Tony Drinks a Juice Box

Here's Tony, drinking an orange flavored Capri Sun. He's also eating a slice of salami. Our friend, James, swears by the orange Capri Suns and says that they are the best out of all of the flavors. Connor tried one and said that it was initially very sweet but that wore off quickly and it became very tasty. He still prefers the fruit punch flavor for it's floral bouquet and peppery finish. (Okay, I made that last sentence up... OR DID I?)

I'm back!

A few weeks ago, my husband was complaining that there wasn't any food in the house. He had a valid point, but I was still too lazy to go to the grocery store that day. Instead, Connor and I came up with a genius idea! We cut out a picture of a roast beef sandwich from an Arby's add and put that in the fridge. Trompe-l'oeil!

Some food pictures that i just found

Tony loves him a breakfast sandwich (or two). These are egg, cheese, and bacon on whole wheat and were made by yours truly (me).


Cheese pizza with whole wheat crust.



Whole wheat pita pizza with ricotta and marinara. I was starving when I made this and got impatient waiting for it to bake. I took it out too early. It was still good but not great.

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.

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.

Ocean Isle Beach - Dinner at Sharky's

Our first dinner out while on vacation. Ian has taken to posing as either Dr. Evil (as seen here) or as Jeff Hardy (the professional wrestler) when I take his picture. I must prefer the former over the latter. He had a hot dog for dinner.

Unfortunately, my mom developed a shellfish allergy a couple of years ago and this prevented her from eating anything worth a damn while we were away. She and Steve opted for pizza.

Check out Tony's awesome shirt.

Here's my dinner. It was awful. I ordered breaded scallops and shrimp. The scallops were slimy. The shrimp was on the level of Red Lobster, but not as good.

Connor had hot wings.


Tony and his pretty shirt had a steak, onion rings, mashed potatoes, and grilled veggies.

Tony is Funny

I love it when Tony thinks that he has discovered something new, but it's really something that's been around forever. One example of this is his recent discovery of the band Blue October. He saw a video of theirs a couple of weeks ago and decided that it was his favorite "new" band. I tried to explain that they've had many hit songs and are popular enough to have videos shown pretty much 24/7 on VH1, but he wouldn't believe me... Example 2 is Tony's discovery of the homemade egg, cheese, and bacon on wheat toast sandwich. The other night he asked me to make him this sandwich and I said "fine, no big deal." He then felt it necessary to go in to great detail, describing how to cook the egg (this coming from the guy who hasn't cooked anything in the 9 years that we've been married). I told him to shut up, that I had it covered, and he still proceeded to describe how the guy in the cafe at work makes this sandwich. Finally he left the kitchen and I cooked the sandwich. Tony loved it but couldn't believe that I knew how to cook a hard-fried egg (with the yolk broken), as if was a secret recipe or something. I tried to tell him that my homemade egg sandwiches are featured pretty frequently on my blog...

Tony's 40th Birthday - 08.01.2009

Happy 40th birthday to Tony Stewart! In celebration, we threw him a party at the recording studio that he and his childhood bff, Bill, own. The studio is conveniently located behind Bill's home, on 2 acres of property. There was plenty of room for people, food, badminton, and fun. (thanks to Olivia Wilson for this most excellent photograph)




Here's the spread. Many thanks to everyone who helped me throw all of this together and a very s pecial thanks to our friend Bill for manning the grill! (thanks to Olivia Wilson for this most excellent photograph)









Beer! This is Tony's favorite beer when his beloved Barley's draft beer is not available, Miller High Life. It's the champagne of beers. How do I know that? Duh... It's written right on the can.






Here's my sister, carefully inspecting a brownie. Right behind her is her husband, happily eating an un-inspected brownie.










I ate this bratwurst. It was yummy.










My brother and his friend totally planned to dress alike for the party. They spent hours texting each other before deciding on the simplicity of a pressed white shirt, khaki shorts, and brown mandals. (mandals is not a typo... get hip! sandals + a dude = mandals)

4 Food Truths About Tony Stewart

Here is dinner from last Sunday - homemade red sauce, penne, romano crusted chicken, cherry tomato and fresh mozzarella salad, and a baby greens salad with tomatoes, bacon, and feta cheese. This is one of Tony's favorite meals in the world. Which brings us to...





