Places I’ve Eaten – Page 4 – Loving Food, Fashion, & Life

Time For A Festival

Posted on September 24, 2014 by LFFL

So I took myself to a festival a few weeks ago so I could have some fun and get out of the house. I have to say I actually enjoyed myself even though I went by myself.

I chose to go bright and early in the morning to this festival and arrived right at opening time. That’s the best time to go, you know, because there’s not a lot of people everywhere yet. You know how I roll.

It was fun to people-watch and eat up a storm. You know how I LOVE food! Festivals are some of the best places to eat to your heart’s content. There were food tents everywhere! I mean, how do you even begin choose?!

Fried Potatoes.

Corn Dog eating.

Pineapple Cobbler.

Sitting on a street curb eating a Corn Dog & Funnel Cake.

My first stop was for potatoes and onions. They were pretty ‘meh.’ As I sat on a bench eating my bowl of potatoes and onions, I looked up and saw a FUDGE sign through a window that was directly across the street. Oh, MAN, you know where I headed next!! A piece of plain chocolate fudge was all I needed.

I later headed towards the carnival area. You know a carnival is not complete without funnel cakes, cotton candy, and corn dogs. So, since there was really no place for me to sit, I sat on the street curb and ate a corn dog and funnel cake.

The only thing I was baffled by was why they’d be selling hot chocolate at a carnival when it was almost 100 degrees outside! Really?!

That fudge sign through a window and across the street.

Oh, the fudge.

Selling hot chocolate and it’s 95 degrees outside!

Kettle Corn tent.

Taters & Onions.

Oh my, the cobbler.

At some point, I made my way to a COBBLER booth. No way was I passing that one up. I chose the pineapple flavored cobbler. It was to die for.

This was also the first time ever that I stopped at a psychic booth. I really just did it for grins. It was only $10 I was losing. It was hilarious though because the very first thing she told me to do was sit down and take $10 out of my purse, put it into my right hand, and ball up my fist.

Then she proceeded to open my fist and take my money. I couldn’t stop laughing on the inside because she was being so dramatic about it. Even I saw that one coming!

I mean, why is she pretending the money in my palm is part of the psychic act of my palm reading—as if the spirits need the money in my hand first for my future to get predicted? Just take my money and read my palm already! Who are we really kidding here?

The psychics that read my palm.

Indian man playing a musical instrument.

Headed towards the carnival.

Entering the carnival.

Carnival rides.

This dome was spinning 100 miles per hour. No thanks!

So, if you have nothing else to do today, take yourself to a festival full of fun, food, and laughter—even if you just go by yourself. You’ll have lots of fun, trust me.

Take-Away Life Lesson: A psychic is obviously only there to give you a generalization about your future life—not specific details like you’d hope for. Saying you’ll have “happiness in your future” is something you can probably predict yourself. In that case—we’re ALL psychic. But giving detailed dates, times, places, and names of people and things that are going to happen in your future—now that’s a psychic.

A New Sports Bar In Town

Posted on August 30, 2014 by LFFL

Chicken Tenders with honey mustard & barbecue sauces and a side of Macaroni & Cheese.

I love meeting girlfriends out for lunch any chance I get. You can always get in good food and good gossip all rolled into one.

We decided to try a newly opened sports bar in midtown—and, boy, was it loaded with some good food. I really couldn’t make up my mind what to try on the menu. (Story of my life.) But after hours of analyzing it, I ended up going for the basic chicken tenders and—OH—they were amazingly good and crunchy.

It doesn’t take much for me to fall in love with a food item.

Pulled Pork Sandwich with fries.

Taxidermy.

Alcohol wall.

I always seem to order macaroni & cheese everywhere I go, too. I just like trying out different mac & cheeses because some definitely taste better than others—and, who are we kidding, it’s one of my favorite foods ever to eat in life.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, meet your friends out for lunch at a newly opened food spot.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Anytime macaroni and cheese is on the menu any place you go, definitely get a side order to go along with your meal. You can’t go wrong.

