Travels in the South

One night last week, mom was craving pasta.  Not just any pasta but a New Orleans Pasta from a local restaurant.  Look at this picture.  Wouldn’t you crave it too?  Mom doesn’t usually crave pasta but when she does, she always goes for this one.  It has penne pasta, shrimp, chicken, smoked sausage, peppers, onions and a spicy homemade Cajun alfredo sauce.  Doesn’t it look yummy?

The only thing mom hates about this pasta are the shrimp.  Why do they keep tails on the shrimp when they serve it in a pasta like this?  Mom has to stop and take the time to remove all of the tails so she can jump right in and eat.  What do you think about this pasta?

 

Travels in the South

Everyone should have that one great Mexican restaurant that they always have on their ‘go to’ list when nothing else sounds good for dinner.  You know what I mean.  There is always the constant, “Where do you want to eat”, conversation going on here at the Hotel Thompson.  It’s daily and it always ends with, “It doesn’t matter.  Whatever you want.”  I piggy swear that sometimes they need to write all of the local restaurants down on pieces of paper, fold them and put them in a box.  When these nights come up about where do you want to eat, randomly pick a piece of paper out of said box – problem solved.

This was one of those nights where mom/dad just automatically skipped the conversation and went straight to their stand by of Mexican food.  It’s a no brainer.  They don’t even have to decide what to order because they always get the same thing and split the meal.  What is it you ask?

This wonderful meal is called Tacos De Alambre.  It’s made with flour tortillas, grilled steak, onions and bell peppers.  Mom also gets her Tacos De Alambre topped with Chihuahua cheese.  This is a great Mexican melty yummy cheese.  Can you say delicious?

 

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.

 

 

Travels in the South

Anyone for some nachos?  Welcome my friends to another posting of Travels in the South.  Today we went a little Mexican.  Okay maybe I should say mom/dad went a BIG time Mexican.  They decided one night to go out and split some Fajita Nachos and maybe – and I stretch maybe – a Margarita might have been involved – snorts with piggy laughter.  And I say share because look at that plate!

It had peppers, onions, chicken, steak, shrimp and cheese slathered all over it.  It was messy and so delicious!  And hey splitting it between mom/dad meant half of the calories, right?  Don’t you love the way those two parents of mine have changed their way in thinking about food?  You don’t have to give up the things you love, just split them in half with someone else you love ❤

 

Travels in the South

  Welcome friends to another edition of Travels in the South.  Today is being brought to you by daddy.  Recently McDonald’s launched a bigger Big Mac called the Grand Mac.  Now dad loves his Big Mac’s of any kind but he has been opting out of trying this because of eating clean.  Well this past weekend, he couldn’t help himself.  He had to try one and of course mom was there to interview him and take pictures – that’s my mom.  She didn’t try one or any of his french fries – go mom and your will power!

Now this is from the McDonald’s website:  “A regular Big Mac is two pure beef patties, Big Mac sauce, sandwiched between a sesame seed bun, American cheese, crisp lettuce, onions and pickles.”  And a regular Big Mac has 540 calories.

Now here is the description from McDonald’s website on the Grand Mac:  “Sink into 1/3 pound of real beef seasoned with salt & pepper sandwiched between a sesame seed bun.  All dressed with special sauce, crisp lettuce, onions, pickles and two slices of American cheese.”  And a Grand Mac has a whopping 860 calories!

Okay, a little more beef, an extra slice of cheese and 320 more calories.  And the pictures on television and on the McDonald’s website show there is a size difference and we all know that size matters, right?  So what did daddy think about the Grand Mac?

Daddy shrugged his shoulders at it.  The Grand Mac that he got did not look much bigger than a regular Big Mac.  It didn’t taste any different per say.  It was just okay.  In fact, if dad had to do it all over again, he said he would pass.  It just wasn’t that awesome.  So there you go – from the dad’s mouth.

 

Shopping Around the World

Today’s Shopping Around the World is being hosted by our cousins Teddy and Angel Sammy from TWOspoiledcats.  This month Teddy and Angel Sammy are hosting main meals that do not have meat. Now this is a tough one.  Anyone that knows my daddy, knows that he is definitely a meateater.  So mom got creative.  She told daddy he had to come up with a meatless dinner.  HA!  It’s not so funny or easy when the job falls on the daddy.  Good one mom!  So without further ado, this is what daddy came up with for Shopping Around the World.

