Let's Be Honest...

Let's be honest, the food at Frisch's kind of sucks. What doesn't suck is this adorable kid standing in front of Frisch's Big Boy. I'll spare you the details regarding the breakfast buffet that was inside...

Oh No He Didn't

Pictured here is my dear husband, Tony, with his sister at her wedding. Tony clearly has a case of "wedding reception drunk" in this picture. There is nothing else that would explain what he is doing here.

Tomato Bisque & Grilled Cheese

Homemade tomato bisque soup with grilled cheese (marbled cheddar on whole wheat). Delicious. Unfortunately, the boys that I live with were too unsophisticated to enjoy such a fine meal with me so I ate alone.

Public Service Announcement: IHOP SUCKS

We ate at the IHOP in Manhattan Kansas a few weeks ago when we were in town for a wedding. There are no IHOPs in Columbus, but their commercials are on TV constantly. Their food looks yummy. Their core competency is breakfast foods. It should be good, right?

Excitement builds as we enter IHOP!

Orders are placed, we are all looking forward to the arrival of our meals! And then - disappointment. The food sucked. See that bread on my plate? Yeah, it was supposed to be TOAST but it was neither warm nor crispy, so I can't say that it was toasted at all. Eggs, runny and cold. Hash browns, unseasoned and cold. I didn't even bother taking a picture of Tony's food, but suffice it to say that it involved partially cooked bacon.

Ian and Connor had pancakes. I hate pancakes and didn't taste these so I can't say for sure whether they were good or not. Ian seemed to like his. Connor barely touched his. Note to IHOP: If you are going to put 5 different syrups on the table, could you PLEASE INCLUDE MAPLE? I really shouldn't have to ASK for maple syrup, m'kay?

On a positive note, here are the fellas looking handsome at Tony's sister's wedding.

Lost pictures from Ocean Isle Beach

Holy shit, I thought that I had lost these food pictures from vacation! In no particular order, here is some stuff that we ate while at Ocean Isle Beach.

I'll give you one guess as to who ordered chicken fingers with fries...

Tony and I had breakfast near the pier, at The Breakers. It's a cute little diner/arcade/ice cream shop. Pet peeve: I hate it when home fries are referred to as hash browns. These potatoes were listed as hash browns on the menu.

Ice cream!

Connor almost made himself sick eating his ice cream sundae.

I think that Connor ordered these at Cineli's.

This is definitely from Cineli's.

Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken.

Meatballs! These meatballs are almost as big as my mom's.... uhm... head.

In a shocking turn of events, Connor ordered chicken parmesan. He didn't care for it.

Dinner with the Family

My siblings, mom, stepdad, and dad came over for dinner recently. We had a big salad, roasted chicken, pork tenderloin, homemade cheddar biscuits, mashed potatoes, and steamed green beans and baby carrots.

Here is Ian posing with a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and a yellow cake with vanilla frosting. Sugary goodness!

Eggs

Scrambled organic eggs with whole milk, sea salt, and cracked black pepper. Some of the best foods are the most simple.

Is it crazy to haul a backpack full of bagels back from vacation?

Question: Is it crazy to buy one dozen genuine NYC bagels while in Manhattan and haul them back to Columbus Ohio in your child's carry-on luggage?

Answer: No. If you have ever tasted a Columbus bagel and a NYC bagel, then you know that there is no comparison.



Here is a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich that I made on a David's whole wheat bagel. Delicious! If you are in the East Village of Manhattan, stop by and try one for yourself. There are located on 1st Avenue near 20th street.

More NYC Food Pictures

While we were in Brooklyn, Ian and I met a friend and her son for brunch. We ate at Buttermilk Channel, at the corner of Court and Huntington Streets. I'm not too familiar with the neighborhoods in Brooklyn, but I think that we were in the Carrol Gardens area. The food was really good. It sounds silly, but well cooked eggs are hard to come by. I find that most places serve their scrambled eggs overcooked and underseasoned. . These were just perfect. I think that they were made with a little bit of cream. The hashbrowns were well seasoned and downright cute. That's right, they were cute. I think that they were baked in a muffin pan. The toast seemed to be a wheat sourdough. It was all served on a bed of salad with oil and vinegar dressing. Yummy!

Here's Ian on the Coney Island boardwalk, enjoying an ice cream cone.

Ian, eating a pretzel as big as his head.

