Mr. Statewide

Sunday, June 29

I woke up early and cut up a Cantaloupe. And ate it.

Austin & Maud got up, had Breakfast, and puttered around the house for a while. Austin brought me a tiny (but ripe) tomato from his garden. They're much better (at any size) than the ones you buy in the store.

Autin & I drove around and did some errands (his; not mine). On the way back to the house, we stopped at the Supermarket, and -- in a transitionatory move -- I had some Sliced Turkey and three Plumbs for Lunch.

My return flight home was on time, and after dropping off my bags, I picked up Joe Robert and we went to Las Colinas on Andrews Avenue for a bite.

Or should I say 'slurp.' I had the Jumbo Bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup and Joe Robert had the Cuban Sandwich.

I like Las Colinas; they are steady and relibale.

Later, before bed, I realized that I was back in the land of  99 cent Grapes, and I had some Frozen ones.

Here's my steps for the day.

Full Asheville

Saturday, June 28

I started with the Breakfast of Champions... Two Peaches and Coffee.

Then it was Breakfast Time. Doug came over before opening the Gallery. I had two Bowls of Fruit, and Maud, Austin and Doug had some versions of a more Traditional Breakfast with Eggs and Toast and things.

So I had Pre-Breakfast and Breakfast. Maud had Big Plans for me for Lunch. It turns out that there's a Farmers' Market-like place near where they live that has some guys that reportedly have Wonderful Pork. She doesn't eat Meat, but I do, so we went to Buy Some Pork.

So we got back to the house and I ate my pound of Pulled Pork.

Carolina BBQ isn't the same as what I am accustomed to. As far as I was concerned, this was Delicious Pork (or Wonderful Pork, take your pick), but it wasn't what I would call Barbeque. But it was great, and if I lived here, I would be used to it (and happy with it) in two weeks. it was really, good. The guys said that they cooked it for ten hours.

In the afternoon, Austin and I toured Asheville a little. We saw these people playing Marimbas in the downtown park. Here's their website. Marimbas are like xylophones, except they're made of wood and are not annoying. And, they are from New Mexico... maybe Denise knows them.

We got back home in time for pre-Dinner.

More Peaches and Watermelon.

We had 6:00 pm reservations for Dinner at The Blackbird, in Downtown Asheville. They knew AJ, one of the waiters there, and he brought us a Cheese Plate. I usually don't eat Cheese (or Crackers), but I had one (large) Cracker with two different types of Cheese.

For our Main Courses, I had Tuna with Asparagus and Spinach, Austin had a Lobster Tail with (also) Asparagus and Spinach, and Maud had a Vegetarian Plate.

My Tuna and Vegetables were good. Both Austin & Maud had, er, issues with their Meals. We had a lot of fun... I had a lot of fun the whole time I was with them.

And the Fun wasn't over. We booked seats on the LaZoom Haunted Comedy Bus Tour of Asheville for after Dinner. I'm a tourist; we got to do tourist things.

It was hosted by a silly guy in a Wolf-like getup.

It was silly; we had fun.

Later, back at the house, we cut up some Watermelon and Cantaloupe and watched people do stupid things on YouTube.

Here's my steps for the day.

Foraging in the Mountains for Food

June 27, 2014

Two Bowls of Fruit Salad for Breakfast

Maud had previously asked me what I ate for Breakfast, and I told her: Fruit. So we had Fruit for Breakfast. Well, *I* had fruit; they had real food.

In the afternoon, Maud took me on a drive through Scenic North Carolina. There's a lot of Mountains, and a lot of Trees. Everywhere you look... nature. If I ever had any interest in things that went on outdoors that didn't involve a ball, I would have found it beautiful.

There was one cool thing. We stopped in the town of Dog Lick (or was it Crotch Rot, I don't remember). They have a rock on the famous mountain there; it's called The Rock on the Famous Mountain in Dog Lick, North Carolina.

Anyway, we took a picture of The Rock on the Famous Mountain.

I don't know about you, but it looks like just one thing to me.

