Patriotic Picnic Food

The final post of our patriotic picnic week is of the food -which maybe the best part! I served club sandwiches, cape cod chips and lemonade.

Club Sandwiches are best served with the extra layer of bread in between. Also, I toast the bread and butter both the top and bottom. I find that the mayonnaise on the inside seeps in less if it's buttered first.

Layers of ham, turkey, colby cheese, tomato and bacon make this sandwich a yummy classic!
Here's the history of the club sandwich from wikipedia:

1894 - The most popular theory is that the sandwich first appeared in 1894 at the famous Saratoga Club-House (an exclusive gentlemen only gambling house in upstate Saratoga Springs, New York) where the potato chips was born. Originally called Morrissey's Club House, were neither women nor locals were permitted in the gambling rooms. In 1894, Richard Canfield purchased the clubI served this awesome lemonade I found recently. Sweet Leaf Lemonade is made in Austin, Texas and also makes a variety of Sweet Iced Teas.

I try to always use Boar's Head sandwich meat. They are a little more expensive than some other deli meats, but they taste so good!

Finally, Cape Cod potato chips seemed like a classic to add to this patriotic picnic. Crisp, crunchy salty and all natural, these potato chips are all American!

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Chocolate Chip French Toast

Do you find that you eat more breakfast for dinner when the weather gets cooler? I know we do. My husband used to hate it when I'd cook breakfast for dinner, but he's come around to it. I think it's yummy - and who has time to cook breakfast when you leave at 7 AM?

The other day I made french toast. I mix eggs with a splash of orange juice and a shake of cinnamon. If I have vanilla extract I put a bit of that in as well. Dip my whole wheat bread in the egg mixture and cook

up in a non-stick skillet.


This time I added chocolate chips and powdered sugar to dress it up.
Add Maple Syrup from Whole Foods and you're ready to enjoy!

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Best Crab Cakes Annapolis

I'm still recovering from a vacation cold so I missed Tablescape Thursday yesterday, which was disappointing because I have some great tablescapes from my visit to Caspari in Charlottesville. They will have to wait till next time, now onto Foodie Friday!

When I knew we were going to Annapolis I googled best crab cakes in the DC area and found Hell Point Seafood. Located on the waterfront, with in walking distance from our hotel and voted one of the best crab cakes by the Washington Post I was looking forward to an excellent dinner.

Views of the waterfront do not disappoint. There were many, many boats to admire in addition to the people watching.

I was disappointed that the seating is outside and it was an unusually hot June evening, with temps in the 90's. I'm an air conditioning girl, especially when I'm eating, so this was not so good for me.

We ordered the crab cake entree, which came with mashed potato and corn.

And the grilled salmon with accompanying vegetables. Both were very good in both presentation and taste. Not sure if it was the best crab cake I've ever had, but it was very good

and the atmosphere was excellent (sans ac).

After dinner the guys wanted ice cream

so we walked down to the local ice cream parlor.

Which according to their window display, had won many awards.


The ice cream (according to my critics) was very good.
Heading back to the hotel we were a happy bunch.
Thanks for stopping by to visit!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend :)

Foodie Friday Spring Vegies and Grilled Chicken

The other night for dinner I decided to celebrate Spring with some spring time vegetables and grilled chicken. This was the first time using the grill for the season so we were excited!

I am not a good cook. I do not use recipes for my cooking, never have since I started cooking everyday for a family when I was 18. I just think of what things will go good together and sort of shoot from the hip and hope it all turns out. For this night I decided to marinate the chicken before we grilled it. I mixed some orange juice, soy sauce and worchestershire sauce (about 1/2 cup each of OJ and soy and 1/4 cup of worchestershire) together and added the chicken.

Here I prepared two vegies that say Spring to me - asparagus and new potatoes. I love these baby potatoes - Yukon golds I think - because they are so tender. I boiled both in the same pot starting with the potatoes first because their cook time is longer than the asparagus.

Here's the final product. I try to eat three vegetables and only a small portion of protein (in this case the chicken) at dinner time. The side dish of beans was made from grape tomatoes, canned cannellini beans, Gorgonzola cheese and dressed with lite Italian salad dressing.