Coney Island

I've been to NYC more times that I can count, dozens of times, but I have never been to Coney Island. So on our most recent visit, Ian and I made the long haul out to the far reaches of Brooklyn to check it out. The subway ride out there is about an hour from the East Village of Manhattan, but it was worth it. Ian had a blast on the kiddie rides and I had fun people watching.



Ian on the carousel horse.

You can pay $3.00 to try and shoot a "freak" with a paint ball gun. When I heard about this attraction, I instantly pictured someone with face tattoos and a lot of piercings who also performs carny tricks. Disappointingly, it was just a regular guy wearing camouflage and a protective vest. He didn't even have a mohawk.

Kiddie rides and a big Ferris wheel!

Thumbs up!

Ian, looking tough!


View from the boardwalk


The boardwalk


The view of the ocean was really pretty from the boardwalk

More NYC Food

Pancakes at a diner in the East Village.



I tried to order a bowl of French Onion Soup at this diner and they were out. I had no backup plan so I fell back on what is usually a sure bet, a turkey reuben. Guess what? This was THE WORST ruben ever! Why? Because it was on toasted white bread and it had NO dressing.

Bagel breakfast sandwich... Yummy! This was at Europan, near Columbus Circle.

This pissed me off. While Ian and I were at Coney Island, I ordered a hot sausage on a role and asked for SAUERKRAUT. The guy served it with onions and peppers. I didn't correct him. He looked like he was working hard and I am sure that it was an honest mistake. I cannot stand green peppers. I loathe them, actually. So I picked them off and proceeded to eat the sausage. It was good. And it was served on a hoagie roll, not a hot dog bun, so that was special. FYI - The cost of this sandwhich, one Coors Light, one pretzel, and one Diet Pepsi was $19.00. Outrageous!




Here is Ian's Coney Island pretzel.

This is my wacky great-aunt. She took Ian and I out to dinner at Adriatic's in the East Village. I love this place. The pizza is great and the dinners are outstanding. She had soft shell crab Francese.

I had chicken Francese with a side of pasta with roasted garlic and olive oil. As Rachel Zoe says, I DIE! (that means that it was good!)

NYC - PIzza

There is nothing quite like authentic NYC pizza. One of my favorites is Frank's Trattoria @ 1st Ave and 21st Street. I make a point of stopping there every time that I am in town.




The pizza at Adriatic's is great too, but not as good as Frank's. They are only a few blocks apart. Adriatic's is 1st Avenue and 18th.



I can't remember the name of this pizza place, but it is a few blocks outside of Times Square and Ian and I have stopped there in the past. It's good, not great.

More Pictures From St. Louis

Here are some more pictures from St Louis.




Tony is thisclose to being banned from the blog. He hams it up for the camera at every possible opportunity.



Chicken quesadilla. The food at this little brewpub was really good. So was the beer.



Connor with onion rings as big as his head.



Ian and some chicken.



F*cking Jeff Hard strikes again. Enough already, Ian.

Mom of the Year

Connor and Ian's first day back to school! Ian is in first grade and Connor is in third. Ian is obsessed with WWE Wrestling nowadays and his favorite wrestler is Jeff Hardy. That thing that Ian is doing with his hands in this picture is apparently Jeff Hardy's "sign". I am developing a deep resentment against the WWE and Jeff Hardy just for the simple fact that the damn "sign" is ruining every picture that I have taken of Ian in the past 4 weeks. He feels compelled to throw that hand gesture in every photo.




Here's what they packed for lunch. My little manorexics can be picky eaters. Every single sandwich, piece of fruit, and slice of cheese that I have sent to school with Connor has been returned to me uneaten. Connor and I battled over the contents of his lunch box for the entire first grade school year. By second grade, I had given up. They eat pretty well for breakfast and dinner. Lunch, not so much.

As Seen on Man Versus Food, St. Louis Episode

We recently traveled to Manhattan Kansas for a wedding. On the way back, we decided to make an over-night pit stop in St. Louis, MO.




We stayed at a hotel directly across the street from the Arch.

We also took a field trip to Crown Candy Kitchen, which is located about 6 miles outside of downtown St. Louis. This restaurant was recently featured on an episode of one of our favorite shows, Man Versus Food (Wednesdays, 10 PM on the Travel Channel). Ian had an ice cream cone that was as big as he is.

Connor had a chocolate shake that was equivalent to approximately 3 averaged sized shakes. Much to my surprise, both kids finished their ice cream. Not surprisingly, they both left with stomach aches.