New Work Digs

Been in new work digs for 2 months now. Not many options within walking distance and I hate getting in car to get lunch all the time. I'm lazy. I also don't like sandwiches which rules out one of the walkable options. There is a deli thing downstairs. It calls itself a cafe but honestly, that is pretty presumptuous.  It's more like a small cafeteria with some seating. 

Guess what else? They can't make a f'ing grilled cheez sandwich for anything. My love of grilled cheese is well documented. I had high hopes for my first attempt at the new place. The grill dude seemed totally ok with making it when I asked. But then I get it and he didn't butter the bread pre grilling. We all know that is toasted cheese, not grilled. I call bullshit on that. 2d attempt was with different grill cook. I specifically ask for GC with the bread buttered. She looks super confused but made a half ass attempt at buttering. But then she cooked so fast the cheese didn't even melt. Jezzus christ. I give up. 

I find myself eating a lot of this:

Usually no cheese. I was splurging that day. They make a good potato. No doubt after a few months of this I will be fat as a  tick. Can't wait. 

Ugh

Dinner at Tidewater Grill charleston wv. Awful. The end. 

Seriously. The only thing that saved this was the company. Greek salad. Ok. Asked for dressing on side and didn't get it. Ordered some crab shrimp bake thing that was supposed to be a sauce and bread crumb topping. Um yeah. Way too saucy. Obliterated the bread crumbs. And really I had like 5 pieces of meat in this giant bowl of. Sauce.  

Behold

For real. What is up with this giant tomato slice in the middle? Anyway. The little crab and shrimp I had were good.  There just wasn't much of it.  And then they were out of key lime pie.   So there you go. Pretty much done with tidewater at this point. 

Do I need to rate a place in Charleston WV? Probably not but I will. Tidewater gets a whopping 2 and stay away. 

Just don't. 

Some of the Best Food Ever

No lie. Made a work trip to DC with hotel in Arlington environs. Did a dinner with coworkers first night at Liberty Tavern in Clarendon. Wow.  For real. Wow squared. Company was pretty good too. With the new job nearly everyone is untested as dining companions. Lots of good wine and good food. My compliments as well to our waiter. Perfect blend of attentive and informative. 

Highlights were duck fat fried onion rings. I promise you you will feel like you've died and gone to heaven. We also had a cheese plate that was damn good. Grilled octopus. Normally I wouldn't touch this. Obviously I had just enough alcohol in me. 

Entree was diver scallops that. Were. The shit. Really nice portion too. I had to make myself stop eating. 

Dessert was homemade cake donuts and some vanilla cake with a scoop of some homemade ice cream the likes if which I have not had before. It was divine. Donuts were good but they were donuts. 

Next night the full complement of our group was at the hotel. We bagged on dinner out in exchange for drinks in the bar that led to appetizers in the bar and everyone turning in around 9. I love working somewhere where more people than me have young kids.  I can drink with these people too. Things are really working out so far. 

Love

Thy name is Sonic

Work Dinner or Dinner with Work People

Work dinner at Mazzantinis in Galleria. Had "discussion" with Twist prior as to whether I had been there before. Ultimately I concluded no. I think he is still unconvinced. 

Pimms Italian. Sweet but tasty. Knocked that down in short order. The company GC was our host. Man is she a live wire! Polled table for things each cooks well and fav turkey day item.  Respect that line of questioning. She and I will get on famously I think. 

Cramer Light was with as was borrowed associate, 2 attys from office and their boss. Half the table had nuclear experience on top of your basic energy. So yeah. If you are thinking nerd fest, you would be correct. 

This is some sausage and Brussels sprouts app that someone else ordered and I basically helped myself to. Holy shit. The goodness cannot be described. Even the sprouts melted in your mouth. 

Some risotto. Very well done. My compliments chef person. Most people can't make good risotto. And by most people I mean 90% of restaurants and the general population. Yes. Of course I am in the 10%. 

Ok so this was was good but why we got it hilarious. I'll put this down as Italian amuse bouche. So the manager comes over when we are ready to order and More or less says  'you can't order now bc we are dumbshits that sat every table in this place within 10 min of each other and can't stack the kitchen'  so this lovely crostini was the peace offering I guess. I could have forgotten all about it if I'd been given say 3-5 of these rather than ONE. One just isn't fair. Ham and cheese both delictable. 

Entree was Hunters chicken which was like a fancy cacciatore. Super tasty. Good flavor.  Nice potatoes too. It was so good going down that I can prob overlook the stomach cramps and GI issues that arose the next morning. I assume the chicken was the culprit. It always is. I so rarely order it for that very reason. 

