Mrs. Rowe's

In 2005 Southern Living featured an article "Brake for Breakfast". They featured a restaurant called Mrs. Rowe's in Staunton, Virginia. Seeing as I am in Staunton I figured I should check it out.

It was a cute little place right off the main highway. I went with a party of 5 and we were seated quickly. Coffee was hot, and the menu was printed right on our paper place-mats which is something I'm not used to in FL but it had a southern charm.

I ordered the egg sandwich with fried apples. It was delicious and southern and just as roadside breakfast should be, in my opinion. The coffee was hot and the waitress was sweet. So if you're ever in Staunton and your craving a ham, egg, ad cheese sandwhich on wheat; check out Mrs. Rowes.

I am in Staunton Virginia. My sister is graduating from Mary Baldwin College and I am in town to celebrate. Cassie's idea of starting the party included a tattoo. She decided to get Shakespeare's signature on her ankle. 

Mom and I went with her to watch her get her 3rd piece of body art. Mom was very nervous for her. We both thought the tattoo guys were friendly though  and had a nice chat about how they would feel about tattooing a woman's woo-ha. 

Airport Dining

Good Morning. Its bright and early and I am at the airport. Gate 123, as you can see. The airport is an odd place. I always feel as if I am walking down a runway when I walk by all the gates of people staring at the walkway. And I hate carrying my carry on, but that’s another thing altogether.

Besides that though there are many odd things to do with food here. It is 9 in the morning and yet the little bar behind me is hoppin. Personally I love to have a nice strong beverage before I fly, it helps me sleep on the plane but I just can’t justify an $11 martini at this hour. I’ll have to stick with my other addition, iced coffee.

The air is perfumed with the smell of biscuits and cinnamon rolls. Every other person is carrying a McDonalds bag and the boy a few rows down from me just had the breakfast of champions, Doritos. Why is it that we arrive hours before our flight to zoom through security, to eat. Eating is a very social activity for most Americans. They serve food here at the airport, so we must eat? I had my bowl of Special K before I left the house. Maybe parents feed their children at the airport so they will be quiet. Goodness children are loud at the airport. I think we should stop serving $6 egg McMuffins and stop eating just because we can. If people could only try eating delicious nutritious food because their body requires fuel, maybe they would like it. Or maybe we should just keep feeding children to be quiet. 

My Trip

I am from Maryland. Reisterstown, MD actually which is a tiny no nothing town North of Baltimore. Urban Dictionary goes into detail about the town. I don't agree with everything the dictionary says but most of it is pretty true. 

Chris and I are taking a trip to MD so he can see my home state just like I saw Gillette, WY in December. I'm excited about showing him my hometown. 

This is the cow. It used to be called Dairy Fresh but they put the cow out front and everyone just called it the cow, so they changed the name.  They sell soft serve ice cream and italian ice. Its better than Rita's or Jeremiah's. This is our first stop on our trip, right after I pick up Chris from the airport.

The Cow is right on main street in the heart of Reisterstown so it is a good first stop. Main street is one of those super cute old school streets, my pediatrician still practices in an old home right on the street and I think the whole town went to him when we were young. 

Then we have to go have a crab cake sandwich from G&M. mmmm, my mouth is watering in anticipation. Just look at how delicious it looks. Crab is a Maryland specialty and there a lot of ways to eat it. The most popular is steamed crabs with old bay but they are expensive and Chris thinks the hassle of picking the crab isn't worth the amount of meat, so already picked crab meat is going to be the method of choice for our trip. If you're going to eat a crab cake then make it a great one. G&M doesn't have the tourist feel of Philip's Seafood so the price isn't a jacked up. The main things to look for in a crab cake is good jumbo lump crab, little filler, and great seasoning, but not covered with cheese & other nonsense. 

The other food necessity is the Blue Moon Cafe in Fells Point, as seen in Diners Drive-ins and Dives. I've already been there once and it is sooo delicious. I had the Capt Crunch french toast the last time I was there. Chris and I watched the episode together and he was so jealous that I went without him. I owe it to him to go again, and I can't say I mind at all. :)

We're also going to visit one of my favorite museums that I've ever been too. It's called the American Visionary Art Museum. It features only untrained artists. People just living their lives in ordinary ways creating for the pleasure of being creative. One of the rooms

is filled with tiny dolly made from scraps of fabric. The woman was a semstress, I think, and she used the remains of fabric to make dolls for little sister. You can feel the love she put into each of those dolls when you walk into the room, it's amazing. 

There is a lot more I'd like to do in MD with Chris but we're only going to be in MD for two days before we head to Philadelphia and New York. I'll let you know how the trip goes.   

uber

This is uber. Uber has been hanging out with me during my time off from work, considering I do nothing all day and have pleanty of time to let him outside and feed him. I have been working on training him and developing more of a schedule for the little guy. Check it out. 

This is his new "box". He hates it. I mean he hates the thing BUT when he has to go inside he doesn't whine, cry, or bark. Best of all, he doesn't pee!!!

The training literature said that dog's won't pee in their own space so their cage has to be small enough for them to fit without extra room. (and yes the wii fit board is being stored on top)

Chris was nervous about the box especially. And the stuff I read said not to force him into the box for long periods of time from the beginning or it would traumatize him. First we just made him sit in there to get treats. Then for maybe an hour when I left. We made it four hours. and finally about seven hours the other day, and man did he run for the door when we got back but he didn't pee in the box. Success!

This is uber's new bed. In this picture it is in the living room but now it lives in the bedroom. It's great because uber likes it much better than the box. It is small too, so he can cuddle up with the sides. He knows that when I go to bed he doesn't get to sleep on the bed anymore. Uber is a boy dog and when his hair gets long he pees on himself which is gross to me, a devout non dog person before I met uber. I don't like his pee fur on my nice sheets. Maybe that makes me shallow, oh well. Back to point, he knows that he sleeps in his little bed at night time and he doesn't complain at all. He likes having his own space a lot. 

