Tootsie Yr2: Athens GA and Wilmington DE

Monday was a full day of travel from Worcester to Athens.

Everything was on time and it was a nice flight. I watched Coraline.

I was lucky to have my travel snacks, because we didn't have a lot of time to find food at either airport.
The bus ride from ATL was about two hours long, but eventually we got to the next hotel, a nice Hyatt.

Immediately everyone took off to find dinner and enjoy what's pretty much our only night in Athens.

If you've never been, it's a college town with a lot of shops and restaurants and bars packed onto Broad St. and around the school.
Some folks went to get ramen, others found an amazing Southern food spot. There were a lot of places to choose from!

For myself, I ordered a meal from Last Resort Grill because so many options on their menu looked unique and tasty.

This is a maple smoked tofu "steak" on a crispy tortilla with black beans, grilled kale, and honey roasted kabocha, topped with chipotle remoulade and a cashew "parmesan" crumble. And a decorative tomato.



It was REALLY good. Texturally a lot of fun, which I loved, plus a great mix of flavors. And healthy to boot!
Most of the spicy remoulade was on the beans, so they were spicy and warm but the squash was sweet and toasty, and the tofu smoky/crispy/silky, and the kale was tangy and acidic. Very glad I got to enjoy such an awesome and creative vegan dish here in Athens!

I also hit the nearby Target for groceries.
Even though we're only here for a day, that's four meals (two breakfasts, a lunch, and a dinner).

I could have eaten fast food pretty cheaply, but then I'd also have to go out to get every meal, and...well, I think the temptation would be too strong to eat somewhere expensive. Plus, I like to be able to eat in my room without having to take a walk to get each meal.


So a veggie tray, blueberries, eggs, yogurt, oatmeal, rice, and protein shakes, supplemented with my travel nonperishables like nuts and apples.
I can make my own coffee and tea in the room, too.

I unpacked what I'll need for tomorrow and decompressed with a cup of tea and Halloween Baking Championship with Jameson.

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Tuesday, kind of a rough personal day for me as this was the day one year ago when my sisters and I found out our parents had contracted covid. It's just difficult to think about and comes with lots of emotions, as you can imagine.
The coming week in general is rough for my family: we lost my dad on the 8th last year, and my biological mom on the 9th back in 2011.
I'll have a lot of thoughts and feelings, and will probably be a little distracted.
But also, perhaps this explains why I am so fixated on trying this-or-that food in each city, or visiting this-or-that museum, or selfishly insisting on doing the things that I want to do. It's because I'm reminded, constantly, that the clock is ticking, and I don't get to choose when it stops. And with the time I have I want to enjoy life, see lots of things, and experience what is important to me.
And that's that.

Well anyway, I went for a walk around Athens. The weather was lovely and lots of students were out and about, which made me feel old :)
I got a drink at CVS, and just wandered the campus grounds. It was a typical college campus, lots of trees and some open "lawns" where students were reading or napping or chatting or eating lunch between classes. I enjoyed the weather and about two miles' worth of explorations, then went back to the hotel to rest up for our one show.

We had the show...and then packed up to leave. How weird!

I had a blazing headache, so pretty much went straight to bed.

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Wednesday morning and it's another travel day! Again! Already!
I think this will take a while to get used to. My one-week stay grooves are worn deep and will need to be broken out of.

I went downstairs where there was FREE breakfast (d-oh! We're staying in a Hyatt so I had assumed breakfast wasn't free and had bought breakfast items instead) and used their hot water to make the oatmeal cup I'd bought, and also grabbed a bagel and an apple to bring to the airport. I resisted the temptation to grab a pastry.

I had slept very poorly due to the headache and subsequent anxiety over, "WHAT IF IT'S A BRAIN TUMOR" and other stupid thoughts.
I mean so what if it is? What am I gonna do about it? Good grief I hate anxiety!
Getting up and taking literally ONE tylenol solved the problem, so I don't know why my fight-or-flight response has to be so dramatic.

