Perfect Timing

With these crazy Summer like temperatures, ice cream is a natural treat to enjoy. So, it is with good timing that Baskin-Robbins has their annual 31 cents scoop night today, April 29th. We went to our local Baskin-Robbins last year (18 Bel Air South Pkwy, Bel Air - (410) 569-4205) and it was pretty crowded. If they do it like last year, the scoops are very small..somewhere around 3 ounces. I'm not really annoyed about that..first of all it's free..and second of all..I really don't need to be consuming too much ice cream right now..I'm in crunch time for summer and vacation!

Here is the information I got in my email...

Join us for 31 Cent Scoop Night at Baskin-Robbins®
and help us honor America’s firefighters with a $100,000
donation to the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC)
National Junior Firefighter Program.

Participating stores will reduce prices of small ice cream
scoops to 31 cents*. At some locations, you may also have
an opportunity to make a donation to local fire charities.

I don't think they limit how many "scoops" you can buy, so maybe you can can spend a buck for a triple scoop..if you are inclined.

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner

Well, it's not exactly dinner..but today you can get a free piece of chicken at Kentucky Fried Chicken. They are promoting their grilled chicken. I can't even tell you the last time I ate at Kentucky Fried Chicken, but I can tell you this..I didn't have a drivers licence when it was.

Today, April 27th, KFC is giving away a piece of their new grilled chicken. No purchase necessary. The piece is at the discretion of the restaurant. According to the email I got:

Since Kentucky Grilled Chicken was introduced last week, America has been UNTHINKING what they always thought about KFC; there's a lot more to us than fried chicken! Now, America will get to UNTHINK their definition of "Monday," as KFC introduces "UNFry Day."
KFC is so confident America will love our new Kentucky Grilled Chicken, we're inviting you to sample our newest mouth-watering menu item on “UNFry Day,” Monday, April 27. Consumers are encouraged to stop by KFC throughout the day on “UNFry Day” and receive a FREE* piece of Kentucky Grilled Chicken.

Visit www.unthinkfc.com to view commercial outtakes, upload your personal video of the chicken dance and download a cool "Get Your Grill On" phone app.

And remember, for a limited time, you can enjoy a two-piece Grilled meal (breast & wing or drumstick & thigh) including two side items and a biscuit for just $3.99 plus tax. (Pricing and participation may vary by location.)

Obviously this is a nod to healthier eating, but I have a hard time visualizing grilled chicken in a bucket. It just doesn't seem natural.

Cheapies and Freebies!

Some great deals today, April 21st for those of you craving something icy and cold! Good thing we are not dealing with the weather we had yesterday. I wouldn't be in the mood for either of these.



For just half a George Washington bill you can get a 16 ounce iced coffee at your local Dunkin' Donuts. That is just 50 cents all day. For each small Iced Coffee you buy on Iced Coffee Day, 10% of the purchase price will go to The Dunkin’ Brands Community Foundation to support Homes for Our Troops.





Today is also free scoop day at Ben and Jerry's scoop shops. From 12-8 you can get a free cone of your favorite Ben and Jerry's flavor. The bad news about this one is there is not one for locals of Harford County. If memories serve me, there is one in the Inner Harbor. So, it seems more reasonable for me that for the money I would spend in gas driving down to the Inner Harbor, parking my car and dealing with the lines for a 4-ounce ice cream scoop, I may be better off heading over to WAWA and picking up a pint of my favorite..coffee heath bar crunch!

Whatever you decide to do...enjoy the bargains!

Pie..Oh My!

Last night was the last day of Passover, so I was really looking forward to dinner that night. It was all up for grabs..after not eating bread, noodles, most baked products, rice and the like all week. We decided to go with pizza and I decided that instead of picking up the phone, I would cook it up..homemade pizza seemed a fitting way to end the Passover holiday.

My favorite homemade pizza combination is caramelized onions, sausage and goat cheese. I can't remember where I first came across this combination. I'm thinking it was Martha Stewart. Anyhow, I have been making it for over 7 years.

I get my pizza dough from Trader Joes, and roll it out thin to fit my pizza stone. To make the caramelized onions I cut two large sweet onions into thin rings. I had to a hot skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter. Start sauteing them on medium high heat. When they begin to brown, add 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Reduce the head to medium low and stir often until the onions are a deep amber color. This can take 45 minutes to an hour. For the sausage, I usually use turkey sausage. Three links typically suffice as I remove the casings and crumble to sausage in a hot skillet and cook until brown.

Add the onions and the sausage evenly to the pizza dough and sprinkle with 3-4 ounces of crumbled goat cheese. Bake on a pizza stone in a 450 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes.

So delicious.

Tax Crunch

Freebie alert...

Tomorrow is the 15th of April. Lots of things happen on the 15th. Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and the IRS tax deadline comes to mind. To help America get through the day of filing their taxes they are offering a FREE small hot McCafe beverage or a FREE medium iced McCafe beverage all day at participating McDonalds!
Drink up and hope you get a refund!

Over the Shoulder for Luck

I was out with my girlfriends on Friday night and was gently reminded by my friend Kim that I have not posted for a little while. I admit I'm slowing down. Maybe it's because I haven't been anywhere overly exciting lately, maybe we are eating home more..I don;t know. I do know that when someone tells me that my posts are old I should start writing because I can't take my blog fans for granted.

We were able to secure our trusty babysitter last night and Brian and I headed down to Salt in Butchers Hill(2127 E. Pratt St). Previously Salt was a place you were not able to make reservations for. They had a rule that your party had to be 6 or more. It was a pretty popular place, so you either had to eat early or wait over an hour. In the last year, they lifted their reservation rule and now they take them for any size party. We were there once before and it definitely is on my list as one of my top 5 restaurants in Baltimore.

We started off our meal with a drink for Brian. Just an iced tea for me last night. Brian had the "Bottoms Up Doc" drink which was fresh squeezed carrot juice, blood orange vodka and triple sec. He liked it, although he thought it was a little strong. For appetizers we had the famous duck fat fries with a trio of aioli and an arugula salad with roasted beets and goat cheese. I know some of you may be grimacing from the mention of duck fat fries..but this is a piece of heaven I can't even describe. I may not be able to button my jeans this morning, but totally worth it. It's a once a year (maybe twice) treat. We were originally just going to go with the fries, but our waitress was quite a sales person, she talked us into the salad as well.


For our main entrees, Brian scored a grilled Kobe skirt steak Chimichurri.It had a smoked paprika rub, sweet potato short stack, huckleberry syrup and a jalapeno popper. I was debating between 3 things. I could not decide between the lamb chop, tuna or rockfsh. I let our waitress make the final decision and I got the rockfish which was served with Spicy crab empanada, mango butter, Chinese long beans and a pomegranate drizzle. Yum all around.

Even though we were really full, of course we got dessert. Salt makes all their desserts in house, including homemade ice creams. We shared a ice cream sandwich made with a homemade brownie and cotton candy ice cream.

So, there you go Kim. Grab Ernie and get down to Salt! (And call us when you go!)