My parents are in town this weekend and we’ve laid low and done a whole lot of relaxing, cooking, going to a few restaurants, and just catching up. It’s been way low-key which has been great.
We kicked off the weekend at Char Grill in Raleigh for some cheap and yummy local burgers. I love their old-fashioned style of ordering, and the food is so good!
We had some bad storms on Friday night, so we just hung out at home catching up on DVR and lying low.
Saturday, we went to Another Broken Egg Cafe for breakfast and had another great experience. My parents especially loved it, so we’re glad it was a hit. Earlier in the week, we bought tickets to see The Dark Knight Rises in IMAX on Saturday morning, but with the news of the shooting in Denver on Thursday night/Friday morning, it wasn’t nearly as exciting. We weighed whether we were still in the mood to actually go to the movie (not out of fear, but out of it just not being as exciting anymore), and ultimately, we decided to go. We went to the first show of the day and I’m glad we went. While I think everyone was a little hyper aware of the exits and movement of people, overall, it was fine. The movie itself was really good, but I would still say The Dark Knight is my favorite Batman of all time.
After the movie, my dad split and went to Golfsmith, Chris went home to rest his knee, and my mom and I headed off to do some grocery shopping. What’s the best thing you can do when you’re in a stage of complete and utter uncertainty? Drop everything and start life anew at Whole Foods, obviously. My parents were nice enough to treat us to a plethora of some pretty amazing groceries, which was such a treat. THANKS FOR LETTING US RAID WHOLE FOODS, MOM & DAD!!! I don’t think I’ve ever done 100% of my grocery shopping at Whole Foods, but OMG. It was heaven and hell in one place. I love how there was a ton of local and organic produce, and I loved the variety of fresh meat as well. But I was completely overwhelmed with the prices and just almost feeling like I was in a foreign country.
We’re trying to get better about our food choices (eating more organic, less processed, more “caveman” style) and Whole Foods is simply where it’s at. I learned all about Wild vs Farm Raised Salmon (the color difference alone made up for the cost difference) and the different filets and sirloin of beef. It sounds stupid because I know on paper what’s best and better, but seeing the difference in food color, understanding farm raised, grass-fed, etc just really clicked with me. We bought wild salmon, flounder, sirloin, shrimp, chicken, a ton of amazing produce and a bunch of other stuff. It’s all riveting, I know.
Saturday, we splurged and cooked filet mignon and roasted broccoli. I seriously have a mega love affair with the roasted broccoli. SO. GOOD. NOM. NOM. NOM.
Tonight, we made the salmon with cauliflower rice (omg, amazeballs, I want this everyday), and a salad. I’m not a big fish eater, in fact, I never eat fish, but I’m making an effort. I was happy with the salmon, though. It was easy to make and it was really tasty. Did I mentioned the cauliflower rice was the greatest thing ever? We have flounder and shrimp on the menu in the next week, so we’ll see how that pans out.
Another first for me this weekend? Cooking with this stuff:
The cauliflower rice called for the coconut oil and I was surprised to see that it wasn’t a liquid like olive or vegetable oil. It was like wax or really cold butter. Also, it didn’t taste like coconut at all or even have any flavor (I don’t like coconut and expected there to be some kind of coconut taste/smell going on) and was really easy to use. Sigh. Sometimes, I feel like it’s my first day on earth with the things I talk about.
It was a good weekend. I’m so grateful that my parents enjoy coming here every few weeks to see us. It’s nice to spend a few days together in our new little life. :)
All in Good Time 