What are you doing for Super Bowl?

What's in your chili??

OK – Super Bowl Sunday is coming in just a couple days. What is your favorite part of the Super Bowl?  Is your favorite the game, the commercials, the food, the friends and fellowship?  Please let me know.  Mine is probably the food (combined with the friends and the fellowship); however this year I am in a dilemma and need your help.  What should I make for the Covenant Baptist Church Souper Bowl?  For years I have entered a chili in the chili cookoff.  I have actually won a few times and got my name etched on the proverbial chili pot, however this year might be the year I break from the chili path and bring something different.

Today, on The Chew, (if you haven’t seen it, it is a pretty good daytime talk show centered around cooking, featuring Michael Symon, Mario Batali, Daphne Oz, Clinton Kelly,  and Carla Hall) was about recipes for Super Bowl.  Michael had the 49ers and prepared some chorizo burritos and Mario had the Ravens and prepared Baltimore crab cakes.  Both of these looked delicious and I am putting the chorizo burritos on my list of items to choose from for Sunday’s feast.  Oh, the feast will be at Covenant Baptist Church located at 5440 SW 37^th Street in Topeka.  If you want to enter chili in the contest you need to have your chili in the kitchen by 4 p.m.  If you don’t want to bring chili, you may bring a side dish or dessert to share.  This is where you come in.

Please let me know what your favorite football game snack is.  Right now my list includes the chorizo burritos, bacon wrapped jalapenos, bacon wrapped smokies, smoked chicken wings, spicy buffalo wings, and shrimp filled wontons.  I will be picking one – please help me decide which one to pick.  Comment below and pick one on my list or suggest something else.  If I use your suggestion you may win a Pampered Chef product. 

Everyone is welcome at the Souper Bowl Chili Cookoff.  Please join us.

Thanks for reading - Please come back.

Chow and Chow Down
Blessings to Ya'll
Share with your friends

Kevin

 

 

Back at it - Finally - Bonner Springs, KS BBQ

Well the couple that started it all, Roy and Annette, and Betsey and I went out for BBQ last night.  As you may remember in an earlier post Roy was the one that said "You should start a food blog".    And that started on a trip to BBQ in Lawence at Biggs BBQ which needs to get to the food channel somehow.  I think Biggs could be the best in the area for BBQ.

Last night was Papa Bobs BBQ in Bonner Springs, KS.  This happens to be the closest restaurant to Topeka (where we live) listed on Foodie Pie (except for BoBo's in Topeka) which is a wonderful site "For Foodies Only! Find the foods and restaurants as seen on The Food Network & The Travel Channel."

Wow was there a squirrel in here?  Something distracted me - could have been that 49ers Falcon game.  Good ending. 

Back to the BBQ last night.  The ride there and back was marvelous - well the ride back had a little snoring from the back seat and it wasn't Annette.  The atmosphere at Bob's was great - small and quaint but what one might expect from a roadside bbq spot on a Kansas secondary highway.  Miranda was our waitress and she took very good care of us - but we might have been one of her only tables.  Not too busy on a Saturday night. 

The appetizers that we had were good - the Deep Fried Cauliflower and the Deep Fried Okra were both very good but I dont think they were prepared in house.  But they came out extremely hot and were good.  Sweet tea was disappointing - could have been a mix and not sweet tea or could have been sitting around awhile.  I know what you all are thinking "Sweet tea in Kansas???"; yes there are some restaurants that have sweet tea figured out.



I had ribs, sausage, pulled pork; Roy had ham and beef; and the ladies both had the burnt ends.  To me the highlight of the meal was the sweet and sour cole slaw and the beans.  The beans had almost as much meat in them as beans.  Burnt ends were a smaller cut than the gals were used to which could have attributed to their dryness.  Roy said the ham was good and the beef brisket was ok.  The ribs were the highlight of my meats and the sausage was good as well.  Pulled pork was average. 


Ask them for some of the "crummy" sauce.  Bob came out with a little and it was quite tasty - had some cinnamon in it.  A newer taste for the BBQ sauce field.

As I read what I wrote it sounds like I wouldn't recommend this place or go back but I will.  The service, hype, and the fact that Adam Richman lost the challenge for the Ultimate Destroyer of which you get 45 minutes to eat it brings us foodies in.  Don't think I would attempt the Ultimate Destroyer.  Papa Bobs is reasonably priced and good bbq. 

Oh, and if you are looking for a good pulled pork recipe just put a rubbed (I use Corkys seasoning) pork shoulder butt roast (whatever you want to call it) in a baking dish with 3 cups of root beer and cover with foil - 325 degrees for about 6 hours - check in 5 and if you can stick a fork in it and it pulls apart easily it is done.  Take it into the living room put it on a tv tray and use 2 forks to pull it apart.  Make sure you have a good meat bowl and a bad meat bowl because you will want to discard some of the fat.  Let me know if you like it.

