Traveling up the Road...

Weekend Road Trip to Goldsboro, North Carolina for the MacCoy After-Holidays Celebration!

This weekend Grant and I traveled up the road to see his father and family in Goldsboro, NC.  Let me tell you, Goldsboro is a small town, but they sure do know how to eat!  Our 1st night we had dinner at the "neighborhood seafood diner",Sandpiper Seafood House .  People were packed wall to wall, and the wait in the "main" entrance was...let's just say, Long!
To my knowledge we weren't here to go in the "main" entrance, we were here to eat oysters and drink beer and in order to get either of those you must use the rear entrance....AKA Oyster Bar.  Are you kidding me?  You can't use the main entrance to get a Beer....WHAT?  Where are we?

Well, after a few beers and a small wait we got seated for some yummy Grilled Flounder, Fried Shrimp, Hushpuppies, and the Rooster Shot Challenge.  You must order and finish three Rooster shots in order to receive a free "I Survived the Rooster" t-shirt. Grant is always up for a challenge so we put him to the test.

 Three shots of raw oysters laid upon a saltine cracker topped with jalapeno peppers, Tabasco sauce, a huge glob of extra hot horseradish, black pepper and a splash of beer.
He took them down like they were nothing!  He loves it HOT & SPICY!  One free t-shirt for us.....well, I wanted one too.  So, 3 more Rooster Shooters later and we got another free shirt.  WOOHOO!  I don't know what the big deal was.....challenge, what challenge!?

Grant's little brother,Todd, and his sons, Gavin and Hunter, as well as his Grandparents, Nana and Pop-pop drove in on Saturday to see us.  They only live a few hours from Goldsboro so it was great to see them for the day.  Lots of stories, food, games, and backyard football.  It is always good to catch up with those people you only see a few times a year!

Pop-pop made some amazing sauteed mushroom crostini for appetizers before dinner.  Check out this quick and easy appetizer: Mike's Mushroom Bread - Allreceipes.com (With a few small tweaks)


Ingredients:
1 loaf Italian Bread
1/2 cup butter (sub olive oil and less butter)
1 pd sliced fresh mushrooms
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
6 green onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
Dash of Red Pepper Flakes for heat
Dash of Salt & Pepper for flavor

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Slice bread in half horizontally. Using your fingers pull out most of the soft bread to form a hollow shell.
3. Sauté together the butter, mushrooms, 1/2 cheese, green onions, garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.
4. Spread the mixture on both cut sides of bread. Place the bread, cut sides up, on baking sheet.  Cover with remaining half of cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven until the cheese has melted, about 10 to 15 minutes. Broil for 1-2 minutes to brown the tops.Cut in wedges to serve.
6. Enjoy!

Next stop....Charleston!  The journey of our 1st home.