Spring Break, Part II

The reason my spring break plans fell through is because my parents who were going to go see ended up coming down to Birmingham, AL so my dad could work for Farmers Insurance.  Since they were there Jon and I figured what better time to have a date night!  We took the boys up and dropped them off at the motor home. It is always an adventure driving between Montgomery and Birmingham...1. people in the South consider the left lane, just another lane, its not the fast lane or the passing lane, just a lane.  This makes me cuss like a trucker, and gives me serious road rage:) 2.  If there is an accident or construction on the road a Southerner must know what it going on, this in turn backs up traffic for miles just so we can be well aware of the crew painting lines on the road!  By the time we arrived, and my kids had started fighting in the backseat...I was ready to dump them at the stop light and make a run for it!

Birmingham is a really nice little city, it has great shopping, restaurants, and lots of things to keep you busy.  We stayed at the Hotel Highland at the Five Points South.   It is a historic hotel, and was remodeled a few years ago.  We really enjoyed our stay and had a great time getting away!  Apologies for the pictures, they were all taken on my phone and some were off because of the lighting but looked way worse when the flash was used!

The best part about getting away from you children for the evening....ok, maybe the 2nd best thing;) is having a great meal without little people eating off of your plate, or taking someone to the restroom every ten minutes! In the Five Points South area, we chose Chez FonFon, it has been featured in Southern Living magazine a few times and is a Chef Frank Stitts restaurant.  Just a great restaurant, very busy on a weekend and they don't take reservations.  Their signature drink is the "Orange Thing", it was awesome....after one I could not feel the left side of my face:)  They offered lots of imported beer and the hubby chose an Old Speckled Hen.  Their wine choices were endless!

I snapped this shot of the bread, and on the right is the dessert!  A tasty chocolate mousse, desserts change nightly so you never know what you are in store for.

The meal was really a treat and so delicious.  The hubby ordered a Hamburger FonFon with comte and pommes frites, I ordered the Steak frites with pommes frites...it came with a small salad and was absolutely delightful! I did not realize that I put the bread picture in here twice, sorry about that:)

The next day we actually got back to pick up the boys fairly early....Andy really did not want to leave, this is what he did for most of the trip home because he missed grandma! and if you cannot tell...those are tears, good grief!

 Thanks for stopping by to take a look:)

Dumplin's

Last Sunday when Southern Alabama was calling for snow and freezing rain, I made chicken and dumplings for the family!  They did NOT mess around with these things!  I am fairly certain there were a few stomachaches afterwards but boy were they good.  I made chicken and dumplings a little different than most so I am sharing my recipe.  The reason I make them this way is because I do not like touching chicken...I know it is a weird thing but I just do not like it.  So I use about three large containers of chicken broth, two to three cans of chicken(yes, canned chicken...I realize I could be kicked out of the South for such a thing!), bisquick for the dumplings, salt and pepper to taste.  I normally make two batches of the dumplings and I mix those up first.  Then in a large pot I pour in the chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Then throw in the canned chicken...bring to a rolling boil and start adding dumplings by the spoonful.  Usually the dumplings are still to big, so I tend to cut them up as it boils.  Let boil for ten to fifteen minutes and continuously stir and separate the dumplings. Turn down heat and let simmer for about ten minutes, this will allow the dumplings to set up and not be runny(my picture was taken when Brett had to have a plate), Salt and pepper to taste, ladle into bowl and enjoy!!!  Hope you enjoy them as much as my family does!