After Columbus - Heading home

Well doing a blog is kinda like reading the Bible in that if you skip a day then it is easier to skip the next day.  O and if you skip that day it is very easy to skip the next day - SOOO - I certainly apologize to those that have been following me for not sticking to my daily schedule. 

Well we drove a few hours after Columbus and stopped just west of Indianapolis for the night.  Trying to lessen the drive the next day to bring us on home. 

Of course the "I want to get home" syndrome was being felt by all three of us but moreso by Betsey and Josh.  I am not normally a gotta get home kinda guy - maybe it is the wanderlust left in me from my Navy travels.  However, I was itchin to get out of the car.  By the end of the trip it will have ended up being more than 3500 miles in 9 days.  That is an average of 388 miles per day and one day we didn't drive the car. 

We were going to go to Highway 61 Roadhouse in St Louis that serves up Louisiana fare (bbq spaghetti, andouille sausage, gumbo, etc).  But it was a little early for lunch and I took the north bypass across the Mississippi (first time for that - you don't see the arch at all) and Highway 61 is southwest of St Louis - looks like that might be another trip. 

Oh - Speaking of another trip - Betsey and I have decided that we will be doing some weekend jaunts to some places and continue this glutinous fried food excursions on a smaller scale.  So if anybody would like to join us on a day or overnight trip to some wonderful (hopefully) eating establishments please let me know. 

OK - back to the trip and where did we go for lunch.  Well - if you are a Mizzou Alumni then you are probably familiar with Shakespeare's Pizza.  The first time that we experienced Shakespeare's Pizza we were on our way to Caveman Zipline with Daniel and Tanner.  That was a fun weekend - I was a bit scared to do that but it was fun and I would do it again.

Back to the FOOD - Shakespeare's Pizza is great pizza and they have 3 locations around Columbia, MO.  So the next time you are traveling through Missouri and need a pit stop - venture downtown to Shakespeare's Pizza.  We ordered up a large meat lover's and their menu states that they will charge up the defibrillator just in case.  Complete with Pepperoni, Canadian Bacon, Italian Sausage, Lean Ground Beef (glad it was lean), and Breakfast Bacon (again as my friend +Wally Roberts says if it is bacon it is good.  Oh and there is a picture on the wall in the back room that looks like my brother Allen.
 
Back on the road - I had planned on stopping at Ozarkland on the way by but if you reference paragraph 3 above - you will know why we didn't.  Ozarkland is where you can buy the moccasins for yourself or for your granddaughter.  I think she liked them.   =====================>>>>>>>>>

Made it home on Sunday afternoon - +Joshua Litscher was able to watch a little bit of the Bronco game on the way home thanks to the spotty Team Mobile Hot Spot that I got for +Betsey Litscher before the trip.  The hot spot worked pretty good as long as we had phone reception - duh - I guess I expected it to be just a little bit better than my phone hot spot. 

Thank you to +Justin Gilstrap for holding down the homestead whilst we were away. 

After the trip will be on the next post.  Keep your eyes out for the picture of me in sunglasses for your free Pampered Chef gift certificate.  First one to spy me with my sunglasses on gets a GC. 

Thanks for reading - Please come back.

Chow and Chow Down
Blessings to Ya'll
Share with your friends

Kevin


PS - Seriously we will be making some day/weekend trips to continue this; so if you are interested in tagging along let me know.  OR if you would like to provide me some input on my blog please

Graduation Day + one

Newport, RI - Naval Station Newport Marine Corps Detachment

 

Well - what an impressive group of Marines.  It was a graduation of 7 Marines in training to Fleet Marines (probably don't have the terminology right but...)  Josh received a Meritorious Mast because he was picked by his peers as a leader.  Unfortunately I got him on a blink (am sure he isn't sleeping).

 

 After graduation we and Hannum went to Providence (as if we hadn't planned enough driving - about 45 minutes away) to try out Olneyville New York System - RI's Best Hot Wieners.  It was an experience.  They were not Betsey's favorite on the trip - Josh and I thought they were good - and Hannum had a steak sandwich.  The character of the restaurant and the characters of the servers was quite enjoyable and the most memorable highlight of the trip to Providence. 

 

 

 Stopped at an IKEA along the way and Betsey and I had to get pretty low to the ground on this picture.  O and thank you Rosalinda for having our photographer (Josh) get down as well (she hollered at him to get down lower and then as we were leaving she said to Betsey and I that we embarrassed him)

 

What about this stogie in the ashtray by the bottom left corner of this man's window.

