Lunch at Target

Every day my co-workers have some sort of comment about my lunch.  I currently work at Target and most of the time I work early shifts, usually 6 am to 2:30.  Why might you ask do my co-workers comment on my lunch?  Well it’s because I don’t usually eat the traditional lunch, like a sandwich or fast food or eat at the traditional time.  Some people laugh or joke about my meals, but it doesn’t bother me any. 

Waking up before the crack of dawn, I make the quickest lunch possible and hit the door running.  The fastest meal for me to make is leftovers.  Depending on what we cooked throughout the week the leftovers available are enormous.  Today, I had a T-bone, baked potato with sour cream, corn and green beans.  While everyone else is just now starting work, here I am with plates, silverware, and various sauces eating a steak.  My TL Greg pokes fun of me all the time and the executives are always saying that I stink up the break room with wonderful smells and others just flat out tell me they are going to steal my food.  One time someone actually did steal my food.  Needless to say, I was devastated when it came time for lunch.

Most of the comments are pleasant and humorous, but I received hell last week when I heated up fish.  The smell stunk up the entire break room for several hours.  This happens at my house too whenever my dad cooks up fish.  I promised the whole team that never again would I bring fish to work.  They were ever so grateful!  Well between the playful banter and good food, I have to say that I can hardly wait for lunch time at work.      

FISH FRY

For the last week I’ve been on vacation up in Port Santilack, an extremely small town on Lake Huron. My family rented this beautiful cottage right on the beach.  It is completely remote and it was like we had our own private beach.  As far as the eye could see was crystal clear blue water and sunshine. Being that there was no TV, we had to amuse ourselves; we spent most of our time reading, cooking, listening to music, and playing with our dogs on the beach.

Yesterday, my dad and I went out on this fishing charter called J Lyn Charter, J stood for Janis.  Janis was the captain and Jim was her first mate, and let me tell you what they knew exactly what they were doing.  Both of them were country born and country raised, been hunting, fishing, and farming since they were 6 years old.  Their stories reminded me of my great ancestors who lived off the land. 

We were fishing for salmon and brown trout. My dad caught 1 steelhead and 1 trout and I caught 3 steelhead, 1 king salmon, and 1 lake trout.  Together, this was over 60 lbs of fish!  You can imagine how big these fish are and how much of a fight they put up.  So come noon we head back in with a huge smile on our face and a grand catch.

Time for a fish fry!  We actually dropped off some of the steelhead to our neighbors and decided to cook up the salmon.  We kept it real simple with blacken seasoning and through it on the grill with some vegetables.  MMMM Good!   If you ever get a chance I strongly recommend charter fishing, I aint eva been on a bad trip.

Family Tradition

Hey there! You probably don’t know this, but on my grandma’s side of the family they are 100% Italian.  My Great Grandparents lived somewhere in Northern Italy, where most Italians are fare skinned. Ever since I was little it has always been a tradition to visit my grandparents every Sunday.  Well, as my brother and I got older, our schedules became more hectic.  This weekend I had off, so I decided to join them for dinner at my grandma’s favorite Italian restaurant, Andiamo's.  I’ve always thought that my grandma’s home cooked meals outranked any dish I have ever had at this place, but in her old age she prefers to dine out rather than cook.

Now, my mom, dad, and brother really don’t like Andiamo’s.  It is way over priced and the food is not all that good. After each visit, my family will complain the entire way home about how awful their meal was or how poor the service was.  In my opinion, the food isn’t all that bad; there are a few dishes that I enjoy.  This weekend I ordered the Bistocca Di Costa Alla Fiorentina, which is a large porterhouse broiled and served with Zip Sauce and vegetables.  I also put onions and mushrooms on top.  This was the first time I had their famous zip sauce, and to tell you the truth it wasn’t half bad. 

My family can’t bring themselves to tell my grandma how much they despise that place.  Given my experience, I would rate it about 2 stars for numerous reasons.  First, even with reservations it took us over 45 minutes to get a table and there were tables everywhere!  Second, half our dinners were cold by the time we got it and third, the food was mediocre at best!  To this day, I prefer Olive Garden over Andiamo’s; yet, every Easter or at my grandma’s request we all dine out at Andiamo’s.

So that’s my view toward Andiamo’s, but don’t just take my word.  Many people really like Andiamo’s, while others hate it.  You can find an Andiamo’s Restaurant located all over Michigan and the U.S. Here is a link to what others have posted about Andiamo’s

http://www.google.com/#q=Ratings+for+Andiamos+Restaurant+MI&hl=en&prmd=ivnscm&source=univ&tbm=plcs&tbo=u&ei=QBdMTorlB6qPsQKZsdW7CA&sa=X&oi=local_group&ct=more-results&resnum=1&ved=0CDYQtQMwAA&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=71f48d7751fde28a&biw=1280&bih=582

4th of JULY

This Fourth of July weekend my friend, Jimmy, and I decided to take a few days off of work and have a four day camping trip.  I reserved two different campsites at Algonac State Park; one site was rustic, out in the woods and the other was right on the St. Clair River.  Neither of us had much of a budget, so our food consisted of just the basics, meat and adult beverages.  Well, the first two nights were a blast; we pretty much played on the beach, fished, barbequed, and listened to music.  The first night we simply just cooked hot dogs over the fire.  The next day, I cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

It’s a little different cooking at a campsite then it is at home. We only had the fire and a small propane burner.  I made it work; we had eggs and bacon for breakfast, BLTs for lunch, and cheese burgers for dinner.  Jimmy was supposed to show me up the next day and cook up some steaks; however, we never expected the worst to happen.

