I always manage to eat something fantastically out of the norm when I'm in Wilmington, North Carolina. The restaurants there rival anything within a 2 hour radius of my house, soooo since I was making the drive down there, might as well get a WIAW out of it too!
I kicked off the day with a cup of extra bold, extra black coffee [I love it so!], a trilogy kombucha and a chocolate chip cherry torte larabar. When I got to Wilmington I was nothing short of starving and beelined for the fresh market to some veggie chips, hummus & rice stuffed grape leaves, and a seaweed salad. Random but totally satisfying! Fresh market has, hands down, the best grape leaves of my life and I polished off an entire bowl of them in the mall parking lot. Since my lunch was more of a snack I made up for it with an early dinner with some friends [Hey "Elmo!"] at Mixto. We split chips, salsa, and some cornmeal & cilantro crusted calamari. I ordered a pineapple margarita and a loaded black bean & mango lobster taco for my meal. A second pineapple margarita made an appearance -- I was really craving that pineapple =)
That's where the photos end... but the food? Not quite! After roaming around downtown Wilmington for a bit we stopped by my favorite bar [Has anyone seen the show Eastbound and Down? The bar in the show is our bar!] and played pool, skee-ball and darts. How I won 2 out of 3 games I'll never know! Next we hit up a chic little tapas/piano bar and wound up with dinner #2! We ordered a table full of tapas: hot crab and spinach dip, cheese platters with crusty bread and orange marmalade, vegetable sushi rolls, and the best creme brulee of my life.
You could say the spinach in the dip and the veggies in the sushi were enough to count towards my extra cup of vegetables for the Veg Pledge Challenge... or you could just call it what it is: a delicious day with two dinners <3 My favorite part about traveling is trying new things so I'll take an extra meal where I can get it!
Um hello wordiest WIAW ever! I feel like I need to throw in another photo and zip it!
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| recipe coming soon |
In other news, the Veg Pledge "Serve Up an Extra Cup" Challenge is rocking my world! I was so excited to have you guys join me last week! Reading all of your posts and personal goals to veg up your eats along with your ah-maaazing progress was so ridiculously inspiring! Let's keep the focus on veggies again this week and see if we can all veg it up with an extra cup each day!
Happy What I Ate Wednesday!
Want to join in on the fun?
Ahhhh I LOVE Eastbound&Down! Which bar do you mean? Like the one Kenny goes into in the very first episode where the skank is all over him? Haha.
ReplyDeleteYES!!!! It's called The Blue Post but whenever we go there we scream "I'm going to SHABOOMS!!!!!!!!!!"
ReplyDeleteEverything looks delicious! It may have been your wordiest, but it was one of my favorites!
ReplyDeletei absolutely love stuffed grape leaves! Nice choice of snacks. ;)
ReplyDeleteI want this recipe. Looks amazinggg. &thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThat lasagna looks amazing! Grape leaves? I've never even heard of them!
ReplyDeleteCrap! I totally chose the wrong image! I really want it to be the DELISH waffle I had for breakfast! Is there a way I can change that?! :) Thanks girl!!
ReplyDeleteI've heard so many things about grape leaves but I don't think I've actually tried them myself. I totally need to soon!:) Isn't that the best part about traveling? So many places I always want to check out!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun trip, Jenn! I love stuffed grape leaves too! They're always so mint-y!
ReplyDeleteHaha, I'm a dork because I immediately thought of One Tree Hill when you said Wilmington. I totally forgot that Eastbound and Down was filmed there too! I need to visit :) Especially with all the yummy food...
ReplyDeleteSeaweed salad is a recent favorite of mine!
ReplyDeleteAnd don't worry about being wordy. We like hearing from you too :) You're more than just your photos! (Although your photos ARE always great.)
I want to go to Wilmington! I have to say i am a huge.One Tree Hill fan (yes I admit it) and that is where they filmed. Ur food just makes me want to go even more now lol
ReplyDeleteOh, your bar food sounds like heaven! Can't wait to see that recipie!
