Sunoco Gas Station: Crawfordsville

The place to get a tenderloin in Crawfordsville is the Sunoco ⛽️ Gas Station!

This place is on Highway 231 in Crawfordsville. It has several tables if you want to enjoy the atmosphere of the convenience store while dining.

Notice the picture was taken on the dash board because there was no waiting to get home before eating this Bad Boy.

Lawson was wanting a gallon of windshield wiper fluid.

This lonely 🥔 potato is all by itself because the rest of them were consumed on the way home. They are dipped into some kind of delicious batter before being fried up.

The sandwich is good on all levels!

If you would like a little history lesson while in Crawfordsville, you can visit the Lew Wallace Study. Major General Lew Wallace was a Civil War general and is the author of Ben Hur.

Indianapolis Zoo and Shapiro’s Deli

The ever clever Heidi gave Lawyer and Kiley passes to the Indianapolis Zoo for Christmas. So, Kiley and 4 guests get in for a year and we made our first visit son Sunday. (Heidi for sure wants to go on Halloween and Christmas)

We enjoyed the light crowd and saw all we wanted in two hours. The 🦜 macaw demonstration was the most impressive as they all flew in over the audience to a perch and they also flew away together as well.

Shapiro’s is only a mile and a half from the zoo.

Lawson and Dubs taking a break at the zoo.

Lawson enjoys having Nana and Dubs holding on.

Everyone is painting at the 🐘 elephants.

Took Lawyer and Kiley to Shapiro’s Deli for the first time. I bet they return.

Heidi and shared a corned beef and 🧀 Swiss.

The 🥔 potato pancake with applesauce is the way to go!

Joella’s 🥵 Hot 🐓 Chicken

While in Clarksville on my own I get to choose my lunch location all by myself. This was one darn good decision!

I had the two tender plate at medium heat (Ella’s Fav) and for dipping sauce I went with the Spiked 🍯 Honey along with 🧄 garlic Parmesan 🍟 fries. I felt obliged to have a sweet tea with this kind of southern themed dish.

I left the pickle on for the picture for folks that like that sort of thing.

I dined outside and watched the Notre Dame/Tennessee college baseball ⚾️ game and the heat on my chicken was outstanding! I had to wipe sweat from my forehead several times and the garlic Parm fries also had great flavor. This is a 👍 thumbs up from me.

Joella’s is on Veteran’s a parkway in Clarksville.

Saturday Morning With No Agenda

A Saturday morning with no immediate responsibilities is the best! A Diet Dew on the deck watching hummingbirds allows me ample time to carefully plan breakfast.

With the house empty except for myself and the dogs, I perused the opportunities in the refrigerator and the winner is…(dramatic hesitation) Sausage, 🥑 avocado and cheddar omelette with hot 🥵 sauce.

Mild Tennessee Pride sausage, half a sliced avocado 🥑, a slice of cheddar 🧀 cheese, then topped with Frank’s Red 🥵 Hot.

What Is Heaven? What is Love?

Have you ever watched “The Field of Dreams?” At the end, Ray’s fantasy Dad from the past asks, “Is this heaven?” And Ray says “It’s Iowa.”

Well, let me tell you about heaven and 💕 love. If you research, you can find between 4 to 8 different kinds of love. According to Greek philosophy there are four kinds of love:

Eros: Romantic

Philia: affectionate that involves friendship and goodwill

Agape: selfless love that a person feels for strangers and humanity as a whole

Storge: love that parents and family feel amongst themselves

I love 🍎 apple dumplings 🥟. And for the people that make me 🍎 apple 🥟 dumplings, that could range from Eros, to Storge, to Philia, to Agape.

And if you are not sure, heaven and love is right here in Indiana. It is the Grassy Fork Field of Dreams wiffleball ball field and teaching at Lutheran Central, among other things. As well, it is my daily interaction with my students and colleagues from the member churches that make Lutheran Central School.

For this post, Rachel Klosterman exemplifies Philia. I love her as a colleague, friend, and maker of apple dumplings. She was my Secret Pal at Lutheran Central this past year and I love her for the effort she put forth.

As a Secret Pal reveal yesterday, she brought me this pan of apple dumplings. She got the recipe from her sister-in-law, Kelly; and she was a bit nervous about the product. So, Kelly, Karen, Grandma Benter, whoever has been passing this delicious dish (no real recipe, just throw things together) down through the generations, it is fantastic and I am the fortunate recipient, yet again, of what I think heaven might be like.

I can only hope that for the future of Jackson County that Lindsey, Jenna, and Mallory also get this skill and feel like carrying it forward for generations to come.

