Dimaggo’s Italian- Zephyrhills

Decided to try this place twice before I commented on it.   While the menu isn’t huge, I like that they have fewer selections and can prefect those menu items.   There are several seafood items, several non-seafood and a few pastas.

Robert had the fish last week and said it was very tasty.  I ordered the pork chop and when I asked it to be cooked medium the chef actually came out to ask exactly how I wanted it cooked and suggested he broil it.  He even came back half way thru the meal and asked if it was cooked the way I wanted.   And imagine – my 3 favorite foods on the plate at one time – pork chops, green beans and scalloped potatoes.  Everything on the plate was delicious.   The pork was juicy and tender, the green beans fresh grilled with garlic and the potatoes were heavenly.

Shannon ordered the chicken alfredo and for the first time ever, did not have to ask for extra sauce.  The pasta was tender, cooked very well and the sauce fresh, not packaged and reheated as most alfredos.   You can always tell an alfredo sauce is fresh if the butter separates when you heat it up.  Shannon had enough to eat dinner and share the leftovers with someone else for lunch the following day.

We went back yesterday and of course I ordered that pork chop and potatoes again only this time it came with sweet glazed carrots.  I’m not a fan of sweetened sauces or sauces in general but the carrots were wonderful.

So in review, prices are not cheap but they aren’t overly expensive for a clean, very nicely decorated restaurant with excellent food.  I think the pork chop dinner is $23 which isn’t bad compared to a $10 burger at Chili’s.  Dinner even comes with garlic bread, and a sampling of pepperoni and cheese.

 

 

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Hardee’s? How about NO.

I’ve decided I’m going to start doing reviews on places I eat and people I do business with.  Kind of like google reviews but on my blog.  Yes, I know, too much free time.

So never having been to a Hardee’s before and hearing how wonderful they are, I stopped in this am.   Ok first, what?  Everything comes on a biscuit?  I hate biscuits.  Apparently you can order a texas toast sandwich which takes extra time and since it was also thick, heavy slices of bread, I opted for the egg & cheese biscuit.   Not being a big fan of fried foods I passed on the hashbrown and added a tea.  Apparently it costs more if you don’t get the hashbrown?   That made no sense so I just said add them and then I find the tea isn’t ready that early so I have to get a coke.  Forget changing your order after you’ve paid, they would need to wait for the manager who would be back in a few minutes.   Strike One.

Now to what I actually received.  Hashbrown’s?  No.  Flat tater tots half cooked obviously in grease that wasn’t hot enough so it resulted in these limp, greasy balls of grossness.   Pass on those.  The coke – well what’s to be said – it’s a coke. Strike Two.

Ok this egg & cheese biscuit that the cashier said, just wait you’ll love it.   Who loves this thing?  First you get a greasy biscuit with a egg half the size of an egg mcmuffin and what looks like a half a slice of processed american cheese.  To top it off there is no straw and no napkin.   The biscuit while greasy in your hands managed to be quite dry when you ate it.   The egg was over cooked and the cheese microwaved beyond recognition.   Strike Three.

So Hardee’s, I’m not sure why everyone loves your breakfast cause I will never be back.  Don’t berate me in the comments.  If you love Hardee’s so be it, me, nope.

 

Where there’s smoke there’s . . . .

You got it. Where there is smoke, there are ribs.  And chicken and pork and . . .  Robert fired up the new smoker right before vacation and again when I got back.  Oh my word, it was tasty.  I love smoked chicken.  I can’t wait to wrap corn in bacon and smoke it, or smoked anything for that matter but especially chicken.     Came out delish.  Thank you Robert.    I can’t wait to smoke some corn wrapped in bacon.

Taco Salad

Couldn’t resist this weekend making some of my mom’s taco salad.  I added some ground chicken so it’d be a meal.  Wow I forgot how much I liked that salad.  Just add some more crunchy doritos the next day and it’s still delish.

 

salad

No blogging day is complete . . .

No blogging day is complete without pictures of my boys.   While their uncontrolled barking drives me insane, I still love these pups and missed them while I was gone. These might be my 2 new favorite pictures.   They were so mad they had to stay out of the living room for a whole 5 minutes while the floor dried.   Argus gets so mad when Robert brushed his knots out but then he loves him.

 

Thank you Jill and Mark

As usual, Mark & Jill sent home a goodie bag for everyone.    I love my towels and hot pad but I couldn’t add pictures of the toys for the boys as they hid them all over the house.   They love new toys.   My towel has my favorite song.

towels

Spa Day and Train Day

The only things we planned in advance for GA was spa day for Jill and I for her upcoming birthday (I never get to see her for her birthday) and a trip on the historic train.   So Jill and I spend Monday being pampered with everything from a massage, facial and lunch to a full body salt scrub.   What a relaxing day.  I think we slept till 10 the next day.  I did feel bad leaving poor Mark alone but he got a quiet day.    Thursday we took the train and it was really interesting.  The car hosts gave us a lot of local info and again just a day to relax and chill.

Great Dinner and Company

It’s rare I can sit and not talk.  My doctor calls it social anxiety and there are not many people I find it comfortable to just sit around and do nothing with.  Jill and Mark are a really huge exception to that rule.    Most of the week if not going somewhere we sat around, watched tv, read, etc. and I never felt I had to keep up a conversation to be comfortable around them.   While we went several places, we didn’t plan much in advance and didn’t really feel the need to hurry and get stuff done.    Jill and I even went out one night and got some awesome tacos from local mexican joint and they were great. Forgot to take pics at the bbq place.   The steak dinner we cooked ourselves in the rain.  If you live in the hurricane capital of the world it takes more than a little rain and lightning to stop you from grilling.  This was probably the most relaxing vacation I think I’ve taken.  I love these 2.

Vacation

Just thought I’d share some pictures of the cabin we rented for vacation.  What an awesome vacation.   We didn’t make a lot of plans in advance as we all really wanted a low-key, relaxing vacation vs.  the usual run around like crazy kind.  It rained most of the week so we couldn’t use the back yard seating area but that’s ok.  We didn’t really miss it.

 

I Hope She Likes It

It was down the the wire but I was able to finish the quilt for Mark’s mom before I went to Georgia.   Well, I did have to ask Jill to trim the threads once she arrived home cause I ran out of time but this way Mark could take it back to Ohio and deliver to his mom.   It was a mystery pattern that I wasn’t really liking as it progressed but once finished, I really like how it turned out.    I hope she does also.  Very summery looking.