Travels in the South

Can you say banana cheesecake?  When mom first read this on a local restaurant menu she hesitated.  First because dad is not a huge fan of bananas.  He says it goes back to his childhood and having to eat bananas almost every day.  I don’t know what he’s complaining about.  I love bananas and would welcome eating them daily.  Just ask mom.  So mom hesitated for about two seconds and then told dad she was ordering it.  He started with his usual okay but I don’t want any.

It comes to the table looking like the picture above.  Mom said she actually thought she heard angels singing in the background.  She tried a bite.  She said it was like that part in the movie When Sally Met Harry.  I’m not sure what she was talking about – it confuses me and she told me not to worry about it because I was too young.  No I’m not.  But whatever it meant, it intrigued daddy so he asked for a small bite.

Mommy said daddy groaned.  That’s so weird.  Why would he groan?  Shrugging piggy shoulders.  Mom then said that daddy ended up eating half of it.  So much for not liking bananas huh?  And was it asking too much to bring some home to the oinker?

 

Travels in the South

Have you heard the recent uproar about the restaurant IHOP (International House of Pancakes) changing their name to IHOB (International House of Burgers)?  I know it’s a publicity stunt to get their burgers out there so you know my mom/dad had to give them a whirl.  Now, mom/dad had tried their burgers previous to this new promotion and they enjoyed them.

So off they went to the IHOB cause you know burgers are daddy’s specialty.  Currently during the promotion, you get a drink and endless fries with your choice of burger.  Did you hear that?  Endless fries.  Mom said she heard angels singing when she read that – my mom is so silly.  Burgers range from $7.00 to $11.00 and come in various forms.  Mom went with the Classic with Bacon and Cheese (how could you mom?).  Dad ventured out a bit more.  He got something  called a Big Brunch.  It had cheese, bacon, a fried egg and hashbrowns on it.  It was a monster!

So what did mom/dad think?  Both said they were good and they loved the french fries (crispy with a crunch and yes they got a refill of them).  These burgers for the price combining the fries and drink were a deal; however, the burgers themselves didn’t make their top 3 list of burgers they’ve tried.  They weren’t bad but they didn’t really stand out in flavor either.  Does that make sense?  They would eat them again for the mere price but wouldn’t go out of their way.

But hey, you make your decision.  Have you tried them yet?

 

 

Travels in Chicago

Do you remember last week when mom/dad talked about the bacon pancakes they got at a restaurant in Chicago called Richard Walkers Pancake House“?  This meal was at the same restaurant.  Amazing huh?  Steak, eggs and hashbrowns.  Daddy was in heaven…. and so was mommy too.  Of course she had a couple of bites here/there in between bacon pancakes.  So what do you think?  Breakfast of Champions?

 

Travels in Chicago

Mom/Dad left us again a couple of weeks ago.  They went back to see my Aunt Tina in Schaumburg, Illinois.  Of course you know this means more food porn from them, right?  And of course that means us anipals didn’t get any doggy bags per say.  But then again, we were at Nana’s and well I can’t tell you what happened there… cause you know what happens at Nana’s stays at Nana’s.  So with that, I will let mom explain this awesome picture to you.  Take it away mom –

A restaurant that we found the last time we visited my sister was called Richard Walker’s Pancake House.  Now the hub unit has talked about this place every since the first time we ate there.  And I’ll tell you truthfully – the hub unit even dreamt about this place.  Yep, he liked it that much.

So of course it was on the ‘must go’ places on our list.  But this time, I fell in love with something on the menu.  Let me introduce you to my new love – bacon pancakes.

I’m sorry my sweet Bacon.  These pancakes are the bomb!  I think we ate them like three times while we were in Illinois a couple of weeks ago.  I couldn’t help it!  They kept calling my name.  The bacon was crispy – not mushy – and they were in the pancakes.  Of course I used sugar free syrup – LOL.  Don’t they look gorgeous?!

Now I want some more – ❤

 

Travels in Chicago –

 Did

 you think I was done highlighting some of the wonderful food mom/dad tried when they were visiting Illinois last November?  Of course not – snorts with piggy laughter.  How could

any visit be complete to the Chicago area without trying some of their famous Chicago deep dish pizza?  And of course, there was only one place they had to go for that –

Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria

First up, Aunt Tina said they had the best calamari.  So everyone ordered the Calamari Fritti which was lightly breaded and fried to perfection.  They serve this delectable appetizer with a side of cocktail sauce.  Of course, Aunt Tina made sure to spritz lemon all over these yum-yum’s before everyone dug into them.

And then everyone dug into some salad.  See even Aunt Tina made daddy eat some vegetables – mom was so proud.  Of course mom told daddy he had to eat the salad because the pizza takes time to cook.  That’s right.  Deep dish pizza takes longer to cook than the regular pizzas you might order from your fast food place.

 Then after a while, mom/dad/Aunt Tina said they heard angels singing and their individual pizzas were delivered.  Instead of getting one huge pizza, they all got individual ones with side salads.  These pizzas had sausage and black olives – and lots of sauce.

What did mom/dad think about this Chicago style deep dish pizza?  Dad is a huge pizza person.  He said that he ‘thinks’ he liked it but he would have to try one again to be sure.  That sounds like dad, huh?  But in the end, he said he would give it about an eight.

Mom said it was okay.  Mom is not a fan of a lot of sauce on her pizzas and of course this one is fully loaded with sauce.  And the crust is thick and a there is a lot of it surrounding the pizza.  Mom said the crust was kind of hard too.  There was lots of flavor but this pizza left mom on the it was okay side.  So for these reasons, mom gave it about a four.

But overall, everyone had a fantastic time at a famous landmark.  Would they go back again – of course they would!  There is more to the menu than just pizza.  And if you know anything about my mom/dad, they are professional eaters – snorts with piggy laughter.

