Travels in the South

Sometimes it’s hard to get out for a quick dinner especially when one is saving money.  But this night, mom/dad found the perfect place.  It was the Sam’s Warehouse – snorts with piggy laughter.  Daddy went in and asked for a table for two – rolls piggy eyes.  He’s the romantic isn’t he?

Well mom enjoyed her fine dining experience.  They got hot dogs with the works.  By the works I mean sauerkraut, onions and mustard.  Dad also went the extra mile with a bag of chips.  Now you are probably asking yourself was this really awesome?  Nods head.  Mom said YES.  For a whopping $5.00 – they had dinner for two.  Big spenders huh?

 

Independence Day

 Journalist Rocky the Squirrel – Keeping my paws on the nuts of the world!

Today is July 4th – the birthday of our nation. On this day, we celebrate and enjoy the freedom that comes with the event that made this day so special.  Do you know how this date originated?  Here’s a little background information for you:

 Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence and led a committee that crafted the declaration between June 11-28, 1776. Jefferson and other representatives from the thirteen colonies voted and approved it on July 4, 1776. The document declared freedom for the 13 colonies from British rule. Thus, July 4th is known as Independence Day in the United States. The actual Declaration of Independence is in the Exhibition Hall of the National Archive in Washington, D.C.

And here’s a little bit of trivia knowledge to WOW some of your friends.  The Declaration of Independence didn’t actually get all of the signatures by the representatives until August 1776.  The President of the Continental Congress, John Hancock, had to sign it to make it official.  Have you ever heard of the saying, “Put your John Hancock on it?”  Now, you know where the saying originated from.

Today we enjoy this day by celebrating our freedom.  It’s a time for some good old fashioned baseball, hot dogs and family picnics.  Throw in some parades and fireworks and it becomes a holiday with a bang!

Happy Birthday, America!

 

Travels in Chicago

Last week we talked further about our trip to Chicago, Illinois and a visit to a little restaurant called Portillo’s.  Portillo’s has great Italian beef sandwiches… however, they also have great dogs.  You might be asking yourself at this point just how good is the food at this joint?  Well, I can tell you a short story and you decide.  We went one day to try this restaurant and its great food.  The next morning we planned to eat at a different restaurant after my sister ran an errand.  While my sister was running her early morning errand, a decision was voted on in her absence.  When my sister returned, we explained to her that the breakfast place was a most followed by a second breakfast back at Portillo’s.  Yep, you heard that right… a second breakfast.  That’s how great Portillo’s is to eat.  Now don’t worry, the first breakfast place will be highlighted next week.  But this week, let’s finish up Portillo’s.

They have awesome dogs!  My hub *had* to try an original Chicago style dog.  It came with mustard, relish, celery salt, freshly chopped onions, sliced red tomatoes, kosher pickle and sport peppers on a steamed poppy seed bun.  Doesn’t it look awesome?  Of course we learned really quick that a true Chicagoan refers to this style of a hot dog as “dragging the dog through the garden“.  Fitting huh?

Now, I found fascination in the char-grilled Maxwell Street polish sausage dog.  You can also get this dog filled high with grilled onions.  This day, I passed on the onions and just went mustard and sausage dog.  I couldn’t get enough of these dogs!!  You could hear and feel the ‘snap’ of the casing of the sausage.  That is a true sign of greatness in my book.

It didn’t matter which side you go on these dogs, both of them were great on their own… even if it was a second breakfast of the day – giggles.

 

Table for Two Please

Like many people, Saturday night was mom/dad’s date night.  You might remember that a couple of week’s ago, they went to dine at the finest restaurant this south of Atlanta.  It was the Sam’s Warehouse – snorts with piggy laughter.  Daddy went in and asked for a table for two – rolls piggy eyes.  He’s the romantic isn’t he?  The previous night they had pizza.  You can read about that date night here.

Well mom must have enjoyed her fine dining experience because last night she wanted to go back.  But this time, they wanted hot dogs with the works.  By the works I mean sauerkraut, onions and mustard.  Dad also went the extra mile with a bag of chips.  Now you are probably asking yourself was this as awesome as the pizza night?  Nods head.  Mom said YES.  For a whopping $5.00 – they had dinner for two.  Big spenders huh?

Now after they were eating and were just sitting there talking, they saw some peeps they knew.  The peeps came over and sat with mom/dad asking them what they were doing.  Mom said they were on their date night.  The peep said, “Hogwash – you’re married now.  There are no date nights”.  What?  Mom/dad didn’t get that memo.  They always have weekly date nights.  Don’t your parents?

 

Independence Day

Journalist Rocky the Squirrel –

Keeping my paws on the nuts of the world!

Today is July 4th – the birthday of our nation. On this day, we celebrate and enjoy the freedom that comes with the event that made this day so special.  Do you know how this date originated?  Here’s a little background information for you:

 Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence and led a committee that crafted the declaration between June 11-28, 1776. Jefferson and other representatives from the thirteen colonies voted and approved it on July 4, 1776. The document declared freedom for the 13 colonies from British rule. Thus, July 4th is known as Independence Day in the United States. The actual Declaration of Independence is in the Exhibition Hall of the National Archive in Washington, D.C.

And here’s a little bit of trivia knowledge to WOW some of your friends.  The Declaration of Independence didn’t actually get all of the signatures by the representatives until August 1776.  The President of the Continental Congress, John Hancock, had to sign it to make it official.  Have you ever heard of the saying, “Put your John Hancock on it?”  Now, you know where the saying originated from.

