Sorry this is a week late but I kept forgetting to write it.  Taneytown carnival was last week and this year we took a guest, our friends daughter who Banner just adores.  We had pizza and fries. The pizza was not too bad, but the fries were not much to talk about. The best part we all agreed on was the shaved ice. $3 one size and a great number to pick from. I got tigers blood, Ellen got coconut and Mack got rainbow. According to her it was the best shaved ice she has ever had. I had to agree. The one size was a large and a good amount of flavor put in. Not just a huge cup of ice. I always say if I made shaved ice I would freeze the ice with the flavor already in so you get the taste the entire time.  Well thanks for reading and stay tuned for this weeks review.  Sykesville Maryland.

Dinner of tasty twists.

Friday night Ellen and I wanted to try a new place. The Maryland Mallet Restaurant and Crabhouse on Rt 97 in Maryland was our choice. It just opened less than a week ago. Walking in we were greeted by the hostess and was told a 25 minute wait. We waited less than 10. Banner loved the huge fish tank they had under the front desk. We were seated and served or drinks along with crackers and cheese. It would have been a great addition but they were saltteens in the little sealed plastic bags. We put our order for starters of grilled Brullel sprouts and buffalo chicken wings. Both state were delicious.  Banner ate every one of the 8 wings and Ellen did the same with the sprouts. We put our order in for our main dishes. Ellen ordered the house salad with salmon and I ordered the BMore quesadilla.  It was recommended by our waitress and our greater. They both said it was amazing. We waited for at least 40 minutes. I was not impressed on mine at all. It was warm not hot. No side of any toe of salsa. It was a quesadilla that had cheese, shrimp , crab, onions and old bay seasoning. It was bland. On a cold plate that only made my food get cold faster and the cheese to get hard. When asked by the waitress how our meal was I usually say it was good but this time I told the whole truth. She was very sorry and hoped we would return again. Upon leaving Ellen overheard another customer leaving and saying to those waiting to " Leave. Leave now" "Are you serious" "Yes. It is not thorth it" and a server or helpstaff say to another employee that theybare giving their notice already. We may try it one more time. Maybe they were not prepared for a Friday night rush. If I do go back I hope they have read my review and listened to the waitress that I told about our meal. Dave if you are reading this hope yours was better. God bless, thanks for reading and have a great meal.

New Windsor Carnival 2017

Well it's that time of year. Carnival season. Last year we got to 10 and it was Banner-Wolfs first year. This year he is able to enjoy sights, sounds and best of all the food. New Windsor was our second for the season but the first I did not count. We did not eat anything at the first one. Wednesday evening we got to New Windsor around 630 and was able to avoid the parade and the crowds of people. Ellen got the crabcake platter. It had two sides. Vinegar based Cole slow and a potato salad. It also came with a large cup of soup. She picked Maryland crab. I had all the same sides but had a double cheese burger as my sandwich. The best food we have found was the French fries. $5 for a large is a great price. Fresh cut and steaming hot. They are by far the best for taste and quantity than any other carnival. We do not rides but they had the typical rides that every carnival has. I won't be reviewing rides unless future carnivals have one that no other has. Well stay tuned throughout the summer for my other reviews. We will be hitting one and in some cases 2 every week. God bless, thanks for reading and hope to see you at the Scrambler.

Fat Monday?

Every year from K-12 we had a faucanut for lunch.  What is that you say? Well it is a doughnut to everyone else but so much better.  They are made a little different from doughnuts and are only out one day a year, Fat Tuesday.  Every year since then I tried to get at least one on Fat Tuesday and every year I thought I was eating the best one I have ever had until this year.  Tonight I went to St. James Lutheran Church to pick up my order of 3 dozen.  Banner and I walked in and we could smell them cooking.  The air was thick with the smell of fresh dough and sugar.  I gave them my name and order number and was asked to wait because they were a little behind.  I did not mind at all because this meant that mine were being cooked and were going to be real fresh.  Our order was called and we walked them to the car.  Amazing enough they all made it home.  Yes I was tempted but waited till I could pour myself a nice cold glass of milk and enjoy the warm faucanut.  Banner started pointing to the boxes as soon as I put them on the counter.  I opened the box and there were 12 full size and one half size, perfect for him.  He did not wast any time.  His first official faucanut was devoured in less than 4 minutes.  He knows good food.  Not only did I get the freshest faucanuts I also got to see fir the first time in 26 years a past classmate and a one of my friends kids that was helping pack them up.  I want to thank everyone that did all the hard work in bring us the best faucanuts we have ever had.  God bless, thanks for reading and see you at the table.  

