Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives!!!

Triple D… I Double Dog Dare you to try this at home!

Well, it’s been awhile, and this time we have good ole’ Mother Nature to blame for our delay! On April 14^th, Snowpocalypse hit Minneapolis with the biggest snow storm the month had ever seen.  An average of 17-20+ inches of snow fell on the exact day we were scheduled to meet. Soooo… instead of cooking, we all spent the weekend shoveling, drinking hot chocolate, binge-watching Game of Thrones and practicing our hip-hop dance moves (ok, I don’t know exactly what the other ladies did).

By the time our schedules aligned, we were safely into summer weather, which was perfect for our theme. Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives!!

Yep, we cracked open some Triple-D cookbooks and let Guy Fieri guide us through the evening! (some of his favorite sayings included for your reading pleasure)

But before we started our imaginary road-trip, we needed a cocktail. An Old Fashioned to be precise. One with a crystal clear, slow melting ice cube. Kim challenged us to see who could make the clearest cube (which is not as easy as it sounds), and Bridget’s easily took the winning prize!

By the way, the ingredients below should be your go-to for an Old Fashioned from here on out, trust me.

This drink is seriously off the hook. Not from a diner, drive-in nor can I hardly imagine a dive…. but, a big high-five to Kim P for snagging the recipe from her bartender and including it as the start to our evening!

Ok, now we’re officially on the road (with our driver Guy, of course…). Our first stop is at Pier 23 in San Francisco. They’re known for an amazing appetizer of Dungeness Crab in some garlicky, buttery goodness.

Sop that up with some fresh baked sourdough and …. ya, you could basically put that stuff on a flip flop.

A grueling 28-hour drive (ok, a couple of steps to the deck) took us right to the BBQ Shack in Kansas. And what a great stop it was! Grilled Jalapeño Poppers were a definite highlight of the meal, smoky & spicy, making Kim B the mayor of Flavortown on this one!

Then it was time to roll up our sleeves and dive into the main course (literally). The day started with beheading our little suckling swine friend.

And later removing his ankles so he fit on the grill…

a job we all agreed could go to the butcher next time! At any rate, after a loooooong, sloooooow roast… Paige and Bridget dove in to pull some pork,

while Kim’s B & P got busy with French Fries and Spicy Southern Greens.

I must admit, I’ve never taken the time to double fry a french fry, but mark my words… SO WORTH IT! Fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside… Dynamite! Arrange those right next to a pulled pork sandwich, spicy greens and some coleslaw…. 

That just puts the shama lama in ding dong!

And… not having yet had nearly enough to eat, we ended our journey at 3 Sisters in Indianapolis, as we tucked into some blueberry and goat cheese pie with, of course... blueberry champagne. YUM!

 

There’s only one thing left to say… the evening was out of bounds!