Dining Out - Sort of, and then at Home + Excitement!

Day 332 of self-isolation!  While the plague continues, at least now there is some hope that the end, or some version of the end, is in sight.  Both Laurie and I are now on lists for the vaccine.  In the meantime however, one of Laurie’s sisters and her husband have tested positive for Covid-19.  While her sister is asymptomatic, her sister’s husband is in the hospital.  He seems to be doing better than when he was first admitted…good new is, they both had their first jabs a week earlier.

As for our life here in East Tennessee, we actually went out for dinner the other day! (Sort of)

Perhaps picking up food at the drive-up window is just another form of take-out.  But is it really take-out when you consume the food in the restaurant’s parking lot?

In any case, we decided that it was time to visit Popeye’s to check out their much acclaimed spicy chicken sandwich.  Why haven’t we done this before?  Well, depending on the route taken, it’s a 45 minute (+/-) or about 28 miles one way from our house to the nearest Popeye’s in Maryville Tennessee.

Popeye’s French fries are seasoned and they are at least a touch above average for fast food fries.  This was a large order that we shared…

This is Popeye’s famous and much hyped spicy chicken sandwich… Guess what?!  It lived up to its reputation!  Sorry Chick-fil-a, now you are only #2 when it comes to spicy chicken sandwiches.  Popeye’s sandwich consists of a real hunk of moist fried chicken, large enough that we could have and should have skipped the French fries.  The flavor was excellent and the sandwich wasn’t too spicy…just right for Laurie. 

Note: We have also tried both Wendy’s and Hardee’s spicy chicken sandwiches.  Wendy’s was the better of these two but neither version can come close to measuring up to Chick-fil-a’s product, much less the great sandwich that Popeye’s offers.

As long as we’d made the 1.5 hour round trip to Popeye’s, we’d decided to pick up some spicy chicken and some coleslaw for another meal.  We also reheated a few leftover fries.  The pieces of chicken aren’t as large as those from KFC but on the positive side, they are much less heavily breaded than KFC’s.  I would have liked the chicken better if they were a bit spicier but they were still very tasty…  Laurie liked the coleslaw, but me not so much.

Perhaps it is our imagination but the Popeye’s chicken from Maryville Tennessee isn’t close to as spicy as the version we used to buy at a Popeye’s store in Skokie Illinois.  It’s possible that it’s been toned down for this market…

In the pandemic, we’re always looking for some new prepared or frozen food item to try… In this case it was P.F. Chang’s Kung Pao Cauliflower – described as crispy tempura-battered cauliflower with spicy Kung Pao Sauce.  We both like cauliflower and we like spicy Kung Pao sauce…

We have given this appetizer a 6 out of 10…ok but not great.  We followed the instructions but the cauliflower was a little too soft for us when it was done in the oven.  Laurie thought that it had decent flavor but I was on the fence in that regard.  The biggest problem was the size of the hunks of cauliflower.  Note how nice and similar the cauliflower pieces are on the box.  In reality, the pieces varied from tiny to very large.  That probably impacted both the texture and the flavor of the finished product.

I really like pancakes.  On the other hand, Laurie really doesn’t like pancakes!  So, pancakes are a rarity at our house… However, recently Laurie’s sister Bonnie told her about a great pancake recipe that she found that makes “The Best-Ever Fluffy Pancakes”.  Laurie got the recipe and determined to give pancakes another try…

As you can see, the pancake batter was really thick.  The recipe is as follows:

2 cups of all-purpose flour, ¼ cup of sugar, 1 tbs. of baking powder, 2 tsp of baking soda, 1 tsp. of kosher salt, 2 cups of buttermilk, 1.25 sticks of melted butter plus vegetable oil for the skillet, 2 large eggs and pure maple syrup.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt, then set it aside.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter and the eggs.  Then pour the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture and stir together until well combined.  Let the batter stand for 20 to 30 minutes.  It will begin to get fluffy.

So all that batter turned into this luscious stack of pancakes!  We made a lot and kept them warm in the oven until we had used up all of the batter.  I did freeze some for a future breakfast or two...

To cook the pancakes, we heated our skillet over medium-high heat until it was hot.  When it was hot enough, we poured a ¼ cup of batter per pancake on the pan…ensuring that they didn’t touch.  As instructed, we cooked them until lightly browned on both sides.  A couple of them were a bit darker than called for but that was due to my lack of practice in cooking pancakes after many, many years.

Can you guess whose plate of pancakes was mine and which one was Laurie’s?  We both have our quirks when it comes to eating pancakes. 

Have you guessed which plate was mine vs. Laurie’s?  Hers was the neat plate with the sausage, the pancakes with syrup and the blueberries on the side.  She doesn’t like her fruit on top of her pancakes.  On the other hand, I do like my blueberries on top but you might have noticed that there isn’t any syrup on my pancakes.  That was because, I don’t like syrup mixed with my sausage and I wanted to take a photo before moving my sausage to another plate.  Humans’ are strange aren’t we!

In conclusion, Laurie did like these fluffy pancakes and has said that she’d do it again!  It’s a win for yours truly…

…and now for some excitement!  Well, at least it was excitement for us.  As we cruised along US Hwy. 321 through nearby Lenoir City a few days ago, Laurie spotted a sign by a construction site that really grabbed our attention.  It announced that Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers was coming to town!  Of all the fast food or fast casual burger joints, Freddy’s is far and away our favorite, even beating out our old favorite, Steak n’ Shake.

We first discovered Freddy’s when we were visiting our family in Omaha Nebraska.  To show readers what a Freddy’s looks like, I borrowed the photo of a Freddy's location from the Internet.  At the end of 2020, Freddy’s had grown to over 380 stores across 30 States.

In the very near future, we’ll be able to treat ourselves to Freddy’s via the drive-thru window and it will be only about 15 miles and 25 minutes from home.  Previously, we had to drive 43 miles/53 minutes to Oak Ridge or 50 miles to Chapman Highway in south Knoxville!  Winner, Winner, Burger Dinner! 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Stay Safe and Take Care, Big Daddy Dave