ReplyDeleteWhat a delicious day of food and friends! Way to take full advantage of your travels!
ReplyDeleteI live in Wilmingtom and its beautiful! I use to see them filming
ReplyDeleteone tree hill alll the time (:
How fun! I can't wait for the recipe for that yummy looking creation.
ReplyDeleteAw!! Thank you ! Wanna delete my link and I will re do it?
ReplyDeleteI love that you went to Wilmington! I don't watch that show you mentioned but geez they must have a busy filming schedule there as I know One Tree Hill and Dawson's Creek were filmed there in the past - I really want to visit it just so I can see where all my fave spots on those shows were! And a day with two dinners = a win in my book ;)!
ReplyDeleteSure doll! LMK if you need anything else!
ReplyDeleteGot it!! Thanks so much! You were so fast and helpful! AND DAMN GIRL - WIAW IS HUGE NOW!!
ReplyDeleteOmg, do I love stuffed grape leaves! Yum :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting as always - you rock!
I've never had stuffed grape leaves! I must try. Looks like you had a blast...and loved on some pineapple:) xoxo
ReplyDeleteHey girlfriend! :) I added my link :) I want to do WIAW wayyyy more often than I have been! THANK SO MUCH! Love u
ReplyDeletehaha I'm glad its working now!!! =) Happy WIAW Lauren! -- and omg I know it's a BEAST of inspiration eh? love love it!
ReplyDeleteawww thanks schnookums!
ReplyDeleteyou should travel HERE! Just sayin' =)
ReplyDeleteI may or may not go to the same clubs/bars that they go to when they're in town =) haha even though I don't watch the show anymore I'm totally starstruck by the amount of celebrities in and out of Wilmington! I wish I lived closer to the town b/c I would never leave!!! Come visit!
ReplyDeletethank you love =)
ReplyDeleteVeggie chips are SO good!!!! :)
ReplyDeleteI spy mango salsa in the food pictures :) I love mangoes and not enough restaurants include mango in their menu.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Can you please delete my link #149....the link is broken for that submission. Thanks much.
I want a pineapple margarita!!! That would be so good with jalapeno-infused tequila... mmmm!
ReplyDeleteOh, I love Eastbound and Down! That's so funny that it's *your* bar!
ReplyDeleteAll of the meals being linked up looked delicious, going to have to bookmark and come back to check each one out. I see you posted a picture of Larabars I just tried those for the first time this week and I LOVE THEM!!!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the recipe for the red white and green pile of goodness above. What is it!? I want to eat it!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness can you please be my cook! :)
ReplyDeletehaha of course! <3
ReplyDeleteVeggie Lasagna =) The photos aren't my favorite so I've been slacking on posting the recipe... perfectionist to the extreme!
ReplyDeleteI was sad no one had asked for the name of the bar yet.. and I'm THRILLED to see it here. It's on one of my MUST go to places now. I love that show.
ReplyDeleteJust know if you ever go when I'm there that I WILL beat you in skee-ball =) I fell off the wagon with my DVR -- how has the show been lately? Still hilarious?
ReplyDeleteHow do I join all this fun?!?! I thought I did posting my WIAW yesterday, but...maybe I didn't do my linking correctly?!
ReplyDeletehttp://dudettehere.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/what-i-ate-wednesday-here-i-come-15/
Happy to have you as part of the party Meg!!!! xooxox
ReplyDeleteAnytime! Thanks for partying with me! =)
ReplyDeleteThey just finished filming the new Iron Man sequel here!!! Come visit anytime and we'll live it up down there! =)
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean you live in Jax, NC? We just got out but lived there last year! We were hoping for the West coast too. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah we put in for Cali and got NC! Craziness ;) Where did you end up moving after? I dream of the day I can pick where we live! lol
ReplyDelete