Food Friday - The Red Snapper

bread - Red Snapper

I don't know about y'all but Food Friday is one of my favorite features of my blog... but next week it's going away. From Friday. It's going to change from Friday to Wednesday, I mean. Marvin has taken on a new trivia show on Tuesday nights so our Tuesday night date night (and day and night and day) is changing to Wednesday Lunch date day (and night and day and night). We are planning lots of meals around Atlanta and I'm going to be blogging about them on Wednesday night so you get a same day review! And because we're two fat kids who love to eat, there will also be other posts of the places we eat for Thursday lunch... if we go out or cook something at home or whatever. Hopefully... writing the restaurant reviews while I'm still with Marvin, I can get his input on the place so you can get more than just my perspective. I'm really excited that our big date of the week is changing from Tuesday night to Wednesday lunch because I'm always just completely worn out by Tuesday night.

Changing the restaurant review to Wednesday means I'm going to have to come up with a new alliteration for the blog title. That was really my only hesitation with changing it... maybe, What I Ate Wednesday? I don't know. Make suggestions. I'm not as creative as I used to be. I'm over fifty now, you know.

seafood gumbo - Red Snapper

Side note/plug: If you want to check out Marvin's  new trivia show, he is going to be at the Mellow Mushroom in Sandy Springs (I think, if that's not right, I'll let you know before Tuesday) every Tuesday night at 7:30. Marvin will now be doing 4 shows a week. He's at El Real on Wednesday night and two different Johnny's Pizza locations on Thursday and Saturday. I think. If you're interested in going, let me know and I'll get the exact location and times for you. OR, if you want me to tag along, let me know. I mostly don't go because of my back. It's a long night. But also because he's working so I'd be playing alone and it's just not as much fun by yourself. There are a ton of  Team Trivia shows all over the country. Go to teamtrivia.com to find a location near you. If you go to one of Marvin's shows,  be sure to tell him you read the blog! He also reads here... mostly to see what I say about him (just kidding) (not kidding). Purple Michael does the same thing so if I want to make sure he is reading my blog I need to put Purple Michael in the blog title. I should do that every day for a week... tee hee. Just kidding. Not really.

crab en coquille - Red Snapper

Alright... my Food Friday post this week is kind of special because this was a restaurant that Marvin drives by every week on his way to his Saturday trivia show that he's always wanted to try. He read an article about how certain neighborhoods in Atlanta are changing and how so many special places get phased out by construction. Ever since Sherman came through here, Atlanta has been a city that isn't afraid to change. In some ways that's good but in other ways... we just don't preserve our heritage like we should. Marvin thought it was time for him to finally check out this place he's been past so many times and why not on date night?

The Red Snapper is on Cheshire Bridge Rd in Atlanta. Their website - you can click here to go to it - says that they opened in 1986. It's weird thinking of something established in 1986 as old because that's the year I graduated high school... and had my first kid... and started my first real job... and got married for the first time... not exactly in that same order. It's tucked away in a little strip mall shopping center in a building that has definitely been here for longer than 32 years. Obviously, snapper is their focus but they have a lot of other stuff on the menu.

salmon & scallops - Red Snapper

We were greeted and seated immediately. The atmosphere is definitely dated ... almost to the point of being funky / kitschy / trendy again. We couldn't decide if it fit more in the sixties or seventies - but it was clean and quiet. That's important to me. I hate when the music or conversation in the room is so loud that you can't have a conversation with your dinner partner. Especially on date night, which for us is the first time we've seen each other in several days. I would say that Marvin and I were probably the only people eating there without a senior discount. There were a lot of older folks there and some families that seemed to be having a special meal out. It's in an older neighborhood so I could definitely see it being a place to go to for special occasions.

They bring out some warm bread and butter with your drinks... always a nice touch. We decided to share an appetizer and an entree... this works well for us and allows us to go to places that might be a little too pricey for our budget.  Our appetizer was the crab en coquille... basically little eggrolls made out of phyllo dough, filled with spinach and crabmeat and served with a sauce that we couldn't quite identify. It was sort of a tartar sauce maybe... there was a hint of horseradish and maybe some dijon mustard but it also leaned a little towards ranch. I don't know. It was good. We chose the salmon and scallops for our entree. It came with some veggies and potatoes. The seafood was perfectly seasoned, cooked to perfection and a really nice portion. Even with splitting, it was enough food for us. I was stuffed and Marvin had to coax me into taking an extra bite or two.

