Travels in the South

Sometimes the best treat can be the easiest treat.  Really it can.  Let’s look at this week’s edition of Travels in the South.  Mom/dad found something that even this oinker can wrap his piggy jowls around and enjoy fully.  Two words for you – strawberry shortcake.  Understand now?  Look at that deliciousness.  So simple yet so delicious.  Don’t let the bare basics fool you.

This pure awesomeness is made out of simple sliced pound cake covered with sliced strawberries, strawberry syrup and topped with whip cream.  How could you not want to lick the plate… and you do, don’t you?  I won’t tell anyone.

And this dessert is just wonderful for the heat outside.  A simple dessert to eat for dessert or like mom did, for dinner – snorts with piggy laughter.

Check back with me next week my friends for another edition of Travels in the South.

 

Travels in the South – Bacon Version

Let’s talk shall we.  I help mom/dad post all of the time with their Travels in the South and it’s about time I shared one of my own.  Right?  Can I get a snort-snort.  As some of you know, every morning for breakfast I get a cup of piggy chow and a little Cheerios to start my day.  All of us have to be a little heart smart these days.  Well over the weekend, mom found me something that was better than my normal oats Cheerios.  I know!  I didn’t think that was possible either.  I oinked and told her that she was wrong that nothing could ever – EVER – replace my morning Cheerios.  This pig has standards.

Let me tell you my friends – I was wrong!  Yep, you can repeat that in conversation.  I, Bacon, was wrong!  What mom got me was better than my oats Cheerios.  Why do you ask?  Because there’s one other thing in this world that I love more than life itself.  What is it my friends?  That’s right – strawberries.  I could eat my weight in them and trust me that’s a lot of weight.

Have you tried these marvelous strawberry Cheerios?  I’ve even caught daddy eating them out of my box.  Tsk-tsk daddy – get your own!  I haven’t had anything this good from Cheerios since they came out with Pumpkin Spice last year.  And yes I shared those with my mommy ❤  See I love mommy.

IF you see them in your market, BUY THEM ALL.  They are a limited edition and going FAST.  Tell them Bacon said so – snorts!

 

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!

 

Blue Strawberry – OMP!

 OMP!  There I was this weekend, working on my laptop minding my own business since mom/dad deserted me and took Bashful on an adventure.  That’s when I found this little bit of information on-line.  I almost lost my piggy mind!  We all know how much I love my strawberries around here at the Hotel Thompson.  Heck, the more the merrier.  But now Japan has done and did it.  They have genetically mutated a BLUE strawberry.  Squeals!  Now, one part of me thinks how exciting and I would love to try one.  While the other part of me, all I can think about is Violet from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory – snorts with piggy laughter.  What do you think?

 

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?

  

 

Letter From Summer Camp

Dear Family,

Bacon here from Summer Camp.  This will be my final letter from camp.  WOW – it’s been a long week in a lot of different ways and on the other hoof a very short week.  I really didn’t want to come but I have to admit that it’s been kind of fun.  I’ve met a lot of great friends – Scott and Piper.  You are probably wondering who the heck is Piper.  Piggy blushes… she was the strawberry that I had dinner with the other night.  She’s sweet and cute and all girly and from the south.  She gave me her phone number and address so we can stay in touch ❤ .  Oh, and so did Scott.

Last night was talent night here at camp.  All of us had to come up with some kind of talent for the show.  Heck, I had to think hard.  I mean what talent do I have besides pounding a keyboard.. which I’m pretty good with cause the last time I checked I was up at 25hpm (hooves per minute).  So I thought about biting into an apple and laying on the floor but I’m not sure how many of the gang would get that one.  Then it hit me.  I would dance and sing a song of my people so I did.

“I’m a little teapot short and stout.  Here is my handle and here is my … handle.  Damn I’m a sugar bowl.”

It got a great snort and got me off of the stage quickly.

