Tag: chicken

Sage Diner (Eastern Shore, VA)

Recently I went to the Sage Diner with my parents on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.  This Sage Diner is not to be confused with the Sage Diner in Mount Laurel.  Coincidentally, my parents went too a few years ago. I drive down the Eastern Shore (from New Jersey to my hometown of Virginia Beach) regularly, but I haven’t been to a lot if diners on the Eastern Shore.

Atmosphere: B
The sage diner is located right on Route 13 and has a huge sign located outside, so it’s hard to miss.  There are several locations.

The building reminds me of a local family is owned business  It’s a casual brick building with a sign that says Sage Diner.  The inside is a large square room with several booths and tables as well as a bar.  There is nothing unique about it but does have a cute small town feel to it.

Coffee: B
The waitress brewed a fresh pot and it was brewed hot. There was nothing unique about the coffee and there were a few grounds inside.  Other then that, it wasn’t too bad.

Sage Diner Virginia

Service: B
Our waitress was very friendly but she got several parts of our order wrong including my parents soup as well as my pudding.  She blamed it comically on “being senile”. (Her words not mine).

She was friendly and treated us as if she had known us for years.

Food: B
The Sage diner has a huge dinner menu.  They have the basic breakfast staples such as eggs and pancakes but nothing unusual.  I decided to try the special, “The chicken souvlaki.”  To be honest I had no idea what would come out!

Sage Diner Virginia

I assumed there would be chicken but after that…I had no idea.  The chicken souvlaki had grilled chicken with roasted vegetables and a very thick and heavy oil.  To be honest, there was so much oil it turned into a soup at the bottom of my plate.  The meal itself was good though.  I enjoyed the roasted vegetables and chicken.  It oddly enough reminded me of a grilled fajita on a pita (diner rhyming?).

Sage Diner Virginia

It also came with a side salad which was a perfect compliment.  The menu stated the special came pudding, however, the waitress forgot and by the time she remembered it was time to go.

In summary, I enjoyed my food and it was typical of a diner.

Cost: $
For my special and coffee, the cost was $13.  It was a lot of food for not a lot of money so I can’t complain.

Summary/Would I come back?
I enjoyed the Sage Diner and it’s a great stop on the Eastern Shore.  If you are heading through the Eastern Shore, I would recommend stopping.

Summary:
Atmosphere: B
Service: B
Coffee: B
Food: B
Cost: $10-15
Overall: B

Questions for you:
Have you ordered anything off a menu having no idea what to expect?
Have you ever traveled down route 13 on the Eastern Shore?

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Time to Eat Diner

A few weeks ago, Caitlin and I met at the Time to Eat Diner.  The Time to Eat Diner has been on my to-do list for a while.  I’ve heard it’s good plus who can argue with that name?  Out of all of the names, “Time to Eat” is in the top.

When in doubt, I will close my eyes. But don't worry, Chelsea looks great
When in doubt, I will close my eyes. But don’t worry, Caitlin looks great

Atmosphere: A
The Time to Eat Diner is located in Bridgewater, NJ after a semi-confusing roundabout.  It’s modern, clean and has been plenty of parking.

The inside is spacious with plenty of seating. You walk in next to a large bakery case. It’s clean as well which surprisingly has been an issue lately.  We were lucky to sit in a booth towards the front.

Coffee: A 
The coffee was great and had plenty of whipped cream.  The only thing missing was more coffee.

Time to Eat Diner

Service: B
The waitress was friendly, and the food was brought out quickly.  It might have been the fastest I’ve ever received food.

Food: B
It was exceptionally hot that day, and I was craving something cold.  I had only run half an hour but I sweat so much, and I didn’t want any hot food.  I ordered a Mediterranean salad.

Originally I wanted salmon, but they informed me they couldn’t do that, and so I stuck with the chicken.  When the salad came out, I was confused about whether it was chicken or salmon.  Both Caitlin and I stared at the chicken trying to figure it out: was it chicken?  Was it fish?

It was the fishiest looking chicken I’ve ever seen.  That being said the salad was filling, and there was plenty of chicken. When I ate it, it tasted normal, and I have no complaints.  I wish there were more mixed greens, but the salad was good.

Time to Eat Diner

Cost: $$
For my salad and coffee, the cost was $15. It was more expensive for the amount of food, but it was a good meal.

Summary/Would I come back?

I liked the Time to Eat Diner.  The meal was good, and there were plenty options.  It wasn’t the best diner, but it wasn’t the worst either.  It as odd they couldn’t add salmon, but that’s how it goes.

Atmosphere: A
Service: A
Coffee: A
Food: B
Cost: $10-20

Overall: A

Question for you: What’s the restaurant with the coolest name you’ve been too?

Date with Shannon at Aroma’s Cafe

I like my titles to be clear and concise and tell you exactly what the post is about…that isn’t so hard is it?  I could have easily named this post…cold coffee rage...I guess that would be mysterious.

Shannon and I seem to have the most opposite schedules in the world.  Everytime I come back to VA she is just leaving…everytime she is leaving…I am just coming back.  Our schedules normally correlate for about 2-3 days so it’s always exciting when we get to hang out.

