July, Thanks!

How is it August already?! Remember when you were a kid and every day seemed to last forever? That is certainly not the case now!

This thank-you post is going to feature some awesome food via our Louisville/Nashville trip, so let's get to it!

July, Thanks!

1) Thanks to the Goose Creek Diner in Louisville for feeding us. A LOT.

That's a Hot Brown in the second photo...


My Fried Green Tomato BLT with baked sweet potato & HUBS' Chicken Fried Steak

2) Thanks to Savannah's Candy Kitchen for helping to make a long walk around downtown Nashville a late-night surprise.




3) Thanks to the Pancake Pantry of Nashville for making a long wait in line worth it.

My Sweet Potato Waffle, his Swedish Pancakes


My sides and the Cinnamon Cream Syrup that accompanied my waffle

4) Thanks to easy road trips.

5) Thanks to Walmart for always having what we need even when we're in another city.

6) Thanks to my job for opening up my free time.

7) Thanks to specialists for helping me get to the root of my many annoying health issues.

8) Thanks to my last big check for making things more possible than before.

9) Thanks to $4 movies tickets for new releases.

10) Thanks to my intense money saving skills.

What did July bring you?

Citygirl Bites: Milagro Modern Mexican

After falling my ass down our basement stairs last Friday and spending some time at our friendly neighborhood urgent care, I was sore, traumatized and tired. I needed a treat. And, thanks to my fairly new job we had enough cash to go out to lunch at a place that didn't reek of fryer grease and stale buns: Milagro Modern Mexican.

The food was so good that after one meal there, it's already become our new favorite Mexican restaurant.



We had a good portion of their thick, non-greasy complimentary chips and smoky/sweet salsa, and then dug into our appetizer: Carne Asada Fries.



Oh! The toasty carne asada. The seasoned fries. The well-distributed cheese so that every bite has some. The mounds of guac, sour cream and pico. Perfect and very difficult to stop eating.



HUBS feels the need to order chili whenever he has the opportunity, so we got a cup of their Statesmen Chili to share. I simply am not exaggerating when I say that this was THE BEST RESTAURANT CHILI WE'VE EVER HAD. Upon finishing one bite I declared that the next time we're there I'll be ordering a full sized bowl of it for my ownself, and if he wants some he'll have to get his own. I mean, my God, they put chunks of steak in it!



My main course was the Tacos al Pastor, featuring chile marinated pork and grilled pineapple in a soft shell. When it first came to the table I thought the tacos were a bit small, but they turned out to be the right size considering how much pre-food I'd already eaten. Plus, they really mounded up the side orders of Cilantro Rice Pilaf and Jicama Slaw (not shown). It was all so good I die a little thinking about the fact that it's not in front of me RIGHT NOW.



HUBS fell for the Cochinita Pibil Street Tacos. Yucatan style pulled pork, orange habanero salsa and hibiscus pickled onion. What is that, even? Doesn't matter if it's good! I was so full I didn't try his tacos, but I did try his side of Charro Beans. If you've had Southern style beans, these were basically that...but smokier and somehow more Mexican. Amazing!

I really can't rave about the food - all reasonably priced, by the way - enough. If I could eat there every day without feeling bad about not cooking any of my own food, I WOULD TOTALLY DO IT.

What cool places have you eaten at lately?

Citygirl Bites: Taqueria Durango

Oh. My. Lord. Do you see that? It's a sandwich. That's right, a sandwich the size of a smallish plate. This, friends, is your intro to Taqueria Durango.

On a cold and snowy night near the end of December, HUBS and I ventured out to one of St. Louis Magazine's best cheap restaurants in the area. We'd never been before, but we'll definitely be back. Everything was amazingly good and plentiful. Let's talk details.

