A Home-Made meal that is Delicious and still under $6? In the year 2013?!! And it's a lot of food?! Hell yes!!

This is the $5.95 "Roast Turkey Special" from Ted's Snack Shop in Evanston, Il. at 1824 Crain St The address says Crain, but it's right on the corner of Crain and Dodge (in Evanston)/California (in Chicago). Look at all that white and dark meat on that plate, ridiculous amounts for $5.95! Plus a scoop of fresh, not box, mashed potatoes and some corn, plus a slice of canned cranberry!! What a deal! Not to mention the meal was Monte-licious! The turkey was meaty and juicy, the gravy wasn't too salty or overwhelming and the potatoes were creamy & smooth.

I have to mix my potatoes and corn together before I eat them, it's what I do. I need the combo sensation together in my mouth all at one time.

See? I got it all together here. The potatoes and corn sorta glue the meat to it so it stays together long enough to make it into my mouth.I look like a total jerk in this pic upon further review. What else is new, right?

Yes!

Gotta get it all in there.

Almost all in....

There it goes! I barely even chew it!

There is Ted's, if you see this^^^^^ you found it

The inside is small, clean and cozy! Neat too!

There is the "specials" board, they change daily. Every Thursday is Turkey, every other Wednesday is breaded and fried pork chops!! Yiy, Yiiiyyy!!!

A little bit of heaven in the shape of a sweet ass, baked halo! Or the best French Cruller, ever!*

Reuter's Bakery at 7177 W Grand Ave, Chicago, IL 60707 is home to easily one of the most Monte-licious French Crullers you could ever hope to sink yer teeth in too! *You must get them first thing in the a.m. to insure maximum awesomeness!

Packaging my half dozen, to be eaten the same day.

Here they are in all their glory, the Frizzity-French Crullers!!

A little bit of a close up for ya.

I can't wait, I am eating them in my car.

Just look at me go..

..and go

And gone!

A look on the inside, so you can see how airy and fluffy the doughnut is, so freakin good!

Look at the "leaning tower of jerk" in the way of my beautiful pic.

Here is some bread, if you like bread you will like their bread.

Yummy, yummy! Can you name all the donuts here?

Look at this old school "takacheck." One push on the lever and you get a number!        

OMG! PEEPS! And they're made fresh without all the crappy chemicals! Where can you get them.....?

Boom! PEEPS! Made fresh and without all the bologna chemicals at Pleasant House Bakery in Chicago's beautiful up & coming hood known as Bridgeport. 964 W 31st St, Chicago, IL 60608, to be exact! Besides the PEEPS if you live in Chicago and you haven't been there for a lunch or dinner yet, yer doin yerself a disservice. You need to eat there! But back to the PEEPS at hand! I love Peeps always have, but now as an adult I know that they're made up completely of chemical BS so I rarely eat them anymore. That's not a good thing. So when I saw a pic of these cute, fluffy little marshmallow treats on Facebook yesterday (March 21st., 2013) from one of my favorite places to eat, Pleasant House Bakery, I had to go and try em. I originally bought 6, but 3 met a cruel fate on the way back to my house. Oh well. These PEEPS are made with all natural, and if not all organic ingredients. And Guess what flavor they are? They are, get this, ROSE flavored!! So freakin Monte-licious! And weirdly sexy for a PEEP flavor.

I call this one Pinky Peepsadero, like Pinky Tuscadero from Happy Days! She is about to meet the same cruel fate her 3 sisters met on the way to my house. Let's watch as her fate unfolds.....

There she is, Pinky Peepsadero, lookin so pretty, fluffy and feelin squishy with her sweet scent of Rose in the air. Who doesn't love the sweet scent of Rose??

It appears the giant in the background is about to take Pinky to meet her sisters.

Correct! I knew my every step! ; ) Pinky has met her fate! And what a delicious ending it is turning out to be, people!

I could not be happier here taking in her final end piece. So good and satisfying.

Look at that face. That is a happy, happy man! The PEEPS are that good. When you eat one you will more than likely feel like you owe me a hug. I will accept. I will accept.

Pre-Passover meal for a win!!

