by Nikki Terpilowski
On one of my recent trips to the Outer Banks during the off-season, I went solo and with the express purpose of visiting every single book store in the area. Fortunately, I was able to visit all but one store on my list which was closed that day.
I will be the first one to admit that as a Raleigh resident, I often bundle Cary, North Carolina with all the other suburbs nestled in and around the Research Triangle Park. However, as any Caryite will tell you, this obvious oversight is all of my own making.
Fuquay-Varina is a small town, but you’d never know it by the number of successful coffee shops located there. Further proof that drinking coffee never goes out of style.
The sight of a good ‘ole-fashioned white picket fence always give me a feeling of nostalgia, evoking warm thoughts of the small town where I was raised. I was delighted to find one framing the entrance of Cultivate Coffee Roasters.
Set in the tiny fictional community of Waves, North Carolina in the Outer Banks, is Jenny Hale’s newest romantic novel, The Summer House. As someone who loves to align her reading with the current season, I was so excited to pick up this book which is filled with new beginnings, friendships, and romance, all taking place in a beautiful beach setting.
by Dianna Dames
Walking into The Peppered Cupcake, I anticipated the sweet buttery smell of baking cupcakes would meet me first but was completely surprised and charmed by the quaint decor of the shop.
Just when I thought I knew of all the best spots to grab a beer around downtown Raleigh, I ventured a little further down West North Street to find Little City Brewing + Provisions, a hidden gem of a brewery.
In an unassuming strip mall on the outskirts of Cary’s thriving downtown, is a sweet spot that the locals love. Vida Dulce – Spanish for the sweet life – is an ice cream shop with a deliciously Mexican flair.
by Dianna Dames
I noticed Old Books On Front Street about a year ago. It’s nestled towards the end of the shops on Front Street, closer towards Cape Fear Community College. They had a chalkboard easel set up on the sidewalk in front of the store that said, No one loves that old Kindle smell. Of course, that joke brought me into the store.
Going to a pick-your-own farm is a good time if you go alone, make it a family outing or a destination for your date. You’re outside getting some fresh air and sun, you’re becoming one with nature, getting back to simpler times… and coming home with a bucket of dessert.
by Staff Writer
We’re drinking all the strawberry beer this Spring. And why not? What better way to kick back and enjoy the fresh fruity flavors of the season than to drink the best strawberry-inspired beers we could find? It’s the beginning of the strawberry season after all. Our roundup of seasonal favorites includes three beers from North Carolina: one ale, one sour, an apple cider and one beer brewed in England.
by Dianna Dames
The Azalea Festival first came about in 1948 after Dr. Houston Moore, MD spent several years cultivating the Greenfield Lake area of Wilmington, NC. Inspired by the Rhododendron, or Azalea flower, he successfully rallied the support of community leaders to create a festival in its honor. Over the years, the festival has expanded to include artwork, gardening, and local history. Every year, the festival draws around 300,000 people into Wilmington.
Located on the corner block of a quintessential Main Street, USA, The Mill stands as a newer addition to downtown Fuquay-Varina in North Carolina. Upon entrance, wafts of aromatic roasted beans tantalized my nose and lured me in.
If you are a fan of beer, or just a fan of having a good time, you will definitely be a fan of at least one of Trophy Brewing’s three locations. For your food truck days with friends, pizza nights with the family, or dinner dates downtown, Trophy has a location to suit your needs. For this sunny Saturday afternoon, in particular, I decided to check out Trophy Brewery and Taproom.
by Dianna Dames
Located on the outskirts of Wilmington, in a suburb called Ogden, I’ve passed The Sour Barn many times and thought about stopping there. The parking lot is always packed, a variety of food trucks are frequently on hand and I’ve heard nothing but good things. I decided Saint Patrick’s Day was the perfect day to visit.
Walking around Lafayette Village in North Raleigh is one of my favorite ways to pass the time. It’s an adorable European-style village in the middle of suburban Raleigh that approximates a small town in France but actually houses locally-owned gourmet restaurants and upscale shopping. It was on one of my strolls around the village, that I happened upon Jubala Village Coffee located on the perimeter of the shopping center.
The search for donuts often leads to well-known national chains, some of which have kiosks even in the local gas stations. However, one Durham donut shop can be found not in, but next to a corner gas station, and the owners and bakers are often right inside rather than at corporate headquarters. That shop is Baker’s Dozen, one of a family-owned chain of three shops in the Triangle that are offering some friendly yet serious competition to the national chains.
by Nikki Terpilowski
Visit one of our favorite bakeries in Fuquay-Varina in the early morning hours, and you’ll be greeted by the smells of butter, cinnamon and the tantalizing scent of rising bread. You’ll hear the sounds of the staff calling out to each other, the dull thump of hands pounding dough and the low chatter of the customers.
Helado. The Spanish word for ice cream slides over the tongue as easily as ice cream itself. At Pincho Loco, the ice cream and dessert shop tucked between Broad and Ninth streets in Durham, this creamy delight takes on many forms.
True to a Latin American sense of style, the little shop announces its presence at 1918 Perry Street with a profusion of colorful signs, the biggest ones offering their menu choices in both English and Spanish.
When it comes to family fun, Raleigh has a lot to offer. So much so, that sometimes it’s precisely the abundance of options that makes it tricky to plan for a fun and relaxing day out. Well, today, I have an itinerary that is slightly off the beaten path, but it still does a top-notch job of delivering fun for the whole family without the usual hassles of crowds and parking!
