A Friedman Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 28

I showed up at Loretta's house at around 11:00, bearing Watermelon and one more Turkey. She stored the Turkey for me until I get back to Florida, and I ate the Bowl of Watermelon.

We had 2:30 reservations at Seasons 52 at the Galleria Mall. Neither of us had eaten there before, and we both wanted to try it. I had a Thanksgiving party last year, so I was off the hook for any work in 2013.

I started with the Steak Soup.

Think Onion soup, but less Onions and with Chunks of Meat. And no Cheese. It was delicious. I didn't eat the Bread.

Loretta's Appetizer was a three-Mushroom Flatbread.

She said she liked it a lot. I tried one piece and wasn't all that excited, but that's not something that I would usually go for, so don't listen to me about that. It did have chunks of Garlic; so that was excellent.

For my Main Course, I ordered the Thanksgiving Special Plate.

Mashed Potatoes, Squash, Stuffing, String Beans, Cranberry Dressing and Sliced Turkey. I think that this would have been really good if I had it as soon as they put the plate together, but it felt like it sat there for a while. The Turkey held up and was good. It was all good enough to finish the plate, except the Cranberries - I don't like Cranberries.

Loretta had Scallops.

She said the dish was really good. She liked the Pasta it came with, too.

I think that Seasons 52 is a good place and I will try it again. The menu items were good, and I knew what I was getting into when I ordered a mass-produced plate. None of the servers wanted to be there, either. But that's what you get on holidays. I should go on a random Tuesday - it will probably be very good.

Every year, Joe Robert has his Thanksgiving after-party. He has people over to prep the weekend before, and then serves desserts. This year, he also had Tamales on the menu.

I had three of them. They were small. And good! The only thing that would have made them better would have been a Cowboys loss.

That's it. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Pre-Thanksgiving Stuffing: Texas de Brazil

Wednesday, November 27

A Bowl of Watermelon.

Another Bowl of Watermelon.

Some Frozen Grapes.

We had our Thanksgiving party at the office today, and I spent both the 1:00 and 7:00 o'clock meals serving Fried Chicken to our employees. The Chicken came from Albertsons and smelled Really Good. I was able to abstain, but I had one ten-minute span where the idea of inhaling an entire box of 50 pieces was very tempting. But I out-waited it.

I left the office at 8:00, and started going through the coupons under my sun visor. Texas de Brazil had sent me a half-price coupon that was expiring that very day. I love meat, I love a bargain, and I figured that if I was only paying twenty two bucks, I wouldn't eat that much.

They seated me right away, and I hit the Salad Bar.

From the top, that's Shrimp Salad, Prosciutto, Salami, Garlic Cloves, and Baked Salmon. There's always Soup on the Sald Bar, and today -- luckily -- it was Lobster Bisque.

That was it, and I started with the Meat. First off were Lamb Chops and Sausage.

Then... the battery died on my phone. No more pictures.

You'll have to believe me, but I didn't eat all that much. I had some Filer Mignon, a couple of slices of Leg of Lamb, two slices of Pork Loin, one piece of Parmesan Pork, and a piece of Garlic Sirloin.

That was plenty. I passed on dessert and coffee and I was out of there in an hour. That was it until Thanksgiving.

VooDoo BBQ

Tuesday, November 26

In the morning, some raw String Beans.

A Bowl of Watermelon.

Larry and I had to run some errands in the afternoon, so we went to VooDoo BBQ & Grill on Andrews Avenue & Cypress Creek Road. I had an Out of Control feeling, so I figured that the best place to be was Mouth of the Beast. That's why you don't want me doing your thinking for you.

I ordered two Lunches. That way, I wouldn't eat too much. I had the Jambalaya and the Smoked Wings.

The Jambalaya was good; not great. Didn't stop me from eating it. The girl who took our order was pretty, so I took her advice and ordered the Wings with the Buffalo Sauce.The Wings were good... I like them not well-done, so these were perfect this way, but I wasn't a big fan of the Sauce. That's why you don't want random pretty girls doing your thinking for you.

That filled me up, but since I was back to doing my own thinking, I ordered the Red Beans and Rice "to go." Larry said that he had that the last time that he was there, and it was good. So Larry kind of did my thinking for me. He's pretty level-headed, so I had high hopes. They brought it to me, and I took it with me for 'later.'

Larry had the Loaded Baked Potato.

