A trip to the Skylight Exchange

I took a step back in time recently when a friend introduced me to Chapel Hill’s Skylight Exchange. This hole-in-the-wall is enthralling. It’s part cafeteria, part record store, part used book store and part music venue.

I could spend hours in this old-school place browsing titles and thumbing through records, looking for the perfect ironic cover to hang on the wall.

And the sandwiches. Oh the unique sandwiches. I ordered the BBQ chicken salad, and it was the best sandwich I’ve had in recent memory. I’ve heard that the shakes are stellar, but I didn’t get one. I need to make another trip there so I can try one.

I don’t know much about the history of this place, but it’s pretty well hidden. When I asked two of my chick friends, both UNC grads, if they’ve ever been there, neither had heard of it. It’s tucked in an alley off Rosemary Street.

Certainly, some of you have been there before and can share some details I’m leaving out about this eclectic venue.

A tour of the Durham food blog scene

If you’re looking for some restaurants to try out, your best bet might be to explore the Durham food blog scene. Every time I catch up on these in my reader, I’m always left hungry and eager to head over to the Bull City for a meal.

On the Carpe Durham blog, you can see mouth-watering inspiring photos of the scallion pancake, beef congee and the spicy dry bean curd with shredded pork ordered off the “secret menu” at China Palace, aka Magic Palace.

On Delicious Durham, you can find out whether the famous Nana’s really lives up to its reputation. You can also find out how to put local peaches to tasty use by following Kelly’s peach crisp recipe or find out how you can blend your own peanut sauce to pour over stewed collards or as a standard satay sauce.

Over at Eat at Joe’s! you can vote on the best place to grab a burger in Durham. Or save the Google map he created highlighting the “Ethnic Grocery Trail.”

But wait, there’s more.

The Newlyfeds, a Durham couple with a passion for cooking who explore Durham’s dining scene, explain why you just have to go to Chubby’s Tacos on Ninth Street.

Another Durham couple reviews two downtown establishments, the newly-opened Five Points Cafe and Rue Cler on their blog: CookingEatingDurham.

And you must check out Lenore’s blog called Eclectic Glob of Tangential Verbosity. It’s not a straight food blog, but as an epicurean, you can always count on Lenore to post beautiful pictures and descriptions of her frequent dinners out (all these photos are courtesy of Lenore’s Flickr). Here’s a sample from her latest post on Serena Restaurant and Bar:

I ordered the gnocci, which I’d been looking forward to after examining their menu on-line about a week ago. It had applewood smoked bacon, dried cherries, loads of garlic, spinach, a thin slice of parmesan and potato gnocci pasta. It came with a piece of garlic bread. It sounds perfect, right?

Find out if the gnocci was a delicious as it sounds.

I’m sure there are several other Durham & Triangle-area food blogs, if you know of some that I’ve left out, please clue me in.

A glimpse inside the breakroom refrigerator

Warning, watching this video means you’re giving up one minute of your life that you’ll never get back.

Is this sort of how your company’s refrigerator looks? Do you still carry a lunchbox?

A vegetarian’s nightmare might look like this …

 I spotted this pan of bacon today at the Jersey Mike’s Subs on Wake Forest Road in Raleigh. Does this gross you out or does it make you hungry?

Don’t hate me just because I microwaved my Peeps

Perhaps the most amusing thing happening in the Triangle this weekend is PeepFest 2008 at Market Street Books in Chapel Hill. The daylong event celebrates the marshmellow chicks and bunnies with activities such as Peeps jousting and a Peeps fashion show. This year’s theme is “Imagine World Peeps.” For the full list of activities click here. Market Street Books is located in Arts & Letters Community Center, 610 Market St.

In honor of this Peepabration, I made a quick video featuring the sugary, gooey animals. If you want to follow along, log onto How to Microwave a Peep while you watch this.

Without being grossly inappropriate, please tell me if you’ve ever put something else in the microwave that wasn’t supposed to go in there and what happened.

As if we needed more reasons to go to McDonald’s

I guess now that McDonald’s offers fancy coffee …

It may draw a bigger crowd on Friday nights …

The McDonald’s on Wake Forest and Six Forks in Raleigh may soon be the most happening fast food joint on Friday nights.

Welcome to McDonald’s, would you like to try a latte?

As of today, nearly every McDonald’s in the Triangle and Fayetteville areas now serves “specialty coffees” for its customers, according to local spokespeople for the restaurant who sent out this press release today:

McDonald’s has taken strides to increase coffee and beverage options since the launch of its Premium Roast Coffee in 2006, and has continued their focus on providing customers’ the variety they want, with the introduction of the McCafe Specialty Coffees. … New coffees include: Lattes, Mochas and Cappuccinos in a variety of options and flavors, including Iced, Caramel and Vanilla, and Hot Chocolate. Most are available in three sizes - small (12 ounces), medium (18 ounces) and large (20 ounces). McDonald’s gives the customers a choice of whole, two percent, or non-fat milk. The new McCafe Specialty Coffees area available in approximately 95 percent of participating McDonald’s restaurants in the Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville area.

Since I love a good cup of coffee, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to try a McDonald’s latte.

Have you tried any a latte or a mocha from McDonald’s yet? Are you any more inclined to go to McDonald’s now that they offer these specialty coffees?

Nothing like a half-pound of pork to get you energized

I am ashamed to say this was my lunch today:

I was in such disbelief when the waitress delivered all this meat, that I had to take a picture. Co-worker Wayne Sutton thought this was funny, so he took a picture of me taking a picture of my pork:

So then I had to take a picture of him because I thought it was funny that he was playing with his iPhone while his pork was right in front of him:

We’re in Charlotte, and this BBQ was OK. But I’m always interested in good BBQ. Any suggestions of places I should go when I get back to the Triangle?

Dude, bet you didn’t know you could buy this at Wal-Mart

Raleigh blogger Brandy found this hilarious confection yesterday when she went to Wal-Mart. Her blog “Girl on Camera” is filled with random nuggets like this. Thanks to her, guess what all my friends are getting around Easter time.

Buying gourmet goodies may help save some land

I haven’t been to A Southern Season in Chapel Hill since I moved back to the Triangle. For those of you who have never been, it’s a gourmet market that you can easily spend hours in if you’re hungry and love to shop (it’s so fabulous that I have a girlfriend who actually shrieks every time you say you went without her). You can take cooking classes there, sample wines on the weekends, dine in its restaurant (the Weathervane) and shop for delicious candies, coffees, housewares and oh so much more. OK, I’ll stop now, I’m starting to sound like a commerical.

I bring this up because I found out today that A Southern Season is teaming up with the Triangle Land Conservancy for a day-long fundraiser next month. On Tuesday, March 17, the market is giving the conservancy 5 percent of all retail sales. The conservancy works to protect open space and other natural areas in Durham, Wake, Orange, Chatham, Johnston and Lee counties. The nonprofit is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, according to a news release I read today.

Anyway, if you haven’t been to the market in a while or *gasp* not at all, this might be a good excuse to check it out.