Banana Split

Today was a brotein bar kind of day. All said and done, I would have three of them today. It's really convenient that I like them so much, because I had one for breakfast...

...one for lunch...

...and one for an afternoon snack.

These bars really are what get me through the day. Plus, 60 grams of brotein is simply irresistible!

For dinner, we had yet another frozen pizza, but I decided to spice my half up with some andouille sausage.

Unfortunately, I severely overestimated the amount of sausage I would need. In fact, I had about double what I needed, but I didn't want to just put half of it in a bag and back into the fridge. So, I dug in to the other gains that were on tap for tonight's dinner.

I carved off a slice of carbs, layered down some cheddar, and stacked a couple slices of sausage on top.

This was actually quite good, so I repeated the experience. I also had a small piece of bread with some butter, and I continued snacking on the sausage until half of it was gone. The other half went on half the pizza and in to the oven it went. 18 minutes later, this came out:

It looked glorious, but how would it taste? I grabbed three slices with sausage and one with just cheese along with two big slices of bread, both with butter of course!

I maintain that this is the best frozen pizza ever. In my opinion, it's even better than most chain delivery pizzas.

Scott and I then went to get huge at Sylas and Maddy's. Ever since last Thursday (and even before that, actually), I've wanted to try their banana split. I mention last Thursday since it was National Banana Split Day. Unfortunately, I did not get one on that day, but when Scott mentioned Sylas and Maddy's, I had to get one today. I went a little non-traditional, though, as you'll see.

Instead of the classic Strawberry, Vanilla, and Chocolate flavors of ice cream, I went with Strawberry (with big chunks of strawberry), DaBomb (sweet cream with cookie dough, chocolate cookies, and chocolate swirl), and butter pecan. It also had caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and a cherry. Needless to say, it was very good. Even though I garnered the admiration of the hundreds of people in line, I did, though, realize that I am, plain and simple, a waffle cone bro. I am happiest with a homemade Sylas and Maddy's waffle cone with two scoops of ice cream, one of them always being DaBomb. I think from now on this is what I'll get every time.

Much Food

My mom had left me with some chicken salad, so today I had that for breakfast. All of it.

I then did not eat until dinner, at which point I waited for Sidney to get home. While I waited, I delighted in the beautiful weather and backyard scenery.

Eventually, though, she did return home, at which point we ordered Chinese takeout. This is such a classic meal.

We both got beef and broccoli with lo mein, and since both Sidney and I ordered combos, we each got a spring roll and a crab rangoon. This time I was feeling rather adventurous, so I decided to try the mysterious red sauce. At first, it has a slight ketchup flavor, but then that gives way to a very sweet sensation. At any rate, is was pretty good.

Later, while I was doing much homework...

...Sidney was so kind as to bring me a platter of dessert! Seriously, how awesome is that?!

There was a Devil's Chocolate Cookie and a homemade cinnamon roll.

The cinnamon roll was made by her mom, and it was so good!

The cookie was made by Sidney, and it, of course, was absolutely amazing!

Her cookies never cease to amaze me, even after eating them almost constantly for almost 3 years.

She also brought me a mug full of milk.

It doesn't get much better than that! Is this what love is all about??

Back to Work (Work, work, work, work)

Wait, do I still work here?? Or did I ever work here?? Not being certain of either, I showed up to work with my game face on. What's my game face, you ask? 

It didn't get much better from here, as I soon found out that I would be washing pots and pans for four and a half hours. And what happens when you wash pots and pans for four and a half hours? This:

Yes, your hands dry out from the soap and they get sliced and diced from the overly sharp edges of all the pans. 

But, like everything else, a silver lining must exist somewhere. Here's this one. 

A cookie and two waters on my 10 minute break. Ahhhh, refreshing!!!

After I had gone back to work, I spotted something...good.

So many slices of pie! I just wanted to take a whole pie and shotgun it back in Pots and Pans. This is actually a common occurrence, but it's usually with food that is slated to be thrown out. Unfortunately, this pie was about to be served, so I couldn't bring myself to take one.

After my shift, I tried one of the new items for this semester.

