The Cracker Barrel

I know it's been a little while since I last updated the blog, but I was going to class and figuring out my life. I'll just summarize the last week by saying that so far graduate school is a million times better than undergrad because I spend half as much time in class and then waste all that saved time waiting for the bus. 

Now for the cultural experience portion of the blog...

Today Dane and I went to the Cracker Barrel. For those of you that don't know the "Barrel" serves chain restaurant style down home cookin'. We tried to make it the most authentic southern experience we possibly could. I ordered sweet tea and Dane played it safe with Coke Classic. Then we greedily explored the brown trifold menu. There were fried items I've never seen at the Minnesota state fair. We were both tempted by the Chicken Fried Steak, but settled on the Chicken Fried Chicken with Sawmill Gravy and Chicken & Dumplings respectively. Each meal came with THREE different sides plus a choice of buttermilk biscuit or cornbread muffins. Making sure that none of our sides overlapped, I went for the corn, mashed potatoes and fried okra, while Dane sprung for the steak fries, apple pie filling, and green beans. When our food arrived Dane got three different plates laden with main dish and sides and I got a serving platter the size of a hub cap. We ate and ate and ate until we realized that we were no match for the southern/midwestern portions. The Pacific Northwest has ruined our natural eating abilities with rabbit food. We ambled out of the restaurant with a wide stance and took a few laps around the adjacent outlet mall before heading home. We ate at noon and weren't hungary when we sat down to eat dinner at 8 pm. Needless to say, we recommend the Cracker Barrel experience.

Go Hoosiers!