Mexican Food With A DJ

Posted on August 23, 2014 by LFFL

Frozen Strawberry Margarita

Oh, how I LOVE when I discover a hot spot I am absolutely coconuts about. This Mexican restaurant was absolutely fun and amazing.

A girlfriend and I were gallivanting in the ritzy part of town and stopped by this joint on a whim Friday night for some girl time and good eating. We had never tried this place before and, you know, I like trying things I’ve never done and going places I’ve never gone to before—so I’m always game for trying something at least once. I’m all about livin’ life, baby.

The DJ was groovin’.

The drink side of the menu.

Patrons enjoying themselves.

Apparently they have a live DJ on Friday nights—and, boy, was he rockin’ it out! I couldn’t stop dancing in my chair! And you’d think, as it was a Mexican restaurant, that there’d be Mexican music playing—but, no, he played a mix of everything BUT Mexican music. Go figure!

People randomly got up from their tables to dance—even though there was technically no dance floor. But I love when people just dance wherever they can find some space! It’s a restaurant, after all—not a club. But it sort of turns into a restaurant/club on Friday nights.

The DJ was so good at DJ-ing, I couldn’t help but go ask him who he was and how often he played there. I had to get up another time to go ask him the name of a song he played that I had never heard before but found myself chair-dancing to. (I’m a good chair-dancer.)

He was kind enough to tell me the song name and that song is now my new favorite song of the moment as I keep playing it on repeat on YouTube while I’m in the house messing about and I find myself house-dancing all day. Oh, the little joys of my life—I tell you!

Mushroom Quesadilla with crimini & shiitake mushrooms, jack cheese, spinach, and crema; Gaucamole & chips.

Needless to say, the restaurant filled up with more and more people as the night went on. It’s obviously the “happening” spot.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, take yourself to a restaurant that turns itself into a “club” with a “live” DJ for some good eating and good dancing all wrapped into one.

Take-Away Life Lesson: For goodness sake, it’s probably not a good idea to try to drink a margarita on a completely empty stomach. (There was a reason that quesadilla HAD to be purchased as an afterthought—but that’s neither here nor there.)

It Was A Murder Mystery Night

Posted on July 26, 2014 by LFFL

This was definitely a night I’ll never forget.

Let me start by saying, a friend and I decided to go to a murder mystery dinner since we had never been to one before. I love trying things I’ve never experienced before so I was all for it.

The first thing that threw us off guard was the location of this place. We didn’t really pay much attention to it until after we purchased the tickets. The cross streets threw us off a little because neither of us could figure out what was in that location other than old buildings in the “rough” part of town.

Come to find out, we were right! Omg. I’ll never know how they can get people to come to this location in the first place other than the fact that these people don’t all know about this part of town—until they get there and it’s too late by the time they realize it.

There’s a homeless shelter across the street one way and there’s a park across the street the other way where the drunks and crack-heads mingle. It’s definitely a part of town I wouldn’t think to go to for a dinner theater.

On the night of the dinner, the amazing part was when I pulled into the parking lot behind the building where the dinner was held and saw the cars and people all fancied up in suits, ties, and dresses—but look directly across the street and you see a complete contrast. WHAT?! Two different worlds side-by-side.

Don’t get me wrong—I’m not opposed to the homeless shelter—and the drunks and crack-heads have a right to mingle where they want to. I just didn’t expect to pay so much for a dinner ticket to a play in this area in an abandoned building turned into a dinner room that looked like a big warehouse of a bingo hall.

When we arrived there, we all waited in line to get our picture taken in 1950’s-style accessories they dolled us up into since it was a 50’s-themed play. But they weren’t going to charge us 50’s-themed prices for the pictures though!! They seriously were selling the photos for $20 a piece after the show was over. I could have had someone take a picture for me with my digital camera for free!

And don’t get me started on the food!

Chicken Parmigiana.

The bread.

The salad.

I don’t have a clue almighty what in the world I was eating. (Anything you see in quotes is strictly because I still don’t know if you can even call it that!)

