About Kentucky

Kentucky!

Someday long from now, I will look back on all the time I spent in Kentucky fondly, sigh and think, "Wow, what a lovely chapter of my life". For now, my feelings on Kentucky are very different. Who wants to to spend all her supposed-to-be wild college breaks going to Kentucky!! Maybe someone who rides horses or really likes bourbon. When I first started visiting, we did touristy stuff, but now that John is not a tourist and he actually lives here, our schedule here has gotten pretty routine. I think the time I am spending in Lexington is slowly winding down (fingers crossed!) so I wanted to summarize what I do here when I come visit.

1) Eat. John and I eat so much when I come visit. I think it's either because there's nothing to do here or because there's so many places we want to try. I find my self thinking "What I do I get to eat next?" immediately after a meal, and planning what I am going to eat the next couple of days for dinner. I'm pretty sure we've tried most of the Lexington cheap eats on Urban Spoon. A few of our favorites are Bourbon n' Toulouse (a creole joint with spice, rice and giant portions), Sahara Mediterranean Cuisine (see image in this post), and Pho BC when we're missing our Vietnamese food. They're all hole-in-the-wall type places, but that's how we like it, informal and quick! The first time we went to Pho BC, we noticed 2 things: 1) no one there was Vietnamese, and 2) they had set the table with metal soup spoons. Like metal spoons that people eat chicken noodle soup with. *John shakes his head disappointingly*

Every Tuesday, John goes to Penn Station with Lucas and Company (this is how John refers to his friend, Lucas, and Lucas' friends) for BOGO subs. When I come visit, I'm invited to this super exclusive boy's club and enjoy witty conversations about nerdy things over subs. They are really nice funny people who have been best friends forever and the subs are better than Jimmy Johns.

 

There's also southern food, but I think we've eaten those things so much that I refuse to eat anymore fried chicken unless the alternative is death. However, if you are looking for one good Lexington meal, it's got to be at Ramsey's. They're a local Lexington restaurant with 3 chains throughout the city. If you have to have southern chicken and waffles like John's friends did when they visited last year, then Saul Good. They're a bit more chain-y and they have zebra print awnings with purple accents that make their restaurant look a bit like an adult store. Then Graeter's ice cream for dessert. They're based in Ohio and it is definitely worth the stomach ache. I actually realized they sold pint-size containers of Graeter's at QFC in Seattle so if I am ever really missing Lexington in the future, I'll go buy some, eat it and think fondly of all the stomach aches I got in Lexington after eating Graeter's (FYI: I don't think it is Graeter's specifically that gave me a stomach ache, just ice cream in general).

Since we have tried most of the restaurants that could be moderately healthy, we have extended our appetite to less than ideal restaurants. The other day, we were on the computer at 11 pm and looking at Taco Bell's new breakfast menu that launches tomorrow morning at 7 am and made plans to eat there Thursday morning. That same evening, we watched a documentary about McDonald's and then the next day went to McDonalds for lunch to get their Fillet-O-Fish which is on promotion 2 for $4. We have had 3 versions of Oreo and vanilla ice cream from Dairy Queen (Blizzard), McDonald's (McFlurry), and Sonic (Blast), and have deemed the Oreo Blast from Sonic the winner for it's abundant helpings of oreo crumbs and it's thick, non-melting vanilla ice cream. I hardly eat this much fast food at home, but fast food is so plentiful around here and there's something about John that just makes me want to eat fast food...

Red Mango recently opened in Lexington and it is a SELF-SERVE location!! I love Red Mango. It is possibly my favorite frozen yogurt joint, but in Seattle, it's not self serve and I like being in control of my yogurt. John doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, so I felt bad dragging him to the store, but then he tried their Nutty Potion flavor (it's chocolate and hazelnut, so essentially, Nutella), and he fell in love. We've been there twice this trip and I've already planned that we're going after he gets off work today.

2) Shop. The other thing we do around here is shop. Again, I think this is a result of having nothing else to do here. Every time I fly home, I always fly home with more clothes, so I've learned since to under-pack. Sale clothes is really cheap here, as are bananas ($.59/lb) and gas (currently $3.54/gal). We usually go to Target, TJ Maxx, Marshalls and the Fayette Mall, the largest in Kentucky, which is sad because it is a pretty sad mall. All stores here are flooded with UK gear, which I considered sporting for a while, but I realized I have no allegiance to them.


3) Look at pets. John and I frequent pet shops like PetSmart and Pet Supermarket to look at adoptable cats and dogs. Even though there is not a chance John would adopt an animal in Lexington, he fulfills his need for furry loving on these excursions. I actually don't really enjoy these trips because I feel really sad after about 1 minute in the room with the dogs and 3 minutes in the room with the cats, but it is legitimately the highlight of John's day so I let him pet the animals in there as long as he wants while I walk around the rest of the store.

4) Wear Seattle stuff. The last thing we do is wear a ton of Seahawks and UW stuff. This isn't really an activity, just something we do because I think we'd both rather be in Seattle (for me it's consciously and for John it's subconsciously). The other day we were at the store and an employee saw us and did a double take. After asking us if we needed any help, she asked if we were from Seattle, and then told us that she was from Redmond. She got super excited and then went back to putting away clothes. John and I looked at each other, thinking 'how did she know' for half a second, then saw what each other were wearing. John had a Seahawks NFC championship shirt on and and Seahawks lanyard hanging from his neck, and I had on a Seahawks beanie.

So there is my summary of my trips to Lexington! Eat, shop, look at pets and wear Seattle stuff. As much as I am bored in Lexington, it is equal to how much I enjoy spending time with John, which is why I'd trade a hot party spring break trip for a week with John. I know he feels guilty sometimes because we are not in [insert hot vacation spot here], but I don't care! Who else can say they experienced a snow storm during spring break (see above selfie- there is SNOW on my coat)??!??! I win. I can't wait for him to get off work so we can eat some more.