My first thought about Voodoo Doughnut is oh my Lord that’s a big doughnut. These thing are huge and they are awesome
These were so good with so much filling. I really wish there was one near home.
Category: Reviews
For a while now I’ve been struggling to get my laptop to connect successfully to the internet. This has caused me to be very slow in posting to this side. As I would have to wait to get home for my trips in order to successfully post anything up. Now that is changing I recently ended up getting a Samsung Galaxy book 2 360. I wanted something lightweight and portable that I can take with me when I travel and then make it easier for me to post and transfer pictures from my phone. As part of the package I also ended up getting a new smartwatch, a Samsung Galaxy 4 Classic. Now I have been a long time user smart watches usually those made by Garmin. But it is nice to have an alternative to what I’ve been used to and again this will give me an interesting opportunity to give you guys some feedback on how the two day battery life works when you’re trying to get to see exciting and new experiences. Stay tuned and I will keep you updated on how both of these are working and as always don’t forget to bring your towel.
So my wife has been using a Fitbit for I can not remember for how long. No matter the fact that I am using a Garmin watch. She refuses to change. Well her Charge 4 finally gave up the ghost the other day. So we went looking for a new Fitbit. We looked a just about every model they make to see what would fit on her arm. I thought the Samsung Galaxy 4 looked pretty good, but she thought it was a little over priced for the battery life. Well I have to agree on that but we might be trying to get one for review down the road. Anyway we ended up on the Sense since the Versa 3 is a cut down Sense where you only save $60. Not really worth giving up all the possibilities. So the Sense joined the family.
We took a few picks of unboxing which are below and we will do a full review after a few weeks of use.
Did a quick trip out around town. We finally ended up going to Pro’s Epicurean Market & Café. It’s a cool little restaurant around town. We have been waiting till Covid had settled down some. We are so glade we did. The staff was stuffing people in on top of one another just like pre-Covid.
For the food it was good but it is over priced for what you get. I keep thinking that I could actually make this at home. It might not look as good but what I cook would taste better. Her are some shots of what we got.
So it looked small but it weighed way more than it looked like it would. I really felt sorry for the delivery guy. Anyway getting it up the stairs was a struggle and took a lot of effort.
Oh I also mentioned that the we got sheets, pillows, and mattress cover. The pillows are king size
After a lot of work we finally ended up getting the mattress on the bed, sheets on the bed, and pillows in place.
The first night was so much better but we will be back in a few months to tell you how the mattress is standing up.
For those of you not aware Lucky 32 has been around a long time. It provides a unique twist on southern food, which is always a treat to go too.
Recently I had the opportunity to go to the Lucky 32 in Cary, NC. I thought this was great as it would give me an opportunity to give everyone here some feed back on a great eatery.
The night we were there was a busy but they were able to fit my party of 2 in without waiting. The service was good. The server was engaging and shared information about the specials and some of there favorites. I ended up going to with one of the specials sea scallops and a side. This was great because I always get a fried grit cake when I go there. I would suggest going to Lucky 32 just for the fried grit cake and red eye grave if you ever want a snack.
The meal came out quickly and was very tasty. I was extremely pleased. In fact I was so happy with the meal I had to order desert, bread pudding with caramel souse.
Yes, that is ice cream you see in the picture, and it was an excellent addition to the warm bread pudding.
So if you are in the area drop in and give Lucky 32 a try. They have great food and a menu that changes with the season.
LG gram 17 (2020) review: The best big Ultrabook around just got even better
We recently obtained a LG Gram 17 (2020) for a long-term review due to the excellent buzz that is going around about the topic. As it turns out this is one of the smallest 17-inch Ultrabook you can get. Basically, you get a 16:10 17-inch display in effectively a 15-inch notebook that weighs just 2.95lbs (1.35kg).
This first post is going to be short as we have not had much time to actually use the device, but I wanted to post a few pictures of the packaging and what comes in the box.
More info to come as we gain experience and try to answer the question on should we buy this for our travels?
Hello again. I would like to thank you for reading my blog. It has been a fund and challenging experience starting to get it off the ground. But I am happy to bring to you the first real travel post.
