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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Olive Garden

I almost forgot to do this one!! A lot of people LOVE Olive Garden.. but as much as I love pasta, it is not one of my favorite places to go.

Last time we were there, I was meeting Dan's dad for the first time. Before I even sat down I somehow knocked over a wine glass that slowly rolled off the table, on the the chair, off the chair, and on to the floor... where it shattered. Not such a good first impression.

We didnt break anything this time, thank goodness. Started off with soup and salad. Danny ordered salad and I ordered soup, which I promptly gave to Dan. He declared both a success and we moved on to cheese ravioli with marinara sauce (me) and stuffed chicked (Dan). Mine was fine, nothing special, and Dan liked his as well. The big chain restaurants are just getting old I suppose.

Next up: The Melting Pot! (You will notice that M in, indeed, after O. However, on the list, this is with the Ts. Everybody whose anybody, or an English Major, knows that The is an article and should not be used in alphabatizing. Therefore, we are going there to celebrate the day we met! I cannot believe that is been a whole year : ) Also, because we are dorks, we are wearing the same outfits. Molly would roll her eyes, but hey, its kinda cute. And so is he.)

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

LJS, Noodles & Co, & O'Charleys

The past few days we have been busy eating...

Long John Silver / A&W Rootbeet
.ew. Thats all I really have to say. I had popcorn shrimp with french fries and Danny had Tilapia with some sort of vegetable mixture.
Not even my fries were good. The popcorn shrimp was ok... nice and crunchy, but had a odd flavor. We shared a basket of hush puppies (Dan had never had them) and they were gross. They had a faint taste of seafood and grossness. Not a good first hushpuppy experience.
Danny said that his tasted like a frozed meal... just ew.

Maggie Moo's was next on the list, but after further investigation, it has gone out of business.

Noodles & Company
I like pasta, so I like this place. We went there once before and I had mac and cheese (pretty good) but today I just had buttered noodles. They had a good flavor and good parmesean cheese without feeling like they were overdoused by butter.

Danny had a salad with chicken that he thought was really good. I also really like their Rosa sauce.

O'Charley's
I had been here before but it was a long time ago.... we started off with drinks. I had a margarita (only $3.99- good deal!) and Danny had some kind of flavored mojito. Pretty good.
Then we shared some Overloaded Baked Potato Soup which was a littly spicy for me, but still good. I ordered the appetizer chicken fingers and Danny the tilapia. My chicken fingers were really crunchy so I liked them a lot. There were a ton of them on the appetizer portion- I couldnt finish it. Dan's tilapia was much better than at LJS and his brocoli and salad were pretty tasty as well.

Next up: Olive Garden, Outback, then Mexican!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Ledo's & Krispy Kreme

Althought technically we should have had Krispy Kreme before Ledo's, we decided to have it for dessert instead.

Ledo's was good. It is located inside of the Fredericksburg Hospitality Center (kind of odd), but is still nice and inviting.

I ordered cheese fries (sorry Apple Blossom diet!) and Dan had Alfredo with EVERYTHING in it. Meaning: 2 types of sauage, chicken, broccli, mushrooms.. and things I cant remember.
The cheese fries were excellent! They had two different kinds of cheese and were waffles fries (my favorite). They also claimed to be baked... making them probably not healthier at all.

Danny's portion was HUGE. He got a doggy bag. That is unheard of for that boy. He said that it was delicous however, so that is a plus.

Overall, an 8. As good as it gets for pizza and subs. Maybe an 8+ because the cheese fries were so good.

Krispy Kreme
I dont really like donuts. I dont wake up in the morning or ever think, "Hey, I want a donut!" Sometimes I think they are too sweet and often they leave a funny taste in my mouth. However, my donut was AMAZING. I had an iced chocolate cake donut with sprinkles. The sprinkles, of course, made it 100x better, as everything is with sprinkles. Danny had a blueberry cake donut and enjoyed his as well. He also had some iced coffee hazelnut thing that was good.

Overall, a good food day!

... and now it is April 16th... a day that I am used to spending on the sunny drillfield with hundreds of other Hokies, remembering, reflecting, living for 32. Today, however, I am in a classroom. I have been asked the date about 10 times and cannot believe that some can be so oblivious to this day. Obviously, it means way less to them and for very good reason. I dont expect them to be mourning or refelcting- its Friday- theyre excited! However, it is just a different world. No candles, no screams of Lets Go Hokies, hardly any maroon and orange. But I am thinking of that day, I am thinking of the 32 amazing people that were lost, and I am living for 32. For today, that will have to do.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Joe's Crab Shack

This one was fun! The atmosphere is really fun- the servers even dance- and everyone is really relaxed. Our waitress, a little too talkitive for me, expained the whole menu (Danny liked this). They offered all sorts of sea food and tons of yummy drinks. I ended up with a pomegrante margarita that had pop rocks in it! Sounds crazy, but it was really good! Dan had some sort of shark attack thing- our waitress had to yell "everyone out of the water" when bringing it to us. Oh my.

