Travels in the South

Oh boy, has daddy got a good one today for you my friends.  For obvious reasons, I’m going to let daddy explain his choice to you – snorts with piggy laughter.

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Thank you Bacon – now you scoot along and be a good piggy.  You certainly do not need to see this.

Hello friends – Look at this burger!  Can you say in the famous words of Bacon, “Oh my piggy heavens?!” 

On a recent outing with the wife, I came across the burger.  The menu called it The Boss.  I nicknamed it The Caveman.  It was *almost* too much for even me to handle… but I did. 

The pictures don’t do it justice – it is HUGE! 

Are you asking yourself what is in this creation?  There is a hamburger patty on the bottom, topped by smoked brisket, tender rib meat, jalapeno cheddar smoked sausage, bacon and cheddar. 

 

I could barely wrap my hands around this burger.  And once I did get my hands around it, I wouldn’t dare put it down because it would fall apart on me.  And that my friends would be horrible. 

So I picked it up and dug in.  This burger was so piled with goodies inside that they kept falling out and onto my tray. 

And see those french fries on my plate.  I’m sure they would have been good but I had no room left to enjoy them. 

And if the sandwich was that big, do you think I could wrap my mouth around it?  Barely – that is the word – barely!

And it was good until the last bite!

 

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?

 

Travels in the South

Sometimes you want food that just screams comfort to you.  My mom’s comfort food when she is feeling really bad – are you ready for this – is a Happy Meal from McDonald’s.  Can you believe that?  She has been recuperating from her surgery, some days are good and some days are testing her ability not to scream.  Well one of her friends brought her a hamburger Happy Meal ordered with extra happy for her one day.  Wasn’t that awesome?  I’m not sure if it was the Happy Meal or the extra happy that made mom’s day but it did.

Mom had to take this picture of everything.  That is a hamburger, two bags of cut up apples (I guess that was the extra happy, you think?) a small fries, a drink and of course a girl toy.  And yes, please check out the size of that fries in relationship to the hamburger.  Do you think they could be any smaller?  Snorts and rolls with piggy laughter.

 

Travels in the South

Welcome my friends to another week of Travels in the South.  You know my daddy, he loves his hamburgers.  A couple of weeks ago he and mom found a restaurant that was a little hole in the wall.  It wasn’t much on the outside but they were known for their burgers.  And dad said they were right.  Their burgers were out of this world delicious.  Now, this is not something you should eat everyday for sure, especially when someone – snort mom snort – is suppose to be watching those calories.  But I had to share their meal.

Both burgers had eight ounce angus beef patties.  And that is the only thing they had in common – snorts with piggy laughter.

Dad’s had a hard fried egg, bacon (gulps), melted Jack cheese and pickles on it.  Mom had bacon (gulps), a portobello mushroom, red onions and pickles.  I couldn’t believe the size of mom’s burger.  She couldn’t even wrap her mouth around it – HA!   And of course she had to get daddy to help her finish it.  Dad had onion rings with his burger.  Mom had a salad so at least she *tried* to somewhat healthy.

  

 

Travels in the South

Welcome my friends to another week of Travels in the South.  My dad says that sometimes you just need a good hamburger, something solid and substantial.  This week he wanted just that – an awesome hamburger.  You’ve heard us talk about the great pizza that a restaurant called Mellow Mushroom has but did you know they have build your own burgers?  Daddy saw it on the menu and just had to try it… of course while mom had a wonderfully delicious salad – poor mom.

The burger is 100% black angus beef topped with dad’s favorites:  pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar and swiss cheeses and bacon – gulps.  Dad said it was a handful and was so delicious.  Of course, it did take two hands to eat and plenty of napkins.  I guess that’s a good sign to a great juicy burger, huh?

So if you have a Mellow Mushroom close by, check them out for their burgers.  They also have vegan burgers which mom says sound delicious.

 

Travels in the South

Welcome my friends to another week of Travels in the South.  This week is all about daddy.  Sometimes he craves bad things.  It’s okay.  It happens.  This week he was craving a hamburger.  Not just any hamburger though.  He likes something called the Royale at a local hamburger joint.  This thing has the works – hamburger, cheese, a fried egg and something that this little oinker won’t mention but you can see in the picture.  This gigantic burger is happily served with french fries.  Does it look good to you?

Daddy says it is messy and once you start, it’s hard to put down because it falls all over the place.  Have you ever had such a creation?

Until next time, happy eating my friends ❤

 

Travels in the South

Hello friends – welcome to another week of Travels in the South.  Now we all know that mom is trying to do right – trying to live a healthier life. She believes in the 90-10 system.  90% of the time she eats right while the other 10% of the time she has what she wants – within reason.  Well this past weekend, mom was craving a hamburger… which is weird because that’s something she doesn’t usually crave.  So her and dad went to a local burger joint.  And mom did good.  She really did… okay for the most part – remember 90-10 system – snorts with piggy laughter.

So what did mom eat?  This is typical of things she orders when her and dad go out.  This is called a Buffalo Wingman’s Burger.  What makes it that?  It has a blackened beef patty, pimento cheese spread, spicy pickles, red onions, a spicy mayo made with Chipotle pepper sauce and then topped with two buffalo wings – oh and mom got it bunless with a side salad.  See what I’m talking about on 90-10 system?  Sounds delicious and mom said it tasted even better.

 

 

Wonder Woman What?!

There I was this morning looking at the news on my i-Pad.  You know minding my own piggy business in a world all to myself.  That’s when a friend of mine on Facebook showed on her page a picture of some wondrous food.  I mean BIG time knock you on your piggy tail awesome food.  I’m talking my daddy would absolutely LOSE his mind with this hamburger – see below.  Was I joking?