Today I attended a Pre-Passover Model Seder meal at the Highland Park Nursing and Rehab Center. I was invited to go thanks to a friend,

Tali Hylen, at  Ripple Public Relations and let me tell you, I am so glad I went!

Here is Rabbi Nosson Factor (the one with the mic), he ran the Seder and is the assistant administrator at the center. He did a great job, kept it short & sweet! It was well attended by members of the center as well as people from the surrounding areas (Highland Park, Evanston, Chicago)

A Passover/Seder meal is sort of a celebration, and like any good celebration, food and drink are involved. A Passover  consists of a ritual feast with four cups of wine, Matzo (unleavened bread crackers), hard boiled eggs, chopped liver, all sorts of food. You will never leave a Seder hungry. It is customary to invite guests that may otherwise not partake in such a tradition, and that is probably why they asked a big oaff like me to go. The table is set with a Seder Plate full of items symbolic of the Passover story, as guests of the Seder follow along in a book called the Haggadah. So as you expected I went for the food. and that was not only a smart, but an excellent choice!

The food was catered by Kitchen Chicks and man o' man did they do a stellar job! Everything I tasted was seriously Monte-licious!

The beef was not salty at all and it was tender and meaty. The au jus had a nice, mild flavor. And the chicken, even the breast meat was juicy! That is real when you have catered chicken, but they did it right.

Here are some sweet potatoes and carrots in a yummy, sweet sauce. And some perfectly cooked green beans, still with a snap! This food all comes after the Passover story and the following along with the reading from the Haggadah. But even during the religious stuff there is eating and drinking. And that food was delicious as well!

Here we some chopped apples and nuts in a bowl, hard boiled eggs, a lamb chop, horse radish, wine, all of this food goes along with the Passover story and is eaten at specific points during the the telling of the story. I loved all the eating moments best from the story.

One of our new friends at the table had a little spillage goin on, I tell ya... some people! ; )

Here is the book that the story gets read from, you go from the back to the front. And it's not in Chinese!!

Look at this beautiful presentation of stuff I shoved into my mouth! The stuff with the carrots atop of it is gefilte fish, which I usually hate, but the Kitchen chicks did it right and I ate several servings of it!

I ate this much food, times 10!

Matzo Ball soup

Our new friends enjoying their meal.

My plate of beef, chicken, green beans, sweet potatoes and carrots and matzo kuggle! So good! And the best part is this whole event with all the food during the Passover story and the full meal that followed immediately after the story was only $8.00! And all the registration fees weer generously donated to the Highland Park Senior Center! Win, win! And lastly I must mention that there weer plenty of beautiful women in attendance which is a nice bonus to such a delicious meal. And the fellas weer all super cool! Glad I went!

The Chicken Roti is my friend.

This is Gloria's Caribbean Cuisine in Brooklyn and I love this place! I only ate here one time on the recommendation of my good friend, Noel. It took us about 30 to 40 min to get here from Manhattan but it was well worth it! first, let me get the details outta the way: 764 Nostrand Ave
(between Sterling Pl & St Johns Pl)
Brooklyn, NY 11216
Neighborhood: Crown Heights

And this is what we came for... the Roti! The Roti is very similar to a wrap or burrito, but the wrap is made from a "wholemeal flour" or "atta flour" and at Gloria's it's filled with your choice of spiced meats: goat, beef, chicken, etc. I got the chicken! and I made the right choice.

Look under the hood of this mean machine. Nice and tender chunks of juicy white meat chicken smothered and stewed in Caribbean spices.

Front and center! Ready to take down some Roti!

Feedin it in like a true hero!

Look how good I can make anything look.

I am the man! And the Roti is Monte-licious! I told the guy running the place that if I lived near them that they would get to know me very well.

Interior shot. It's not very big and the seating is slightly uncomfortable. But the bathroom was really clean! And that is always a good sign!

The Roti and the meat options

The guy bendin over is the guy I said "you'd get to know me if i lived here" and behind him is a row of Roti's waitin to get to their hungry fans.

They also have Caribbean breakfast options which I heard are really good.

And if you want some music you can purchase some from a table right by the door as you enter or exit. And no to worry about what's on the CD, it is playing at a decent volume in the background in the place. I can guarantee I will be back at Gloria's the very next time I am in NY for a visit. You can count on that 100%!