photos – Page 3 – p i x e l s c r i b b l e s

Sweet Lou’s Crab Shack

Today I decided to try a new place for lunch: Sweet Lou’s Crab Shack on Broad Street near 13th.

I noticed the place the other day–there’s a huge blue banner with the restaurant’s name and a neat-looking crab right over the door. Today, upon closer inspection, I see the name “Sweet Lou’s Coffee and Bagel Sandwich Shop” on the windows. I’m not sure I would have been as intrigued by that…so bravo, Lou, on your rebranding!

The place is done up like a beach restaurant/coffee shop. You really just have to see it. I would have sat inside to enjoy the decor, but I was the only customer and it’s beautiful outside, so I opted for the sunny Broad Street view.

The girl behind the counter has reddish hair and a smile like Christina Applegate’s. She plucked me up a menu off the coffee table in the couch and chair lounge area near the back of the joint. Looking over the selections, I was surprised at the number of items that did not involve crab. I noted that they have breakfast, sandwiches, and entrees, and they’re a little pricey. I settled on a fish sandwich called “Harbor Breeze”, a fruit salad (the sandwiches don’t come with any sides) and a can of Diet Coke.

I waited about 25 minutes for my food, but it was worth it. The fruit salad consisted of a large, pleasantly smooth green bowl filled with grapes, pineapple, strawberries, and kiwi. “Your fruit salad looks amazing,” the girl said as she placed it in front of me. “I’m jealous.”

The fish, light and crispy on the outside from frying, came on a toasted bagel with lettuce, tomato, and orange (probably American) cheese. It was delicious.

The prices are a bit steep, and the location, on a block with a payday lender, a nail salon, a planned parenthood office and an imaging service, is not ideal. But the food is delicious, the ambiance is relaxed and fun, and there are indoor and outdoor seating options. It should do well…as long as enough people discover it!

Gary brought me a souvenir from Augusta National

This is one of the free water bottles given to the media. It says "SODIUM FREE Pure Cumberland Gap Mountain Spring Water" and has a list of all the holes at the course on the back.

Lunch

Turkey sandwich with bag salad and local hydroponic tomato on locally-made Bleu cheese bread; Knorr butter noodles; orange slices.

If I'd finished building the bistro set I could be eating outside! Oh well, at least the door's open.

Bistro table assembly

FLASKS? Really, Walmart?

Making a "Mock Danish"

Fat free cream cheese, egg beaters, Splenda, and vanilla. Recipe from Dietician.

Ginormous piece of cake

This would feed a family of five for three days.

…okay maybe not, but it is still huge. I fear anyone whose stomach is actually this large.

Boll Weevil Chicken Salad Salad

It’s funny. In a fit of depression I decided to go out and eat whatever I wanted. Then I ordered a salad.

Don’t worry. I also plan to have chocolate cake. :P

32 minutes

…to get from the golf course to the other end of the Greeneway.

Honestly, I'm kind of shocked. I thought it would be at least 40 minutes! I was pacing myself so I wouldn't use up all my energy, and I remembered that going from the Activities Center to the end and back took 45 minutes…so I figures the trip up would be something like 30 minutes plus the 10 it took me to get to the Activities Center from the golf course the other day.

I'm certainly not unhappy about my achievement, though!

It was a good ride. Like yesterday, it's cold, but not freezing. The Lands End fleece sweater Mom gave me over Christmas has kept me perfectly warm both days.

Well, now to head back down. Like yesterday I'll ride along the river. I'll probably have time for pictures too!

Lunch at Brick Pond Park

It’s just slightly chilly out, but sunny. Picked up Firehouse and walked over from the golf course parking. Looking forward to the new parking lot behind the almost-complete municipal building!

There are more people out today than when I first came here on Monday. I guess they saw the news report we did yesterday ;)

Classy

I wish I’d gotten a closer picture of this–the billboard left of center is for a lawyer, promising “Aggressive DUI Defense”.

Sent from my iPhone

Update

Lots of stuff has been going on with me lately, and since I never seem to blog properly anymore, here are some links to pictures.

On October 1, we rearranged the living room in order to better accommodate our new TV table. This is the happiest I’ve been with our living room…well, ever. There’s plenty of floor space for Wii Fit and Wii Sports, all seats provide an adequate view of the TV, and Sean has a nice big contained area for his clutter–comfortable for him, livable for me. This living room arrangement is composed entirely of win.

On October 3 and 4, I attended the Webmaster Jam Session in Atlanta. I live-tweeted the whole thing, and also sent a few iPhone photo updates here. The photos I took with my regular camera are here.

It was a great conference. Having never been to a web conference before, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, and certain things were different than I’d imagined. But I learned a lot and even met a few new people. Hopefully I’ll be able to go again next year.

Once the Webmaster Jam Session was over, I headed over to see Charles and Heidi. Charles and I went to the Buford Highway Farmers Market, which is the greatest grocery store in the history of the universe. The next day, all three of us went to the Atlanta Greek Festival. We also spent some time just relaxing and chatting, which was nice. It was a short but really fun visit. I love seeing Charles and Heidi :)

The Atlanta Greek Festival gets its own gallery because it was so huge. I loved seeing the dancers, listening to the band, eating all the delicious Greek food, and exploring all the shops. I even bought a cookbook! The church where the festival was held was absolutely beautiful, so I took lots of photos. You can see them all here.