No one else had anything worth mentioning. Plus I forgot anyway. I saw some fish at the table though.  

Dessert was a honey panna cotta. Again, holy shit! The tastiness was a surprise. Very delicate and nicely done. 

Grabbed a cab back to The Woo. Cramer made sure one arrived for me before he left. What a nice boss, huh? 

Def recommend Mazzantinis and give it a 4   

Very Lame

Oh my gawd. Last week I think I had at least three days where I had no lunch and skated through the afternoon on petite vanilla scones leftover from breakfast and a latte it took me all day to drink. Embarrassing. That is what happens when I don't have anyone to make me go eat. I definitely need to hire Twist. 

Help me. 

So Many Posts So Little Time . . .

Blergh. I have to really *work* at this new job which has cut considerably into my posting time. 

I wrote about the Disney Meal fiasco. I think I left out my good ACC conference meal. I got with my former coworker peeps and we want to The Lobster House at Santa Monica pier.  Dude, it was good. I started off with the mussels in white sauce. I basically scarfed down the mussels and drank the broth.  Entree I got some lobster and succotash thing. It came out of the shell with some gravy stuff on the lobster and of course, succotash.   GOOD. 

When the check came everyone pissed out on expensing the whole dinner so our poor winter had to go back and break it up 6 ways. I don't think he was happy with that. I tried to tip him accordingly. As in more so he wouldn't rip off my new corp card number and go shopping. 

I also have to say that half of my dining companions were Mormon. Which actually is less about them and more about me and the fact I didn't feel right getting my drink on surrounded by a bunch of diet coke drinkers. And I was the only girl. It tends to feel guys out when I drink more than them and can generally hold my liquor. 

Turns out the Santa Monica pier sux too. No offense SM. But I was under the impression that your pier was like the one in Lost Boys. It's not. It's not even close. 

Anyway dinner was a success. Lobster house is a 4 and recommended. 

Check it out, yo. 

Worst Meal Ever at Happiest Place on Earth . . .

through this arch is the legit dining room

Take a potty break and grab a snack people.  This will be a long one.

Never thought I would be saying i had a really crappy meal at Disney____anything.  Just typing it makes me sad.  But- I do think there is distinct difference in level of castmember service at WDW vs the DL due in part to the crowd demographics and "vactioners" vs. local crowd.  Sadly, a perfect example of this was my recent dinner at Cafe Orleans with Hubs.  If you love Disney and don't like to hear negative things about it, cover your ears or move away from this page immediately.  I have lots of negativity to impart.

So, Hubs and I are regulars at the WDW in Flo-rida.  Disneyland, not so much.  Right now we are on pace for once every 7-10 years or so.  So we have this conference in LA and decide to fly in early to go to Anaheim.  Super excited for Carsland etc.  As soon as possible we got reservations for Cafe Orleans with big plans for the Monte Cristo and some beignets.  Cafe Orleans generally has raves from diners--and why should we be different?

Day Two a cold front arrives.  Cafe Orleans has no heaters on its extensive patio.  Consequently, it was a little chilly once the sun went down.  upon check in at Cafe Orleans we say we'd like indoors please.  We wait for like 15 minutes and get called for our table.  Hostess takes us immediately inside the door to the restaurant and a service station and seats us at a super unglorious table by the outside door that is wide open.  Technically, yes, we are seated inside, but seriously?  I didn't want to be a dick so I didn't say anything and just sat.  We had a view of the hostess stand out the door and the waitstaff station inside the door.  nothing else.  We weren't even technically inside the restaurant.  You could tell that this used to be the wait area where the hostess stand had been at one point but it got cleared out for 4 extra tables.  At the end of this foyer was the real entry and doorway to the indoor dining room.

We sit and sit and sit.  One of my pet peeves is no one at least bringing you water so already this was not going well, table aside.  Per Hubs, the waiter popped his head out, looked at his one table of 8 and then his table of 2 (us) and went for the table of 8 first.  10 minutes later he finally cruised over with drink order and a lame "oh sorry I'm so busy".  We order and he goes away.  Hubs had asked if we could get a basket or bread or something while we wait.  Waiter-man looks really confused by this.  I guess no one ever asks for bread?  He does however offer us the option of ordering a basket of french fries.  Um, no thanks.

Iced tea arrives.  Full to brim and not one hint of an ice cube. On top of that it was dark brown and just looked nasty.  My man didn't even get it off the tray before I told him to get some ice and come back.  It wasn't even my tea.  I ordered a latte and apparently they had to go to Starbucks to get it and bring it back based on the amount of time it took to get it to the table.

