Our family loves all of the Bethesda games. Like so many lost souls, we have lost some time this past week and a half to the newest release, Fallout 4. We love Fallout so much that we decided to make a themed dinner, and found this recipe online. We're making BlamCo Mac & Cheese, recipe courtesy of Rachael Whitaker. Click on the link for the written instructions, and enjoy! We put our own little spin on it, and added green dye for some extra rads.
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Halloween is gone, and so is Dia de los Muertos. I know many of you sugar skull fans have confused the two, but they were on separate days. Fortunately there is still something to celebrate until Thanksgiving's end. Everything pumpkin! And you better get on it, starting right now. One of my favorite ways to celebrate pumpkin, besides pie and lattes, is with a delicious beer or ale. When imbibing, I usually prefer red wine, but a pumpkin wine smoothie just sounds nasty. My absolute favorite is the pumpkin ale from Buffalo Bill's Brewery in Hayward, CA. It tastes like pumpkin pie and beer had a baby. Maybe that's not an enticing description... Anyway, I can't find it in Washington state this year. So, these are the one's I can speak to that you won't have to order online, or go on a scavenger hunt for. This one made the list because it's Rogue and the bottle is pretty. If you like Rogue, then you'll like this ale. Personally, I thought this one was just "ok." The pumpkin and/or spices weren't exceptionally prominent, and the ale wasn't anything special either. This wouldn't bother me, except that it's $9.99 for 750ml. Oh, but I guess it's special because the pumpkins come from Rogue Farms... Rogue is printing their own money. I really enjoyed this ale. Southern Tier's Pumking is light, kind of fruity, but the pumpkin and spice are definitely there. A delightful ale to have while bundled in your flannel PJs by the fire. I love a good stout. If I can chew my beer, all the better. Plus, I heard the darker the beer, the more antioxidants. Beer, the other chocolate. Elysian is local, right here in Seattle. So, immediately it gets more points. I will say because this is a stout, that you can't really taste the pumpkin, but the wonderful fall spices are present. I also love the label, and I have been known to judge a beer by it's label. This season's winner for me was also lovingly made by Elysian. The Night Owl Pumpkin Ale reminds me of my Buffalo Bill favorite, but it's pumpkin and spice flavor are ten-fold (that may be my imagination since its been so long). The ale itself is tasty-town, and the pumpkin and spice satisfy my desire to celebrate the season. What's your favorite pumpkin beer/ale?
Our superstar Bishop is at it again, and this time he's making cupcakes from the box. What? Does that sound boring? He's not using eggs or oil. Does that intrigue you? These cupcakes, although not health (let's not fool ourselves) can be vegan, and they're delicious. Fun! Plus, Bishop edited this video on his own. Mad props son! Also, thanks to our family friends, the Sebuchis, who gave us the idea. Much love! One of my favorite things to make when I was a kid was scrambled eggs and french toast. Those were my go to dishes to make for breakfast-in-bed for the parents on Mother's Day, Father's Day, and parental birthdays. It's delicious, pretty simple to make, and you can use up stale bread. That's a biggie for me. There is almost nothing I hate more than wasted food. You can ask any of my friends, I will eat your leftovers, and I definitely think expiration dates are a suggestion. Actually they are. They are usually sell-by dates, or best-by dates, but that could be a blog post unto itself. Today I share with you my personal victory. My 10-year-old has developed a love of cooking, and is now making french toast. I'm anticipating breakfast-in-bed anytime now (hint, hint). Camping season has come to an end for most of us in Western Washington. Props to you die-hard campers that will be continuing on. I shall not be joining you, but admire your lack of concern for the rain and cold. My family was fortunate enough to find a new camping spot this year, up by Bellingham, called Larrabee State Park. We stayed three nights over Labor Day weekend. It was a beautiful weekend with mild weather, and only a few hours of rain during the daylight hours. We went on a gorgeous hike up to Fragrance Lake, although if you ask my daughter, it was awful and far too long. I think she's just plotting to destroy everything I love and enjoy. The one thing that we can all agree on as a family is that fires are Nature's television, and making meals while camping is a joy. One of our favorites is Hobo Pie. I do not like the name of this food, but I do love the food. We make ours with whichever ground meat we have on hand, and whichever veggies need to be used up. This last trip we made our pies with ground turkey, red onions, green pepper, carrots, and potato. The term hobo bothers me some so I decided to do some research, and learned that these tasty treats can also be called: mountain pies, campfire pies, toasties, jaffles, and pie shams. I also learned that many people make mountain pies with bread, and they're often a dessert, not savory at all! My favorite camping dessert is the s'more, or a nice baked apple. I don't think I need another recipe for a sweet, but I was excited by some of your favorite recipes: quiche-in-a-bread-bowl, pancakes, egg-in-a-bag, roasted corncakes, trout, and dutch oven lasagna. Some of you are mighty ambitious camping cooks, and I would like to be invited on your next camping trip, or at least bring you along on mine.
It's been a while since my last food challenge, but let's just say that Jim Gaffigan is my spirit animal. So far I've finished Beth's 12 egg omelette for lunch, and returned to work. I've also completed the 7 deadly wing challenge at Wing Dome. That was a tough one. I love spicy food, but I had to call in sick. I do not think that spicy food challenges are in my future. So, for my latest challenge I decided to eat a disgusting amount of food. I found this one online. Jersey's Great Food & Spirits has a challenge called The Farm. I was terrified. In the past, I've tried splitting The Behemoth from The Ram with my husband. The Behemoth is a 5 pound burger. I ate exactly half of the burger and half of the fries and felt sick. I couldn't even stand walking by the food court after that experience without feeling nauseated. Based on that experience, I was hesitant to undertake The Farm. Here is Jersey's description - "Straight out of Man vs. Food, this is the baddest sandwich we have to offer. We pile on the meat, 1/2 lb turkey patty, 1/3 lb angus patty, 1/2 lb of hot pastrami, 1/4 lb thick cut bacon, 2 eggs, a blend of a 1/2 lb melted cheese with grilled & fried onions, tangy house spread and 1 lb of fries! Good luck—you have 30 min." You can't really see the burger in all it's glory because of the fries. I honestly thought the fries would be my undoing, but it was the fatty meat that was a real struggle towards the end. What can I say? I got the t-shirt. I also found out a bit about you all this past week.
