Highlights From OBX

Hey there!  Long time no see!  It has been, and is going to be, a crazy summer.

Among other things, I went to the Outer Banks last week (whee!).

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My in-laws took Adam and me for a couple of days and we had a glorious time.  We beached,

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climbed the sand dunes,

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got a large chocolate-strawberry diet coke from Sonic that rocked my face off,

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and met a Flutter Pony.

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You don’t even want to know how excited I was about that damn horse statue.

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We went to climb the sand dunes in between my spotting the pony and taking my picture with it and I muttered to Adam about The Smooze the whole time.  <– if you got that reference I will kiss you on the mouth

I know I’m behind the times, but I want to post some of our trip eats highlights anyway, mostly so I have a record of them for the next time we visit OBX.  This was a trip where sharing meant caring; the only meals Adam and I didn’t split were dessert!

Lunch at Mulligan’s.

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Coastal Carolina She-Crab soup.

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This was basically a giant bowl of crab meat; ah-maze-ing!  We also swooned over the sherry floater.

California style fish tacos.

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Soft tortillas with local fried fish, cilantro-lime slaw, pico de gallo, and Cajun tartar sauce.  This was our first meal in NC and it set a great tone for the rest of the trip.

BBQ at Sooey’s.

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Pulled chicken platter with cole slaw, hush puppies, and fried okra.

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This stop was a repeat from my first OBX visit and I’m so glad we went back.  Those were the best fried okra I’ve ever had, I was shoving them into my mouth by the handful!

Breakfast at The Dunes Restaurant.

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We got the Greek omelet (spinach, tomato, and feta) with asparagus.  It came with hash-browns and a side and since we were splitting they let us do one hotcake and one biscuit.  Even with two of us eating we couldn’t finish that giant plate of food.

Froyo at The Surfin’ Spoon.

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Such good topping options! I got a little bit of yogurt with marshmallow fluff, peanut butter topping, bananas, and reese’s peanut butter cups.

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Like a fluffernutter in froyo form!

Also, froyo at Wild Berry.

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The yogurt flavors weren’t anything new, but the toppings bar boasted sweetened condensed milk!!!  I was definitely in heaven.

All in all, it was a tasty, terrific trip.

Love Factually

Facts:

Dark chocolate and I have been having a moment lately.

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Whenever I rock one of Adam’s t-shirts I always double up on eye makeup to try to compensate.

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Kim and I spent five straight hours at Panera on Friday and I still am utterly confused by our final projects for this portion of the semester.

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Adam and I were supposed to go to Toronto for pat bing soo this afternoon but the weather froze us out so we went to Gin Gin for red bean bubble tea instead.

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The new grocery store in Orchard Park is amazing; Wegmans and Whole Foods wrapped up all in one.

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This is the closest I’ll come to an egg cream while we live in Buffalo.

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Classed up mac and cheese is super easy and tasty {boxed mac and cheese / peas / smoked kippered herring / capers / parmesan / panko / red pepper flakes}.

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Watching “Buffy” with Adam is even better the 2nd time around.

Weekend Welcome Back

Hello again!  I know I kind of dropped off the face of the earth.  This semester has been busy.  I don’t have a lot to say tonight, and my pictures are poorly lit and blurry, but it was a good day so I wanted to share.

I slept in this morning; we’ve got a serious stayed-up-too-late-watching-Battlestar-Galactica-every-night-this-week sleep deficit going.  I ended up eating “breakfast” during the afternoon at work.  Chobani Vanilla Golden Crunch Flip.

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I love most of Chobani’s flavors but I have really disliked the Flip line*.  This  was my 2nd try with this flavor and both times the vanilla yogurt was so tangy I was actually a little afraid it had gone bad.  *the Honey BeeNana one was really freaking good

I also drank a Dr. Pepper 10.

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The first in a fun line-up of beverages today.

After work I met up with a friend for bubble tea; strawberry green tea with both kinds of boba.

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We hung out for the rest of the evening and had a fun night.  Next was drinks at a bar in Allentown.  I enjoyed this Genesee Cream Ale more than I was expecting to.

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It was basically water, but at least it was quite refreshing.  Plus it is locally made.

Finally we headed to Seabar for a late dinner.

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I was very disappointed that they were out of the (the) lobster ramen bowl, but I rallied with three small plates.

Seaweed salad.

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Pickle cucumber salad over sushi rice.

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Udon noodle bowl served with tempura shrimp.

