Game Day Eats

With a big game like the Super Bowl on, you’ve got to have good eats. Even if my party is just my dad and me! (Though the rest of the family will likely be in the kitchen and snacking on what my dad and I prepare.)

So here’s my game day menu:

• honey bbq chicken wings
• pigs in a blanket
• sliced bell pepper, carrot sticks, broccoli florets, and sliced cucumber-or-tortilla chips to dip in:
• garlic hummus, guacamole, salsa, or honey mustard dressing
• chex mix
• shrimp with cocktail sauce
• sliced deli meats (salami, prosciutto, etc.)
• iced tea

Dad also bought ribs to make after the game for everyone, and Grandma made potato salad (which I can’t eat, what with the sour cream she uses). With this spread, it will be quite a game day. Are you watching the game? Just the commercials? What’s going to be in your spread?

My favorite little Thai place

If you live near Forest Grove, OR, you should make the drive out to Pac Thai. I was lucky enough to be introduced to Pac Thai by a good friend in 2012. Since, it’s become an addiction. A delicious, delicious addiction.

One of the things that I love most about Pac Thai is the staff. It’s a family owned restaurant in the truest sense. Besides the owners, the others who work there are warm and friendly, remembering regulars and very helpful to newbies. PT is actually the first place that I feel I have achieved regular status. There is one girl who, in the nicest way, gives me a hard time when I order the same thing every time she waits my table. What’s my usual?

Amazing on a plate. My mouth is watering just looking at this photo. Not kidding.

Pad Thai. Does that not look delicious? Aren’t you hungry now? I go back and forth between wanting it with shrimp or chicken. I have also enjoyed the ginger lover (first a little tongue-in-cheek after telling one of my best friends–who happens to be ginger–about the dish), and broccoli with oyster sauce. The one thing that I have yet to try is the curry. I have heard nothing but raves about it, but for some reason (okay, I’m a little scared of how spicy it might be) I haven’t brought myself to do it yet. Part of it is that I am a huge sucker for noodle dishes. It is what I love most about Asian cuisines. Noodles in so many sauces, and almost none of them dairy based! Worry free eating! But I digress.

What also makes PT a fun place to eat is the local community. If you don’t know, Forest Grove is a small place. It has that lovely small town feel. So every time you go in, it’s a little like stopping into a local diner, seeing familiar faces (even if you don’t know their names) and for most of the year, students of the nearby Pacific University (my alma mater–a little aside: I love that I can say that now! I graduated! Ok, I’m done.). It just a fun place to go with friends and hang out, chat over some really good food.

What do you eat when the power goes out?

A couple of nights ago, our neighborhood lost power at about 5:30. We called and were told that it was expected back on at 7:45. Well, that put a skewer through any cooking we might have done for dinner. When our power goes out, not only is the microwave out of service, so is our entire range, which is a gas appliance but has an electronic starter. It was pointed out that we could have barbecued, but now that it’s officially fall it’s a bit chilly out in the evenings and it became clear that barbecuing was not going to happen.

So what do you eat when the power goes out and you can’t cook?

Shrimp California rolls!