Filed under: Random Foodie Thoughts | Tags: food, places to eat in Destin, restaurant review, Restaurants, seafood, the shrimp basket, travel
A half a dozen times, we have driven to the shore. A half a dozen times, we have eaten at the Shrimp Basket. A half a dozen times, I have ordered the crawfish platter. A half a dozen times, it has been the best meal ever.
Today, the waitress suggested that I try something new. I laughed, and then my tone turned serious as I said:
“Um. No.”
Why mess with success? I am all for branching out and trying new things. It is one of the things I like about myself. But this? This meal is not to be messed with.
My husband and I first ate it by mistake. We were at the beach in Gulf Shores for a short trip, when one night we got hungry really late. We drove the short trip from our hotel to the first place we found that looked good-The Shrimp Basket. I ordered the crawfish basket while he ordered something else, and we took our food to go and ate it on the balcony overlooking the gulf at our hotel. It was one of our favorite moments of the trip.
Coincidently, nine months later our first child was born. That doesn’t have anything to do with this meal. It’s just a nice part of the story.
There won’t be any such surprises on this trip, we can hope.
We did try something new for our appetizer. We ordered a dozen steamed oysters. Now, I lova some oysters, but these were not my favorite. The last time we ate at the Shrimp Basket, the Bama oysters were not my favorite then. Today they were flavored weirdly and were a little bland.
That’s okay, though, because our entrees were next.
My crawfish platter was as good as ever. The etoufee is to die for, and the crawfish tails are better here than anywhere else.
Mr. Opinionated had the fried basket with crawfish, oysters, and crab claws.
Miss Helper had the crawfish.
Mr. Picky had the grilled cheese. But-he did try a crab claw and HE LIKED IT!
He gets fifty cents for trying one.
We’ll try anything to get him to try something new-except change my order at The Shrimp Basket. I can’t wait for visit #7.
Filed under: Random Foodie Thoughts | Tags: food, life, limeades for learning, Restaurants, school, Sonic
Try not to be jealous, but my diet lately has consisted mainly of food from Sonic.
I am not eating there exclusively because I need to gain wait or because I have low cholesterol. I wish.
Actually, I am eating the tater tots, cheeseburgers, and breakfast burritos for a reason.
I am eating at Sonic because of their Limeades for Learning campaign to benefit public schools-my public school to be more specific. Every day for a month or so in the fall, Sonic lets school teachers like me participate in LforL to get equipment for classrooms. Classrooms get free stuff when people vote daily using their email addresses or special codes that are found on Sonic bags. It is easy.
My students and I have participated for four years. Over that time, we have received four iPods for our classroom, which is phenomenal. There is no way I would have been able to provide iPods otherwise. Through LforL, they were free.
We are trying to win again this year. Although it is not as easy to win as it once was, it is still fun to try.
And it is fun to eat all this food, even though it is mostly terrible for me. I won’t ask you to join me in eating Sonic daily, nor will I ask you to vote for my project. I just hope you take the time to go online at limeadesforlearning.com and vote for somebody’s project, because each of those projects represents a need of a kid in a classroom in America.
And, if you want to eat at Sonic for the code to help a kid out, I highly recommend the cheesecake bites.
Filed under: Food Made by Other Food Folks, Random Foodie Thoughts | Tags: food, fun with kids, hibachi restaurants, life, Restaurants
This weekend, some good friends of ours invited us to eat with them at our local Japanese restaurant.
Hibachi, anyone? Yes, please.
There were four adults and four kids. The oldest kid is eight, and the youngest is five. We sat around the big, hot hibachi grill while a Japanese guy speaking broken English named Neil made massive spurts of fire and flung rice at us while all four kids screamed, ducked, and laughed uncontrollably.
If you haven’t taken four elementary school kids to hibachi, you haven’t lived.
It was fun and delicious. Now, I must figure out how to fling rice and make dinner that much fun at home.
Or adopt Neil. One or the other.
The Opinionated Foodie: The Love (or Not) of Food and Everything That Goes with It 