Rachel “Da💣Bomb.com” Klosterman made 🍎 Apple 🥟 Dumplings and that makes me happy!!!

Apple Dumplings with some melting vanilla ice cream makes me even happier!!!

In conclusion, I love you and I appreciate you!

With school being out tomorrow, I feel very comfortable saying that.

“The Suzanne” @ Blondie’s

It had been a long Track and Field Day at Lutheran Central. I followed my class around the football field all morning where some outstanding parents volunteered to make it a wonderful day for the students. Then I ended up being the All-Time pitcher at the softball field where I must have bended over 300 times to pick up a ball. Also, Kayti Adams and Sarah Burke were there and I am pretty sure that Sarah saved my life. I was whining about a drink of 💧 water and a moment later Kayti said, “You had better go see my sister.” Lo and behold, she presented me with a cold bottle of water. The kids were like baby birds with their mouth open as I shared an 🧊 ice cold drink with them. We are all eternally grateful.

Heidi and I came into town for dinner before Jude’s baseball game and tried Blake’s… Closed for vacation. We drove to Frankenburger…Closes at 7:00 and we were too late. We end up at Blondie’s and I wasn’t feeling pizza 🍕. Right about this time, the evening took a turn for the better.⬆️

My colleague, Suzanne Bolte, was working and first, she recommended a Hawaii Five Ale from the Destihl Brewing Company in Normal, Illinois.

It is a blonde ale with pineapple 🍍, 🍑 peach, 🥥 coconut, 🥭 mango and guava. Tasty!!!

After that, the Life-changing conversation of ordering the 🥗 salad that will from this time on be referred to as “The Suzanne” occurred.

It is their grilled chicken 🥗 salad; however, the chicken 🍗 is tossed around in a sweet chili 🌶 sauce that makes the dish. Add bacon 🥓, 🧀 cheese, croutons if you wish and Ranch dressing and it is “da 💣 bomb!”

I felt so good afterward because I came close to ordering the Bavarian pretzel 🥨 or a 🍕 pizza. Both are delicious there, I just didn’t want the gluten at this point.

After this pour, I lost my bar tenders card. Too much foam. But after a moment, it was refreshing!

Heidi had the Baked Buffalo Chicken nachos. She added the 🥬 lettuce and 🍅 tomato

Best t-shirt in the restaurant goes to Tim Robinson. It says, “ I like fishing and maybe three people.”

In conclusion, next time you dine at Blondie’s, ask for “The Suzanne!”

P.S. I won’t be satisfied until Mason Fleetwood puts this on the chalk board and orders new menus. 😂

Smoked Peppers

So, yes, there were also some wonderful 🐓 chicken tenderloins, however, the 🫑 peppers were what it was all about.

The girls, Sophie and Heidi, just sliced these up and added them on after the fact. Turns out, they were phenomenal. A little 🫒 olive oil and Dominant One was all it took to make the Big Leagues. And I suppose, the Kingsford charcoal and chunk of 🍎 apple 🪵 wood was also a factor.

I just love the color scheme from dinner.

Not to mention, asparagus from Nina Hackman’s garden box. This summer cooking thing is looking up!

We are already planning tomorrow’s chicken quesadillas with the leftover chicken. Boom!!! 💥

Upland Pump House

The Upland Pump House in Columbus has a brunch that is totally worth the visit. Rae, Lawyer, Kiley and Lawson were coming from Nashville and the Pump House was the perfect place to meet.

The location along the White River and their brunch make this a great experience on a warm May morning. The Red Devil art was a bonus that I had not seen on previous visits and it took me back to a few fishing trips to Canada.

As a kid on fishing trips to 🇨🇦 Canada we used the Red Devil fishing lure to catch Northern Pike and Walleye.

The Egg Sandwich on an Everything Bagel, peppered 🥓 bacon, cheese and Tomato 🍅 Jam. It was quite good.

Heidi had the Fritada. Doesn’t that 👀 look wonderful?

The Pump House is the old water company and is located along the White River near the dam. There was some kind of rescue training going on as people were suited up and were traversing the river. It looked interesting.

There was lots of room for Lawson to walk around. He is big on going up and down steps.

“Dubs” , that’s me, got to sit next to Lawson and I think we are going to be pretty good friends.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

A cauliflower crust from Wal-Mart, Hormel Microwave 🥓 Bacon, diced orange pepper, pineapple 🍍, Mozzarella cheese, and Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce.

It was an unusual Friday night as we stayed in for dinner. Heidi custom made her own pizza as well. We pre-baked the crust for 11 minutes, added our toppings and baked for another 5-7 minutes and the result was outstanding!