Eat Arkansas

Mr. EY is out of town, so I've been eating things I like. Not restaurants, necessarily. Hamburger Helper one night (yeah, I know, but I never got to eat it as a kid...so now I'm fascinated with it), pizza last night. No idea what's up for tonight....

ARK. BLOG: My guilty pleasure is known as One Pot. I brown some hamburger and onion, heavily seasoned with red pepper and don't bother to drain the extra grease. Add some mushrooms, then stir it into a pot of cooked rice and eat it right from the pot. It's kinda, sorta dirty rice. I love it. My wife sniffs at it.

A guy I've worked with for years makes fried mackerel patties when his wife is away. You need to be away a long time to get that smell out of the house.

I also can cook cabbage when my wife is out of town. Though it's not so bad smelling if you don't cook it too long. I love fresh cabbage sauteed quickly with chopped up bacon and lots of black pepper.

I like hot & spicy. ms. mann, not atoll (sic). So my time for spicing it up is when she and junior go out of state to see her peeps.

Now I like Whole Hog just fine -- a lot, in fact. Especially the six-pack of sauces. But when I'm in the mood for the entire authentic, cultural bbq experience, give me Sims and give me ribs. Besides the excellent meat and sauce, the beans are terrific (greens aren't to be forgotten), the slaw is passable, you can get as big a bottle of beer as you'd like, and the juke box should not go unfed.

Although I eat it, I consider the whitebread more of a utensil than a food. Speaking of which, the silverware in the little plastic bag is a nice touch.

I"ve never even thought about dessert after Sims bbq.

The One Pot sounds good. We saute cabbage pretty regularly. We hit it with the chili paste with the green top and finish with sesame seeds. Mighty good.
Conway recently got a Whole Hog and I had the pork stuffed baked potato three times in three weeks. Again, mightly good. I need to try Sims sometimes, especially since there are greens.

My embarrassing confession for what I eat when hubby's not around: Mexico Chiquito cheese dip. It doesn't even have any actual CHEESE in it! I have the recipe, and it's all processed cheese "food" and milk, with plenty of cumin. It's my lowbrow comfort food, though.

Man oh man oh man oh man,
Sim's Ribs always wins hands down! They are absolutely the best, with or without sauce.

When the spouse is gone for a few days the Mystery Shopper's choice is a batch of red beans & rice, usually with one of Zatarain's mixes & a pkg of some kind of cajun sausage. Quick, easy, and I can usually get several evening meals out of it 'till we're together again. A real time saver after a long day.

My favorite eats when the Mrs. Student is out & away is a good helping of liver & onions. Yes, I know that is probably the grossest of gross to most people, but I had some as a teenager and got hooked on it. I rarely make it at home, because the smell lingers for days, but I know a few restaurants where they keep the dish ready for when I come by, probably because I'm the only one who orders it ;)