Bienviendos!

Bienviendos! That's what it says on the archway leading into the taqueria area of Los Amigos. I believe that means Welcome in Spanish. The place is a Mexican market and restaurant, very conveniently located on my route home from work. Los Amigos shares it's corner with a stoplight. I like to play a little game with myself. It's called If it's a red light, I have to stop. Sometimes I slow down on purpose. Tacos are fairly hefty and at just $1.50 a piece, you can't go wrong. This time I chose carnitas and el pastor. Perhaps a little too much cilantro, but delicious none the less.

Shits & Giggles...literally

The Marathon gas station by my house has a brand new rack of Marinela products. Too many options to choose from. I settled on these Barritas. I figure if it all goes well, I can return and try some of the other options another time. You can get these in various flavors like pineapple or guava. Hmmmm, interesting. I opted for Strawberry..or shall I say Fresa. I must admit, I was sorta giggling with excitement to see what these tasted like. That excitement lasted about one bite. Tastes like a shittier version of Strawberry Newtons. Except that the newton part is much more stale and crumbly and the fresa part is some weird texture that I'm having a hard time describing. Almost gummy wormish, but easier to bite through. Ahhh, I'm not even sure that's it. Oh well, all you need to know is, it aint that good. A $1.29 for four of these little turds? I choked down two and about 10 minutes later paid the price for it; if you know what I mean. I had to make sure, so I ate the other two several hours later. Same results. In fact, I'm sick just thinking about them as I write this. Not sure I'll hit up the Marinela rack again anytime soon.

Carbs!

Fuck it, carbs don't count on the weekends right? One look at me and you know I've never been all that worried about that shit anyway. Angel hair spaghetti and Texas Toast. I did use a canned sauce as a base for this, but I added several other ingredients: Lean ground beef with sauteed green pepper, red onion, garlic and mushrooms (sound familiar?) Seasoned with garlic salt and an Italian herb mix. A good base for some Michelob Lights!

Most Important Meal Of The Day

This weekend I decided to skip going out for food and cook all my meals at home. I rarely get a chance to make breakfast these days, so I really took my time cheffing up this plate of grub. Yellow potatoes, garlic, green pepper and red onion, fried in olive oil, with basil and a Greek seasoning mix. Eggs scrambled with lightly sauteed green pepper, mushrooms and fresh tomato. Whole wheat toast with peanut butter. Wash it all down with a giant glass of chocolate milk. First meal of the day...3pm.

Somebody Else's Leftovers

I love leftovers. I love them even more when they aren't my own. That usually means I didn't have to pay for it. A friend from work is famous for giving me her leftovers. I'm famous for eating them. Half a cheeseburger and some fries from Old Chicago. Not sure about any place that serves shredded lettuce on a burger, but what the hell; it's free and I'm hungry. Actually a pretty deec burger. Cooked to medium would be my guess. Fries aint bad either. I still try not to make a habit of eating at places likes this though. However, feel free to keep those leftovers commin'. "You gonna finish that.?"

Cheap Thrills

Stopped by Walgreens the other night to pick up some meds. I was extremely hungry,(What else is new, right?) so I decided to peruse the food items. Deerfield Farms, which I believe is brand-exclusive to Walgreens, produces this little gem. "Wow! Only $1." Wow, indeed. As in, "Wow, that can't be good." I'm a sucker for novelty stuff like this. It's only a dollar and microwavable to boot! What the hell; ole' Iron Gut O'Brien will give it a shot.

Okay, (or should I say okey-dokey) I'll have some of these too. Every good microwavable,one dollar pizza needs a quality side item right? Besides I need something to snack on while the delicious 'za is "baking."

Gosh, why do they put so much cheese on the pizza? Deerfield farms really are way to generous with their toppings. Seriously though, one bite is all it takes and I'm hooked. Hooked on throwing this shit in the trash. Crust sticks to the packaging. O-ke-doke is overwhelmingly salty. It melts in your mouth, leaving only an orange, powdery substance packing your molers and a nice layer of the same on the roof of your mouth. Says it's made with real cheese. I'm not so sure about that. White trash diner at it's finest. My stomach hurts.

Breakfast For Dinner

Not sure what I should do for dinner, I decided to have breakfast. Check out this concoction. Toasted everything bagel, peanut butter, honey, scrambled egg, mozzarella, Tabasco. Crazy taste sensations. I impressed myself. I had to eat it with a knife and fork.

Muy Bueno

I was so excited, I started to eat this before snapping a pic. Somewhere on the west side of Chicago. Not sure what this was. I ordered off of the picture in the menu. I was the only gringo in the whole place. It was a very large room with family style seating. I think I was the only one by myself as well. All the senoritas were giggling about me. Marinated chicken, rice beans, lettuce, tomatoe, avacado, peppers, corn tortillas. So goooooood. I couldn't finish it all. That's saying something about portion size, when I can't finish. I repeat, so gooooooood.

Slice of Life

Pizza; one of my favorite food groups. Don't remeber the name of the place. Somewhere near DePaul University, in Chicago. Ironically it's a "New York" style slice. Sausage. My friends and I always refer to window pizza as the Slice of Life. This was no ordinary window slice. This was fucking delicious. Snuck some pink lemonade "by accident" into my water glass.

Hot Dog Days!!!

Two Chicago Dogs, fries and Barq's Root Beer. Hoagie Hut, Chicago, IL. Pretty decent. I always hold the relish. Doesn't that officially make it not a Chicago Dog?

Scramble

A little something I whipped up for breakfast before an 8 hour bus ride to Chicago. Cackleberries and wheat toast. Potatoes, garlic, and jalepenos; all from my mothers garden, cooked in olive oil. Sprinkle of basil and Greek seasoning. Splash of Tobasco. Fuel.

Bacon

On a camping trip this fall, myself and 6 others devoured 2 cartons of eggs, a bag of potatoes and this mountain: 4 pounds of bacon. It was glorious. One would think that after ingesting 10.666 ounces of bacon in one sitting, you'd never want to touch the stuff again. Not true. It was just the opposite. I found myself craving it in the weeks to follow. In fact, the more I look at this picture now, the more I wish I could eat it.