It was grilled chicken breast, and although it doesn't look like much, it was some of the best food I've ever eaten in this establishment. Working in pots and pans, I discovered that this chicken was marinated in some mysterious solution, likely mostly salt, but nonetheless it was really good. Just about the only things better than this have been the spicy chicken sandwiches and the chicken strips.

I then met my mom at 23rd Street Brewery, which holds a special place in my heart.

I didn't even look at the menu, because I knew what I'd be ordering. I always get the "Bill Self."

As I'm sure you gleaned from the picture, I didn't end up getting our actual basketball coach, but what I did get was a macaroni and cheese with many cheeses and giant shells topped with Buffalo chicken strips. It's always so good! This time, I also got some fries on the side, and they were really good today, too!

But here's why this place is so special to me. The Everest Challenge!

Oh yes, the Everest Challenge! Back in September of 2013, myself and two friends, Andrew and Jed, completed the challenge.

That was nearly 3 years ago. This is the board today:

We still hold our positions on the Chalkboard of Fame!

When I got home, to celebrate this nostalgia, I had two more cookies!

Here's to getting HUGE!

Pancakes and Pizza Burgers!

Just as the title implies, that's exactly what I ate today. Sidney so kindly used up some slightly expired milk by making pancakes this morning, and they're the most beautiful pancakes I've ever seen. I mean, just look:

And since I know this recipe, I know that they need nothing more than a little butter on top. Really, they don't even need butter. They are perfectly delicious without butter, but butter.

I couldn't help myself, so I had three more.

And again, butter.

I also had to have a brotein bar to break up the carbs and to make sure my muscles don't turn into fat, because that happens.

To complement the brotein bar, I had some more carbs. I felt as though the 20 grams of brotein was slightly overkill after the 300 grams of carbs I just ate, so I had to resupplement with some more carbs.

For dinner, I had some more carbs.

Yes, that's right. I literally had the bottom half of a burger bun for dinner, and that was it.









NOT!


Of course not! That was just the beginning. On top of this bottom burger bun went...

...and then, on went...

...and finally, on went the top bun.

So let's recap. Bottom burger bun, left over frozen pizza, massive burger with copious amounts of Velveeta, top burger bun. Seems about right!!

In fact, it seems very right. Everything about this should have been not good. I mean, it was very mediocre pizza and a huge serving of rather old ground beef. Just about the only saving graces would be the cheese and bun. But actually everything just went so well with everything else that the whole thing was delicious.

I can only imagine how good this would be with a fresh toasted brioche bun, Leo's pizza, a smaller burger patty, and either some Velveeta or some fresh shredded cheddar or other amazing cheese. What this means is that that will happen someday, and when it does, I'll report back (most likely from food heaven).

Ruth!

As previously mentioned, my pet jumping spider's name is Ruth. More on her in a little bit. 

First, for breakfast, a brotein bar.

Then, for lunch, a brotein bar.

For dinner, we determined that it was a good night for a frozen pizza. I think we may be becoming a little too dependent on these things.

Notice how most of the toppings are skewed to the right. Oh well, that'll be Sidney's half...

Being a nice person, though, I at least attempted to redistribute the toppings more evenly about the pizza.

I had half of the pizza, but since this wasn't enough carbs, I added a piece of left over garlic bread.

I also had a salad, again obviously to offset the carbs. Pay no attention to those sneaky carbs in the salad itself.

A little later, an interesting cloud drifted by our house. Pretty neat.

But not long after that, it cleared up and made way for a nice sunset.

To celebrate the sunset, I had a cookie!

And I had some milk, because cookie.

Oh, I should also mention that I was in the mood for some ice cream. So I had some ice cream, which is basically just like frozen milk, so.

Now, back to Ruth. She's my little pet. I toyed with other names, like "Spiderbro", for example, before settling on the more mature "Ruth." I figured that when it involves someone else's name, I shouldn't bro it up too bad. Ruth is still slightly bro, though, since it's related to sports. But ain't she a beauty???

It is now my responsibility to nurture Ruth while observing her every move. While this is not entirely possible, it is also my responsibility to observe her and eventually write a paper about her. Ruth, you are a superstar in the northeastern Kansas jumping spider community.