I ordered some fall chicken stew thing--actually can't recall, and Hubs did in fact get the Monte Cristo.  But not before the Waiter stops by and proudly offer us the "bread" he has procurred.  A small plate of 4 melba toastish garnish for the onion soup.  Whatever.  He was bummed we were not as excited as he was.

The disappointment continued when entrees arrived and the MonteCristo sandwich, a deep fried and therefore, traditionally HOT sandwich, arrived luke warm.  As in marginally warm outsides and cool to the touch cheese and meat insides.  I was warned not to touch my plate b/c it was so hot.  That extended only to the plate though.  My stew was also only moderately warm.  Overall tasty but too much smokey flavor.  it was like the DL kitchens had just gotten a new indoor smoker and everything that came out of the kitchen was getting smoked.  It was overkill.  My meal the previous night at Carthay Circle was also uber smokey.   Back to the shrimp . . . it was ok but I didn't eat even half and neither did Hubs.  His biggest food pet peeve is definitely non hot food.  My man likes his food HOT right out of the oven.  And really, are you going to serve a deep fried sandwich that is cold?  How does that even work?  It makes me think they make them ahead of time and just refry or microwave or something.  Whatever they are doing IT IS NOT WORKING and must be stopped immediately.

By this point the waiter sensed how pissed off I was getting and just stayed away from us for the most part.  No one got a drink refill or anything.  He was gone.  Eventually he came by to ask if we wanted the check--clearly we would not be interested in dessert.  When he brought the check he dropped off some consolation birthday beignets shaped like Mickey heads, and HOT.  Good to know that they can really make hot food there.  The beignets were far and away the best part of that meal.

And thus we ended our trip to Disneyland on a low note the likes of which i have never experienced at a Disney anything.  Way to go Cafe Orleans.  You get a 2 and a big fat NOT recommended.

sad table right inside the door

looks good!  but its cold.  gross! and wait- what is on the side there?  is it BREAD?

best and hottest part of the meal

Conference Food

So I'm at this thing in LA. This was our lunch yesterday. Behold:

It really sucked. Terrible combo of flavors. Dry salmon with Italian spices. Italian boiled tomatoes.  Some sweet celery stuff. Orzo ruined by excessive lemon zest.  Mostly in edible. Thanks convention center. Losers. 

Something New!

I think I mentioned I got a new job. It's in a different part of town that I am wholly unfamiliar with. But. It's next to a strip mall with a good grocery store and some decent places to eat. So the other day my secretary introduced me to Adair. No idea what food category it falls under. Casual fresh if that is a thing. Salad soup and sandwich mostly. A bar for dinner. They have coffee and breakfast. Breakfast looks good. Oh we also had an exec admin with us and a younger dude attorney that I am borrowing from a firm for now. And I should clarify my secretary is really a paralegal. And by the way, she rules.  I think Im calling her Snaps bc everything she does gets three snaps.  

I got this salad. Some chicken with butter lettuce, avocado and goat cheese. Dressing was some sweet green stuff.  It was fantastic. Could have lived without walnuts but not fatal. A little pricey but nice portion and tasty. Good vibe inside too. My lunch companions were hilarious.   The Young Turk kind of looked shocked for part of the meal or at least like he knew staying quiet would be his best option. 

Adair gets a 3.5 and recommended. I will consider upgrading as I eat more there but I don't really do salad for lunch and I would totally get this salad again. 

Next week, business trip to LA with side trip to Disneyland.  Whoop!

Desperate Times

Saturday afternoon. Nothing in the house to eat and two nippers are asleep. I am about to do this:

Seems like both a great and a bad idea at the same time. I mean, it's certified Cajun. What could go wrong?  I will say the entire package is one serving and only 260 calories. Those are solid stats. If this is even like, 50% good it will be money.  

Started new job on Monday and as far as I can tell there is not a tree beards in sight. Previously I was within striking distance of three I can think of. A certain amount of withdrawal this week. Hoping this could fill the void. 

Had lunch with new boss like 4 days I think. Luckily he is entertaining. He reminds me of Jim Cramer with a fuller goatee. A more low key Cramer. He is from the Midwest after all.  

Whoa.

Not lying. I just bought these pickles at the store and about cracked them open in the car to try. They look good. Real good. 

10/15: ok. Pickles were a huge bust. Well, not huge but it was not awesome. spicy kick but not enough garlic and dill for me.  They were like the essence of pickle with a chili pepper. So whatever. Now I have a whole jar of these to get rid of. Not sure if new job has the same level of food scavengers that would ensure consumption. Oh yeah. I got a new job! Started Monday. The commute could make me stick a fork in my eye. So far so good though.  New eateries and new coworkers to enjoy them with although Twist and Ducky Momo will be sorely missed. 

