Heading up the Coast

Having two days to hang out with Family was great.  On Sunday we went to the Fun Factory in Franklin.  One of those "one stop shops" for everything fun.  They had an Arcade, a  9-hole mini-golf,  go-carts, laser tag, and a bowling alley.  We got there just as they opened at 2pm and stayed until they closed at 8pm. It was SO MUCH FUN!  They had online coupons for the Pizza Buffet and then $20 worth of games/things (like mini-golf etc).  It was $15 per person and that's all we spent.  It was incredible. It would have cost us a bit more but as it was a slow day the lady behind the counter let us do everything for free.  Bowling? Free. Laser Tag? Free.  We did pay the $2.50 to do mini-golf and the go-carts were bo-go.   It was way more fun than I had expected. Jamie can have fun at any arcade (especially ones that have credits on the Simpsons Pinball machine like this one did) but I tend to get bored really quickly.   But I loved it.   I think I liked the deal of the whole thing. Generally I'm not good at video games so it feels like a waste of money to play when I die within 1.5 minutes but getting everything for free and having had a deal in the first place made me really enjoy it.  I even got to play little Eric in Mario Cart and I BEAT HIM!!  You might say that beating a fourth grader at a game is no real accomplishment, but YOU try to beat a kid at a video game that he plays all the time!  I think I won because I made him play the "easy" round and he over-thought it as he's used to the "expert" level.

Overall, It was a great visit and we woke up early to see the kids off to school monday morning and then we were out the door by 9.   We drove about 7 hours up to New Market and stayed at the Blue Ridge Inn.  A random place we got a $30 coupon for from the rest area. Originally we were going to camp but we are both getting a little tired of traveling and once we started we decided to just splurge.  The hotel was really cute.  Free and fast wifi, clean rooms, resident cats (outdoor) and a wagon wheel decorative motif.    I was happy to be in a hotel because it makes getting up and out much less of an ordeal and I wanted to make a stop in Front Royal before we got to DC.

I had read online about a donut shop in Front Royal, Virginia that a young woman had opened called "Naughty Girls."  The shop has a 1950s pin-up style and the local churches started to picket and boycott her.  Throwing trash at the windows and other such stupid things.  I wanted to detour and support them.  As a perk, the donuts were DELICIOUS and they deliver next day across the country.   If you want donuts, and you do.

After our "carrot cake" and "wakin' bacon" donuts, we continued on to DC to visit Aida. A friend I've had since High School.  She's just had a baby and I wanted to see her (both Aida and the Baby).  Both are beautiful and I really enjoyed seeing my old friend again.  The baby slept the whole time and Aida's wife was at work so I didn't get a full family visit but it meant I got undivided-Attention from Aida.  Which was, really, what I wanted.

Tonight we are camped at the Greenbelt Recreation Area oustide of DC and tomorrow we are visting Eunjeong, a friend from Korea and then we're headed up to see my Aunt Kathy and Aunt Anne in Philadelphia!

Heading up the Coast! Almost home!

Fun Factory!

Blue Ridge Hotel 

Wagon Wheels

Front Royal Naughty Girls Donut Shop

MMM!  Carrot Cake Donut 

Aida! 

Hanging out with the Southern Branch Lyons

Hi! 

We are in Waynesville NC for the weekend visiting the Jamie's Brother and his family.    As I've already mentioned we got in Friday night and went roller skating.  Yesterday we all slept in (glorious) and then we went Shooting. Our new favorite countryside activity.  

 

Setting us up for lots of fun. 

Make sure it's level! 

Brothers!

Eating in Memphis

My birthday extravaganza is coming to a close but our culinary adventures will continue on.
Since arriving in Memphis we have had delicious foods in amazing restaurants.   In fact, outside of sight-seeing, our typical day generally progresses like this:  wake up, eat, come back to the house, nap, go back out to eat again.   It's been awesome.   Some of the great places we've tried:

Las Tortugas Deli Mexicana:
I know you don't think "Mexican" when you think Memphis, but this place was stellar.  I had the pinto bean tostadas-they were packed with flavor on crisp and crunchy tostadas. We split a bowl of the chicken tortilla soup-best chicken based soup I've had in a long time.  Jamie and Matthew each got Tacos-one set was Brisket (genius idea) and the other was Pork (excellently spiced).
The atmosphere in the restaurant is fun too. There's signs on the walls saying "If your food isn't ready in 10 minutes...wait longer" or "Don't sit down before you have your ticket in hand.  Thanks, God".  The owner has created his own superhero, Viperman, and there are quotes and pictures of him all around too.  This was all great because the place so was hoppin' we had to wait a bit in line and then for our food so it gave us plenty to keep ourselves entertained.