It took a while for our waitress to get to use once we sat down, but she brought us lovely homemade chips and three different house salsas, so all was forgiven pretty quickly. We ordered the above appetizer because it was something different. These are the $9 Papa Nachos. They are, hold your breath people, nachos made of crinkle cut fries instead of chips. HOLY GOD. Chicken, fries, cheese dip, lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream. It was...AHMAAAAAZINNNGGGG. I was fully planning to nibble a little and then leave it alone so I'd have room for my entree. I couldn't. Neither could HUBS. We ate all of it and I was tempted to lick a plate in public. Yes I was.

We'll start with this, the Torta Ahogada, which is what I ate. The above photo is a closeup of the giant sandwich in the first pic. It's pork tips and grilled onions on a bun that's covered with a spicy sauce. I know, sauce on top of a bun sounds like a bad idea. Trust me, it. Is. NOT. This was sooooo gooooood. The meat and onions were crispy. The bun was a bit sweet and tender. And, there was just the right amount of sauce on top to make it different but in no way soggy. Awesome! You should also know that there was enough food here for three meals. I literally ate off of this $7 sandwich for three days.

HUBS got their Burrito Majado. Meat, rice, beans and lettuce wrapped in a massive tortilla smothered in red sauce and cheese. I don't remember what type of meat HUBS got, but I remember that it was GOOD.

You know how you find the perfect meal and you're eating your face off and then you start to get full, but the food is so good that getting full makes you sad because you know it means you have to stop eating. That's what eating at Taqueria Durango is like. If you like Mexican food and you ever hit St. Louis, don't hesitate, just go.

What was the last really good thing you ate?

Sunday Dinner: Multi Use Steak

Fall is prime comfort food time. Everything warm and gooey is good to eat when the weather gets chilly.

Last week I made steak. It's so easy to cook things exactly the same way, but a tiny bit of effort will usually get you something you want to eat again and again that's also different enough to keep you interested.

My easy-way steak includes a simple salt and peppering, maybe some onions and a good stint in the oven. But, I found an easy recipe in Real Simple that I was able to turn into something that I think was even better.

Multi Use Steak

1 steak
pineapple juice
low sodium soy sauce
salt & pepper
1 medium onion, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
1 pound or more baby carrots, halved lengthwise
about a 1/4 cup butter or margarine
about a 1/4 cup whole wheat or regular flour
rice or pasta

Salt and pepper your steak and marinate it in equal parts soy sauce and pineapple juice, enough to at least cover the sides of the steak. Marinate for at least two hours, turning over half way through.

Bake, with juices, covered with foil on 350 degrees until done. For my medium sized steak it took 40 minutes.

Drain juices into sauce pan, add butter and heat on medium until melted. Stir in flour until you get a thick gravy. Cover and take off heat.

This can be eaten by itself with mashed potatoes, but you can get more creative. I sliced onion and green pepper and sauteed them with a bit of cooking spray until they began to caramalize. While that was cooking I roasted some baby carrots with olive oil, salt and pepper. Slice the steak thinly, add it to the skillet and you can pour this, with the gravy and carrots over cooked rice or pasta.

Or, (and this is how my husband ate it) you can add cheese sauce to the pepper/onion/steak mixture, put it on some hearty bread and have cheese steak sandwiches.

See? One steak easily gives us three different meal options. Not bad, huh?

What foods do you cook and reuse in different ways for multiple meals?

Sunday Dinner: Veggie Chowder

Sometimes procrastination and avoidance really work in my favor. I was passing time one night, and found a couple of episodes of The Barefoot Contessa on Hulu. Seeing as how I was taken with her show back in March while stuck in a hospital bed, I started watching. And, wouldn't you know it, I immediately saw something I wanted to make. Her East Hampton Clam Chowder looked divine. There was one problem, though. I detest the idea of clams and clam juice. Obviously, those are two main components of the dish. So, what did I do? I improvised.

Not to brag, but I grew all of these onions and some of the carrots I used. I rock! OK, that sounds like bragging, doesn't it?