I raise my pickle jar to you boys!

Mmmmmm

Hola! Tuesday I had lunch with the Unsinkable Molly Brown at Asia cafe in the Heights.  First let me day a quick piece on why she gets this name. Molly does not take shit from anyone or sugar coat it. She makes me think of the Kathy Bates version of MB in Titanic. Lest you can't tell I mean this as a high compliment. UMB is hilarious and I'm not sure why we haven't had lunch more up to this point. 

Back to Asia Cafe. We got an assortment of small plates to share. All super tasty for the most part. Exception was "crab puff" which was really just a subpar crab wonton.  Our server was an awesome shriveled up dude who looked like he could have been about 95. 

We left AC pretty happy. Alas. It was not to last. Maybe 2 hours later UMB sent me an IM asking if I felt ok. Well, since she mentioned it I was nauseous. She was also experiencing some gastro discontent. Nothing more serious developed on my end. Need to check with UMB.  So, boo in that but it was good going down. You can believe that. 

Xanadu

Lovely excursion today with Ducky Momo, Twist, and Chungry today for diner food.  Avalon Diner looks new on the outside but with an old soul like someone scooped out an old diner and took the interior to a strip mall. And chungry says that is pretty much the deal.   And there you go. 

Twist and I both opted for frito pie. The other two had some version of breakfast with hash browns.   The side of bacon was kind of pricey at $3.25 leading DM to spend a bit of time haggling with Chungry over sharing bacon.  

Chili was nice. Much better than canned. Although I eat that too on frito pie. Could have used more Fritos.   The bowl was too much for me sonTwist and Chungry ate my leftovers with hash browns. 

Had to make a phone call during lunch and was pleased to be able to use an old phone booth as refuge. Noticed several of the staff using said phone booth as resting spot as well. 

Biggest drawback for me is location. Avalon is on Westheimer. I hate driving Westheimer.  Half of it is under construction. It's just never pleasant to drive. 

Avalon Diner gets a 3.5 and recommended. I need to try more good. Oh. Wait! Almost forgot. Avalon makes killer homemade lemon and limeade. I had a limeade. Came in a big silver mixer like a shake. Very tasty. They also have excellent crushed ice.  This will sound stupid but it was like hand crushed. It was awesome. 

Return of the Mighty Wing.

I have to admit when Twist told me McDs  was putting Mighty Wings back out I was pretty excited. That's right suckers. The Mighty Wing is not new.  I fondly recall noshing on these at a McD in Switzerland   Let me tell you they were GOOD. No lie. Twist was a baby the first go round so he's been chomping at the bit to try these but hasn't found a McD near him yet that has them. I promised to cruise the one by my house and see if they were in. They were!!

Behold 

Spicy. Bold. Delicious. 

That says it all. Even better, it is accurate. They were spicy. A little too much for me but not fatal. Crispy and juicy.  Delicious? Yes. Yes they were. I'm not sure what sauce these come with but ranch would be good.  I was in the drive thru and didn't feel like quizzing the order dude on it and he didn't offer anything helpful.  Plus I got cheated out of the fries with my meal.  Booo. 

If you don't like spice I wouldn't bother with these. I'd also only order these during peak meal times. Lots of potential for these to be dried out and nasty if not made fresh and just sitting around waiting to get served. 

Azuma zoom zoom . . .

So our group had a new paralegal start last week resulting in welcome lunch at Azuma. Usually I just get sushi there but thought after 3 years I should try something else.  So rice bowl with name I can't recall it is! Fried pork cutlet and veggies with soft poached egg on top. Huge portion. Pretty damn tasty. Success!  

What little I know of Japanese food I think this tasted pretty authentic. While I'm talking about Japan, Hubs and I have hatched a plan to go to Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics! Already excited. Stay tuned. 

I've never had a bad meal at Azuma. 4 microwaves and I recommend it. 

I Give Up . . .

I am getting so far behind on this blog it is embarrassing.  Doing a long recap post to get everything up to date.

