I'm Back!

Shew! I needed that break. I am not proud of what I ate, but sometimes when you have several hundred papers to grade and two graduations in one week, not to mention the rare freedom to actually go out to eat, you just need to let loose a little. Let's just say there were at least 3 stops at Hardee's that I am not proud of. And for the record, I didn't go on hiatus to "hide" the junk I was eating, I was just too busy to keep up with the blog.

But sweet summer has arrived.

Here is a little bit of what you missed...

Fortunately or unfortunately, my birthday is right before the end of the school year. Since it was a big one this year, I was determined to get away, which might be why I was so behind at school for the end of the year. But it was worth it. We went to Williamsburg, VA for the weekend and had a blast.

We stopped for Five Guys burgers on the way down. This looked like most of my meals this week.

And fries, of course...


This was my actual birthday lunch: A delicious veggie quiche with fruit and fruit bread. This was very tasty. It was full of nice crunchy veggies. It was kind of unexpected, and pretty light considering it was BOILING outside.

We also had a very nice dinner that night. It got destroyed before I could take a picture, but we had an appetizer of fried oysters and rockfish pizza, and then I had crabcakes on a bed of ham and cheese grits. I have eaten my share of crabcakes, but I never imagines how well they would go with the grits. Really delicious.

And this was my birthday dessert - a creme brulee sampler - there was a classic vanilla, honey ginger, and a chocolate raspberry. You can also see my Mint Julep in the background. When in the south...


Before we left Williamsburg the next day, we had lunch at one of the old-time taverns. This is a chicken pie and it was amazing. I also had the best pecan pie I have ever had in my life.
On the way home, we stopped at Jesse Wong's Chinese Kitchen (hey - it was there...) and I had singapore noodles. Not bad.

Skip ahead a week - this was my birthday part two. We went to my parents for my birthday celebration there, and stopped at Homegrown Cafe in Newark, my old stomping grounds. This was one of my favorite restaurants when I lived there, and still is. It doesn't hurt that most of their menu, if not all, is organic, local, and can be made vegetarian or vegan. These are veggie summer rolls. Very light, crispy, with some mint in them and a nice spicy sauce. I also had the falafels and their signature side salad. But there is no picture of the falafels. I once devised a plan to get my sister a job there so she could sneak me free falafels, so you should know that they do not stay on the plate long enough for a picture.

We were NOT planning on doing this, but the cupcake store is right next door to Homegrown. We were doing a great job of avoiding it, but then we saw the sign. It said "Margarita cupcakes" and there was no avoiding. And I am glad we didn't. I think this may be my new favorite flavor there. And at least we stayed healthy with some milk.

There were definitely some ups and downs this week. But that's behind me! So - moving ahead...