His schedule is easy to keep up with my very open schedule right now but hopefully it will be ok to keep up even once I go back to work. He is a smart dog and knows when in the day he gets to go pee so instead of just peeing whenever he wants he knows its okay to hold it because a little walk is coming soon. I also changed his food, he never really ate his old food but he likes the new food and will eat it pretty much when I put it in the bowl. This is good because I will know when he will physically need to go outside based on when he ate. 

My Mystery Plant

This is my mystery plant that Chris brought to me. Turns out that it is called a Peace Lily. Spathiphyllum Annette is the proper name. Whatever that means. :)

It has dark shiny leaves and it doesn't like intense light, which is good since it has been cloudy around here lately. I think it is a very pretty plant and I have been trying to be a good mommy to my plant. It likes even watering and diffused light. 

I don't liked the wicker basket it came in and I wanted to find out if it needed the breathable basket or if a pretty ceramic pot would be fine. Turns out that the ugly basket can go and a pretty pot can replace it! Yay. This is the kind of pot I am thinking of. 

This one is from Crate&Barrel, which maybe is out of my price range but i think I could get something similar. It has to match the pink walls outside on my porch though so red is out of the question. I know the plant is mostly and indoor plant but occasionally I'd like to sit it outside on the porch. There was a little snail on it tonight so I think that it could make friends on the porch. :)

i love cooking

It has been raining for days here in Orlando which hardly ever happens here. I mean almost never! My parents gave me some of their leftover steamed crabs on Sunday and I was so excited about eating them. Unfortunately chris isn't from Maryland and isn't confident in his crab picking skills. I decided to pick all the crabs myself and make some of my favorite rainy day comfort food, a Maryland style crab soup. 

I used half a white onion, 1 clove of garlic, 2 & 1/2 tbsp butter, carrots, red potatoes, fresh green beans, frozen corn, frozen lima beans, and 5 crab claws in 2 quarts of beef stock to start it off. I simmered the veggies for about a half an hour. I added some Old Bay, crab boil seasoning, paprika, salt, pepper, parsley, and a half a can of yuengling. I gave it a few minutes and added the crab, and a can of stewed tomatoes. Another 25 minutes and it was dinner time! 

Chris had never really tried my kind of comfort food before. Being from the mid-west his comfort foods include cream and pasta not veggies and seafood. The sweet & spicy food was a hit! I served it with a little bit of a garlic herb bread and we both cleared our bowls. Just the tummy warming food needed for a rainy day. 

Nothing is more like something

So doing nothing is kind of fun...

 

I saw my cousin Harper's school play. 

I cleaned the bathroom. 

I had breakfast with my friend.

I went to the Star Trek movie. 

I hung out with my parents at Margaritaville. 

I watched the magic actually win at OBoys.

I got to go to Burtons. 

I organized my magazines. 

I bought Chris a present. 

I used my new present from Chris. 

I can actually drink a cup of coffee in the morning before it gets cold. 

I am trying to train uber, it is going well. 

I got my things from my family's house and unpacked them into my new house. 

I bought artwork for the walls. 

I have written in my journal. 

I did some research on local gyms. 

I walked to the greek restaurant on the corner. 

I ate at Brian's, which is also in walking distance. 

I rode my bike semi-successfully. 

I went to Cypress Gardens, which was lame.

I went to Summit.

I ate some skittles, which I love.

I took Chris lunch a bunch of times.

I slept past 11 one day.

I went grocery shopping.

I beat Chris at Wii bowling.

I am trying not to kill my plant.

 

Still to do:

figure out what kind of plant I have.

re-work my budget and see if I can afford the gym I liked.

eat more skittles.

make crab soup.

Brian's

I have moved to the antique row of Orlando which brings many exciting things, but most especially; new restaurants!

Saturday morning Chris and I went to Brian's, a tiny looking place right on the corner of Orange & Virginia. The plaid red curtains beckoned to me just a tiny walk from my front door.

We came in and the lady was friendly in a genuine way, not just that "i'm forced to be nice to you" attitude. Plus the place was way bigger than either of us thought. I liked not having to fight for a table.

We ordered coffee. Now that simple sentence may imply a simple act but I assure you that for us to be awake and out in public before 9am on a saturday that coffee needs to be delicious. Not burnt, too strong, too weak, or otherwise untasty. It was perfect. They even had a pitcher of cream of the table so when chris added his gallon (probably!) of cream we didn't have a mountain from those plastic buckets.

Chris ordered the strawberry stuffed french toast & I had the breakfast burrito. 1st up though was the sweet buns. Now, I am not a donut, danish, or sweet morning food kind of person. As you can see on the menu though these were supposedly good. Plus once she placed them on the table the intense cinnamon smell sucked me in. They were amazing, I mean, Amazing.

The amazing carried through the whole meal. Chris' bacon was as good as grandma's. My burrito was yummy. Nothing gourmet or fancy but good real cooking. What really stuck both of us was how friendly everyone in the entire place was. They all seemed genuinely concerned that we had a good breakfast. and we did!

Time off

5.9.09

College Graduation. 

5.15.09

What should I do now.

Some students take summertime off. Some students go away on spring break. I didn't. I worked. I worked a lot. So after graduation I told my boss, "I'm taking time off!"

Now I don't know what to do. No papers. No studying. No deadlines. 

I scrubbed the floor, washed clothes, sent letters, watched movies, had beer with lunch, stayed up late. But I am running out of ideas. What should I do?