Andrew’s Flat Stanley Adventure

Andrew’s Flat Stanley is heading home! After an epic 6 state adventure plus a stop in Canada, Flat Stanley is heading back to Marion, Ohio. Safe travels Stan!

I had a tasty biscuit sandwich and a lucky St. Patrick’s Day donut at Rise in Charlotte, North Carolina! Do you know why biscuits are known as a Southern food? It may be because Southern chefs had an advantage in creating biscuits. Northern American all-purpose flours, mainly grown in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, are made from the hard spring wheats that grow in the North's cold-winter climate. Southern American bleached all-purpose flours, originally grown in the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee before national food distribution networks, are made from the soft winter wheat that grows in the warm southern summer. This summer growth results in wheat that has less protein, which is more suited to the creation of delicious biscuits!

I have made it to 6 states and 2 countries over the past 2 weeks! Added South Carolina today!

I made to my 6th state today, South Carolina! I had lunch at a taco truck called Tacos Nayarit. Nayarit is actually the name of a small state in western Mexico between the forested mountains of the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Pacific Ocean. This taco truck was delicious!

I had a great lunch at Casper’s Burger and Escalope in Sterling Heights, MI. I learned that escalope is a piece of boneless meat (chicken at this restaurant) that has been thinned out using a mallet or rolling pin. It is typically then breaded and fried. It is French cooking term that is very similar to the German food Schnitzel.

I had an amazing lunch at Kim’s in Troy Michigan! Kim’s opened in the late 1950’s and is known as one of these best Chinese restaurants in the area. I ate one of my favorites dishes, Almond Boneless Chicken or ABC. It is a Chinese-American dish that exists in a genre all its own and is hard to find outside of Michigan. Chicken breasts are battered and deep fried, then covered in a brown gravy. It is topped with scallions and sliced almonds. It was served with fried rice, an egg roll, wonton soup, bread and fortune cookie. Kim’s was even featured in the movie “A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas” back in 2010!

I ate an amazing lunch at a Michigan based barbecue joint called Bad Brad’s. No one is really sure where the term barbecue originated. The conventional wisdom is that the Spanish, upon landing in the Caribbean, used the word barbacoa to refer to the natives' method of slow-cooking meat over a wooden platform. I really liked the BBQ paintings on the wall at Bad Brad’s!

I went to a cool store called Made in The Mitten to find Andrew a T-shirt! Made In The Mitten is a Michigan artist inspired marketplace, showcasing the work of Michigan artists from all over and their craft. Their store primarily focuses on gifts that represent the state pride. The shopping concept was inspired by other local businesses encouraging our fellow neighbors to shop local when it comes to gifts and art.

I had a yummy cherry cupcake at Pronto in Royal Oak, Michigan! Cherry production in Michigan is a major part of the agriculture industry in the state. Harvesting over 90,000 tons of cherries each year, Michigan is the nation's leading producer of tart cherries.

I had lunch at Salvadorian restaurant in Troy, Michigan called El Guanaco. A guanaco is a animal similar to a llama that inhabits the mountains of South America. El Guanaco is also slang for a person from El Salvador. I loved the pupusa which is a traditional Salvadorian dish of a thick corn tortilla stuffed with a savory filling. I got one with cheese and jalapeños! Delicious! I also had a hot chocolate to warm up!

Brrrr!!!! It is cold in Michigan! About to get another 2-4 inches!!!

I had a great breakfast at the Country Coney in Oxford, Michigan. There are about 500 Coneys in and around Detroit area. A Coney Island is a type of restaurant that is popular in the northern United States, particularly in Michigan, as well as the name for the Coney Island hot dog after which the restaurant style is named.