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Traffic Jam & Snug: A Cozy Spot for Lunch

Last week some friends and I headed out to a local favorite restaurant, Traffic Jam & Snug for lunch.  It was my first time there, and I wasn’t disappointed!  The old-world charm of the bar and restaurant, and most certainly the food, made for a lovely luncheon experience.  Not to mention the company of my friends that enhanced it even more so.  See for yourself what I mean.  That Shirley Temple wasn’t mine, but I was told it was very good.  The entrees were:  Grilled Chicken Greek-style Salad, A Lasagna, and mine was the Quiche.  Other sides were a House Salad, A Lentil Soup, and Sweet Potato Fries.  High marks for all!

Trafficjam

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Friday Night Onion Rings

So, have you made them ever?  Onion Rings, that is.  The quintessential finger-food that is oh-so-satisfying, grease and all, and made even more perfect on a Friday night when you can kick back and say, “It’s Friday night, and everything’s all right!”  Well, alright, maybe not EVERYthing, but you know what I mean.  See for yourself my idea of serving up Onion Rings, each one a work of art, not to mention the crispiest and tastiest bite ever!

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Political Action and Paczkis on Fat Tuesday

So, how do you commemorate Fat Tuesday?  And what is Fat Tuesday anyway?  Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Carnival, or Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the period of Lent– a period of 46 days before Easter.  Observed in the Catholic tradition, Lent is a time of physical sacrifice, a practice of self-deprivation in the giving up of things of comfort, especially physical comforts such as in the eating of meats, fats, sugars and such. 

And so, as the tradition goes, Fat Tuesday is the last day or last chance to fatten up before the almost-seven weeks of self-imposed deprivation.  So, what do you eat on such a day?  Well, you eat the most indulgent foods, of course.  And if you’re of Polish ancestry, you make and eat paczkis, pronounced poonch-ki.  These are buns stuffed with a variety of sweet and creamy fillings.  And if you happen to live in the Metro Detroit area, you know you will find an abundance of paczkis on this day, nay, on any of the days leading up to this day, that is. 

So today, I happened to attend a meeting at work that focused on the big budget cuts coming our way, thanks to a new state administration.  Not-so-great news on Fat Tuesday, of course, but what better way to take the edge off a miserable meeting agenda than a spread of traditional Polish Paczkis

See for yourself what I mean.  I chose one with a lemon filling.  The pizza, by the way, was the deepest-dish pizza you could ever find: layer upon layer of veggies and cheese was what my slice was all about.  And that salad was most refreshing!

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Finger Foods For A Sleepover

So, we recently had an old-fashioned birthday sleepover party at the house– for a bunch of teenage girls (one of whom belongs to me) with not-so-bird-like appetites.  Which is actually terrific, because I am never at a loss for ready-made-pop-in-the-oven-finger-lickin’-good finger foods.  Here’s what took about 45 minutes to make, and about as much time to finish off.  See for yourself in the slideshow below.  Details on the items is below the show.

What you see is what you get:  Pizza, Toquitos, Mushroom Fritters, Chili-Lime Chicken Wings, two kinds of Quiche, Potato Wedges, and Sun Chips.  The cake goes without saying, of course, and can only be imagined (because it was so divine!), and what do you wash this all down with?  Pop, of course!

Pizza

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Lunch @ the DIA

The lunch scene at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a very lively one.  This was my third time there today.  And I wasn’t disappointed!  The food is fresh and freshly-made-to-order in the huge cafeteria housed within the DIA itself.  The Salad-Bar is spectacular, and the Soup-and-Bread Station is very aromatic, but today, I decided to stop at the Grill and ordered a Buffalo-Chicken Wrap and made a stop at the salad bar to get a few choice items.

The wrap came in a spinach-flavored tortilla with fresh tomatoes, lettuce and a ranch and hot-sauce dressing.  It was such a large one, and cut into half, I polished off one-half of it, but knowing that I couldn’t finish the second-half, I decided to scoop out only the filling and finished that in no time.

My salad was awesome.  I selected those things from the bar that I normally don’t get to eat too often:  artichoke hearts, black olives, and red beets.

My friend got a grilled salmon that came on a bed of wilted spinach, a medley of blanched string-beans, and a side of mac-and-cheese.

Mmmmm!  This picture below of the artichoke hearts is nothing short of a work of art, don’t you think? 

Oh, and if you wish to check out the DIA, click here.  And stop by for lunch, if you can.  I highly recommend it!

Artichokes

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Toast, Eggs, et al on a Snowy Morning

Breakfast

So, what’s good for breakfast on a snowy morning?  Well, anything at all!  Anything you please!

I’ve been known to whip up an omelette just as fast as I can steam a batch of idlis or roll a few parathas, but on this snowy morning, the breakfast of choice was a simple one:

Two slices of multi-grain toast:  one spread with peanut butter, the other with orange mamalade; two eggs not-so-scrambled; a glass of OJ.

It hit the spot, spot-on!