Category: Food

Pierogi Fest 2017

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Joe took Friday off so we could take my brother to Pierogi Fest in Whiting, Indiana. Since we were going to be gone most of the day I arranged for B’s girlfriend R to watch Wookie. She arrived around 8 am so I could show her where Wookie’s food and water was, how to lock her up in her playpen when she was ready to leave, etc. Joe was teasing me because I had put together a 2-sided care sheet but what can I say? I was nervous having never left Wookie in anyone’s care before.

We all ate some apple fritters Joe brought home the day before before he and I left the house around 9 am.

We were very prepared this time around – I had extra plastic utensils, napkins, and salt and pepper with me in addition to our usual bottled water. The plastic knife in particular came in handy since they only give out forks. We arrived just before the official opening at 11 am and secured parking two blocks away near the church. Most of the main street where we used to park in previous years was already blocked by chairs people were using to hold their spot for the parade later that evening. Most lots were charging $20 to park which is just ridiculous!

We made our way through the fest to our first stop which, of course, was Dan’s Pierogis. They were woefully unprepared and despite getting there early and standing in a rather short line, we had to wait another 30 minutes for our food because most of the flavors weren’t ready yet. As if they don’t know they are the most popular booth there? They couldn’t have started preparing them sooner? Ugh. I ended up getting some taco pierogis from the Mendoza truck to tide me over while we waited. I love them! Even though they charge 75 cents extra for some salsa and sour cream it’s totally worth it.

We located seating in the shade by the nearby elementary school so that was nice since we spent a good hour, if not more, there. I ended up speaking to an older woman in a three person group who shared our picnic table. She seemed nice enough even though Joe indicated I may have offended her later when I loudly remarked that someone must not be able to read since I smelled cigarette smoke – apparently it was her and one of the guys. Oh well. It did say “non-smoking family seating” on the sign there. Ironic considering how she was remarking earlier about all the people who brought their dogs even though online it said no dogs allowed (they probably should have posted signs, though). Honestly, I don’t think she was offended, or maybe didn’t hear me, since when we left she was very friendly saying goodbye and wishing us a nice day and I didn’t detect any sarcasm.

We left the fest around 2 pm and stopped at the grocery store so J could get toothpaste, and then stopped for food at this little place called Chicago Pita Kitchen where we’ve eaten before. I did not care for my cheeseburger but the feta fries were delicious. Joe liked his Italian sausage sandwich but the fries in general there suck because they are undercooked.

My mom put together a birthday cheesecake for Joe.

We played three games of Aggravation at my parents house and got home around 8 pm. At that point Wookie had been alone for maybe three hours so not bad at all.

Note to self: do NOT get the stuffed cabbage from Dan’s Pierogis. It is completely flavorless.

Weekend

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My off balance feeling came back with a vengeance recently so that sucks. The back of my neck is super sore and my head feels like it weighs twice as much as normal. Since I’m sick of going to the doctor and getting tests that come back normal I’m just waiting it out. At some point it will go away like my other transient ailments. 

Despite feeling like crap we still took Wookie to a pet wellness event at a local pet store on Saturday to get a bag of freebies.

Joe also shampood the living room carpet Saturday night since I’ve noticed the bottom of our socks getting dirtier quicker even though I clean the house more often and more thoroughly than ever. Having a dog just makes it get dirty faster. We used vinegar and got water to clean the carpet so it’s probably not as clean as a soap would have gotten it but I didn’t want to use the bottle we already had since there was no indication it’s pet safe. 

Sunday we were going to go to the Festival of the Fox but between me not feeling up to walking and how hot it was we opted to skip it. 
That afternoon I called Nicor about a possible gas leak. There was a strong mothball smell in the laundry room and kitchen and after some googling one person said it turned out to be gas. I only called to be safe and they sent someone out to check but everything is fine. This smell seems to materialize every year when we run the A/C so either it is somehow creating the smell or the neighbors are using mothballs. I suspect it’s the latter which sucks because I don’t know how to address it. I have to wonder if it’s the source of my headache and dizziness though. 

Sunday evening we treated E and his friend to dinner at Bakers Square since they were in the area. I haven’t eaten at one in a long time but it wasn’t all that. The reuben I had was pretty good as was the strawberry rhubarb pie but my stomach hated me the next day.  Plus the service was slow. 

Food & Stuff

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Nothing too exciting happened this weekend. I took Wookie to the vet on Friday just to go over some concerns I had. She’s fine, but I ended up getting her the canine flu vaccine since I’d like to take her to some puppy play places or dog parks soon. She has no dogs to play with and I can tell she would enjoy that (with the right dog, of course).

We also got some more food for her, and with coupons paid less than $7 out of pocket and that included two toys. Pretty nice deal!