Shrimp Fried Rice - Golden Phoenix

The service was perfectly timed, very attentive and friendly. We've had a streak of bad service lately when we go to restaurants that I am planning to review for the blog but I'm happy to say, that streak ended this week.

On Wednesday we went to our favorite little Chinese place by the Publix near Marvin's house. We get the same waitress every time - her name is Margaret. She's really good to us. The food is always good, always a large portion, even for lunch... and I always end up taking home leftovers. Their lunch menu is a good bargain... the bill, including tip, comes in under $20 and I had enough left for dinner Wednesday night.

Thursday we stayed in all day and Marvin heated up a little Bob Evans meal that I had brought for me... and some taquitos (I think) for him. My back has been so bad this week that I didn't want to move... plus, it's just too freaking hot out.

Since it's Food Friday (the last one!) I thought I'd share one of my favorite food bloggers with you today. Teri Turner does the No Crumbs Left blog which is packed with all kinds of recipes and cooking tips. She's big on Whole 30 so if you're on that eating plan or just want to eat a little healthier, she's a great resource but she also does "regular food". I love her Instagram stories - she's on there as nocrumbsleft if you want to check her out. But even if you care not one bit for food blogs or recipe info or that sort of thing, she's just good people. She is genuine and inspirational and I have never left a message or comment without getting a response from her - despite the fact that she has over 200,000 Instagram followers! She's based out of Chicago but travels and posts stuff from other wonderful places and always brings her followers along for the adventure. This is one lady that really brings a lot of positivity to the interwebs and I wanted to share her with you.

shrimp and black bean sauce

Tomorrow is Oliver's third birthday party and so Cosy and I will be heading down to Marvin's first thing in the morning. He has been kind enough to take the day off to drive us down and share Oliver's birthday with us. I will probably not blog about it until Sunday or maybe even Monday, depending on what kind of shape I'm in. The back is a real problem right now. I'm trying really hard not to pick up kids or carry anything at all and I'm resting and stretching and doing all the things but... right now I'm in bad shape. So... I fully anticipate needing a rest day on Sunday but I am SO looking forward to tomorrow! I'm sure I'll post photos on Instagram and Facebook and then I'll share more here when I can. Hope you have a great weekend! Love and hugs!

Tuesdays With Cosy

The new normal pain level is continuing... yesterday (Tuesday) was such a long day and although I've done a whole lot of nothing today, I'm absolutely wiped out. I feel flat... like it's hard to communicate or be sociable or even just function and I feel so bad for Marvin who is stuck with my blah self for company. I'm trying, y'all. It's just at a point where pain is robbing every ounce of energy from me. I want to cry. I want to sleep. I want to ... anything but this. I'm just so tired of feeling this intense pain. It's not just my spine, is the muscles in my back, the nerves shooting down to my toes. It's the aches and pains from moving in a different way to accommodate the sore parts. Anything that involves physical exertion leaves me completely out of breath and makes my heart race. I woke up this morning feeling like I couldn't take a good breath... my heart was racing, I was near panic and I just tried to lay as still as possible and focus on one breath at a time. Once I got up and started moving around it was better but... I'm nowhere near my normal self.

Yesterday I had Austin go pick Cosy up from her mom's. That's normally my favorite thing. I take her to Dunkin' Donuts and we pick up a coffee for me and a pink donut with sprinkles for her. I love those first minutes of the day with her and I feel like she's more cooperative with me if I start the day fresh with her. Instead I had Austin get her and do the donut run. She was definitely happy to see me once they got back to the house. She climbed right up in bed with me and I got lots of great cuddles. We played with slime for a little while but she was afraid to touch it because she doesn't like to get her hands dirty. Then she hung out in the bathroom with me while I tidied up and got my shower. This picture is where she wanted to stay with Nana in the bathroom and play in the sink and her dad wanted her to get dressed... "save me Nana!". I know it's naughty and I try to never lead the grandbabies astray. I tell them all the time that their mommies and daddies are the boss and nana is NOT in charge but... I have to confess, her hanging on to me for dear life was pretty cute.

Austin took her outside to play in the pool and I had a few minutes to try to finish getting dressed for the day. I could hear her happy squeals all the way back in the house! They came back upstairs and got out of her wet swimsuit. She was playing and walked past the bedroom door and smacked her foot on it really hard. She immediately started screaming, that kind of scream where they hold their breath. Although my back is wrecked, I picked her up and started blowing in her face to get her to breathe. It's reflex. Then I laid her on the bed to check out her foot. It was already turning blue. I told Austin, "I think we're heading to the ER...this foot is definitely broken" so he ran over and flipped on the overhead light and said, "that's sidewalk chalk from where we were playing outside." I was relieved, of course, but... my word! She asked for a "bambage" (bandage) so I wrapped her with medical tape and she was perfectly fine.

