Olive Garden Menu Tasting Tweet Up

"Mr.and Mrs. Olive Garden"

What fun we had at the Tweet Up for the Olive Garden’s new menu.

Food bloggers abound in Charlotte

It was our first Tweet Up so we were excited to try to win one of the many gift cards they were giving out for prizes if you had the best or the most tweets. Sorry to say we did not win this time. Maybe next time.

Polenta Shrimp

There were about 20 of us media folks there and they served us eleven of their new menu items. OMG, it was a lot of food and I have to say every dish was amazing. 

Bucatini with Sausage Meatballs

 Of course we all had our favorites, mine being the Bucatini with Diavolo Sauce and Sausage Meatballs, prepared to perfection, and served impeccably by the waitstaff at hand. 

Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad

There is also a gluten free menu. One of the guests at our table was gluten intolerant and she had a wonderful time tasting their gluten free items. If you are counting calories the Garlic Rosemary Chicken was fabulous at under 575 calories. 

Garlic Rosemary Chicken

 
I have been to many different Olive Gardens and what comes to mind is the great service and never being disappointed in the food. It is always good and this new menu proves that, “The best is yet to come.”

Service wilh a very big smile

We had a lot of fun with the wonderful food and really good wines to taste paired with the different dishes. It was a celebration. For more information, visit www.olivegarden.com or call 1 800 248 4935.

More items from the new menu:

Crispy Risotto Bites

Artichoke Fritti

Rockin' and Racin' at the NASCAR Hall of Fame

Good vibrations were heard in the NASCAR Hall of Fame as the new Rockin' and Racin' exhibit opened with some rock and roll music, the drivers and the cars on hand to tell the story of how the two have played together for the last fifty years.

Leonard Wood, Mike Curb and Ned Jarrett

The reception was perfectly planned to announce the opening of the exhibit in the Great Hall. 

Vibrations on ice

Artists, record producers and racing tycoons were all there, as well as lifetime members of the Hall of Fame.

Lifetime members invited to event

On display were guitars, records, uniforms, helmets, trophies and seven gorgeous cars that truly rock. Among them is Marty Robbins' 1964 late model Plymouth and Dale Earnhardt’s 1980 Chevrolet #2 car sponsored by record executive Mike Curb, present at the event. 

Mike Curb

Of course the food and drinks flowed and the band “Loose Lugnuts” were really good, cute too.

The Loose Lugnuts

The exhibit explores four primary areas of interest including "Racers Who Rock," "Rockers Who Race," "Rocking the Track" and "NASCAR in Song." Carefully curated with the help of music industry influencers like Scott Borchetta and Mike Curb as well as music artist Brad Arnold of 3 Doors Down among others, the exhibit features more than 40 artifacts that truly rock.

Painted art

Among them are trophies, guitars, records, driver uniforms, helmets and more as well as seven music-related vehicles, the largest number ever on display in the Great Hall.

Hello, Beautiful!

In addition, the exhibit features a digital jukebox with NASCAR-themed music and other unique artifacts like Ron Hornaday Jr.'s KISS-themed driver uniform, Rusty Wallace's Goo Goo Dolls helmet, trophies adorned with Elvis, and Sam Bass-designed trophy guitars.

Our lovely hostess

Yours truly Rockin and Rollin

The Rockin' & Racin' exhibit will be on display through the end of the year. General admission tickets to the NASCAR Hall of Fame can be purchased by calling (877) 231-2010 or at nascarhall.com

Admission is $19.95 for adults, $17.95 for seniors and military, $12.95 for children 5-12 and free for children younger than 5. Memberships are available starting at $125. 

Elvis always

The NASCAR Hall of Fame is open daily 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. For more details, visit nascarhall.com. Updates are available at facebook.com/nascarhall or by following @NASCARHall on Twitter.

Chroma at the Projective Eye Gallery

Chroma: lyrical lines and compulsive color, the current exhibit at the Projective Eye Gallery at UNC Charlotte Center City, showcases some of Charlotte's best abstract artists.

How beautiful this uptown Charlotte facility located at 320 E. 9th Street is.

UNC Charlotte Center City

The structure of the building itself is a work of art designed to look like unevenly stacked boxes creating a little more room on each floor, and giving it an animated look.

Lobby art at UNC Charlotte Center City 

 The occasion was a reception and gallery showing of beautiful art and music.The artists showed paintings , acrylics, collage and ceramics.

Linda Luise Brown, Marge Loudon Moody and Greg Scott, the artists, were there to present and give a talk on their art and let us see a little of who they are and what moves and inspires them.