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All three were quite tasty but the cucumber salad was my favorite.

I brushed my teeth the minute I got home and now I’m actually blogging from the bed!  Sweet dreams!

Easter Brunch

I hope everyone had a hoppy Easter!  Our day was quite nice; tasty food, nice weather, and tons of tv.

Adam’s parents sent us $ in lieu of an Easter basket so I got to go to brunch with my handsome husband.

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He took me to Left Bank, a spot he’s been to with friends (working weekends means I usually have to skip brunch, boo!) and was dying to share.

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The space was gorgeous and the menu had lots of offer.  Plus, they brought yummy lemon poppy-seed bread.

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Adam ordered a mimosa while I went with an extra-spicy bloody mary,

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but we were on the same page when it came to food.

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We both ordered the Seafood Benedict,

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crab cakes topped with poached eggs and [citrus] hollandaise.  <– I asked for regular hollandaise, served on the side please!

The dish came with sides of fruit and hash browns and was quite good.

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I saved one of my crab cakes for Adam but devoured my eggs.

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Meals where you soak up yolks are my very favorite!

The rest of our day was gloriously low-key.  We knew we were going to hunker down on the couch, so we made sure to take the dog on a quick walk first.  I got an iced, non-fat, caramel macchiato on the way home.

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Why yes, I did ask for extra caramel – it was Easter dammit and no one bought me any candy!

Minus a few hours spent on a take-home exam, we spent the rest of the day screaming at the characters on “Battlestar Galactica.”  My food totally fit the tv marathon vibe…  Chips.

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Leftover buffalo chicken mac and cheese.  (recipe’s coming this week, promise!)

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And no-bake brownie batter.  (recipe’s coming as soon as I work out the kinks!)

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Readers who grew up with the whole bunny thing; do you still get an Easter basket?

Two Meals At One

Our last day in Charleston was our best day yet!  Technically we’ve got tomorrow morning as well, but we head for the airport before 6 am so I don’t have high expectations.  It was our best day of vacation, but I can’t give this post the love it deserves because I still have to pack!  Keeping it quick…

Workout – 25 minutes on the stationary bike.

Breakfast – Virginia’s on King.

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My plate.

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2 sunny side up eggs.

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Hash browns.

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Grits.

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Homemade biscuit (with butter and jam).

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I basically licked my plate clean!

Fun 1 – Middleton Place.

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Fun 2 – A stop at Sonic for a big Coke Zero with strawberries.

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Fun 3 – We explored some more downtown and stopped at a coffee shop to warm up.  While we were hanging out we just might have designed some Easter eggs.

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Dinner – Breakfast was so good that we headed back to Virginia’s for a 2nd meal!  Our instincts weren’t wrong, they brought us tasty cornbread (studded with broccoli!) with butter.

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We also shared an order of pimento cheese with flat bread.

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I went full-on Southern for my final meal.

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Fried catfish.

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Sweet potato fries.

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And baked mac and cheese.

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When in Rome.  Everyone shared bites and agreed that my plate was amazing.

See you in Buffalo!

Charleston, Day 1 And 2

Hello from the South!  I’m blogging in a spring-ish 50-something degrees (it’s better than Buffalo!).  Actually, I’m blogging from Adam’s computer this trip, so I’ve got to keep things quick.  We are having a terrific, delicious time.

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Breakfast day 1 – brunch at the famous Hominy Grill.

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I got a(n extra spicy) bloody mary.

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And a bowl of she crab soup.

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Charleston is famous for its she crab soup; this bowl was super creamy and loaded with pieces of crab.  I adore anything with sherry.

We ordered a piece of buttermilk pie for the table.

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But it was much drier and less custard-y than we were hoping so we all just took a small taste.

It was a rainy first day so we did lots of inside and driving activities.  We got in some good sight-seeing and scoped out a few spots to hit up during the rest of our trip.

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One of our stops was Whole Foods for stocking up on goodies.  <– chocolate coconut butter packets, it’s good to have you back in my life!

There was froyo next door.

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I didn’t really love any of the flavor offerings so I got a small cup of cheesecake yogurt with tons of popping boba.

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Can’t go wrong with boba.

We went to Hyman’s Seafood for dinner and they brought us complimentary hush puppies.

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Best hush puppies ever; they had the perfect amount of sweetness.

We also started with fried pickles.

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Lots of fried food in that dinner.  I got french fries as my side,

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with steamed shrimp.

