Food Thoughts

When we travel we try to stay away from chain restaurants.  This is pretty easy if you stay on back roads, and go through small towns.  In this area, Boone is actually the "big" city -- but it's a college town so there are some really interesting, eclectic choices.

Last night we ate at the Hob Nob Farm Cafe ... it's a world cafe, and their menu goes from sushi to burritos to thai curry! 

For an appetizer we had Plantains, they were perfectly sauteed and served with a mango yogurt dipping sauce.  Delicious, and plenty (PLENTY) for two!


Joe had Fish Tacos from the "Southwestern US" portion of the menu and they looked good.  Tasty, just the right amount of hotness, filled with black beans and fresh tomatoes, sour cream and a nice white fish... they were also able to leave out the Cilantro (which he hates) .... they were messy!

I chose from the "Southastern US" portion of the menu because Carolina Yardbird is a moniker I couldn't resist.  And the dish itself? 

 

Freshly steamed broccoli, fresh carrots mixed with corn off the cob, steamed purple cabbage...and then it quickly goes off the rails with cheesy biscuits and chicken in gravy served over mashed potatoes.  Yes, it was fantastic.

They have a wide variety of micro-brewed beers and small-vintage wines.  Price is good. Ambiance is great. 

We did not have pie.

Road Trip Redux-dux-dux

We left Tallahassee on Thursday morning, determined to get to Greenville, SC.  I don't know why.  It just seemed like a good idea at the time.  It was 91 degrees at 10 am, and that is a good enough reason to leave to go anywhere north!

We got there and promptly found ourselves in the middle of a crashing, rolling, rumbling, ear-shattering thunderstorm!    From our room Greenville looks like a nice enough town as South Carolina towns go.  We were glad to leave on Friday morning. 

We got to the Blue Ridge Parkway and it felt like home.

Except that we couldn't see anything at the overlooks!  Still, we'll take fog and 51 degrees!  By 3:30 we had made it to Banner Elk, and our stopping place for the holiday weekend.  This is our view:

And the weather is gorgeous!!  Saturday dawned clear, and cool, and we've had a wonderful walk and lots of reading and napping. And well, this is a great way to start things off!