Central BBQ:
Our first BBQ experience in Memphis.   We split a rack of ribs and got half dryrub and the other wet.  My last experience with dryrub was that they were, indeed, dry. Too dry.  These, however, were superb!  The meat was tender and moist. The flavor was sweet and tangy and then we added (unnecessarily) the extra spicy sauce which, while not needed, was also delicious.   They are very busy so, unfortunately had gotten both ours and Matthew's side orders wrong-and for me, Side Orders are very important.  I'm sure we could have fixed it but we were to busy eating ribs to talk to anyone. The staff is super friendly and while they don't have a table service there are plenty of people walking around clearing tables and stopping to check in and see if you need anything.

Iris:
This New Orleans style restaurant was not only a culinary treat but a gorgeous place to have dinner.  We sat out in the patio where we could sit under the bare bulb string lights and admire the brightly painted outdoor bar.   We started with their cocktail menu which, with the fashion, was extensive and unique.  I can hardly remember how the drinks were prepared but some of the ones at the table included a more delicious version of a Long Island Iced tea, a drink with muddled cucumber and something else called a Six-toed Cat.  All delicious.  For food we started with fried oysters and in reality we could have stopped after that.  Each couple shared one platter and with the french fries and asian style coleslaw we were pretty full after just that  course.  But of course we didn't stop.  Jamie and I ordered a Salad and Catfish.  The catfish was steamed on a bed of rice with a chunky tomato based sauce on top served in a cast iron casserole dish-Superb.   Matthew and Ashley got a  salad and boudin hotdog.  The boudin wasn't terrible but, according to them, it wasn't as good as it had been in times past.    The salads, for being an iceberg base, were great. Goat cheese, balsamic, stuffed olives, fresh and tasty tomato.   I also appreciated that for being a shamncy restaurant, the servings were substantial.  Overall, great!

Bryant's Breakfast:
This is a counter order breakfast place and while we were in there the line NEVER got below 15 people. And that was when it was short.  We really enjoyed our breakfast here and Jamie and I ended up splitting the "Special" which comes will all the meats-ham, pork, bacon, sausage-a potato pattie, three eggs and like all the breakfasts-3 biscuits, sausage gravy and grits.  Did you read that right?  THREE BISCUITS.  Every plate comes with three biscuits. Who can even eat that much?  We didn't branch into their pancakes and french toast but we were might tempted by the Cinnamon Role French Toast made from their freshly made cinnamon roles.  Maybe we'll have to go back just for that.
The food was classic breakfast food made fresh, hot and to order and while the line was incredibly long, they moved you through pretty fast, there was plenty of seating and your food came out within 3 minutes of ordering.

Hog and Hominy:
This was my birthday dinner. A tiny little restaurant that was so popular we had to change our dinner time to get a reservation.   We got there early to have drinks and play bocci ball in their little outdoor court.  That was a great start to the dinner.  Our friends all arrived and we sat down to look at the menu. It was split into three main sections.  A brunchy section (weird because it was 6pm), pizza (they have a wood fired brick pizza oven), and Appetizers.  We started with some Poutine which, while delicious, had chili oil on it making it a spicy version of the classic.   We got the Vito Pizza to share. It had goat cheese and sausage and was delicious. Everyone at the table tried it and loved it. And they we also got a "Hot Brown".  An open faced sandwich with turkey and gravy, bacon, cheese and topped with an egg (off the brunch menu). That was delicious.   But clearly not enough (HA) because we also ordered desserts.   We weren't daring enough to try their "parmesan" gelato but we did get all three of the pies on the menu. A chocolate, a banana peanutbutter cream, and a blueberry. All three of which were stellar.  Overall, a great birthday dinner.  Oh! and my dad is on his own roadtrip out to New Mexico so I got to celebrate with him as well!

Asiana Restaurant:
We met Matthew while we were teaching English in Korea.  All of us love and miss Korean food. Thankfully for Matthew, there is a large Korean population here and some great Korean restaurants.  So, of course, we had to go to one.  It was great.  When we ordered she brought us our rice in the little metal bowls and brought out all the side dishes.  Perfect start!  We tried the Kimchi Pancake-excellent!  And then we ordered all the soups, a bibimbap, and more kimchi!   The only dish that fell short was the Mandu Soup. The Mandu were frozen and not the kind meant to go in soup.  Our favorite was the Yuk Gae Jang. A beef based soup with lots of vegetables, rice noodles and flavor.   I hope we get to go back again so that I can try more things from their menu!

Eating with Ashley and Matthew