Take out the icky clam stuff, add more veggies and you've got my all-new Veggie Chowder. It turned out really good; and I was able to get rid of some veggies that were starting to go south due to my lack of desire to turn on the stove or oven when it's hot outside. Try it, I think you'll like it.

Don't lie. You can tell these are homegrown. Look at that mutant carrot on the left!

Veggie Chowder

2 tablespoons butter
2 cups onion
2 cups mixed sweet peppers
2 cups carrot
4 cups potato
1 1/2 teaspoons thyme or Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cracked pepper
1 quart chicken stock, homemade if possible
1/2 cup flour, whole wheat if possible
1 stick melted butter
1 can of Mexicorn
1/2 cup sour cream
shredded cheese

First off, you melt the two tablespoons of butter in a big pot, add the onion and cook for 10 minutes. Add the carrot, potato, thyme/Italian seasoning, salt and pepper and cook for another 10 minutes.

Add your chicken stock and sweet peppers and let things heat and mingle as you prepare your thickening agent. Melt a stick of butter and whisk in the flour. Add a cup of hot soup to that and stir it until all the flour and butter is incorporated. Put that whole gravy-like glob into the larger pot of veggies and stock, stir it up and get your chowder thick.

Put your corn in with the sour cream, let it heat and add some shredded cheese of your choosing. If you like, the cheese can be added to the bowls when you serve it instead of the larger pot. You could also add in chunks of ham or shredded chicken if you need some meat, but I like it just the way it is. Feel free to serve this lukewarm if the idea of piping hot soup on a 105 degree day drives you batty. Or, just set your A/C on 60.

Dig in!

What have you cooked lately that you loved?

Domesticity And The Hulk

I did an amazing amount of cooking yesterday. HUBS and I needed something we could eat for dinner, plus we'd run out of bread so I could make sandwiches for him to take to work and there weren't any interesting sweets in the house. So, at around noon, I just decided to make everything.

The bread was first. I'd been wanting to try making Irish Soda Bread for some time, and since we currently had no bread and no extra cash to buy a loaf, this was the perfect opportunity. One big round mass of bread cut in half makes two loaves perfect for sandwich slices. It's also good warmed up and dipped in my mix of olive oil/cracked pepper/balsamic vinegar/grated Parmesan.

After the bread success, I decided to start on dinner by cooking a small pot of red beans. I have never done the whole soak-beans-overnight-first thing because my mom never did it. You sift through the dried beans to get the crappy ones and any rocks out, set it to boil and leave it for hours. Adding water so they never dry out or burn. Does it take a while? Yeah, I think this pot took roughly six and a half hours. But, if you're like me, you've got plenty of other things to do with that time.

Then I jumped into cleaning lettuce. What's that you say? Why am I cleaning lettuce? Because...It's from my garden! I grew that awesome butter lettuce you see and I'd cut some of it last Friday and needed to get cleaning so it wouldn't wilt to death in my fridge.

Can I share a secret with you? I got tired of washing lettuce long before I finished the gig. Also? There's still a shit-ton of lettuce in the garden. I'm afraid we won't be able to eat it all before it starts to bolt and turns bitter. I don't want the only real crop I have to go to waste! And even if we do eat it all, eventually it will turn cold and I'll have to buy lettuce again. Blah! Unnecessary fears!

My lettuce work turned into a scone making adventure. Back when I was living with my mom I made scones all the time that used yogurt. We don't have any yogurt and I wouldn't have felt like tracking down that recipe anyway, so I used one from Ms. Martha instead. I used half whole wheat flour and added the zest from one lemon to the mix. They turned out superbly and are already on their way to being all ate up.

Then I started on the sofrito. This was another thing I'd been meaning to make for months but hadn't. Since I was trying to think of something different for dinner, this was as good a time as any to jump in. The recipe didn't call for any seasoning other than cilantro (I used dried), so I added some salt and some hot madras curry powder. That did the trick, and you can use sofrito on just about anything.

