Monday Boozin' on the Cheap: Lilly's Pizza in Raleigh

It was a happy accident that I found myself at Lilly's last Monday night (after checking out a new brewery in Five Points), but it lead to an amazing discovery:

Lilly's has $2 drafts on Monday's. 

Their pizza alone is good enough to cure even the worst case of the Monday's, but pair that with $2 beer and you might just forget how far away the weekend is.

Take note of the sensual pizza kiss

Big Star: Pesto, mozzarella, Parmesan, Gorgonzola,
fontina, roasted red peppers and pistachios 

"And it rules us all..."

Being a Durham resident, I'm veryyy familiar with the Lilly's Pizza in Brightleaf Square, but had never been to the Raleigh iteration before this visit. While the Glenwood Lilly's is significantly smaller than it's sister restaurant in the Bull City, it makes up for its lack of size in edgy character.

Drinking Raleigh Beer: Nickelpoint Brewing Co.

Big shout out to raleigh what's up? on her great post about new things to check out in Raleigh this month, which inspired me to pay a visit to the new kid on the Raleigh-beer-block: Nickelpoint Brewing Co.

English IPA

Beer Happy

Meeting of the Minds

Although their taproom just opened in the Five Points neighborhood, according to their website the brewery was founded in 2013.

Nickelpoint focuses on traditional English Style beers, which was evident when I visited, as they had a Blonde Ale, English IPA and Porter on tap. There was also a higher ABV Double Barley Steak Cake Stout, which I almost had to order just on principal of the name being boss.

Free Sunday Yoga in Durham

Leave it to Fullsteam, Durham's all purpose space for food truck gatherings, run club meet-ups, cheesy movie screenings and various local shenanigans, to casually morph a brewery into a Sunday morning yoga studio.

Breath deep the aroma of hops
and malted barley

I've been on a bit of a yoga kick recently, especially free sessions, and decided to check out Flow Yoga at the Brewery. The class meets Sundays at 10 45 AM and is open to all experience levels (just be sure to bring your own mat).

Wednesday Boozin' on the Cheap

Sometimes you need a little liquid encouragement to push you over the Hump(day). Two places in Durham to enjoy great beer on the cheap and celebrate the end of mid-week: Motorco and Surf Club.

Both are located on Rigsbee Avenue (aka the Fullsteam neighborhood).

Motorco features Pint Night on Wednesdays, with select discounted brews on draft, displayed below in chalk.

Pair a cheap beer with a Free Hug

Friday Beer?

It's Friday afternoon. The clock is inching further away from noon, and ever closer to 5. I find myself expectantly glancing at the screen of my iPhone, waiting for the text message to brighten the display.

"Friday beer?"

Dale's Pale Ale at Sam's Quik Shop

Big Boss Run Club

Running and Beer. At one time in my life I considered these to be two vastly different entities.

Running is a form of exercise, improves heart and cardiovascular health, strengthens leg muscles, burns calories and can aide in weight loss.

Beer is a tasty beverage created via brewing and fermentation, is alcoholic, consuming it does the opposite of burn calories and can aide in the emergence of the 'beer belly'.

But as I've grown to enjoy both beer and running separately, I see how they are actually pretty similar in a lot of ways. Both are used to de-stress and clear the mind, both are pretty healthy activities in moderation, both promote social interaction and spawn mini communities that come together specifically to enjoy their chosen interest as a group.

I wrote an earlier post about experiencing the running and beer loving communities overlap at Durham's Fullsteam Run Club. Recently I decided to check out another brewery-based running meetup, Raleigh's Big Boss Run Club.

Toast

What's in a name? Toast Durham lets the writing on the wall set the stage for hungry patrons waiting in line.

Toast: to make bread crisp and brown by heat.

What a great verb. After enjoying a meal here, it's easy to understand why this term was chosen to be the namesake and wall decoration for this truly authentic Italian sandwich shop. Toast takes the action of crisping and browning to another level, elevating it into an art form.

Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo - May 4th

The first installment of the Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo series kicked off this past Sunday afternoon, and was the culmination of everything there is to love about the food truck scene in the Triangle.

Fayetteville Street was brimming with men, women, dogs, babies, strollers, a guy kicking fresh poetry freestyles in an all-white suit (food trucks are a powerful muse), all gathered together in order to bathe in the vast sea of food truck deliciousness.

Sam's Bottle Shop

Where: 1112 W. HWY 54, Durham, North Carolina 27705

Hours: Mon - Wed: 9:00 am - 9:00 pm

Thu - Sat: 9:00 am - 10:00 pm

Sun: 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm

@SamsBottleShop
https://www.facebook.com/samsbottleshop1

This past weekend I got to stop by Sam's new bottle shop, which recently had its grand opening April 10th. And let me say: I. Am. PUMPED for this new location.

Raleigh World Beer Festival

Triangle Beer lovers
enjoying the Lonerider Tent

Like a kid in a candy store.

An often overused phrase to describe a moment of extreme joy and excitement, but a phrase that immediately comes to mind when I think back to my emotions while attending The World Beer festival in Raleigh last year.

Booth upon booth of craft breweries as far as the eye can see. A bounty of kegs and bottles of delicious beer. A four hour window in which to sip, savor and sample to your hearts content.


The World Beer festival is an over 21 candy store.

Fullsteam Ahead!

Runners mingling in front of Fullsteam

One of the many things that I love about the Triangle is the extensive running community that thrives across the three cities. The area is a genuine treasure trove of outdoor trails, weekend races and running meet-ups. In Durham, my favorite running discovery over the past year is the Fullsteam Ahead! Run Club.

Organized and sponsored by Bull City Running Company (an excellent locally owned running supply store in South Durham), the club brings together runners of all shapes, sizes and skill levels.