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Every component of my meal ended up smothered in tartar and cocktail sauce.  I’m a girl who loves her condiments.

I was exhausted by the end of the day and crashed into bed hard.  Let’s pretend it was the 20 minute stationary bike ride I started the day with, and not the heavy dinner!

Day 2 we skipped the gym and slept in.  Instead I made it a healthy morning by starting my day with an apple.

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Then we headed to Bakehouse for breakfast.

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The offerings were as delicious as the space was adorable.  The cookies and bars looks amazing but the closest we came to them was splitting a caramel marshmallow.

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I also did a toasted marshmallow cappuccino.

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Adam and I shared breakfast.

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We had a mixed berry scone.

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And a piece of Greek turkey strata.

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It was a great breakfast.

We spent our second day exploring on foot.  King Street and Meeting Street provided lots to look at.

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We even got to see dolphins!

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I couldn’t get a picture to save my life, but we saw lots of waving flippers and even a mama/baby combo.

Tastes from the day included…. Praline,

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a drop of the spiciest hot sauce available (I stuck a toothpick in it and touched it to my tongue; I honestly didn’t think it was that hot!),

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honey,

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an Earl Grey macaron (<– squeeee!),

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a KIND bar,

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and some watermelon Zots from one of the many old-time candy stores.

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All good, but I am definitely a lunch eater; when we got back to the hotel to change for dinner I was starving.  Enter the perfect snack –

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Diet coke and Cacao Bliss?  Yes please!

But I sure was glad I saved room for dinner.  We had an incredible Southern meal at Magnolias.

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Bread with ridiculous cream cheese herb butter came when we sat down.

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And we ordered a pimento cheese plate to start.

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Sadly, the cheese wasn’t quite as sharp as I was hoping for, but everyone else at the table loved it.  Pimento cheese was at the top of my to-do list for the Southern vacation though, so I hope to try again tomorrow.

I ordered a Bellini to drink (champagne/peach nectar/and a touch of grenadine),

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but ended up swapping with Adam halfway through for his vodka/creme de cassis/pineapple juice martini.

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For dinner I went with the “Fresh, Local, and Vegetarian.”  You can’t go wrong with a name like that!

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Sautéed spinach, fresh corn salad, roasted carrots, fried green tomatoes with jalopeño pimento cheese, and mashed potatoes.

We were too stuffed for dessert, though the menu listed a cream cheese pecan brownie with white chocolate ice cream that I’ll probably be dreaming about!

In fact, I’d like to be dreaming now; goodnight!

Have you ever been to Charleston?  Is there anything we just can’t miss on our last day?

Briefly

I’ll admit it – this rotation is exhausting!  I stayed in bed past noon.  Then went to Gramma Mora’s for lunch with a Groupon.

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“Seafood” nachos to start.  <– not good, at all.

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Cheese enchilada.

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A handful of chocolate pretzels.

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Caramel and cheddar popcorn mix with Adam during Oz.  <– movie was not good, at all.

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More Bluefin.  Spicy crunchy crab and tempura sweet potato.

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Don’t forget to turn forward your clocks!

2nd Friday

I did manage to pack breakfast today – eating before I leave the house is never gonna happen – but I got so into my patients that I totally forgot to eat it.  The services I’m currently on are fascinating: Neurology Step-Down and the Surgical ICU.

At least lunch looked a lot like breakfast.  A Quaker Apple Walnut Oatmeal

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topped with Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter.

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That combo is out of this world.

I ended up staying almost an hour late this afternoon because I took on another patient at the last minute.  Thankfully I was able to head out for fun as soon as I got home.  By the by, I know I mentioned working out today, but my right foot issue has flared up badly and if I’m honest with myself it’s probably at least another week or two before I’ll be back on a treadmill.  Boo!

Yes, it is the first Friday of this rotation, but during the second Friday of every month the art gallery on my campus hosts a free event for the public.  There is art – well, some art and lots of “art” – and nibbles.

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I’m not sure what that red sauce was but it sure was tasty, my veggies were even better than my cheese.

I ate this piece of Easter candy before I headed out for the evening.

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I met up with some friends for drinks before we headed to the gallery.

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Couldn’t resist getting another McKenzie’s cider.

After the museum, a friend and I headed to Blue Fin to get some sushi specials for dinner.

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An asparagus roll and a spicy crunchy crab roll, all for $10 including tip and tax!

What’s the best deal on sushi in your town?