While the sofrito cooked I watered the garden and pulled some weeds. HUBS came home after I finished my shower and I made noodles while he cleaned the litter boxes. We ate and I felt tired but good. I'd put in an honest day's work and got a lot out of it. Then, it happened.

I was putting the food away so I could go to bed and watch Craig in Scotland. I had a good two cups of sofrito left after using some for dinner. I put the lid on it and was about to walk it over to the refrigerator when...the container flew out of my hand, landed on the floor and spilled half of my sofrito.

Friends, there is nothing I hate more than wasted food. Add to that the fact that I'd used almost all of our tomatoes, my only red pepper and a whole onion...I was irate. I became so angry that it would be fair to say I Hulked Out. I threw a roll of paper towels and accidentally hit Tux. I crumpled up a pie pan and a platic storage bowl. I cursed and screamed and acted like a complete fool. And I couldn't quite stop myself.

At least, I felt like I couldn't. My rational mind, which I guess had worked enough for that day, was totally checked out. My immediate thought was That's what I get for working hard. You work hard and you get shit on anyway so why try?

See? Completely screwed up.

What's worse is that I got so angry I made myself sick to the stomach. Plus, I woke up angry today and had a horrible cuss-filled morning because of it. And that bout of glowing ire literally wore me out. I feel fuzzy headed even after a long nap. I've got a dull ache in my brain that a good meal couldn't even take care of, and it's all because of ONE CUP OF SPILLED SOFRITO.

I am nothing if not a teensy bit fucked up.

Sunday Dinner: Roasted Potato Leek Soup

A few weeks ago we went from being able to bank on 75 or 80 degree days to plunging back into what felt like winter weather. And in the weeks since then we've gone from one extreme to the other seemingly every day.

After watching a Ina Garten work her magic while waiting for my final late March medical guinea pig work to be done, I decided to make her Roasted Potato Leek Soup. Of course, since this is me we're talking about, I made some changes. This recipe is adapted from hers, though.

Roasted Potato Leek Soup

1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 3/4 slices, unpeeled
1 lb red potatoes, prepared as above
4 leeks, well cleaned, chop white and light green parts only
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and cracked pepper
3 cups arugula/spinach
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 cups chicken stock, homemade if possible
1 12 oz can evaporated milk
8 oz light sour cream
McCormick Hot Madras Curry Powder, optional
1 11 oz can Green Giant Southwestern Style Corn, optional
1/4 cup Parmesan

Get your oven to 400 degrees and arrange your leeks and potatoes in a single layer on a cookie sheet that's got some olive oil (or cooking spray) on it. Salt and pepper everything, drizzle some more oil on top and roast for 40 to 45 minutes. Throw your arugula/spinach in there and roast it all long enough for them to wilt, about 4 to 6 minutes. When that's done, pour your wine right onto the pan and scrape up any crispy bits. If things are still stuck, you can use some of the stock to help.

Now, pour all that into a big old pot. Add the rest of your chicken stock, the milk, sour cream and canned corn if using. Using an immersion blender, get everything all ground up to your desired chunkiness (of course, if you don't have an immersion blender you can instead dump the veggies into a food processor). Get the pot set over medium heat, add your seasonings to taste and get it hot. Pour into bowls, top with cheese and enjoy.

This was so good! Perfect for a chilly night. And if you're only feeding a couple of people, it will last at least a week for leftovers. I'll definetly make this again. Thanks, Ina!

A Nice Thought

The Day I Just Gave The Fuck Up And Ate Cookies For Breakfast

This photo has nothing to do with my post. I just love the idea of a chocolate candy Jesus. There's even a halo! That, my friends, is art.

I know. I haven't posted for two days! Would you forgive me if I told you I was neck-deep in Tina Fey's Bossypants? If only for the fact that that sentence sounds dirty but isn't, you should really forgive me.

