Shopping Around the World

Welcome my friends to a new year of adventure and great food!

July we are highlighting great sandwiches of any kind.  In the summer months, it is way too hot to bake or cook on the oven.  For that reason, we are doing sandwiches that require little to no cooking.

For this month, I’m letting my mom take it away

❤

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What you will need:  Dinner rolls (we got the new Sara Lee Artesano which comes 12 rolls to the package for $3.69 – you will need six rolls); Ham of your choice (you could use any kind of deli meat – this is our favorite – don’t tell Bacon.  The package costs $4.07, you will need a third of it); and shredded cheese (a block of cheese cost us $1.99 – use whatever type.  We use medium cheddar and about a quarter of the block).  Total price $3.71

 

How to prepare:  Turn your over on just long enough to get a little hot.  Cut the tops off of he dinner rolls trying to keep them all together.  Put the shredded cheddar cheese on the bottom dinner rolls.  Then top with slices of ham and more shredded cheddar cheese.  Place the top back on the dinner rolls and put on a baking sheet.  Put in the oven just long enough to get the cheese to melt.  Take out and cut into little sliders for dinner.  Trust me, they go FAST!

 

Travels in the South

Let me start by saying that this posting has LOTS of food in it with pictures.  You know my mom and dad – they are professional eaters.  They get into trouble every possible way.  They called a field trip this past weekend.  There is a restaurant about 30 minutes away called The Vortex Bar and Grill in an area called Little Five Points.   They say it’s awesome.  First off, it’s a bar and most of the workers have tattoos and no one under the age of 18 can come into the restaurant.  I guess that leaves me out since I’m just over two – snorts.

 This is daddy posing outside of the entrance to the location.  I know I’ve talked about this restaurant before but I’m not sure if I’ve posted pictures of the awesome food – which mom and dad say is awesome…. shuffles hooves… I wouldn’t know because someone didn’t bring me home a piggy bag.

Like I was saying, the front of the building near the entrance has the huge skull that you walk through.  Scary looking huh?  You can see the name of the restaurant on the side to the right of dad’s head.  NOTE: Someone told mommy that it looks like daddy has rabbit ears over his head from the jaw line of the skull.  Snorts – I think it does too.  You?

The day that mom/dad went, there was no line.  Usually the line is out the door.  Inside of the location, it’s dark and cozy.  Mom and dad say the inside is rather small so the tables are tight.  You make friends really quick – snorts.

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 They started off with a Mighty Meaty Chili.  This is how the menu describes the chili – menu wording not mine – just remember that :

“Made with ground sirloin, chipotle & habanero peppers and a secret combination of seasonings but no beans ’cause it’s MEATY.  It’s definitely got some heat to it so please don’t order if you’re a big pussy”

Yep, that’s what it says.  The picture to the left is of the cornbread that comes with the chili.  Daddy says you really needed that because the chili was H.H.O.O.T.T.  Thank goodness mom and dad split a bowl – snorts.

Mom and dad followed the spicy chili up with an appetizer of Cheddar Balls O’Glory.  That’s what I’m talking about – cheese balls.  Licks piggy lips.  And of course, I’m going to tell you the wording off the menu… why?  Because it’s so interesting 🙂

“A plate full of beer-battered, deep fried balls of cheddar cheese, served with jalapeno ranch dressing.  These are by far the tastiest balls you’ll ever put in your mouth.  You know you want some, so just bite our cheesy balls”.

Now with all of this wonderful food so far, you know the main meals have to be out of this world!  And yeah, mom and dad wanted to sample a lot.

Dad ordered what they called a Meat Packer Melt –

“A sirloin patty topped with sliced turkey, ham, American, Swiss and cheddar cheese all griddled together on swirled rye bread.  This is the best patty melt you have ever put in your mouth.”

Dad says this was the bomb!  It was deliciously served with tater tots – one of his favorites.  The last time he came here, he ordered the Double Coronary Bypass and trust me – he almost had one!  He had plenty of leftovers that time.  This is what it is:

“One big half pound sirloin patty topped with two fried eggs, six slices of American cheese and eight slices of bacon served between two grilled cheese sandwiches that we use in place of the regular hamburger buns.”  

