Cincinnati!

Growing up, we used to take loooong road trips every summer to visit relatives in South Dakota, Texas, etc. My parents would pack the 3 of us kids into the car, with the luggage carrier roped to the roof, and the tv/vcr wired through the cigarette lighter, and we'd be off for 3 days of nonstop driving, bickering, threatening to pull the car over, etc.

After this weekend, I seriously don't know how they did that.

My big sister, Julie, is getting married this July. Since she lives in Texas, it was going to be difficult to make it to her bridal shower.  But luckily her fiance's family is from Cincinnati-which is a little bit closer to Philadelphia... So off we went, my Mom, Dad, sister Laura and me. 10 hours of forced family togetherness. Sigh. And that was only one way!

We had a great weekend in Cincinnati/the surrounding suburbs. Julie's new family is incredibly awesome. And extremely Irish. I mean, with a last name like Flynn you'd think we'd get the clue. But it wasn't until I walked into the house full of 30 people to bagpipes playing and children Irish dancing, and met the dogs named Guinness and Jameson, that it really began to sink in.

We also ate some incredibly DELICIOUS (and high calorie) foods. Thank goodness the hotel had a little gym. We got to try Skyline Chili and Graeters Ice Cream. O.M.G.

Here are some pictures from our weekend:

Skyline Chili. And for the record, this was my Dad's meal!

Mini Ice Cream cones at Graeters, Hawkette sized! ;)

Bridal Shower time!

Favors (Note the familiar initials!)

Beautiful Bride to be!

It was a lot of driving, but it was great to spend time with the family,
and to meet new family!

Cheers to Julie and Shea!

~SG

Winning

Have you ever been eating something delicious and thought, "Whoever invented this should win a prize!" Or something similar?

This happens to me often because I love food and I eat a lot of it.  Today I was eating chocolate pudding (sugar free!) by Jello and it is just SO DELICIOUS. I've also thought this about peanut butter and jelly (who thought of putting peanut butter and jelly together on bread? A major winner, that's who.)

Another one? Avocados. Who pulled that thing off a tree (do they even grow on trees?) and decided to peel it and eat it? A genius.

I feel kind of pathetic that I just googled "do avocados grow on trees?"...

Moving on. I'm sure there are other inventions that deserve a prize that aren't food. Do you have any favorite food (or non-food) items that merit an award?

New Mission

Since I can't do anything normal in my life, I'm embarking upon a new mission with Joey and A Love.

We recently realized that we know A LOT of people that work for a particular restaurant chain- the Great American Restaurants (or GAR for short).  It's always fun to go visit a server at work, cause you get to see your friends, give them good tips, and sometimes you get a free dessert!  After our 2nd trip to a GAR in as many weeks, (we're the 3 best friends that anyone could have!) we've decided we are going to go...

 GARound The World!

Sort of like EPCOT ATW, we are going to visit each restaurant, eat dinner, have drinks, and visit friends.  Although we are not going to do this all in one day... as it is rather expensive to eat there and we ARE trying to save money...

List of GARs:

·  ARTIE’S

·  BEST BUNS

·  CARLYLE

·  COASTAL FLATS

·  JACKSON’S

·  MIKE’S AMERICAN

·  OZZIE’S

·  SILVERADO

·  SWEETWATER TAVERN

Why are we doing this?


Why the heck not?!  Delish food, friendship, and beers. And that's what life is all about, people. 

Any suggestions as to where we should go next???

Squeamish? Vegetarian?

Turn away, now.

OK I warned you! Today’s post is about the many things you can make with deer meat.  You can’t be mad because I already warned you that this post wasn’t for the squeamish or vegetably inclined…

I also know that by writing this post it makes me a redneck, or at least a redneck by association.  But by marrying into this family, I had to accept that fact that they do enjoy hunting.  (Even though I cry when Joey’s watching hunting shows on TV and I don’t look away in time.)  I actually even went with Joey one time on a hunting excursion.  Back in the day when we were first dating.  I suited up in a nice warm camo outfit and put on a cute orange hat that said “Buck Buster” and trekked about a mile to the chosen spot and sat down in the brush next to Joey.  We were verrrrry quiet and we could hear some squirrels playing in the trees.  Then it hit me.  “If something comes out of that forest, right in front of me… I’m going to watch it die.  Umm I don’t want to be here anymore…” Luckily for everyone involved, no deer, bear, etc. came out of that forest and we returned back to the trailer empty handed.  And that was my first and last hunting trip.  Here’s a pic to commemorate the occasion, since I don’t have any others for this post.  Note the long blonde hair and ridiculous tan. Those were the Wizards days.  Sorry…

Back to the original subject. 

What can you do with deer meat? 

Well apparently in our recent state of broke-ness we’ve become quite creative when it comes to cooking with deer meat. Ok ok and when I say “we” I really mean “Joey” because I don’t cook.  I mean, I do, but… that’s for another post.

What does deer meat taste like?

Honestly, if you make it right, it tastes just like steak.  Certain parts of the deer taste better than others, though.   Some parts taste “gamey” which are the parts I don’t like.  I also cannot think about the deer while I am eating it.  Because then it will gross me out.  It’s funny because I don’t have trouble eating at Coral Reef, this awesome seafood restaurant in WDW where we will be eating next week, where you sit next to the biggest fish tank on the eastern seaboard and watch your dinner swim past you…

What recipes have you tried?

OK well I’m not Susie Homemaker so I’m not going to post actual recipes with ingredients, so sorry if you were expecting to go shoot your dinner tonight and cook it as per my specs…

1. Deer Steaks- nuff said. Add some mashed potatoes and a salad and you’ve got a nice meal!

2. Deer Fajitas- We used a fajita kit from the grocery store, mixed in the spice packet and added some onions and peppers.  Topped with sour cream, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. and a side of Mexican rice? Delicious.

3. Deer Fried Rice- This one makes me laugh. Not sure exactly how this one goes down, but I know it involves deer meat, rice, soy sauce, some chopped onions, etc.  This is a really filling meal, good for dinner and always enough left over for lunch the next day.

4. Deer Chili- I admit we haven’t tried this one yet, but it’s on the menu for this week.  No, we don’t grind our deer meat. Same ingredients as regular chili- beans, beans, tomatoes, chili powder, etc. plus some deer meat, add some corn bread and voila! I’ll let you know how it goes!

So now that you are sufficiently grossed out and judging me, perhaps you’d like to leave a comment with a weird meal that you’ve tried, and actually liked!

SG