Sugar snack attack

Sorta retro snack time
Marshmallow Peeps are around at Easter but found these gems at a store that sells overstock food and merchandise. Watermelon and blue raspberry flavored. They are not that bad. As a matter of fact they are pretty good. If you love peeps and jolly ranchers than try these. The flavor is very strong and there is none of the annoying hard candy teeth breaking involved. I opened both boxes because I like them stale. Also froze them. Second is a soda. I don't drink a lot of soda but when I heard it was back I had to get one. Thanks to L.A. Beast ( Kevin if you are reading this I would love a shirt) an YouTube celebrity and his push for Pepsi to bring back Crystal Pepsi it is not available to everyone for a limited time. Not the perfect taste of Pepsi but still good. And if you need a sugar kick st 69grams you will not be disappointed. Get it while it lasts. Found mine at Sheetz and also at Royal Farms. Sorry for the short blog but not much else to say on these two items. God bless, thanks for reading and see you at the snack counters.

Something for everyone

Last night Ellen made dinner and it was spot on.  We had roasted veggies that consisted of potatoes, onions, peppers, squash, Brussel sprouts, and broccoli.  She baked them in the oven with some garlic powder and other seasonings.  They came out very tender and delicious.  Second she made falafel.  Yes it was from a box but still very good.  She made a dipping sauce for it from scratch with cucumbers from our garden and yogurt.  I did not care for the sauce but she and Banner-Wolf loved it.  We had three different tomatoes from our garden.  They all have a different taste.  I prefer the regular red tomato over the others but believe me they all taste and look amazing.  Nothing like fresh veggies from the garden that you know were not treated with a bunch of chemicals.   Last but not least she made some cornbread.  Not the normal cornbread but peach cornbread with stroodle topping.  It was the best I have ever had.  It was very moist and held together pretty good.  It was more of a dessert than part of a meal but who cares.  I will be eating a piece tomorrow for breakfast with some hot tea.  The crunchy top matched great with the sweet peaches and the corn bread texture.  That was a winning dish in my book.  The peaches were fresh as well.  We just got them from the peach festival we went to that afternoon. 

We had dinner the night before at my parents and they made deer steak subs with tomato from their garden.  The deer was last years kill.  My mother cooks the meat that is sliced thin and melds with the onion in the pan.  There is not a hint of gamey (is that even a word) taste to it.  Everyone that has tried it not knowing it was deer never had a clue till they were told and by that time they were hooked.  I topped mine with salad dressing, lettuce and tomato.  This is what we all look forward to in the summer.  We do eat the same subs all year long but the fresh tomato makes it great.  You can top your anyway you want but in my opinion the more you put on it the more you mask the flavor of the meat.  Add a side of potato chips and that is a meal.  I suggest if you ever get a chance to have this sub at my parents do not pass on it because you don’t like deer meat.  You will be sorry. But hey, more for us if you don’t want one.  I will not complain about eating your share.  That’s it for now.  God bless, thanks for reading and see you at the table.  

Jefferson Carnival

The Jefferson Carnival Jefferson Pa.

Let me start by thanking all of you that read my blog and those of you that comment.  I welcome all to have their input and opinion.  Now for the review.

Ample parking.  Glad we got there when we did because even with all the parking they had, if you got there late you were parking a good distance away.  And when pushing a baby you don’t want to have to do that over a football field of grass. First the rides.  Not impressed.  They had a few standards but that’s about it. Nothing special.  I did not care because I don’t ride them but some of you might.  The area that the carnival covered was larger than most that I have been to this season.  That’s a good thing because the amount of people there space was needed.  The only real area that was packed was the food area.  Like most carnivals they had live music.  This one was different.  They had a full big band with the trumpets, drums and many wind instruments.  I do not like the music at carnivals because it is so loud you have a really hard time talking or hearing others.  This was a nice break from that.  No singing. Just music.  Banner-Wolf never takes notice to what is playing till tonight.  The first song was played and he perked right up, standing on my lap and trying to see what was making the music.   Bonus points for that.  Now for the food.  I got the double cheese burger and 2 orders of fresh cut fries.  The burger was better than the McDonalds McDouble.  The fries were very good and fresh.  I like being able to see them cutting the fries on the spot.  Ellen got the fish sandwich because the crab cake did not look too good.  She said the fish was alright.  We both saw the pizza and passed on getting it.  It was super thin and did not look good.  I might have made a mistake so correct me if I did.  The last thing we got was an item that they are known for and that was suggested to me to get.  The Waffle and ice cream sandwich.  Very tasty.  The waffle was cooked perfect, homemade and was handed to us hot.  The ice cream was nothing special but the entire dish was very refreshing.  Was it worth the $5?  Maybe not but it did go to the locals and that is what counts.  We thought about getting a cone of the soft serve but decided not to.  The funnel cake did not look like anything special.  One awesome feature at this carnival that I have never seen before was the Pepsi stand.  They had a huge Pepsi stand that was covered and hand at least 4 coolers with all sorts of drinks.  More than I would like to spend on a soda but it was a great idea.  $2 for a soda and $1.25 for a water.  The food there seem priced high to me compared to other carnivals. We also ran into a few friends that we have not seen for a while.  Always good to see people we know and chat for a bit.  My overall rating is 7/10.  Hope this helps and some of you get a chance to go.  Have a great time if you do.  Oh and bring your own seat.  There are none except in the eating area.  God bless, thanks for reading and see you at the food stand.

