Day two and I’m already asking my twitter friends for topics…and they were no help so I turned on the tv to catch The Chew and hoped for ideas.
Their show today was on 5 greatest things I’ve ever tasted (fried) and I thought…I could do that so here we go.
A long time ago in the Oldest Town in Texas there was this hacienda, well La Hacienda was the name of the restaurant. During my college days at Ax’em University we would go there during lunch, and take our professor. This little long lost eatery happens to hold not one but 2 of the places on this list.
The first is fried ice cream. Now I know that other places have fried ice cream but it just isn’t the same. This dessert was something you had to order at the same time as your entree, was usually sold out before 8:00 at night and is the only dessert I can remember 6 college girls who were so self-conscious about calories never shared or split unless we couldn’t get enough for us each to have one.
The second item on the list is the infamous LaHa fries. Thick cut fries, skins on and topped with bacon, cheese, green onions and drizzled in ranch dressing.
Third is chicken fried steak from Cotton Patch Cafe. I wasn’t a very adventurous eater when I was growing up. Chicken strips, burgers and chicken fried steak became my standard orders no matter where we went, until I tried the chicken fried steak at Cotton Patch, or should I say the demi-steak. The full size steak is huge, it is one of the few times I can remember my bear of a dad order a lunch portion for a dinner when he was starving. Everything from the gravy to the batter and the fork tender steak…yum! I’m making my mouth literally water thinking of it. I feel a trip coming up soon.
My fourth item will show that I’m a bit of a fry freak. It was known as Wayne’s fries but I’ve seen them called bar fries or club fries I guess because they are consumed after a long night out. I actually had these as a young kid out after seeing Indiana Jones at a real life drive in theater. (Sorry, still seeing the dinner scene where the slice the belly of the snake open and…yeah not good at 4x bigger than a normal screen!) Anyway back to the fries. These were shoe string fries with peppered cream gravy a thick slice of american cheese and carmalized onions on top. They were served with a half chili paste half ketchup sauce and just rocked my pre-preteen world. I ate two orders of fries and skipped a burger.
The final of my five favorite fried foods is a mini fried apple pie stick. I’ve had them at two different places 100+ miles away from each other which may mean they are a food truck item but if you try them you won’t care either. The apple is petite diced so each bite you get small, tender pieces of apple with a light hint of cinnamon gooeyness. The best part for me is on the outside of the battered and fried concoction it is sprinkled with powdered sugar. Imagine an apple pie filled funnel cake served warm. (Seriously, I just gave myself chills and yes I have had lunch. LOL)
The fries I make my own versions of, sometimes I do an avocado and jalapeno ranch dressing for the LaHa fries but some things you just can’t duplicate whether it is the food itself or the memories and people associated with that place and time that somehow makes it take up that much more space in the brain matter.
I hope my rambling has both made you hungry and brought to mind your favorite fried foods and friends and family with whom you’ve shared it.
Till next time…
Moonlight and Shadows 