Going, Going…
GONE!
Five Guys Fries with loads of ketchup! Complete happiness!
Tag: food (page 5 of 10)
Cha Cha Moon is one of our favorite little places for fast and delicious food. There is nothing better for dinner on a cool Spring day after a 3 hour walk in the park than a bowl of Wonton Soup.
Happiness is…
The name of our restaurant was also befitting, as last night the moon was so full and close to us, I think we could have walked down the street, hopped along the stars and kept on going till we reached the moon.
Tonight is date night! And while I am still enjoying it, I just couldn’t wait to blog about dinner! I have wanted a Lodge cast iron skillet for ages, but in the many things that I always stuff in my suitcase to bring back to London, I could never truly justify putting a large heavy skillet in my suitcase, since all of my bags are usually marked HEAVY anyway. The skillet is where Mr. Michie drew the line.
My Nana has had her cast iron skillets for over 50 years and they are still beautiful! So, when I saw this gorgeous Lodge skillet at West Elm yesterday, it just jumped into my hands. Now, I broke all of my Southern upbringing rules today, because the first thing I should have been cooking in this pan was either fried chicken or a fresh batch of biscuits. I went to my Italian roots instead and the first thing we made was a cast iron skillet pizza.
It is a recipe I mentioned in my post yesterday. I used my favorite dough recipe from Annie’s Eats, although it isn’t quite her recipe any more. I have made it so many times and have incorporated elements from an Ina Garten recipe I like and some of my bread making techniques.
Mr. Michie made a delicious fresh sauce with wispy strips of basil ribboned through it, while I rolled out the dough. I was in charge of pizza making, he was in charge of pizza cooking. Now, just like the gorgeous Jessica, I don’t own a pizza peel either. So, we improvised, I wasn’t a Girl Scout for nothing!
Once the pizza hit the blazing hot pan, dinner went 1,2,3, literally! In 3 minutes we had dinner and you would have thought that we cooked it in a wood oven grill in our backyard, not in a cast iron skillet under the broiler!
It puffed up, some of the edges charred, the cheese was perfectly melted. We let it set up for a few minutes and then transferred it to our cutting board. Mr. Michie cut it and we couldn’t even wait to get it onto plates before we devoured the first slice. Oh My God! I don’t think we can ever go back to our normal pizza methods ever again! This was fantastico!
On a side note there was a bit of smoke, so while Mr. Michie took care of the pizza, I had the front door ajar and was busily fanning our smoke detector. It was like an “I Love Lucy” episode in here for a few minutes. Also, one section of the pizza stuck to our skillet, so next time I might need to use a bit more flour. I managed to get it all out and after re-seasoning my pan, it looks as good as new.
What a perfect date night. The pizza was so good we never even bothered making the salad or opening the wine. We split a beer, listened to music and ate dinner by candlelight! What could be better?
Now, everyone has their pizza joint. I have a few of my own, one of my absolute favorites is a little place in Clemson, S.C. called Peppino’s. It is a fantastic joint for a good slice of pie and a cold pitcher of beer.
Peppino’s makes a New York style pizza, which is vastly different from the deep dish Chicago style pizza. However, I think they both have their own merits. And as they say, “when in Rome..” or in our case, “when in Chicago…” you do as the locals do.
Little Angelo’s restaurant in Rosemont was recommended to us by a staff member at the hotel and boy were we happy that he did that! This was one of the best pizza’s I/we have ever eaten. We went traditional, got a deep dish with half cheese and half sausage (they make their own)! It was HEAVENLY! Mr. Michie was very, very happy as he is actually “Abe Froman, the Sausage King of Chicago!” (Only a true Ferris Bueller fan will know what I’m talking about here, but seriously, I think he could eat sausage every day!)
Look at the size of that pizza! And that was just a small!
Now, I am sure that there are many Chicagoans who will agree with me and many who will be screaming because there is a better pie in their neighbourhood, but let me tell you this was fantastic!
It was worth getting snowed in, just for a slice of this pizza! It’s the simple things in life, that is what you have to find the joys in.
To celebrate our first official week back at school, Mr Michie and I planned a Friday night date in London. He came to pick me up at my new school and after getting to meet and chat with my new colleagues at the staff barbeque we headed back into central London for cheeseburgers at Five Guys.
By the time we left the party at school and got back over to Covent Garden it was about 8:30 and there was still a huge line of people waiting outside Five Guys to get in. We only had to wait about 10 minutes, it didn’t matter it was worth the wait!!
When we made it to the front of the line, the manager in charge for the evening (or, the gentleman who we think was the manager, unfortunately we were not able to get his name) told us he would bring us downstairs to order, the only hitch was they we had to come back up to collect our food. No problem!
