Fried Stuff & Cheese...and Strawberries

Jeff and Kirsten came to stay with us this weekend, and wanted to experience the South. So we started off our Saturday with a trip to Bojangles for breakfast biscuits (and Kirsten kept giggling at the name "Bojangles," and insisted on taking a picture in front--who wouldn't?) and then headed to South Carolina for strawberry picking. Dave had initially jokingly suggested cotton pickin' and when Jeff said that sounded fun, Dave remembered that that's not until the fall. Way to go, Dave. (He still doesn't get how fascinating the idea of cotton picking is to us Californians--it was the highlight of my first NC trip almost 8 years ago! Where we come from, cotton comes in bags. To see it scattered out in a field is hilarious.)

But we found a farm just over the border that lets you pick your own strawberries. We got a gallon-size basket thinking that would be more than enough--when would we ever eat THAT much? Heh.

Here's Jeff helping Mabes find some strawberries, and emphasizing that we don't like the green ones.

Focusing hard at the task at hand:

Look, I got one!

Me with my strawberries. After this picture was taken, I shoved them all in my mouth. Okay, I didn't. But I should have, and I would have had I known how amazingly good they were.


Jeff, Kirsten, and Mabes with their almost-full basket. It was tons of fun, but by the time we were done, Jeff was ready to go. He has decided against a full-time strawberry picking career.


Dave, me, and Mabes. We went by this field again yesterday, and without me saying anything, she pointed to it and yelled, "Hey! That's where we took Daddy, Uncle Jeff, and Aunt Kirsten to go pick strawberries! YUM!"

We went home, had lunch, and devoured the strawberries. To say that they were really good is a painful understatement. Costco has really good strawberries. These were among the best strawberries I've ever had. They were so ridiculously good that when we ran out of those within hours and turned to the Costco back-ups, we were sadly disappointed. Oh, and heads up to Laura: we will very likely head back there this Saturday. I figure you wouldn't mind because good food is involved. And then Jeff can brag that he did it first.

We took Jeff and Kirsten to uptown, walked around a bit, went through "Settlers Cemetary" (dating back to the 1700s-1800s, some of the headstones were so old you couldn't read them), and then went out for barbeque and hushpuppies, and tried to explain the different kinds of barbeque. I still don't get all the subtle differences, but I LOVE Eastern Carolina-style barbeque, I really like Western Carolina-style, and I'm less of a fan as you move west.

We had a pretty lazy morning on Sunday, thanks to 1 o'clock church. I made bacon and waffles with strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream. That managed to tide us over until our dinner of tri-tip sandwiches and of course, popcorn that evening. We like food.

At Jeff's request, we went to the bounce house before taking them to the airport yesterday. Jeff was in his element, and Mabes was happy to have someone chase her around. I'll have to post pictures later, though, since Mabes has decided that today is yet another no nap day, and quiet time isn't very quiet. Boo.