Down on Main Street in the town of Dog Lick (Elbow Bend?), Main Street had Charming Olde Shoppes and Restaurants. We stopped at Genny's Family Restaurant and I had two Pork Sandwiches.

The first sandwich (recommended by Emmy Lou at the counter) was Minced Pork. Or Ground Pork. Or something. It was good, but didn't taste like Pork. It tasted like... food. The second one was Sliced Pork, and that was tasty.

Maud Had the Three Vegetable Side Dishes that came with my Sandwich, plus Cole Slaw. And a Coke.

She missed out on the best Side Dish. I guess Genny's Family Restaurant wanted to keep with the theme of The Rock on the Famous Mountain... they had a side dish named after it.

Somewhere in our travels, we passed the town of Batcave, North Carolina.

As far as I could tell, the sign was the highlight. And the places selling Batcave T-Shirts.

For Dinner, me, Maud, Austin and some of their friends went to Las Cazuelas Mexican Restaurant in Swannanoa.

This place was really good. They were happy to work with you to make off-the-menu items. Aside from the regular Chips & Salsa, they had some 'special' Salsa that was, well, special. What I do is dip a chip into the Salsa, scoop up some Salsa, and suck the Salsa off the Chip without eating the Chip. Then I grab a new Chip and do it again, so as not to double-dip.

All their Fajita combos were different, so I wound up ordering the Vegetable Fajitas, removing the Sour Cream, adding Mushrooms and Pork.

I guess the theme of this trip so far is Fajitas. These were absolutely delicious. And Cheap... $12. And plenty for two normal human beings. I finished it all. The service was exceptional. We had a table of nine people, and I didn't hear the waitress tell anyone 'no' to any of the requests. And I got to show off my Spanish with the waitress.

Here's my steps for the day. We're touring Asheville tomorrow.

FLL Chili's (of all places)

Thursday, June 26

Travel Day. If you can call it that.

The other half of the Watermelon from Tuesday.

For Lunch, first the final pieces of last week's Turkey.

Second, Larry and I had some Asparagus while we watched the USA not score any goals, and listened to the announcers saying that It Was A Good Thing.

I had a 3 pm flight to visit Maud & Austin up in North Carolina that was DELAYED FIVE HOURS. And Gate One is Uner Construction, so the only place to eat was Chili's.

I had Chili and Fajitas.

They weren't horrible; just expensive. Here's my steps.

Tuesday / Wednesday

Tuesday, June 24

Frozen Grapes. A lot of Frozen Grapes.

More Frozen Grapes.

For Lunch, Larry & I went to Sweet Tomatoes on Andrews Avenue. I pretty much had what I always get there.

That's a plate of Mixed Greens, Mushrooms, Broccoli, Celery, Cucumber, and chopped Egg with some Vinaigrette Dressing on one plate and Pickles, Jalapenos and Banana Peppers on the other. I also had four Bowls of Soup. They didn't have our favorite - Albondigas Locas - so I had the Vegan Vegetable. Larry had Salad Stuff.

When we got back, I broke open a Watermelon that I had picked up last week, cut it up, and had half of it, minus the few pieces that people wandered by and tasted.

On the way home, I stopped at Publix and bought the Curry Chicken that's all set to make at home. I added Garlic and Mushrooms because, well, I like Garlic and Mushrooms.

While that cooked, I had one piece of Turkey.

The Chicken was all done. Here's one of the two Bowls that I ate.

That's it. Here's my steps for the day.

Wednesday, June 25

In a shocking development, a Lot of Frozen Grapes.

For Lunch, I had some more of the Turkey. It's almost gone... probably by tomorrow.

More Frozen Grapes. And even more.

For Dinner, I mixed things up and bought some Broccoli Rabe and Asparagus. I made a Black Bean Sauce and added some Garlic and Mushrooms because, well, I like Garlic and Mushrooms.

After it cooked down, it came to two Bowls that looked like this.

Delicious. Later, more Frozen Grapes. Here's my steps.