As for food, we had A LOT of it. Appetizer: Make your own... it came with crab dip and then we picked motzerella sticks and great balls of fire. These were crap, shrimp, lobster, and peppers rolled into a ball and fried. Actually, pretty yummy.

Ready.


Danny then ordered this HUGE steampot. It had two kinds of crab legs, potatoes, shrimp, corn, and probably other things that I am forgetting. It was a lot of work to eat, but he seemed to enjoy it.
I had shrimp alfredo. It was a big portion, but also really good. A lot of shrimp in there!

Overall, it was a little expensive, but a fun and easy going place to eat. And speaking of the sea....

Mom and I got back from our cruise on Friday. It was a lot of fun! I tried to plan everything well, and mainly it all worked out. Our flights were on time and we got on the boat and such. Mom wasnt too bad in the air, despite hating flying, and though we were a little cramped overall the travel was fine.

The cruise itself was wonderful. Its so nice to be on the blue blue water. Our first stop was Key West- such a cool place! We went kayaking through shallow mangroves, and though it took us a bit to get the hang of it, eventually we could steer pretty well. We saw a lot of cool baby animals and it was amazing to on the water and just float.

Our next stop was Cozumel, Mexico... what a place! We went on a snorkel, sail, and beach party which was pretty cool. It was a little cloudy that day, but the snorkeling was amazing. They just let of off the boat and I was kinda like... well.. ok. But you look down and there are such amazing fish! It was wonderful.
Mom and I had a great time.

And now its the middle of April... Apple Blossom and then graduation and then grad school are fast approaching. Very crazy!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Fujiya House and IHOP

Fujuya House
- This one was a surprise! The restaurant wasnt on our list, but I saw it (and the fact that it was Japanese) and wanted to go. When we walked in, however, we were really confused. They had regular tables and Hibachi (which I LOVE), but when we said that we would sit wherever they sat us at a regular table. So I ordered Teriyaki Shrimp, as always, and Danny ordered Chicken and Shrimp. I was afraid that mine would be all mixed with veggies or just gross, but it was pretty much Hibachi, made in the kitchen and MUCH faster. I still has steamed rice and yummy yummy shrimp sauce, they just didnt cook it in front of me. It was quite a big lunch, but still YUMMY. We give it a 9.


All gone!!




IHOP
- Oh, IHOP on a Sunday morning... always crowded. My head was almost taken off by a tray of food and the waitress actually said "Awww," when I only ordered hash browns... Danny had some omelet thing with spinach and mushrooms that was "for me," meaning less calories and made with egg substitute. My hash browns were hash browns and Danny said that his was good, and just the right portion. Rating: 6ish. Its just IHOP... never very much fun unless you are hungover and with a bunch of friends...


Next is Joe's Crab Shack.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Five Guys and Fuddruckers

We have successfully made it to the F's!

Five Guys was on Friday. Danny had a HUGE double cheeseburger and then we split a large fries. Everything was wonderful- I liked putting the vinegar on my fries. However, it was pretty greasy... but still good. I think we gave it a 9. The best part was probably sitting outside in the sunshine and enjoying the weather.

Today, Easter Sunday, Danny and I went to Fuddruckers. It was actually open, which is a little weird, but still nice. However, we were laughed at a few times. You dont sit down an order, but order at a counter. First, we couldnt find the drink stand and then we didnt realize that you could put on lettuce, tomato, etc yourself. Danny had a turkey burger, which he said was good, and I split motzerella sticks and Danny's fries. Everything was good and there were lots of condiments and stuff which was yummy, but it was a little expensive for having no service. Probably an 8 for food... but might not be going back.

Now, Mom and I are at Holly's and will be starting our cruise tomorrow!!! Our flight is early tomorrow, so we are going to bed early and getting up even earlier. Very excited! Tuesday we will be in Key West and kayaking and then Wednesday we will snorkel and beach party in Mexico. It should be a very fun trip and so much fun to spend time with mom and see the ocean!!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Cracker Barrel!

We are officially and finally done with the C's! And now get to jump all the way to the letter F- woo hoo! Cracker Barrel was, however, Cracker Barrel. On the most beautiful day thus far this year the waitress sat us near a window (yay!) and promptly closed the curtains (boo!). 


I had hashbrown casserole and bacon while Danny had some sort of sampler. This consisted of ham, meatloaf, chicken and dumplings, green bean casserole, hash brown casserole, and mac and cheese. (And he's supposed to be the healthy one.) Everything was mediocre, nothing was great, and everything was, of course, very fattening. Thus, I wonder why Cracker Barrel is ALWAYS crowded. One of the great questions of life.


This weekend we are going to try to get through a few restaurants. However, it is Easter weekend, we will have family around, and we haven't had Mexican in a while. Holly and Charlie are going to hang out on Saturday and I think were going to have Sunday brunch. The best part of the weekend is that the weather. In the 80s! There is nothing better than sunny skies, flip flops, and warmth. And on that note, Im going outside to read.