Let’s start with the “bread basket”—a loaf of generic bread sliced down the middle. Seriously?! Did we really just pay for this?!
Let’s move on to the “second course”—the “salad & dressing.” First of all, the dressing was in packets. Packets, I say! Where am I?????? To top it off, my favorite dressing only came in fat-free and the other two options didn’t look so appealing. So I grabbed the fat-free Ranch and toppled it onto my salad. Let’s just say the entire thing tasted like grass with water. So I only ate one bite and I pushed it to the side. Done.

By now I’m scared to see what the “main entrée” looks like. A person came to “take our order” at our table. I ordered “chicken parmigiana.” CAN YOU SEE THE SLOP THEY BROUGHT OUT ON A PLATE TO MY TABLE!! No way! I can make a dinner plate at home better than that! It tasted just like it looked, too.

The bread and salad I couldn’t bring myself to finish.

During this whole time, the “play” was going on. I was completely lost as to what was happening at all. We could barely hear them talking on the microphones.

This was an interactive “dinner theater.” Each table was a team of 10 people. I refused to be our team captain because I was so baffled as to where we were in the first place! Someone else volunteered.

We were supposed to get up and ask questions and discuss the play with the other diners and the actors to find out “who dunnit.” We could “bribe” the “actors” with fake money, too, for more information.

I didn’t get up to interact with anyone since I didn’t know what to ask anyway because I could barely hear anything that was going on or keep up with it all. Come to find out—one clue was that the “killer” did not even know they were the “killer.”

My friend and I only stayed for two hours because we just couldn’t take it anymore. We had no idea how long this play was going to last—so, needless to say, we never did find out who the “killer” was since we left early. AND WE LEFT HUNGRY!!!

The detective.

The actors.

Dinner room.

My friend and I did have some good laughs throughout the entire thing though because we just couldn’t believe the entire experience we just encountered from beginning to end. All we could do was look at each other and laugh. Let the good times roll!

So, if you have nothing else to do today, give a murder mystery dinner a try if you’ve never been to one before—especially if you like the interaction of trying to find out “who dunnit.” You may come across a pretty decent one—and, if not, just laugh your way through it like we did. At least it gets you out of the house.

Take-Away Life Lesson: You never know what life is going to throw at you next, so try to find the humor in it all.

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I Love Dinner And A Play

Chicken Bacon Cheddar Philly

Posted on July 12, 2014 by LFFL

Made with chicken, bacon, cheddar cheese, onion, peppers, and ranch dressing; served with onion rings.

Today was a bright, beautiful, sunny, and fabulous day! Though I didn’t have the highway all to myself today, I enjoyed my drive nonetheless as I was on my way to enjoy some much-needed girl time. With drinks, lunch, and a good game today—how could I go wrong?

I tried something new on the menu today—a chicken bacon cheddar philly sandwich. Once I smothered the ranch dressing all over it, I pretty much devoured the entire thing. It was that good!

So, if you have nothing else to do today, have a day out with friends and try a chicken philly sandwich out on the town or get creative and make yourself one at home.

Take-Away Life Lesson: There’s nothing like introducing yourself to a variety of new menu items that pop up out of nowhere.

Emerald Kale Salad

Posted on July 3, 2014 by LFFL

Emerald Kale Salad with roasted peanut vinaigrette dressing.

What a lovely presentation Houston’s did of a kale salad. I noticed something on the menu I had never seen before—and, of course, I had to try it.

A girlfriend and I decided to split this salad—she wasn’t very hungry and I wasn’t sure how well I’d like it since I’d never had it before. I should have known anything that comes from Houston’s is delicious. This was some nice lovely light eating while out catching up on some girl time.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, doll up a beautiful kale salad to look like a mini mountain then munch away on the crunchy goodness of it.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Who knew kale could be so tasty good once you fancy it up a bit?

A World Cup Watch Party

Posted on June 29, 2014 by LFFL

Bread Pudding topped with caramel sauce; served with vanilla ice cream.

Another World Cup gathering and, naturally, I couldn’t resist having some good food. I started with a chicken quesadilla which was crunchy amazing. I just love a crispy tortilla. Then I had to move on to dessert—bread pudding.

This bread pudding was so huge in comparison to the bread pudding I normally get from my hometown diner. It was wonderfully delicious and helped with my nerves while watching a close game.