Comfort Food

I've felt like crap all week - tired, body aches, itchy throat, headache. Bleh. Wonton soup always makes me feel better when I feel bad. This soup was especially good because it had so much cabbage in the broth. Yum.

I DIE

As the great Rachael Zoe would say, "I DIE." That's right. This pizza is so good that you could die of a heart attack while eating it and it would be the best last meal that you could ask for. It's from Dante's pizza on Indianola. If you've never been there, go there. Now.

Hilliard Likes Chicken

There is no shortage of fast food restaurants in Hilliard. We have most of them - McDonald's, Burger King, White Castle (Ian's favorite), Skyline (Connor's favorite), Arby's (my fav), Donato's (Tony's fav), just to name a few. Raising Cane's started construction on a new restaurant down the street from us. Their specialty is chicken fingers. This is Ian's favorite food, so he had been anxiously monitoring the progress. It finally opened two weeks ago and for two straight weeks, the drive-through line as been around the entire building and in to an adjacent parking lot. I love Ian but I don't love Ian enough to sit in that kind of line. On Sunday, we drove past and the line was somewhat reasonable so we decided to try it.

Connor was pissy about us getting this for lunch because he wanted to go to Dairy Queen. Ian and I were excited to try the chicken and I ordered fries and texas toast in hopes that Connor would try them. I'm not going to lie to you. The chicken here is really good. The kids and I loved it and and Connor really liked the fries. There were no takers on the bread or cole slaw.

Finders, Keepers

I have no idea where Shadow found this rawhide bone at, but I subscribe to the "finders, keepers" theory when it comes to these things so I let him keep it. Within an hour, he had completely devoured half of it.

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 from last week!

I've been super busy with work and have fallen behind in updating everyone on the minutia of my eating habits. I hope to get caught up this weekend.

This was a most excellent meal. I made slow cooked pork carnitas, brown rice with cilantro and lime, homemade salsa, and black beans. I was very proud of myself for showing restraint with the number of habanero, serrano, and jalapeno peppers that I used in the pork. I wanted to use 4 of each, which would have be just plain crazy. It would have lit my face on fire with heat and induced indigestion within minutes. Instead I only used 2 of each pepper. The pork was perfection - very spicy but still edible.

Here's the finished product, served on a whole wheat tortilla.

Stromboli! I love stromboli. The one in the back is made with a whole wheat crust.

Yummy! Whole wheat stromboli with shaved ham, baby bella mushrooms, and provolone cheese.

For the picky eaters (i.e. Tony!).... Pepperoni and provolone stromboli.

International Dinner Club

My sister-in-law was kind enough to bring me along as a guest to the dinner club that she was invited to. I am fuzzy on the details as to who actually started the club, but I know that membership is primarily comprised of librarians and ex-librarians. It was a fun and interesting crowd! We met at Louie's Fusion Grill in Hilliard. Louie's is owned by the former chef of Starliner Diner and their menus are very similar.

Here's Mandy's entree - grilled veggies and black beans. She said that her meal was really good.

I'm super bad with names and I don't remember the name of the person who ordered this, but I know that it's roasted chicken and that she really liked it.

The gentleman across from me ordered a Cuban sandwich and fried plantains... Sounds yummy!

This looked really good - it's a fusion pasta that involves cream sauce, chicken, and cilantro.

Here's my food! Roasted pork shoulder with rice and black beans. I like my food spicy, and this was pretty mild, so I doused it in green and red habanero sauces. It was very spicy, and very good!

I would definitely eat at Louie's Fusion Grill again. The prices were reasonable, the portions were large, and the food and margaritas were good.

Awesomeness

The upside to working at home is that, well, I work at home. I could wear my pajamas and slippers all day for all you know (but I don't... well, I do wear my slippers a lot... and pajama pants. But not my pajama shirts!). The downside is that I don't get eat out very often and my dog doesn't have much to contribute to lunchtime conversations. Today I was dying for Rooster's but didn't have time or motivation to make the 15 minute drive each way for carryout. So, I made my own grilled chicken tenders and they were spectacular!

Hayride, Pumpkins, and Massive Allergy Attacks

Every year, the kids' school has a fundraiser at Kuhlwein's in Hilliard. There is a hayride (allergies), corn maze (allergies), a depressing petting zoo (allergies), feral animals (danger! and allergies), and a cookout. Have I mentioned that we all have allergies? I'm not one to begrudge my spawn an evening with their classmates at a school function, so we always attend the yearly event.

You are looking at the main attraction at the petting zoo. This poor little calf looked miserable. The only other members of the petting zoo were 4 small rabbits cramped in a cage together.

The kids liked the hot dog roast and sitting on seats made of allergens while they enjoyed their food.

Pumpkins!

My god, Ian really needs a haircut! Or some hair product to control that mess. Or a headband.

Ah, the corn maze. The kids really look forward to this particular attraction every year.

A good time was had by all. And when we got home, everyone had to take a heavy dose of Zyrtec, shower, and change clothes. Seriously, we are very sensitive to the outdoors! We are an inside family!

Food from last week

We ordered lunch from Plank's on Parsons Avenue while at work on Friday. This pizza was good, but not like I remember it. The crust was really sweet. Not in a bad way, but the sweetness was a little distracting.

This is a white pizza that I made on Thursday. Connor was fascinated that I had cracked the secret code to Papa John's cheesesticks... I didn't tell him that the secret recipe involves only pizza dough, garlic butter, mozzarella cheese, and provolone cheese. I would prefer to maintain the air of mystery.

Yummy.... Chicken and cheese quesadilla with spicy salsa and a whole wheat tortilla.

Not to brag or anything, but I make really awesome pizza. Here's a ricotta, provolone, and pesto pizza with crushed red peppers.