4 Food Truths About Tony Stewart:
1. If dining in an Italian restaurant, Tony will only order chicken parmesan
2. If ordering Chinese food, Tony will only order chicken lo mien
3. If dining in a Mexican restaurant, Tony will always order cheese enchiladas. On occasion, he may also get a taco or a steak with his meal but he ALWAYS gets cheese enchiladas
4. Chinese, Mexican, and Italian are the only "ethnic" cuisines that Tony will eat. He will not eat Indian, Japanese, Thia, Vietnamese, Russian, or any other worldly cuisine. It's not that he doesn't like these cuisines, but he just won't try them.

*Tony once ate at Schmidt's Sausage Haus with me but he wasn't happy about it. From what I recall, he ordered a breaded and fried chicken cutlet which was as close to chicken parm as he could get in a German restaurant.*

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!

Tony totally did this on purpose... 06.21.2009

First off, I would like to wish all of the good dads out there a happy father's day!

Secondly, Tony knows that most of the pictures on my digital camera either end up on this blog or on Facebook. Today I told him that Ian ate a hot dog at my dad's house and he asked to see the pictures. I handed him my camera and left the room to start making dinner. An hour later, I upload my camera pictures to my Mac and what do I discover? This delightful series of pictures that I KNOW that Tony wanted me to post on the internets!
ENJOY (Miconi and Gilzow - you know that I'm talking to you)!


Nose hair angle...


Contemplative Tony


Blinding Glare Off of My Bald Head Tony

I Think That I'm a Badass Tony

Watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 Tony

I Have No Fucking Clue What I Am Doing Tony

Blair Witch Project Tony

I'm On a Roller Coaster Tony

Happy Go Lucky Tony

I Definitely Buy My Underwear At Kmart Tony

Tony Being Tony



We love you, Tony. Happy father's day!

Tony Likes Attention - 06.06.2009

Tony loves the attention that he's been getting on my blog, and if he tells you otherwise, he's lying. On Saturday we went to Barley's for a late lunch and he and the kids spent most of the time showing off for the camera.

Tony was delighted to discover that Scottish Ale is now served in a pitcher!




Next up, ale washed onion strings.




Then Ian decided to make his "cute" face for me.




Food - Shockingly, Ian had chicken fingers.





Tony had the Barley Burger.




Connor had grilled wings with medium sauce. Connor arrived at this decision after much debate and several minor fits when he found out the the wings would be served grilled and not fried.

I had a turkey reuben with perogies on the side.

Connor's 8th Birthday Dinner and Other Stuff That I Forgot to Post

The kids always get to choose whatever dinner they want on their birthdays. For Connor's 8th birthday, he picked Papa John's for his party and Skyline for his actual birth date.



Ian began his meal with a Spongebob ice cream treat from the cooler.




He then moved on to his mad science experiments. It started off with him crushing oyster crackers and added pepper and him politely asking everyone to try his "recipe". I obliged him. It wasn't that bad.



Then Ian started to get fancy. He took a little chili off of Connor's plate and some cheese from mine and added that to the cracker and pepper mix. This is where I had to draw the line and refuse to try his new "recipe".



We eat a lot of pizza. Here's some pizza from Jet's. Tony loves this stuff. It's not anywhere as good as a mom & pop type of place (Iacono's, Dantes, etc.) but it's good considering that it's from a chain.



Every few months I decide to make lasagna, mostly because of a grudge that I have with myself. My mom makes kickass lasagna and mine always turns out just okay, at best. Somehow I manage to dry it out during the baking process no matter how much sauce that I start with. This was no exception.



Tony was off of work last week and asked me to get him up a Big n' Tasty from McDonald's on my way home from picking Ian up from school. I can't even think the words "Big n' Tasty" without giggling a little. I don't know why, but it just cracks me up that Tony requested this sandwich.


This is a chicken pita from My Big Fat Greek Kuzina. Tony and I ate there a couple of weekends ago after David's 30th birthday party. I'm not going to lie to you, I was already pretty drunk when got to the restaurant (and by pretty drunk, I actually mean very drunk). I don't really remember whether this was good or not but it looks yummy.