Last week I had surgery on my sinuses and nose.  Kind of sucked The first day I was a big baby about it to the point where I was emailing sad pictures of myself to my Moms for sympathy (while totally high on painkilelrs.  I even texted a pic to Twist).  Normally I am not so much a big baby, but my head felt like it had been scraped out and stuffed into my nose.  Wednesday I think all I had was a milkshake.  Milkshakes are my preferred remedy for about any medical situation.  Vanilla.  Thursday Awesome Coworker came over with Awesome Baby and brought lunch.  How nice was that?  You see, there is a reason I code named her Awesome.  A collection of salads from Whole Foods.  Thai coleslaw (spicy), Kale salad (sweet and delish), um, something else I don't recall that was also tasty and mixed fruit.  Since I found out I am allergic to canteloupe I am off the mixed melons for the most part.  I subbed in a Hawaiian roll which ACW sadly, could not have b/c she is dairy free for baby.  A sacrifice I am not sure I would be willing to make for my kids.  Sorry Kiddos.  It's true, you rank beneath dairy.  Cheese at the very least if I had to choose.  Baby was adorbs and bonus for me, I got to do some holding, some feeding and some snuggling to sleep.  Ahhhhh.  No.3 son is out of the snuggle phase.  :(  He's moved on to constant movement, screeching and taunting phase.  But he is still cute.

Anyhoo- it was so so so so nice to hang out with both.  I hope they will come back!  Mostly b/c I think I owe her money for lunch.  I did get to keep the kale afterall.  I thought the kids would love it so I gave everyone like 2 bites on their plates at dinner.  I got one outright no way, but the other two ate it--i thought.  After dinner I found partially chewed and discarded kale at various spots on the floor.  Honestly though, it tasted really good and wasn't bitter or anything.  I'm not sure what the dealio was.

I dont think I have a picture of the salads.  I'll post and go look.

Um what was next? Friday I don't even remember happening.  I did drag myself out to see Elysium with Hubs.  Pretty good.    Love Matt Damon.  Especially love that he is just as believable in drama as he is in action stuff.  He has turned out to be a pretty good action hero person.  Plus he has a normal wife and like 4 daughters.  How can you not love that?

Oh wait-- Tuesday before my surgery I went with the ladies here to Tacos a Go Go.  Me plus 3 other gals that I don't yet have names for.  I should eat with them more.  They are a riot.  Did a breakfast taco- egg with tomatoes, cheese and refried beans on corn tortilla AND, a Mexican Coke.  i.e. Coke with real sugar in it.  soo good.  and cheap.

Labor Day weekend didn't have any food worth mentioning.  And now today- I blew an opportunity t have Ducky Momo and Chungry bring me Treebeards so I ended up having to get a box from Starbucks.  All they had was crackers and cheese.  I like crackers and cheese so that is ok.  the green apple it came with was horrible though.

Take Two . . .

Ok- so I wound up going to Benjy's a second time a few days after my inaugural visit.  Orchestrated a work lunch for my group and our VP.  My group includes Boss Lady, New Cubed and Veggie Tales.  Aside: Veggie Tales is having twins in December!  Holy shit.  I can't even wrap my mind around that. I don't think I have the mental skills to deal with 2 kids at the same time who are on the same level of need.  However, b/c it's babies I am super excited for her.  If anyone can conquer twins it is Veggie.

So- went with special, Lamb stew.  had gnocchi in it which we know I usually don't dig, but this was not so gag inducing.  I ate about half of them and then picked out everything else.  Meat was tender, the gravy was really nice.  I can't remember at all what the wait-dude said went into it.  No one did dessert, thus that portion of the menu remains untested.

I can say though that Benjy's is very much on top of filling the water and tea.  And, I never thought I would say this, so much so it is in fact very annoying.  If you use sugar forget it.  The minute you get the balance right the guy swoops in and fills your glass.  At one point I was forced to do a very aggressive hand-over-the-glass manuever to keep away the refill.  It was so frequent my iced tea never once got even as far as half full.  It was like two sips, refill.  4 sips, refill.  My next strategy was just to act like i was drinking my tea everytime the guy came around.  While on the one hand I greatly admire and appreciate the attention to the refill, on the other hand this was totally nutso refilling.  I felt like the refill dude should have just been eating with us he was at our table so often.

Pic is not the best.  I mean its stew so really, how nice can it look? Ultimately chili and stew look like bowls of mud at best.  Do not let it fool you.  It was the shizz.  I'll just put this out there, I like lamb.  For the most part no one can cook it worth a damn other than a lamb chop.  I mean how hard is it to cook one of those?  However, anything else seems to befuddle the majority of kitchens.  Perhaps it is the quality as well.  Whatever the constributing factors were here, the results were very nice indeed, and I thank you for that Benjy's.

4 out of 5.  I shall return.

Reunited

Back from vacation this past week and priority scheduled Twist for lunch. I admit I did text him some of the more significant events during our trip, but still needed a welcome back lunch.

Settled on Warren's. something about it was different. Couldn't decide in what exactly. Finally agreed that maybe it was cleaner?  Twist went for the special; chicken sandwich. I had an off the "menu" grilled cheese. Warrens is the only place I have found to date that can do a grilled cheese right. I.e. not with a panini press. Plus they have good pickles. 

