Anecdotes from a food trip:
Well, I thought it would be a good idea to stock up on cheeses, smoked turkey, salami and other delicious sandwich items for the road. Didn't realize that sandwiches were not on the agenda of my boyfriend. Maybe I was more in camping mode, not sure, but at any rate I hustled to make a loaf of GF bread before departing. One that would be great with sandwiches. Well, it fell flat, really flat, so I made a different one, a sourdough recipe that I have used before. This one turned out great.
So, did I eat it? I forced myself to eat a slice with peanut butter since I made the effort to bake it and bring it. It was tasty, but cold from the fridge and I had no way to toast it. I had asked for the hotel to put a mini fridge in my room for the three days we were in Athens and they graciously obliged. I continued to drag the bread around with me for 3 more days and on the day we were leaving, my stepmom tried a piece as toast with her breakfast. But the loaf did look great. And held up well for a week on the road.
First day - bourbon tasting at Buffalo Trace.
If you enjoy bourbon at all and are traveling through Kentucky, I highly recommend that you swing in and take the tour and enjoy the tasting that follows. These guys are serious about their craft and love their bourbon!
We went to a local Mexican restaurant and I couldn't order what I wanted (flour in the sauce) so I ordered the beef nachos. It was literally ground beef and cheese on nachos. Skip the vegetables, just meat and cheese. But whatever they did to that beef, it was tasty! It tasted like grilled ground beef. I think the tortilla chips were probably not in a dedicated fryer based on the wonderful bloated feeling I had afterwards, but oh well. Sometimes I am scared to ask.
Next day - Athens. We went to the local brewery there Copper Canyon and they had no cider on tap so I ordered - bourbon and then a bourbon and coke. This set me up quite nicely for my next beverage - a margarita at the Taco Stand. A fun little taco place with terrific (and strong) margaritas and a hilarious bartender named Matt. His southern accent was so fun and funny. I will post on all the wisdom we gained from Matt another time. I have to find my notes still. So, half drunk and pretty hungry, we eliminated the majority of items on the menu that I wanted to eat, so I ordered...you guessed it...steak nachos. Now, these were really not so good, even under the influence of tequila. I really do not care for cumin in my salsa and this one was loaded with it. I asked for their hot salsa and it was beginning to ferment (fizzed and popped right on to my tortilla chip). But the bartender was completely worth it.
Day three - Greenville SC. We drove over to visit my Aunt and she insisted that we go grab sushi at her favorite place. Now, in my experience there is always something you can order at the sushi restaurant, but don't look at all the delicious rolls with crab or you will be sad. We had a great waitress whose grandma has Celiac and she was very helpful. I ordered the crab cock roll and it was sooo tasty. I travel with my own wheat free tamari for sushi emergencies and it always comes in handy. This cock roll was a California roll made with tuna and avocado instead of crab and then sliced, topped with blue crab and some sort of sauce which I found out was their mussel mayo (slightly pink color)and then broiled till the mayo melts. I didn't know it was mayo at first and was eating it without guilt until our waitress said mayo. But, how often does one indulge in hot mayo covering blue crab and a California roll?
We forgot to take photos of this, but it was a site and my rainbow roll was gorgeous. The ride to and from Greenville was horribly rainy and thundery and we found out when we returned that tornadoes were out and about in the Southern part of the state.
Day four Athens through Savannah to Tybee Island. We drove past pecan groves, past where a tornadoes touched down the day before and past a few cotton fields with cattle grazing. At least I think they were cotton fields, there were little tuffs of white stuff floating about. We turned south towards Vidalia in the hopes of finding an out of season onion stand with no luck. Just cows. We stopped at Andy's Barbeque for lunch, way out in the boonies. Tasty pork BBQ with a nice vinegar spicy sauce.
stay tuned for the rest of the trip and photos...
i'm out