Sunday Joe worked on changing the front brakes on his car while I did my normal Monday cleaning a day early. I had skipped it last week so it was due. Prior to that we went to check out the Taste of Wheaton and had a couple of tacos from a booth called Taco SomethingorOther (shoot, can’t remember) which we’ve never heard of before. They were ok but nothing special for $3 each. We ended up picking up McDonald’s on the way home for lunch, LOL. I don’t think we’ll bother with that fest in the future – the “craft” booths are boring, they no longer allow dogs, the music is usually country, and the food booths are pretty standard fried food fare and not a representation of what he city has to offer. I can only imagine the cost must be too high that no local restaurants ever seem to participate. It was hot and humid too so we didn’t stick around for long.

Dinner each night over the weekend consisted of Lou Malnati’s deep dish which we ordered Friday night since we had a $25 certificate that expired at the end of the month. I’m sure that’s not doing my weight any favors but damn is their pizza good! I like how we can get 3-4 meals out of one large pizza if we can stop ourselves from having more than one slice each meal. We actually had two each on Friday which is why there’s none left for tonight.

I’m getting ready to go have lunch with a friend shortly so that’s it for this boring weekend update.

Red Lobster & Homemade Dog Biscuits

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Friday (3/10) evening we decided to finally use the gift cards my mom had given to us (one almost a year ago and the other last month) and went to Red Lobster for dinner for a nice date night. It’s a good thing we got there just after 5 pm because we had totally forgotten it’s Lent so the restaurant got packed quickly; there was a line out the door when we left.

We used to love Red Lobster but not so much anymore. I feel like the best items on the menu were removed and most of food is bland/mediocre with the exception of the sweet chili shrimp appetizer which we love. Compared to the wood grilled shrimp tacos I ordered which were meh (although they did taste better cold the following day). Although I will say the strawberry lemonade is pretty awesome. Joe accidentally ordered it thinking it was what he usually gets (nope, it’s the raspberry lemonade) but it turns out the strawberry lemonade is considered a premium drink so they charge $3 for it and there’s no free refills. I had a couple of sips and could see seeds in it so it’s probably not a powdered mix like the bottomless lemonades. Our bill after tip was around $56 – thank goodness we had $75 in gift cards. Overall I think I’d rather go there for lunch and just share two appetizers and some drinks. With what was left over from our cards and the balance from a different Darden card we’d probably have enough to do that one lazy afternoon.

Saturday (3/11) was Wookie’s 3rd puppy training class. Two of the people in our first class have seemed to permanently drop out since neither were there again (the golden retriever and shi tzu mix). Bums me out there aren’t more dogs for Wookie to socialize with, although we also had a 3 pm puppy orientation so she got to meet a small shi-poo named Abby whose poor owner really needed that class. She was letting the 10 week old dog just run around the house freely. Between myself and the trainer I think she walked away with some good information. The dog was just adorable but Wookie seemed scared of her which is hilarious since she’s a third of Wookie’s size. Wookie did have fun being chased by the lady’s two year old daughter, however. When we got home she passed out in her crate for over an hour due to all the excitement.

Sunday (3/12) we visited a new to us grocery store called Butera. It’s a little drive but not bad considering it was close to Meijer which we planned on visiting anyway. I had seen Butera’s sales ad on an app called Flipp and they had corned beef and cabbage on sale for a great price – $1.99 lb for the beef and $0.14 lb for the cabbage. We had to get some for St. Patrick’s day since I love making it in the crockpot. They had a bunch of produce on sale as well as beer so we got a lot of stuff there and then went to Meijer for the rest of stuff we needed. I bought supplies to make Wookie some homemade dog biscuits. I even got a $0.79 cookie cutter in the shape of a bone. Isn’t that adorable?

Homemade Dog Treat Supplies

The rest of the day we lounged around watching tv and reading. Wookie took turns running around the living room and playing with her toys and napping in the crate we have in there for her. Also, Joe installed the new gate I ordered from Woot! for the kitchen. It was $36 with shipping.

Gate

We had been standing up part of the second playpen we had purchased and separated into two fences. The problem with that is we had to push stuff against either side to prevent her from getting out of the kitchen. Plus we tripped trying to get over it, so this is a much safer option for everyone.

Today (3/13) I slept in until 7 am and then made Wookie’s treats. Here’s a photo of them before going into the oven.

Biscuits - Before

I think I cut most of them too thick but it’s kind of a pain in the ass rolling out dough! I don’t really do it often and believe it or not my arms are sore! That being said, they are a hit. Wookie liked the sample I gave her and started whining for more.

