Extreme Pig Out...

...that was the title of a show I was just watching on the Travel Channel as I ate some of the massive slice of chocolate peanut butter layer cake that Paul and I took home from Gregg's last night (if you've ever been to Gregg's for dessert, you know they are very very generous with their cake slices!). Thankfully they were showing skinny teenagers trying to eat 7 pound burgers, so it didn't turn me off from the cake (does that mean I've completely re-acclimated to the American lifestyle?). Anyway, Gregg's cakes are one of the things I miss when I'm away from the Rhode Island area. That and Del's frozen lemonade.

But there are definitely new things to look forward to with regard to "extreme pig outs". Like Steak N' Shake, a burger and milkshake restaurant that's open 24 hours. Their claim to fame is that they use steak in their burgers, as opposed to other chain fast food burger joints that supposedly use lesser quality beef. Either way, it's tasty. And then there's Bruster's ice cream, which Paul introduced me to on our recent trip to Bloomington, and I am now a card-carrying member of their "sweet rewards" club so I can get a free ice cream cone after I buy 9. And I'm sure I'll get there.

I'm also fascinated by farms. There are some farms in and around Seekonk, but not nearly on the scale of what you've got in the midwest. I think grain elevators are really neat, and I love seeing tractors and combines in action. In Bloomington, I'm hoping to take full advantage of the weekly community farmers market and if we can, we might be signing up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) plan where you pay to get a share of each week's crops, kind of like the vegetable box scheme we signed up for in Oxford. I've got a lot to learn about our new home state, that's for sure! And I think even Paul will be experiencing a lot of new things since he's going back to his college town as a grown and married man.

Well, we've got a lot to figure out in the next few months, but at least most of our stuff is packed (and has been for nearly 2 years!), so getting there won't be much of a hassle!

Millet's Farm

On Thursday I went out with Danalisa, Owen, Amanda, Millie and a new friend, Alisha and her two girls to Millet's Farm, near Abingdon. We had to take 2 buses, and it took an hour each way, but it was totally worth it! Not only did we get to see the beautiful English countryside on the way there, but the farm itself was really nice! They had all kinds of animals to see, like alpacas, goats, cows and miniature horses, as well as several country shops.

The food shop was really special. Their fresh produce looked great, and prices were even better! What really impressed me was the freezer section - they had the kind of freezers where you slide the top back and look in to get food, only the freezers were divided into sections where you could just scoop out loose frozen veggies. It was kind of like a candy store! They also had all kinds of neat kitchen gadgets (it was so hard not to buy a bunch!), nice meats, fresh fish and a bakery. If it wasn't so far away, I would definitely go there instead of the grocery store! I wound up with some fresh veggies, meringues and a pumpkin to grace our table!

They also had a huge garden center, and a clothing shop. We all got some great bargains at the shop - most notably the 5 pound fleece jackets me, Amanda & Danalisa got. They only had them in green, but we all like green, and for that price, who cares if we're triplets?

I forgot to take my camera with me, so a special thanks goes to Danalisa for letting me use hers for some great pictures, like this one with the animatronic polar bear!