What's to say. It was a nice grilled cheese. The mushroom soup of the day also delightful. I would even go so far as to say it was homemade? Had a kick and fresh mushrooms. Another bonus: iced tea was not brown but a lovely orange the way it should be. 

Had a nice chat. Good to be back. 

3.5 recommended. 

Nice, Very Nice . . .

I had a networking lunch with a collegue yesterday at Benjy's on Washington Ave.  Had never heard of it before, but that's not saying much.  I haven't heard of most things.

Easy to get to from office, bonus.  Food was fantastic, bonus.  Server was fantastic, big bonus.  And while convo centered on work crap and industry stuff and what not, it was fine too.  A succes all around!

I had a grilled salmon salad with crispy chickpeas and some nondescript dressing.  The chickpeas were a nice addition.  Salmon was cooked great with nice flavor.  Dressing was the real downfall.  not much taste at all and more or less just made the salad oily.  I forgot to get it on the side.  My lunchmate had a ground lamb burger.  He took the top bun off and ate it with a knife and fork.  It came with roasted hatch chilis, but I don't think he ate them.  He had a big mound of green stuff to the side of his plate that I assume was the chilis.  Kind of thought it was odd he didnt just get it without the chilis.  But, whatever.  I take pictures of my food so there you go.

Nice atmosphere but once it got full of diners it was really loud.  Restaurants that have that big open thing going on I like the vibe of until people come in and then you can't hear shit.  I spent half my lunch leaning into the table and asking, what?  It's annoyinig if it's not night time with friends or you're drunk.

I'll give Benjy's a 4 and recommended, noting that desserts are untested which will necessitate another trip.  Who knows when that will be at the rate I go to lunch.

Side note- stumbled back in from vacation on Monday.  Have a few posts to put up.  Will try to get to it within the next few days.

Eat good this weekend!

More Vacation Eats. Grand Tetons

Wrapped up our stay in Jackson with a visit to the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar followed by dinner at the Million Dollar steakhouse. Both excellent experience for vibe and food.

Bar has been around forever and is fun. You can tell it's packed during ski season and on the weekends.  Bar stools are horse saddles. A little awkward getting on and off those but whatever. They were out of the house brand beer. Fail. But we had some other local brews that were good. MDCB doesn't have anything on tap. Weird? I think so. I kind of like my draft beer. 

On to dinner.  Locally sourced produce and meats. Homemade bread. Awesome. Started with homemade wheat bread with chipotle honey butter and smoked trout with dill and capers in cream cheese spread. Both phenomenal. Bread good taste but leathery crust.  Appetizer was Elk and huckleberry bratwurst.  Hello!  Great job on the grill. Great texture and flavor. Very juicy. Loved it. 

bratwurst

Entrees were Elk filet for Hubs and Bison ribeye for me. Nice surprise on ribeye. It came topped with crab meat and a hollandaise sauce. Ribeye was excellent flavor on its own. Mixed with crabmeat and hollandaise, it was the bomb. Elk filet was nice. Very tender. Different flavor. Almost had a sweetness to it. Not gamey at all. Our server attributed that to being grass fed   Whatever it is, it's working for you.  Sadly, no dessert.  Too stuffed.   

elk filet

4.5 microwaves. Recommended.

bison ribeye with crab

Afterwards we made our way to the Jackson Cinema and saw We're the Millers.  Freaking hilarious.  I still laugh thinking about some of those scenes.  I may have to see it again.  Had a box of hot tamales, my fav candy -- and they were fresh!  Left my bags of souvenirs there at the theater.  Remembered around midnight and it was already locked up tight.  Had to call for 3-4 days and send an email BUT the theater did write me back and mail me my stuff, so Respect!  Much appreciated.

Vacation!

Mega driving trip with the fam. Right now hubs is telling no.1 son that flies nest in your hair and lay eggs. No. 1 son on verge of tears. 10 more days to go!

Jackson Hole Pizzeria Caldera. Quattro Stagione pizza with sausage in lieu of prosciutto. Thin crispy crust. Good service. Nice selection of local beer. Super tasty slice. Highly recommended if you're in Jackson, WY. 

4.5 microwaves. Doesn't reheat in microwave that awesome. Oven would be better, but we don't have one in our groovy cabin. 

Chungry also on vacation in Jersey doing what seems to be a statewide pizza review.  I don't know how one can eat so much pizza. Although we've been living on crackers and cookies during the day on this trip. Maybe I should review crackers next. Son no.3 seems partial to rainbow goldfish.  Have to keep him constantly fed or my man gets PISSED off. 