Biscuits - End Result

While the biscuits were cooling I emailed the vet to ask if I can take Wookie there for pre-surgery bloodwork before her spay in two weeks. After doing further research I decided it would be prudent to have it done even though the guy at the animal welfare league said it wasn’t necessary. Better to be safe than sorry! I’m already nervous about having to leave Wookie there all day. The vet understood my reasoning for going elsewhere for the spay and is fine doing the bloodwork portion. I am so relieved! I really like her but couldn’t justify spending $500 on Wookie’s surgery when it would be $140 at the welfare league.

I also called the insurance to find out why Quest Diagnostics billed me $100 for the blood work I had done a few weeks ago. Turns out they submitted it with the wrong coding so I should be getting a refund after the insurance re-processes the claim. I really hate Quest. I wonder if the insurance can tell me what it would have cost to go elsewhere. If it’s negligible I’d rather not go to Quest again.

Now I need to motivate myself to clean the upstairs and submit some rebates for the alcohol we bought over the weekend. It snowed overnight and there’s more snow on the way. I am not happy about that at all.

Social Saturday

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Saturday was quite the busy day for us. After getting some groceries we stopped at 7-Eleven to take advantage of free small slurpee Saturday. I got the black cherry Pepsi and Joe got grape. He wanted the Skittles sour apple but it was liquefied in the machine. Ew! I’m glad they were free (much to the irritation of the clerk working there it seemed) because neither were all that great. We then went to the library and grabbed a handful of movies. Our library is strange in that they don’t care about people bringing in food and drinks. In fact they have vending machines that sell both!

After a lunch of chicken salad sandwiches we took Wookie to Petsmart for her second puppy training class. Two of the five dogs didn’t show up – Rizzo and Pumpkin. I didn’t care for how the trainer was telling us the details of her conversation with Pumpkin’s owner because it’s none of our business. In any case, we learned that the trainer will be on vacation next Saturday so there is no class. It was encouraging to see Wookie trying to greet Thor (the white German Shepard) instead of hanging out by us all scared. I don’t think she was shaking at all! As far as the training goes, we went over not jumping on people and how to walk on a leash without pulling. Wookie has problems with that which is why I’m ordering her a new harness that has a clasp at the front since I read that can help. Her issue at Petsmart was that she wanted to stop and smell EVERYTHING so she wasn’t paying attention to me or treats (a first) at all. It was a bit frustrating but I tried to remain patient. Patience and repetition are the two biggest things needed when training a dog.

After feeding Wookie at home we left and headed down to Oak Lawn where we had a late pizza lunch at Palermo’s with Joe’s kids and ES (K’s boyfriend). At first I was worried a large pizza wouldn’t feed all five of us but there was a little left over, thank goodness. I didn’t say anything at lunch, but I don’t think I care for Palermo’s anymore. I don’t know if we just found better pizza elsewhere or theirs has gone downhill, but I won’t be in a hurry to have it again. It was interesting to see their dining room, however, since we’ve always gotten takeout. I always enjoy conversations with everyone, particularly ES because he and I have the same taste in comedies. Plus he’s a good conversationalist and actually listens instead of just waiting for his turn to talk. I’ve probably mentioned that before but it’s something I really appreciate since most people just like to talk.

After we ate E took off to rest at home before his evening plans and K invited us over to see their two guinea pigs which they just got a week before. They are so cute! Just little babies right now and very soft too. I was never too interested in owning guinea pigs but after seeing those two I would consider it. I particularly like the one who looks like he has permanent bedhead. Plus he has one front paw that is completely black (nails included) whereas the other one is pink with white nails. It looks like he’s wearing a glove, LOL!

Our next stop was Dunkin Donuts before going to my parents’ house to celebrate Brother B’s birthday which was earlier this month. My mom said to be there between 5 and 6 but since whenever we get there at the earlier time no one is ready, we ended up getting there a couple of minutes after 6. And arrived to a dark house. We were both annoyed and confused. I was happy I remembered to bring my keys so I could open the door. And that’s when B jumped out and scared me, that SOB! LOL. They decided to scare us (although they didn’t get Joe since he had already headed back to the car to get more stuff) for being late. Can’t win with those people! Everyone had already eaten too which is funny because whenever it’s the other way around they wait til B gets there (since we’re usually there first).

I set up my mom’s new computer and showed her how to use it (since it has Windows 10 which is all new to her). I’m making her use Chrome now since it’s faster than Firefox. After the computer stuff I finally got around to eating a bit before B opened his presents. I got him a $25 gift card to Groupon since he loves that site and a $15 Dunkin Donuts card. We played a new game he brought over called Joking Hazard which is made by the guys who do the Cyanide and Happiness comics. It was fun, but just like Cards Against Humanity, it gets stale pretty fast. I took my winning cards and made one big epic comic with them:

Joking Hazard Comic

We didn’t get home until after midnight and I felt guilty about Wookie being cooped up while we were gone so I played with her for about an hour before going upstairs. Despite taking a Midnite, I didn’t fall asleep until sometime between 2:30 and 3 am.