Settling back into my normal routine after the whirlwind Atlanta trip was not an easy task. The following Monday I went to Riverwalk during my lunch break. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and there were lots of boaters out on the water. I jogged the walking path once, then sat by the river and took pictures. (I’m fairly pleased with how blue my eyes look in this one.)

I went back to Riverwalk on Thursday, not to jog this time but simply to look around. We’d had a great deal of badly-needed rain Wednesday night, and Riverwalk was transformed. The Savannah was mud-colored and drab and the sky was overcast, but the plants felt vibrant and every surface was beaded with water. The very air felt fresh. It was a different kind of beautiful.

So there you have it. Lots of adventures, with hopefully more to come. :)

Casserole Spaghetti

The other night I made this recipe from my 501 Delicious Heart Healthy Recipes cookbook. It took a very long time–after mixing the ingredients on the stove I had to let them simmer for an hour, then mix in more ingredients, put it all in a casserole dish, and bake. So this recipe maybe isn’t something you do on a weeknight…but Sean says it’s definitely worth the wait. He had three helpings. “You have to make this more often,” he said.

1 1/2 pounds ground round
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can reduced-fat, reduced-sodium cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
3/4 cup water
1 (14.5 ounce) can no-salt-added whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (8 ounce) package spaghetti
2 ounces reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons chopped pimiento-stuffed olives Cooking spray
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp Cheddar cheese

1. Cook first five ingredients in a Dutch oven, stirring until meat crumbles; drain well, and return to Dutch oven. Stir in soup and next 5 ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

3. Cook spaghetti according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain.

4. Stir spaghetti, cheese cubes, and olives into meat sauce. Spoon mixture into a 13×9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Cover and bake at 325 for 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup shredded cheese, and bake, uncovered, 10 additional minutes. Yield: 8 servings.

Notes: I didn’t use lean beef; I used ground chuck. I did not use olives at all. Also, I didn’t have any shredded cheddar cheese, so I didn’t do the last part. And finally, I used minced garlic from a jar rather than fresh. Regardless of all this, the casserole still tasted great.

Recent NOM NOM NOM

Teriyaki flounder, stir-fry veggies and rice

Salmon croquettes and grits, Boll Weevil

Fried grouper sandwich and fries, Palmetto House at Seven Gables

Vegetable quiche and curry noodle soup, New Moon Cafe

Eggs over easy with hash browns, sausage and toast, Waffle House (Atlanta)

Kari (curry) Pop at the best restaurant on Earth, Penang in Chamblee (Atlanta)

Spaghetti at Sbarro (Atlanta)

Spicy beef, Zyka (Atlanta)

Chicken salad sandwich and fries, Cotton Patch

SuperSonic Breakfast Burrito, at my desk

Leftover spaghetti, salad, fruit, and yogurt, at Riverwalk

Seared ahi tuna appetizer, PF Chang’s

Dali chicken, PF Chang’s

Brooke and Heather Day

I took Wednesday off from work so I could spend the day with Brooke. We went on a few adventures.

First, we headed out to Thurmond Dam, by way of Pollard’s Corner.

This is the way Brooke always used to go to the lake. Pollard’s Corner is also on the way to Lincolnton, where I worked briefly in the summer of 2005.

After our stop to pick up sodas and snacks, we headed on to the dam. We went through Georgia until we got to the dam, which is different from the way I went last time. Last time I took 28 through Columbia County and into McCormick County before I got to the lake and river. This time we drove right over the dam to get to the Visitors Center.

The center was open, so we went in and looked at all the displays explaining about J. Strom Thurmond Dam. My favorite part was the window-walled room with views of the lake and pictures and discussions of the wildlife. We had a lot of fun with the bird call recordings; click here.

We went outside and took some pictures of the lake and dam, but it was pretty cold so we soon hopped back in the car and headed on. At this point we hit the field with the old turbine display.

Then we headed towards the dam…but instead of going immediately to the main observation area, we drove down to the boat ramp. I hadn’t done that last time because I figured the road just ended at the water, but it turned out there was a broad parking lot there, and some great views of the river and dam.

Once we had our fill of this angle, we headed up to the observation area, where we snapped photos and sat in a porch swing for awhile.

Click here for a video.

On our way back from the dam, we stopped at the Bartram Trail golf community to see what we thought. The houses were mostly okay, but the yards were pretty small, and we didn’t think we would want to live there. I’d previously had high hopes for the area so I was fairly disappointed, but I’m not expecting to ever live in a house that large anyway. Brooke and David are looking for a larger-sized home so they can host family from England, so it was unfortunate that the yards didn’t meet Brooke’s expectations.

Following that we went on a more mundane (but no less fun!) adventure:

After Brooke beat the pants off me for three games, we decided to go to downtown Augusta for awhile, picking up David on the way.

I need to find a camera that won’t add random glowing pixels to night shots.

After that we stopped at the grocery store for supplies and then went to my apartment for dinner and Eton mess, which is ridiculously easy to make and amazingly delicious.

It was a long, fun day. I’m glad we were able to spend so much time together!