Hot Pepper Festival and Bagels

Saturday Joey and I attended the Hot Pepper festival. They had about 15 vendors with items ranging from hot sauces, salsa, mango fruit juice, fresh produce and of course pepper plants.
We sampled a couple of different hot sauces, but our favorite was the Garlic hot sauce, which Joey says it reminds him of fish sauce (but we have never had fish sauce, so who knows).

Sweet Dreams ice cream was also in attendance at the hot pepper festival, I had the Spicy Thai Peanut butter ice cream and Joey had the Pineapple Poblano Popsicle. The Spicy Thai Peanut butter ice cream had ginger, coconut, almonds, and some type of spicy seasoning with a peanut butter base, it was delicious. Joey's pineapple poblano Popsicle was very light and refreshing perfect for the hot weather.

Sunday morning we went to Bagels Unlimited ( go figure another Hippy Place in Gainesville) on University Ave (next to the Holiday Inn), and we were both very surprised. They have about 10 different types of bagels, with about 10 different types of cream cheese and a full breakfast menu. Joey had the breakfast burrito with corn beef hash and all the veggies and no joke...the burrito was at least 8inches long and 5 inches wide (it was MUCH bigger than the Moe's home wrecker). Our favorite part of Unlimited Bagels was the Micanopy Gold Hot Sauce and Salsa. However, according to their menu, they have over 100 types of hot sauces. By the way our waitress here reminded of us Sookie Stackhouse.

Last Tuesday, was National Fudge Day, and we celebrated this wonderful occasion in customer service. We have over 10 different types of fudge, and I think most of the employees in the Customer Operations Center were on a sugar high all day. 1st place went to Brittney with her wonderful Peanut Butter fudge, and 2nd place went to me for Oreo Fudge. I have listed the recipes below.

Peanut Butter Fudge

This peanut butter fudge includes marshmallow crème and crunchy or creamy peanut butter.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
· 2 cups granulated sugar
· 2/3 cup milk
· 1 cup marshmallow creme
· 1 cup peanut butter, creamy or crunchy
· 1 teaspoon vanilla
Preparation:
Boil sugar and milk to soft ball stage*. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into a buttered 8-inch square pan. Cut into squares when firm.
*To Test for Soft Ball StageA small amount of syrup dropped into chilled water forms a ball, but flattens when picked up with fingers.
Oreo Fudge If you like cookies and cream, you’ll have to try this rich, decadent fudge made with cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Premier White Morsels, marshmallow crème and CARNATION® Evaporated Milk. Vicki Fretwell and son Jacob created this 1st Prize winning recipe in their kitchen in Naples, TX.
Ingredients:
3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
2/3 cup (5 fl.-oz. can) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Premier White Morsels
1 jar (7 oz.) marshmallow crème
1/2 cup finely crushed cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
1 cup crumbled cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies
Directions:LINE 9-inch-square baking pan with foil. COMBINE sugar, butter and evaporated milk in medium, heavy-duty saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Remove from heat. STIR in morsels, marshmallow crème, finely crushed cookies and vanilla extract. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle crumbled cookies on top. Gently swirl cookies into fudge using a knife without touching bottom of pan. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Lift from pan; remove foil. Cut into 48 pieces

Pizza

So, we had dinner last Thursday night at Big Lou's pizza downtown before we went to the Hipp last week.

And to be honest, I hadn't planned on writing about Big Lou's, but then I thought I could talk about pizza in general, so I thought it would be a good idea.

Big Lou's New York Style Pizzeria- http://www.biglouspizzeria.com/

I think the pizza here is average, there isn't really anything wonderful about Big Lou's but they do have good pizza, and they have great specials like a slice of pizza and a drink for $4.80. They are the only pizza place downtown so it is very convenient for going to the Hipp, or going out downtown. ( the picture of above is Tony at Big Lou's)

New York Pizza Plus - Alachua

They have excellent pizza and it is pretty fast. My favorite here is the gourmet white pizza, it is loaded with Ricotta cheese, yum yum! Their slices here are huge...even 2 slices is to much for Joey. The meat lovers pizza here is loaded down with so much meat you need a fork and knife to eat it. The staff here is very friendly and helpful.

BJ's Brewhouse- Gainesville

This is my favorite place to go for a pizza...how much better could it get, they have 3 pages of drinks to choose from and they have Spinach and Artichoke deep dish pizza. Just imagine Spinach and artichoke dip on top of a thick slice of pizza, it is excellent.

Papa Johns- I know sounds crazy...and maybe it isn't really so much the pizza I like here, but the butter and garlic dipping sauce.

Chicken and Waffles

I received the attached picture from my wonderful sister n law, this afternoon and I decided i just had to share my thoughts about chicken and waffles.

If you are ever in the Atlanta area you have to try Gladys Knight Chicken and Waffles. http://www.gladysandron.net/

I know you are probably thinking Chicken and Waffles do not go together, but really they do just think about it:

The chicken is fried crispy and melts in your mouth like the butter on the waffles. The combination of of the salt from the chicken and the syrup from waffles creates fireworks in your mouth.

Not only do they have awesome chicken and waffles, they have great macroni and cheese.

Thanks for the picture Jenny...love you Tony!

Boch Belly Intro

So Joey had this wonderful idea that we should start a blog, so here we are....

Mochi ( or Mochi Berry as I like to call it, I know this isn't their name but for some reason I have it stuck in my head, as mochi berry). Mochi Berry is located off of Archer road in between Pita-Pit and Bento's. Mochi offers several different types of frozen yogurt, on Sunday we tried the honeydew, mango, strawberry, and sour green apple, they had a couple of other flavors as well.
When you walk into Mochi they give you a sample cup, which you can taste all of the flavors. It is all self serve. My favorite part is once you select your choice for yogurt, you go a BUFFET of toppings, including kiwi, banana's, almonds, peanuts, sprinkles, oreos, and so many more. They charge you by weight, I think it was 45 cents per ounce. The best part is it is Fat Free!

Kabab House ( University Ave) - This is a very simple place, nothing fancy. The food was wonderful. Joey and I had the Chicken Qorma ( Curry) and it was the best curry I ever had. It was spicy but not to spicy. You can check out the menu at: http://www.menuwall.com/menus/474#1

Kabob House ( Sun Center) also has excellent food. I had the Chicken Vindaloo and it was excellent, it was very spicy but so good I just couldn't eat enough of it. Joey had the Goat Curry, which he enjoyed minus all of the tiny bones. I would suggest if you are in a hurry that you call in your order before you arrive. You can check out the menu at: http://www.suncenterkabobhouse.com/menu.php

Karma Cream ( University Ave next to the Kabab house)- they offer vegan ( and diary) ice cream. They have a very homey atmosphere, everything there is homemade and I think organic.

1 hour 15 minutes till lunch, yay!

Jennifer