Crank up the heat...

On Saturday night we pulled in to our driveway around 10:30 p.m. having left Locust Grove, Georgia earlier (way earlier) in the day at 5:00 a.m.. What made the trip bearable were the five glorious, sunny days we had just enjoyed in Orlando, Florida. After a long Canadian winter it was a well deserved break from reality. Except my reality is that I appear to have grown allergic to sunshine. I have always been sensitive to the sun but this was the first time in years that after one day of sunshine exposure my skin broke out into red (itchy) hives. Which was wonderfully ironic. I've been begging for sunshine and warmth for months. I get some and it turns out my Canadian-born self can't handle the heat, literally.

When you spend your vacation at a theme park you can't really expect much in the way of culinary delights. So I have very little to share about our food adventures while on holidays. Here are the culinary low-lights and high-lights. You can judge which is which.

Chick-fil-A. Please come to Canada, Chick-fil-A. Kentucky is about the northern-most Chick-fil-A we've been able to find.  Amazing chicken sandwiches and a mean chicken fruit salad. Awesome lemonade. Free wi-fi. Clean bathrooms. I'm in.

We had a lovely moment at Cracker Barrel in somewhere-I've-forgotten-the-name-of Tennessee. A man came over as we were finishing our lunch and told us he had been watching us since we came in and he thought we had 'Just such a nice little family, he had to stop to say hello.' (Go back and say this with a slow Southern drawl). Which you could take as creepy (Dude - stop watching us!) or lovely, which is how I'm choosing to take it, given the kids had been in the car since 4:30 a.m. with no naps.

Old Port Royale Food Court (Caribbean Beach Resort). Not so much 'Caribbean' fare but points to Disney for trying to health things up. The kids had turkey, mashed potatoes and corn for dinner a couple of nights and all the lemonade they could drink thanks to a refillable-during-your-entire-stay Disney mug. Which we enjoyed on the patio, by the pool under some colourful umbrellas and palm trees...

Let's talk about lattes. I've grown accustomed to having one every morning that I prepare at home. Disney does not have good coffee meaning they do not have good lattes. Except at the Polynesian Resort but we weren't at the Polynesian resort. Next time, we will be.

Whispering Canyon Cafe all-you-care-to-enjoy skillet. I love Disney marketing. It isn't 'all-you-can-eat' it's 'all-you-care-to-enjoy'! This was our one splurge meal and it was goood. Ribs, fried chicken, beef brisket, baked beans, mashed potatoes (that made me want to lick my skillet) and corn bread. The kids ordered bottomless milkshakes. Bottomless. Milkshakes. They drank two. Each. I sampled both (strawberry and chocolate) and they were also gooood.

Bob Evans. We love Bob Evans. Because when you're only mid-way through Ohio (what is up with the size of Ohio?) and you have been eating on the road for a week, you want a vegetable. Patrick looked at the menu and ordered broccoli and banana bread. They also have KD (Kraft Dinner). Genuine KD, although it does seem to differ slightly from Canadian KD. I always order off of the kids menu (Turkey Lurkey) but the grown up menu is good too.

By Sunday I didn't have the energy to whip up Sunday dinner but we managed to pull together a respectable Mother's Day feast of gingered flank steak, baked potatoes and roasted asparagus.

Have I every told you how I roast asparagus? It seems like a rather random way to end this post but I can do random. This is a fool-proof method for roasting asparagus.

Roasted Asparagus
Heat oven to 500 degrees. (No, seriously - your oven will go that hot!) Snap woody ends off of asparagus and wash. Put some foil on a cookie sheet. Spread the washed asparagus on the foil-lined pan. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt/pepper. Roast in oven for 5 minutes. Serve immediately to rave reviews.