Photo tk. Took it with Hubs phone. Internet half ass in the mountains.

Note: 8/23 still dont have my pizza photo, and now we've taken so many pictures it isn't in the photo stream either.  boooo.

Really?

Look at what the sickos at Lays have come up with. 

Chicken and waffle flavored chips. Even worse: I love them goddammit. Looks like next time I am home alone it will be me, the Winchester boys and these stupid chips. 

I hate you Lays. 

Ugh

Look at this ridiculous product. But it's so so addictive. 

I hate you.

Jerks

Whoever invented the whole ranch dressing with pizza thing needs to die. 

Why? Because I tried it and it was good. Now I want to dunk my 'za in ranch all the time. Thanks, jerks. 

Thanks, Whole Foods . . .

Thank a lot Whole Foods for ruining my lunch on Wednesday. A group outing to see Awesome and Awesome Baby, which should have been like, 100% awesome was only 80%. I don't know who mixed up your Indian food on the food bar but it was not good or up to usual standards. No curry. All spice. The Chana masala was not good. Very disappointing.  And you know I am usually all over the Chana masala. 

Awesome Baby was the sweetest ever and I managed to get in some kisses even though her mama was wearing her. Totes did not care at all. I had to kiss those baby cheeks. Had. To.  Maybe next time I will get to hold her. Obviously I think my own kids are pretty damn spectacular but I admit to missing the baby snuggles. Baby man turned 1 and doesn't have any interest at all in cuddles anymore. Tears. 

This trip to whole foods gets a 2. Booo. Lunch combo was weird too. I shouldn't say weird. It's people I like that I don't eat with combined with people I eat with on a regular basis. Sartorial + Veggie Tales + Twist + Awesome = not bad. A little weird.   I will say it also made me miss Awesome Coworker a bit more. :( she is such a mom though. So that was cool. She'll be back soon. I hope. 

A Very Sad Lunch Affair . . . .

Oh my gosh you guys!  I just had the most pitiful lunch ever.  I'm almost embarrassed to write about it.  I was going to to get something on my own.  Waited too long and then by that point anything and everything sounded good.  You know when you aren't quite ready to eat nothing sounds good?  Then you wait too long and EVERYTHING sounds good? That was me.  First I wanted fried oysters, but there was nowhere close enough I was willing to walk too.  Then I wanted a Schlotzky's original, but I looked at the calories and decided it wasn't worth it.  So here is where it gets pathetic.

I ENDED UP EATING A BRISKET SANDWICH AND A BOX OF MINI CUPCAKES.

I am not lying.  I wish I were.


Too lazy to go out I just started down the tunnels and more or less gave up under the Chase Tower (i.e. like one block) and went into Otto's.  I had a desperate hope they might have a fried oyster basket, but they only have shrimp.  Don't ask what the deal was with the oysters. I don't know.  The brisket caught my eye.  Done.  Chopped brisket sandwich to go.  On the way back I conveniently got sucked into Gigi's cupcakes (damn you!) and walked out with a pack of 4 mini cupcakes.  Gave one to Ducky Momo and ate the other 3 myself.  Not a typo.  I ate THREE cupcakes.  Mini cupcakes, but still.  And I also ate the whole damn sandwich too.   I have to tell you.  It was pretty good.  I'm kinda surprised too.  Bun was fresh, brisket was not bad. I have certainly had worse.  Sauce was on the super tangy end of the spectrum but it wasn't fighting with any strong flavors on the meat.  A litle smoke in the meat and very lean.  Considering this is from an underground eating place that obviously has no pit I'd have it again for sure.  Don't tell Chungry.

Otto's 3.5

Taste Test

Randall's fried chicken. Samosa caught my eye. got that too.

Samosa was pretty crappy.  What do you expect though from the grocery store.  It was like a 1.5 and I will never make that mistake again.  Tried it on the kids and none of them liked it either.



Sad veggie samosa

 

Randall's fried chicken however was really good.  Hubs favorite food is the fried chicken.  He's been steadily making his way down the list of recommended fried chicken in the  area.  Randall's--yes the supermarket-- is on that list.

