Day 2 the adventure continues.

Tonight I am writing from the Courtyard by Marriott in Gettysburg, PA. Drove 304 miles today. Left Zanesville, OH after a great breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Gassed up with 13.438 gallons at $3.899 per gallon. The price in Indiana at $4.099 was rediculous. Thanks to traffic and onstruction, did get into Gettysburg until 1:00.
I am sore and tired. On my last last visit, I walked the entire battlefield in a light rain. Today, not so much. Walked halfway down Cemetary Ridge and a bit at Little Round Top. The visitor center is new from what we visited in 97. Kind of thru us off our game plan. I hope the boys learned something.
Went in search of supper and dismounted at Appalachian Brewing Company. I wasn't hungry but everyone else ordered and I ordered something to go. We tried a few different beers. The mountain lager was very good. It was cold, crisp and light, very good after a day of trudging. Rob tried the Happy Trails, IPA then the Purist Pale Ale. The Hoppy Trails was a very good pale ale. The purist pale ale was a little too light and lacked a good hop flavor.

SO at 2 Am I have a cheeseburger and leftover chips and fries. One annoying thing I have noticed is that if you ask for hot sauce, you get tabasco. These places have different food, different beer but they all have tabasco sauce. What gives? Denny's, Cracker Barrel and the Appalachian Brewing Co all have tabasco. I love hot sauce, but I prefer a good cayenne to tabasco. I did manage to buy a bottle of Cracker Barrel's Bone Sucking Sauce, which is habanero based. Another bottle for my hot sauce collection. Go figure, I can buy it in the store but have it at my table. That blows. The brewing company had malt vinegar at every table but tabasco, time to get off the soap box.

Our goal for tomorrow is to visit another place here then road trip to Sharpsburg, MD to visit the battlefield at Antietam. Not sure where we will land tomorrow. Maybe another hotel or my brother's place in Alexandria, VA.

My ultimate goal is to stuff my face with fresh seafood. A man has to have a goal.

Hammer

Road Trip Day One

I am on the road headed East. Left Kahoka, MO this morning at 6 AM. Fueled up at $3.679 per gallon. Bought some drinks and hit the road. At Quincy, IL we got breakfast at McD's. All of the way thru Illinois we were in heavy rain. The temp dropped to 45 degrees. We headed on into Indiana. The rain stopped finally. We stopped at Crawfordsville for gas and lunch. Lunch was at Burger King. We fueled up again but this time at $4.099 per gallon, ouch! That was $67 gone fast.
After passing thru Columbus, OH, we had stop for a pit stop and grabbed a few drinks and beer.
Finally we landed in Zanesville, OH. It was 5:30 PM EST, so we moved up an hour. The time change was actually in Indiana. SO after 10.5 hours on the road and 609 miles later we have stopped for the day. Everyone else is in the pool and I am relaxing in the room with a cold one.

We are staying in the Baymont Inn and it seems pretty nice. Booked it on Hotels.com. If you plan your trip well in the early stages, you can decide where to stop before you leave and save some money on lodging. We came thru here in 97, so we knew Zanesville was where we would stop for the day.

Been a long day but glad to be stationary. We all have asstritis. Will probably order in a pizza for later. No new gastro adventures today. I did see a blimp headed north but couldn't read the name on it. I think I ate a whole head of celery today just snacking. Luckily I still have carrots, cauliflower and radishes.
I guess one note of importance is that as soon as we passed into Ohio, I started seeing signs for Skyline Chili. Cincinatti claims to be the chili capitol and Skyline is a brand I have seen on a few travel and cooking shows. I think I am going to save my chili for Ben's Chili Bowl in Washington DC.

And as bad as number 2 son was today, I don't think he needs any chili.

Tomorrow we head out aimed for Gettyburg, PA. We are going to tour the battlefield and look for interesting food to eat.

Talk to you later.

Glad to be noticed now and then.

I was in the grocery store prior to Memorial Day. A woman that worked there came up to me and asked me a question. She said some friends and family wanted her to make tequila lime chicken and she had no clue what it tastes like or how to make it. She said "you're into all that food stuff so I thought I would ask you." Granted I know who she is but had never really talked to her about food and cooking. I took it as a compliment.
I gave her a quick run down on the marinade and the use of cilantro and she seemed happy. I was in there today and asked about her chicken and she said it came out great and everyone loved it. I told her, "now you will be known for your tequila lime chicken." She said she would definitely be making it again.
Glad to help.

