McDonough's Mexican Surf & Turf

The evening began en route to our gracious hosts as Lauren was trying to get out of donating to the Baylor U alumni phone-a-thon with the extremely effective student caller who kept her talking the entire drive over. This was a good thing because I couldn't remember where the McDonough's lived so I was texting people who might have their actual address. As Anna and Brett live across from the well known and frequent hotspot, Red Sea grocery, I wanted to make sure we didn't get lost on our way. Aimee's directions of "turn right on camden or something else near there" wasn't going to deliver us there on time. Fortunately CC came to the rescue and sent the address as we were driving past a group of men (no neck and his gang) loitering in a vacant lot. I finally recognized the street and the New England Patriots flag so we were ready for our first stop on the kitchen tour...

Anna and Brett kicked off the Tour de Kitchens last night with a new twist on surf and turf. Contrary to the typical ocean and land fare, the all-knowing McDonoughs went with just a single creature that is known to conquer both land and sea, the chicken! (For those aghast at this little known fact, vast internet research does support the theory that chickens can indeed swim.) So the night started off with introductions to the McDonough's fun neighbors who are both engaged (to other people, not each other) whose respective fiances were out of town. Sweet Anna was not only cooking for us but for two other hungry souls as well. The guacamole was amazing and almost gone, but we managed to get a taste or two to whet the appetite and set the stage for the main course. .

Anna cooked up some amazing chicken fajitas (aka Mexican surf and turf) which were incredible!! Here are a few pictures of the meal being prepped and eaten.

Here's Anna hard at work on our chicken fajitas!

And here's Lauren and me enjoying the best Tour de Kitchens kick off dinner ever!!! Thanks McDonoughs! We can't wait to come back.

Out with the old...

So I thought I would share some of the pictures of my kitchen renovation. I'm embarassed to say I've lived with the yellow tile and ugly linoleum for so long but it's finally on its way out. Who chose this stuff to begin with???

Tour de Kitchens

So after living in my house for six years and talking about renovating my kitchen, I'm finally doing it! I'm two days away from demo, all of my dishes are boxed up, and I'm curious whether I'll lose any weight without a kitchen or potentially strangle someone instead. My contractor says it'll be at least six weeks without a kitchen, so my roommate and I had a brilliant idea. Let's invite all of our friends over for a cook out and make them sign up to have us over for dinner while we don't have a kitchen. Then when our kitchen is finished, we'll have everyone back over to see the new kitchen. Brilliant, right? We thought so too.

So for the next six weeks, this blog is going to turn into a tribute to all of the Charlotte kitchens we've been able to eat in while ours is under construction. There will, of course, be prizes for the best overall dinner, the most memorable dish and maybe an honorable mention or two. Thanks to all of our friends who signed up to host us. We're very thankful and hope we can continue the tradition once the kitchen renovation is done. Here's to the 2011 Charlotte Tour de Kitchens!