He did a good job of it. They have an Even More Loaded Baked Potato, which you can get stuffed with Brisket or any of their other meats.

All the food looked good there, and it was VERY crowded, and the portions were large, so I would go back again when I am out of control.

Speaking of Out of Control, we got back to the office and I immediately nuked the Rice & Beans.

NOTE TO ALL READERS: The bowls at VooDoo are not 1200 Watt microwave safe. The bowl melted.

It did not melt enough to stop me from eating the food. The Rice & Beans were good and the Sausage was outstanding.

Not surprisingly, I wasn't all that hungry the rest of the day. I had some more String Beans at home, but that was it.

My Monday with LeBron

Monday, November 25

Four Bowls of Watermelon during the morning and afternoon. I was seeing LeBron later!

LeBron got me tickets for the game against Phoenix. I took Edwar with me. We stopped at Will Call outside the arena to get a bite beforehand.

I had Wings. They have a nice sauce on them -- a little sweet, but nice. And the Wings are not fried.

I had 12; Edwar had six. As usual, I didn't use the Bleu Cheese sauce.

That was it for food. We didn't bother LeBron while he was warming up. Here he is jumping rope.

He stopped by in the 3rd Quarter, while he was resting. I introduced him to Edwar.

Sunday @ Chima!

Sunday, November 24

There were 11 Grapes in my freezer. I ate them.

A Bowl of Watermelon.

Another Bowl of Watermelon.

For Dinner, Ed took a lot of people from work out to Chima. That's the place on Las Olas Boulevard with the Sword Dudes.

I made one trip to the Salad Bar.

There's Ham, Asparagus, Carpaccio of Beef, Smoked Salmon, Seafood Salad, Smoked Artichokes, Endive with Bleu Cheese and Walnuts. I could have made 743702509 trips but I didn't.

Lots of meat came after that. I couldn't begin to list them, but I sampled each of the following...

Then I was done with Meat.

I had some Cantaloupe for dessert.


We had a nice crowd at the Dinner. Many of them are about to make their Blog debut:

Leslie & Larry

Jessica & Sergio model the Flan

Kim and Junior

Jeff & Dorothea. Sergio & Leslie team photobombed them.

Joel & Racquel

Ed!

Randy & Kristen

Rosario & Jesus

Kay & John. John got to hear, "Would you like some more Filet wrapped in Bacon, sir?"

Hurricanes Saturday

Saturday, November 24

It's the seventh of my Seven Favorite Days of the Year. I love them, but it's sad as well. I have to wait until September now.

I had some raw String Beans and Watermelon in the morning.

We were able to buy tickets to the Hurricane Club pre-game Tailgate Party, so Jeff, Adam and I got there early... no Subs today. They had a Barbecue Buffet, so I got some Beans, a piece of Corn, two pieces of Chicken, and a few Ribs.

It wasn't the best food ever, but it was OK, and it was filling. I wasn't hungry the rest of the afternoon. Here's Jeff and Adam.

 I love football. I also love: Cheerleaders. Here's me with a couple, and then I got to photo bomb a couple of others.

The Hurricanes won 45-26. We finished 6-1 at home this year. We've had our bumps, but this is a better and less-annoying season than last year.

Lonnise had told me how much she liked cooking Cabbage. I tried it once before at home, with little success. She gave me some tips, so I decided to try again. I cut up a Green and a Red Cabbage.

I set up a pot to steam, added the Cabbage and some spices.

While it was cooking, I had another Bowl of Watwermelon.

The Cabbage cooked down to a lot less that when it started. I had two bowls.

It was better than last time, but still needs some more research & development. Lonnise suggests Hot Sauce - I will try that next time.

At around 11:00, I had one more Bowl of Watermelon.

Friday!

Friday, November 22

I'm eating Watermelon until it stops tasting good, or gets even more expensive.

A Bowl of Watermelon.

Another Bowl of Watermelon.

Around 1:00, Gordoin said that he was going tot he Chicken place. I went with him.This is the place that has the Chicken Bowls. This time, I just wanted a Chicken.

It turns out that -- due to stupid pricing -- two half Chickens were a few cents cheaper than a whole Chicken. So I got two halfs. Back at the office, I ate the first one:

With the Rice & Beans and the Onions and Hot Sauce. It was excellent, so I had the other half.

Not shockingly, I was full after that. I didn't eat anything else after that on Friday.