Food on the Road

What do you eat when you are on the road?

I think I've had it all so far on this trip. (Sadly, without great photos.) I like eating, so eating on the road is sometimes great for trying new things, often bad on the wallet, and definitely not great on baby's tummies.

Fast Foods and Snacks
This is mostly unavoidable, but we've tried to make the best of it. My fave breakfast on the road is the $1 sausage and cheese muffin from Burger King. If money were no object, it might be something different, but that's the best bang for your buck. Mom and I have also done a lot of Subway, where for me, the oven roasted chicken breast toasted with olives, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, and a little ranch. Yum.

As for snacks, I stocked up beforehand at Phoenicia in Houston and got a giant bag of wasabi peas (already gone), pistachios, and some other weird mix that I didn't like. Wasabi peas rule for staying awake and great munchies while driving. You can't fall asleep when you are sneezing from the heat. Surprisingly, this is not what bothered Cooper's tummy.

Not Fast, But Not Fancy
I have had some lovely eats on this trip. I tried pho for the first time (how is this possible?) and was confirmed that it's actually pronounced fuh. Loved it! Great noodle soup with fabulous things to put in it, like basil and bean sprouts. Nom.

I've also had a few Panera meals, and one of these included some kind of turkey/artichoke panini, which turned out to be light on artichoke (it was sadly in a spread) and heavy on onions. Cooper in general hasn't been super fussy about foods (other than beans I ate the first day she was born), but she had a really hard time after this meal. Like, for hours. I will definitely be avoiding large portions of onions. I know I've had some since she was born, but this was excessive. And she was excessively sad.

Foodie Food
Tonight, Jenna and I ate at The Blue Goat in Richmond. I'd been hearing the term gastropub for a while now, and nodded like I actually knew what it meant. But I didn't. As Jenna describes it, a gastropub serves upscale food, but in more of a comfortable (and not stuffy or frou frou) atmosphere. Okay, I may have added the part in parentheses. Do you use that term "frou frou"? I grew up with it and it means fancy, or hoity toity. That also may be a word you don't use. Now you have two words for the same thing: snobby/fancy.

The Blue Goat had a comfortable yet industrial feel that I loved and I knew starting off with homemade ricotta served with truffle honey and peaches, I was going to like the food even more. The ricotta was great (though we both agreed the truffle overpowered the honey just a bit) and so creamy over a nice, crusty bread. (And I found this great homemade ricotta recipe from Nikki Dinki that I'm totally trying when I get home.)

For the main course, I had house made gnocchi with a basil mint pesto, goat, spring peas, oyster mushrooms, and bacon. Great gnocchi (though I must say that Russo's in Houston one-ups it) and the basil mint pesto was really different and refreshing. Oddly, the pea was a superstar in this dish, and it balanced the goat really well. I think I was expecting the goat to be a little more game-y, but it didn't have as bold of a flavor. I will say that I hoped for a bigger portion. I felt like if you compared our two plates, Jenna's was significantly fuller.

Jenna got braised pork belly over spaetzle with arugula and a sunny-side egg on top. She asked if the pork belly was going to be really heavy, and our server said that it was rich but not heavy. We totally agreed after trying it. Lovely and soft, but definitely rich, and not as salty as I somehow imagined pork belly to be. The spaetzle were also lovely and buttery (plus Ginny and I started a weird inside joke about spaetzle so, for me, they were timely).

Dessert was a profiterole (the gelato was sold out) and it was great, but the best part was by far the homemade chocolate sauce. I may or may not have used my spoon to scrape the last bits out of the little pitcher it came in. Who am I kidding--I totally scraped it out. I also threatened to (but did not) lick the plate.

Overall, loved the Blue Goat and Jenna and I had a great time. My only (minor) complaints were the service (which seemed a bit lackadaisical, especially considering we were there early before the crowd) and my portion size. I didn't leave hungry, but I was hungry soon after. Hungry for more goat!


That is a lot of eating. I've also had some great fried chicken in Kilmarnock (not to mention a true Uncle Tom breakfast), a swell crab cake in Croaker, and really amazing Italian fare at MaryBeth's wedding in Raleigh. Whew. I've done other things on this trip besides eat. I swear. Maybe you'll hear about those next week.