Instant Pot Update

As I was enjoying my adventures this weekend, I had someone that asked me about my instant pot. If I had
cooked anything else in it. I wanted to take the time to say yes, I have cooked a few different meals. I am still not sure if I totally like it. It does work pretty well but I feel like this is more of a fad for me.

So my other attempts have resulted in the steam still coming out which I was told is normal sometimes as it builds. Yea.. well I don't like that. , This thing is scary enough and I need to know it is not going to explode. Lol

Another question I was asked was do you like your crockpot better? Yes. But honestly, my crockpot has spoiled me. I can put it in. Leave it for hours and go to work. The Instant Pot is faster and I cant seem to leave it yet. Lol

Next question. Is it really faster? Yes but not always by a lot. If you have frozen meat, yes, it is faster  It does cook it completely if you use the correct time. An over all meal? Yes, it is faster. I cooked ribs and they were so tender. I made my own sauce and just added it with the ribs. I have also made a few other dishes and I have been pleased. Some things are just better left to the stovetop. These things are jot faster. I have seen a loI think I may do a blog on a recipe and let you know how it goes. Step by step.

Overall, I still love my crock more. Lol but I am working on this fad.

Mayberry, NC Adventure Day

Saturday was one of our adventure days. When we go on these adventures we don't really plan a trip. I will always suggest this if you don't have a large family. The more decision-makers you have the more complicated things can get.  I think my kids would have enjoyed these trips when they were younger.

We stopped at several locations so I am breaking this blog into two. The first one will be about our trip to Mayberry, NC. If you are old like me (haha), you will remember Andy Griffith. You will also remember his humor. I love laughing. Anything comedy is for me. So, of course, my heart is warm whenever someone can make me laugh. I loved the Andy Griffith show and even his other performances. So, of course, I want to go to Mayberry and see everything.

Let's start with the Andy Griffith Museum  We went here first and it did cost to go to this. It is $8 a person. When you walk in you get a map of all the places to visit and become a sheriff. The museum is very interesting and has information from the time he was a baby until he passed away  They had replicas of the courthouse and jail. And of, Andy telling jokes. I loved walking around and hearing his voice. The memories were wonderful but the laughter always makes me smile. If you have time this is a must-see. We left the museum and they have a mural of the show covering an entire room inside downstairs. You can be Barney Fife and get a kiss on the cheek. Lifesize photo opportunity of course, once you go back upstairs there is another museum that includes Betty Lynn and the siamese twins Chang and Eng.  There is an additional room with more on the life of Andy Griffith. All of this was pretty cool and all of it was free except the main museum. There is a statue of Andy and Opie in front of the building and there was a photo inside with Andy leaning on it. So just imagine he was right there at one time. Then we went by Floyd's Barber Shop and Snappy's Lunch. You can get your hair cut but walking in is free. Then we rode but Andy Griffith's childhood home. You can actually stay the night here so just driving by will have to do. If you are not staying ther is the courthouse and jail. All set up just like in the show  You can sit at the desk or get locked up  All in the name of fun of course  Right beside that is Goober's garage. The garage is now turned into a gift shop. You can ride in an old police car from here and see all the sites for $40 a car ride. I think it is 4 or 5 people per car. It was super exciting to feel and hear all the memories of Andy. I would recommend this trip. There is another museum downtown. We didn't take the time to go to.  I will surely have to check this out at a later time. The grave of Chang and Eng are also in Mayberry but we didn't go to this either.

Before I leave Mayberry, I want to mention the people carved into a brick wall. They are life-sized and carved as if they are sitting in seats in the wall. These are famous people and it is an amazing sight to see. I also want to mention right outside of Mayberry is the Largest Granite Quarry in the world. They have an overlook for you to look down into it  It is interesting to see the process this takes to get little rocks starting with a solid mountain of granite  I would love to go back when they are blasting.

There is so much to tell about this place which is why Facebook never allows me to have enough room. I have added a few of the pics I have but there was so much to see. I do think this is a worthwhile and cheap experience  You can get caught up in the tourist traps if you want but we did not and just visited the places we wanted to see. What I mean by tourist traps is the stores that line the downtown area pulling you in with ads of items with  on the An  Griffith show. Not a bad day trip.

Chocolate Festival

Yes, We went to the Chocolate Festival in Morehead, NC. If you love chocolate it is everything you would dream of. Chocolate everywhere is an understatement.

So let's begin with the moment you walk in. Tables are lined up for check in. You did have the option to purchase tickets online so of course that would have been faster. We did not do this but still the line moved quickly, although the lady did have trouble using the card machine. There were people helping her and they even opened another line as she figured it out. It didn't take long for her to learn and the line moved very quickly then. When I walked into the main area, I was not sure where to start. They were selling tickets to win a jersey from the teams playing at Super Bowl this year. After passing that table there was a hot chocolate table. You could get a sample and of course I did. I tried the chocolate lovers. It was so good, I bought a cup. I knew at this point I was in trouble. At the first chocolate booth and I was buying chocolate. They even had the powder mix for sale. I think it would have been a good idea but I needed to see what else they had.

I am not going to go through each booth but I am going to touch on a few that stood out. The first one that comes to mind and one of my favorites was the chocolate martini booth. They had chocolates that went with wine and even chocolate coffee beans. We all know this would be my favorite booth. They had all them so you could sample. It was my favorite, did I already say that? Another booth had chocolate covered strawberries and truffles and other candies. They had jumbo chocolate covered strawberries with gold flakes. These were almost too pretty to eat.  Another booth had chocolate covered apples. When I say apples, don't take that lightly. They had on the chocolate any and everything that would make a apple better. Nuts, M&Ms, toffee, caramel, pretzels. Way too many to name. Several booths sold cakes and pies and cupcakes. Some sold just candy. Reese cups, moose tracks and mints. These was even a booth with smores with homemade marshmallows. Also do not forget candy bars. If you got a golden ticket in your bar you won a prize. The list of sweets goes on and on.  The best part was there was samples and you could pick and choose what you wanted to take home.

I have to talk about the extras they did to make the festival fun. They all have them and some are better then others. The festival had drawings throughout the day. They announced it as you walked around so you never missed if you won. One of my favorites was the pudding eating contest. It was who could clean their plate the fastest without hands. All you had to do was enter. They had Marines down to little kids. The announcer was awesome and really kept it entertaining. The other thing they had was a chance to go to a Chocolate spa. You read right.. chocolate spa  It did cost extra for that. However, how fun would that be.  They also had contest going on for all age groups. They also had the cakes entered available to purchase by the slice. I was excited to see all the entries. The cakes were beautiful and it was hard to choice a favorite but after thought and some talking. I would have chose the rice krispie cake that actually had a small rice krispie box pretending to spill on top of the cake. How creative.

Now the best part of all of this is, This festival was all to raise money for several non profits. They all work together as one to create this event to benefit others. Here are the places they donate the money to:

• Second Blessings Community Outreach
• Bridge Student Ministries
• Coastal Community Action
• Bread & Barley

We really enjoyed the festival and continued our day traveling more but this was an amazing stop.