That said, the end of the school year came like blazes, I am EARNESTLY thankful I videotaped the kidlets singing joyously to a ripped youtube karaoke video of High School Musical's "We're All in This Together", and while I FULLY intended on blazing through my packing up at the school this week ... It's Thursday and I haven't even left the house for two days.
THIS IS WHAT I CALL A VACATION! Also, it's too darn hot. All I can do is take a nice cool soak in my tub. Why does my tub skeeve me out? Probably because it's in an apartment, and who KNOWS what all has gone on here before. You know what I mean? Then again, a whole lotta people in this country, and all over the world, live in apartments, and probably NEVER think about the Ghosts of Previous Occupant. But somehow, I do, and I still get mail for ... Ronald Echevarria. Yikes. Anyway, of COURSE I HAVE scrubbed out the tub SEVERAL times in my year-and-a-half stay in this current apartment, but have never felt like stewing myself in it. My Bath and Body Works 3-in-1 Temptations on 75% off clearance tempts me, though.
Anyway, LAST time we had a burning heatwave, I took a little dip and it actually cooled me off a lot - just kicking my feet around in the water and splashing a bit. I can already feel the oppressive heat blanket bearing down around my head as we speak.More recently, I have been busy scoping and drooling over Bath and Body Works' semi-annual sale, and looking for THE HIDDEN DEALS. I also bought a bunch of stuff that I want to try out. One thing I DID try out and have decided I like a lot is Patricia Wexler's line that is sold there. I first heard of Patricia Wexler in some random article about Sarah Michelle Gellar, and her personally mysterious skincare routine. Anyway, I got $60 kits for about $12 last time, and the cleanser is super nice. I fully intend on posting some more about the Bath and Body Works haul, since I half-started heaps of posts in January at the LAST sale and never got around to finishing most of them to post.
AS FOR THE BURGERS.
Last weekend, I had a case of the munchies, and really wanted to try something new. For Mother's Day, I looked around http://www.yelp.com/ , found reviews for Cafe Hiro, and since it was literally 5 minutes away from my parents' house, that is where we went for Mother's Day dinner. It was so good, I dragged my parents back there two weeks ago for regular Sunday dinner. I'll put up my review of that place next!!!
So, as for last Saturday, I found awesome reviews of a place just down the street, which I feel like I always passed, but never felt like going to. I invited my downstairs neighbors, but they already had plans.
So then, I called in my order to Big Mike's, grateful for this, conveniently online:
I ended up ordering a regular Big Mike's combo, chili cheese fries (small), and the peculiarly intriguing Texas-Style gumbo.Here is the burger:
It had a FAT (as in big, not as in fatty!) soft, crumbly patty, condiments, cheese, and split hot links. My hot links were on top, unlike the picture, wherein the links are at the bottom. Verdict? I do not like hot links. Blech @ the spicy meat. The burger was NICE, and very soft and chewy. I only ate about half of it, though, because I loaded up on the fries. I love the fries. My neighbor said the fries were run-of-the-mill frozen kind, and I certainly wasn't expecting Volcano Burgers-level fries, but they were excellent with ketchup.
In my A.D.D. way, may I SERIOUSLY just say that the french fries, and the FREAKING CHILI CHEESE FRIES, at Volcano Burgers, across from my old high school, are hands-down the best in the entire WORLD. YES, THEY ARE. Better than English chips. Super crispy on the outside, and soft in the middle. I have no idea how they time or measure the temp of that oil, but it is PERFECT. Perfect fries, awesome, addicting chili-cheese fries, and I love me some Volcano Burgers chili cheese dogs as well. Their burgers are okay, but nothing I crave.
I don't think I will crave a Big Mike's Burger, either, though I will probably stop by there for convenience, and for the fries. YUM. MEEEE. They do take about 20-30 minutes to complete an order, though, since apparently all burgers are made from scratch on order.
In the head to head, of COURSE I have to compare it with ... In 'N Out. Yes, I do. I had it Tuesday for dinner, heading home from Long Beach Towne Center. 2 burgers, animal-style, extra tomatoes. They even had a disclaimer taped to each register proclaiming the safety of their tomatoes, considering the recent scare. That's fine, I trust them. And I somehow just LOVE those dinky little uniforms, and those giant red aprons with massive giant-sized safetypins. It looks so cute.
Those burgers were freaking awesome. Love the spread, love the lettuce, love the grilled onions, love the tomatoes. In 'N Out, I will CRAVE. Good thing there's one about 5 minutes away, though Big Mike's is closer. Animal style is luuuuuuuuuvlie - mustard mixed into the patty, extra spread, grilled onions. AND EXTRA TOMATO.
So, as for Big Mike's, I got the pink lemonade drink with my combo, ate the fries with ketchup, and had the chili cheese fries. Um, no. They were put into a styrofoam container, which MELTED, much to my concern. That is not good. I also saw the guy putting the fries in the container, and then adjust a few stray, askew ones with his bare fingers. Then he scooped the chili over it, got the shredded cheddar out of the fridge, and put that on. The chili was okay, but no Volcano Burgers. Actually, the guy kind of cracked me up because he just sounded so entirely addle-pated on the phone - full-on NO idea what the frell was going on, dropping the phone half the time to go consult someone else about the questions I was asking. Ha!
Basically, I will go to Big Mike's to get a burger - bacon cheese, maybe? - with fries and a drink for $7. When I feel like it.
What was that, I also ordered the gumbo? Yes, I did. It looked a bit like this:
Okay, so the picture is of VEGETARIAN gumbo ... but the color and texture-looking-wise, is the same. It was not a good experience, sad to say. Not sure what I was expecting, but I've had gumbo at Popeye's Chicken (love their crawfish!), jambalaya at that place at Downtown Disney, and I KNOW it's not fully authentic.
The gumbo smelled nice, it was very very hot, but the FIRST thing to annoy me was the fact that it was listed on the menu as coming with rice and TWO sides ... and basically they give you ONLY a side of rice. I call foul!!!!
Also, it was so hot, that when I opened the bag and took out the rice, it had made a weakened half-open circle of plastic atop the gumbo. That can't be good.
The gumbo came wit lots of floating okra, shrimp, some imitation crab floating around, some sliced sausage, spices, and loads of chicken. Good glory. The chicken is skin-on, and got kind of slimy. Not nice.
I ended up scooping out the bits I like (sauce, shrimp, sausage, random bits of white-meat chicken) over the rice, and eating that.
And the rest I tossed. Tried it once, and no more, thank you!
It was very nice to say hello to Big Mike himself, though. He IS big. Frankly, he is not too dissimilar to this guy!
Good ole LaVell Crawford, from the last season of Last Comic Standing. Totally hilarious.Bon appetit!
Posts
