Journey to the South Part Deux

i spoke with a friend yesterday who commented on my prior post and asked for a picture to see the new cut. i'll put one up eventually but i'm not one of those asian girls who stands around selca-ing all the time. it just feels too narcissistic and weird. however, it did make me look through my blog and realize i haven't posted any pics of myself in a long time. nor do i really have any desire too. for those of you who know me, you already know what i look like. those of you who don't, it wouldn't really matter anyway. plus, i've become a seriously Hungry Hungry Hippo and am extremely displeased at the way i look. and for your benefit, i will not subject you to my currently unpleasant aesthetics. for those ppl who see me in person on a regular basis, you're SOL.

also, i was checking out my visitors statistics since i'm always curious as to who's reading and why/how they stumbled onto my blog. and how freaky was it when i saw a visitor from the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C.? um, yea, that didn't completely scare me for 5 seconds... although i don't think i have too much to worry about since they seemed to have stumbled on it for the post about JGL.

a preview of what Cubed did later that same night.

ok. now to conclude my Journey to the South. Cubed, Kiddo and i drove from VB to Richmond to meet up with Coleslaw and AMW. Cubed made the mistake of drinking a few beers before we got into the car and proceeded to hit traffic. so not pretty. and neither were the bumpy construction roads at the time. however, we did get a Chick-Fil-A stop out of it and i got to show off my fancy driving skills of one-handed signaling and changing lanes because my other hand was eating a soft serve ice cream. i got MAD skillz.

so, i have to admit, i'm not a great diarist. a ton of debauchery went down while we were in Richmond. Beer Pong, drunken traipsings, Trolley Market, random makeouts, and "kitchen time" but i didn't photograph any of it. my bad...

this is not the aforementioned "kitchen time" although we were in the kitchen

but really, do we need more documentary evidence of debauchery? probably not.

look at this thing!!! ::smacking and licking lips::

i did however, take some pics of our epic brunch at River City Diner. the menu is ginormous, with some definite note-worthy options and the bloody marys are huge and delicious. mmmm, i'm salivating just at the thought of it... AMW was her usual self and ordered 3 beverages and a side of fries. the order that came out was essentially 5 fries on plate. i kid you not. the serving size was seriously pathetic. however, AMW's order aside, everyone else's was more than enough to fill up our stomachs.

apparently someone disagreed enough with Tabasco's suggested uses to cross them out on the bottle at CP Shucker's

after brunch we made a command decision and went back to Virginia Beach to check out BBM's hometown and meet her parents who were throwing a barbecue in our honor (or Cubed's honor-but i decided to include myself in that). i finally fulfilled my desire to eat seafood near the sea. every time i go to a seaside town, i become wracked with a desire to eat oysters and chowders. it's really weird. particularly since NY and NJ are also sea-bordering states. however, since i'm the only person that feels this way, it doesn't usually come to fruition. except this time.

BBM took us to CP Shucker's on the oceanfront to satisfy my seafood craving. i ordered so much food my jeans (which i'd borrowed from BBM because i'd ripped mine playing beer pong in Richmond) felt like they were going to burst. but it was totally worth it. BBM ordered the Shucker Bites which are bite-sized grilled tuna, which i remember being good, but now, so many months later, i have no recollection of them at all. for my meal i got the She-Crab soup, Bay Chips and Cheese, and a dozen raw oysters. anyone who knows me would think that's nothing. and so did i, but i clearly forgot to account for the density of the She-Crab soup. i'd never had the soup before but was immediately intrigued once BBM told me about it. it's like a chowder made from the eggs of a female crab with the usual chowder accoutrements. being asian, eating the ovaries of crabs is nothing foreign and i actually really like it so of course i ordered it. and it was extremely tasty, but i recommend ordering cup-size because the density of the "soup" and the flavor becomes overwhelming in bowl-form.

my epic meal at CP Shuckers.

after dinner we went to BBM's local but i'd developed an alcohol headache by then so i was out of the game until right before the bar closed. go figure. i furiously drank 2 beers before we got kicked out of the bar. although what i did was nothing compared to Cubed. right before we were leaving, a random guy offered Cubed $20 to chug a pitcher of beer. who would say "no" to that? clearly not Cubed (and it didn't help that BGA and i were egging him on).

Cubed right after his "triumphant" chug. it looked worth it at the time...

Cubed puked as soon as we got back to BBM's apartment and suffered the consequences for the rest of the night. he kept bemoaning "that so wasn't worth $20". to Cubed's credit, he had drank pretty heavily prior to chugging the beer as well.

BGA and i stayed up to giggle like little girls at a slumber party and share our new-found love of all-things-Kesha (that should help you date exactly how long ago this event took place). we also watched the weirdest tug-of-war going on between BBM and the guy she was seeing. he kept going into her room to go to sleep and then exiting 5 mins later then going back in 5 mins after that. it must've happened about 20 times.

everyone was a little rough the next morning

the barbecue at BBM's parent's house was amazing. there's something about a home-cooked meal that is always so satisfying. i didn't get pics of the food because i didn't want to look like a weirdo....