This week so far has been another in a life-long line of weeks where I disappoint myself. Other than reading and temporarily working out some financial issues, I've not done much. I haven't emptied the dishwasher or done laundry or written a single query letter or applied for any day jobs.

In fact, I'm going to go so far as to say that I haven't done any housekeeping stuff simply because I don't want to use cleaning as a convenient excuse for why I've done zero important work stuff. You know what I mean.

It's like when you have to tell your kid their ferret died, but instead you scrub all the walls in the house with a toothbrush so you can go to bed saying Well, I'm glad I finally got that done. That was some important shit that should have been done months ago so you can forget about the actual important shit that should have been done today because it's hard and you don't want to think about it right now.

I'm slowly coming to two realizations which I'm successfully letting paralyze me: ONE-The things I want are hard and will take loads of work and dedication. TWO-I am, minute by hour by day by week by year by decade, wasting my life. And instead of doing something about this, like dedicating myself to working hard and not wasting my God-given time, I've frozen up. I eat cookies for breakfast and spend all day reading books and watching TV shows by people who have jobs I'd like to have.

In my barely defensible defense, I actually only had one cookie for breakfast today. And that was preceded by a nice healthy bowl of Dulce de Leche Cheerios. Of course, I also had coffee and popcorn for lunch, so who knows? Maybe I'm imagining virtue where there is none.

What have you eaten for breakfast lately that your mother would not approve of?

Music Monday: Cake Is Good

Photo

Fueled by my period last Friday, I did something I'd never previously done before: I opened a box of cake mix just so I could eat it dry, right out of the pack.

I know this probably sounds disgusting to a lot of you. But, I tell you what, you get yourself a glass of ice cold water and a spoon and you will not (entirely) regret this decision. Dry cake mix is good, y'all.

If you empty the mix into a bowl and shake it around little clumps of the mix will form, making it easy to scoop up. I actually didn't discover this until I was living on my own. It might be because whenever I made cake as a kid I was supervised, and nothing gets in the way of unsanctioned shenanigans like adult supervision.

This whole thing wasn't as bad as it sounds, either. I was only able to eat about five teaspoons full before it got too sweet for me and I decided to just go ahead and make the damn cake. Which turned out awesome. (Idea: make Duncan Hines Pineapple Cake mix with pineapple juice and add pineapple tidbits to mix before baking. Then, serve hot with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. *drool*)

Now, on to some funny songs that'll help tighten your abs after eating too much cake!


I love me some Eartha, but her voice and disco just don't mix at all!






Take some time to watch more of his videos. He's hilarious!






Ok, this one isn't technically a music video, but it's still fun!

Fiscally Speaking

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Remember how I told you about losing my one, semi-steady writing job a couple of weeks ago, and how energized I was by the opening up of new opportunity? Well, now the abject terror has set in.

Aside from the ridiculous amount of bills we have, I fully believe that our second highest expenditure is on food. So, last night while HUBS and I were going over our monies and moving bills around so we'd have some cash for the edible stuff, I made a proposition I've been wanting to make for weeks now: We need to stop eating out.

I realize this doesn't sound like a mighty idea to many of you, and Lord knows that when I was single I barely ate out at all. But, it's become way too much of a way of life for us. Especially HUBS. I realize that he's worn out after a 10 or 12 hour day, but if he gets home and I don't feel like cooking that somehow seems to translate to FAST FOOD YAY YUM!! for him.

I'm constantly having to say No, you know we don't have much cash to work with. We can make sandwiches, make soup, eat leftovers...And then HUBS' face falls and he pouts like a child who doesn't understand money stuff and he says OK with that hangdog expression.

As much as we are both tired of the pinch, I'm really tired of having to constantly be the bad guy. So, as of last night a one week Spending Freeze is on. Here's how we're going to do this:

Spending Freeze 2011-2012

1) We will buy groceries and only eat those groceries for the next seven days.

2) There will be no fast foods, restaurant trips or convenience foods/beverages from places like Quik Trip.

