MoFo #17: Irregardless Cafe - Raleigh, NC

As I mentioned in a previous post, I went to visit the dude's family. I had never met his family in person, so it was a big deal. We used Facetime to talk when the Japan move was announced. They wanted to meet the person who was dropping everything to move with their son. Fair enough. His family was super nice. Sometimes I feel like my family rushes to get through holidays, but the dude's family seemed content just being around each other. His sister is married and they have a baby. After having a baby, they moved really close to his parents, like a half mile away from his parents' house. They joked about the house across the street being for sale, but I don't see his job ever allowing him to live in NC. His dad works in the business side of biotech/medical. He currently works for a company that models disease risk based on biometrics. Because his work has always been health-focused, his parents were totally cool with eating vegan food at home during our visit. They eat mostly plants anyway (70-80% they said!), but also some fish, no cheese but some milk, etc. They told the dude he looked much better (he's lost 20 lbs in the last year), which made me laugh because I thought the dude was pretty lean before he lost all that weight (from p90x3 and a wicked case of strep throat). One day we ventured out for lunch and some sightseeing. We stopped at Irregardless Cafe. I ordered the vegan polenta lasagna. Nom. We walked around a local grocery, saw UNC and NC State, went to the farmers' market, and stopped for this lunch. One night we even walked around their neighborhood after dinner. It was a busy few days, but I'm glad we achieved this relationship milestone. :)