Thurmont Carnival Maryland

Thurmont Carnival was not the best but not the worst.  First impression was not good.  We got there only to see that they were charging $2 for parking.  And by now if you have read any of my reviews I am not out to spend when I don’t have to.  So we drove one block away and parked for free.  Some of the residential areas had signs put up by the local police stating no parking and must have a permit to park.  I guess they did not want out of towners parking on a public street in front of people’s homes.  Anyway we did find a free parking spot not one block away.  Walking into the carnival I noticed a few nice rides.  A larger than normal roller coaster, the pirate ship and some spinning plane ride.  There were a good amount of rides but not as many as most of the carnivals we have been to.  There was the usual food set up with most of the local food under a large pavilion.  The fire company sponsored the food.  Normal food that you would find anywhere else nothing special.  I asked about the Apple dumplings or fritters and I was told they are at their Color Fest in the fall.  Oh well.  I got the fried ham sandwich, two slices of pizza, not so good fries, two waters, a snow ball and a dream sickle float.  The ham sandwich was not too bad.  I had to get that because there was no pit beef and was told that the ham sandwich was good.  It was loaded with ham so I was not disappointed.  The pizza was the same as all the others except Ellen said the crust and dough was thicker.  The fries were just thin fries that were nothing special.  The snowball was only $1 so we had to get one.  $3 for the dream sickle float was a great deal.  I have never had one before and it was very refreshing.  And like always Banner-Wolf did not complain about any of his food.  There were all the regular games along with bingo in the firehouse.  Free music was playing and a few people took advantage of it and danced.  Ellen looked over to me as we sat there eating and asked if I thought they would still be playing the same songs when we were old or would they be singing songs from the 80’s.  She thought they would be the same and I said I could picture a band doing Vanilla Ice cover songs…hahaha.  For the most part this was a normal carnival.  Nothing special.  The reason for just a little below average review is because of the parking and lack of food choice.  I was hoping for something different.  I ask now when I go what to order, what they are known for and they did not have a dish that was Thurmont local.  My rating is a 4/10.  Having gone to as many carnivals this year as we have it is getting harder to impress me.  They will have to have something really different to top some of the earlier ones and something really really bad to be as bad as Delone.  Hope this helps.  You have till Saturday night to go. 