So, off we went and proceeded to order, this is when things started to go a little hairy. Their credit card machine had gone down earlier in the day and unbeknownst to them had not come back online downstairs. Our server was very apologetic, extremely smiley and was working very hard to try and rectify the problem. One of his colleagues came over to try and help and at this time the gentleman we believe to be the manager came to help as well.
Now, we continued to smile, because 1) we are pretty easy going and 2) we were going to eat Five Guys cheeseburgers, so it would all come out in the wash! Well we waited for a good five minutes while they attempted to fix the machine, we apologized for not having any cash on us and smiled at the people waiting in line behind us for holding up the works. We continued to wait a little longer and it was at this point that the gentleman we believe to be the manager printed out our receipt and told us that dinner was on the house!
We immediately protested and said, “No, way!”, that is not how we work, but he insisted and very graciously took care of us. I stayed downstairs as that is where we like to sit and Mr. Michie headed back up to get our food and they must have rushed us through because by the time he was at the counter our dinner was ready. He thanked the gentleman again who was helping us and we were lucky enough to catch him again on the way out to give our thanks for his fantastic business service, but again, since they are such a busy place we didn’t get the guys name! We wanted it, so we could tell Five Guys what a great job he did.
Now, my husband is British, so I feel I can say this, but you rarely get that kind of service in England. There is no way that if this situation happened elsewhere would they be smiling at us, apologize for any inconvenience and then comp our meal, if anything in another restaurant if this happened they would have said, “Sorry!”, closed the till and told us to go back upstairs to order. It is that great level of service along with the delicious food that Five Guys offers that makes us want to eat there.
So, thank you Five Guys for your wonderful business etiquette something that rarely exists inside of chain corporation these days (you have not forgotten your humble beginnings) and thank you for your delicious cheeseburgers, which made our back to school date night a lot of FUN!
Last night, Jennifer decided to take us to Cracker Barrel to eat. She loves going there, as they have some of the best sweet tea this side of the Mason Dixon.
I find, that some nights just call for breakfast for dinner. This was one of those nights. Gigi got a plate of ham biscuits with the sugar cured ham, of course, as that is her favorite. While I had the buttermilk pancakes with fried apples and a drizzle of maple syrup to tie it all together.
The cinnamon in the apples made my tongue tingle, while the syrup got into my whiskers and made them stick out hard and straight. As I licked them off with my pink tongue, they tasted like little sticks of maple candy. Gigi helped me finish cleaning them off when we were done with dinner. I left with a full and happy furry belly. I slept the rest of the way home while the ladies chatted away in the front seat. Happiness is…
{A mini note from Jennifer: Today, ushers in the first day of August and so I will be taking my annual August Break, which coincides perfectly with a little road trip I am about to take. So, I will be posting pictures here and there and just enjoying life on the road.}
As much as I truly embrace living here, having a little slice of home is always welcomed. I got that this weekend, as Mr. Michie took me out on a date to Five Guys!
They are one of my favorite burger joints from home. I have some great dive bars I love to go to for a cheeseburger, but this is one of those great burger chains that never seems to disappoint, no matter what state you have traveled to/through and stop by.
Their landmark restaurant in London, didn’t disappoint either! We waited about 30 minutes to get inside (the sidewalk was roped off) and order and get our food. We found a great booth in a niche downstairs, drank too much vanilla coke (it would have been even better if they had chocolate coke, but I’m not complaining!) and feasted on cheeseburgers and fries and listened to the good music pumping out of the speakers. It was the perfect Saturday Summertime date!
It was pure heaven. Now, we love The Diner, that is our hangout spot, but these burgers are different from that, so there isn’t really a comparison. This was just a bite of happiness in my mouth. It tasted just like home! Oh, Five Guys UK, I am SO HAPPY that you have come to London, you make living here, that much sweeter!
Look what I’ve been pinning lately on my Food & Drink Board:
1. Lamb Burritos with Lemon Oregano Rice
2. Taco Pickles
3. Coconut Ginger Chicken & Vegtables
4. Roasted Beets
5. Mini Cream Cheese & Chives Biscuits
6. Rosemary Chicken with Roasted Lemons
1. Mini Deep Dish Apple Pie
2. Mexican Honey Puffs
3. Happy Hour Hot Fudge Milkshake
4. Texas Sheet Cake Cupcakes
5. Italian Lemon Slush
6. Kolokithopita
An early morning ride to pick up fresh cinnamon rolls and doughnuts.
Nothing better then getting up before the sun rises to head out and see dawn unfold before your eyes as you go on a little adventure with your Dad!
Our road trip took us to the Rise ‘N Roll Bakery, a little piece of Heaven right here on earth, their cinnamon rolls are as light as air and their doughnuts will melt in your mouth!