We stopped at my local wawa before because I'm an addict
We stopped at my local wawa before because I’m an addict

A couple of weeks ago we decided to hit a café called Aromas located in Newport News, VA.  (Also one in Williamsburg). That being said, it was about a 30 minute drive because google maps and siri likes to take us on the scenic route.  Not a big deal though because we always have plenty to catch up on.

So arriving at Aroma’s we noticed the restaurant was very centered around the coffee.  The café was cute and had a lot of pinterest signs with humorous coffee quotes.  Not only do I almost always try restaurant coffee to begin with, but if that is one of their main claims to fame then I have to try that as well.  Being a plain jane, I like to get normal coffee.  I don’t get their fancy mocha X,Y and Z with a hint of this and a swirl of that.

So after debating what to order I got their specialty house salad with added chicken and a cup (20 ounces of coffee) equating to about 15 dollars.  A little expensive for me but that is fine.

aromassalad

So first the salad.  It was presented extremely well.  It had all my favorite things:  pita, feta cheese and some actual vegetables for good measure. However, I payed an extra 3 dollars for chicken and there wasn’t much chicken added…The salad itself was good though.

aromassalad1

If I had read the menu better I would have noticed that the dressing was some sort of honey mustard flavored.  I don’t exactly care for mustard but it wasn’t bad and I obviously still ate it.

My final verdict: The salad was good but could have used more chicken and been bigger overall for 15 dollars. I had a second lunch a few hours later which was fine. 

Moving on to the coffee.  I don’t normally rail into coffee because I’m not too particular as long as it’s warm and I can add cream.  However, this was a coffee shop and  when I went to go fill up my cup from one of the five pots, four were empty and the other was cold.  So that’s that.   I didn’t finish my coffee and that is saying something for me.

But this photo looks nice
But this photo looks nice

 

My final verdict: Would I go back?  It’s about a 30 minute drive from my house and honestly if I hadn’t had such great company I might have written a harsher review.  I wouldn’t drive the 30 minutes again back and if I was in the area and hungry at the time I would honestly probably try somewhere new.  It’s not bad by any means, but it isn’t a favorite in the LOLZ book.

*I don’t get payed, sponsored or compensated for my review services and all thoughts and rambles are my own.  

Questions for you:

Best restaurant coffee ever?

How do you judge a restaurant?  Food portion or taste?  Atmosphere?  Your Company? My restaurant reviews (well that is obvious). 

Chicken and Waffles

I thought I had posted this recipe a while ago…but alas I did not.  That’s fine though, because who doesn’t love yet another savory waffle recipe?  I like savory waffles a lot and have found you can never really have too many savory recipes.  I personally like the combination of chicken and waffles…but chicken in your waffle?  That…something about that…you probably don’t know what to say.

Plus they have the new Lay’s chicken and waffle chips…so why not pair them and make an actual chicken waffle.

chickenandwaffles

Chicken and Waffles

2/3 cup flour

1 egg

1 tsp baking powder

1 tablespoon oil

¼ cup chedder cheese

½ cup milk

shredded or broken up chicken

Spices I used: garlic (I know…that’s it).

You can somewhat see the chicken pieces poking through…like a little surprise

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mix, then add the cheese and chicken.  If you add them before mixing then you’ll probably have clumps in the batter.

Question for you:

Sweet or savory? 

Have you ever had chicken and waffles? 

It’s pretty big in the south but I don’t see it as much up north.

Flaming Hot WIAW

I had written up the perfect blog post for today.  What I ate…what happened when I tried something new..it was simply perfectly (okay yeah…no not really) but alas I don’t save my work, I never learn my lessons and closed Microsoft word before transferring into wordpress.  Whoops…Typical Hollie moment.  Better that then the 1500 list of names I had to manually go through…as always worse things in the world. 

So this week, I got outside my comfort zone and bought some new peanut butter.  Why?  Because I was out and needed peanut butter.  But this isn’t just any peanut butter, this was peanut butter and co ( read so many blogs about how great it is…LOL) and tried a weird flavor.  (I literally have been a normal peanut butter fan for…well all my life).  This peanut butter was on sale at the grocery store (price chopper) so I thought…eh it’s the same price and I’ll be adventurous.

I’ll save said story for breakfast.  You should know by now I have a chocolate waffle most mornings.  With about 500 calories per waffle without any peanut butter, it keeps me moving in the morning.  I actually enjoy going to work out on the elliptical with a somewhat full stomach.  If it’s empty I cramp up.  So I normally eat breakfast around 6, go to the gym from 7-8:30 and have work at 9 (most days).

So this peanut butter I bought was actually spicy.  As in my mouth burned and then I had heart burn an hour later.  So with that I’m sticking with normal peanut butter.  Has anyone tried this stuff?

