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.

Swine Flu and Vegas II

At this very moment, I am sitting in the waiting room of an Urgent Care. It seems that I may have contracted the Swine Flu while in Vegas. While I am waiting, I might as well be productive and post the remainder of my Vegas pictures.




FYI - It is *very* hot in Las Vegas in July. I don't want to confuse anyone with fancy meteorological terms or anything, but the technical term for the weather that I experienced while I was there is Hot As Balls. This picture is a fairly accurate representation of how hot it was while I was in Vegas.




On our first night in Vegas we went to a charming family owned restaurant called Battista's Hole In The Wall. It's located near The Flamingo, but isn't inside a hotel. It's a cute place, filled with little statues and small liquor bottles and signed photographs of celebrities that I don't recognize.




The menu is posted directly on the wall. The big bonus to this restaurant is that salad, bread, and the House wine are all included in the price of the entree. I thought that the "free" wine might be a tiny glass and that you would have to pay for additional quantities. I was pleasantly surprised when two full carafes of wine were delivered to our table.




I had the Chicken Rio, which is named after the owner's wife. It's a boneless chicken breast covered in a sherry cream sauce, served over pasta with roasted veggies on the side. I wasn't a big fan of the cream sauce, but the chicken was really tender and the pasta was good.





I can't remember what Melissa had, but from the looks of her plate I think that it was some sort of veal. I really need to start taking notes about the foods that I am taking pictures of.


*Note: I have since returned from the Urgent Care... It came as no surprise to find out that I have the Swine Flu (and by Swine Flu, I actually mean Bronchitis and sinus infection)*

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.

Hanging out with The Boss - This week

My Boss's office is near Indian Oven in downtown Columbus. They have a decent lunch buffet on the weekdays... It's quick and easy. This is tandoori chicken, Basmati rice, nan, and a couple of dishes that I can't recall the names of.




Later in the week, The Boss and I went to McCormick and Schmick's for happy hour. If you have never been to their happy hour, you must go immediately. They have daily appetizer specials that range from $1.95 to $3.95 in price, along with drink specials. We aren't talking about Applebee's happy hour food here. This is actually good food. We ordered fish tacos and a Mediterranean pizza (pictured), along short ribs and crispy zucchini (not pictured).

We are big fans of breakfast

Breakfast for lunch, at Scrambler Marie's. Or Marie Scrambler's... I forget which it is.

Connor is a grown up now. He only orders off of the adult menu, as demonstrated by the giant sized pancakes in front of him. He's also taken to dressing like my dad - Hawaiian shirts and baseball caps.



A few days later, at Frisch's. Tony had the breakfast bar, or the "endless bacon bar" as he calls it.



Pancakes....




And more pancakes.




My standard breakfast order. Frisch's doesn't have turkey bacon or turkey sausage, which is a major whammy.

Dublin Independence Day Parade - 07.04.2009

On Saturday, the kids and I got up early and headed out to my dad's house for breakfast and the Dublin Independence Day parade. He lives near downtown Dublin, so it's an easy walk to the parade.




My dad isn't necessarily known for his culinary skills, but he's pretty handy on the grill and with breakfast. The kids really enjoyed his pancakes.




I was in charge of the scrambled eggs.



After breakfast, we walked to the parade. The kids were armed with bags and ready to collect any candy that was thrown out during the parade. They made out like it was Halloween and each collected a big bag of candy and fliers for various churches and soccer leagues.



Connor is like a teenager. He's too cool to let his mom take his picture in public.

We stood about 4' from AJ Hawk, of the Green Bay Packers and formerly with the OSU Buckeyes, during the entire parade. He was with his wife Laura, who is Brady Quinn's sister. I somehow manage to take a picture of everything I eat, but I was too chicken shit to get a picture of AJ Hawk. Whammy.

Meine Familie und ich, tailgating - 07.04.2009

In display of unrivaled classiness, my family and I tailgated in the parking lot of a strip mall in Hilliard and watched the local 4th of July fireworks. We ordered pizzas from Papa John's, parked in their parking lot, popped open the back of my station wagon and had dinner and a perfect view of the fireworks.


Shadow joined us for the event. This is his first 4th of July with us and I wasn't sure if he would freak out once the fireworks started. He was as calm as ever and wasn't bothered at all by the noise.


Connor, Ian, Stacey, and David


Our decision to tailgate in the Papa John's parking lot was very last minute, but worked out perfectly. We had a great view without having to deal with the crowds in the park. I think that this will be a Stewart family tradition!



The big show!

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.

Cookout - 06.25.2009

We had family over this weekend for a cookout. Ian had a hot dog.


The rest of us had pork, beef, and chicken kabobos. My sister brought her famous baked beans which are another one her trademarks.



We also had corn and grilled veggies.



And cilantro lime rice.

At some point in the evening Connor, Ian, and one of the neighbor's kids formed a band. We thought that they were kidding when they told us that they had a band together, were practicing a song and would be performing for us later. While the adults were inside eating, the kids set up the back yard for a show. They cleared off the patio for a stage and lined all of the chairs up in the grass. As you can see from this video, Ian is a true frontman. He's shirtless. He's a natural! Their band has no name and 3 songs so far. None of the songs last more than 25 seconds. Rock on!