And mom, we can’t leave mommy out.  She went grandstand too.  She got the Cubano De Libertad.

“A fresh baked roll filled with slow roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, sliced pickles and spicy mustard grilled flat and drenched in Mojo sauce.”

Okay – let me add that this little oinker was not harmed in the making of mom’s lunch.  See, that’s how she does me.  She runs off and eats pork.  Shakes my piggy head. At least she didn’t order the sandwich they call, “Three Little Pigs”… I don’t even want to know what’s on that one – Snorts.

So, that’s my wild humans.  If you want to see more of the menu, look here at Vortex.  It is by far great reading, mouth watering and delicious sounding.  You gotta check it out if you get a chance.  Happy Eats!

 

Pineapple and Daddy

As some of you know, I have a love/hate relationship with my daddy.  I mean he loves me and I love him but it’s nothing like the love me and mom share.  Can you relate?  We tolerate – yeah that’s a good word – tolerate each other.  He takes care of me during the day and I like to think I take care of him during the day too.

Well, this weekend we were outside playing around.  I was down in the yard of the magical back yard and he was with me with mommy up on the deck.  Just for a moment, deviled ham came out in me.

  I tried to hide him back inside of me… you know sweet bacon.  But, it just wasn’t going to happen.  Sigh – deviled ham came out full force.  I looked at daddy and all I could see was a target.  I know I shouldn’t but it happened.  I stomped my hooves, ran around the magical back yard and at full force slammed into daddy who was kneeling over weeding.  For a big ex football player, he fell hard with a good thump.  Maybe that’s because he wasn’t expecting me… you think?  Then that old meanie deviled ham did something terrible.  He grabbed daddy’s pant legs and started pulling.  I thought for a minute deviled ham was going to pull off daddy’s pants in the backyard.

But then, daddy did the strangest thing.  He said really loud, “Safe word is pineapple – PINEAPPLE”.  He kept repeating pineapple.  Shakes piggy head.  Can you believe that?  Even when deviled ham is trying to play, daddy still thinks of food.  And mom says my mind is a one track way with food.  Snorts.

With daddy screaming pineapple and deviled ham snorting, this got mom’s attention on the deck.  Mom said those words that everyone hates to hear.  The full name – shivers.  She yelled out, “Bacon Porkchop Thompson, you get up here NOW”.  Oh snap.  That’s right – deviled ham snapped right out of my inner body and sweet bacon came out pronto.  I stopped, put my tail between my legs and slowly stomped up the board to the deck.  Man, I was in trouble.  The full name followed by NOW.

I got up on the deck and mom fussed at me.  I mean really fussed.  What was I thinking?  I can’t play rough like that, etc.  I tried to tell her it was deviled ham.  She didn’t have any of it.  She sent me to my bedroom… you know pay the time for the crime.  Shucks… it was all in good fun.

But, I went to my room.  I hope mommy fed daddy some pineapple.  He seemed like he really wanted some.  And don’t worry, dad wasn’t hurt.  He thought it was kind of fun too.  We made apologies later in the day and all is good now.

But you see, that deviled ham is evil.  Do you have a deviled ham?

 

Shopping Around the World

Welcome my friends to a new year of adventure and great food!

Today we are highlighting great sandwiches of any kind.  Mom/dad here at the Hotel Thompson are the king and queen of sandwiches.  Sometimes they are huge and sometimes they are just something thrown between two slices of bread.  You never know with those two.  One of dad’s favorite sandwiches is a club on wheat bread.  There is a local sandwich shop that he always wants to frequent… that is until mom created this monster for him.  Now dad welcomes mom’s club sandwiches any day.  So without further ado – take it away mom!