 

Good crispy coating although for me it was a bit overdone.  Good spicy flavor that didn't overwhelm.  Very subtle.  Chicken meat was also great  Brined before frying which is the way I like it.  I thought this was great chicken.  Hubs, just ok.  we got 8 pieces for $6.99 which I also thought was pretty good.  However when you consider that none of the kids would touch it for whatever reason then it's not such a great deal.  No. 3 Son wound up pulling the container of chicken onto the kitchen floor and the dog went after it faster than I think I have ever seen him move.  At that point I think there were 2 pieces left.  He grabbed one and and ran around with a giant thigh hanging out of his maw until I shamed him into dropping it.  After that No. 2 Daughter ran around all night yelling at him to "release" whether he had anything to release or not.  Poor dog. :(

I'd get the Randall's again.  Way less greasy than Popeyes and I lie the spice level better.  Next time I will try it leftover.  I have a suspicion it is killer when it's a day old and cold.
3.5

Work Lunch Thingy . . .

So I'm on this board, right? And every quarter we have a lunch with speaker or something that I try to go to as a diligent Board Member.  Today's lunch was at the fancy pants law firm in our building.  Good for two reasons.  1) Didn't have to go any farther than the elevator bank to get there; and 2) lunch was not a sandwich box.  It was legit hot lunch with real plates and silverware and glasses AND coffee.  Whoa.  Obviously a better lunch than I would have garnered on my own.

No idea where it came from though.  Nice lasagna.  Good cheese, nice tomato sauce.  Firm brewed coffee superior to whatever coffee service we are using here in our digs.  Good stout roast and smooth finish.  I made Cubed go with since he is new and it was an industry thing.  I tried to kind of give him background for what was going on.  Not sure if he was with me or not.  On a 35,000 ft level I think he was.  These are total nerd events anyway.  I have found you really have to be in the weeds some already to fully appreciate most of these topics and lunches.

I can't really rate this but it was not bad.  I'd say a 3.5 Oh wait! Almost forgot best part.  Some super garlicy and buttery bread.  if I had been alone with this bread I could have easily put away about 5 pieces and only had that and salad.  Since you can't fly the freak flag at the fancy law firm I resisted and had some of everything.  I did not have a cookie though due to the garlic bread.  Garlic bread was like a 4.5 on its own.  Garlic.  Mmmmmm

Gimme the Usual

Treebeards. Chungry and Ducky Momo had some errand to run. New new new guy (I'm thinking Cubed?) had plans. Los lobos el solo. 

Shrimp étouffée with a fruit cup to go. You know I loves me some étouffée.  Consistently awesome. Fruit cup also top notch. I have recently learned that I'm allergic to cantaloupe so at least now I don't need to feel bad about not eating it.  I know, who's allergic to cantaloupe? How random is that right? But apparently I'm allergic. Yay me!

Since I waited until after noon to head out I opted for tunnel location vs market square. The court house juror crowd can be intense over there. The advantage to the tunnel location is superior bread. Not sure why its better but it wails on the bread at market square.  I ate the bread against my better nutritional judgment. It was good. 

Gotta run. No 1 son is doing Harry potter magic at daughter No 2 and she is screaming bloody murder. Sigh. Is it Monday yet?

Curry Madness

Field trip with Twist!  I am always jonesing for Indian and Twist suggested Ponticheri in Upper Kirby. Another Awesome co-worker find. Even though she wasn't there is person she was there in spirit. Awesome had her baby and is currently having lunches daily with Awesome Baby. Mazel tov!!

So first up. I was loving this place. Great decor and vibe. You walk in and are greeted by a delicious and lovely baked good counter. Note the gorgeous rainbow toasty thing with heirloom tomatoes.

And it smells great there too. So I didn't know what Frankies were and ordered an okra one that sounded awesome. But then I got it and it was a wrap. Still good but I was wanting something to dip naan in.  My fault. I'll know next time. I also got an order of samosas and naan.

Samosa was spinach with some paneer. Mmmmm. Heaven. Nice crispy outside.  Good curry. You only get two which is kind of a bummer. Three would be good.  For $7 2 doesn't really seem like good value.

The okra Frankie above unwrapped. This was spi-cy. Nice mix of tomato and okra. I wasn't in love with the sweet chutney but it was ok. My preference would have been for some tomato kind of sauce.  I was expecting something like sauteed like a masala just put in a naan wrapper.  This was a little dry as is.   I needed it saucier overall. But nice crunch and flavors. You want to know what was good? The omelette Twist had was wonderful. Nice grill flavor on the meat. Good mushrooms and tomato here too. Super good portion. He ate it all. 

Kitchen sink omelette

After we got back Ducky Momo gave me the what for for going to Pondicheri without him.  Based on one reference to Fried Chicken Tuesday Dinners I was supposed to know that he wanted to eat there.  Go Figure.  However, I would go back any day of the week.  I am always on the prowl for Indian food.

 

Good debrief with Twist.  Caught up on lots of office news and gossip.

 

Pondicheri, is a 4 microwave and recommended