Dad here.  I told the mom I had this one.  I can do a meatless dinner.  Sure I can.  I have that much talent.  Okay, maybe it’s not how the mommy does things on Shopping Around the World but I’m a man… give me a break this time okay.  So over the weekend since we had a difficult time, I told the wifey I had dinner.  That’s when we went to a restaurant called Mellow Mushroom.  See, I know you are suppose to cook and post recipes but I do have a visual impairment so I get a learning curve, right?  Thanks friends.

We started out by ordering a lil salad to share.  It had romaine and iceberg lettuce, shredded carrots, red cabbage, onions, cucumbers, green peppers, mushrooms, Kalamata olives, Roma tomatoes and mozzarella.  See that’s a great start.  And I added candied pecans for crunch.  Yummo!  The salad cost $4.49 and there was plenty for me and the missus to share.  Sorry for the picture.  I forgot to snap it before I dug in.

Now came the hard part.  Getting a meal without meat.  This was the most difficult choice in my life in some time.  I mean heck, first up my wife usually makes my food choices and she knows I like my meat.  This body was made for meat!  Second up, I don’t do much cooking so I kind of had to cheat and go out since I was challenged with this Shopping Around the World.  I thought hard about what to order as a meatless entree.  I think I nailed it.

May I introduce you to a large wheat dough Mellow Mushroom pie with an olive oil and garlic base (extra garlic please), fresh mozzarella cheese and black olives – no meats.  Doesn’t that look awesome.  I also sprinkled it with red pepper flakes.  The pizza cost $16.96.  And here’s the kicker.  Me and the wife like to call this kind of meal, a meal that keeps on giving.  There is enough pizza to last a couple of more nights – Deal of the Day, right?

So for a total of $25.00 (including a tip), we have a meatless dinner that lasts three nights for two peeps.  So that’s what, $4.17 a person?  Not bad for a dude huh?  So I hope I pulled off Shopping Around the World this month.

Thanks again to cousins Teddy and Angel Sammy for hosting this month.  Sending you much love from the Hotel Thompson ❤

 

Travels in the South

For obvious reasons today – snorts/oinks/coughs – I’m giving todays Travels in the South edition over to mom.  TAKE IT AWAY MOM!

Bacon – You might want to cover your ears and eyes for today’s edition.

Friends – we have found a really unique sandwich at our local Sonny’s Barbeque Restaurant.  What is it you ask?  They call this The Smokin’ Gun.  Look at that deliciousness.  Here is what is in it:  Jalapeno cheddar hot links, chopped brisket, banana peppers and red onions topped with a sweet mustard sauce on a bun.  It’s really not that hot – mom/dad both loved it for it’s uniqueness and taste.  And of course for obvious reasons we can’t eat it at home.  But it is way yummy!

If you have a Sonny’s Barbeque Restaurant in your area, you may want to check it out.

 

 

Shopping Around the World

Shopping Around the World

Shopping Around the World is hosted by us and our friend Fozziemom.  This month since it is the Thanksgiving holidays here in the States, we are focusing on Thanksgiving foods.  We have elected to post a side dish that everyone loves here in the south – black-eyed peas.  Yummo!  I admit that even this little oinker loves these peas.  They are tasty… but of course I like mine without the bacon – you know for obvious reasons – snorts and rolls with piggy laughter.  I leave the recipe and other delights of this recipe to mom – take it away mom! ❤

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Black-eyed peas.  Some people hear the name and stick out their tongue making a grimace while others smile and can’t wait to jump in feet first and eat their way out of the bowl.  Which category do you fall into my friends?  You’re not sure yet?  Let me tell you my recipe and then you can make your choice.  You will need the following:

⇔ Two cans of black-eyed peas (you can use fresh peas- I take help where I can) $0.98 each = $1.96

