Scotty's, It Just Gets Better and Better!

So for the end of semester my COM 114 class went out to eat dinner at Scotty's. WoW!

A few of us have posted and talked about Scotty's before. I again will highly recommend this local establishment; and from the service at the local place, any other location of Scotty's Brewhouse.

The food is amazing, the waffle fries great (get 'em loaded!) and the service very friendly. The only thing to add to my recommendation now is to turn 21 and comment on their brew selection.

I tried the dill chips, a new appetizer for me, this time. They are fresh sliced dill pickles dipped in batter and deep fried, and they are really good. They come with horseradish or ranch sauce, my advice, go with the horseradish, it really brings out the dill flavor of the pickle with a nice little bite from the horseradish itself.

So without a doubt, Scotty's is a great eating establishment. Enjoy good food (and I'm guessing good beverages) and great service and go to Scotty's.

El Rodeo

¡Yum, alimento bueno!

My RA scheduled a floor dinner last night to go out and eat at El Rodeo.

El Rodeo is a local Mexican restaurant that is part of a small chain. It is very traditionally decorated and has a very unique and homily atmosphere. It even had traditional music playing in the back ground.

The food and service were excellent. The chips were warm and fresh, the salsa hot and delicious. The menu extensive and not to expensive (the highest price I saw was approximately $12 for a steak or shrimp specialty dish). I would highly recommend it for a nice break from dorm food and high class expensive restaurants. I personally am a big fan of Mexican food, and this local, small chain place delivered high quality service and delicious food.


I had one of their burritos and it was amazing. It was the Pablos Burrito which had chicken, steak and some chorizo as well as grilled onions and some beans and some other veggies in it. It also came with a green tomatillo sauce (which was nicely hot) and spicy white cheese sauce over it with pico de gallo and sour cream and guacamole on the side on top of fresh shredded lettuce. The burrito itself was pretty big and filled me up well (as did all the chips and salsa).

El Rodeo was a great choice by my RA and I will definitely dine there again. I highly recommend it.

Praline Sticks...YUMO!

Ok, so since its getting close to Christmas time I was really craving something delicious and homemade. I was on a message board that I am a member on and I came across a website that has a whole bunch of holiday recipes. The website is http://www.northpole.com/ and it has some amazing recipes on there.

You really have to try the Praline Sticks, they are to die for!!! They are sweet, a little gooey, and a little bit of a crunch. I bet they would be even better with a little bit of melted chocolate on top. Here is the recipe:

Praline Sticks:

24 graham crackers (I used the honey kind)

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

pecans or nuts (I left these out simply because I didnt have any)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Lay your graham crackers on a 9x13 pan with 1 inch sides. Melt butter and brown sugar together and cook on low for 2 minutes until mixture just comes together. Pour over the top of the graham crackers and bake for 5 minutes in the oven. Let cool a bit and then slice your pieces while it is still a little warm.

This recipe is so fast and easy and super, super tasty!! This would be great for a holiday party or a get together with your friends. Or, just for a snack to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Next Year

So a couple of my friends and I are moving into an apartment for the next school year. Boy are we excited. Not only will we have our own place, but we'll be able to cook our own food! I know for some that may seem daunting, but actually 3 of the 4 roommates are pumped and excited. We enjoy cooking and are looking to have a nice stock of food to create exciting dishes with. Our 4th friend said he would do the dishes, so looks like were set!

It is hard to believe that this weak being dead week, the week before finals, is here and that the first semester of this year is pretty much over. I guess its even weirder because we planned our living quarters for NEXT year. And I must say it is a sweet deal. Great location, nice rooms and size, new kitchen area, yup yup yup, a sweet deal.

So as I am excited for the end of the semester and winter break (and christmas and holiday feasting), I am also excited for the thrill of next year and the cooking on my own I will be able to delve into. I guess I'm excited to really be living in my own place for the first time too.

So here's to all you home owners out there! Enjoy your place and your dining delinquency....I am super excited for mine.

Winter Wonderland Desserts!

Hey, tonight at 5pm at your local dining hall is Winter Wonderland Dessert Buffet Night, or WWDBN for short. I didn't realize that Christmas came twice in December, but here we are at a day of miracles. I honestly plan on drinking coffee/milk and eating dessert/more dessert. I cannot wait.

So, that brings me to general Christmas desserts, if you know what I mean. My mom just called me saying that she was making Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls, Pecan Pie, Pinwheel cookies, and then asked me what I wanted made for when I came home. Uh, I thought, just about everything you have in that big recipe book of yours. Man, I seriously cannot wait to go home and eat those cookies my mom makes.

And I know you're wondering what Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls are... Imagine a jar of peanut butter mixed with powdered sugar and butter covered in semi-sweet chocolate and then frozen to a hard candy...

Oh wait, don't just imagine that, because that is what it actually is... good I know. In fact it may be one of my favorite foods ever. I know my friends come over just to get a few. My Aunt's mother, whom I've never met, makes a recorded 115 types of Christmas cookies every season.

So I pose the question: what are your family's traditional desserts for Christmas?

So I had a pig out day... want to fight about it?

So here I am, making my way through a full week of Thanksgiving detox and I find myself staring down at my stomach wondering why it felt like crap and was almost monotonously repeating "Gimmie pizza, dammit." directly into my subconscious. Yes. My stomach talked to me today. And it was asking for pizza.

