A lot of breakfast places have similar menus. So going in, you often have an idea of what you'll probably get, and you just hope the meal gets executed properly. That situation describes me having my one breakfast out for the week. I ordered an omelet with spinach, tomato, and cheddar. The eggs were cooked just fine, though the tomatoes lacked seasoning, they tasted too sweet. A plus was their chicken sausage: it had a nice spice, and tasted like actual sausage, which isn't always the case with breakfast poultry sausages.
Hash browns: the same thing you've had at every regular breakfast joint. Shredded taters, a little browning on the outside. The two slices of sourdough toast were cut in half horizontally and spread with some kind of butter, it was really yellow, so I don't believe it was actual butter.
My mom had the low carb scramble, and she let me try her side of bacon. The bacon was still limp and too chewy and it was really salty. I needed a few sips of water after one bite. I mean come on, how do you mess up bacon?
Sadly, the OJ wasn't fresh which is so key to me. It had had no pulp, but it did have that sour taste that is such a turn off. The staff was kind enough to replace it with iced tea. Good breakfast spot, but just not special.
We wanted to get some good quality time in before mom had her timeshare meeting and I had my golf round. So we played shuffleboard for about 30 or 40 minutes. Took me a little time to get warmed up, but after five or six rounds, I was getting 7s and 8s pretty easily.
I chilled in the hammock for a little while, read some of Colossians and thought about a girl in Tallahassee and wondering if I had any chance in hell at her. I still don't know, to be honest. I came back and we played a little Yahtzee, whch we seem to do every time we're together. I guess I needed another warmup. After a low round, I rolled seven Yahtzees over two games, I don't think I've ever had a streak that hot.
I chilled in the hammock for a little while, read some of Colossians and thought about a girl in Tallahassee and wondering if I had any chance in hell at her. I still don't know, to be honest. I came back and we played a little Yahtzee, whch we seem to do every time we're together. I guess I needed another warmup. After a low round, I rolled seven Yahtzees over two games, I don't think I've ever had a streak that hot.
Then I dressed quickly in a maroon Greg Norman golf shirt, black shorts, and new black Sketcher soft spikes, covered myself in sunscreen, put my dozen orange golf balls, flex tees, and glove in my yellow drawstring bag, the thing I'd been waiting for, golf at Shipyard. I hadn't played a round in six years and I chose this course because it was close to my hotel, not too expensive, and not very challenging. I paid as much to rent clubs as I did to play 18 holes ($60 each), but at least the clubs were somewhat new Titleists. I also had a Scotty Cameron putter in the bag and they had everything strapped in for me on my cart along with a cooler, and two mini USB plug-ins, sadly, they didn't work at all.
The course is mostly maintained well, the bunker rakes were off the course due to COVID. The one real problem was the greens are not green on nearly every hole. There were spots where the greens actually looked like flat sandy beaches.
As for my play, it was pretty uneven. I hit one great sand shot on the second hole and I even parred one hole. But for the 18 holes, I shot a 110 (counting the nine penalty strokes for lost balls).
The course is mostly maintained well, the bunker rakes were off the course due to COVID. The one real problem was the greens are not green on nearly every hole. There were spots where the greens actually looked like flat sandy beaches.
As for my play, it was pretty uneven. I hit one great sand shot on the second hole and I even parred one hole. But for the 18 holes, I shot a 110 (counting the nine penalty strokes for lost balls).
Could not hit the 1 and 3 woods for most of the round, maybe 1 out of 8 3 woods shots wee really good, and I quit the driver after two tries. I guess some time on the range before the round would have helped. But I was pretty pleased with my iron play and my short game was mostly good. I didn't make any great putts, but I made most of the ones I thought I could make. I have to say even though it would cost me some money to get a bag, clubs, and balls, I would consider playing the game. I have some disposable income and maybe golf is a place I would use it.
After five hours (and 3 beers), my feet were tired and I was sweating hard. But surprisingly my back felt better than I expected. I didn't even have a beer at the pub since mom was there to pick me up. I wanted to go back to the hotel and clean up, but mom had been at a timeshare meeting for 3 hours and did some shopping and she felt if she went back to the room, she wouldn't be leaving again. So it was off to find some dinner. I just wanted something quick and not too heavy, I thought about Publix for a sub sandwich. We arrived and all they had for meat options was turkey. I like turkey, but that wasn't going to satisfy me on this night. From there, we tried Slapfish, which a modern seafood pub. But the prices were a little higher than we wanted and it asan't quite the menu we were looking for. And considering the next day was the 4th of July, we knew the island would be crowded and finding an open place would be challenging.
After leaving Slapfish, we headed back east on 278 and turned into a strip mall looking for one restaurant, but then we saw this one place with these outdoor tables and it looked pretty inviting. Sometimes the best experiences happen to us by accident. This was absolutely the case when I dined at Ombra on my final night during my vacation to the Lowcountry.
