Shopping Around the World

My friend Fozzie and I have scheduled a group posting today of Shopping Around the World.   We thought it would be interesting to see the differences between different countries all over.Here are our prices for the following from our area – Georgia USA.

 Items to price this month:

• Spring/Summer is quickly approaching my friends on this side of the world.  On the other side of the world, Autumn/Winter is quickly approaching.  That is if Mother Nature starts playing well with others 🙂  It was suggested to post what you pay during this time of year for the month for your heating and/or air conditioning.  What temperature do you set your thermostat on?  Discuss.  Okay we keep it pretty cool here at the Hotel Thompson.  Mom likes to hang meat sometimes so daddy has to keep her in check.  Our monthly bill is a ‘flat rate’ bill.  We pay the same thing every month for 12 months.  Sometimes we use more watts than other months but it makes up the difference over the year.  We pay right at $205.00 a month in electrical – heating/air conditioning.  Our house is totally electric – no gas at all here… unless you count the gas that comes from this oinker – snorts and rolls with piggy laughter.
• Meat.  Fajita beef.  We buy a pound package for $4.99 at the market.  It’s already cut in small slices.  All you have to do is brown.
• Vegetable.  Head of cabbage.  When we are lucky, we can get this as cheap as $0.29 a pound.  This week though we paid $0.49 a pound.  An entire head cost us around $1.26 – awesome deal.  Have you ever eaten the core of a cabbage?  Mom highly recommends it.  It has a bit of a spicy flavor and is awesome!
• Random Item.   A can of peanuts.  We buy the store brand for only $2.99 a can.
• Homemade Dish.  See Below 🙂 This entire meal costs less than $5.00 for two people – and you have leftovers the next day for lunch!

  A ‘go to’ dish here at the Hotel Thompson is our version of a Chinese dish.  This is easy and takes less than 15 minutes to prepare.  It’s a huge hit!  We take the fajita beef and brown it in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil.  While that is browning, we use two boxes of the Lo Mein noodles that you can buy in the store for $0.99 each.  They come with the seasoning packs.  You open the packs, fill them with water and microwave them according to the package.  While the fajita beef is almost brown, add some chopped up cabbage and cook together.  When the Lo Mein noodles are done, pour them into your mixture of fajita beef and cabbage, add the seasoning mix packets, stir together and cover.  When the noodles have come together and the cabbage is soft but yet still has a crunch to it, top with peanuts and sesame seeds for taste.  There you go – instant meal that will please and is so delicious.  Remember to put a little back for lunch the next day.  Warms up wonderful!

I hope you had fun my friends with this month’s edition of Shopping Around the World.  Hope to see you shopping soon!

 

Ppsstt – Mom Has a Food Blog Up Today

Oh my friends – mom/dad has been a mission to find the impossible lately.  While doing so this past weekend, they ate at a restaurant that mom is showcasing today on her food blog.  Be sure to check it out if you get a chance.  It looked delicious!  Not that I would know personally because this little oinker did NOT get a piggy back.  Shakes head in disgust.  I’m so going to have to fix this problem in the future if they are going to be eating out all over the place.

But anyway – do check it out my friends.  It might be a restaurant that you are familiar with – yum.

 

Thanksgiving – Thompson Style

For the past four years, mom and dad have been celebrating Thanksgiving day by going to an old antebellum mansion called The Blue Willow Inn.  The Blue Willow Inn is located at 294 North Cherokee Road, Social Circle, Georgia.

To the left, you will see a picture of what the restaurant looks like from the outside.  It’s so pretty and was already decorated for Christmas.  Inside, it’s broken down into rooms with the middle of the house being set up where the buffet is served. 

I’m not sure how many of you remember Lewis Grizzard who use to be a writer for the Atlanta Journal and Consititution.  Grizzard was also a great novelist.  He use to frequent this restaurant and one of the dining rooms is named after him. 

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There was also a beautiful fountain outside of The Blue Willow Inn.

As you can tell from looking at this picture to the right, it got a little cold the night before Thanksgiving.  Can you see the iciscles hanging off the fountain?  bbrr – that made this little oinker cold just looking at it. 

I asked mommy if she touched the iciscles and she said yes they were freezing cold!  I guess someone forgot to turn that fountain off… or tell mother nature to turn up the heat – snorts.

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The food at The Blue Willow Inn can be described in one word – yummy!  It is southern food at its best.  This picture to the left is mom’s plate.  She won’t tell me how many plates she ate but she said that didn’t want to see/eat or smell food for the next three days – she’s such an amateur – snorts.

 

They had everything imaginable on the buffet this year:  fried chicken (mom’s favorite), steak and gravy, sliced turkey, cornbread dressing, ham, mac and cheese, turnip greens, corn, green beans, sweet potatoe soufle, lima beans, fried green tomatoes, mashed potatoes, chutney, cranberry sauce, cornbread muffins and pecan cheese biscuits.  Thud – I call this a piggy paradise!

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And that was just the dinner.  Desserts were off the hook – that’s dads words. 

They had peach cobbler, chocolate cake, pecan pie, pumpkin cheesecake and coconut cake.  Of course daddy had to have some.  Here’s his picture of his dessert plate.

And I know you are probably wondering.  Did they bring me home a piggy bag?  Yes they did 🙂 and I was one happy oinker.  Green beans, some turkey, a little chicken and mac & cheese.  I give the restaurant four hooves up.  I can do that because after I finished my piggy bag, I was laying on my back with my hooves in the air like I just didn’t care.

So that was our Thanksgiving.  I hope ya’ll had a great one as well!

XOXO – Bacon