...so instead i'll show you the pics of us shooting paintballs in BBM's backyard.

does Virginia count as "down South"? Part 1

being an Northeastern'er my whole life, i really don't know. how sad.

road trips with friends are always fun. especially when you know that drinking and debauchery are waiting for you at the other end. however, drama is never fun. and my trip to VB was almost derailed because of drama. BOOOOOO. you would think, the more the merrier right? wrong. when too many heads come together, there's just too many conflicting desires and personalities.

problems started even before the trip was underway. The initial plans were to go to Coleslaw's place in VB, so Cubed bought a plane ticket to VB. however, Coleslaw subsequently got a job in Richmond and was staying at a friend's place in Richmond and wanted to shift everything to Richmond. this coincided with AMW's desire to see her latest boy, who also resides in Richmond. not ideal for Cubed, who couldn't change his ticket without a monetary loss, or Kiddo and i, who balked at the idea of a weekend surrounded by strange boys as opposed to the law school reunion we'd initially pictured. BGA, who was also going, didn't care either way. strange boys make him happy and so do we.

a compromise was reached wherein Kiddo and i would drive to VB a day before everyone else so we could pick up Cubed. we would then drive to Richmond and rendezvous with BGA and AMW, who were taking the Chinatown bus. party in Richmond for 1 night and see where the mood took us.

i actually really like roadtrips, and it doesn't really matter if i'm the driver or the passenger. it all depends on the chemistry of the ppl in the car. Kiddo is a combination of a lazy/polite and reliable passenger. he defers to the driver for the roadtrip soundtrack, which i like since i'm an iPod tyrant of sorts, but it makes for tricky driving, particularly when i'm driving a route i don't know. plus, i get chagrined making ppl listen to music they don't understand, e.g. korean, japanese, and chinese pop music, which meant i was grabbing the iPod to skip a lot of songs. also, Kiddo is the type of co-pilot who would rather be sleeping, which is total co-pilot faux pas. however, since Kiddo isn't the most talkative person in the first place, whether he was sleeping or awake really didn't make that much of a difference so it didn't really matter. Kiddo is a pretty reliable navigator tho, so plus points for him on that. and, because he's so laidback, he took my occassional spazzy/scary driving tactics in full stride. and that is not easy to do.
when we arrived in VB it was pretty late (i had to drive slower because it was impossible to see on the windy backroads and there were no streetlamps). without many food possibilities, we ended up at TGIF's, which seemed to be the late-night hang out for the area on a Thursday night. it's interesting to be a tourist hanging out in a place where locals frequent. although Kiddo and i were engaged in our convo, i couldn't help eavesdropping on the convos of those around us.

staying at Coleslaw's apartment without her there was just as interesting an experience. first off, it was scarily messy. secondly, according to Kiddo, it was devoid of food. Kiddo and i diverge on this issue. there were plently of Lean Cuisines and microwave snacks and food at Coleslaw's which i completely categorize as "food", but apparently Kiddo does not consider those items consumable. and then there's Kittles, or his real name, Texas Pete, Coleslaw's cat. she was super friendly and kept rubbing her head against me. this is prob the only cat i've ever liked although i still had an unreasonable fear that she would smother me in my sleep. when i laid down to pass out in Coleslaw's bed, i heard a "mew" and all of a sudden Kiddles was right in front of my face. it scared the bejesus out of me! hence the wall of pillows for protection.
the next morning Cubed arrived and we all went out for brunch/ lunch. we attempted to go to Pocahontas Pancake House, which we read about on Yelp and has apparently been showcased on the Food Network, but alas, we arrived too late (uh, 11:30 a.m. is too late? apparently). so i called Coleslaw for suggestions but could not for the life of me, find the place she had suggested. so instead we pulled into the parking lot for Beach Bully's instead. we took the packed parking lot as a good sign.and it was such a good decision! aside from the embarassment of Cubed having to ask "what are hush puppies" and the deafening silence that ensued in the restaurant, the whole experience was extremely enjoyable and yummy. i ordered the fried catfish platter with mac and cheese and fries (you get the choice of 2 sides. i was not just being a fatty :p). Cubed ordered the sandwich which was so good, tender meat and delish BBQ sauce. Kiddo, being the growing boy he is, ordered the Queen Combo which is 1/4 chicken and queen rack of ribs + 2 side dishes. the chicken was "eh" but the ribs were fall of the bone yum.
my favorite part of Beach Bully's, aside from the clearly delicious food, was the abundance of sauce options. i wish they had these in every restaurant.
as i was lauding the food and wishing i could eat it every day, i noticed the size of some of the other customers and realized it's probably a good thing that there isn't a Beach Bully near me.