I’ve gotten poked for not getting the food reports out, so here they come – expect a slew in the next day or so. Here we go!

Barefoot Bernie’s Tropical Bar

New for us this year. They have all the standard beach seafood fare with some Jamaican and Tex/Mex thrown in and the usual fruity beach drinks.

Got the Tex Mex chicken potato skins, which were really good. Though, they don’t come with sour cream… Some other sauce, which was very good, but it was all I could do to not ask for sour cream. My brain can’t really process potato skins without sour cream. For dinner I got plain old fried shrimp. Not exciting, not exotic, but just what I wanted and they just hit the spot.

Little bro got wings to start and the steamer platter (clams, shrimp & crab) and polished that off in short order.

Not fancy or outlandish, just good and worthy of a return visit.

MP 4.5 on the Bypass. No reservations needed.

The Black Pelican

This is the third time I’ve been here and it’s been kind of all over the place. The first time I got the Prime Rib and it was delicious. The second time we went with Tev & Lisa, and it was a comedy of errors in getting our orders right, but the food was good and we got a free round of drinks for the issues.

This year – not so great. Started with the crab rangoon which was very good. Then moved onto the Cajun Fish bites – cajun fried catch of the day, which was swordfish. Not bad, but not much that was cajun-y about it.

Then I got the shrimp and grits. Shrimp sauteed in onions, garlic, peppers and tomatoes, over jalapeño cheese grits. I just hoped that the jalapeños wouldn’t overpower everything. Turns out that was the least of my worries. They neglected to mention to half a jar of chili powder that was dumped in while they were cooking the shrimp as well as the chili powder dusting on the rim of the plate. (Every time the air currents changed, you’d get lungful of chili powder…) Even with the grits, the shrimp were WAY too hot, and I do like spicy food. However, the grits all by themselves were stupendous.

Donald had the same problem with the ribs he ordered – all spice and no taste. There’s a line between being spicy and inedible, and they seem to have lost sight of where that line is. Probably off the list for next year.

MP 4 on the beach road. No reservations needed.

Kelly’s

Kelly’s is weird. The food is quite good but there is always some odd thing that is more memorable. First trip it was the weird cocktail waitress that I was quite sure was trying to kill us. The the odd little room the four of us had to ourselves last year. (I guess we looked like we were going to cause problems.) This year it was the hostess with pink hair and a sternum piercing. (Not gross, just extremely painful to contemplate.)

Also, there is a bit of a fading glory thing going on. In 2000 it was named the best place to meet babes by Playboy magazine. I don’t think it still holds that distinction. It also seemed that the average age of the clientele had jumped about 15 years in the past 12 months.

But, weird or not, the food is great. You start with a kickass bread basket with 3 or 4 types of bread and biscuits, so everyone will find something to fill up on even before dinner arrives.

I got the clams casino started, and they were very good. (Awful Arthur’s is still #1 for those in my book, though.) The rest of the table shared a plate of calamari, and happy “this is good” noises were being made all around. (I was too busy with my clams to pay attention to any actual words.)

I got the special – rockfish with crab over rice and veggies. VERY good. (I also just love rockfish.) In an unusual turn for me, I ate all the vegetables – green beans that had a ton of butter and a touch of cumin of all things. (Took me forever to figure out what it was, and then when I figured it out I yelled, “IT’S CUMIN!” like some culinary tourette’s patient.)

Tev got the softshell crabs and said they were quite good. At this point, neither myself or my brother can remember what else we ordered, but that we were all happily stuffed at the end of the night. (As I said, there is always something else that prevents us from remembering what we ordered…)

Definitely a repeat.

MP 10.5 on the bypass. Still working out the kinks of call ahead seating.

Convenience foods get a bad rap a lot of the time, and a goodly amount of it is justified.  Costs more than homemade, nutritionally dubious value, etc, etc.

But, there is also something to be said for being able to pop something out of the freezer and into the toaster oven for 10 minutes and have a quick snack.  And some are just downright crack-in-a-box.  I absolutely LOVE Stouffer’s French Bread pizzas, always have.  I will admit an everlasting fondness for La Choy’s frozen “egg rolls” – which bear no resemblance to any egg roll I’ve ever gotten from a Chinese restaurant, but I love them anyway, and they bring back nice memories from when my Mom made them when I was a kid.

Additionally, these products can give you some more insight as to HOW to make them on your own, with better ingredients, lower cost and that satisfaction that comes with conquering a new dish.

Which all brings us to today’s convenience food that I should probably feel guilty for buying, but I don’t.  El Monterey Chicken & Cheese Flour Taquitos.

I’ll admit – it was an impulse purchase – they were on sale, I made the mistake of not eating before I went to the market, and my reaction when I saw them was, “Ooooooooooo!  Taquitos!!!!”  And they’re not too bad – defrost a couple in the microwave and pop them in the toaster oven for 12 minutes, add some sour cream and taco sauce and you’ve got a good snack.

The only other time I get taquitos is at the local Tex-Mex place, and if you asked me to recreate them, I’d be stuck.  But having these here in the house, where I can take a look at the ingredients, really look at how they’re put together, I actually have a fighting chance at recreating something along these lines.

So, when this box is done, I’ll likely be making up a big batch of homemade ones and freezing them and having my own taquitos.  (I should also give homemade French Bread Pizzas a whirl sometime, too.)

The next time you feel guilty for buying a frozen quick snack food, don’t.  Think of it as a starting point to making your own version that’s even better.  Take the time to look at them, how they’re made, and see if you can’t make a big batch of your own to freeze for those days when you want something quick.

Or quesadillas. Or nachos. All of which will be happily consumed in the next 48 hours.

The prefolded version – post folded, all you’d see is tortilla. :)

Super easy taco filling:

The original came from somewhere on allrecipes.com, but I can’t find it for the life of me now.  Here’s my version.

1/2 c. chopped onion
2-3 cloves, finely diced
1# lean ground beef
1/4 c. (yes, 1/4 c.) chili powder
1/2 t. oregano
1/2 t. cumin
1 t. salt
1 c. tomato sauce

Saute the onions & garlic in a bit of butter or oil – until onions are soft/translucent.  Add the ground beef and brown it.  Set aside for a quick drain, return to pan.  Add tomato sauce and spices.  Let simmer for 10-20 minutes.  (It may seem a little “soupy” at first, the excess liquid will drain off.)  If you’re concerned about the large amounts of chili powder, start with half as much and halfway through the simmering, taste and add more if you like.