See, I've been having one of those weeks where you make yourself eat well. Then I had a pig out day. Just one. And it was epic. I call it my week anniversary of Thanksgiving celebration, and back onto the path of righteousness I go.

It was around 11:00 this morning that my gastronomy spoke and I wasn't scheduled to eat lunch until 1:30. Great Zeus, was I pissed. Then I remembered that I heard that my last lab before lunch only took half the time. Finally, a break. So I got to lab already irritated from low blood sugar or fat withdrawal or something and I was ready to work it out. And work I did. I owned that shiznit and got out of there around 12:00 walking from ENAD to Ford, beating my friend on his bike who was right behind me. Yeah, I beat a kid on a bike walking to ford I was that motivated to get there.

So there I was. Finally inside. "SCREW SALAD!" I cried, grabbing my plate and loading on two slices of supreme and two slices of sausage. "SCREW VEGETABLES!" I exclaimed, loading up the same plate with ranch potato wedges and chicken fingers (which are sent from God as part of the holy trinity of Ranch Potato Wedges, Chicken Fingers, and Dirt Pudding). "SCREW FRUIT!" I yelled as I grabbed a slice of peanut butter Oreos'n'cream pie. "SWEET JESUS I FEEL GOOD!" I yelled having given up on civilized eating and stacked three slices of my pizza to make a pizza-ey thing that I didn't even know I was capable of consuming that fast.

It. Was. Epic.

Yeah. I finished it all, and I really didn't feel like crap. I guess it was all that clean living I'd been doing this past week. Seriously, I ate really well. So here I am, with no regret, having eaten well for lunch AND dinner. Circumstance would have it that I would fall into a plot of my friends to go to a Japanese restaurant, not order anything and end up eating all of my friend's leftovers (a lot!). So tomorrow, it's back on the straight and narrow. Good to go.

How about you?

Holy Shnikes already! Another national food day...?

Yes, I have gone and done it again... it is officially November 28th, National French Toast Day. I really was hoping to get past my national food day obsession, but they're just so convenient... and good foods are usually mentioned. So suck it up already.

For years I have gone eating one of the most wonderful of breakfast foods: hot, creamy, crunchy, sweet, filling french toast. Oh my god. I want some right... now. Even though its not breakfast, it is one of the greatest hot foods I've ever eaten ever. And that love extends to all its incarnations, from my mom making a super-duper simple french toast for me in about ten minutes to eating Cheesecake Factory's loaded french toast that has all sorts of whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and nuts on top. I am most intrigued by seeing how Alton Brown made it on an episode of Good Eats one day, leaving the bread to stale and then baking it after frying it. Weird? Actually, no.

See, french toast was originally created by the French in order to make something useful and filling out of the stale loaves of French bread that every person, from the King down to his official ass-wiper's ass-wiper, had lying around their homes. The bread was no good to eat on its own or for sandwiches, so the peasants found a way to recook the break and create a new, better, tasty and sweet, sweet because it covered the stale taste, meal that was easy to make for breakfast. So really, french toast is traditionally made with stale French bread. Get it?

My mom makes it a little more American-style, doing it the way her mother taught her which is quick, dirty, and tasty none the less. I do not act like my mom's way is better, but unless you're willing to devote an entire day to making this stuff, this is the way to go.
My mom starts out by beating and egg and mixing it with milk. Soak a slice of white bread in it, cook it on a greased frying pan and sprinkle with cinnamon, powdered sugar, and add syrup or any other topping you want. This was a staple of my childhood and is so damn good.

Cheesecake Factory, on the other hand, makes most of their dishes completely over the top. They take two HUGE slices of thick bread and fry them up all crispy like using basically the same ingredients as my mom, just richer and with more... precision and care. Then they cut those slices diagonally and top it with whipped cream, powdered sugar, chocolate sauce, nuts, and whatever else you'd find on top of an ice cream sundae.

Oh man, how the hell can I get my hands on some french toast? I do not want waffles, though good they are...

Here is a recipe that is highly rated on allrecipes.com that is not unlike my mother's recipe. Seriously, its really close. See how the total time is 9 minutes? Yeah, not that many hearty foods can make that claim...

Go and get some. Now.

Red Robin

So, this weekend I went to a Red Robin with some friends, it was my first experience, but not theirs. They convinced me to go with these two words, "Bottomless Fries." I was sold...

The experience was great, the wait staff excellent and the food cooked exactly as asked.

I had a chili-chili burger. it was a basic burger with chili over it and chipotle mayo, and cheese. Delicious! I had to eat it with a knife and fork though (it is listed under the Knife & Forkers section on the menu.) And the bottomless steak fries where definitely worth it. A nice big burger, good fresh fries, what more could a guy ask for?


Oh yeah, T.V. to watch the games. They had T.V.s everywhere, even in the floor near the waiting area!!! We kindly asked our waitress to put on the Kansas vs. Mizzou game and she obliged.

Even their beverages where good, I had a bottomless Freckled Lemonade (a blend of sweet strawberries and tangy Minute Maid lemonade), it was very, very good.

Red Robin is definitely a place I would visit again. It was a restaurant that enabled me and some friends to just relax and get good food, and not worry about the hassle of a classy restaurant atmosphere.

So if you like relaxing and you enjoy a good burger (with bottomless fries!) then check out Red Robin, it's on my good list.