Wickedly Awesome Chicken 🐓

A combination of BBQ sauce, Buffalo sauce, Italian 🇮🇹 seasoning and steak seasoning on the 🐔 chicken. It marinaded overnight.

We have really been hitting the chicken hard this summer. But, it has been very good every time. 10 minutes on indirect heat. Flip, and 10 more minutes on indirect heat. Then finish up with it directly over the coals. I have a nice old Father’s Day present of a digital thermometer 🌡 that easily lets me make sure the chicken reaches at least 165 degrees.

The sweet corn 🌽 came from Hackman’s Farm Market south of Vallonia on Highway 135. I prefer to cut it off the cob. The Brussels sprouts came out of a bag and we very tasty. ( Heidi has really come around on the Brussels sprouts!) it is also and easy clean up.

Minute Steak 🥩 and Scalloped Cabbage

Take a cubed steak, brown it in flour and Chef’s Secret and then bake it. Boom!!! 💥 Let me tell you about the scalloped 🥬 cabbage. Nina Hackman gets a big cabbage from her brother Barry Melloncamp, chop it up, add a can of chicken soup and put cheese on top and then bake. Incredible!!!

Minute steak, mashed potatoes 🥔 and scalloped 🥬.
Blackberry cobbler and ice cream.

Get some Grassy Fork grown blackberries from Ronnie Jo Scarlett, flour and sugar are the main ingredients for the cobbler, then add a couple scoops of some melting ice cream and it is Blackberry Heaven!

Nina also made me try a raspberry 🥧 pie. She got some Grassy Fork grown raspberries from Barry’s wife Linda Melloncamp, bake a pie and add the melting ice cream again and it is a home run! grassy Fork grown is a great way to start a summer meal!!!

Shrimp 🍤 Kabobs: It’s What’s For Dinner

Before cooking: Shrimp, yellow pepper, 🧅 Onion, 🍍 Pineapple, and red 🌶.
Finished product. Along with some baked broccoli 🥦.
Just before taking the kabobs off the grill. The colors equal flavor.

Heidi seasoned the kabobs with sweet chili sauce . I grilled them for five minutes on each side with applewood smoke for flavor. Each piece of the kabob was filled with taste.

🍤 Shrimp 🌮 Tacos a la Heidi

Sautéed 🍤 shrimp, 🥬 lettuce, tomatoes 🍅, 🐓 chicken, avocado 🥑 and cheese on a soft taco shell. On the left is Ceviche. Heidi mixed 🥒 cucumbers, 🧅 onion and cold 🍤 shrimp. I love the colors of this plate.

On vacation last week, Heidi and Sophie had some fish tacos and Heidi decided that she could reproduce them. And reproduce she did, by golly! They were outstanding! Now, this ceviche business was really good if you like that kind of thing. Fresh veggies and shrimp marinaded and served cool. The tacos 🌮 have two incredible ingredients: the sliced 🥑 were fabulous and we found a new condiment that is out of this world…Hidden Valley Ranch Blasted Bold Buffalo sauce.

Game Changer!!! I first had Heidi pose holding the bottle, however, she would not sign the release papers and allow her image to appear in the article.

Santino’s Italian Trattoria

This place has been crowded every night we have been here. We went to the beach early and came here at 4:00 to make sure we could get in.
Sophie and Lawson are having a napping moment as we wait for some fantastic Italian cuisine.
These are some BIG meatballs!
Lawyer
and I agree… sausage, 🍕 pepperoni and 🍄 mushrooms.

Just down the road about a half mile is Santino’s. The lasagna, shrimp and chicken Alfredo were all delicious.

Sunrise 🥯 Bagel Company

Check out this cool rack of fresh 🥯 bagels!

Conveniently located next door to the Fractured Prune doughnut store and less than a mile from our rental house, we tried the Sunrise Bagel Company this morning.

Asiago Provolone 🥯 bagel with 🥓 bacon, 🥚 egg and cheese. This sandwich is called the High Rise. The Asiago and Provolone is toasted on the bagel and then put on the griddle to make it a hot sandwich. I ate this on our top deck with beachfront houses and the Atlantic Ocean in the background. If Word Press had sound effects you could hear the waves 🌊 rolling in. This is a winner!

JM’s On The Water

JM’s On the Water is located on the sound and just north of the Topsail Island bridge. You can get a seat outside along the dock or inside. We chose inside due to a 🌬 windy evening. Actually, after we came in from the beach 🏖 for lunch and also before 🌧 rain, it has been a bit windy the rest of the day.

A sound is a channel connecting two bodies of water. In this case, Topsail Island is a barrier island off the coast of North Carolina and the water between the mainland and the island is a sound. (Teaching moment.)

Bang!Bang! 🍤 Shrimp. Fried and topped with sesame seeds and a sweet chile sauce. I then squeezed some 🍋 lemon juice over that. Nicely done!!!
Outside dining available on the sound.
Edward Teach, also know as Blackbeard the pirate… I ordered Teaches 🍑 Peaches which is brewed in Wilmington, however, they were out. I settled for a Pacifico on tap.
🍤 Shrimp, 🦪 oysters, fried zucchini and a baked 🥔 potato.

Shaka Taco

My Pogue friend Braden also recommended the Shaka 🌮 Taco and folks, let me tell you, it was really good. It is in Surf City and is a taco stand where you order at a window and dine outside at a picnic table.

Cool addition to my fake Yeti cooler!

Rae had the taco bowl with veggies and it was fantastic! I will get that if we return.

There is a chicken quesadilla beneath the chips and with a dollop of sour cream, it was delicious.
This restroom sign was actually at The Crab 🦀 Pot. It was a good dinner, however, this sign is the memory I am tanking home with me.

The Dockside: Wrightsville Beach

Fish 🌮 tacos. Heidi liked them.

When deciding on vacation locations, Sophie said if we went near Wilmington that we could eat at The Dockside. She is a huge Nicholas Sparks fan and in the movie “The Choice” a scene 🎥 is shot at The Dockside restaurant. It is located on the Intra Coastal Waterway in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.

I had the shrimp 🍤 🍔burger. The burger part is that it is on a bun. Six fried shrimp fried to perfection with a remoulade sauce. But dig these hush puppies! The butter is for them and they were fantastic. I ate every one of them!
Liam had a grilled chicken on pita bread and the house made potato chips.
🌴Andrew and Sophie🌴 between the palm trees.
We confirmed with the waitress and a movie clip that this is just about the exact spot where they filmed the movie scene in The Choice.