Recipes from Favorite Places

Hey, today was a busy one. My friend and I had to do the yearly Mam thing, and of course, that can't be accomplished without a trip to a restaurant to "celebrate" another year together. We usually talk all the way from the restaurant about trying a different restaurant. There are so many in this town which is 50 miles from home. But I always kinda lag back toward my personal favorite restaurant, Applebee's. It's not like I don't love different things, but I don't go to this town very often, and I don't get to go to Applebee's very often at all. So I ALWAYS get the same thing. I will get a menu and pretend to myself I'm going to try something else. This time so many of Tyler Florence's new dishes looked amazing. A grilled BLT and French Onion soup was screaming my name. But in the end, my personal all time favorite called the best. It never disappoints. As Paula Deen says, "I could just drink that dressing!" There is a web site that offers secret recipes. It looks like we can't copy them on ANYTHING, so I won't, but it said it could be linked, so here it is: Topsecretrecipes.com is the name. I have made its version of the salad, and while amazing... not exactly the same.

But I will also direct you all to my favorite recipe site on the web. It is called Traveler's Cookbook and you can browse through it and see all kinds of recipes from bed and breakfasts all over the place. Not only can you find a recipe, you can find the story behind it and see photos of a room to rent there, prices, the whole deal. I have made so many of these for carry-in dinners and for refreshments in my shop. It is so fun to say, "These are pumpkin bars from Maine, or a Scotch Cake from Washington State. I love to just look at the rooms and think about the fun of traveling and eating in that place at any given time of the year. Here is the link to that wonderful website. Travelers Cookbook.

So, enjoy. I'm tired tonight and think I'll watch some telly. Did you all see Food Network Star? What a shocker! And Hell's Kitchen? Yay for that little short order cook. They are coming to a close, and I get sooo excited. I'll miss them when they are over. Take care.