3) Coffee, tea, lunches and dinners are made at home.

4) If we run out of something, say, iced tea mix, we get more iced tea mix and not a 32 ounce cup of ready made iced tea.

5) When we get through seven days, we do it for another week...And another, and another. Until HUBS and I get used to not relying on Taco Bell/Pen Station/etcetera to fill our tired bellies.

I'll be frank here, since I barely leave the house this isn't going to be that hard for me. But HUBS? He dies a little inside when he sees food on TV, even if we are currently eating something he's declared delicious. He's all about his burgers, fries, tacos and subs. So, thank you in advance HUBS, for your complete cooperation on this. Doesn't it feel better already?

What do you need to stop spending so much money on?

Fall Will Not Be Denied

It may be 72 degrees in St. Louis today, but the multicolored leaves decorating the ground and the crisp nights tell a very different story. It's November, y'all! We are fully into fall with its jackets, bonfires, short days and invigoratingly cool nights.

A huge part of fall for me, and many of you I imagine, is the accompanying big ol' pots of warm and gooey comfort food. Thanks to HUBS' folks I got the chance to cook something new on Sunday. They have a rather large garden, and brought over several things when they visited the day before, including a butternut squash and some spinach fettuccine that they had tried but weren't crazy about (for some reason).



I adapted this recipe from Redbook where it was only meant for roasted butternut squash. I increased the recipe a bit to accommodate the greater number of veggies I used.

Balsamic Honey Roasted Veggies

1 medium Butternut Squash, peeled and cut in chunks
5 Yukon Gold Potatoes, cut in chunks
8 ounces Baby Carrots, cut in half lengthwise
1 medium Onion, sliced
3 to 4 tablespoons each Balsamic Vinegar, Honey and Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Get your oven to 425 degrees. Spray a roasting dish with cooking spray and start tossing veggies in. Once you get a full layer of mixed veggies, drizzle them with 1 tablespoon each of balsamic, honey and olive oil then sprinkle with some salt and pepper. Keep layering until you get all your veggies in the pan and stir things up a bit to make sure everything gets covered in the goodness.

This will take about 40 minutes in the oven to get good and done. If you take the pan out and the juices got stuck to the bottom, never fear, my friends! Add water to the pan (with the veggies still in there) swirl it around and in a few minutes the heat and water will loosen all that flavor and create a nice sauce for the veggies. We poured the result over the spinach fettuccine and sprinkled on a little grated Parmesan/Asiago/Romano blended cheese.



HUBS' mom also brought us a portion of a homemade chocolate cake on Saturday, which we promptly finished in two days. Since I am dessert's bitch, I needed something else sweet on Monday, and made the easiest peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I've ever seen. They also turned out incredibly flaky, moist and delicious.

Don't you love cooking and baking and the St. Louis Cardinals winning the World Series against all odds? Don't you?

The Chew Isn't Working

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Has anyone been watching The Chew? It's the show ABC killed All My Children for. Now, I'm going to admit my bias toward soaps up front; I'd watched AMC off and on for around 16 years, though for the past two our relationship was mostly 'off'.

However, I wanted The Chew to work out. I love cooking and am a huge fan of cooking shows, even ones with stupid names. I've now watched about a week's worth of episodes and can state without a doubt that it's semi-painful to watch. Separately, all the hosts (There are five. FIVE, people!) seem likeable enough. Together, though? It's just too messy. Here are my reasons why it's not working.

Why The Chew Sorta Sucks

1) There's already four chef/food people in the house, we don't need an official moderator. Clinton Kelly, why are you here?

2) Even with Clinton, the conversations are always awkward. I don't think any of the hosts are used to dealing with a live audience...Or each other, for that matter.

3) Dammit, there's just too many bitches on stage! And they're never all doing the same thing. Two people are standing, three are sitting, someone's cooking, someone's chopping, someone else is gesticulating wildly...THERE'S JUST TOO MUCH GOING ON AT ONCE!