Saturday night, there was a small chance of rain, but we didn’t pay much attention to it until the clouds started rolling in.   It seemed like in a blink of an eye, God unleashed hell!  The winds picked up and the rain was coming from every direction.  The radio reported hail the size of golf balls further north.

While everyone else was relaxing comfortably in their RVs, Jimmy and I were frantically trying to salvage anything and everything!  We took the tent down and through everything in his SUV. Originally, we strategically packed the SUV with all our provisions, but in a crisis there really wasn’t much time to think, so we did what we could.  Jimmy and I rode out the storm in the SUV and sadly watched our campsite be destroyed....

After the storm cleared, we dried out the tent as best we could and did an inventory of what food we had left. At this point it was passed midnight and we were starving!! The only things that made it were the canned food and the adult beverages.  So we built a fire to warm up and decided to cook some beans.   The only thing was we couldn’t find a can opener!  So we ended up pounding on it with a hammer.  Finally, we got it open and we were ever so grateful.  God unleashed hell, and we a made it!

Dining with Mark has its highs and lows just like life.  Not everything can be sunshine and rainbows. This trip made me realize how sometimes it’s easy to take so many things for granted, like food and shelter.  Jimmy and I were at each others’ throats at times, but we were glad we stuck it out and the rest of the trip turned out just fine.  Enjoy the simple things in life! J       

GREEK TOWN

This weekend I felt like blowing off some steam, so I went to Greek Town with my buddy, Mack.  Our intention was to throw a few back and gamble a little bit.  Well neither of us had very much money, so we decided to play some of the slot machines.  I could not understand half of those silly machines.  I stuck with what I knew and that was poker.  The video poker game was called Deuces Wild.  About an hour goes by and I was up over $200.  Mack was not as fortunate and lost, how much he wouldn’t say.

Well, I told him dinner was on me.  Right below the Greek Town Casino is a great restaurant called Pegasus.  I have eaten there before on a few occasions.  I found that I am particular to the lamb dishes, but I also like Spanakoteropeta, spinach cheese pie, and Moussaka.  I ended up ordering the Plato's platter which consisted of two lamb chops, Spanakoteropeta, Moussaka, Dolmathes, rice, vegetables, soup and salad.  Mack got the combination platter, a good choice for someone new to Greek food.  The combination platter has a little bit of everything and gives you the option of lamb, beef, or chicken.

After stuffing our faces, Mack didn't feel all that bad for losing most of his money.  We walked around downtown for little bit marveling at all the sites.  If you ever get a chance I would strongly reccommend Pegasus and the Greek Town Casino too! 

Here is a link to Pegasus's Dinner Menu http://www.pegasustavernas.com/pdfs/pegasus_menu.pdf
and the address
Pegasus Taverna
558 Monroe St.
Greektown
Detroit, MI 48226
Tel: (313) 964-6800
Open 365 days of the year.

Thai Cusine

Hello again.  Thursdays I usually go out for lunch and last week I was in the mood for Thai food.  I decided to try this restaurant right by my work called bangkok bistro cafe located at 5377 Crooks Rd, Troy MI 48098.  Like most restaurants the lunch prices are cheaper than that of the dinner prices.  I found that both are reasonable.  A lunch plate costs about $7.25 to $8.25 depending on if you get chicken, beef, pork, or shrimp.  The dinner prices range from $8.95 to $9.95.

Now I actually ordered two different entrees.  One was for lunch and the other dinner.  I ordered the Pad Thai which is the national dish of Thailand.  It is composed of rice noodles sautéed with bean sprouts, egg, green onions, and topped crushed peanuts.  I generally like Pad Thai with pork and shrimp spicy.  At Bangkok Bistro you always have the option to order your dish mild, medium, hot, or spicy; however, some dishes tend to be spicier than others.  

I absolutely love spicy foods.  This second dish I ordered is naturally spicy, Green Curry - chicken and shrimp with bamboo shoots, sweet peas, carrots, and green peppers cooked in green curry sauce over white rice.  If you are new to Thai food beware of some of the curries because they are pretty spicy.  I made the mistake of ordering this dish extra spicy.  Each bite set my mouth on fire!  It certainly opened up my sinuses!  In my experience the only things that tend to help soothe the burning is milk or hard candy.  Both of these dishes were extremely delicious and I would recommend this restaurant to everyone, just be careful ordering how spicy you want it.  Here is a link to the menu if you are interested http://www.allmenus.com/mi/troy/48238-bangkok-bistro-cafe/menu/

Indian Cuisine

I have had indian food before, but last Thursday I went out for lunch to this really nice restaurant called Priya.  I still do not understand the names of all the dishes, but I am still adapting to indian food.  The Lunch Buffet was a great opportunity to try numerous dishes for a reasonable price.

In the past I have felt that I always order the wrong dish when ordering from an indian cuisine dinner menu, but at Priya I enjoyed each dish at the buffet.  It was composed of the most popular indian dishes.  My favorite was the lamb and vegetable dishes.  I strongly recommend eating at Priya.  They are located at 72 West Maple Road Troy, MI 48084. 

Here is link with ratings and reviews of others who have tried Priya http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/19/235708/restaurant/Detroit/Priya-Troy