Posts Tagged ‘joy’

I’m back from my week in the Outer Banks. While it wasn’t the perfect vacation, I did manage to enjoy the beach and its inhabitants quite a bit! The first two days were rainy and dreary, but when the rain finally started to lift, I was treated to a beautiful rainbow over the Atlantic.

Rainbow - Outer Banks, NC

Then the wind started to blow, and the kite surfing enthusiasts hit the ocean despite a few remaining sprinkles of rain and some rather chilly water. I love the way their colorful kites dot the sky. It was difficult to capture a great photo because they were definitely zipping along the water at very high speeds. It looked like tons of fun, and had I not had some ailing relatives with me on this vacation, I would have considered renting some gear and giving it a go myself.

Kite Surfers - Outer Banks, NC

Since I couldn’t stray very far from our beach house and my sick relatives, I had to find other ways to entertain myself. Whenever I visit the Outer Banks, I feed the beach critters my leftovers. Did you know that crabs love leftovers? They do, especially anything with protein! I caught one of the large blue crabs excavating his crab hole after I tossed him a large piece of leftover fried chicken. I just wish I could have captured a photo of him actually dragging the chicken leg into his hole.

Carolina Blue Crab - Outer Banks, NC

No beach trip is complete without seagulls begging for scraps. Every afternoon one very determined seagull perched on the deck and stared us down until we produced a few pieces of leftover toast or crackers. I’m quite sure he was a pound or two heavier by the time we left.

Begging Seagull - Outer Banks, NC

Finally, a young grackle decided to join the seagull. What was amazing about these two birds is that they seemed smart enough to realize stealth was the key to enjoying more food; they didn’t squawk and alert the other birds on the beach. They wanted the bread bits all to themselves! Meanwhile, other seagulls would squawk and circle and alert every other bird on the beach. These two appeared on the deck every day around 2:00pm and were very quiet, content to fetch crumbs discretely tossed their way.

Young Grackle - Outer Banks, NC

I’m sure the next family in the beach house is going to wonder why birds and crabs are staring at them every time they venture onto the deck. And yes, Mr. Crab also stared at us, waiting for more food to rain from the sky:

Blue Crab Waiting for Scraps

I haven’t exactly made a secret of my love for ginger.  I’ve had several Midweek Martini recipes which feature a ginger liqueur.  I also love the raw or pickled ginger one gets with sushi.  If you’re having sushi with me, you had better prepare yourself to fight me for the ginger.  I love to dip it in some of my wasabi-soy mixture and chow down.    I have a difficult time waiting to the end of the meal to eat the ginger.  That’s how much I love it.

So, you can imagine how excited I was when I came across a product called Chimes Ginger Chews at Fresh Market last week:

Chimes Ginger Chews

If you love candied ginger, you will probably love these.  They are a little bit sweet but also have the nice heat you get with pure ginger, and they are extremely chewy: like taffy or a caramel.  Plus, they are an excellent breath freshener.  Forget about regular mints or gum!  This stuff makes your mouth feel clean and kissable, though probably only kissable for someone who loves ginger. 

I have only been able to find Chimes at the local Fresh Market, and I buy 5 tins whenever I go there.  I’m not the only one who likes them!  The Mister will easily eat one whole tin of these by himself.  Thus, I’m happy to see they sell larger bags of them at Amazon, so I think I’ll buy my supply there since it’s cheaper than Fresh Market.

They also sell ginger chews in other flavors than pure ginger, including mango/ginger, orange/ginger, and even peanut-butter/ginger.  I love peanut butter, too, so I’m going to be adventurous and order some of the peanut-butter/ginger chews.