So, I did what any decent pigson would do.  I finished reading the article and then tapped down the hall to dad’s room.  Of course I would say run but then we would all know I was lying.  This pig doesn’t run.  It’s bad on my knees.  Oh my bad – I don’t have knees – snorts with piggy laughter.  Trust me, once dad saw the article he quickly forgave me for the slight hoof mark I left on his ankle – only slight.

This monster of a burger is courtesy of a restaurant in Tampa, Florida called Datz and is called the Amazon Warrior Burger.  It was created for the new movie Wonder Woman that is now currently showing in theatres.   It was only available for one day – bummer.  It would have been an awesome trip.  So what makes this burger warrior material?  You tell me – here are the ingredients:

The bun is sourdough and decorated with white cheddar and American cheese starts.  The bun has also been dyed red, gold and blue.  There are two beef patties broked up – wait for it – by a slice of pineapple!

So, what do you think my friends.  Are you game for a warrior burger?  Licks my piggy lips now.

 

Travels in the South

 Welcome back my friends to another edition of Travels in the South.   Last week, I gave you some appetizers from a restaurant that mom/dad visited a couple of towns over from us.  You can read about that here.  Today I wanted to share the main course with him.  Now after eating all of those wonderful appetizers, mom did the right thing.  She went for a salad.  Mom said their salads were awesome with all kinds of the goodies that she likes in them like cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, mixed greens and croutons.  Doesn’t it look fantastic?

But dad, dad went straight up southern on all of us.  He got what the restaurant has on their menu as Glynn Street Burger.  Why is it called that?  Well the restaurant is on Glynn Street of course – snorts with piggy laughter.  Makes sense huh?  But what is in a Glynn Street Burger is the question.  Let me introduce you.

The Glynn Street Burger is an 8 ounce hamburger patty topped with a fried green tomato, pimento cheese and -gulps- bacon.  If you need to click on the picture to make it bigger to get a better look at this magnificent burger, please do.  You will want to see all of this goodness.  Dad says it’s one of those burgers that is wet and delicious.  You will need plenty of napkins… or as mom says a hose to hose you down before you get back in the car.  This burger is messy but so worth the fight in getting it into your tummy.  If you never had a burger with pimento cheese and a fried green tomato – don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.  Dad went straight up southern with this meal.   But as in the famous words of our favorite television detective, “One more thing.”  See those tater tots in the plate.  They are sweet potato tater tots.  Mom doesn’t care that much for tater tots but on this date couldn’t stay out of dad’s plate.  They were that delicious!

 

But wait a minute, mom has one more picture to share with you.  These are the outside doors of the bathrooms – too cute huh??!!

 

Shopping Around the World

Welcome my friends to another edition of Shopping Around the World recipes!

This month we are opening the floor for you.  You can post ANYTHING (desserts, appetizers, snacks, entrees) that you want to share.  Just remember pictures and prices.  So what will you post my friends?  We can’t wait to see.

Now with mom/dad, sometimes the best thing they crave is a good old fashioned hamburger with french fries.  Doesn’t that sound yummy?  And mom does them in an unique way.  So, let me present Mom’s Hamburgers and Fries.

Ingredients:

Buns – we get a package of 8 for $1.00 = that makes each bun only 0.13 each.

Hamburger Meat – Mom gets a package of ground sirloin that costs around $6.50 a package.  Now one package will make 4 burgers = that’s only $1.63 per burger.

1 Tomato (which is optional).  We got big beef steak tomatoes on sale for $0.99 a pound.  One tomato costs us $1.28 and you only need one slice of the tomato per burger so the rest goes into a salad for the next day 🙂  So somewhere in the neighborhood of $0.21 per slice.

An egg.  Yep, you heard it.  1 egg for each burger.  Eggs costs $2.00 for a dozen = $0.17 each.

A baking potato because they are huge = $0.59 for one.

Now – the total price per Mom’s hamburger is around $2.75 – take that Mickey D’s restaurant.  I’m not posting all of the condiment prices because that can vary.

How to Prepare:

Mom works on the potato first to get it started  She cuts the potato in very thin slices and places in a bowl.  She then salts them rather well and starts her fry daddy oil.  Once the oil is hot, she drops the french fries into the oil to cook.  Depending on how brown/crispy you want your fries, depends on the cooking time.  Just watch them so they don’t burn.

During the cooking of your fries, plop your hamburger meat out into a bowl.  Season your meat – salt, pepper, anything you normally use.  Sometimes mom puts some Worcestershire sauce in it as well.  With your fingers, gently mix it together – but don’t overwork.  Once mixed, kind of flatten against the bottom of the bowl and with your hand make a cross sign – that way you are separating the meat into hopefully four even hamburger patties.  Get your pan (preferably an iron skillet because hey we are in the south-LOL) hot and add just a little bit of oil to cover the bottom.  Also during this time, turn your stove on around 300-350 degrees.

As your pan is warming up, take one section of your hamburger meat.  This is the time if you want to add cheese inside of your burger you would do it here.  What do I mean?  Well sometimes mom will cut a piece of cheddar cheese and then wrap the hamburger meat around the cheddar cheese covering it.  Just be careful after you cook it and bite into the burger because it will be H.O.T.  However you do it though, patty your hamburger out and make a small dimple in the middle.  Put aside and do the rest of your burgers.

Once the pan is hot, put the burgers in the pan to cook.  We prefer around medium but some like it more cooked – your choice.  While that is cooking, take your buns and put them on a cookie tray.  Butter them lightly and stick them in the oven to toast – be careful not to burn your buns.

Once the buns are done, take them out and put what condiments you want on your burger.  Once the burgers are done in the pan, take them off the burner and let them sit for a few minutes.  After they have rested a bit, build your burger.