Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Well here it is in the very, very early morning of one of my favorite holidays--Thanksgiving. For me this holiday is all about the 4 F's--food, family, fun and football! But for all of this fun it is still a holiday which means some degree of planning and stress. Lucky for me not too much stress since I've got my mom helping me out (as usual), plus my new sister-in-law is being inducted into the holiday festivities by us making her help cook...LOL!!

We decided a couple of years ago that Thanksgiving would be at my house and Christmas would be at my mom's house, so that not one person is responsible for setting up all of the holiday dinner plans. Besides that, we've always split what needs to be done between the two of us--one person makes the ham, the other makes the turkey, and so on and so forth. So last Sunday of all days we decided to go to Wal-Mart to get our holiday groceries. All I can say is ugh....

Upside to all of this craziness is the food and the family time. I love getting together with my family on a holiday...nothing is better. Sometimes my parents drive me nuts but my little brother is there for me so we can roll our eyes at eachother and just laugh. Now I've got a new sister-in-law that I get to induct into the family and all of this craziness, which is so much fun. She's not had much experience in cooking for large groups so this will be fun! Cooking for larger parties is all about timing--as long as you know what has to be done by when then you can plan accordingly. It may sound easy but it kills me how many people don't understand that!

The one thing that I know that will be awesome every year is the football. Being a Texas girl I very much look forward to watching the Dallas Cowboys play every Thanksgiving. They are my favorite team and it is the one day of the year every year that I always know they will be playing...you can take the girl out of Texas but you can't take away her Cowboys!!

So to all of you out there I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! Be sure to enjoy all of your food, family, fun and of course Dallas Cowboys Football!!

Restaurant Review -- Panda Express

So today I had some errands to run and my mom decided to go with me and my daughter. It was getting to be lunchtime and my mom was hungry, but Lilly and I not so much. Nonetheless we decided to get something quick to eat. We had every intention of going to Quiznos, but when we got out of the truck a very yummy smell seemed to be coming out of the Panda Express that is just a few doors down. Since neither of us had ever been there, we decided to check it out.

We walk inside and the atmosphere is very nice--food smells good, everything looks clean, and the decorations are very appropriate. As my daughter would put it, "Look mommy, they have those same things from Kung Fu Panda!" meaning the paper lanterns. We grab a menu and sit down to check it out.

To me they didn't seem to really have a whole lot to choose from in the way of actual entrees. I wasn't expecting as many choices as an actual Chinese takeout restaurant, but I was expecting more than what I saw. I did like how they had a children's deal that offered smaller portions of the regular entrees, along with a side, a drink, and a cookie. My mother and I opted to share a meal since I wasn't really that hungry. We chose to try the Beijing Beef and my daughter got the String Bean Chicken Breast. Now according to the menu out Beijing Beef was supposed to be both sweet and spicy. To me, it wasn't sweet and it wasn't at all spicy. Now, I know I can handle a lot of heat--thanks to years of taste-testing hot sauce for my dad--but I didn't even detect a hint of heat. Many times when I order spicy food one of two things happens: 1) there is heat but no flavor, or 2) there is flavor and not enough heat. In this case, I didn't get either flavor or heat. The meat just tasted kind of blah...

Now I tried some of Lilly's green beans and they had good flavor, and as in many Asian dishes, the green beans were nice and crunchy. Lilly seemed to be very happy with her meal. I on the other hand, was less than impressed. I'm the kind of person that is willing to pay a little more for a better product, especially when it comes to food. I was so unimpressed I doubt I will be going back. I think I'll just stick with going to the awesome Chinese takeout place down the street from my house :-)

All food is not created equal

Okay, so yes, I know that there are some things in life that I do that can qualify me as spoiled. I've never really cared too much about brand name clothing--for me, if I like it then I'll buy it, and usually only stuff that's on sale :-) But growing up I've always been very particular concerning what brand food items I eat.

For example, I don't like Hunt's brand ketchup or any other generic, I only buy Heinz. Other things I'm picky about include but are not limited to the following: French's Mustard, Smuckers Preserves, Jif peanut butter, Captain Crunch, etc. I don't buy knock off cereals just because they're cheaper. I'm sorry, but to me, if I'm going to be eating it I want to enjoy it. I love eating good food and I'm not about to cheap out on something cheaper when the taste is sub par.

There have been some things that over my almost 30 years I've been willing to buy cheaper versions of, like for example, sugar. I know, not a huge step, but a step nonetheless. So the other day I was out of honey and was looking around at the grocery store and decided to get a generic brand of honey. I figured my grocery store has some pretty good stuff concerning their brand, so why not try it right?

How wrong was I!! One morning I was all ready to relax with a nice cup of hot chamomile tea and honey and chill on my couch. So I make my tea as usual and add my new generic honey. I sit down on the couch and take a sip of my tea and I think....yuck! That cheap honey has ruined my tea! Now it may seem trivial to some, but for someone who thoroughly enjoys food, this was highly disappointing. My husband could see by the look on my face that this bottle of honey wasn't going to get used by me any more.

For some things in life, brand doesn't matter. But in the ways of food, cheaper doesn't always equate to similar in taste or quality. Sometimes cheap is just cheap.