We had to get Austin's van insured and registered yesterday but on Monday, the insurance quote he got was way beyond what he could afford. I wasn't really up to dealing with it then so I told him to shop online and I'd see what I could do to help him in the morning. So Tuesday I emailed a former co-worker at State Farm and started brainstorming with her about how to lower his insurance cost. To make a long story short, because my dad is a long time customer with State Farm, Austin qualified for State Farm's Mutual company, which has much lower rates. It took the cost of his insurance from $154 a month to $44 a month.

While I was making the arrangements for the insurance I sent Austin to town to find out how much his tag was going to be and to get a fax number so we could send his proof of insurance over. I was emailing back and forth with my friend at State Farm and all of a sudden I noticed that Cosy had dumped out the bucket of slime and was covered in it. That stuff is of the devil. It is an ooey gooey mess. You cannot get it off. I would get one little appendage cleaned off and she'd stick it right back in... so of course I was bent over, stretching my back all kind of ways and basically in tears thinking, "why me?" but also laughing at the predicament because she was just freaking hilarious! I finally got the bulk of it off her but she needed a bath to get the rest off. I couldn't let her walk because she would leave footprints of slime all over the carpet so I picked her up and carried her to the bathtub... and once again, my back was just screaming at me.

At any rate... Austin got home about then and he bathed her so I didn't have to bend over. She had a great time in the bubble bath! It was all just a great adventure for her. I posted several pictures of this on Facebook yesterday. After her bath, Austin took her home and finished up all the details on his van so he is now all set and independent. He can drive, he has his own vehicle and I can do whatever the heck I want, whenever I want and not have to worry about anyone else's schedule and that feels really, really weird. It's the first time in my whole life I've been this ... carefree... and all I feel like doing is sleeping.

I came down to Marvin's last night for date night (and day and night and day). We went out to a restaurant in Atlanta that he had always wanted to try, The Red Snapper. It was amazing and I'll post a review about it on Friday. Then we went out for ice cream and then came home and I went to bed. Today we slept late, went out for lunch, went to Publix to pick up a few things and I'm in for the rest of the night while he is hosting trivia. I'm about to get in the bathtub and then catch up on Better Call Saul, it's what we're watching right now. I'm a few episodes behind him.

Tomorrow will be a stay in the house and chill day, probably. I've got a post ready to go up in the morning so be sure to check that out and I'll be back for Food Friday to talk about what we've been eating this week. Hope your week is going well! Love and hugs, y'all!

Food Friday - Moonie's BBQ and Saigon Cafe

It's a two for one this week on Food Friday! We had an amazing food week with the 4th of July and with Marvin being off work on Wednesday night it meant an extra date night eating out for this girl! I'm really proud of my "eating to lower my blood pressure" plan for this past week and I feel like I was probably 80/20 good to bad ratio with my food choices and that's a doable percentage for me. I stayed on task with fresh/healthy/clean/protein and veg, fewer processed foods, etc. Did it lower my blood pressure? Not really. I had one normal blood pressure reading on Saturday and otherwise it's stayed high. Have I seen the doctor? Nope. We'll talk about that later.

Fun things first! On Tuesday night Marvin and I went to Wild Wings Cafe with two guys from his softball team, their significant others and some of their friends. I think there were nine of us in the party and it was busy and slow. We got there at 6:30 and by the time we were seated and fed it was 8:30 but it was fun to hang out and chat with everybody. I'm not a big wings person. When I go to Wild Wings I get the shrimp skewers which you can have with the same sauces as the wings. I went for ginger flavor and thai flavored. I ate the celery that came with Marvin's wings and I had fries on the side.

On Wednesday morning we slept in because... you know, day off (for him)... then we went to Moonie's Texas BBQ in Flowery Branch for an early lunch. You can click the link if you want to check them out. I had the pulled pork basket which comes with a pulled pork sandwich and a side... I had creamed corn. My dad makes the best creamed corn and I have a very high standard for the dish... and Moonie's is a close second to my dad's. The pork is amazing... lots of burnt ends (my favorite!). They have a Georgia Sweet sauce that I really love and of course, I had sweet tea to drink. It felt like a very patriotic meal for the 4th of July. Marvin had the same as me except he gets their pulled pork sandwich with slaw on it. I'm not a huge fan of slaw so... not for me. At Moonie's you order at the counter and then seat yourself. They were busy on Wednesday, lots of people were getting large to-go orders, I'm guessing for picnics and cookouts and such but it didn't take long for us to get our food and tuck into it. And of course, the nice thing is that you're then not obligated to tip because you've served yourself. The restaurant is clean and the counter service is friendly and generous. Definitely recommend them in you're in or around Hall County.

