A Food Journey

So much of the time I have been relegated to eating only the worst foods--hotel cuisine, airport cuisine and the American chains preferred by many of the presenters I travel with. So when I get someone who eats adventurously along with me, or find myself with someone who will let me leave for the majority of the day, I end up becoming the foodie-on-the-road that I want to be. Here's a brief chronicle of some of the tasty things I've enjoyed over the last couple weeks:

State College, PA

I found myself with a presenter who was willing to go out to Indian with me, even though she'd never had it before! It was a decent place, although it's chai did not reach the "bottomless" qualities of Ceadar's and Taste of India. College towns are always some of the best places to find decent food, because they've got cheap, ethnic, and independent shops along with the safety-blanket chain stores like Subway and Panera. The next day at lunch time, I wandered into a place called The Green Bowl, and OH DEAR GOD it was an all-you-can-eat, make-your-own stirfry bar. Like mongolian gril but better... more sauces, better meat (shrimp!), brown rice, and oh so tasty everything. I had two bowls, one of which included tofu, and was completely satisfied.

Baltimore, MD and Richmond, VA

I ran into some other PM's in these two towns immediately after State College, and was gaurenteed some decent eating. KN and I went over to Wegman's grocery store for lunch, gorging ourselves on amazing things and learning that taking photos in a grocery store is evidently strictly forbidden. We shared a lovely chocolate cake, and I had some amazing soup and satisfied my constant olive cravings.

That night we drove to Richmond where we met up with another PM, WW and his presenter. Somehow I had managed to get all 6 of us to agree to going out to an ethiopian restaurant that my previous week's presenter had turned down. Nile Ethiopian was great to us, giving us some extra food on top of what we ordered so that we could taste lots of different options. I know it looks like dog food, but it was soooooo good. Aside from the weird coked-out employee that showed up and tried to join us, it was a fun night!

Virginia Beach, VA and Raleigh, NC

About the only thing I hadn't had was seafood, so over the last two days I've filled that craving. In Virginia Beach, at a restaurant overlooking the moonlit beach--Waterman's, I had scallops, crab and shrimp sauteed in butter and full of YUM. The hush puppies weren't too shabby either. Then last night I went to a place I'd been before, Fishmonger's Oyster Bar, in Raleigh to score some more southern-style seafood. I captured this meal about halfway through, but damn if those shrimps (and fried green tomatoes) weren't mighty fine!

Tonight I will surely have to resort to airport or hotel food since I'm getting in late, but tomorrow I might be able to go down the road to Taj for some good Birmingham Indian food.

I'm definitely not the same size I was, and I keep trying to run or walk to keep some of the restaurant calories off. But the weight seems to be going to all the right places, so I'll continue to relish local food as long as I can.