Food

SUV Pilot

Tonight after school we headed over to the central NC shopper’s Mecca of the Concord Mills Mall. First stop was the Bass Pro Shop for my two compatriots who are avid hunters. I managed to go ahead and pick up a couple pair of hiking socks myself. Plus a little surprise for our chauffer these three days.

After the Bass Pro Shop visit we made one loop of the big mall, didn’t do too much shopping, mostly looked in from the outside of the stores and made fun of all the other patrons (…not that we probably weren’t getting the same treatment from them too.)

After a hard couple hours shopping we went out to dinner. There were about 2-dozen places to eat within a stones throw of the mall (Rule #37 of business travel: Never, ever, ever eat in a food court at a mall.) Although we probably could have walked to the restaurant we chose, we hopped in the vehicle and drove over. On the recommendation of someone who had eaten there before, tonight’s epicurean repast was at Razzoo’s, a “Cajun” restaurant. I’m sure a true Cajun would be severely offendeded by the food there being referred to as Cajun, but in a Dinesylandesque way it fits what us outsiders might think is Cajun cuisine. The food was spicy, but not too, and very tasty. The red beans and rice was great, the rice was cooked to perfection, but beans weren’t cooked to nearly mush like the true New Orleans style dish I was used to. Next time we are up this way we’ll probably come back as for the first time in our 4 nights out on Uncle ASCO’s dime both the service and food were worth the over tipping we have been doing.

Because the two Marks both consumed 3 beers each to soothe their tingling taste buds and I was only drinking Cokes, I became the designated driver back to Albemarle from Concord. Mark H handed me the keys to his wife’s new (850 miles) Ford Expedition. Fortunately when we left the restaurant someone had left the spot in front of me open, so I could drive straight out. I’m sure if I had to back that behemoth out I would have crushed something in the row behind me. If you have been used to driving a Miata for the last 15 years and when you aren’t and are driving the big family car of a Honda Civic, piloting an Expedition is a truly frightening thing. Titanic comes to mind, turning corners is like avoiding icebergs, hard. Because it is a truck-based vehicle, Ford has softened the spring rates to that of overcooked linguine, add on to that the tires have sidewalls as tall as Ewoks and you are in for a Weeble-like trip. I now know, first hand, exactly whom those yellow diamond shaped signs with the pitifully slow recommended speeds for curves are aimed at. The rule of thumb in a Miata is to double them, in this thing you had better heed them or risk tumbling over like lawn furniture in a hurricane.

The surprise I mentioned earlier turned out to be on me. As an impulse buy at the checkout counter at the Bass Pro Shop they had a bin full of outdoorsy themed ball hitch covers and smaller antenna toppers. I spent a whopping 3 bucks and bought an antenna one that looked like a bass to put secretly on the Expedition. Turns out the thing has no visible antenna, must be built into the windshield. Maybe after I take out the Vampire Teeth out the Miata’s mouth I’ll put the fish on its antenna. đŸ˜‰

Started up, still up (I’m guessing.)
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 344

Say What?

Say What?I apologize for last night’s entry. I started typing out the story when I realized I didn’t have a spell checker built in to the browser like at home. I copied what I had so far in to Word and finished the story. I then corrected the spelling and any of the suggested grammar errors. A quick copy and paste into the browser, followed by publishing.

I never did read what I posted on the web, until tonight when I got home and told my wife what I had written and she wanted to see. I called up the web page and started reading along with her, I noticed a mistake, then another and another. When I noticed the misspelling of sandwich was exactly like what it was before I corrected last night I knew something was amiss. The fact that there were several paragraphs missing on the end made me realize that when I thought I pasted the complete and edited story back in from Word, it didn’t get there because that is exactly where I was before trying to fix things. Oh, well, I guess I’ll leave it alone as a testament to my scattered thoughts.

On one of our wayward wanderings in search of food yesterday we passed right by a auto repair shop with this interesting bit of Roadside America parked outside. Today on our way to lunch I made sure I had the camera.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 337

Hot Diggity

The Holiday Inn Express here has got a “Business Center” that has free access to the Internet. Don’t tell ’em that this ain’t business, OK? I’ve even got Radio Paradise playing in the background….

Bad news is that they also have MS Word installed, so I really have no excuse for not finishing up the Master’s Miata Club November newsletter.

But first I have to tell our dining out stories.

Last night for dinner we ended up eating a lot later than planned because as it turns out after you get north of Rock Hill, SC (unless you go into Charlotte, not take the by-pass like we did) there isn’t anyplace to eat until you get to Albemarle. There was a Sagebrush steak house a block past the motel, so we ate there even before checking in. The food was better than the one that went out of business in Aiken, but nearly as good as the one in Rock Hill. Topping off the experience was the least personable waitress known to man. Seemed almost a shame to leave her a big tip, but what the heck ASCO was paying for it…

Today Mark and I asked the instructor where we could get a good hamburger (ie. not fast food) for lunch, he recommended 2 places as possibilities, Kathleen’s Kitchen or Rosebrier. Directions were given and they sounded similar except (I thought) one was left and one was right at a light about a half a mile down the road. Mark was driving at I was navigating. We made the first few way points just fine but went straight where we supposed to turn. I noticed Kathleen’s Kitchen on the left as we passed it. Mark made a circle around the block to get back to KK, but after all that, it wasn’t open! Well, if Kathleen’s Kitchen was left, the other place was to the right. We headed right on the look out for the Pizza Hut that we were supposed to turn at to find Rosebrier. We drove. And drove. And drove some more. When the speed limit went up to 55 and civilization (as much as there is in Albemarle, NC) faded we decided to hang a U-turn and go back. For grins we drove on by Kathleen’s Kitchen and maybe a 1/4 mile past was a Pizza Hut. Woohoo. We found Greenbriers. The hamburger was good, not great, but a lot better than Hardee’s, et al. So much so, that maybe that is where we will have lunch tomorrow. They had a decent choice of other sandwiches to choose from too.