Little addition to this bit on Moonie's... Marvin said I have to tell you about their other sauces because he is a huge fan of Moonie's. They also have a Texas Red sauce that is vinegar based, a Carolina Gold that is mustard based and a Spicy sauce. I'm a fan of the Georgia Sweet because I don't like spicy and honestly, the Georgia Sweet is a bit spicier than the sweet sauce that I get at Sonny's BBQ and at North Georgia BBQ, just for comparison sake. I haven't tried Moonie's beef brisket because I'm mostly a pork bbq girl but Marvin says it's amazing. Anyways...

We went home and had a nice nap... yep, slept in and then napped... that's my kind of holiday! Then we went to dinner at Saigon Cafe in Buford near the Mall of Georgia. It's a Vietnamese / Thai / Chinese / Malaysian restaurant. Here's the thing... I loved the food and would very much love to go back and try lots of things from their menu. The menu is colorful and descriptive with big pictures of the food so you had a great idea of what you were getting which is so helpful when it's a cuisine you're not used to. I'd love to go back but the service was terrible. I've linked the online menu for you above. As a starter I had the goi cuon - slivers of boiled pork and shrimp fixed with vermicelli rice noodle, lettuce, bean sprouts and wrapped in rice paper. Dipped in a mixture of peanut and hoisin sauce. Marvin had thit nuong cuon - slivers of bbq pork mixed with vermicelli rice noodles, lettuce, bean sprouts and wrapped in rice paper.

pad thai

I didn't try his roll but mine was awesome. I really love basil rolls when I get Thai food and this was comparable to that. The peanut sauce was thick and sweet. Honestly, I could make a meal out of the rolls and maybe a soup or something. They had pho - which I have never tried and really would like to but it was so steamy hot outside that I couldn't imagine eating soup. Marvin had me try panang curry recently at our favorite little Chinese restaurant close to his house and I loved it so instead of going with something I would normally order, I was a bit adventurous and ordered the panang curry with chicken. Marvin ordered chicken pad thai. We asked the waiter to make mine less spicy and his more spicy. Apparently that was lost in translation in the kitchen because the curry came out really spicy and the pad thai, not so much. I tried to soldier through it but Marvin was a real gentleman and offered to switch entrees with me. He likes spice... me, not so much... so I had his pad thai and he had my curry and we were both happy!

panang curry. 

Our food came out quickly and despite the spice mix-up, both were really tasty, better than average for sure. But our waiter disappeared and we never saw him again. No refills, no "how is everything"... not even a bill. I found a pitcher of water and refilled our glasses - but there was no ice. Later I finally went and grabbed the first waiter I saw and said, "please, we have been abandoned, can you find our check so that we can leave?". The check came and there was no apology, no explanation... nothing. Honestly, if the service had been even fairly decent, this is a place I would ask to go back to frequently. There were lots of things on the menu that I would like to try, such as the pho. By the time we left the place was busier but by no means busy... there was no one seated anywhere around us. Maybe that was the problem? I don't know. I would just say... go there for the food because it was definitely a step above but be prepared to spend some time there, just in case.

When we left the Saigon Cafe we noticed that the Hot Fresh sign was lit up at Krispy Kreme and Marvin had a buy one dozen, get one dozen free coupon so... yes, please! Krispy Kreme was packed but it moved really quickly and everyone was in a friendly, chatty mood in line. We got two dozen glazed and it made for a nice dessert that night and breakfast in the morning. Marvin likes his donuts hot... I like mine a day old or so... so we both got exactly what we wanted.

On Thursday we slept in again (notice a pattern?) munched on donuts and then Marvin fixed hamburgers for our lunch. He used blackening spices and bacon bits with bleu cheese dressing and they were amazing! Then I was feeling out of sorts and thought I should go ahead and drive home while I felt well enough. It's not a bad drive - about 45 minutes.