I just recently got back from a trip to El Paso TX, and it was a remarkably interesting place. El Paso is located on the border of Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Within 20 minutes you can see two states and another country. This leads to a very divers and interesting culture. On advice from some local friends I did not venture into Juarez, Mexico but I did go to New Mexico. I did go to the Mexican border. Where I saw the boarder wall (let’s be honest, it’s a fence) and the mass of people moving back and forth between the two cities. It was like something I saw in history class of the checkpoints in Berlin during the Cold War.
Anyway, it is a sight but do not go during rush hour. Big mistake on my part. It will take you forever to get away from people trying to get home after a long day at work. I would suggest that if you want to drive down the interstate that follows the boarder wall do it during the middle of the day. There is significantly less traffic.
Is El Paso Safe?
Before I go to far let me address the elephant in the room, “Is El Paso Safe?”. I would have to say unequivocally, YES. El Paso on a whole has a very low crime rate for a city it’s size. You need to remember that El Paso is the home to many local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. That gives a medium size city a disproportionate police presence to its size. So, go visit El Paso. See the people and experience the culture of Texas westernmost city.
What is there to do in El Paso? If you enjoy the outdoors there are tones of hiking trails in the Franklin Mountains State park, which is less than an hour outside of town. The Wyler Aerial Tramway which takes visitors up 4,692 feet for a view of the city was highly recommended as a must do activity. If you want something a little low key. The oldest continually operating parish in the State of Texas can be found there along with two other Spanish Missions. This is a great chance to see authentic Spanish mission construction in person.
While in El Paso I had the pleasure of staying that the Hotel Indigo: El Paso Downtown. This hotel provided good accommodations as well as excellent views. The downtown location provided numerous eateries within walking distance. So after a day of sightseeing you will not have to take the car out again to get dinner.
Speaking of food I should really mention some of the different place that I tried while there.
Mamacitas Cafe and Cantina the restaurant in the Hotel Indigo
This was my first dining experience of the El Paso week and to be honest I did not anticipate much out of a hotel restaurant. I wish I could say that the restaurant made me want to eat every meal here, but it did not.
Let us start with the décor. I think they are going with an art’s, eclectic feel. Or they furnished the restaurant on a very tight budget. The table had mis-matched chairs, or the chairs were so low to the ground you more reclined in them than sat. The service was not the greatest. We had excessively long waits to have our order taken, which was followed by another long wait to get our food. (Later in the week we found out the restaurant waiters were also responsible for taking up room services so that might have contributed to the long wait times) One last note on the service. I really do not think it is acceptable not to be able to tell the customer what beer you are trying to sell them. I asked two different staff members, and neither could tell me the names of the beers they had on tap. They could tell me the styles but that was it.
Now we come to my real problem with the restaurant, the food. It was good. I would even go as far as to say it was really good. If the food had been bad, I could have written this place off and never looked back, but the quality and flavors of the food they served sort of made the experience a wash. Maybe on another night the service would have been good as the food and I would be writing a glowing review but as it is, I can only suggest it as a fallback to other places.
Park Tavern
The next night tried the Park Tavern. The food was a little on the pricy side, but of excellent quality. The restaurant is designed to give semiprivate booths to allow for conversations without obstructing views of the entire restaurant. The decor is done up well with tastefully done furniture that is comfortable to sit in. It was a pleasant change from the day before. As for the food, I went with the Chicken Piccata followed by the Peach & Blackberry Tart. This meal was great. The food was wonderful. The server was helpful and friendly, while not being annoying. I would highly recommend this restaurant.
State Line Restaurant
The next place I would like to mention is the State Line Restaurant. The restaurant is in New Mexico which is about 15 minutes from downtown El Paso. This barbecue restaurant came highly recommend and for good reason. The food is reasonably priced and is full of flavor. I selected the ribs and brisket plate for my meal. I was not disappointed. Now let me interject something here. I am a self-proclaimed banana pudding snob. I prefer the traditional custard approach to banana pudding as opposed to the Jell-O or non-cook style. As the State Line does not cook their banana pudding and uses only whip cream as a topping I passed. Memphis I will be back. Sorry flash back. Anyway, I grabbed some of their excellent apple cobbler which came with a scoop of ice cream and caramel drizzle. Let us say I ate to much that meal but did not regret it at all.
