Mon Nov 25 to Wed Nov 27 - Rainy days and Outlet Malls
As is so often the case, we are told by locals that the cold rainy windy weather we are experiencing is 'unusual' for this time of year, and by rights we should be lazing away on a beach. We have started to take the locals word with a grain of salt, and not planning golf games or beach walks until the 'morning of'. And this week has been one of those weeks for hunkering down by the electric fireplace and breaking out the wooly PJ's at night. In fairness, we did bravely wander from the 'condo' and herewith is a summary of one of the slowest weeks we have had on the road!! Plans for golf on Monday were quickly ditched when the temperature remained in single digits by noon, so we stayed home and we did some planning and research and basic admin. Later in the day cabin fever led us to venture out to a big outlet mall (Tanger) to discover that we actually didn't
initially find it. We wandered inadvertently into 'Big Lots' and 'World
Market'.. stores which captured our attention for so long, that a trip
to the outlet mall consisted of only one store (Nike) and the rest was
delayed for another day.
On Tuesday after a valiant session in the gym we decided to continue our quest to investigate the outlet mall. We were blown away with the 'pre-Black Friday' prices of stuff in stores such as Tommy Hilfiger, Tommy Bahama, Levi, Crocs etc (if you need more 'stuff'). What was notable about this day was the rain... it was torrential to put it mildly.. and, with gale force winds, we (well Janice anyway, who is far more dramatic in her imagination) had visions of the 'condo' floating away and breaking up in a rubbled heap. But thankfully the shelter of the pecan and live oaks, left the unit with little more than a good shake up and a couple of nuts on the roof (no not us!! Pecans!!). Live oaks for those who are wondering are so-called because they are 'evergreen' oaks and therefore stay 'live' throughout the year. They are common in this 'Gone With the Wind' area of the USA and some parts of Europe. The acorns are very small (fortunately) and plentiful. A walk through a stand of live oaks is frequently fraught with flying acorns unceremoniously shmacking you on the head.
Anyway, back to Tuesday. Exhausted from looking for bargains we didn't need, but pleased with our few purchases, we headed back in the rain and spent the rest of the evening looking out of the window at the storm outside, and feeling very cosy and content.
Wednesday (after the obligatory session in the gym) we went back to Benny Hudson's seafood for some fresh fish. We had actually been there on Monday and had some great flounder.. so today we bought some local sea trout and a pound and a half of huge fresh shrimp to boil up and have cold tomorrow. A trip to the grocery store (Harris Teeter) for some supplies to make brownies as a pot-luck contribution for tomorrow.
We made the brownies, which we have never done before, but we are not sure they are 'done' enough, we will cool them over night and check in the morning. Also made some leek/carrot soup for the freezer.
The sea trout turned out to be fabulous with watercress and a mustard/yogurt sauce... wow!! We are going to miss the access to such amazing fresh seafood when we leave here in a couple of weeks.
Sorry... no photos... we must get to be more diligent about recording our adventures ... just getting lazy about taking the camera everywhere.