Today we enjoy this day by celebrating our freedom.  It’s a time for some good old fashioned baseball, hot dogs and family picnics.  Throw in some parades and fireworks and it becomes a holiday with a bang!

Happy Birthday, America!

 

Travels in the South

Welcome back friends to another edition of Travels in the South.  We have been talking about our visit with our great friends Bill and Jean from Canadian Cats.  If you have missed the previous editions, please check them out here:  Red Lobster; Fogo de Chao; Stately Oaks; Spa Day. World of Coca-Cola Part I, World of Coca-Cola Part II. World of Coca-Cola Part III

After all of that touring of the World of Coca-Cola, the humans all got hungry and needed a sit down break of nourishment.  They decided to go to a local restaurant that is very popular here in the south.  Mom plugged in the destination in her GPS and they started off down the street.  That’s when something funny happened.  They passed the same church like three times.  Finally Jean and Bill were like, “Have we been here before?”  Of course everyone started laughing when the GPS would go “recalculating”.  That’s my mom – always making her own destination.

After a while and with letting the GPS tell mommy where to go and mommy listening, they finally made it to their destination for lunch – The Varsity.  You are immediately greeted with so many people and the “What’ll You Have? What’ll You Have?” from the cashiers taking orders.

The Varsity has been running for over 88 years and is a local landmark here in the South.  On this day, there was nothing major going on in town.  Days that there are football or basketball games or school functions, imagine this picture three or four times as busy.  Not only can you go in to dine but The Varsity downtown also has the world’s largest drive in with car hops.  What a blast from the past huh?

The Varsity offers a variety of different food – from hot dogs to hamburgers to grilled pimento cheese sandwiches to awesome onion rings to french fries.  In fact, it is a published fact on their website that they go through two miles of hot dogs, a ton of onions, 2500 pounds of potatoes, 5000 fried pies and 300 gallons of chili that are made from scratch daily.

For more information on the Varsity – see here.  I know all of the humans had a blast at the restaurant this date eating to their hearts delight.  And of course every meal is finished with dessert, right?  Everyone had hot peach fried pies topped with turtle ice cream.  I’m licking my lips just thinking about it.  So I gotta end this posting today with “What’ll You Have?  What’ll You Have?”

 

Shopping Around the World

Thanks to everyone for participating in mine and Fozzie‘s Shopping Around the World.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices, recipes and pictures of food from around the world!

This month was a free for all.  Five items of your choice for any meal or dessert or appetizer – it’s your choice.  

Knowing this, my mom went all out – snorts.  I am going to tell you about the hottest thing that mom has eaten lately.  She gets this salad every.chance.she.can.  Notice I said “get” and not “fix” – snorts with piggy laughter.  Okay, this month mommy is cheating by not fixing this delectable, gorgeous salad.  She has been on this DIEt thing lately – not only to lose weight but to get a few of her numbers down in her bloodwork.

Well, my daddy is a meat eater – go figure huh?  There is a local steakhouse that he absolutely loves to go to and will jump at the chance anytime he can.  But here’s the great spot, mom loves this Strawberry Pecan salad they have and she says it’s a meal for her.  What daddy does is order his steak and upgrades his salad to this masterpiece for like less than $2.50 – can you believe that?!  That way, daddy gets his Flintstone steak and mom gets her beautiful salad.

And on this beautiful salad is red onions, grapes, strawberries, pecans, oranges and lettuce.  It is topped with a strawberry vinaigrette. Can you taste it?  I told mommy that this little oinker wouldn’t even mind this salad for dinner.  What about you?

  

 

Shopping Around the World – REMINDER

Thanks to everyone for participating in mine and Fozzie‘s Shopping Around the World.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices, recipes and pictures of food from around the world!

Our next scheduled Shopping Around the World is for Wednesday, October 28th.

This month is a free for all.  Five items of your choice for any meal or dessert or appetizer – it’s your choice.  

Do a posting on your blog linked back to mine.  That way we can keep track of all of the different prices.  It should be interesting to see the differences between.  Mark your calendar so you can do a posting with us.

 

Shopping Around the World – Mark Your Calendars

Thanks to everyone for participating in mine and Fozzie‘s Shopping Around the World.  It’s so awesome to see the various prices, recipes and pictures of food from around the world!

Our next scheduled Shopping Around the World is for Wednesday, October 28th.

This month is a free for all.  Five items of your choice for any meal or dessert or appetizer – it’s your choice.  

Do a posting on your blog linked back to mine.  That way we can keep track of all of the different prices.  It should be interesting to see the differences between.  Mark your calendar so you can do a posting with us.

 

Food Blog

  Hey friends – just to let you know, mom has taken down her food blog.  She is going to let me post pictures that I find on her iPhone from when her and daddy escape the Hotel Thompson.  She said it was something about trying to keep up with two blogs… which I don’t get because I take care of my blog – snorts.  With that in mind, let me show you one of mom and dad’s latest escapades.

Daddy is a HUGE pizza guy.  He could probably eat it every day of the week.  He has been wanting to try a new pizza that Pizza Hut is offering.  It’s called the Hot Dog pizza.  Yep, you read that right.  A Hot Dog Pizza.  Rolls piggy eyes – really mom and dad?  Thank goodness this pizza didn’t make it the house and they shared it with friends.

It is a regular pepperoni and cheese pizza but the twist is in the crust.  The crust is hot dog pretzel bits.  I asked mom if she liked it because she is usually not a huge pizza gal.  She said, “SQUEALS – it is so good!”  So there you go.  If you are up for an adventure, mom/dad highly recommend this new pizza from Pizza Hut.  Let us know if you try it and what you think 🙂