Pristine nature is a relative rarity. Just ask any seasoned hiker how many times she or he has been enjoying a “natural” view and then stumbled upon an old cellar pit or a stone wall that once marked the edge of a farm. Nature taking back its own has its charms though, and the interaction between human history and natural history make the Occoneechee Speedway Trail one of the most intriguing in the Hillsborough area.
cby Taylor Brooks
As if you needed another reason to venture into downtown Raleigh, I’m about to give you one more. Ashley Christensen is an award-winning chef, located in Raleigh and she owns five restaurants and bars scattered around downtown. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to visit one of her restaurants, Chuck’s Burgers.
I love downtown Raleigh with it’s hustle and bustle, sights and the many spontaneous events that it hosts. Parades, street festivals, and arts and crafts shows are just a few that come to mind. Now that the weather is taking a turn for the warmer, I took my family and headed downtown this past weekend. We ran across a book store that had a Little Library out front. I was immediately charmed and decided to visit the shop.
by Nikki Terpilowski
I thought I knew all of the coffee shops in Fuquay-Varina. But recently, I drove down Broad Street and saw a new sign on one of the historic buildings I’ve always found so intriguing. It was the location for a butcher for a while, was empty and now it’s filled with chocolates, pastries and coffee. I had to see for myself what Tsuru Sweets & Coffee was all about.
by Taylor Brooks I enjoy visiting new bars and was excited to visit The Blind Barbour. Pulling up to the […]
Who doesn’t like fluffy buttery sweet pancakes for breakfast? Or lunch? Or dinner? It’s one of those meals that can appease the finickiest of eaters, both child, and adult. We know it’s pretty hard to mess up pancakes and they’re actually really good, whether you get them at a drive-thru window at a fast-food restaurant, sit down for a quick bite at a country diner or hobnob it at a fine dining establishment serving mimosas with your pancakes at brunch. But we still wanted to figure out some of the best places in North Carolina to get a really tasty plate of pancakes, and that is what we did.
Don’t marry into murder.
No Good Tea Goes Unpunished is the second book in the Seaside Café Mysteries series by Bree Baker. Set in a coastal community, it’s a fabulous breezy mystery for anyone looking for a little fun with a side of danger.
There are two things we like to do in Hillsborough, NC. One is touring historical sites and the other, hiking. While there is much to learn from this area’s historic houses and museums, today we’re focusing on hiking with three unique trails.
North Carolina has so many wonderful bookstores, it was a real challenge to find the best of the best. But we’ve come up with an excellent selection of bookstores that are bound to please even the finickiest of book lovers. With curated book collections, helpful staff and creative spaces, we think you’ll agree these are some of the best bookstores around.
There’s nothing we love more than a soft, flaky buttery biscuit. Whether you’re making a sandwich of it with fried chicken, slather it with butter and molasses or use it as a side to a traditional southern entree, there’s nothing quite like it. And we absolutely had to compile a list of the best biscuits in North Carolina.
Isn’t it annoying when you’re mad for some good Polish food, you do an internet search and find a bunch of German or vaguely European restaurants? Hello, they’re not the same. Don’t worry, we’ve done the search for you – hey, we know how hard it is to find a good Polish place to eat in the south. It’s near darn impossible, not like up north, where you can’t throw a stone for hitting a Polish deli.
Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, good fried chicken is subjective. If you were born in New Jersey, your idea of fried chicken will not be the same, as say, someone who grew up in South Carolina.
It’s not difficult to make a good burger and every restaurant and diner seems to have one, and yet some burgers are just better than others. We’ve done our research, cross-referenced the results and finished off with the ultimate in taste tastes.
Every now and again, we like to put together a fun day trip agenda for our more adventurous readers. Bored? Not sure what to do? Leave it to us and we’ll help you explore the small towns around you and the communities within larger cities.
There’s just something about a nice cozy mystery. If you’ve read one, or two or three, you know what I mean. They are a bit addictive with the cute town, eccentric cast of characters and mysteries you want to solve for yourself. And let’s not forget the themes! It’s so entertaining to read a story that incorporates something you’re really interested in, whether it’s cooking, knitting or woodworking, there’s a cozy mystery for every reader. And there’s nothing we love more than to find a really good cozy mystery set in the south.
We’ve compiled a list of our favorite cozy mystery series set in the southern USA.
I remember discovering craft beer. And then I realized I was a porter and stouts kind of gal. The darker and the thicker the brew, the better. And almost immediately after that, I recall thinking that the stout beer I was drinking would probably taste awesome in a cup of vanilla ice cream. I immediately did an internet search for is ice cream and beer a thing? Of course, as the internet will remind you, there is nothing new under the sun. And every idea has already been thought of… at least twice. Of course craft beer + ice cream or spirits + ice cream is a thing. Of course it is.
Craft beer is booming everywhere, but it’s fairly blossoming in the Tarheel State. You can’t walk for tripping over a brewery. And just when you think you’ve got a grasp of all the breweries in your neighborhood, a new one pops up.
Whether you’re interested in the Revolutionary War, a fan of Outlander (if you’ve read the book or seen the television series, you know what I mean) or just interested in learning more about North Carolina history, the Tryon Palace is a great destination for your day or weekend trip.
We are always down to celebrate the awesomeness of fried chicken. And what better way to enjoy some good eatin’ and travel the south, than to plan your travel around three of our favorite fried chicken festivals. If you live in Louisianna, North or South Carolina, Tennessee or Georgia, these events might not be new to you, but we bet plenty of our readers want the details!