 

Travels in the South

Daddy is doing Travels in the South today – take it away pops!

Sometimes you get the craving for some really good barbeque.  And for obvious reasons, we don’t tell Bacon what really good barbeque can be.  So the other day, I took the wife to a local place that has the best ribs.  As you can see in the picture above, you get a lot of food for just a little over $12.00 – and it’s good and solid food.  You can get the ribs in different flavors too – regular barbeque, bourbon or you can add more pork to it in the form of little pieces of bacon on top of your ribs.  I showed some respect for the pig and didn’t get bacon added to it.  I just couldn’t do that – LOL.

 

Travels in Chicago

Oh friends – I have a good one for you today.  But for some reason, mom says I can’t be part of it.  She wants to talk about it.  So without further ado – take it away mom ❤

---

Thanks Bacon.  Friends, for obvious reasons in the pictures below you can tell why I didn’t want Bacon here today.  No oinker should be around alcoholic beverages – LOL.  No really there is b.a.c.o.n. involved in this posting and I didn’t want the little guy to get his feelings hurt.  Carrying on with our Chicago, Illinois trip several months ago, I wanted to share a breakfast place that we went to for some fabulous food.  There is a restaurant close to my sister called Richard Walker’s Pancake House.  If you are near one, RUN to it.  They have the most fab food ever.

Of course every good breakfast needs to start with a solid drink.  Today was no exception.  We are on vacation and vacation knows no time.  My sister started with a Blood Mary with a slice of bacon.  THUD!  To say this restaurant has fabulous bacon is an understatement!  Mix that bacon with vodka and you have a party starting up right there and then.  I started with a Mimosa… gotta keep that orange juice flowing, right?  And of course the hub was the designated driver – snorts – so he had a Coke Zero straight up.

The muffin you see in the picture – that is a carrot cake muffin.  Gobble nom nom.  It was delicious!  We cut it all up and shared it together.  All it was missing was some cream cheese icing on top of it.

What we ate for entrees:

My sister went for the pancake looking picture.  That’s actually potato pancakes that was made from Idaho potatoes with a tad of fresh onion and served with applesauce and sour cream.  Now, before you go eeww, you have to try it before you knock it.  I was like yeah okay until I was personally hand fed a bite with sour cream.  Now I can’t get them out of my mind and want some…daily!  So yes upon our return trip to Chicago, this place is on the list for some potato pancakes.

I went boring style with scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon.  Okay the bacon wasn’t boring.  It was the most delicious bacon I’ve ever tasted here in the states and that’s saying a lot.

The hub unit went for the Classic Eggs Benedict.  Underneath that sinful hollandaise sauce was canadian bacon and poached eggs.  He made more grunting noises eating that meal than certain people make on certain television shows.  That’s all we are going to say about that – HAHAHAH

So I gotta ask – what was your favorite meal/picture?

 

Travels in Chicago

 No trip to Chicago, Illinois is complete without a visit to Portillo’s.  All I can say is bring an appetite!  You will want to try one of everything… and I think we did.  We were visiting for three days and visited Portillo’s twice.  Does that tell you anything about their awesome food?  This place is so busy that the line can be seen during the day out the door!  And to hear people order is a treat in itself.  Some people know the lingo of how to order while me the virgin of ordering just explained what I wanted – LOL.  On the first visit, we *had* to try an Italian Beef – loaded!  The Italian beef comes in two sizes – regular and big.  We went regular this day and still had enough to share.  It’s made with their famous thin sliced roast beef topped with sweet peppers.  And here’s a hint for you – there’s three ways to order it.  Standard with a splash of ‘gravy’; Dipped which means the whole sandwich is dipped into the ‘gravy’; or Dry with very little ‘gravy’.  “Gravy” is referred to the natural juices from the slow roasted beef.  This day, we went dry.  We didn’t want to wear the gravy all day if you know what I mean – ha!  And it was delicious!  The meat was tender, the sandwich was juicy and it felt like we belonged there eating this Italian Beef all of our lives.

The next day – yep the NEXT day – we had to come back and try some more delicacies again.  Since the beef was so delicious the day before, we thought we would try it again in a different form.  This time we split a Beef-n-Cheddar Croissant.  The same thin layers of Italian beef with cheddar cheese all over it on a nice toasted croissant.  Closing my eyes just thinking of this yummy sammy – it was that good!

Which one was better?  It’s hard to say.  Both of these were so delicious…. maybe I need to try both again before I can make a decision 🙂

 

Travels in the South

Surprise – surprise – surprise.  Just goes to show you that every once in a while mom listens to her body…. especially when it screams, “Eat a salad sometimes!” LOL

Last weekend, mom/dad went out for brunch.  We won’t discuss what daddy ate – probably another hamburger – snorts with piggy laughter.  But mom got a salad and I have to say it looked pretty darn good to me.  It had all of the regular stuff – croutons, red onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, shredded cheese with light Thousand Island dressing.

See mom can be good…. at times.

 

Travels in the South

Hello dear friends.  Welcome to another week of Travels in the South.  This week, we are focusing on daddy and his hamburger passion.  He loves hamburgers.  I mean really LOVES.  Every time we go somewhere, he has to try their burgers out to see how they are on the taste scale.  This week is no different.

This hamburger was so big that the restaurant had to put a huge steak knife in it to hold it together in transit to the table.  It’s a one pound patty, cheese, and gulps – bacon, with pickles and a hard fried egg.  Talk about getting all of the your food groups into one plate.  And if you haven’t noticed in the past with dad’s burgers, he likes a little mayo on his burgers – no ketchup or mustard or tomato or lettuce.

What did dad think of this concoction?  He gave it two thumbs up and said he would order it again.  What do you like on your burgers?