Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Paninis

A little while back, Jason and I ate dinner at our friend Rebecca's house.  She served us paninis, and I really liked them!  Sure, paninis are basically squished grilled sandwiches, but it was really tasty and I thought I'd give it a try.

Like I said, it's a sandwich, so you could put most anything on there.  These were my ingredients:

~Flatbreads (found them in the bakery section of my grocery store)
~Olive oil (brushed the inside and outside of the bread)
~Ham sandwich meat
~Sliced provolone
~Tomatoes, sliced and seasoned with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to coax a bit of flavor out of them
~"Spring Mix" bag-o-salad


Confession: I do not have a panini maker.  So I put the panini in a frying pan with a bit of olive oil and squished it with the bottom of another frying pan (lined with foil so I wouldn't have to wash it).  Here's a picture of Jason's (I just had a half-sandwich).




Mmm.... and it took about 10 minutes to make from start to finish, even with a brief (half a second, tops) grease fire.  Note: flip the panini with a spatula.  Don't try to do the "flip onto a plate" thing when you have oil in the pan!  Oops!



Bought the ingredients, tried the panini, and not sure what to do with leftovers?  


I made pseudo-gyros with the flat bread, sandwich meat (didn't have chicken or beef kabobs, but I that would have been preferable), lettuce, and cheese.  I eat Greek yogurt on a pretty regular basis, so I took one single-serving container of plain Greek yogurt and mixed it with diced and salted cucumbers and tomatoes and topped the gyro.  I was able to use that yogurt for two servings.  It was ... interesting.  I think it's something I would repeat again, maybe with a few tweaks.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

New Bern -- Self Portraits

By now, my loyal readers know I take quite a few self-portraits.  Our trip to New Bern was no different. Here, I'm on a water fountain behind Jason...





Love that goofy fella (even with the crazy mustache...)

Monday, February 27, 2012

Things That Make Me Me

While eating lunch (which, yes, is at 10:40am), I started singing a little song in my head:

"Oh horseradish, you make my sandwich tasty.  Thanks, horseradish!"

Confession time: my name is Megan, and I love horseradish.  I hate "spicy" stuff (stuff with capsaicin, like jalapeno peppers), but I love me some horseradish (and wasabi and ginger, yum!).  This is today's little "Her Self Eccentric Quirk."

That is all.

New Bern -- the Road Less Traveled

Interstates and by-passes are great things.  They have the advantages of higher speed limits, no stoplights, and shorter travel times.  However, Jason and I decided to take Business 70 down to New Bern.  We wanted to take the scenic route, and we really had a fun time.  Business 70 goes through such wonderful towns as Clayton, Smithfield, Goldsboro, Kinston, and LaGrange.  These towns did not disappoint.

On road trips, we sometimes talk about everyday stuff (troubles at work, things on our calendar), future stuff (features we'd like in a house, places we'd like to visit), or just-to-talk stuff (who would you like to see in concert, stories from high school, etc.).  A lot of the time though, we ride along in silence, occasionally commenting on things we see along the road.

We comment on choices for business names...
"Why Peek-a-Boo Boutique?  Why not Peek-a-Boutique?  That's so much better."
"Larry Peedin Automotive?  Really?!?  Do they offer the "peedin" guarantee?  Do people brag about owning a  "peedin" car?"

We comment on unexpected billboards...
"Home of America's Largest Pork Display?  Count us in!"

I serenade Jason with jingles I grew up hearing on local television...
"O, O, O, O'Reilly!  O'Reilly!  O, O, O, O'Reilly... Auto Parts!"
"At Tal-Y-Bont Interiors, you can afford your dreams!"

We have geeky conversations based on stuff we see...
"Goldsboro Neon Signs.  Who knew Goldsboro had such a need for neon?"
"Hey, if you were to have a neon sign, what would it say?"
"NEON."
"What color would you get it?"
"Orange, of course." [for those who don't know, the gas neon only makes orange neon signs; all other colors of "neon" signs are actually other gases]
"What would your sign say?"
"SCIENCE!"



Saturday night, Jason wondered out loud where 70 East ends.  Three touches on the iPhone, and we had an adventure planned for Sunday.  We drove through Morehead City and Beaufort to the town of Atlantic to find the end of Hwy 70.


We also drove along Hwy 12 (the one that runs down the Outer Banks) to Cedar Island.  The combination of it being February, rainy, a Sunday, and 40-some degrees meant we had the road pretty much to ourselves.  We couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a few photos.



We took the road less traveled... and had a blast!

Friday, February 24, 2012

New Bern -- Architecture

Yep... more New Bern stuff.  More New Bern pictures.  Guess what?  This STILL isn't the last post!  Can you tell I had a fun time taking photos?




New Bern, founded in 1710, is North Carolina's second-oldest town and the state's first capital.  I absolutely loved the old architecture all around town.




Centenary United Methodist Church -- Established in 1772.  This building is from 1904.  Jason and I loved the unique look of this church!







Spanish moss and City Hall:




Houses around Town:



Thursday, February 23, 2012

New Bern -- Fire Hydrants

In addition to bear statues around New Bern, there were also painted fire hydrants!  So cute!











Wednesday, February 22, 2012

New Bern -- Tryon Palace

Jason and I had both been to Tryon Palace as kids, and neither of us were yearning to return.  We walked over there late Saturday afternoon and took some photos in gardens outside Tryon's gates.

February or not, spring was all around!






 We walked by Tryon Palace around 4:00 and the ticket guy asked us if we would like to go in and tour the grounds (not the building).  It was the end of the day (they close at 5:00), so he let us go in for free!

Little bit of history about Tryon Palace:
Tryon Palace is a modern reconstruction of the historical colonial  royal governors' palace of the Province of North Carolina.  The first mansion was built in the 1760s, but burned down in 1798.  It was reconstructed in the 1950s.

front of Tryon Palace

back of Tryon Palace, facing the waterfront

Views around the grounds:






 Views of some of the gardens (beautiful, even in winter):