Travels in the South

 Welcome my friends to another edition of Travels in the South.  This week mom/dad stumbled onto something that was simply amazing – Onion Rings.

Who doesn’t love a good onion ring?  Mom/dad were visiting a place a couple of towns over from the Hotel Thompson.  They saw homemade onion rings on the menu and decided to give it a whirl.  This alone amazed me because here is a little tidbit for you.  Dad hates onions.  He hates them raw.  He hates them in salads.  BUT, he loves onion rings.  I think that’s a little weird, right?  But then again, we are talking about my daddy – snorts and rolls with piggy laughter.

The onion rings finally came to the table and oh my piggy heavens – look at that mountain of goodness!  These are huge!!  They are fresh cut, hand battered and made to order – thus the ten minute wait to get them upon ordering.

The restaurant serves them with a Cajun dipping sauce (which when mom asked was told it was a ranch sauce with cajun spices).  And it does have a little kick.  Mom/dad asked for extra dipping sauce.  Trust me, they said you needed it because look at how many onion rings you get.  And mom said the price you wouldn’t believe – $4.99 for this tower of an appetizer.

But I just have one question.  Not that they were good because mom/dad both said they were.  My question is why does daddy get to play with his food and I can’t?  Go ahead mom.  Tell me.  I’m waiting.

 

 

Travels in the South

Hello sweet friends.  Today on Travels in the South I want to share some pictures that I found recently on mom’s iPhone.  Of course it’s food pictures.  I think mom/dad take more pictures of food than Doan’s has little pills these days – snorts with piggy laughter.  So are you ready?  Here we go.

These pictures are from a delightful restaurant that mom/dad found on the River Street in Savannah, Georgia a while back.  The restaurant is called The Cotton Exchange and they have everything from hamburgers to steaks.  On this day, mom/dad were looking for appetizers to share with each other while exploring the wonderful seafood cuisine.

If you have read anything in the past about mom/dad’s food adventures, you will know that they love some good hot cheese and bread as an appetizer.  Why?  Because this is something that don’t usually eat at home.  In fact, mom usually stays far, far away from bread.  So on vacation, she likes to dive in head first and ask questions later.  At this restaurant, this lovely picture is titled but of course “Hot Bread and Cheese”.  The cheese is a garlic cheese, very hot from the stove and very tasty.  The bread left something to be desired.  Don’t get me wrong, mom/dad said it was good but look at it.  It was a side of loaf bread thrown at you.  Now some would say you could pull it apart and dip to your heart’s delight.  And that is true.  But don’t you think it would be easier to eat said bread if it was already sliced… you know especially since it’s hot?  But, I digress with mom’s finickiness.  All in all – mom/dad said it was good but could have been better.

Then when in Savannah, you *know* my mom/dad are going to get their buffalo shrimp on and ready.  Mom/dad’s second choice in an appetizer was this lovely buffalo shrimp served with celery and blue cheese.  Now, if you have never had buffalo shrimp – what are you waiting for?!  You must try this!  Even this little piggy has had buffalo shrimp from when mom fixes it here at the Hotel Thompson.  It’s like buffalo wings – same sauce – but done with fried shrimp.  How could you go wrong, right?  Mom likes them with light sauce – as she tells the waiters, “I don’t want them swimming in sauce, just lightly coated.”  You know the taste of the sauce without wearing the sauce all over your face, fingers and shirt.  Mom/dad gave this buffalo shrimp both hands up yummy!

The third appetizer that mom/dad got was called Shrimp Orleans.  These are shrimp wrapped in bacon and a cajun spice.  They are then pan blackened and served with a creole mustard.  Now first up, thank goodness I’m not that kind of pig, right?  Mom/dad said these were interesting.  Of course that’s like hearing Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods saying something is interesting.  We all know what kind of food he eats and the translation of interesting means it’s okay, nothing to write home about folks.  Personally mom thought they could be a little bit more spicy since they are Shrimp Orleans.  And in the bigger scheme of things, put them below the hot bread and cheese.

This leads us up to what dad calls the best thing that has ever passed his lips.  And you know my friends, this has to be good because dad is a professional eater.  This was the final appetizer that mom/dad ordered and it was a special that day.  Mom/dad can’t remember what the ‘official’ name was but it is deep fried pork.  I know – I know – I should be scared since daddy liked this but mom says I’m safe.  The kitchen took pork that was already cooked, floured it and deep fried the already goodness into cute little pork bites.  It was served with a somewhat spicy barbeque sauce on the side.  In fact, mom says she could go for some of these right now.  Thanks mom.  That makes my kind feel safe – snorts with piggy laughter.

So my friends.  Thanks for traveling in the south with me and I hope you enjoyed some of these food break downs.  Until next time, keep eating good food!