⇔  Four slices of bacon $3.99 pack/12 slices = $1.32

⇔ Cilantro $1.49 a pack; onion $0.49; olive oil $6.99 bottle; red pepper flakes $1.49 bottle = $1.50

Total Cost per Dish $4.78

The first thing we do is get out the old southern iron skillet.  Put a tad of oil in the bottom, cut up the bacon strips and fry them in the skillet.  While the bacon is cooking, dice up your onion and chop up your cilantro.  Once the bacon has cooked, scoop out the fried bacon and put on a paper towel to drain.  Leave the bacon grease in the skillet and add your onions to give them some color.  While the onions are cooking, open your cans of black-eyed peas, drain them and wash them.  Now some people use the juice out of the can, we don’t.  If you like it, by all means use it.  Once the onions have some color, pour in your two cans of black-eyed peas.  Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to your taste.  Your black-eyed peas will have a semi fried taste – awesome.  Trust me.  Once everything is heated through, pour into a serving dish and top with cilantro and your fried bacon.  You will never want black-eyed peas the old way again 🙂

 

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?”

 

Daddy’s Chicken Wing Adventure

As you read here, Tuesday, 07/29/2014, was National Chicken Wing Day.  A local restaurant here called Hooters on Tara was having a special on all you can eat chicken wings that day.  Mommy promised to take daddy so he could show them what he has – snorts.  First off let me throw some shout outs to Keisha who was our waitress (you were AWESOME!) and to Mike the manager.  Mike has helped us out here on my blog in the past when Rockelle and Benedict went on a date a while back.  Mike’s awesome!

So when mom got off of the worky place, she rushed home in Albert and picked up daddy.  Daddy in preparation had walked 2 miles and had a ‘light breakfast’.  He had his game face on and was ready.  Mom picked him up and off they went to the Hooters on Tara.

I was able to get these pictures all off of mom’s iPhone.  Be prepared to be astonished my dear friends.

One of dad’s favorite things in the world are tater tots.  And just fortunately mom had a coupon for a free appetizer at Hooters – thanks Hooters – so they got this amazing tater tot appetizer to the right.  Doesn’t it look amazing!?  That’s tater tots covered with gooey cheese, onions, sour cream and bacon.  Daddy didn’t tell me about that bacon until I saw this picture.  Tsk-tsk bad daddy!

Then the fun started.  They would bring you 10 wings at a time – whatever flavor you wanted.  These are pictures of dad’s platters.  Picture to the left – medium breaded.  They have just a little zip to them as far as heat when you eat them.  Picture in the middle – Cajun breaded.  They have a zip of a different kind.  This zip is from the Cajun spices and are probably dad’s favorites.  Then the picture to the right – BBQ breaded.  These are M.E.S.S.Y.  I don’t care how many wet wipes or napkins you have to clean up with, you are going to be wearing these.  In fact, dad jumped in and wouldn’t wipe down until he was finished with these.  Mommy said that at one point, she thought she was going to have to take him out front and hose him down – snorts.

So you’re calculating to yourself thinking well played daddy – he had 30 wings.  You would be wrong my friends.  Mommy couldn’t finish one of her plates.  She had 13 – daddy called her a wussy.  I’m not sure what that means.  That left 7 off of mom’s plate though and dad ate them.  I told you watch out Joey Chestnut!    Drum roll please – dad ate 37 wings!  57.14% of you voted on Tuesday saying that daddy would eat more than 21 – you were right!

So you would think that’s the end of the story.  Daddy ate to his heart’s content and put away 37 chicken wings.  Nope.  I gotta add my two cents now – snorts.  Daddy was miserable.  Can you say Tums and Pepto Bismol?  Those were his two close friends when he got back to the Hotel Thompson.  Can you say multiple trips to the facilities here all.night.long?  Snorts – I think he finally admitted it to mom last night – he’s not as young as he once was.  Mom and dad both are eating so light today it’s not funny.  I think they are calling for salads all around for dinner for the rest of the week.  In fact, when daddy got up this morning he told mommy, “I’m surprise I haven’t coughed feathers or squawked like a chicken”.  Snorts – silly daddy!

But don’t worry my friends.  I think dad is entering an all you can eat biscuits and gravy competition this weekend – snorts.