L and J Café
Ok if you can eat in only one place in El Paso make it L and J Café. It is a hole in the wall located next to a cemetery. I was told do not be afraid it looks like a dive, but the food is great. They were so right. This is the kid of place you would not find if you were not a local. The food is authentic, reasonably priced, and very tasty. I got their chicken enchiladas. I have to say their approach to enchiladas is different than what I am us to. Instead of putting the chicken in the enchiladas. You are given two cheese enchiladas with shredded chicken piled on top. I though it was a great idea. If I every get back to El Paso I will be going back to eat here.
There were other stops on my trip that I might get around to posting about. We will see. Anyway, I’ll be back soon till then don’t forget to bring your towel.
Hello everyone one and welcome to my first report on the 2017 Chevy Volt. Over the first month of ownership I’ve been formulating my opinion of the Volt. I should add some information of other cars I have been driving recently. I am coming off of a 2013 Nissan Leaf. The family has a 2013 Chevy Volt plus the 2013 Toyota Prius that is also part of this long term review. To start off, the Volt is definitely different from the Leaf that I was driving but after a couple of days of use it has become extremely comfortable car to drive.
Overwhelmingly, the 2017 Volt is a fantastic car that will fit into many people’s lives and probably was one of the most functional mass-market electric cars a US manufacturer has produced in recent years.. It is a shame the 2019 was the last year for this car. It’s mix of electric and gasoline make it a great option or ares of the country where the electric car infrastructure has not matured.
I think we are still a few years away from having good electric infrastructure in the US to be as convenient as gas – at which point it will become more convenient to use all electric. Sure, almost every house, building and structure has an electrical outlet which can charge on level 1 or 2 (and the 2017 Volt does both levels of AC charging), meaning you wake up every morning with a full 53 mile “tank” of electricity. But to finally close the convenience gap of gasoline and frankly beyond, pure electric cars need to be outfitted with high power DC chargers and long range batteries which are not here yet.
As a former pure electric car owner, there were a lot of times I had to modify my plans to go everywhere I needed to go on my Leaf’s 50 mile range. It was virtually impossible to travel to my parents’ house and back in a single day. They did not have a level 2 charger so I could only use level 1 charging which would have required an overnight stay to have enough charge to get home. The Leaf was suffering from substantial battery degradation and the battery replacement cost more than the value of the car. Which eventually culminated in the purchase of the Volt.
Speaking of the Volt, every morning when you wake up with the 2017 Chevy Volt can be ready to go with a 53 real miles of EV usage, which is a significantly more accurate estimation than the Leaf provided. If you have a huge commute (over 25 miles), you can opt to charge at work and drive 53 miles of pure electric back. Some people will never finish the tank of gas that comes with their Volt. In fact that is what I have been doing for this first month. I have a charging station at work which allows me to charge for free. As such I charge there most of the time with only occasionally charging at home on the weekends.
The best part of the Volt is when you need to take the “off the beaten path” and switch into gas, the Volt does so elegantly and seamlessly. The internal combustion engine kicks in and you get a very respectable 42 miles per gallon and over 400 miles of total range. Chevy should be applauded for their efforts in building a car that makes the transition to electricity 100% totally painless for just about anyone.
Chevy has somehow fit two separate powertrains into a mid-sized car and still has respectable room in the trunk and back seat. The car also performs as well as any sudan. The EV acceleration will get you to highway speeds in under 7 seconds while lugging a dormant ICE powertrain along for the ride. The acceleration will surprise and delight you if you’ve never driven electric and the sports mode make the car more responsive and fun to drive.
Chevy has also toned down the “look at me, I’m a weird EV” factor in the 2017 Volt design. The 2017 Chevy Volt looks a lot like other sporty mid-sized cars The interior is also extremely nice, highlighted by the captive touch center console display which works great with Android Auto. The seats are comfortable, there are cup holders where they need and the inside experience is fantastic. I would also like to point out that the internal cabin space for the rear seat has improved over the 2013 model.
So far the Volt has performed better than anticipated. There are a few bells and whistles that I miss from the Leaf but that is to be expected since I moved from the top of the line to the middle range entry but where it counts there has been only improvements. The improved range, comfort, and handling out way the gimmicky 360 camera views that were only used in rare occasions.
Finally, what has it cost to operate the Volt for the first month? NOTHING. That’s right I have not had to send any money on the Volt in the first month of ownership. All the electricity I have used has come from free charging stations. Additionally, I still have about nearly a full tank of gas which the dealership provided when I bought the car. As ongoing cost go this is great.