No one admitted to a crazy amount of food, minus my dear friend Kent, who ate 2 pounds of broccoli at once. Can you imagine? But you have eaten some strange things including: escargot, octopus, alligator, herring eggs on kelp, termites, sea snake, and my personal favorite - chips ahoy with canned cheese. Besides gaining 4 pounds in one day and an XL t-shirt, I don't have anything to show for this challenge, but I'm glad to be a part of this crazy food nation. I could feel really guilty about eating like a Roman, and overindulging, but I did harvest potatoes the next week for local food banks. They cancel each other out, right?
After the run, we had a slight detour to Forest Park to watch our neighbors kiddos while they went to find out if they're having another boy, or adding a girl to the fold. Our plan was to attend the Everett Food Truck Festival afterwards. We arrived at 2pm, with 2 hours until the end of the event. We were hungry, well everyone except for me was. I had passed hunger. None of the food trucks stood out. We had options like: Fez, Bread and Circuses, and Tokyo Dog. My husband was hangry, and the best I could muster was to maybe get a jackalope brat, which was indeed antelope and jack rabbit. That didn't happen. So, we ventured out farther toward Everett's many restaurants. We started at Kama'aina Grindz on Colby. I had been there once before with a coworker, and had loved the Maui-Style Bibimbap. The server didn't want to seat us, and check us for a reservation, but the owner/manager? told her we could sit at table 4. The server said she'd be back to take our drink order. 20 minutes later we left. I was so disheartened. I'm not sure if the server was new, if it was a bad day; I dunno.
He took my order. I am not the lady that watches her family eat. Who does that?
My husband did not leave a tip. We have never done this before. We always leave a tip. Maybe we were burnt out by the day and the first restaurant, but really? My whole family ate, and you didn't bat an eye? I could have said something, but then there is the stigma of being an aggressive customer. Will my food be spat in? I was just sitting there politely hoping my food would arrive. I'll take partial blame. I could have told the new server and hoped my food would be ready when my family was done, and then awkwardly haggle over the bill. I'm just not sure. Here's to hoping to better food days! This is another recipe found on Pinterest, but I think I've perfected it for my family. I made it the first time for a church picnic, and it was a relative success. Since then I've replaced the powdered cocoa for my favorite chocolate bar and I can definitely taste the difference. These brownies are very moist, and best eaten with a fork. Since my daughter is dying to become a "Youtuber" and I realize not everyone wants to read about food, we've made our first video. I think it's alright for our first try, kind of like the first test pancake. The recipe is below. Vegan Zucchini Brownies
Ingredients:
Directions:
There are four new Lay's potato chip flavors you can try and vote for. As I understand it, only one can win and stay. So it's your duty, if you love potato chips, to cast your vote. I'm here to help you if you don't want to go to the trouble of buying and trying all four. I( of course) hunted these down, purchased them at once, and am now reporting back. I wanted some time to make sure I wasn't making a rash decision, but there is a decided winner. The flavors and opinions are as follows 1. New York Rueben - Yes If you like a Rueben sando, then you will like this chip. The rye is present; the sauerkraut is there, and so is the corned beef. All around a very strange chip, but I was definitely a fan since I'm a sucker for the sandwich anyway, and the flavors went well with the potato chip. I would be interested in trying this as a wavy Lay's 2. Southern Biscuits and Gravy - Yes Similar to the one above, do you like biscuits and gravy? If you do, you will like this chip. Those awesome sausage herbs and spices are really noticeable. I really enjoyed this chips, but am not quite sure what dip I could eat it with, perhaps gravy? 3. Greektown Gyro - No I love a good gyro. In fact, my entire family does. It's one of my family's favorite foods. I would also venture to say that I have a broad palate. That said, this is the only chip that I would not recommend. Don't even bother trying. I saw a review that stated the writer had eaten a few and gave the bag away. I should have listened. The bag smelled of sour yogurt upon opening, which makes sense, but the chip tasted of: feta, olive, lamb, and herbs. All of these flavors should have made me happy, but Lay's chemical food engineering missed the mark here. This chip is gag worthy. 4. West Coast Truffle Fries - YASSS! I know this is the safest bet of the four choices, since the flavor is potato based, but it really was the best chip. If you've had truffle fries you will not be disappointed. If you have not had the pleasure, eat the chips!!! I loved the flavor, and you could potentially pair it with a variety of dips, however they don't need the added flavor. Added flavor would be for funzies. The only negative were the powdered black spots. I can only guess they are supposed to look like "truffle powder." Don't look at the chip my friend, just eat! *Pro-Tip - If you haven't tried Lay's Wasabi Ginger or Bacon Mac & Cheese, you need to. Eat up!
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AuthorI can count on one hand the foods I dislike, and I'll typically even eat those. Typically frugal, but I'll pay top dollar for an amazing/unique dining experience. Never passed up a free meal, which has led me to become the #36 ranked eater in Major League Eating. July 4th, 2020 will be my third time competing in the Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest at Coney Island. I've been on ESPN. That's right people, I'm an athlete. Archives
August 2019
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