4) No one here is a journalist or has any real interviewing skills. Yesterday Mario Batali asked guest and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, "What do you expect from a New Yorker?" I could see Bloomberg's befuddlement and really wanted him to answer, "Well, the least you can do is not be a dick." But, he answered without a hint of sarcasm. Damn!

5) No one here is Regis. The hosts tell stories, but none of them have the right oomph to make them pop. Cue additional awkwardness.

6) Crap, I just found out they have a correspondent. Are you really telling me Clinton couldn't do the remote pieces for them? It's not like he's running a restaurant at night. Again...Too. Many. People.

7) The food looks good, but the prep work lacks even the most remote appeal. Part of this is due to the lackluster set; it just barely looks like a kitchen in there.

8) None of the hosts seem to be very well prepared. And, on top of that, they seem to be trying really hard to make us like them. As a result they come off as super desperate.

I'm not the only one thinking the show needs some major tweaking to work. Even at it's silliest, AMC was still a better, less jumbled and boring, package.

Have you seen The Chew? What do you think?

Citygirl Bites! Smashburger

HUBS and I have been having what I'm going to call mono flashbacks this week, and Lord knows the last thing you want to do when you're headache-ridden, weak and racked with dizzy spells is...Stand. So, cooking anything major is out for a few days.

I drove us out to Smashburger for lunch today. It just opened a few months ago and still has that new restaurant feeling inside. The first thing we noticed? Their little corner of the strip mall smelled amazing as soon as we opened the car doors. That's always an impressive sign of quality, I must say.



The small (1/4 pound) Spicy Baja Smash with sweet potato smashfries and chili was my choice. It was topped with guacamole (which I passed on to HUBS), lettuce, tomato, onion, jalapenos, pepper jack cheese and spicy chipotle mayo on a chipotle bun. What else can I say about it...Oh, yeah. GOOD! Juicy and spicy without being killer, meaty and crunchy and really just perfect.



The fries were covered with rosemary, olive oil and garlic, which was a nice change from your traditional cinnamon-sugar topped sweet potato fries. There was a lot of nice crispness in that basket, too. Yummy (said with guttural growl).

Their Angus chili was truly some of the best I've had. They laced it with onions, jalapenos and cheddar cheese. It was really meaty, which usually gets on my nerves, but the sauce was so good I just wanted to suck the whole thing down. My only gripe is that I wish they'd chopped the jalapenos so I could have skipped that step while eating.



HUBS enjoyed this production, which is a St. Louis Big Smash with chili cheese fries. His burger was on a nice pretzel bun (good, though it didn't taste as pretzely as some of the other pretzel breads I've had) with grilled onions, sweet peppers and garlic mushrooms, and provel cheese. He, of course, loved it. And, in case you're wondering, the standard fries are great as well.

I can absolutely see us going back; it's about a 20 minute drive away but it's worth it. Yea! New food!

What new food have you enjoyed lately?

Tuesday Tipday: Birthdays, Finally Good For Something!

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I've been indulging in freebies for months now via several websites and eclubs, but a post on one of my favorite freebie blogs has put my modest efforts to shame.

Hey, It's Free! shows a pretty comprehensive list of companies that hand out free stuff to eclub participants on their birthday (not to mention, throughout the year). I just spent about a half hour scanning the list and signing up for things. It's a good idea to get yourself an email address just for this type of thing, so you don't gunk up your professional email with coupons. Just remember to check it regularly!

My favorite offers so far? Look no further than Steak 'n' Shake, Red Robin and Noodles.

Isn't getting to eat good food for free lovely?

Citygirl Bites! Dave & Tony's Premium Burger Joint

I've been so obsessed with pre-vacation planning and post vacation settling in and talking about what we ate in Philly that I completely forgot to let you guys in on Dave & Tony's. HUBS and I went there a couple weeks before we headed out to Pennsylvania.



