Soup & Salad, and Tony's Antics

Lunch at Lindey's last week was so good that I was inspired to recreate it over the weekend when my sister and her husband came over for dinner.



Baby greens with feta, mozzarella, roma tomatoes, and olive oil vinaigrette.

Onions and lots of 'em! Other ingredients: butter, bay leaves, sea salt, cracked black pepper, beef broth, thyme, red wine, and garlic.

Finished product topped with sourdough bread slices and provolone and finished under the broiler.

Tony wasn't home for dinner and decided to make a salad for himself when he got home. In typical fashion, he took what had the potential to be a delicious and healthy meal and ruined it with creamy dressing, excess amounts of cheese, and crushed saltine crackers. The best part of this photo is that Tony wasn't posing for it. I just happened to catch him talking while he was mid-bite. Like I've said before, you can take the boy out of Indiana but you can't take Indiana out of the boy...

Food from yesterday

I had lunch with The Boss yesterday at Indian Oven on Main Street. I had Tandoori chicken and curry chicken from the buffet.

I typically eat some form of chicken twice a day. Yesterday, after the huge pile of chicken that I had for lunch, I could not stand the thought of bird in any form for dinner. Plan B: baked ravioli with spicy marinara and a simple salad of baby romaine, tomatoes, and olive oil vinaigrette. It really hit the spot.

If you love it so much, why don't you marry it?

I made this salad. I love this salad. I don't think that I would marry it, because I am already in a committed relationship with Pizza. But if things don't workout between Pizza and me, I might consider something serious with salad.

Chinese carryout. Meh. It wasn't bad and wasn't good.

Food and Self-Loathing in Las Vegas

I'm just going to put it out there... I hate Jimmy Buffet. I might even hate him more than I hate Nickleback. At the risk of alienating members of my loyal readership, I will go as far as to say that I even dislike his fans. The fact is that his music sucks. It's lazy music for people too lazy to find decent music to listen to.




And here's why I suck... I ate at Jimmy Buffet's restaurant while I was in Las Vegas. I was with my dad, the restaurant was right in front of us, we were hungry and thirsty, and I gave in. I hate myself for contributing to the evil empire that is Margaritaville.




I had the chicken nachos. They were okay. They weren't bad and they weren't great. But with each and every bite that I took, I felt like a bigger and bigger bastard.





Later in my travels, I had other meals that did not result in self-loathing. Here is a bowl of tomato bisque with mini grilled cheese sandwiches.





Here's a side salad and bowl of French onion soup. The soup was really good.




Here's my co-worker's chicken Caesar salad. She said that it was one of the best Caesar salads that she has ever had.

Vegas Baby!

On Sunday, I headed out to Vegas for an industry conference. I was joined by co-worker and partner-in-crime, Melissa. Despite the ungodly heat and several wardrobe malfunctions (broken shoe heels and busted shoe buckles - nothing of the Janet Jackson variety), we had a great time and got a lot of work done. We also ate some food.


The highlight of the trip (food wise) is pictured above... We had this at the Terrace Cafe at the Wynn Hotel. This bacon and cheese omelet was spectacular. I can't put my finger on exactly why it was so extraordinary, but it was. There was even something special about the hash browns. And do you see that little muffin on my plate? It is some sort of cheesy muffin, savory and not sweet, perhaps made with whole wheat. Whatever the ingredients, I loved it.



And here's the lowlight. This was lunch at day 2 of the conference. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good either. I think that an all Asian buffet is an odd choice when feeding a large crowd, but it wasn't the cuisine that I had an issue with. The fact that many of the dishes were served almost cold and poorly seasoned was my issue.



Here is our late night dinner from Monday. This was from the Sugar and Ice Cafe (at least I think that was the name). I had a giant sized Cobb salad with chicken, eggs, bacon, and blue cheese. My cohort had Kobe beef sliders with fries.



Here's the view from our conference booth... Seriously, we didn't have a booth at the actual conference but we did hold several meetings at the Wynn poolside bar.

Max & Erma's - 07.03.2009

Max and Erma's is another restaurant that I am not overly found of, mostly because I don't like their menu. I don't care too much for hamburgers and that seems to be their core competency. Tony loves Max & Erma's and we had a gift card, so we headed out for dinner.





Appetizer - onion rings. These were good, very good.


Beer. Ian had a Stella and Connor had... I can't remember which kind of beer he had, actually.




I had a cup of tortilla soup. It was okay. It wasn't nearly as spicy as I would have liked.




I'm just gonna say it - my salad was good. Not as good as the one from O'Charley's but definitely better than the one I got at Jimmy V's recently.