I reviewed the menu outside and was drawn into the early diner special menu that was priced at $30 per person. It was 5:20 PM, we still had 10 minutes so we decided to try it out. The restaurant was largely empty inside, I guess they were making a strong effort t keep diners a healthy distance apart. The stereo blared out playing opera and crooner music, which is great for setting the atmosphere in an authentic Italian restaurant. The lighting was kept somewhat dim.
We got a liter sized bottle of water, which cost $7.50 as we found out later. I was fine with iced tea, which came in a tall thin glass. They didn't have sweet tea, so I had to add the sugar myself. We got a brad basket, which has thickly sliced Italian bread and focaccia along with extra virgin oil for dipping.
For apps, we started with the beef carpaccio. Thinly sliced raw beef, beautiful rich flavor. The only thing missing was some avocado, which we've come to expect with carpaccio. I had the panzanella salad, which had lettuce tomatoes, cucumbers, crispy croutons, and EVOO. Both apps had large thin shavings of Parmigiano cheese, which were loaded with that authentic sharp flavor.
Mom's entree was the sea bass served over tomatoes with sauteed spinach and carefully prepped mashed potatoes, they looked like a swirl of soft served vanilla bean ice cream. She enjoyed it immensely. I ordered the herb half boneless chicken. This chicken was pounded thin, and then grilled under a brick. Crispy, juicy, just a tremendous piece of chicken. I loved the roasted potatoes, a little crispiness and super tender inside. The vegetable was broccoli rabe, not my favorite, it's a super bitter vegetable. It's actually part of the turnip family, not broccoli (you're welcome for the trivia note). But it was prepared well with olive oil, garlic, and lemon. My plate also had a nice thick slice of beefsteak tomato.
I was a little limited on dessert since I don't do chocolate. I thought about the panna cotta, but that can be hit or miss. I went safe had the orange sorbet, which was served inside of a frozen orange. It was good, but I wish I could have had pineapple instead. Mom had her profiteroles, always an indulgence for her.
So we got back with the sun starting to go down, and with me just wanting to chill, I hit the whirlpool before heading down to the beach before watching the sunset.
The next morning, it was 45 minutes on the treadmill, 45 minutes in the sun, shower, pack and leave. It took us about 5 and a half hours to make the trip back to Cary. Along the way though, Mom took me to Beaufort which has a very nice old school southern downtown and historical district. Nice blend of antebellum and modern. Yes I said antebellum, even if it's not politically correct, like so few things are anymore.
That Publix sub in Beaufort was so great. I don't know of many actual ub shops that are as good as Publix, which is a grocery store!
I reviewed the menu outside and was drawn into the early diner special menu that was priced at $30 per person. It was 5:20 PM, we still had 10 minutes so we decided to try it out. The restaurant was largely empty inside, I guess they were making a strong effort t keep diners a healthy distance apart. The stereo blared out playing opera and crooner music, which is great for setting the atmosphere in an authentic Italian restaurant. The lighting was kept somewhat dim.
We got a liter sized bottle of water, which cost $7.50 as we found out later. I was fine with iced tea, which came in a tall thin glass. They didn't have sweet tea, so I had to add the sugar myself. We got a brad basket, which has thickly sliced Italian bread and focaccia along with extra virgin oil for dipping.
For apps, we started with the beef carpaccio. Thinly sliced raw beef, beautiful rich flavor. The only thing missing was some avocado, which we've come to expect with carpaccio. I had the panzanella salad, which had lettuce tomatoes, cucumbers, crispy croutons, and EVOO. Both apps had large thin shavings of Parmigiano cheese, which were loaded with that authentic sharp flavor.
Mom's entree was the sea bass served over tomatoes with sauteed spinach and carefully prepped mashed potatoes, they looked like a swirl of soft served vanilla bean ice cream. She enjoyed it immensely. I ordered the herb half boneless chicken. This chicken was pounded thin, and then grilled under a brick. Crispy, juicy, just a tremendous piece of chicken. I loved the roasted potatoes, a little crispiness and super tender inside. The vegetable was broccoli rabe, not my favorite, it's a super bitter vegetable. It's actually part of the turnip family, not broccoli (you're welcome for the trivia note). But it was prepared well with olive oil, garlic, and lemon. My plate also had a nice thick slice of beefsteak tomato.
I was a little limited on dessert since I don't do chocolate. I thought about the panna cotta, but that can be hit or miss. I went safe had the orange sorbet, which was served inside of a frozen orange. It was good, but I wish I could have had pineapple instead. Mom had her profiteroles, always an indulgence for her.
So we got back with the sun starting to go down, and with me just wanting to chill, I hit the whirlpool before heading down to the beach before watching the sunset.
The next morning, it was 45 minutes on the treadmill, 45 minutes in the sun, shower, pack and leave. It took us about 5 and a half hours to make the trip back to Cary. Along the way though, Mom took me to Beaufort which has a very nice old school southern downtown and historical district. Nice blend of antebellum and modern. Yes I said antebellum, even if it's not politically correct, like so few things are anymore.
That Publix sub in Beaufort was so great. I don't know of many actual ub shops that are as good as Publix, which is a grocery store!
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