The Pike Place Market is one of those things that I hope to see someday. After reading Keryn’s Travel in my Town post about Seattle, I realized that my kids and I hadn’t yet made it to our very own fish market in Pensacola. I had been years ago but haven’t been since I had children. A few weekends ago, we made the trip downtown and Joe Patti’s did not disappoint.

The kids cracked us up about how they thought the place smelled (um…like raw fish!).

They loved trying the bread samples and we picked up some piping hot bread fresh from the oven.

They tried to talk us in to some gelato but we had already had a treat that afternoon so the answer was no. I guess we will just have to go back soon!

We picked up some mahi mahi that became the most delicious fish tacos!

Read more about my visit at TravelingMom.

Stop by Delicious Baby to see other Photo Friday submissions!  I am also participating in Friday Daydreaming over at R We There Yet.

The waiters and waitresses are absolutely hilarious.  They make sure you know that your elbows do not belong on the table.  Be careful because if you are caught with your elbows on the table more than once you will be punished!  My husband had to stand up with his nose in a corner!  It is all in good fun and we all had a laugh at my husband’s expense.  When your plate is clean, you get a Clean Plate Club sticker!

Our kids thought the best part of the meal was when it was time to pick our dessert.  This is the dessert menu:

We were able to recharge with food, cool off in the air conditioning and as soon as we were done with dessert we were ready to stand in line for another ride!

Wander on by Wanderfood Wednesday to see sweet and savory dishes around the world!

Eating healthy at home is important to me.  Sure, we keep treats around the house and I bake a batch of cookies every couple of weeks, but we have tried very hard to follow the tenets of the clean eating movement.

When we travel, all bets are off.  We still eat healthy enough so that our poor stomachs don’t go into shock, but we are more liberal with the sweets, junky dinners and sky high stacks of pancakes in the morning.    Though I consider myself a Southern Mama, I have never made fried chicken.  *gasp* It is very time consuming, it makes a gigantic mess and you need buttermilk.  Buttermilk!

If fried chicken is on the menu, I order it.  I can’t help myself.  I manage to find a fabulous plate of fried chicken in every southern town we have visited and the Country Kitchen at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia is no exception!

After looking at the menu and peeking at our fellow diners’ plates, even my husband couldn’t resist the call of the fried chicken plate!  Look at this crispy golden brown fried chicken goodness.  What goes with this perfect plate of fried chicken?  Why coleslaw, of course!  Other favorite sides are macaroni and cheese and baked apples!  After we finished this meal, we went for a very long walk…we needed it!

Wander on by Wanderfood Wednesday to see sweet and savory dishes around the world!

Pine Mountain Vacations

But we chose to get snowcones from Frostbites!  When I asked to snap a picture of them serving up the snowcones they let me hop inside the Airstream and hand off the snowcones to my kids.

The kids thought it was hilarious and talked about it for weeks!

Wander on by Wanderfood Wednesday to see sweet and savory dishes around the world!

I have been informed that you can also get Dole Whips at certain shops in Disneyworld.  We are headed there in a few weeks and I will definitely be on the lookout.  Do you know where I might find one?

Wander on by Wanderfood Wednesday to see sweet and savory dishes around the world!

Plates and dishes of food samples usually do not lure me in to taste test.  All I can think about are the germs and the people who have grabbed a sample before me and didn’t use the tongs but I make exception for the bowl of fresh pralines that have just been put out at Aunt Sally’s.  They always seem to have a flavor out that I haven’t yet tried.

Wander on by Wanderfood Wednesday to see sweet and savory dishes around the world!

How can you deny a face like that when she is asking for “Surferboard Burgers”?!

See what everyone else is eating at Wanderfood Wednesday!

In all the times we have been to New Orleans we haven’t once eaten at Mother’s Restaurant which is practically a New Orleans landmark according to all of our fellow friends who love New Orleans.  After we checked into the Intercontinental Hotel, the kids were ready to eat and were restless after the three hour car ride.  We stopped by the concierge desk on the way out for some nearby suggestions.  When he mentioned Mother’s, I knew that was where we were headed.  Mother’s was a short walk from our hotel and by the time we got there I was glad to see that the line was not too long.

When you arrive, you will be handed a menu and told to get in line to order.  Place your order, grab a table and wait for your food to be delivered to you!  At Mother’s, you will find a number of dishes that scream NOLA like crawfish etouffee (which of course is what I got!), jambalaya, and po’ boys. 

Breakfast is served all day long so my children were thrilled to share an order of pancakes and I was thrilled at the price!

In my opinion, no trip to a good Southern restaurant would be complete without bread pudding.  At Mother’s, you only need one order!  Look at the size of this dessert!  I don’t even think we ate half of it after all the other food.  Such a shame!

Mother’s is located at 401 Poydras Street and they are open seven days a week from 7am to 10pm.

See what everyone else is eating at Wanderfood Wednesday!

Snow cones, shave ice, shaveED ice, snoballs…these tasty, icy treats are served up differently in each part of the US.  If my kids see a snow cone stand on a hot day, they are usually begging for one!  In Hawaii, we ate our weight in the creamy shave ice that you can find all over the Oahu.  When I got home, I was lamenting to a friend (food does that to you, doesn’t it?) about how much I missed the shave ice and wished we had something similar for a cool treat on a hot, humid Florida day.  I am used to the chunky icy snow cones that don’t really pick up the syrup.  She said that I should try a New Orleans style snoball.  We actually have a place in Pensacola that serves up New Orleans style snoballs but it hasn’t opened for the summer yet so I was excited to come across Hansen’s Sno Bliz in my research for our New Orleans trip.

Hansen’s Sno Bliz has been in business for over seventy years and is a family tradition.  You will need a car or public transportation to get there if you are staying in the French Quarter as it is too far for the kids to walk.  We drove over there after a long, warm morning at the Audubon Zoo.  We arrived about five minutes before it opened for the day and there was already a line of people waiting for the doors to open!  Doors opened right at 1pm and we stared at the menu for about ten minutes.  Both kids got something blue (that was actually how they ordered!) and I tried the banana (my new favorite flavor!). 

The prices are reasonable and they have a number of different sizes from small to a large so big that I have no idea how anyone can eat it!  As I watched her pour the bright blue syrup on Little S’s snoball, all I could think was that I made a big mistake by letting her wear her frilly white shirt and said as much.  We were told that it doesn’t stain!  The only one that stains is the chocolate and we definitely put it to the test.  The blue came out of the white shirt without any problems thankfully!

Hansen’s Sno Bliz is located at 4801 Tchoupitoulas St in New Orleans. 

See what everyone else is eating at Wanderfood Wednesday!

New Orleans Vacations