When I got home Cosy was still here with her dad and she was so happy to see me! I held her and she laid her head on my shoulder and stayed there for like... five minutes. She's not really a big cuddler because she's an introvert so it was a special treat for me to just be able to hold her and get lots of love. She had been such a good girl for her dad all day. She seems to have turned the corner on the potty training thing and just all of a sudden is owning it. As long as we don't bug her about going, she will let us know when she has to go and she stayed dry all day for her dad. I'm super proud - and relieved. The trick seems to be putting her in undies instead of pullups and letting her decide when she needs to go. She had really gotten to the point that when we tried to put her on the potty on a schedule she would absolutely refuse and throw a fit and... just totally not cooperate. Letting her decide when she needs to go is working for her. Austin feels like she's totally potty trained now but I told him we still had to work on the whole poop situation. That's a whole 'nother issue!

Since I've gone from eating to pooping, I guess it's time to wrap this post up. I hope you are enjoying my Food Friday posts as they are definitely one of my favorite type posts to write! Have a great weekend! This is what I'll be doing... in the middle of this...

What A Day! Food Friday - The Big Grocery Haul

I probably have no business trying to write a blog post today because I am so freaking tired! I slept poorly last night and have had the devil of a time trying to get some necessary prescription refills today... I'm really feeling salty... but I'll give it a shot and if it's fit to publish, I will.

Last month, like an idiot, when I left the pain doctor I headed straight down to Marvin's (that's not the dumb part). Instead of filling my prescription at my usual pharmacy, I went to (what I thought was) the same pharmacy at the location close to his house. It's really complicated because Walgreen's has bought out all the Rite Aid pharmacies in our area. My local pharmacy is literally a Walgreen's Pharmacy in a Rite Aid building. My Spidey Sense told me at the time that it was going to be a problem and I wish I had listened to that inner voice saying, "nothing in life is this simple" because... it's true. Well, that Rite Aid location completely shut down and the prescriptions on file were transferred to the Walgreen's across the street. That's a Walgreen's and my usual pharmacy is a Walgreen's so... easy, peasy, right?  Notsomuch. My Walgreen's Pharmacy in a Rite Aid building is not on the Walgreen's computer system so... in the eyes of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) I am "pharmacy shopping" with a controlled substance.

So... when my local pharmacist told me this morning that she couldn't transfer the prescriptions to my local pharmacy, she presented me two options: either go to the pharmacy near Marvin's house (45 minute drive away) or have my doctor call in the prescription to my local pharmacy. She said, "if your doctor will call me, I'll explain that it's really not your fault, it should not have been a problem, you couldn't have known..." etc, etc. Instead the nurse from my doctor's office calls and says, "why were you filling your prescription in Flowery Branch instead of at your local pharmacy?" My internal answer was, "none of your blankety blank business" but... like the polite drug seeking patient that I am... I said, "because I was going to be down there for a few days and needed refills so rather than drive all the way to Cleveland (the opposite direction) when I left  your office, I filled the prescription at the location that was nearest to where I was going to be". "You can't do that". Apparently. I swore on the lives of my grandchildren that I would never, ever, ever attempt to fill a prescription anywhere else in the world except my local pharmacy and she said the doctor would call in the prescriptions to save me from having to drive an hour and a half round trip for a refill.

Except... he didn't call in the prescriptions and they closed for the weekend at 2pm and... too bad for Heather. It's so frustrating. It makes me mad at the pharmacy for being in transition and making things so darn confusing. It makes me mad at the DEA for treating chronic pain patients like criminals. And it makes me mad at my doctor who knows, better than anyone, how severe the withdrawals are from these medications and what living hell it will make my life if I don't drive down to Flowery Branch to pick them up. My doctor also knows, better than anyone, how painful an hour and a half drive would be for me. What I'm going to do, rather than make the drive, is let Cody pick them up for me on his way up here tomorrow and just suffer overnight. BUT I'm not HAPPY about it, trust me!

Anyways... it's Food Friday so I will try to be on topic for a minute and talk about food. I didn't do a restaurant review this week but I will tell you where-all we ate on date night (and day and night and day) this week. On  Tuesday night we went to our usual Tuesday night - on the way to or from softball place - Twisted Taco. I had the ahi tuna tacos in wonton shells with sesame sauce because they are absolutely amazing and I love them with a purple passion. Marvin usually has the Korean taco (hold the mushrooms), the tropical shrimp taco and the ... wild Alaskan taco (I think... ). They also have really good chips and salsa and mine comes with a lot of extra avocado which we both munch on with the chips. Wednesday for lunch we went to Atlanta Highways Seafood Market which... if you're near Gainesville, Georgia, is the best place to go for seafood. It's incredibly fresh and quick and they're super nice there. I had fried crawfish tails because... yum... and Marvin had fried crawfish tails and fried catfish (and I shared some of his catfish and fries because... that's what we do). I bought some ceviche from there for my dinner Wednesday night (because Marvin eats at work on Wednesday and Thursday for dinner). On Thursday we went to our favorite little Chinese restaurant near him - it's called the Golden Phoenix but we always call it the Happy Lucky Golden Seven Phoenix because it used to be called the ... something Seven.... and we could never remember the exact name. I had shrimp fried rice because their shrimp fried rice is the best I've had anywhere and he had the General Tso's Chicken. It's a super affordable lunch menu so it was a win/win for us. Since we went to places that are our usual haunts, it didn't occur to me to take photos of our meals so you will just have to use your imagination.