I worked on updating my foodie lists until it was time to go to the airport.
There have been some changes to the Wilmington restaurants that needed to be addressed, and some one-day cities that needed to be created.
I still wish making foodie lists were an actual job, I'd love it!

The airport was Typical Atlanta Airport, that is, crowded and inefficient.
Today I got to see the value of TSA PreCheck firsthand; those of us who had it made it to our gate with 20 minutes to spare, while many of us without had to rush through the terminal, and a few barely made the flight. Very stressful. I kind of wish we had left the hotel an hour earlier, but it all worked out in the end.

The flight was fine, and we got to the hotel around 6pm.
From there I walked to DECO, a food hall just a few blocks away.
Inside was a restaurant called Stu & Sammy's, and they had a porchetta sandwich that I just HAD to get!


Slow-cooked pork shoulder served hot, with provolone, broccoli rabe, roasted red pepper, and garlic herb aioli on a "long roll".
I asked them to leave the aioli off to save myself the fat, but regretted it later because the sandwich did need something, and it was probably that. But it was still really, really good! The pork was juicy and flavorful, the veggies bright and fresh and just acidic enough. My only wish is that the broccoli rabe had been cooked with sliced garlic, because then there would have been no need of the aioli (probably).

Anyway, It was a lot larger than I expected so I ate half and carried the rest with me.
When I got to an area where there were obviously homeless people around, I placed it carefully on a bus stop bench along with what looked like other such "offerings". I've done this type of thing several times on tour with leftover food, in case someone needs it.

I continued on to the grocery where I got my stuff for the week, a little less than usual because we're only here for four days.
Among my finds, this peach cider!


It's basically pure peach juice, and it's VERY sweet but incredibly delicious.
I am imagining it mixed with cream soda, or over vanilla ice cream...or with a shot of vanilla vodka ;)

After walking home I had a good chat with my sisters, Kayle and Kate.
The anniversary of our dad's death is coming up in a few days, and I think we are all feeling it.
We all have different thoughts and feelings, and it's good that we can talk to each other about them.
I'm grateful to have such wonderful sisters, for the good times AND the bad.

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It's Thursday and the start of our short week in Wilmington.
I don't have any grandiose plans, just lunch at Rosenfeld's Big Fish and some data entry work.
No cooking this week because there's a microwave in the room and I want to enjoy it :)

Well Dangit

So as I'm sitting in the pit tonight, I'm checking over my foodie lists for upcoming cities.

I have been doing this a week or two ahead, just to make sure that links still work and restaurants are still open, that kind of stuff.

Tonight I checked on the Lexington restaurant links, and was surprised and disappointed to see that Sav's, a popular West African restaurant that has been in my personal top 10 since last year, is permanently closed as of the end of August.

This is now the second restaurant in my top 10 list (which you can see HERE if you're a friend) that has either closed or relocated such that I'll miss going there.

Plus, in EVERY city so far, I've had to remove at least one restaurant from my lists due to closure, either temporary or permanent...and each time, the cause is listed as "inflation" or "staffing difficulties" or "effects of the pandemic".

DAMMIT, covid! Ruining everything!

I was so excited for Sav's. They were gonna be my very first experience with West African food.
And I feel very bad for the owner too. He's got a big family and that restaurant has been his livelihood for fourteen years.
It was so popular, in fact, that he's still going to keep making his own ice cream and African sauces to sell in local retail markets.
But still. The local news did an interview with him, and he's incredibly sad to have to close. And it will be hard for him to find work, too.

The other restaurant that I will miss is Sovengard in Grand Rapids.
They are upscale and serve Nordic food using local ingredients.
They, at least, will happily be going back into business after relocating.
But still.

I know that there are sooo many great restaurants out there deserving of attention, and I'm spoiled to be able to try any of these at all.
I FEEL spoiled griping about the handful that I was looking forward to and will miss.
But that aside, because I'm tracking these places, it is clear to see that restaurants across the country are being deeply impacted by covid and the economic state, STILL.

So all that said: support your local businesses. Ask them how things are going.
They may be putting on a bold face while facing overwhelming obstacles, and could probably use local support and patronage.

<3