One good thing came out of our extended wrong turn though. We drove right by the place the motel clerk said was good for seafood which had planned on getting tonight. And it looked like they were doing a good lunch business.

Up in Sin Jahn’s

A Scotsman, an Englishman and a Newfoundlander were sitting in a bar in Toronto. The view was fantastic, the beer excellent, and the food exceptional.

“As good as this is,” said the Scotsman, “I still prefer the pubs back home. In Glasgow, there’s a wee place called McTavish’s. The landlord goes out of his way for the locals. When you buy four drinks, he will buy the fifth drink for you.”

“Well, Angus,” said the Englishman, “At my local in London, the Red Lion, the barman will buy you your third drink after you buy the first two.”

“Ahhh, dat’s nothin’,” said the Newfie. “Back home in Sin Jahn’s there’s the Codfish Bar. The moment you set foot in the place, they’ll buy you a drink, then another, all the drinks you like, actually. Then, when you’ve had enough drinks, they’ll take you upstairs and see dat you get laid, all on the house!”

The Englishman and Scotsman immediately shout down the Newfie’s claims, but he swears every word is true. “Well,” said the Englishman, still suspicious. “Did this actually happen to you?”

“Not me meself, personally, no,” admitted the Newf. “But it did happen to me sister quite a few times.”

The Snack

All I had was a portrait of Andrew Jackson and I wanted a candy bar to brighten up my ever so dull afternoon. I headed down to accounting the get the clerk to turn the one bill into several, and at least one of which should be one the vending machine would digest. As I stood in front of the counter where the clerk should be I heard the Accounting Manager call me into her office. She said, “I’ve got something for you,” and reached into her top desk drawer. She pulled out a plain brown paper bag and handed it to me. I knew instantly it was food, we’ve been down this path before. She said she bought two and after finishing the first she knew she shouldn’t have the second, so she hoped I would be so kind and remove the temptation. Being the gentleman I am, I was happy to oblige. Inside the bag was a 4″ x 4″ by 3/4″ thick chunk of candy/cookie thing. It had to be good because it felt like it weighed a pound. After I finished, I sent her a thank you email with the subject of

In this Issue: Perfect Timing, Not For Me, Heavy Burden.

Perfect Timing:
I was down there looking for Sally, so I could have her break a twenty dollar bill. I wanted an afternoon snack, but you handed me something much better than I could have gotten from the machines. I was in the right place at the right time.

Not For Me:
When I left your office I went to share with Donna. I broke “the snack” (at this point I don’t know what it is called, so I’ll just call it the snack) in half and gave one to her. She felt it and decided that was too much, so she broke the half in half again and handed me back one. She took a healthy bite out of the 1/4 of “the snack”, probably half of it, and chewed. She made a funny face. Donna likes chocolate and was fooled by the coating of that on top, but she is not much for sweets otherwise. She handed the 1/8 bit of “the snack” back to me as she finished chewing. She reached out and took the 1/8 of “the snack” back, then carefully, using her teeth, scraped off the chocolate coating and discarded the remainder.

Heavy Burden:
I was now stuck having to eat 3/4 of “the snack” all by myself. Truly, both literally and figuratively, a heavy burden. I was up to the task though and had no trouble devouring the remainder of “the snack.” It was delicious. Unfortunately “the snack” had enough calories to feed a small island nation and now that my body is working to digest them all it is a heavy burden just to keep my eyes open and head up…

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 165

Mmmm…BBQ

The monthly meeting of the Master’s Miata Club was tonight and we held it in a back room at Bobby’s BBQ just west of Aiken. I like the food here and managed 3 trips to the buffet, before getting dessert. I don’t heap the plate or anything, but I do get my $6.95 worth.

The weather has been downright dreary around here the last week or so, but today we did manage to get the top down for the drive in to work and the ride home. We put it up while at the meeting as radar looked ugly, but it didn’t rain while we were inside. So the top went back down for the drive home. We almost made it home with it down, but about 2 miles from the garage we had to put it up as the slower city driving allowed the rain to get us wet instead of just the windshield.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 162

Beaufort & Back II

Today was our second recon mission to Beaufort for our June trip with the Master’s Miata Club to the Hwy21 Drive-In. We made it a non-Miata road trip because it was Donna’s mom’s birthday yesterday. We took her along (in her car) so we could have a nice seafood dinner together when we got to the coast.

We ate at a place called Ollies on Lady Island. The food was a little high, but satisfactory and the view is really nice. You are right on the shore of the Beaufort River with the town on the other side.

After eating we drove the 10 miles further south on US21 to Hunting Island State Park. From memory the beach at the park is real nice and they have a lighthouse you can climb, but it is $4 per adult for park admission and an extra $2 for the privilege of climbing up to the top of the lighthouse, so we politely asked the fellow at the gatehouse for a brochure and how did we get back out of there. I’m thinking when we go with the Miatas we will skip the park and head downtown to wander the shops and riverfront.

I got back into town with enough daylight left to spend two more hours pressure washing more of the deck. I think the pressure washer was invented by a woman as a sneaky way to get men to clean up around the house. “It’s a powertool honey! You can use it much better than I can.”

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 141