It's located in a Creve Coeur strip mall store front and had only been open a few days when we went, so it still had that new restaurant aura around it. We got there a few minutes before close, so there was only one other couple there and it was nice and quiet except for the piped-in tunes over the speakers.

What you see above is my Hawaiian Burger with cole slaw. There was a crispy steakburger, ham, grilled pineapple, caramelized onions, BBQ sauce and sharp cheddar on a pretzel bun. As someone who's religiously avoided Auntie Ann's (despite many I can eat that! No, I'll feel too guilty. moments) since 2003, I'm not ashamed to tell you I got this burger mostly for the pretzel bun. It was awesome. Moving on.

And, man. It was good! I ended up taking my ham off, because it felt like overkill, but the combo of salty and sweet is almost always a winner. The cole slaw was nicely creamy and a bit sweet, but I seem to remember that the veggies felt a bit too crunchy. I know, everything's raw in cole slaw. It's supposed to be crunchy. Still...



This is HUBS' Steakhouse Burger and the chili cheese fries we shared. Let me start with those, because, do you see how there's a cup of fries, a cup of cheese and a cup of chili? I'm divided about this. On one hand, the fries stay crisp until you're ready to smother them. On the other hand, you have to assemble your side item. Don't we go to restaurants in order to get away from food assembly?

Well, at any rate the fries were good, the cheese was good and the chili was so thick you could barely scoop it up with a cluster of fries, we needed utensils. I wish there had been more chili and cheese, but I suppose a little forced portion control isn't a bad thing sometimes.

HUBS loved his burger. It was covered in Gorgonzola blue cheese, iceberg lettuce, onion rings, steak butter (which is something like this, I guess) and steak sauce, plus it was on a rye bun.

Now, if none of that sounds good, just take a look at the menu. They've got seven signature burgers, a ton of salads and a gazillion toppings so you can craft your own burger creation.

Final verdict? I'd be willing to go back, especially since HUBS feels the need to eat burgers all the time. The only thing is that they are a couple bucks more expensive than, say, the most expensive McDonald's fare and since the only location is in Creve Coeur, it's a bit out of the way for us. But, as soon as we are more financially stable, we'll be back.

Citygirl Bites! Philly Road Trip Edition, #3

Well, we are finally at the end of our Philly food adventure, and the end of our trip all together. Sad, isn't it? Our Thursday was rounded out with a trip to The Franklin Fountain. Look at that photo up there. The staff all wear early 1900s soda fountain/ice cream shop uniforms, and the whole place is set up like a classic ice cream place. They even have a vintage cash register.



I don't remember what I got and I don't remember what HUBS ate. But! They were both amazing and refreshing and sweet and yummy! All their ice cream is made in-house, how can you beat that? Plus, our dishes were filled to the absolute brim. Don't you love getting your money's worth?



Our last stop, on Friday, was technically in Gettysburg. We'd visited the battleground and extremely thorough museum and after a few hours needed dinner. HUBS had pre-scoped a restaurant located in a building built in 1776, The Dobbin House Tavern.



We shared a bowl of revelatory French Onion Soup. I capitalized each word there because this was the best FOS I've ever had. Ever. EVER, PEOPLE!! I generally avoid such soups because they tend to be hellishly salty, to the point where it feels like my throat is going to close up. This? This was perfectly seasoned, cheesy, with bits of tooth tender beef and onion floating in there. Oh. My. God. So gooooooood.



In addition to the soup (which immediately made me want more when we finished the bowl), I got a club sandwich and HUBS got a burger smothered in mushrooms and onions. Everything was amazing. These folks know food! And, again, all the servers are in period costumes. This means the ladies are dressed like old tyme serving wenches. I know what you're thinking, cleavage and good soup? That's right, people. Everything you could ever want in one spot!



Now I'm starving! That's what I get for talking about food for three days straight, huh? Before I go stuff my face, here's a Friday Funny for you:



Happy Friday, friends!