Today I did a big grocery shop and a big food prep and I'm pretty stoked that I was that organized. I made a big batch of what I call "Three Bean Salad" but it's black beans, red beans and white beans (rinsed to remove lots and lots of sodium) with tomatoes, red onion, cucumbers, grilled chicken with olive oil and red wine vinegar and cilantro. I did my roasted salmon and veggies... I used tomatoes, sugar snaps, broccoli, carrots, zucchini and.... I think that's all. I've got enough food prepped to last me probably a week or more (if i don't eat more just because it's already prepped and ready to eat LOL!) AND I bought my favorite yogurt to have for breakfast because I'm pretty much addicted to it at this point. I'm fairly worn out from shopping without Austin and all the prep and cleanup but it's done and that feels great. Oddly enough my blood pressure was a happy, normal little 115/79 today after all of that so... who knows? Just the thought of eating better lowers my blood pressure. And I'm taking the beet root and... nothing else has really changed.

Tomorrow Cody and Oliver (and maybe Marquee) are coming up and I'll get Cosy in the morning so she and Oliver can play together. Marvin was such a sweetheart this week.... I sent him a text while he was at work Wednesday night and mentioned that I wanted to get the little swimming pool I had seen at his Walmart for the grandbabies... and he actually stopped on his way home from work after 9pm to get it. It's a good thing he did because it was the last one! He had a heckuva time getting it because the garden shop was closed and it was a real ordeal to get the upc code for it and then he couldn't do it through self-checkout and then he had a hard time getting it in his car (and was sure it wouldn't fit in mine but luckily it did!). I kept wondering why it was taking him so long to get home after work and he's out there getting the babies a pool. So they won't have to swim in buckets this time... all thanks to Marvin! He called this morning while I was in the middle of pharmacy hell and has had to listen to me whining about it all day. Sometimes I'm not so much fun to be around... a lot of times, probably... but he's a good egg and pulls me back from the brink when necessary.

And I guess that's about all I have to say today. Hopefully all will go according to plan and Cody will be able to pick up the prescriptions on his way up tomorrow... and the babies will be cooperative and I'll have some cute photos to share. How many of you are off for the whole week next week instead of just the 4th? Going anywhere fun? I've heard that this is supposed to be the biggest travel week of the whole Summer so safe travels or happy homebody week, whichever the case!

Food Friday - Pappadeaux

Happy Friday! Friday is the day I like to talk about food simply because I appreciate alliteration. Throwback Thursday - Food Friday - it just makes sense to me. This week I wanted to do a little review of the restaurant we went to on date night this week... Pappadeaux.

fried crawfish and crawfish etouffee

 As I've mentioned before, Marvin and I are kind of obsessed with New Orleans. It was our first road trip together... it's where Purple Michael lives... and then there's the amazing food and culture and music and food! Did I mention food?

On Tuesday night Marvin surprised me with dinner at Pappadeaux in Lawrenceville, GA, which has a New Orleans/French Quarter themed menu. There was a bit of a wait for a table but it was one hundred percent worth it! (other than the mosquito bite I got while waiting outdoors... small price to pay!)

Since we had to wait for a table, we had time to really study the menu and plan our meal. We always order different things so that we can share. Marvin went for the crawfish platter... fried crawfish and crawfish etouffee with dirty rice. I had shrimp creole and grits. Both dinners were delicious but if we go again, I would do fried crawfish all the way. My shrimp creole was great... it was a lot of food. Even with sharing, I had leftover shrimp creole for lunch the next day (we polished off the grits at dinner). I liked his crawfish etouffee just fine... but for me, the fried crawfish was the best we've had yet. Marvin prefers the fried crawfish at Louisiana Bistreaux, the place we went two weeks ago because it was a bit spicier but for me... Pappadeaux has it just right.