Best Food Sources for Antioxidants

Antioxidants are compounds found in food that are said to be very healthy for us. It is said that antioxidants protect our cell walls from damage caused by free radicals that are generated during digestion. You may hear all kinds of claims on TV and the internet that whatever product being sold is high in antioxidants. The last few years it has been claimed that blueberries were the best source for antioxidants.
According to Journal of Agricultural
and Food Chemistry the following are the top 20 best sources of antioxidants.
small red beans
wild blueberries
red kidney beans
pinto beans
cultivated blue berries
carnberries
cooked artichokes
blackberries
dried prunes
raspberries
strawberries
red delicious apples
granny smith apples
pecans
sweet cherries
black plums
cooked russet potatoes
black beans
plums
gala apples
We have always known that fruits and veggies were good for us. I guess here is another reason to include those foods in your diet. I drink green tea as well for antioxidant benefits.

Take on new food challenges! Whole Foods Market

This past weekend, we took the boys to the Ren Faire in Wentzville, MO. Before leaving the area we went to the Whole Foods Market in Town and Country off Clayton Road. The claim to fame for this food chain is natural and organic groceries. I was wowed upon first entering the store. The produce section was laid out right in front of me. I saw things you would never see around here. Fresh produce was stacked everywhere. There were artichokes, endives, daikon radishes, okra, baby bok choy, fresh herbs, fresh coconuts. Too many to mention them all here. I was in vegetable porn heaven. Next we went to the fresh seafood counter. They had a very good selection of fresh, not frozen, seafood.
The prices were a bit high, but I would expect that for fresh seafood. The meat and poultry counters were stuffed, all claiming to be organic and purchased locally. A shout out to Brian M. for explaining to us about air chilled chicken and why that processed is used. I will talk about that another time.
Needless to say I loved the place. After spending $185.00, we left with a good assortment of things we have never tried before. This seemed like a good time to experiment. Luckily we had a cooler in the van so everything stayed nice and cold. The following is a things we purchased because we wanted to try some new things.
Wild Chilean Sea Bass
Baby squid antipasti salad
salmon caviar
camenbert cheese
frozen swordfish steaks
greek stuffed grape leaves
miso and dashi for making miso soup
Schlafly's new American India Pale Ale
aged goat cheese
Italian espresso coffee.
Plus some other ingredients that we had tried before.
Last night for dinner we tried the sea bass, salmon caviar and camenbert cheese. I also made up some miso soup. The whole family had a great time trying these new foods and flavors. We still have more things in the fridge and freezer to try at a later date. All four of us tried everything. We try to get the boys to try everything atleast once.
So take on a challenge, be a grocery/food explorer. You might fine some new favorite things. Then again you may find things you can't stand and will never try again. Who knows, take a chance.

Cookie's Cafe Kahoka, MO

I wanted to take the family out for a nice Sunday lunch. Three out of four voted to go to Cookie's Cafe. We have had good food there before and was expecting the same thing today. That didn't happen. We arrived around 11:30 and the restaurant wasn't very busy. Skipping the buffet we ordered ala carte. The first problem was that they were out of chicken strips.
I went with the mushroom appetizer and the cheeseburger basket which includes fries and cole slaw. Things started with a bang because the mushrooms were ice cold in the middle and the batter was quite hard. Round 1 was undercooked mushrooms. Next came the main course of cheeseburger, fries and slaw. The waitressed served me a naked cheeseburger. I remembered that I ordered the basket but she didn't ask me what I wanted on it, and I missed it entirely. She asked my wife and son what they wanted on theirs. To compensate I applied tabasco and ketchup. The next "not surprising" was undercooked fries. The only thing overcooked was my cheeseburger. It was dry dry dry.
Next the waitress went to the salad bar and retrieved some cole slaw for me. It was served at room temperature and bland as hell. I guess it's ok to serve at that temperature if there is no mayo in the slaw. I had to jazz it up with salt and pepper.
So in conclusion, I paid $37 plus tip for our meal for 4. That meal included undercooked mushrooms and fries, an overcooked cheeseburger and bland, warm cole slaw. I was very disappointed, I always loved their burgers. I don't understand the rush to get the food out as the place was almost empty. Make it right then serve it, don't rush it out to an empty house. I will definitely think twice before I go back.

You can feed a family of 4 dinner for less than $8

It seems I have gotten into hoarding. These days, when I see a good sale, I stock up. This is especially true of canned goods and frozen meats. I have 2 freezers and try to keep them full. Part of that is buying meat on the hoof and having it processed, this includes beef, pork and lamb. SO far I have always saved money by buy by the half or whole. When shopping, I keep my out for good bargains on frozen food.
Recently I was at HyVee in Keokuk, IA. They had a sale on whole, skin on, frozen, wild caught, salmon filet for $3.99. I bought 4 of them.
So here is my menu for this evening's dinner.
Salmon filet $3.99
Mashed potatoes less than a $1 but we will say $1 for example
Canned mixed vegetables $0.75
So for $5.75 I have dinner for 4, granted this doesn't include spices or drinks or condiments. That aside, this is a fairly healthy meal that is inexpensive.