Do I like eating by myself? No - but am I going to miss a great meal because I'm by myself? Definitely not (stop that snickering in the back row). This weekend Susan had to work and by Thursday was forced to cancel our weekend at the beach...well....HER weekend at the beach....but I wasn't going to miss mine.

The work of a litigator is never done and Susan had to prepare for several deadlines this coming week. Before her work weekend (and my beach weekend) started, we spent Friday night together in Rocky Mount, first with friends at a fundraiser for Animal Crackers, which "promotes responsible pet ownership" by taking in stray animals, paying the vet bill for whatever is needed, spaying the animal and then putting it up for adoption. They do great work and if you weren't at the fundraiser but want to know more, including making a donation, go to www.animalcrackers-rmt.org . Tell Leslie I sent you.

Afterwards we rushed over to LouRadas - located in a simple, small, Sunset Avenue strip shopping center - for a quick dinner before my two-plus hour drive to the beach. We enjoyed a delicious fall salad, with grilled-until-juicy-and-sweet baby orange and yellow peppers, roasted-to-perfection caramelized cippolini onions (where have you cippolinis been all my life?), some ancient grains (not sure what they were but yum-ola) and a perfect, simple-but-delicious vinaigrette all topped with 3 simply but perfectly grilled (large, tender) shrimp. Next, a hamburger topped with melted brie, spicy-hot-&-crispy jalapeno bacon, more roasted cippolinis (my new best onion friends), lettuce, red-juicy-watermelon pickles that fooled the eye into thinking they were tomatoes but added a sweet, unexpected crunch, all in a soft, homemade brioche bun. Perfectly-salted-crispy-hot fries were a traditional, but perfect compliment to the burger. The diet part? We split it all, which counts as dieting in my world. www.louredas.com

After I dropped Susan off in Wilson I was on the road to the coast, but it wasn't long before my mind was wondering away from 60s on 6 radio tunes and drifting towards what was going to be for breakfast the next morning. It was going to be a great food weekend, even though I'd be by myself. As the young folks say, "that's just how I roll." I already knew my next meal would be at my favorite breakfast spot: Banks Grill, tucked away in the old Morehead Shopping Center next to Lowe's Foods.

On the way to the restaurant the next morning, Banks Hostess-Extraodinaire, also Chef Richard's Aunt Sue, called to say the daily special was a Soft Shell Crab BLT biscuit. I'd asked for it 100 times and she wanted to make sure I didn't miss it (fat chance that was going to happen). The soft shell BLT biscuit is the unicorn of the Bank's breakfast menu - rarely seen - only served once a year (maybe twice if we're lucky) when Chef determines the freshest and most delicious soft crabs are available. And today was the day! O lucky me!

Did I decline the rich, creamy, buttery best-side dish-in-the-world of southern grits since I was already having a fried soft shell on XXL southern buttermilk biscuit? Heck no....I'd already dieted at Lou Redas by splitting the burger and salad (yes, and fries - I can remember without your holier-than-thou-reminder) and that was yesterday...today I needed something not-so-dietetic and grits aren't really that unhealthy are they? (I'm not brave enough to ask Chef Richard if his grits have more than a tad of butter and cream in them although something - like my tastes buds - tells me it does). Order whatever you want from their everything-is-delicious breakfast menu, but don't miss those grits. www.thebanksgrill.com

Later, when entering breakfast into MyFitnessPal, it exploded (not in a good way) so I knew I had to get in an extra walk and have a "diet" meal for dinner. Fourteen thousand steps (a/k/a 6.7 miles) later, I was walking into one of my favorite Morehead City fine dining establishments, The Bistro by the Sea.

There weren't any tables for one (there weren't any empty tables for any number of guests) so rather than wait, I mozied up to the crowded bar, where there was only 1 empty seat. My party of one treasure trove for entertainment was my iPhone, a good book and a pair of reading glasses. It was too dark to read and the people on either side of me were looking at their phones - not saying a good ol' southern "howdy-do" or a brief glance and nod acknowledging my presence - so mesmorized were they by the technology that gently lighted their stupefied faces as they stared at their hands. I ordered a glass of wine and settled in for some iPhoning because when in Rome....do as the Roman's do. I'm not a frequent user of the iPhone so I stayed busy pushing one button after another, having no idea what I was really doing with apologizies if I butt-dialed you or sent a meaningless text.

Even if I was a failure at iPhone-ing and bar-neighbor-socializing, I excelled at eating and the meal was excellent (as usual) and I enjoyed the new Bistro trigger fish-dish simply prepared with grapes and sliced almonds with a side of steamed broccoli. MyFitnessPal was very proud of my dinner selection but I have one true confession: outside the frame of the picture is the Bistro's famous bacon, cheesey, oniony mashed potatoes of which I only had a few bites (seriously). Not a bad diet solution - order what I want but only eat a few bites of the really bad (a/k/a most delicious and calorie laden) stuff like these potatoes. (Ye olde scales may tell me something else...) www.bistro-by-the-sea.com

And then it was Sunday and to atone for any possible food sins not confessed above, I walked to lunch at The Crab's Claw - originally built as the boozey Jolly Knave which was a happening spot when I was a college student (BC) - but now a beachy, slightly run down, eatery. It makes up in view (directly on the beach with spectacular ocean vistas) and food (always delicious, always homemade, always fresh) what it lacks in décor and rating (an almost unacceptable 91). I'll assume it was just a bad inspector on that particular day....or maybe he found an old beer from 1977 fermenting away....but who cares if the food is great? And it is and I don't. My lunch choice? A coastal cobb salad topped with grilled trigger fish (my favorite fish if you haven't already noticed) and splashed with a homemade sweet basil vinaigrette, possibly the best salad dressing I've ever tasted - on top of one of my favorite salads ever. It was expensive but delectable (maybe the extra coinage will go to updating the place). Ten thousand steps and one low calorie entry into MyFitnessPal and I was back in the groove. Allegedly. www.crabsclaw.com

On the way to and from the Crab's Claw, I couldn't help but think of what my aunt (and fellow-family-foodie) Mary Lou said all the time, "If you don't like the weather in Carteret County, just wait an hour". Proof positive in the photos below (taken with my iPhone - maybe I'm not as hopeless with that thing as I thought): on my walk east to the restaurant, the sky was dark, cloudy and slightly threatening but on the walk home, the sun was out. As I'm writing this post, it's cloudy again (but in an hour.....)

What's for dinner tonight? I haven't figured that out - yet - probably homemade New England Clam Chowder from BT's (the Beach Tavern) an old Cheers-like bar that serves surprisingly delicious meals and an added bonus: they have the best desserts I've ever tasted (homemade, no less) although not to worry MyFitnessPal, I'll skip dessert (again) tonight. Right now I'm going to have my favorite "diet dessert", two Dove Chocolates.

Only in my world are Doves diet-worthy......which explains a lot.