Food Friday - Pig Tales at Lake Lanier

View from Pig Tales restaurant near Lake Lanier.

Good morning, friends! Just kidding. I'm writing this at 4pm on Friday afternoon but I did JUST wake up from a glorious nap. AND... I could go right back to sleep now but I'm staying awake to chat with Marvin while he's in between work and the DJ gig he has tonight. I'm having such huge guilt feelings about the massive amount of sleep I'm currently needing to function when he's out working these 12 plus hours a day, working every day of the week in one capacity or another. But I also know that it's something I haven't chosen for myself, it's just where I am health-wise at the moment and pushing myself just makes things worse.

Wednesday... you can see the pain in my eyes
this week. It's been miserable. Also, I braided
my hair into a fish tale even though we ate
at Pig Tales. Ha!

The up side is  that the house was empty and quiet today. The painters finished up and our covered porch looks great. If the grass cutter came today, I surely didn't hear him. Pop's been playing golf, Austin has been at work and the house has been deliciously cool and quiet. It's perfect for sleeping. My back is hurting worse than yesterday and was worse yesterday than the day before. I hope there is a point where it starts getting back to normal but at the moment, I'm feeling pretty discouraged and overwhelmed. I also had a migraine last night that woke me up and kept me up for several hours which contributes to the fatigue. I sometimes have these headaches... and I don't even know if they qualify to be called migraines but basically the pain originates somewhere in my spine and radiates up my back to my head. It's different from my normal migraines, which sort of feel like they originate in a vein behind my ears and pound their way up my temple and behind my eyes.

Anyways... so a cold dark room and quiet house are awesome things right now but I also had a great time on Wednesday getting out to the great outdoors at Lake Lanier. For those who aren't local to Georgia, Lake Lanier is a reservoir that was created by building a dam on the Chattahoochee River back in 1956. It is a place where people go for boating, water skiing, fishing, camping or whatever you might do on a lake. Marvin lives really close to the lake so we have occasionally been able to enjoy the view at the lake, On Wednesday we had lunch at a place called Pig Tales, which is located on the lake (near the lake? there's a little bit of ground in between.). Pig Tales is a bbq restaurant that also serves a lot of fish dishes on their menu. You can check out their website by clicking here. https://www.pigtaleslakelanier.com/

last bite of the fried green tomatoes
with pimento cheese. it was served
with ranch dressing but they were good
all by themselves.

Marvin and I had previously been to their sister restaurant, Fish Tales so we had an idea of the quality and standards of the particular restaurant group. Pig Tales, however, is a little different in that it is an outdoor restaurant. It was a hot day but the dining area of the restaurant is shaded and they have fans everywhere and I don't feel like we were particularly affected by the heat but at the same time, I was glad to get back to the a/c in the car when we left so... take that into consideration if you're heat sensitive. There wasn't any wait for a table - which is what we find most weekdays when we go out. Our waiter was attentive and came right away to get our drink and appetizer orders. The food came quicker than I expected... you know that feeling of, "who is she taking that to... it's too early to be... OH, it's ours!"

We started with fried green tomatoes which were served with pimento cheese layered between them. We gobbled them down so fast that I almost forgot to take a picture until there was only a bite or two left.

pina colada

We had sweet tea to drink but I was also in the mood for a pina colada which... I probably hadn't had in 20plus years. Marvin had a voodoo juice to drink. Neither of us partakes in the adult beverages very often... maybe once a month or so, I guess? But it felt right to have a tropical drink in the heat and humidity that is life in Georgia in July. The heat, humidity, alcohol and my being out of sorts anyways with my back all combined to make me a bit tipsy and giggly but not sloppy drunk. It was one drink, after all. Just for the record, it had been more than six hours since I had last taken pain medicine. You have to be careful about those things.

voodoo juice

For our meal, I had the pulled pork sandwich with sweet potato fries. The pork was great. I'm not a fan of slaw so I scraped that off - I had forgotten to request that they leave it off. The sandwich is served on big thick slices of texas toast and I ate that separately. The only suggestion I would make is that the texas toast be garlic toast, that would be perfect.

brisket philly

Marvin had the Brisket Philly which was sort of like a philly cheese steak sandwich but using bbq beef brisket instead of steak. He had the cripsy beer battered fries with his sandwich. It was a lot of food and almost more than he could eat. I don't often see him unable to clean his place - where with me it happens almost every single meal - so trust me, this was a generous portion of food.
It was not a cheap meal, despite the sort of rustic setting. We had an appetizer and cocktails which greatly increased the price. Maybe not a budget, end of the pay period meal for me but the price of the food is in line with the quality of the food. They are open well into the evening and I could definitely see that as a nice place to go at night when it's cooler outside. They allow pets so... that's unusual for any restaurant here but I'm sure it's because it's outdoors.

pulled pork sandwich with
sweet potato fries

Finally the "blog review" curse was broken and we didn't have to go the whole meal without refills. Of course, we also had cocktails so we didn't need as much tea and that lowered the number of trips our waiter had to come to our aid.
Overall... great service, great food, beautiful location (probably not on the hottest days) and worth a visit if you're in the area.

What has been your favorite meal this week? Do  you have any fun dining out plans for the weekend? Be sure to share in the comments either on this page or by my blog link on my Facebook page. Hope you have a great weekend! 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...