Posted on March 12, 2012 - by Ashley Jackson
Out and About
After being in a meeting all morning on Friday, I wanted out of the office for some fresh air. I hadn’t realized until I tried to go to the c-store on Thursday (and ended up at Kerr Drug instead) that it was spring break and the c-stores were all closing early, if they were open at all. And I didn’t realize until I wanted a salad and walked into the c-store on Friday during to find that the salad side of the cooler was empty that they weren’t restocking fresh food on campus during break. Boooo.
I ended up with a giant bag of Doritos and a totally sketchy tuna salad sandwich.
It filled me up, which was all it needed to do…
After I got home, I finished off the butter cookies.
Then my fiance came over and we headed to church for the Lenten fish fry. $10 for all you can eat fried cod, boiled shrimp, fries, boiled potatoes, cole slaw, rolls, and salad? Yes, please!
Round one…ate all the fish, a bite of a roll, all the fries, and part of the slaw. Also, a side salad.
They also had lemonade, coffee, and tea available.
Round two…more fried cod and some of the boiled potatoes with butter.
The roll accidentally wound up on my plate and I didn’t eat it. But the cod was great–nice and thick–and boiled red potatoes are one of my favorite things ever.
Before we left, we stopped by a table in the corner and got a cookie each from some teens who were selling them for a mission trip.
On the way home, I realized I needed to go to Target, so we headed there next. It was a leisurely trip; we stopped in the book section and completed a Where’s Waldo? book.
After we got to my place, we put on The Princess Bride and I ate a lot of grapes.
Saturday morning I had a couple of errands I needed to run before we headed down to my parents’ house for the evening. The first thing on the list? Taking Heath to a rabies and microchip clinic held by a local cat rescue. His rabies shot “ran out” in late February and the cootie shot my fiance gave him didn’t take.
For a mere $5, we got Heath his shot, and also got to see him try to snap at the veterinarian’s assistant when he realized they were going to give him a shot. Fortunately, his Gentle Leader halter collar can double as a muzzle in a pinch. He was not happy, though; he refused to eat the treat they gave him until we were out of sight. I gave him a chicken and apple treat that I’d brought along for him, too, so he was doubly compensated for his trouble.
I spent part of the morning Googling pet-friendly restaurants in Raleigh so that the dog could come with us for lunch. We ended up at at Sonic drive-in, because it sounded good and we could eat in the car. I haven’t been to Sonic in a while, so I was unaware of this little development…
You can pay with your credit card or gift card outside! I thought this was terribly cool, but I realize that’s probably because I don’t get out much.
I knew we were having cheeseburgers for dinner, so I settled on a New York hot dog with tater tots and a Diet Coke.
Sonic tater tots are soooo gooood…
But boo for them for being out of the onions rings my fiance wanted, in the middle of a Saturday.
My hot dog was good, but I thought that between the spicy mustard, grilled onions, and sauerkraut, it would be more flavorful.
We got dessert there, too. I wanted a hot fudge sundae, but in addition to being out of onion rings, they were out of whipped cream. They also didn’t add the nuts I asked for. Oh well, still delicious.
Heath had a couple of tater tots and some water, but played it cool when I tried to take a picture of him drinking.
We decided to skip going to the pet supply store since we were on the wrong side of town and instead drove to Fuquay-Varina to donate five boxes and one bag of stuff that’s been hanging out in my den closet. I’ve been working on decluttering my apartment, and it’s bittersweet–part of me is glad that with every item I throw away, recycle, or donate, I’m freeing my apartment of some clutter, but looking at those boxes made me realize that they were full of things I never should have moved over from my old place. My philosophy now is to think hard about whether I want to keep something–when I move again later this year after we get married, is item x really something I want to take the time to pack in a box, carry out to the car, drive over to my fiance’s place, carry back in, and unpack? Or is it just going to go from being clutter at my place to being clutter at our place?
We drove to my parents’ house after we were done at the thrift store. I tried one of these lemon Twinkies immediately, even though I wasn’t really hungry. Should’ve stuck it in my purse to try later.
Lemon Twinkies? Delicious. I’m glad they’ll be around after Armageddon.
Dinner was chips, very addictive dip, baked beans, and the ginormous burgers my dad makes.
So good that I had to have mine with a bun.
After dinner, we had ice cream sundaes. This time there were walnuts and whipped cream! (And bananas!)
Sunday morning I slept in and got up too late to go to mass (it’s probably the last time I’ll be able to get away with that), but I did go to my class, and also dropped off a whole lot of plastic bags at the parish office that my fiance and I have collected. They’re going on to new/extended lives at the Catholic Parish Outreach food bank. Better there than under our cabinets!
After I left the church, I went to Fresh Market and Whole Foods. I came home $90 poorer and with more plastic and paper bags. Bah.
I decided to live dangerously and use the rotisserie chicken that I bought about a week ago in a Sunday afternoon salad.
I haven’t gotten food poisoning yet, so I think I’m in the clear.
I had a couple of grape leaves that I found at Whole Foods.
And some grapes.
Then I got in bed to read a book and ended up taking a four-hour nap. Thanks, daylight savings time!
When I woke up around 8PM, I threw together a plate of food for dinner.
Grapes, two stuffed grape leaves, grape tomatoes, carrot sticks, Cotswold cheese, smoked salmon trimmings, and some chopped liver. I never realized that chopped liver was a real thing until yesterday.
I did manage to finish my book before bed.
And I tried some of this fruit-juice-sweetened lemon-lime seltzer. It’s…interesting.
I was sitting in meetings today from 8AM to 3PM, including a lunch meeting, so the eats were pretty random. Someone left cupcakes in the break room and I snagged two, and ate an apple crumble yogurt in the morning.
I also had another apple crumble yogurt, two pieces of apple pie, a banana, a big bunch of grapes…
Came home and ate about half of the leftover almond butter cookie dough.
Tonight: adventures in cooking both spaghetti squash and pasta…
), or said goodnight to us on the way out. Excellent food+reasonable prices+good service+management on the floor interacting with the customers=big win in my book. If you’re in Raleigh, you should definitely check the place out!
