The Place to AirBnb

Welcome back to me! The concept of vacationing is such a stretch for me that I ended up working most days of last week anyway... Still it was lovely to get away and see some place

new. I will tell you about my trip to Wilmington, but first before anything else happens, I want to remember to tell you all that this Saturday, June 24th, Govinda's Catering will be back at the Carrboro Farmers' Market. Yay! (The menu is still under some development, so if you have a special request, send it on over.) Wait, there's more! The next day, Sunday, the 25th, we will be trying out Triangle VegFest's Monthly Mini Market, which will be at Southern Village from 9 am - 1pm. At 8 am, just before the Sunday market, there will be a 5K to support Triangle Veg Fest. You might want to catch the race if you are up and about that early, as I heard people may be dressing as their favorite fruit or vegetable. I am definitely curious about that, as I can't say I have ever seen any racing bananas... So, the beach, the beach... I wax poetic just thinking about it. I didn't really take any beach photos this time around because I was too busy participating in the experience of being there. I have to state that out loud because a part of me is really disappointed about not having the tangible proof of purchase. For those of you who also find ocean visits therapeutic and relaxing, here is the sunset over Wrightsville Beach. I took this photo the last time we went there on a super quick evening trip (when it was too cold for me to actually get in the water).

I had this romantic idea that even though it was a short beach trip, that I would be all travel writer and review the restaurants down there for you all. I checked on Happy Cow.net, my go-to resource for finding vegetarian restaurants in any given area, and found a few places that had vegan and vegetarian options. Even though it only had 3 stars, we chose to go for lunch at Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn because 1) its name is awesome and 2) my sweetheart has a serious Mexican food subsistence thing going on. He does eat other types of food, and yet it is so out of proportion to the totality of his diet that it is fair to say that he subsists on beans, rice, and salsa. That being said, there was much anticipation around the Burrito Barn. And after saying all that, I have to agree with the 3-star rating. It is a little hard to see here, but the front doors are entirely covered with "Eat at Amy's" type of stickers, as is much of the side of the building. This sanctioned building defamation, along with the name promised a lot of hipster ambiance, which totally continued once we entered. The decor, staff, music playing throughout are all very hipster-feeling. There is a fresh salsa bar in the center of the dining area with about 8 or 9 different salsas that you are welcome to load up on to your plate. Unfortunately despite all these "Wow" factors, the food just wasn't that tasty. The portions were large - neither my son nor I finished our burritos - but they just tasted kind of plain, even after applying a variety of the salsas from the salsa bar. I do have to give them credit for being absolutely true to their motto of "Hot. Fast. Cheap. and Easy." Their food is definitely all that, yet notice nowhere do they aspire to be delicious. (Note to self - be very intentional about what you set out to do because chances are you will achieve it)

I took a photo of their signature dessert (there was a whole lot of Elvisry going on there) just for giggles. Quirky, yes. I didn't dare order one though, as it looked suspiciously like a prescription for vegetarian heart disease. I can however wholeheartedly recommend Jenny's Cozy Corner Guesthouse, the place that we stayed in little ol' Leland, NC.

I found this place on Airbnb and absolutely loved it. We really didn't even need to go to the beach because the guesthouse is a destination in itself. It has a salt water pool, a game room with a full-size pool table, foosball table, and a gigantic TV. Jenny is also one of the most genuinely hospitable people I have met. After this experience I am definitely sold on traveling through Airbnb, rather than corporate hoteling. As I was booking my stay at Jenny's, I admit that I became swept away by discovering that you can now book experiences through Airbnb, in order to experience a particular place like a local. These experiences ranged from "Sunset Meditation on Santa Monica Beach" to "Learn how to make vegan cheese in Portland" to "Eat a 6-course meal and meet local artists in France." My head nearly exploded with the idea of all the ways Govinda's could become part of that - offering conscious cooking classes, meals for 10, and on and on... One thing at a time. Once I have mastered things like remembering everyone's order and figuring out sales tax without wanting to violence someone, then we can move on to developing our international Airbnb presence. Lol.

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