Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers

/ Dora Hiers / 3 Comments

This edition of Excited about Eating takes us to the historic Elizabeth area of Charlotte to Kennedy’s Premium Bar & Grill. This pub is tucked into a neighborhood friendly area that boasts many family restaurants and has a huge outside deck. Dora here. Wish the sky hadn’t been so overcast because I would’ve enjoyed sitting outside on the gorgeous deck. 

We started with the Pretzel Bites appetizer served with Queso and Dijon mustard dipping sauces. Dipping in the Queso took the pretzel bites from OK to good. The server warned us that the Dijon mustard was spicy and she was right. Dora here. Phew! Have a tissue handy. The mustard sauce will clear out your sinuses, but I liked it! I was expecting these little nuggets to taste chewy and soft, but instead they were a bit crispy.

Pretzel Bites with Queso and Dijon Mustard

I chose the Shepherd’s Pie with Guinness gravy, layers of beef, mushrooms, carrots, celery, and onions topped with mashed potatoes along with a side of tater tots. The meat was tender and the vegetables cooked so that they still had a crunch. The mashed potatoes were creamy and the tater tots outstanding. My biggest issue with this dish was that it was only lukewarm, causing the flavors not to mix well. 

Shepherd’s Pie

My wife had the Fish & Chips, deep fried Haddock, battered with Harp lager, an Irish beer. Dora here. Since Kennedy’s is a pub, I had high hopes for this dish. The fish was lightly battered, flakey and tender. The sweet potato fries were a bit lackluster, and the slaw was just average. Nothing  really tantalized my taste buds. And the iced tea? A total loss. Bummer. But then I’m quite sure people don’t frequent this establishment for the iced tea. 🙂

Fish & Sweet Potato Fries

I would rate this restaurant 3 forks out of 5 forks for a family friendly restaurant serving good food.

Do you set expectations for your dining choices based on a review, recommendations from friends, or perhaps from the name of the restaurant? 
Kennedy's Premium Bar and Grill on Urbanspoon

Crazy about Writing: Snickers had her cria today!

/ Dora Hiers / 2 Comments
Rori’s Journal
Date: Monday, October 15

Snickers had her cria today. Oh my stars! She’s just beautiful, and just as sweet as her mama. I hope Snickers will rub off on Jumbo. Haha. Probably not. Poor Jumbo had such a tough life until he came to live here at the sanctuary. People can be so vicious and cruel. Isn’t that why I’m here? So, I don’t blame him for being a bit cantankerous.

But I bet the new vet could!
You should have seen the on-call doc Corbin’s office sent to help. Unlike any vet I’ve ever met. I mean, really, what vet shows up at a working ranch in a fancy sports car? And the man never even dragged his medical equipment out to help with the delivery! Maybe the trunk wasn’t big enough? Or Corbin told him I was qualified? Whatever, but he sure looked a bit green around the edges. Must’ve had a long night with calls, but he handled Jumbo’s poor manners with grace and humor.
Other than appearing tired, he was mighty nice to look at. Thick dark hair. Heavy stubble on firm jaws. Cocoa-colored eyes that sparkled with kindness. A deep rumble for a voice. Not that I’m looking.
But he was here when I needed him, the first man besides Burk or my stepdad, and plans to come back as a volunteer. Yeah, right.
Anyway, Graham, the vet, named the cria, Reesie. Think it was from all the chocolate I stuffed in my mouth?

Until tomorrow, Rori

****
Available June 5
with Pelican Book Group
Amazon Pre-Order
Still stinging from the publicity surrounding her father’s death, social phobic Rori Harmon prefers the solitude of her animal sanctuary, accepting that marriage isn’t in her future. Racecar Driver Graham Decker refuses to be wrangled into a relationship by another money-hungry female. On a philanthropy mission, he arrives just in time to assist Rori with a llama birthing, but his appearance thrusts her into the media spotlight again. Has Graham found a woman who doesn’t care how deep his wallet extends? Has Rori finally met a man who will stick around when times get tough? Is healing for a hurting heart finally within Rori’s reach?

Excited about Reading ~ Until I Found You by Victoria Bylin

/ Dora Hiers
Purchase Link

The Cover Story~
Finding each other was only the beginning . . . 

When Kate Darby swerves off a mountain road to avoid hitting a California condor, she ends up trapped in her car, teetering on the edge of a cliff. Terrified, she breathes a prayer that changes her life.

It’s Nick Sheridan who comes to Kate’s rescue. Nick is handsome and confident, and he seems to develop a habit of rescuing her, but Kate is in town only until her grandmother recuperates from a stroke. She’s not planning to get involved with one of the locals.

Nick is a reformed veteran of life in the fast lane, a new Christian, and a travel writer. When he sees a car dangling on the edge of a cliff, the daredevil in him jumps into action. He doesn’t expect to be swept off his feet by the car’s occupant. He’s made a vow–no dating for a year–but keeping that vow is going to be a lot more difficult now that he’s met Kate Darby.

My takeaway~
Kate Darby’s career is on the fast track until her grandmother’s stroke. Leona is all the family she has left, and she’s determined to help her grandmother until she’s back on her feet. But she has a hard time accepting her grandmother’s faith, and has lived her adult life making “safe” choices and being independent, relying only on herself. Travel writer Nick Sheridan has always lived life on the edge until a tragedy sends him to the top of Mount Abel to wrestle with God. He came off that mountain a new man, vowing a year of not dating.

Kate laid her head on his shoulder. “I’m scared.”
“Of what?”
“Everything,” she said in a whisper. “I don’t know how to live like this, how to mix the old and the new.”
The black and white balloons were more fitting than he had imagined. An artist blended the two colors to make shades of gray. People compromised. But some decisions really were black and white. A person couldn’t go east and west at the same time, but two people could walk side by side in the same direction. At some point, though, they had to agree which way to walk. If they couldn’t and they still wanted to be together, someone had to make a sacrifice.

That excerpt pretty much sums up the book for me. Nick and Kate were attracted to each other immediately, and the story was a romance from the first page to the last, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have to work through their share of problems. I felt that Nick’s love for Kate was a symbol of Christ’s love for us. Saddened and distressed by the gulf widening between them, he woos and loves her back.

I thoroughly enjoyed Until I Found You. Bursting with emotional depth, packed with a spiritual punch, it also carried just the right amount of sizzle for me. The parallel between human relationships and condors, rare birds who mate for life, was a bonus. Definitely a keeper!

“Faith is what allows us to see the daffodil in an ugly seed, the chick in an egg. We don’t understand how God works, but if we look, we see His handiwork everywhere–even in the mirror.” ~Leona


Disclaimer: I received this book free from Amazon. The opinions expressed in this review are my own, and I received no monetary compensation.