Sneaky Cat!

This is our little Rogue, and she clearly knows a good beer.  :)

As Promised...Campus Biryani

Now, before I get into the details of our dinner, I want to let everyone know about campusfood.com.  This site provides with a list of restaurants, their services, and their menus and allows you to order online through their site.  It's really convenient since you can find all the restaurants you want in one place.  You can save your address here too, so you don't have to always enter it for every delivery.  The only down side to this site is it tends to run kind of slow, especially when you try to get coupons.  

Anyways, the other night we ordered Campus Biryani gyros for delivery.  We have ordered from here once before and liked it enough to order again.  When we're looking for a quick delivery dinner we usually end up with pizza, burritos, or Chinese.  The great thing about Biryani is that it provides a good change from normal delivery or take out food.

When I entered the order on campusfood.com they gave an estimated wait time of 45 minutes.  The food ended up taking about an hour to get to us, which was disappointing to say the least.  The gyros came hot which was awesome, but the fries probably would have been better if we didn't get the delivery.  Since they sat in the Styrofoam container they got...I guess soggy(but not greasy) is the only way to describe it. They were seasoned really well, but were no longer crispy.

The gyro itself was good.  The meat was delicious and seasoned well, but I almost thought there was a little too much meat in comparison to the other toppings, especially the sauce!!!!  I love the usual cucumber sauce atop my gyro, but this gyro was definitely lacking.  The missing sauce ultimately led to the meat overpowering the dish.  If I were ordering again, I would ask for extra sauce for sure.

The last time we ordered from here, we also got an order of baklava.  It was greasy and tasteless!!  If a dessert is going to use that much butter it better taste good.  This we didn't even finish.

Mobile

Just downloaded the blogger app for my phone, this should be interesting. 

So, as my mobile test I'll let you guys see what we made for dinner tonight after venturing out to Woodman's in the crazy weather .

Ribeye, with red potatoes and salad.

The ribeye was simply pan fried with some garlic, salt, pepper and tiger sauce.  Potatoes were boiled, drained, and seasoned with garlic, butter, salt, pepper, and rosemary.  Salad is simple. Romaine, tomatoes, parmesan cheese, oil, and balsamic vinegar.  Yummy!

The hubby loves to dip his steak in sour cream so I added a little of the tiger sauce (which is a really spicy hot sauce) to it and it turned out pretty good...kinda sweet tasting with a kick.

We love cooking steak and trying new things with it.  If you know any good marinades let us know, I'll try them out and let you know what I think.

The Ultimate Snack

POPCORN!!!!   I made this batch last night and it was delicious like always!

Popcorn has always been the favorite snack for my family and I.  We grew up making it all the time...always homemade of course.  Growing up we made it on the stove in what was solely the popcorn pot.  A little oil to cover the bottom, throw the seeds in and keep it covered and moving until it stops popping.  After dumping it into what was solely the popcorn bowl (this is a sensitive subject) the butter was always melted immediately in the same pot and then drizzled over the delicious kernels.  To finish it off, we added some salt, tossed, and repeated until perfection had been reached.

This was typical popcorn in our house, and the tradition continues, but this time with a stir crazy instead of a popcorn pot.  And still the same bowl, for me anyways, since I kind of "inherited" it from my dad.  And by inherited I of course mean begged for it. If you don't have a stir crazy, get one because they are super convenient and it still has the same homemade flavor.  Also, salt and butter sometimes just isn't enough.  You need to change it up once in a while.  Soooo.....

My all time favorite popcorn has......real butter, salt, and fresh lemon squeezed over it.

AMAZING!

Other favorites among my family..

Sugar
Brewer's Yeast
Parmesan Cheese
Seasoning Salt

Give them a try!!

Oh, and PS.  Be sure to use White Popcorn.  Not that yellow stuff.

Saved by The Market Basket

Living five blocks from my state's capital sure has its perks.  The capital square is event central and I love being in the thick of things.  The downside however, is the lack of affordable groceries close by.  So, my grocery shopping didn't go as planned today and has been hereby postponed until tomorrow.

That however doesn't solve the issue of having no food for tonight.