So today mom/dad are coming to pick me up.  I can’t wait.  I’m so ready to jump in the back of the Smart car and get home to my kingdom… my castle… my own bed… my air conditioning.  aaww – I miss that life.  I hope you’ve been entertained this week and that my little brother Houdini has done a good job on my blog.  I instructed him before I left to take care of everyone.

See you soon my friends!

 

Letter From Summer Camp

Dear Family,

Bacon here from Summer Camp.  I gotta admit mom that I thought this Summer Camp thing was a joke.  I really, REALLY didn’t want to come.  But I have to admit that it’s been kind of cool this week.  We went and camped out last night ‘under the stars’.  I gotta admit that laying around the bonfire and watching the sky through the tips of the trees was kind of cool.  It’s amazing how many shooting stars you can see.  That in itself was almost worth the trip.

I also put my Ninja skills into action last night and found the culprit who ate all of my Animal Crackers.  It was a boy named Scout.  Yep, nods piggy head, his name is Scout.  He has stolen a lot of our food here this week at camp.  After everyone went to sleep last night in their tents, someone – looks around innocently – went to his tent and made grunting noises, stomped around a lot and cast huge shadows on the side of his tent.  For a boy that is challenged horizontally, he could run pretty fast.  What’s even better was seeing him wearing his pajama onesie.  Now that was priceless.  He kept saying that he heard Pigman and Goatman in the woods.  Don’t mess with the Ninja pig.

And mom you would be proud of me.  I had dinner with a strawberry (girl) last night.  She’s cool.

 

Fantasy Island

Do you remember the show on television called Fantasy Island?  It had Mr. Roarke and Tattoo on a mysterious island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.  Visitors came to the island to have their fantasies play out that they desired.

This is a cool show and I wish it was still in production.  I have the videos and I watch them on my television in my bedroom all of the time.  And I gotta ask, what kind of M&M’s did Tattoo like?  The plane – the plane.  Snorts – okay I had to get that out of my piggy system.

Okay here’s the real question.  If you went on Fantasy Island, what would your fantasy be?  Mine would be to be king on a strawberry plantation and have Miss Piggy hand feed me strawberries all day long.  Can you see that?  I so can!  So go – what would your fantasy be?

P.S.  I asked mom what her fantasy would be.  Are you ready for this?  She said to be Wonder Woman for one day – the looks, the costume, the power and Steve Trevor.  Hubba-hubba.  Her words not mine- eeww.

 

Freaky Friday Mix Up

Dear Diary,

Something wicked has happened to me. I’m not sure what to think about this. It started out like usual and then it went far left really quick. I’m getting ahead of myself like I normally do so let me start from the beginning. This is what happened:

Yawn and stretch. Hhhmm – eyebrows straight up – that felt different. My stretch was more… well stretchy. Strange. It felt like I had long and fluid legs… not my usual short and stout ones. Maybe I’m losing weight – yeah that has to be it. Opens eyes and looks around my room. What is that insistent chirping noise? It’s coming from beyond the window in my bedroom. I stand up and stretch again. Man, I must be really losing weight. I felt my back, my legs and even my tail stretch on that one. There goes that chirping again. Dude, that’s got to stop.

I walked over to the window and that was another strange thing. My hooves on my bedroom floor didn’t make the regular clickety-clack sound. Strange but okay. I gotta eat some more. I looked up at the window ledge and didn’t think twice before I jumped up on it. WOW – I can jump! Wonder why I never did that before? I looked out the window and spotted those singing creatures outside. Those would so make a wonderful two piece snack. Snap, did I say that? And oh looky – there is Mr. Parson’s furry things. HISS! Double HISS! What in the world?! Where did that come from? Shakes head – things are weird this Friday.

I hear mom in the kitchen and the next thing I knew she was saying, “Frühstück”. I immediately jumped down and went down the hallway. Hey, I’m hungry for some breakfast. I hope she made tuna. I then stopped immediately in my tracks. What?! How did I know German? And tuna for breakfast? Today is strange.