I also have to mention that I was really hesitant to try fried crawfish. I've always been big on fried shrimp... I like seafood but I'm not terribly adventurous with it. Then Marvin took me to the Atlanta Highway Seafood Market for lunch and we had the crawfish and... I've never looked back. I'll always take fried crawfish over any other seafood!

shrimp creole and grits

This particular Pappadeaux location is fairly new, I think, maybe in the past year or so. It was spacious and clean and had a nice atmosphere. There was a little jazz band playing near the bar that we could hear in the background but it wasn't too loud for us to have a conversation. I HATE THAT! It was busy - hence the wait for a table. But once we were seated we ordered right away (since we had already studied the menu) and our food came out lickety split. Our server, a guy named Mike, was friendly but he did this weird thing with refilling our drinks... he stopped at the table and asked if we'd like a refill. Marvin answered because I had a mouthful of food. Mike refilled Marvin's glass but not mine. It was a good ten minutes or more later before he came back and filled mine. I don't know if the pitcher ran out or he thought I didn't want a refill because I didn't specifically answer him but... it was just odd. Otherwise, the service was fine.

This was another splurge price wise for us but... it was enough food to cover us for lunch the next day so... it balances out.

On Thursday Marvin made black and bleu burgers for us for lunch... burgers with blackening seasoning, bacon bits, fried onions and bleu cheese dressing. They were huge and they were delicious! He had Cheerwine to drink... it's a North Carolina thing... and I had this new flavored Georgia Peach flavored coke that was... so good! I'm not a big cola drinker but I would definitely go for the peach coke again.

I am trying to eat healthier because of my high blood pressure... so for lunch today I roasted salmon and assorted colored cherry tomatoes and green beans. I just lay it all on a cookie sheet and bake it at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes. I had sliced the tomatoes open and drizzled everything with olive oil then gave it a generous sprinkle of salt and garlic powder. I know... high blood pressure and salt do not necessarily sound healthy BUT, as I've recently learned, it's the sodium content in the processed foods that screws with your blood pressure, not the sprinkle of salt while cooking fresh food. Honestly, this cooking method - fish, fresh veggies all drizzled in olive oil on a cookie sheet - is my favorite go-to meal. It's fast, easy, the clean up is as simple as pulling the tin foil off the cookie sheet (except for today when I accidentally ripped the tin foil while plating). I took a picture of my plate before eating and the light is not so good but you will get the idea. I made enough for two meals because heaven forbid I actually cook twice in the same week. Actually... I've already cooked twice this week because I made mac-n-cheese and tuna the other day so... I'm practically a chef!

I'm thinking of making a big "garbage salad" over the weekend to pack in a lot of fresh, healthy stuff. I've got a list in my phone of stuff I want to add to it... and then I'll just do olive oil and vinegar for the dressing. What are your favorite things to pack into a salad? Have you had an amazing meal lately? Feel free to share in the comment here or on the Facebook link for this blog post.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Food Friday - Adult Lunchables

Oliver sleeping in his high chair. Hair is in a
ponytail... don't worry, they haven't cut it. 

Congratulations on making it to the end of your short work week! This week has been tiring for me - I've had to wake up to an alarm twice - Wednesday for a doctor's appointment and Friday to get back home from Marvin's in time for Austin to get to work. I had an amazing nap yesterday afternoon but today it's just not happening. My back is not good at the moment. I can't seem to get on top of the pain and I'm sure that's what's keeping me from sleeping. Maybe "sure" is an exaggeration because I don't know how I can sleep like it's my job one day and the next day... nothin'.  Anyways....

I hope you are enjoying my return to blogging. I am truly finding passion in it that I thought I had lost forever. My blog has always sort of been the "person" who listened when I didn't have anyone else to talk to. Part of it was being able to share information so that people I care about will know what's going on in my life without having to have the same conversation with a hundred different people. It's an efficient method of communication that is well suited to articulate introverts. And I type fast so it's easy.

Cosy enjoying the lo mein at Sunflower

I'm finding that I do a lot better with writing my blog posts if I have a topic already - otherwise I'm just rambling on like the paragraphs above. I'm going to try giving each day a theme so I at least have a starting point. That also lets me write some posts in advance, which is helpful for days that I don't feel well enough to blog.  As you may have notice there are already two days that I've been using a theme: Resaons To Love Monday and Throwback Thurday.

by the way... if you aren't reading my Throwback Thursday posts you're missing out! I link you to every blog  for that day in previous years. Starting with yesterday's edition I included paragraphs that were of particular meaning to me or were particularly ironic or interesting. I'm hoping this will make it interesting for those who don't want to click a bunch of links.