Linda Luise Brown: abstracts in oil

Linda Luise Brown is one of the highest selling abstract artists in the market. Her color soaked abstractions in oil are emotionally charged and tell more than one story.

Marge Loundon Moody: collage and acrylics

Marge Loudon Moody displays incredible talent with her acrylics and collage works.

"One May Four" by Marge Moody 

"Chicago" by Linda Brown

Gregg Scott: ceramics

Gregg Scott's work displays his intricate surface design on ceramic objects and installations.

After a lovely reception and stroll through the galleries viewing each and every piece, we were invited upstairs, to the performing arts theater, for a performance by pianist Dan Knight composing spontaneous notes as the artists’ most beautiful and fascinating work moved across the theatre screen overhead. 

Dan Knight, pianist

If you have not had an opportunity to visit this extraordinary exhibit be sure to you are in for a real visual experience and meaningful memory.

The Chroma exhibit runs through Sept. 24, 2014. For more information visit the Projective Eye Gallery page at coaa.uncc.edu

Art in the lobby of UNCC Center City

Aliens and Androids at Discovery Place

“Are we alone?” Scientists are close to discovering new alien worlds and alien life on exoplanets – planets that exist outside the solar system.

The new exhibition at #DiscoveryPlace in Charlotte NC explores the possibility of life existing beyond earth. Fascinating to say the least. Some of us believe without a doubt that there is and some of us could never accept the idea.

Our alien chef serving up the difference in human and alien microbiomes

However you may view this subject, much-debated down through the centuries, this exhibit leaves me impressed by how much science really knows about our universe. 

C3PO from Star Wars 

  Discover the difference between robots and androids, and get an up-close look at famous sci-fi robots from movies, such as Iron Man, the T-800 from Terminator, C-3PO from Star Wars and more. 

Iron Man 

The exhibit brings to mind the old time Buck Rogers comic books that depicted space travel with space ships and suits complete with space talk and walk. Phillip Francis Nowlan, the Buck Rogers creator, somehow knew about alien life way back when. After Steven Spielberg’s “Encounters of the Third Kind” I began to really wonder. 

The exhibit will be at Discovery Place through September 14, 2014. For more information, call 704 372 6261 or visit discoveryplace.org

Out and About in Dilworth: Wine Tasting at COPPER WINE BAR @131 Main

We always have so much fun at the COPPER wine bar’s wine tastings at 131 Main on East Blvd. in Dilworth. The coolest people and the best wines always show up, not to mention the beautiful food served for the occasion.

Live entertainment by Mollie 

Gracious hostess

Knowledgeable servers explain each wine

Beautiful food

131 Main in Dilworth has a wine tasting on the second Thursday of every month in the adjacent COPPER Wine Bar from 6 to 8 p.m. Six different wines are served especially for you and your guests.

For more information please contact khuestis@131-main.com.

Fifth Annual Joedance Film Festival Benefiting Rare Pediatric Cancers

Film screening - great fun, great talent

The Joedance Film Festival was founded in honor of Joe Restaino who passed away in January 2010 at the age of 20 due to complications from osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. The annual festival celebrates Joe’s love of films and supports research for rare pediatric cancers at Levine Children’s Hospital.

Joe Restaino

On August 2,  Dilworth Now attended its first Joedance event, a reception for the four films being shown that night. The party took place in the historic neighborhood of Fourth Ward, a fun filled evening to celebrate the life of Joe Restaino through film and research.

Joedance Reception

The reception was held in a lovely old restored Victorian home on 10th St. and after the reception we walked over to the courtyard of the condos nearby where tents, vendors and cocktails were being served. The main tent was set up theatre-style complete with movie screen and well thought out lighting. It was comfortable and the rain stayed away just for the occasion, a beautiful night.

Actor and director of the film Blue

The night we attended, four of the festival’s eight films, all produced and directed by Charlotte filmmakers, were shown.

Diane Restaino and friend

Joe’s mother, Diane Restaino, the driving force behind the event, is an amazing organizer and so very gracious in honoring her son’s life.

Joe's friends

Joe’s friends came to Charlotte from faraway places to honor the friend they lost and support his love of film.

Ellison Clary

Present were many of well known sponsors, including Ellison Clary of Blue Cross Blue Shield and the list goes on and on. Many of the donors are the local businesses, sports teams and art lovers we see at many of the charity events in and around Charlotte. Charlotte Center City Partners also played a big part in this event.

Bert Woodard, who handles media relations for the festival, with yours truly

For more information go to www.joedance.org