I continued to the kitchen and that’s when weird became super weird. I walked up to mom and swished my body against her legs and bit her ankle. What in the world?! Mom started fussing at me and I started talking back to her. What? I don’t do that. I ate my breakfast and then spied an empty box in the living room. Oh squeal – this is my lucky day! I looked at mom and made one last meow at her and went in the front room jumping in the box. What in the heck just happened? I meowed and jumped in a box. WHAT?! Something is definitely wrong. I ran to my bedroom and looked in the mirror. Blinked several times and shook myself. I must still be dreaming. There is no way this can be real. I’m Tigerlino?! Oh dear, that must have been some bad strawberries I had last night. I can’t be a boy kitty. No way! No wonder I could jump. This can’t be happening. A nap. That’s what I need – a power nap.

So Diary. I thought it was just a dream. All I had to do was go back to sleep and finish this dream. That’s it. I’m a pig. I’m not a cat. No way! So the power nap commenced. I woke up after an hour or so and just *knew* it would be better… so I thought. This is what happened then:

Slowly I started to wake. It felt funny. It didn’t feel like my soft bed. This felt like paper. I looked underneath me and somehow I had fell asleep on the newspapers. Ha – I guess that was my way of keeping on top of the current events. I went to stand and tripped over my two front feet – clumsy me. I stretched and then I was off to look for the ladies room. I found it and chattered until I got some privacy. That’s when I smelled the coffee from mom. She was at the fridge getting some of that delicious evaporated milk for her warm cup. I walked over and pleaded by going in and out of her legs and talking to her until she caved. She fixed me a little bowl and it was pure heaven! The only thing that could have made this better was some strawberry yogurt. Licks lips and starts to clean myself. Oh snap! I didn’t know I could bring my back leg up over my head?! Oh dear heavens – call Circus Soleil – this she kitty has skills!

What? What did I just say?! Oh my, something is very wrong. What is mommy doing now? Oh Himmel! Here comes that monster in the closet. Screech! and runs off to the bedroom to hide under the bed. I’m shaking. I’m scared. That monster in the closet is like a scary movie waiting to happen!

But wait a minute. Why am I hiding under the bed and still speaking German?! I keep repeating to myself, “This can’t be real. This can’t be real.” I slowly crawl out from underneath the bed and look in the mirror. Holy bat kitty – look at that sexy purr thing – wolf whistles. Wait a minute, that sexy purr thing whistled back at me. I move my arm and she moved her arm. Oh no. Oh no. I finally looked down at my feet. Oh.good.Lord. I’m Roxy now? What in the world have we done? What happened?

Diary, I’m trying to remember last night. I remember talking to Tigerlino and Roxy before going to bed. We were talking about how each of us live throughout the day at our homes. Uh-oh… is this Freaky Friday?! I lay down and close my eyes trying to concentrate. When I open them, I’ll be fine. This is just a dream. You know like how when mom sleep walks. Yeah, that’s it. It has to be it. I’m going to count to 10, open my eyes and look down. Everything will be fine. Really. I *just* know it.

OH DEAR HEAVENS – Call Dr. Phil. Call Oprah. Call the Vet. I’m A CAT!?!

 

Nose trick – HA HA

 

PLOL (Pig Laughing out Loud).  You might have remembered the posting I did a while back on my mommy teaching me new ‘tricks’.  She had put this delicious strawberry flavored gummy Lifesaver on my nose.  She wouldn’t let me flip it off until she said so.  This took much training.  Really, I caught on fast but the more “training” I had, the more gummies I got.  Smart huh?  I thought so.

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Well a friend of mine had to go one step further.   They actually used a real strawberry.  Had to show me up there huh my friend – snorts.

So when mommy goes to the market, I wrote on the list for her to get me some strawberries.   I see a lot of training coming up in my piggy future.

Thanks pal!