And today's topic, if you didn't notice on  your way in... is FOOD! On Fridays I will share different food related things like my personal restaurant reviews, compare the same food from different brands... I may even talk about what I've eaten that past week or share recipes... anything and everything food related. Today I want to discuss my search for the perfect "adult lunchable".

If you're not familiar, Lunchables are these little snack kits, initially geared toward children, that contain lunch meat and cheese and crackers... or little pita rounds with sauce and toppings for little pizzas. They started out pretty basic but now they make them with nachos and cheese, little hot dogs, kabobs.. everything you can imagine. To me, it's basically a plastic bento box with too few cubbies.

The thing that makes them my current favorite meal is that there's no prep involved, it usually contains protein (I don't get enough) it works well with my stomach and it's just the right size for me. I eat small meals because if my belly is full it makes my back hurt. I always stop eating when I start feeling full. I like not being in pain better than I like the taste of... anything I can think of at the moment. Marvin has learned to order smaller meals for himself when we go out to eat because he's almost certain to be finishing my meal. I just can't eat much... and it's just not worth the time and trouble to cook, especially when it's hot outside.

SOOOO I have been in search of the Best Adult Lunchable. Here are a few that I have tried in the last week or three in no particular order:

 This little kit from Walmart had bread sticks to eat with prosciutto and mozzarella cheese. The prosciutto was good but a bit salty for this high blood pressure patient. This was a  higher price than most of the others at $2.68, maybe because prosciutto is more expensive? No idea but definitely would NOT buy again.

 This one from Hormel contained little bits of cubed chicken, cubed cheddar and chocolate covered almonds. They don't have the actual name of the product ON the product that I can see but on their website they call it the Hormel Natural Choice Snacks. They also have a Natural Choice Stacks which includes crackers. This one is just the meat, cheese and almonds. I would probably rank it among my favorite and would definitely buy it again. But probably it would smarter to just buy the meat and cheese and almonds myself and make a homemade lunchable. It would not be a horrible amount of prep. This was only $1.50, though, which is an entirely reasonable amount to spend on ... what ends up being a meal for me.

 This is another version of that last one. Again, $1.50, you basic meat and cheese cubed with the dark chocolate covered pretzels and... yum! Also... I'm cracking up at the backgrounds of these photos because... blankets... obviously I eat in bed.

This Hillshire Small Plate was very tasty but again, a bit too salty for me. I'm a salt-aholic so if I say it's salty, believe me, it's salty! However... the little bread rounds... croutons?... not sure what you'd call them... had a nice crunch and were tasty. I can't find the price for this at Walmart (where I bought it) but I'm finding it ranging in price from $1.25 to $2.99. If you find it at $2 or so, yes, that's a good buy. More than that, maybe not unless you're really in the mood for such.

 This wrapper is mangled because this son of a b&*#@ was too hard to open. I had to use so much force ripping it off that I ended up dropping all of the little pretzel chips on the floor then I had to scamper really quickly and pick them up to beat the thirty second rule... (that's a joke, I know the thirty second rule is not a real thing). Basically what you have here are the little thin pretzel chips with a lovely soft cheese for dipping. Since I lost a few pretzels in the wrestling match to open this, I also used the dip on my favorite Blue Diamond Almond Nut Thins crackers and it was excellent on those as well. Probably the least nutritional value of all the lunchables in this post but it would serve me well as a little "need something in my stomach" snack. This one runs $1.98 so... eh... might buy again.

These two products have been purchased but I haven't eaten them yet so... I can't tell you if I like them or not. First is the Marketside Baby Carrot and Cheddar Cheese kit... includes a turkey jerky stick, broccoli, ranch dressing and the things mentioned in the name of the product. I bought it because it had veg and protein which is a win in my book. I can't remember what I paid for it and can't find it listed online anywhere to give you an idea of the cost but I think it may have been the most expensive of all the kits I bought.

On the right is an actual Oscar Meyer Lunchable but they don't call it that... it's a "meat and cheese plate"... fancy schmancy! It's got slow roasted turkey, white cheddar cheese and basically triscuits... although they call them "whole wheat crackers" so they aren't ACTUAL triscuits. This guy is high in sodium (boo) but it has 34% of your recommended protein and 25% of your recommended calcium so... maybe not an everyday product for me but closer to something nutritional than what I usually eat.

Audience participation time: what is your go to - I don't want to cook but I need something in my stomach meal? Do you buy these little snack kits for yourself? Do you have a favorite? Leave your answers in the comments below or at the Facebook link of this post. Happy Weekend, y'all!