Connor has recently declared that he's a man. He doesn't order off of the kid's menu or drink out of a cup with a lid when dining out. He ordered a combo that came with a cheeseburger, fries, tortilla soup (which I ate), and a warm cookie. He ate about 6 fries and 1/4 of his cheeseburger and called it a day. He wasn't impressed by the cookie either. Tony had a burger and fries too.


Ian had... chicken and fries! No surprise there.


All in all, it was a good meal!

O'Charley's is no longer permanently banned - Father's Day

I have hated O'Charley's every since we ate there 9 years ago when I was very pregnant. It took me forever to get a soda, despite the fact that everyone else at the table had their beers served to them already. Everyone at the table got their meals served well ahead of mine. AND they had chicken parmesan topped with SWISS cheese on their menu. That's three strikes against them and that's all that it takes to get a restaurant placed on my "permanently banned" list.

On Father's Day, we tried to go to Frisch's for breakfast with my mom and stepdad. The line was too long and Steve and Tony suggested O'Charley's. It was their day, so I agreed.




I hate to admit it, but the food was good and the service was fine. I had a southwest chicken salad. I liked it.




Tony had a black & blue salad. It was enormous.




Ian ordered pancakes AND chicken tenders with french fries. I knew that there was no way in hell that he could eat that much food, but it was easier to let him order both than to hear him whine.




Connor had a waffle.




My mom had an omelet. This picture cracks me up. My mom looks like she's working her ass off just to cut her eggs. MOM - use a knife next time!




Steve had two eggs over easy, a double order of bacon, toast, and potatoes. One strike for O'Charley's - the server forgot to bring his extra bacon. He got it eventually, but was still charged for it.




My kids have this great scam going. Every time that they spend the night with my mom and Steve, she either buys them a toy or gives them money so that I can take them to get a toy. It's a win/win! I get to offload my spawn for a night AND they get paid! Here is Ian with his $12 from Grammy that he "earned" by spending the previous night at her place.

Father's Day cookout and some other pictures

Grilling out at my dad's on Father's Day. Grilled chicken marinated in balsamic vinaigrette, brats, hot dogs, potatoes, and corn.


Eating dinner at my dad... Guess what's in that big coffee can on the table? Think about.... Do you have a guess yet? It's a big pile of dirt and worms! There was no fishing involved with our Father's Day cookout, but my dad felt it appropriate to keep his big tin of worms on the table during dinner.

Here's lunch at Jimmy V's in German Village with "The Bosses". I had a grilled chicken salad, Boss 1 had a Greek paninni. I can't remember exactly what was on her sandwich other than the fact that it involved olives. LOTS of olives. I can't stand the sight or smell of olives, so I had to quit looking at the sandwich as soon as I spotted them. Boss 2 had a bowl of soup, but I cannot recall the specifics.

Dinner at my dad's a couple of weeks ago. Domino's pizza and wine.



Have we discussed Romeo's pizza yet? I don't believe that we have. The Minuteman Pizza near us was recently bought by the Romeo's pizza chain. The kids were devastated when they found out about it. Minuteman is their favorite pizza. Romeo's is pretty much the same as Minuteman, but maybe a little bit better tasting. Logic and taste buds be damned though. My kids hate Romeo's just because it isn't Minuteman.

Some Stuff From Last Week

I think that this was taken last Sunday or Monday. Regardless, I told Tony that I was making an Insalta Caprese for dinner and he looked at me like I was crazy. I explained that an Insalta Caprese is a fresh mozzarella and tomato salad with basil, olive oil, salt and pepper. When I told him that the salad was ready, Tony grabbed a plate and some salad dressing out of the fridge. He then asked where the lettuce for the salad was. HAHAHAHAHHAHAH. There is no lettuce in caprese salad! You can take the boy out of Indiana but you can't take the Indiana out of the boy...

My personal challenge to crack the code to a perfect lasagna continutes. It's a man versus himself type of story. On Friday, I made a pan of lasagna. This time I used 2 times the amount of sauce than I would typically use and it turned out a lot better. But still not as good as my mom's kick-ass lasagna. Darn you, mother dearest. I will perfect my lasagna recipe and you shall rue the day that you ever made a pan of saucey, noodley, cheesey goodness! PERFECTION SHALL BE MINE!!!

This is currently my favorite food in the world and I make this at least 5 time a week for lunch or dinner. It's a chef salad with baby Italian greens, campari tomatoes, a bit of shredded cheese, and shaved turkey and ham. True story - I would marry this salad if I wasn't already married and it were legal in the state of Ohio.