 

My Daddy My Hero

Last week on 07/29/2016, it was National Wing Day.  Now this day is kind of fun for my humans.  You see a local restaurant near us puts on a challenge for how many wings can you eat.  Last year, my dad ate 37.  He thought that was awesome but there were some peeps that did so much better.  So knowing my dad, the challenge was on this year for 2016!

He prepped, he exercised, he didn’t eat a thing hardly all day Friday until Challenge Time.  It was almost like watching Joey Chestnut prep for the Hot Dog eating contest on Coney Island every year for the Fourth of July.  I pushed him on – even at times encouraging him to exercise just a little bit more.  You know to show him his full potential in this challenge.

Then as the time got closer and mom was headed home from work, dad went through the, “Oh no, what have I got myself into” syndrome.  It’s typical I’m sure.  But never fear friends.  I talked him down and tried to take his mind off of the situation by chasing him up and down the hall.  I looked at it as trying to build up his appetite.  Yeah that was it.

So they arrived at Hooters and daddy was ready to throw down.  His first 10 were regular breaded wings medium and they came with french fries.  But daddy is no fool.  He let mommy eat the french fries.  I mean they are just potatoes to weigh heavy on your tummy, right?   The second 10 were breaded lemon pepper wings.  He was going strong and mommy was snapping pictures and doing a play by play on Facebook.  The next 10 were back to regular breaded wings again.

♥

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But then daddy hit the proverbial tummy wall.  Could he do it… would he do it?  YES – 10 more were delivered to the table in a breaded Cajun seasoning (mom didn’t get a picture of those for some reason).  Dad found his second stomach and gobbled them down.  That was 40 WINGS, beating the last count of 37.

But wait a minute – hold everything.  Mommy had some left on her plate and he ate two of hers.

♥ The bottom score – 42 WINGS ♥

Way to go daddy!  And friends you can start practicing now.  There is what 359 more days until the next National Wing Day!

 

Daddy’s Chicken Wing Adventure

As you read here, Tuesday, 07/29/2014, was National Chicken Wing Day.  A local restaurant here called Hooters on Tara was having a special on all you can eat chicken wings that day.  Mommy promised to take daddy so he could show them what he has – snorts.  First off let me throw some shout outs to Keisha who was our waitress (you were AWESOME!) and to Mike the manager.  Mike has helped us out here on my blog in the past when Rockelle and Benedict went on a date a while back.  Mike’s awesome!

So when mom got off of the worky place, she rushed home in Albert and picked up daddy.  Daddy in preparation had walked 2 miles and had a ‘light breakfast’.  He had his game face on and was ready.  Mom picked him up and off they went to the Hooters on Tara.

I was able to get these pictures all off of mom’s iPhone.  Be prepared to be astonished my dear friends.

One of dad’s favorite things in the world are tater tots.  And just fortunately mom had a coupon for a free appetizer at Hooters – thanks Hooters – so they got this amazing tater tot appetizer to the right.  Doesn’t it look amazing!?  That’s tater tots covered with gooey cheese, onions, sour cream and bacon.  Daddy didn’t tell me about that bacon until I saw this picture.  Tsk-tsk bad daddy!

Then the fun started.  They would bring you 10 wings at a time – whatever flavor you wanted.  These are pictures of dad’s platters.  Picture to the left – medium breaded.  They have just a little zip to them as far as heat when you eat them.  Picture in the middle – Cajun breaded.  They have a zip of a different kind.  This zip is from the Cajun spices and are probably dad’s favorites.  Then the picture to the right – BBQ breaded.  These are M.E.S.S.Y.  I don’t care how many wet wipes or napkins you have to clean up with, you are going to be wearing these.  In fact, dad jumped in and wouldn’t wipe down until he was finished with these.  Mommy said that at one point, she thought she was going to have to take him out front and hose him down – snorts.

So you’re calculating to yourself thinking well played daddy – he had 30 wings.  You would be wrong my friends.  Mommy couldn’t finish one of her plates.  She had 13 – daddy called her a wussy.  I’m not sure what that means.  That left 7 off of mom’s plate though and dad ate them.  I told you watch out Joey Chestnut!    Drum roll please – dad ate 37 wings!  57.14% of you voted on Tuesday saying that daddy would eat more than 21 – you were right!

So you would think that’s the end of the story.  Daddy ate to his heart’s content and put away 37 chicken wings.  Nope.  I gotta add my two cents now – snorts.  Daddy was miserable.  Can you say Tums and Pepto Bismol?  Those were his two close friends when he got back to the Hotel Thompson.  Can you say multiple trips to the facilities here all.night.long?  Snorts – I think he finally admitted it to mom last night – he’s not as young as he once was.  Mom and dad both are eating so light today it’s not funny.  I think they are calling for salads all around for dinner for the rest of the week.  In fact, when daddy got up this morning he told mommy, “I’m surprise I haven’t coughed feathers or squawked like a chicken”.  Snorts – silly daddy!

But don’t worry my friends.  I think dad is entering an all you can eat biscuits and gravy competition this weekend – snorts.