I hope you enjoyed this posting and will visit Designs by Gollum for more Foodie Friday ideas. Have a great weekend :)

Mitchell's Fish Market

Yesterday it was another beautiful Spring day so my husband and I decided to go out for lunch. I am so lucky because we both work at the same CPA firm so we get to see each other during the day and at home :). One of our favorite restaurants in Louisville is Mitchell's Fish Market. Located in the Summit shopping center, Mitchell's offers an elegant but relaxed lunch atmosphere for both shoppers and business folks alike.

You can even dine outside on their patio.

Immediately in the front door they have a great bar with a few booths. This spot is really popular in the evenings.

This is a picture of the dining room, which was recently updated. They offer both tables and booths.

I ordered the garlic broiled shrimp with sticky rice and asparagus.

My honey ordered the blackened tilapia sandwich with sweet potato fries.

Both dishes were excellent. The service here is superb. Our server even brought us extra ice for our ice tea! We have been eating at Mitchell's since they opened in 2001 and have never had a bad meal. One nice feature is that Mitchell's offers both a kids and a gluten free menu. The kids menu offers seafood at a reasonable price, which is often hard to find at most restaurants.

Following our lunch I took a few pictures outside of these tulips in perfect bloom.

This giant fish sculpture is located right outside the front door and is a favorite of my nieces.

For more information about Mitchell's Fish Market or to see if there's a location near you please click here.

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Windows on the Water

As I mentioned before, we went over to Lake Barkley resort a few weekends ago. From there website here is a description of the lodge:

"World-class Lake Barkley lodge, designed by Edward Durrell Stone, seems to have just emerged naturally from the wooded shoreline that surrounds it. Using a post-and-beam wood construction of Western Cedar, Douglas fir, and three-and one-half acres of glass, the recently renovated Barkley Lodge complex provides a lake view from the private balconies of most of the 120 rooms and four suites."

And a description of the restaurant, Windows on the Water:

"This glass walled 331 seat restaurant allows guests to have panoramic and scenic views from any seat in the house. With Chef Hattie Cheatham’s specialty of good old country cooking like meatloaf, fried chicken, catfish & hushpuppies, with real mashed potatoes, the restaurant has earned a long-time and well-deserved reputation for the best home cooking in western Kentucky. As a supporter of Kentucky Proud program we utilize locally grown meats and produce when available."

They offer a full buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner or you may choose selections from their menu.

My favorite (or one of my favorites) is the country ham. I adore country ham. If you have never had true country ham, you have to try it if you're ever in Kentucky. It's too salty for some people, but I love it as a special treat!

My other favorite is catfish. Served here with lemon butter and seasonings, homemade tartar sauce and hush puppies! Yummy!

This is a shot from the lobby of the lodge down to the restaurant on the second floor.

And this is from the 2nd floor up to the lobby (sorry for the blurriness).

The restaurant has this huge fireplace in the center. They had it decorated for Easter. When I was a little girl and my family would come here for summer vacation, they would have an organ in front of this fireplace and the organist would play during dinner.
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Patti's 1880's Settlement

As I mentioned earlier this week, last weekend we went down to Western KY for a short weekend get away. One of the requirements of being in WKY is a trip to Patti's in Grand Rivers, KY. We discovered Patti's about 12 years ago (I remember b/c my son had a pacifier then, which as you Mom's know is a way to bench mark trips, events, etc.) The kids loved it and we still do every time we visit. The service is always friendly, prompt and excellent. They do a great job of training the staff.

One of their trademarks is dessert, including this mile-high meringue pie.

A kid favorite is this friendly gentleman found in one of the doors marked "bathroom". My son Ben insisted we take a photo of him for this post.

Another trademark of Patti's is their incredible sauce and seasonings. My husband was picking out a few to bring home to grill with this summer.

Flower pot bread can be found at the gift shop to take home and bake, but it's also served at the table with every meal.

Here's a picture of our flower pot bread and salads. The bread is served with a great strawberry butter as well as traditional butter - yummy!

The restaurant is decorated in lots of flowers, twinkle lights and artwork. I tried to get a few shots of the flowers and decorations on the walls, but it was getting dark so they did not come out as clearly as I wanted.

This is the light over our table.

Mr. Rabbit greeted us at the front door of Patti's - isn't he cute! In addition to the restaurant, there are lots of shops, a playground and additional activities available to do before or after you eat.

Go to their website http://www.pattis-settlement.com/ to find out more information or get directions.

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