What you will need:  Hoagie buns (a package of six cost $2.00 – $0.33 each bun); Meats – you get whatever you want from the deli.  We get a 1/2 pound of roast beef, ham and turkey.  Of course, a 1/2 pound makes multiple sandwiches.  They range from $4-$6.00 for each selection.  If you had to break it down, it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.75 per sandwich with all three meats.  Cheese – we also get 1/2 pound of provolone for $3.50.  It costs around $0.50 per sandwich for each sandwich.  Chips – we buy the store brand of chips for $1.00 a bag.  There are multiple servings per bag.  So somewhere around $0.25 per serving.  And we always keep pickles and olives on hands – always for nibbling.  So each sandwich will cost you around less than $3.00 per sandwich.  Not really bad and they are yummy!

Here is the fun part – arrange the sandwich however you want.  Pure and simple, right?  LOL – we prefer a little mayo on one side of the sandwich and  a little mustard on the opposite side.  You can use a sampling of all three meats or just the ones you want.  Add the cheese.  Now we have even used a panini press in the past and squished this sandwich making it hot or you can just serve it cold like this picture – whichever works for you.  It’s a simple sandwich but so delicious and easy.

You can even make them in advance and cut them into little pieces for a big football party.  We’ve done that before as well.  These are so easy to fix ahead of time.  Just a thought with the Super Bowl coming up my friends ❤

 

Travels in the South

Doesn’t that look delicious?  A couple of weeks back mom/dad were craving pizza which is unusual.  Well not for dad.  He’s always craving pizza of any sort.  But mom, she never craves pizza.  So when she does, dad takes full advantage of the situation.  So today I’m going to let daddy finish this Travels with the South.

When the wifey craves pizza, I know exactly where to head to make us both happy.  There is a local pizza joint that has stuffed crust pizza.  The wife loves stuffed crust – all of that extra cheese in the crust of the pizza.  It somehow makes eating pizza seem so much more of a delightful experience.  This day I even went one step further for my honey.  This pizza place also offers seasoned crusts.  So today I got stuffed crust with a pretzel crust.  Can you say yum because that’s exactly what we both said… almost at the same time.

And we know that I’m a meat eater so I added my favorite toppings:  pepperoni, italian sausage, ham, bacon, beef and black olives.  I have to admit that this pizza came out amazing!  Even the waitstaff was drooling.

 

Travels in the South

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I agree.  Mom has fixed me omelettes for breakfast and dinner.  However, I’ve never had an omelette like this one before.  It seems mom likes something called a Colorado Omelette.  It has all kinds of wonderful yummy stuff in it – some things I can’t mention because well I’m an oinker and it wouldn’t be good for me so I’m letting mom take it from here.

For obvious reasons – this omelette is loaded.  Loaded with goodness that is.  It has bacon, sausage, shredded beef, ham, onions, green peppers, mushrooms and cheddar cheese.  And let’s not forget to top off that deliciously wonderful omelette with salsa.  Yum.  Have you ever had an omelette topped with salsa?  It just brings so much more to the table.

 

 

Shopping Around the World

Thanks to everyone for another great edition of Shopping Around the World last month.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices around the world – and the pictures with recipes!

This month we are concentrating on salads and I present to you mom’s salad.  It has a little bit of everything and mom/dad eat these several times during the week as their meal at night.  Hope you enjoy it!

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What you Need:

1 head of lettuce ($0.98); package of grape tomatoes ($0.99); croutons (package $1.19); shredded cheese (package $2.49); Cucumber ($0.98); sliced ham (2.49 for quarter pound); mushrooms (pack $2.49); chopped walnuts ($2.49 pack); Catalina Dressing ($1.49)

Everyone knows how to put together a salad.  What’s interesting is what people put ‘in’ their salads.  AND if this is what’s for dinner, you want the salad to be hearty.  Mom/dad eat this salad usually 3-4 times during the week, especially here in the Summer where it’s just too hot to cook anything on the stove or in the oven.

Now mom will change it up sometimes and use chicken from the night before instead of ham, or sometimes she even puts spicy pickles in the salad.  It just depends on what ingredients you have on your hand.