Lunch was with the work gang.  Two of these salads.  Though I do enjoy balsamic dressing , I was feeling very Italian today and got Italian dressing.  My staple work salad at the dining hall is spinach, feta cheese (at least ½ cup), banana peppers, olives (love olives), chicken (and lots of it), dried cherries and walnuts.  It’s so good I always go back for a bonus round.   I really think I have about 1000 calories of salad…I don’t care or mind.

SaladX2

After a rather stressful day at work, I wanted to come home and eat all the cookies in every dining hall for dinner.  Since that might be inappropriate I just made myself a roast beef sandwich.  This might be the greatest sandwich I’ve ever made in my life…partially why I chose to do my WIAW today because normally my food looks like crap.

Grilled on my George Foreman.  Duh. 

Afterwords, I went to the gym and did my core routine.  Nothing too exciting there…  Upon finishing that I was craving something sweet since I forwent all of the cookies.  I was going to get ice cream but they were out of my favorite flavors at Stewerts (upon grumbling) I just went to the fastrack and got a decaf coffee with whip cream and had my greek yogurt protein shake (ie: 1 cup greek yogurt, ½ cup milk, some blueberries, ice cubes and some sweetener).   It sufficed.

Adding sprinkles makes it a constant winner.

Questions for you: 

1.       Have you ever tried that peanut butter?

2.       What did you eat this week?

Food Staples

Food de Hollie
After my WIAW rage, (ha) I got a few emails about what I stock at my house to cook. I can assure you some of it is probably weird, some is strange I guess not all of it so whatever.
Breakfast Foods:
1. Greek yogurt

I like to hoard the containers like no big deal…

2. Peanut flour (I have at least 1 serving daily normally…my “odd food”)
3. Eggs (I go through a dozen eggs once a week)
4. Liquid egg whites
5. Sugar Free syrup (for waffles/pancakes)
6. Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powder (once you try this stuff you’ll never go back)
7. Stevia and truvia (depending on my mood)
8. Peanut butter
9. pumpkin
10. skim milk
Lunch foods: (While I normally have lunch on campus, I occasionally pack my lunch)
Which is normally a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a greek yogurt. Well actually it’s two because I have one at 11 and one at 2.

Dinner:
1. Lots of frozen vegetable steamers (broccoli, asparagus, brussel sprouts!)

My favorite dinner ever.  Salmon, brussel sprouts and mushrooms

2. Fresh vegetables include onions, garlic, kale and mushrooms
3. Frozen steak and chicken to grill on my george foreman
4. Fresh fish normally bought day of from the supermarket to grill

Snacks:
1. Quest protein bars (these are my current favorites).
2. Greek yogurt+ pumpkin
3. Protein shakes made of Xanthem gum, pumpkin, skim milk and greek yogurt
4. Hard boiled eggs

Random other things  I like:

1. I always have hot cocoa stocked
2. and ice cream

3. Coffee creamer (I am in a Baileys Irish Cream mood lately)

But other then that I have dessert at restaurants because they are clearly better then anything I could make
Question for you: Name your top five staple foods.

1. Eggs
2. Greek yogurt
3. Peanut flour and cocoa powder (for pancakes…it counts as one)
4. Salmon
5. Xanthem gum for smoothies

WIAW: Lowering those Carbs

As promised for WIAW, here is a post (I believe last Thursday) of everything that I ate.  This was a pretty optimal day for me, I got in a lot of protein and fat, and minimal carbohydrates.  On this particular day, I also didn’t eat any ice-cream or sweets (which I do maybe every other day…every two days).  With that being said here is what I had that particular day. 

And to answer you r question Chuck, I do infact know how many carbohydrates I have daily.  I have an entire spreadsheet devoted to them to email back and forth to my nutritionist.

For breakfast I had peanut flour pancakes.  Peanut flour has saved me from ever having protein powder again (and for having pancakes).  I have pancakes and have my protein+fat+a few carbs.  I honestly don’t know what I would do without it…actually on days I don’t-I normally have eggs.

Who would take a guess that these had 42 grams of protein.

 

Lunch (my lunch is normally exactly at 11…I can’t wait past that..I’m starved!) was this pretend omelette I made.  Pretend because my omelette flipping stinks so it becomes scrambled eggs with vegetables and cheese in it.  I really like to have a lot of eggs daily, this post might not show it but for me eggs are like liquid gold.

Topped with some red pepper and ketchup (duh)

Snack was Chobani Greek yogurt+2 tablespoons of peanut butter.

I should have put the peanut butter at the top so you would know I wasn’t a dirty liar.

I liked it so much, I had a bonus round again 2 hours later.  (You can refer to the photo above for ease…)

For 5pm Dinner, my mom was making crock pot chicken (my absolute favorite).  I opted for the nonrice and bread version and as I explained in a previous carby post I added kale+mushrooms+garlic gloves+egg plant (why not?).

For 8pm dinner (why not?) I just found some left over steak and corn and ate it with ketchup.  Because who doesn’t love a bulging protein belly at 8:30pm?

I hope that entertained you as much as it did for me.  😉  If you have any more requests, feel free to email me at lolzthatswim at gmail

Questions for you: Do you eat at night?  What time do you eat dinner?