I realized this afternoon that I still have a great deal of pictures I want to share on the blog, but I don’t really want to put them all into separate posts spanned out over the next week or so, since I plan to start cooking (and blogging about!) healthy tasty cheap things again this week. So, here are the remaining photos from my week in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Our first morning at the beach house, we had a giant breakfast of pancakes, sausage links, and bacon. The pancakes were from a mix I had never seen or used before. The dry Bisquick mix is in a plastic jug-shaped container, so all you need to do is add water, shake, and pour the pancake mix onto the griddle. This worked great since no one had been to the grocery store to buy eggs, milk, and so forth at this point, and they tasted good, too. All in all, a pretty nifty product.
I like syrup on everything in this picture!
On Tuesday night, we had dinner at the Colington Cafe. I already posted our appetizer and entrees, but I haven’t gotten around to the desserts yet – until now! Aaron’s dad ordered the “Tollhouse Cookie Pie”. I am not sure what this was doing at a French restaurant, but it looked mighty tasty. I suspect it was made from a recipe similar to this one.
It's got cookie AND pie AND ice cream.
Aaron and I felt like something a bit more French-ish, so we split a creme brulee. It was so, so good. I was pleased to see lots of little specks of vanilla bean in it. I’m not sure what the triangular cookie on top was, exactly, but it was chewy and sweet. We used it to scoop up the smooth custard.
Creme brulee, moments before being cracked with my spoon.
One night, Aaron, his brother, two of his cousins, and I played mini golf at a place called Lost Treasure Golf (their website is obnoxious, but I’ll link to it anyway!). While we were waiting to buy our game, we noticed this sign and were all pretty tickled by it.
"DO NOT COMB ROCKS" -we tried our best not to!
That same day, we ate at a place called Sooey’s BBQ in Corolla, NC (which is pronounced kuh-RAH-luh, by the way). Aaron ordered the pulled chicken barbeque sandwich, which came with one side dish. He picked baked beans. The barbeque was the delicious, vinegary North Carolina variety, my favorite! If this picture is a bit blurry, that’s because he was whining for me to hurry up and take the picture – he was very eager to eat this. 🙂
Sooey's Barbeque Chicken Sandwich
Aaron’s dad ordered the pulled pork barbeque platter, which came with two hushpuppies and two sides. He picked collard greens and macaroni and cheese. This plate reminded me a lot of the pork barbeque plate I got at the Virginia Diner. It looked really good, especially the hushpuppies.
Sooey's Pulled Pork Barbeque Platter
I love chicken salad, so even though this was primarily a barbeque restaurant, I couldn’t resist the smoked chicken salad sandwich. The smoky chicken was mixed with mayo, celery, and onion, and served on a bun with lettuce tomato and onion. I picked macaroni and cheese for my side. This was delicious – my only complaint is that sad little loop of onion. A would prefer a nice slice of onion to a thin ring.
Sooey's Smoked Chicken Salad Sandwich
A closer look at the chicken salad sandwich
One day we took a trip to the northern part of the Outer Banks. Once you reach a certain point, the paved road ends and you have to drive on the beach, so only four-wheel drive vehicles are allowed (and even then, some people still get stuck in the sand). Aaron’s dad drove us down the beach in his ginormous pickup truck. It was sort of drizzly that day, so the beach looked rather gray. Still, it was neat to get some pictures of the beach with no human beings in them.
Northern Outer Banks
Before coming to the Outer Banks, I had absolutely no idea that feral horses inhabit the islands. We drove around the unpaved sand-roads for a while and actually found a small group of the horses grazing by the side of the road. The horses are descended from Spanish mustangs that may have swum to shore after shipwrecks. Wikipedia has a very interesting article about the Banker Horses.
Feral Horses on the Outer Banks
On another excursion (this time to Manteo, NC), we had lunch at a diner called Big Al’s. Since it was a diner, ordering the 1/2 pound bacon cheese burger with fries and a coke seemed like the thing to do. I was so full after eating this meal that when we got home half an hour later I immediately fell asleep and stayed that way for a good portion of the afternoon. Next time, I think I will order the 1/4 pound burger!
Big Al's Bacon Cheeseburger and Fries
That’s pretty much it! I had a great time eating and playing in the Outer Banks. Can’t wait to go back.
Healthy Tasty Cheap 