I made this, so I will post a picture. I was disappointed in myself regarding this meal as it wasn't my best work ever. It tasted good but it wasn't as attractive as I would have liked. This recipe is often called Straw and Hay. It's egg noodle fettucine and spinach fettucine with a light basil cream sauce, tossed with peas and ham. I used grated parmesan in the sauce instead of shredded parm. I discovered that grated doesn't melt nearly as well at the shaved variety. Balls, dude. At least I know for next time.

Okay, so early in the week I mocked Tony for thing that there was lettuce in an Insalata Caprese but then I got to thinking... Maybe fresh mozzarella and tomatoes would be really good on a bed of baby Italian greens with basalmic vinagrette dressing... And it was!

Good Times - 4.17.2009

I work at home 90% of the time and it's a luxury that allows be to often wear my pajamas until noon. On Friday I had a meeting at a potential client's site so I had to get up at a respectable hour and wear "business casual" attire. Whammy.

I didn't have time to cook breakfast for myself, so I ate an Egg McMuffin on the way to my meeting. I didn't get a picture of it because I am a bad enough driver in the first place. Adding food and a camera to the mix could have been deadly.

After the meeting, I had an hour to kill before my lunch dates that I had scheduled. There wasn't much open at 11 AM in the area that I was in, so I stopped in a small Vietnamese restaurant. I loved everything about this place, except for the food that was ordered.



Mi Li is a tiny restaurant with a few tables and booths, a pool table, several flat panel televisions and a big screen TV. I didn't use the restroom, so I can't fully rate the cleanliness of the establishment but the dining area was very clean and well-kept. So far, so good!



I gave the menu a quick look, but I wasn't at all hungry and I had a lunch meeting in an hour so I didn't order anything. The menu featured several varieties of "bubble smoothies" which involve tapioca and blended fruits. I've never heard of a bubble smoothie but apparently they have been all the rage for 10 years - or so I was told by my dining companion.


My friend ordered a pineapple bubble smoothie. She tried to get me to try it, but smoothies aren't my thing. I believe strongly that calories should never be consumed in liquid form unless their is alcohol involved.


My friend, ordered this for us to share. I have no idea what it's called but it involves fish cakes, bean sprouts, cucumber sticks, and a pork mixture in rice paper wrapper. The fish cakes looked unappetizing and I refused to try them. I tried the pork wontons and the pork mixture was really great but I really hated the texture of the steamed rice paper wrappers.

All in all, I loved this place even though I didn't really eat anything. I would love to go back and try the Pho next time - when I'm hungry.

I had a lunch meeting at Katzinger's in German Village at noon and I forgot to take a picture of my meal. I had a chef salad with olive oil and vinegar dressing. It was delicious.

Dinner... I was too lazy to cook dinner so we sent Tony out for White Castle. Ian and I had chicken rings. Connor and I shared some fries and he had cheeseburgers. Tony had cheeseburgers, onion chips, and mozzerella sticks. Apparently this combination is a gastrointestinal disaster that later resulted in Tony swearing off White Castle for the rest of his life.

Dinner Out 3.21.2009

I have no idea what my kids ate for lunch or dinner last night. They spent the afternoon and the night at my grandmother's house. They probably ate popsicles and Doritos all day. That's fine with me so long as I they are all in one piece and free of broken bones and stitches when I pick them up later today.

Tony and I decided to go to My Big Fat Greek Kuzina for dinner last night. Tony's not a fan of "ethnic" foods (Greek, Mexican, Indian, Chinese, etc.), so I was really surprised when he actually suggested eating here. The food was great. And cheap!


Leave it to Tony to go to a Greek restaurant and order a Ceasar salad. He said that it was the best Ceasar salad that he had ever had. I tasted a couple bites and it was really good. The dressing tasted homemade and was heavy on the anchoives. Yummy!


The menu at this place is huge and everything sounded good. I was trying to stick to something that was remotely reasonable in Weight Watchers points (i.e. high in fiber and high in protien), so I ordered falafel on a bed of lettuce with hummus on the side. I love falafel and hummus. There is nothing more disappointing than having half-assed, poorly prepared, or bland hummus or falafel. Okay, there are plenty of things more disappointing than bad falafel and hummus - but for the purposes of this post... You know what I mean. Anyway, both were fabulous and rich in flavor.


Tony surprised me again but ordering a Lamb gyro. After 9 years of marriage, I had no idea that he liked lamb. He also got french fries covered in feta cheese and some sort of yogurt based sauce. I tried bites of both and they were both great.


More good stuff... BEER! I don't drink beer very often but a good draft beer seemed to fit the meal. I started with a draft Stella and then had a bottled Efes Dark. Efes is a Turkish beer. It's dark, but easy to drink with just enough bite. I think that Tony had a Blue Moon draft beer.