Solution:  I found a lone pork chop in the freezer that I grilled up with a little salt, pepper, and coriander.  I ate it with BBQ sauce.....

It was food.  For me anyways, but when the hubby got home from work it was a different story and like many nights before we found ourselves being saved by The Market Basket.   

Located on East Mifflin St. near the capital The Market Basket is a small grocery store that has all the necessities for the off campus college crowd.  It is similar to a convenience store or an open pantry, but has much more of a neighborhood feel.  So, after a walk to the capital to check out the mobs of protesters we headed down to get Mr. Low some dinner.  We ended up getting soup for his dinner. We also got butter so I can make popcorn, donuts for breakfast in the morning and a Diet Pepsi.

For any college students east of the capital that don't know about this place make sure you check it out.  It's a bit pricey, but super convenient and will save you in a bind.  They're open until 11pm which  is of course awesome and the people that work there are always friendly.  $5 minimum to use a credit card though, so keep that in mind. 

Some necessities they carry:

Milk

Eggs

Fresh fruit and veggies

Tampons

Toilet Paper

Snacks

and the most important necessity .. Wine :)

Happy Shopping!

Time to Shop!

We have barely any edible food in our house. Last night we ordered take-out from Campus Biryani, and it was an ok experience considering "campus" in the name. More to come on that later though. For now, it's time to go shopping so I can show you guys some of our home cooking. Stay tuned for some pics, recipes and a review of Campus Biryani!

Madison's Best Late Night Pizza!

Ian's, I dub you, best late night pizza in Madison. Open until bar time, Ian's gives the University crowd the fourth meal fix they need after a Thirsty Thursday kind of day. Offering pizza by the slice covered in any topping you could think of, Ian's caters to all pizza lovers.

In the picture above you can see me chowing down on a slice of taco pizza...mmmmm (Picture taken by my brother-in-law Adam Roskom, check out his photography!). Taco pizza! you say? Sounds crazy, but that's a normal slice compared to others they serve. Ian's has a large variety of specialty pizzas and seems to have something new every time I stop by.

They are best known for their mac-n-cheese pizza, which is covered in elbow macaroni and lots of good Wisconsin cheese. My husband's favorite is the BBQ steak and fries pizza. Yes, I said fries on pizza. Yum! You can also find, chicken pot pie pizza, Chili Cheese Frito pizza, gyro pizza, and so much more. All are seasoned perfectly and the crust is amazing. It is soft, but crispy and there's just enough of it.

The atmosphere at Ian's is great too. Chill for a quick lunch in the afternoon, and rowdy on a Saturday night. Prepare to wait in line for a bit if you get there around 1am on a weekend as it will be full of college students looking for an after midnight snack. In Madison there are two locations, one on Frances St. and one on State. I prefer the State St. location myself as it tends to be a little less crowded.

Whether you're a college kid, or not, Ian's offers a fun and tasty meal. Next time you're in town for say a Badger game, farmers market, or stroll around town, make sure you stop and have a slice!

Hello Wisconsin!

As this is my first post I would love to give you some insight to my vision for this blog. My favorite thing about food is its variety, and I would love to share my experiences with this variety with all of you. Also, as a Wisconsin native, I would like to introduce those who are not, into some of our all time Sconnie favorites.

I am amazed by the way a single food can be prepared. Grilled chicken, roasted chicken, fried chicken, chicken soup, chicken salad, chicken pie....... and on and on and on. On top of that each way of cooking can be changed, transformed, and tweeked by adding more of this, less of that, pair it with pasta, potatoes, rice, veggies, top it with gravy, glaze, salsa etc. Every single combination has a completely different taste, smell, and texture, and leaves me with a different feeling inside. This is why I'm always up for trying new foods, even if they scare me at first.

Growing up in Wisconsin gave my family its set of traditional foods. Some delicious like cottage cheese pancakes, and tater tot casserole, and some not so yummy like sauerkraut noodles, and pickled herring. Ulgh...

Every family has their own traditions passed down from their parents' parents' parents' and I'm sure many have been tweeked as I mentioned before. My intention is to share some of my favorite meals, new inventions, and my opinion of the best and not so great places to dine out.

Enjoy!