Thursday, July 7, 2011

Staycation: All I Ever Wanted!

Over the last week, my mom and I have been on the most fabulous staycation. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, a staycation is a vacation that you take while staying at home and taking advantage of nearby attractions.  Its a great way to save money, have a great time, and learn more about your local environment. We’ve had an amazing week shopping, eating, drinking, and attempting to get a little exercise in there too.
We started out our week at Solstice Kitchen and Wine Bar in Northeast Columbia. Mom had a $40 Groupon, so we let ourselves indulge a little bit.  Mom started with an incredible cucumber and lavender martini.  The colors were beautiful, and it tasted amazing.
  As for our entrees, I had the Steak Frites and Mom had the Short Ribs.  Both were phenomenal, but of course I was too hungry and eager to eat, and it slipped my mind to take pictures. We finished off our meal with a Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding.  It was so tasty!
  The next day we went to my favorite Japanese restaurant in Columbia; Sakura in Forest Acres.  Sakura has the best bento boxes for lunch, and they're very reasonably priced, ranging from $6 to $9.  Mom and I both got the gyoza box with hosomaki. Gyoza is a pork dumpling that can either be fried or steamed.  And hosomaki is a mixture of cucumber rolls and California rolls, we had 6 of each.  The box also includes tender carrots, Japanese cole-slaw, and a ginger salad.


Mom's Fried Gyoza

My Hosomaki
 The next day Mom and I went back up to Greenville and I introduced her to one of my favorite Upstate restaurants, The Lazy Goat.  The Lazy Goat is located in Greenville's West End district and specializes in Mediterranean food and small plates.  The weather was great, so we sat on their patio overlooking the Peace Center Amphitheater. That night Larkin's was putting on their Rhythm on the River summer concert series at the amphitheater, so we were able to listen to the music while we ate our fabulous food.
The Duck, Duck, Goat Pizza

We had cocktails and shared three small plates.  My favorite of the three was their Duck, Duck, Goat Pizza.  The wood-fired pizza is topped with duck confit, drunken goat cheese, a duck egg, arugula, and a sour cherry vinaigrette.  Its a great size for sharing with one or two others and at $12 it's a great deal too. 

Solstice Kitchen and Wine Bar is located at 841-4 Sparkleberry Lane Columbia, SC (803) 788-6966
Sakura Japanese Restaurant is located at 4827 Forest Dr Ste. 20 Columbia, SC (803) 738-9330
The Lazy Goat is located at 170 River Place Greenville, SC 29601 (864) 679-5299


4 comments:

  1. SO fun! :-) Now i need to find a "sushi" place that has 6-8 dollar sushi! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sakura's bento box is one of my favorite meals in the world!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ahhh! I've been wondering what Sakura is like, I'll have to try it out now!

    ReplyDelete
  4. your review of the food and restaurant make me want to move to Greenville! great post. meg

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...