3 Hogs

Thursday we treated ourselves with a late lunch.  My parents were watching Banner-Wolf so we had a chance to go someplace that I have been wanting to try for a long time now.  Now I want apologize for going and not doing my first food video for YouTube but let me be clear.  I will be going back and I will make sure I get video because the pictures I took this time do not do the food justice.  Also I told a few friends we would all go and enjoy it together.  Again I apologize and you all know who you are, we will go together before too long.  I will need others to enjoy the food and have fun filming with me.  Eating at this place you really need a group of people.  To see the looks on their face and their reaction to the awesome tasting food.  Now for your reading pleasure I present my first but not last review of 3 Hogs BBQ in Hanover, Pa. http://www.3hogsbbq.com/  First off if you live within 20 miles of 3 Hogs and love pit beef or grilled food in general then the first chance you get gather family and friends and take a road trip.  You will not be sorry and your mouth will thank you a thousand times over.  Bring some antacid because you will over eat.  I have heard many great things about this place and for months I have wanted to go but just never had the chance.  Weekend evenings are slammed because that is when everyone is out for dinner so that was out of the question.  So what better than going for lunch?  I suggest going at an off time to avoid the crowds because I have heard that weekend evenings you might wait up to 1 hour for food.  They said it was worth every bite but with a child they would not last that long waiting for food.  I already knew what I was going to order but Ellen had no clue.  Since she does not eat meat she was skeptical on what she could get.  She was not disappointed.  Ellen ordered 4 side dishes because there was nothing that she wanted as a main dish.  She got the Mac and cheese, Sriracha Jalapeno slaw, smoked Brussel sprouts and the roasted red potatoes.  Her first bit of the sprouts she said was amazing.  Best she has ever tasted.  The slaw was not overwhelming with heat.  You could taste the cabbage and a nice warm burn from the spices.  The potatoes were seasoned just right and cooked tender.  She loved the mac and cheese as well.  I ordered Brisket mac and cheese grilled cheese.  This was an awesome combo.  Two slices of sourdough bread with cheese, well-seasoned beef brisket, mac and cheese and bbq sauce.  The brisket, mac and cheese and the bbq sauce was between the bread and grilled like a grilled cheese.  Amazing.  I am so glad this was the first thing I ordered off the menu.  It came with a side so I ordered the cornbread balls.  If you look at the menu online it is not listed.  They looked like hushpuppies rolled in large grain sugar but it was dense cornbread balls.  Came out very hot and fresh.  It went great with the sandwich.  Our meal was perfect.  Not one thing wrong with it except it was gone way too fast.  Not only was the food good but the service was really good.  The waitress took our order at the counter and brought it out to us.  After a bit she came back out and asked us how we liked everything.  While she was talking she was cleaning tables.  She told Ellen one of her favorite sides were the spouts as well.  At our table were all the sauces they had to offer.  I am not going to name them all but they are listed on their menu online.  I tried every one of them.  One that is not listed on the menu was the squealing pig sauce.  It was a hot sauce that I really could see going on hot wings.  The pictures of our food below was what we ate and it came at the low cost of $24 after a tip.  If you are looking for a sit down dinner, yes they have seats but they are all outside.  We got lucky because of the time we went, we got one of the few seats inside the area where you order.  The smell of cooking meat was in the air, hair metal music played in the background and a good breeze was blowing.  I was a great dining experience.  I highly recommend 3 Hogs to any and every one that loves meat.  Support local.  If the owners of 3 Hogs are reading this I will be back and I will be bringing friends. I would love to talk to the owners if they have time which I know they won’t because how busy they are.  Maybe one day.  God bless, thanks for reading and see you at the meat smoker. https://www.facebook.com/3hogsbbq/?fref=ts

Harney Carnival

Ellen and I pushed up the carnival visits because we may be trying something completely new to us Saturday evening.  If we do go out Saturday I will write about that as well.  It is not a carnival.  Last night we went to the Harney Carnival in Harney Maryland.  This is a very local carnival with the vendors, games and limited rides all done by locals.  There are no regular rides like the ones you would see at every other carnival.  This one had kids bounce houses and even a mechanical bull for kids and adults to ride.  Live music was the main attraction and it really brings out the people most of which were older. The music last night was more 50’s and 60’s rock.  The band was very animated and even funny.  You did not see the groups of mouthy teens.  What you did get was the families walking with their kids enjoying a nice evening of free music, very low priced food and a local community coming together.  The games were all run by the fire department or locals that wanted to give back to their town. They even have turtle races. We did not get much of the food since we just had a late lunch.  Ellen did get the crab cake that was all meat.  The pizza was the same as every other carnival but the crust and dough was cook a little softer so Banner-Wolf was able to enjoy more of it.  And the best part was the price, $1.50.  Yeah you heard me right.  Half the price as the others.  The funnel cake that we did not get was twice the size as the other carnivals and only $4.  Every one we have gone to they had the deep fried Oreo’s and candy bars.  I have not tried them because of not only the price but I can do them at home.  This time the price was right again.  Most of the carnivals sold them for 5 for $5. Harney had them 3 for $1 and 3 snickers for $2. And they were covered in powdered sugar.    I could not pass them up this time.  Ellen did not like them but I enjoyed them.   I also got a shaved ice for $3. It was very shaved very fine and melted in your mouth without having any ice chunks that you would have to chew.  Banner-Wolf enjoyed that as well.  We sat in the shade, enjoyed our food and watched people.  The overall carnival experience was very nice.  Relaxing and low key.  If you are looking for a nice night out with the family I suggest this carnival.  Just don’t go looking for rides.  Go with knowing you are supporting the locals.  You have till Saturday to enjoy this one as well as Gettysburg.