 Columbus, OH

These were quite the burgers that we had at Thurman's in Columbus.  Oh and the wings and the jalapeno bottle caps that we had for appetizers were GREAT.  The wings were the same size wings that we were used to from Cal'z in Norfolk, VA when we lived there.  Until now I would have put Cal'z number one in my book for restaurant/bar/carryout wings.  But Thurman's wings have risen to the top.  Of course I really like the ones that I smoked for Thanksgiving meal appetizers. 



The people that we met at Lynn's Paradise Cafe in Louisville (see post entitled 2nd Day) recommended Thurmans and I noticed that it was on Foodie Pie a website to help find restaurants that were on The Food Network and The Travel Channel. 











Josh's last bite of burger and

wait for it
wait for it
wait for it



 

He cleaned his plate - quite the feat considering the size of burger.  He did eat a lot of bottle caps but I will share that he didn't eat any wings (did I say that they were JUMBO wings?). 

 

Victor said that the big wings just come from big chickens when I asked him who supplied the big wings.  They would be the size that i would like to get and smoke. 

 

Victor did want me to tell you he was a good looking Peruvian that was available (he is married) but come to the restaurant and say HI.

 

HOME TOMORROW - bedding down tonight in Indianapolis.

 

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Please come back.

Chow and Chow Down
Blessings to Ya'll
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Kevin

 

 

 

 

 

Movin on up to Rhode Island

Newport, RI was our destination on Wednesday and +Betsey Litscher and I were going to go as far as we could to make our Thursday not so long.  About a 10 hour drive from Arrington to Newport.  Made it to Baltimore (about a 4 hour drive - thought we could get up a little early on Thursday and drift on in to Newport about 4ish) where we grabbed a couple crab cakes from Jimmy's Famous Seafood.  Oh and I noticed cannoli and carrot cake while I was waiting.  Cannoli for me and a carrott cake for Betz.  Betsey found a Rodeway Inn down the road a short distance so we headed there.  It was in an interesting neighborhood and no cars in the lot so I asked to see the room.  Showed it to me and I said "ya got anything with a hot tub"  and he said "yes - I will take care of you".  So he showed me the hot tub room and there was a hot tub shaped like a heart so I couldn't resist. 

Pretty nice tub - room was good but the breakfast was a downer!!!!  Three types of cereal and that was "breakfast". 

And to top it off I went out to the car to start it up before we left and nothing.  So called the rental car company and they said 60 minutes....then the dispatch called and said ...20 minutes....  then the dispatch called and said 15 minutes....  then the jump start guy said 15.... 25 minutes later he called again and said 10.  FINALLY two and a half hours later we hit the road.  A bit frustrating.  O and another thing I brought home a souvenir.  I wonder if the New Jersey Turnpike will send me a letter requesting their toll ticket back?  I got in the wrong lane by the Meadowlands and got whoosed through the EZ Pass lane.  Traveling up interstate 95 we paid more in tolls than we did in gas. 

Got to Newport and met +Joshua Litscher  where he was getting his hair cut.  Then we got checked into the Navy Lodge and went out to the Red Parrott in downtown Newport.  Good food - GREAT COMPANY - service was ok.  Did I tell you that the company was GREAT! 

We had some Shark Bites and I had some Bluepoint Oysters, Betsey had Coconut Shrimp, and Josh had Blackened Swordfish.  Josh had the best meal of the bunch.  Fivebucks for dessert.


Betsey was happy we needed a photographer - she was afraid that the parrot would bite.

We will be attending Josh's graduation at 8 in the morning - hang around here until lunch time and eat some pizza at Via Via Pizzeria.  And if the weather permits walk around downtown Newport.  Maybe buy Betsey one of these:

 

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Chow and Chow Down
Blessings to Ya'll
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Kevin

2ND day

Boy I know what you are thinking.  I can see the clouds above your heads.  "

Wednesday Lunch - Meatball Soup

Hearty Meatball Soup

Ingredients

• 12 Frozen Meatballs
• 2 Links (approx 1/2 lb.) Sweet Italian Sausage
• 1 Can Tomatoes (Diced)
• 1 Medium Onion (Diced)
• 4 Cups Beef Stock
• 5 oz Fresh Spinach
• 1 tsp Oregano
• Generous sprinkling Garlic Powder
• To taste Salt & Pepper

Directions

1. Slip skins & crumble sausage
2. Brown sausage & onions in large pot
3. Add all ingredients except meatballs
4. Bring to boil
5. Reduce to simmer
6. Add meatballs
7. Cook 20-30 minutes until meatballs are hot
8. Serve with crackers or bread

 

The picture doesn't do it justice.

 

 

 

Thanks for reading - Please come back.

Chow and Chow Down
Blessings to Ya'll
Share with your friends

Kevin