I have NEVER in my life been to a place as dirty and as disgusting as this place. It smelled like dust and mold. It had fake palm trees and vines with four inch layers of dust on them. The carpet had to be original because it was stained, duck taped, and filthy. I wanted to leave the second we walked in, but we had been promising the kids this place for a week. Luckily, Brayden slept in the stroller almost the entire time because I would have died if I would have had to walk around with him and possible have him touch something. In fact, it was so disgusting, that when he did wake up I fed him in the car instead of sitting on any seating apparatus they had in the building. I also changed his diaper in the trunk of my car. I am sure his poor little tushie was cold, but it was lesser of the two evils. I was afraid he would get a skin rash from any changing table that they provided. I mean this place was bad, like really bad. Paul wanted to burn the kids' clothes when we got home, and he was 100% serious. Instead, we just made them change into new clothes the second we walked in the door.I also followed them around like the hand sanitizer police the entire time we were there. We didn't allow them to go on the bouncy house or the playground. Those reeked of sweaty feet and dust all rolled into one. Here a few pictures of this gem of a place.
It really is quite the phenomenon though and one that Maggie, Dianna, and I encounter a lot when on play dates. It seems that the places that cause the parents the most stress seem to be the same places that the kids cannot get enough of. Today was a love-hate situation. In that, Peyton and Austin LOVED it, and Paul and I HATED it. Peyton rode the roller coaster like 15 times. Austin never got off the bumper cars. They had a blast playing old school arcade games that they have certainly never seen at Chuck E Cheese. Paul and I had to tell ourselves several times to relax about the dirt. The kids never knew how we felt about the place because, though it wasn't easy, we rode the rides with them and smiled. We saw how much fun they were having and how oblivious they were to the conditions surrounding them and decided to let them enjoy their adolescent naivety. Because, let's face it, soon enough they will be grown and want nothing to do with us on a Sunday afternoon. So, we sucked it up and had a great time with our kids at the most shady place on earth.
We finally got them out of there by bribing them with a treat. We had passed a brand new Marianos about three minutes from the amusement park, so we told them they could split something from the bakery. That's all we needed to say to get them running towards the door. I was very excited too because there were several things I needed for the week from Marianos anyway. The kids chose a huge cupcake with a ridiculous amount of frosting and smiled the entire time while stuffing it in their little faces. Then we grabbed a few groceries and headed home to finish making the soup.
So even though our activity for the day was less than ideal for Paul and I, we did eat some incredible food.
Breakfast: I had bacon and eggs and a cup of coffee. Paul made himself and the kids chocolate chip pancakes to go with their eggs and bacon. I reserved the bacon grease for the chicken soup because that is what the recipe suggests coking the onion and garlic in.
Lunch: We ate at Rex's Italian Foods which was featured on DDD. It is an Italian market/deli with several small bistro tables so you can dine in. I got the Guy Fieri special which is an Italian sausage with caramelized onions and mustard on a toasted hoagie. I told them to keep the hoagie. It was a great tasting sausage and the onions were mouthwatering. The kids each had a slice of pizza which they thoroughly enjoyed. Paul had their specialty sandwich that was featured on the show. It is called a schiacciata. There were several varieties but he chose the ham, pepperoni, peppers and cheese schiacciata. It was served hot, and he said it was amazing. He also picked out a massive muffaletta sandwich to take to work tomorrow. All the food was absolutely delicious. Their menu is huge and they make everything fresh every morning. It all looked soooo good. They had arancini balls as big as baseballs. I am actually glad that I am on Paleo because I had very few options. If I had been able to order anything, I would have never been able to decide. If you are ever in the area, I strongly suggest you check it out! You will not be disappointed.
Dinner: I made the stock last night using the leftover carcass. So today when we got home, I just had to cut the veggies and skim the fat off of the cold stock. I gagged. The stock turned into a gelatin. It jiggled like a bowl full of jelly, but clearly was not jelly. I heated the stock up before adding it to the soup pot. I let it simmer for about an hour until the veggies were tender. I also had a salad with fruit on top with a homemade vinaigrette. I was not thrilled by the vinaigrette in comparison to the balsamic version I made the other night. This one had very little taste. I amy try to add more mustard to the rest of it and try it again. Paul had the rest of his sandwich from lunch with his soup and the kids had soup and their leftover pizza. The soup was delicious. It had excellent flavor and the veggies were cooked perfectly. Can't wait for lunch tomorrow so I can finish off this batch. Here are a few pics from the process:
The stock the night before
The recipe says to put a metal strainer on top to help skim the fat. Weird, but it worked.
The stock recipe
The cool, congealed stock
The cooled bacon grease
The final product...YUM!
Everyday Vinaigrette
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup evoo
2 tablespoons fresh OJ
1 tablespoon dried parsley
* Whisk all ingredients together. Yields 5-6 servings
My salad had blood orange segments, diced green apple, crasins, bacon, and cucumber.
Chicken Soup recipe:
Sauté 1 chopped onion and 3 diced garlic cloves in 2 tablespoons of bacon grease. Then add 4 cups carrots, 4 cups celery and already cooked shredded chicken. Pour in stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for at least 1 hour.
Snack: At Marianos, I wasn't even tempted by the bakery. Instead I was craving juice, so I ordered a pineapple orange fresh squeezed juice from the juice bar. It was exactly what I wanted and totally satisfied my sweet tooth. I also had a few chocolate chips today. To be honest, haven't even thought about this week's menu yet. I will just look at what I bought from Marianos today and try to work around those items. Tomorrow is weigh in day; hopefully, the scale will play nice. If not, no biggie because after a week of clean eating, I feel AWESOME!!
XOXO
No comments:
Post a Comment