting to share my 15 minutes of fame and thanks to Hulu.com, I am able to accomplish this minor goal.
You see, back in March of 2007, my dearest friends (of 30 + years) and I were chosen, out of 200 applications, to participate in one of the 13 episode of Fine Living Network series "All Girl Getaways". We loved filming our getaway in Asheville. I loved it for many reasons:
1) I got to play instead of work in our beloved city.
2) My friends discovered the joys of Asheville.
3) Specifically, I loved spending the evening getting a facial and then relaxing in the world famous spa at Grove Park Inn.
4) We all ate with gusto at Tupelo Honey and Fig
5) Hanging out at the River Arts District was a wonderful treat and I wonder why I had never ever been there before.
6) Having with my dear friends anywhere is so comforting and sharing my Asheville life with them was powerful.
7) Taping a show with microphones and retakes is a hoot!

Now I am hoping that other gaggles of women will enjoy Asheville together. Just take a look at this video-doesnt it make you want to book a vacation with your best friends?

Our thoughts are with Tupelo Honey Cafe!

Tupelo Honey Cafe, one of Asheville's most popular restaurants, is temporarily closed due to flooding in its basement from a broken City of Asheville water line. The expected re-open date is May 6th at 9am. You can more about the situation, and get updates, on their home page.

We're looking forward to seeing you guys back in action, Tupelo! I'm always craving their Eggs Betty plate (2 poached eggs on a buscuit - I substitute asparagus for ham - and homemade hollandaise. YUM, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it).



Of course there are many other places to tide you over until then! If you're looking for a deal (who isn't these days?), we're offering Corner Kitchen and Zambra gift cards with many of our Carolina Mornings packages and specials.

Last day in Asheville

Well, I'm back in Carrboro and ready to report on the last 24 hours or so that I spent in Asheville. Unfortunately, I did not make it to the French Broad Chocolate Lounge, that will just have to stay on my list for next time.

Wednesday night
A group of friends and I went to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall (hilarious movie) at the Asheville Pizza & Brewing Company. Here are a few of my favorite things (about Asheville Pizza!):

• Good, cheap movies - $3 movies, almost always audience favorites. Afternoon movies are for the kids, evening movies for adults. It's so popular, in fact, that on any given night the 7pm and also often the 10pm movies are sold out well before showtime. You have to purchase tickets earlier in the day if you want a guarantee that you'll get in. Movies change on Fridays. This week the afternoon movie is The Dark Crystal (yes, from 1982) and night movie is The Incredible Hulk.
  
  
• Good food - While the pizza isn't exactly homestyle NYC pizza, it's unique in a good way. The greek is really, really good and I love that with every pizza there are 5 sauce choices and 5 crust choices (I love the honey wheat). The other stuff on the menu is pretty tasty too, and ranges from quesadillas to burgers.
  
  
• Good beer - Really good micro brews. I like the Ninja best, but they recently started only providing about half their beers at one time, so I tried the Scottish. And I liked it a lot.
  

Thursday afternoon
Got to go to Tupelo Honey Cafe for lunch. I had the Eggs Crawley - eggs any way you like (mine were over hard) with asparagus and crab cakes, all covered with hollandaise. The crab cakes, by the way, are the best I think I've ever had. None of that 50% bread stuff - it's all crab, very lightly breaded, and it melts in your mouth. Yuuuum.

Then I went to Vintage Moon for the first time. They serve tea in the front window, where you're surrounded by lacy, velvety vintage clothing and other articles. I found an AMAZING amber necklace that I definitely could not afford.... but I considered trying. Lots of treasures to be found at Vintage Moon (location).

Now I'm back in Carrboro and it's time to tell you what's going on this weekend! More on that later today. Have fun and enjoy it extra for those of us who have to be away!

A short trip to Asheville

Although I still consider myself an Asheville 'local' - envisioning myself there on a daily basis - I actually relocated to our Chapel Hill office about 2 months ago. Since Carolina Mornings has our home base in Asheville, those of us here in the center of the state get to regularly spend time up in the mountains. It's a pretty nice arrangement (and it keeps me from leaving here and running away back to Asheville for good)!

I was lucky enough to be in town about a month ago, and stayed in one of our East Asheville hideaways, Deer Run. This time around I'll be with Asheville friends from Monday evening - Thursday evening, and thought I would share my personal itinerary, all the favorite things I'm dying to do as a former local and some new things I haven't gotten to try yet.

Martini Mondays at Temptations
Temptations has pretty good specials each night of the week, but Mondays are my favorite - $5 martinis all night long. They make a really great dirty martini with garlic stuffed olives, and also have a list of intriguing novelty martinis (of which I enjoy the Dirty Girl Scout).
Location: Downtown on Biltmore Ave, near Pack Place

Eat, drink micro brews, and watch a movie
Option 1: Asheville Pizza & Brewing Company. Highlights include great pizza, micro brews, and $3 movies. There's an open restaurant in the front, or a theater in the back where you can order from the full menu while you watch the movie (staff shouts your name when food is ready). Who can resist that combo? Movies change weekly and can be found on the Web site.
Location: Merrimon Ave - look for the big building painted with movie scenes. Photo from the Asheville Pizza & Brewing Company Web site.

Option 2: Cinebarre. Highlights include amazing popcorn, beer & wine, and newly released movies. A 'fancier' version of Asheville Pizza (higher prices too). Multiple theaters means multiple movies, and a waitstaff to take orders from your seats and bring you food and drinks during the movie.
Location: Biltmore Square Mall, West Asheville

Eat out. A lot.
Tupelo Honey Cafe is, hands down, my favorite place to eat. (I also love Sunday brunch at Corner Kitchen, which I'll miss this time around. Carolina Mornings offers a lot of specials with Corner Kitchen, as it's regularly recommended by national publications, locals, and visitors.)
Instead of my favorite regular sushi restaurant, Green Tea, I'll probably try Kubo's (see the Sushi post).
Since I haven't been yet, I'll try the French Broad Chocolate Lounge for their famed liquid truffles.
And finally, I will definitely go get an éclair (the size of my head!) at Well-Bred Bakery in Weaverville.

For more to do in Asheville and the surrounding area, see links in the sidebar and scroll through our previous posts!

Asheville Downtown Restaurants

There are so many great, diverse restaurants in downtown Asheville - there's something for everyone and it's difficult to dislike anything you try. But I've tried to narrow it down here to just a few of my very favorite spots that I frequent regularly:

Tupelo Honey Cafe - you can't go wrong with anything on the menu, and the prices are unbeatable for the quality of the fare. Plus they get most of the food straight from their own organic vegetable farm & free-range, organic meat from Warren Wilson College just down the road in Swannanoa.

Mayfel's - Authentic and tasty New Orleans cuisine. Right next door to Tupelo, and sometimes a good alternative if you don't want as long a wait (though don't be misled - like everything in this town, Mayfel's gets crowded too).

Jerusalem Garden Cafe - Great Mediterranean (Moroccan influence) food, complete with belly dancing! The hummus and baba ganouj are amazing - great place to satisfy vegetarians (and meat eaters too, of course). They can easily handle large parties with advance notice. Also known for good Sunday brunch.

As it turns out, these restaurants are all located around Pritchard Park (Patton Ave). It's a great little block for eating. Early Girl Eatery is another favorite, located behind Tupelo and Mayfel's, and can be accessed on Wall Street.