Mom fixes an entire bucket of salad and keeps it in the refrigerator for us at night.  And yes, even I eat salad – wouldn’t you with all of these ingredients?  Except mine doesn’t have ham – you know for obvious reasons but chicken night we all win.

When you think about the ingredients above averaging out for 2 people and 1 pig (snorts) over 4 nights, it only equals out to $3.90 for each dinner night.  Now that’s not bad at all!

 

Shopping Around the World

Thanks to everyone for another great edition of Shopping Around the World last month.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices around the world – and the pictures with recipes!

This month we are highlighting sandwiches.  Show us your creativity and your best sandwich.  What makes it special?  What kind of ingredients do you have in it and what does it look like?  It can be more than five ingredients.

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This was a tough one this month – not so much as to a sandwich but what to pick to post.  I ended picking a sandwich that we all absolutely love here at the Hotel Thompson.  AND, it’s simple to fix.  Really – it looks like it’s complicated but trust me, it’s not 🙂

Normally we fix this sandwich a lot around the Thanksgiving -Christmas holidays because of all of the leftovers.  You are probably asking yourself well what do you call it?  This is our rendition of a Monte Cristo sandwich.

What you will need:

2 slices of white bread ($0.10)

2 slices of ham or leftover ham (if you buy the deli ham this comes out to less than $1.25)

2 slices of turkey or leftover turkey (again if you buy the deli turkey this comes out to less than $1.25)

2-3 slices of cheese – any kind.  In this situation, we used one slice of cheddar on top and one slice of cheddar on bottom with one slice of swiss in the middle.  (we had all of these cheese on hand and it came out less than $1.00)

Pillsbury pizza dough – yep you heard it.  One can cost us $1.50

Powdered sugar to top.  I’m still using a bag of powdered sugar that I bought some time ago.  I’m going to say this might be $0.25

And you have your choice of any kind of jam you want to dip your sandwich into before eating. Here, we prefer a strawberry jam.  One bottle usually makes it 4 sandwiches so for 1 sandwich – $0.75.

Build your Monte Cristo.  Lay out your 2 pieces of white bread.  Add a piece of cheddar, one slice of ham, one slice of turkey, one slice of swiss, one slice of ham, one slice of turkey and one slice of cheddar.  Take your pizza dough and cut it into two slices.  You just need a half slice to wrap around your sandwich completely – just like wrapping a package.  Get your oil hot in your pan because now you are going to deep fry your sandwich.  Yep, we are in the south – DEEP FRY that bad boy.  When it is nicely browned on all sides, take it out and pat it with a paper towel.  Then cut it into fours, place it on a plate and lightly dust it with the powdered sugar.  Dip in your jam and enjoy.  This is wonderful!

 

This is My Kind of Sandwich

 

Happy International Bacon Day 2015

A day all to myself – International Bacon Day 2015!

A celebration of bacon – the pig – moi.  Okay so maybe *I* won’t celebrate today like some humans or other anipals but I will celebrate my day.  I mean how many people have a holiday for them – BACON DAY?  Snorts – bring on some fun my friends!

Today, I will be HAMbassador of this day.  This is me getting my “hams” massaged by mommy.  Noticed the smile on my face.  I’m as happy as a pig in mud.  No, wait a minute.  What does that saying mean?  “As happy as a pig in mud”.  Isn’t that dirty and messy AND outside?  Why would I be happy dirty and messy and outside?  That doesn’t make sense.  Let me rephrase that.  I’m as happy as a spoiled rotten miniature pot bellied pig that stays inside and has his own room and his own television and his own bed.  There – that’s more exact, you think?  Snorts.

On this day, I proclaim it’s me day.  I shall do nothing.  I shall be cuddled.  I shall be loved.  I shall be waited on hand and feet (literally).  I shall be fed grapes off of a stem.  I shall have control of the remote control.  I shall do no wrong.

uum… wait a minute.  I get all of that every day, not just today on my special day.  Let me rethink real quick.  Okay I got it.  Let’s celebrate this special day with all of our special friends here!  All hail Bacon Day!