Google Reader Replacement

I know what you're saying...crazy woman has disappeared from her blog and now she comes back with not a recipe but a "reader" story.  Tsk, Tsk, she's gone coo coo for cocoa puffs.

Oh yeah, Google Reader is gone as of tomorrow people and true to my word I am using it to the bitter end.  I have signed up and tested out way too many reader replacements out there and participated in emotionally charged discussions over replacement options and have FINALLY settled on my choice.  It was with much thought and finally the opinion of what I refer to as an "expert" (a friends husband whom I worked with and works for Apple).   I have a MacBook Pro and I figure someone who works for Apple ought to have a pretty darn tootin' good idea of what reader I should consider plus he's purty darn smart you know cause he married my friend and all!!!  

Anywho, my front runner was Feedly and now it is the definite winner.  I've finally got my views and settings customized in a way that makes me happy, happy, happy.   The only option google offered that I'm not finding in Feedly is the search but I figure I'll live and I've taken the time to add that to the requested enhancements on their site.   Remember just like in elections, if you don't vote you don't get the right to complain!!

If you aren't exactly sure what a reader can do for you, this is the Wikipedia definition for you:

RSS Rich Site Summary (originally RDF Site Summary, often dubbed Really Simple Syndication) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.^[2] An RSS document (which is called a "feed", "web feed",^[3]or "channel") includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship.

RSS feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. A standardized XML file format allows the information to be published once and viewed by many different programs. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favorite websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place.

RSS feeds can be read using software called an "RSS reader", "feed reader", or "aggregator", which can be web-based, desktop-based, or mobile-device-based. The user subscribes to a feed by entering into the reader the feed's URI or by clicking a feed icon in a web browser that initiates the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds. RSS allows users to avoid manually inspecting all of the websites they are interested in, and instead subscribe to websites such that all new content is automatically checked for and advertised by their browsers as soon as it is available.

I have many blogs, sites, news, etc. that I follow on a daily basis, or at least try to check daily, and rather than bookmarking and going to each site individually I have a reader feed that compiles them all to one location and from there I can scan and read several hundred in a matter of minutes.  Feedly gives me several options of how I want to see them; titles only (like Google Reader), magazine (my current choice), cards and full articles.  I'm actually finding that I like this view better than titles only.  I know shock and dismay, right??!!

Well peeps I'm just here to remind you that tonight at midnight Google Reader is gone, adios, ta ta , bye bye, sayonara, arrivederci, farewell and RIP so if you haven't made up your mind, you've got a few hours until then I'm off to enjoy my last day of Google Reader and hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with something food related!!!

What did you peeps decide to use or are you still lurking in the shadows hoping Google will change their mind?

Talk to me peeps!!!

Sam's on the Square & Houlihans

Hey Peeps

Happy Happy Wednesday!!

Well I got the Abogg down to Wacky Waco yesterday and he left bright and early this morning with all those rock loving Geology students for an adventure filled summer.   I'm gonna miss having him around but I know this is going to be a wonderful experience for him.

Well in order to send him off the best I can I took him to lunch yesterday after their final group meeting.  We went to a wonderful little place called Sam's On The Square.  Oh yeah, good stuff.

I had these cute little things and ya'll they were good!!

                                                                     Brisket Sliders

                                             Braised brisket, Sam's Slaw, pickles, and BBQ sauce.

Abogg had some Fish Taco's, he really liked them!

                                                              Grilled Mahi-Mahi

Grilled Mahi-Mahi, roasted corn, Sam's slaw, queso fresco and grilled pineapple salsa on a corn tortilla.

I think it's pretty safe to say, this won't be my last trip to this place!

Super yummy indeed. A little gem in the heart of downtown Waco.

We also stopped and picked the Abogg up a nice Subway sandwich for dinner since I was leaving him without a car for the evening.  Hey, I'm a nice mom and he had some oatmeal in his apartment for breakfast so I didn't leave him high and dry!!

So we are heading out for the condo on Friday morning and the Hubster doesn't want to leave food in the fridge so we had dinner at Houlihan's .  I've never eaten at Houlihan's before so this was all new for me and quite frankly I had a devil of a time deciding what to eat.  Just when I thought I had decided I saw something else that tickled my tummy.

First up we got us a Tennessee version of Long Island Iced Tea.

The usual but with Jack Daniels and Cranberry.  We got the 1 liter pitcher to share.

We had to order a second one.  Gosh it was delightful!!!

I had some Rustic Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Fritters.

Seriously they should make this a bigger bowl and a plate of those fritters.

Sooooooo good.  Plus it was freezing in the restaurant so the soup was warm and cozy!

For a side I ordered the Parmesan Frites (which is apparently fries) and served with three delightful dipping sauces:  Truffle mayo (to die for!! We had to get more), Chipotle ketchup and garlic parmesan dipping sauce.  Oddly enough I didn't finish the fries but I slurped that soup to the bottom.

Merebear got herself some Baked Potato Soup and it was quite yummy as well.

She also had a nice house salad with cheddar ranch.

Hubster had seared Georges Banks Scallops on lemon asparagus risotto, baby greens with basil infused olive oil.   The risotto was excellent but I didn't try the scallops, they are the one seafood that I'm not crazy about.  

No dessert, we didn't even let the poor waitress go over the dessert menu.  We were stuffed!!

I've had my current fave greek yogurt, honey, peanut butter & mini chocolate chips today and tonight no matter what the Hubster says, we're eating at home.  I can't take the eating out so much and since that's what we'll be doing so much of next week I think I'll just have something here!  So I apologize tomorrow could be a boring post! 

What do you guys do before vacation when it comes to eating?  Eat home, eat out, a little of both?

Where are you going on vacation this year? 

Seriously...since I sat down to write this post the wind starting carrying on like we're in Kansas with Dorothy and ToTo.  What the heck??!!

Peace, Love & Yummies!!!

TuTuTuesday

Hey Peepers!!

yeah yeah I know, go ahead and say it I'm the worst blogger in the world.
I've been as busy as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs!!

We've had some crazy good things going on around here and while I've eaten out a whole lot I haven't taken any pictures but I did want to take a moment this morning to tell you about one place new we tried on Sunday night.   You know Sunday night, when the company was all gone and the festivities were over, when you've already cooked once that day and you only got 4 hours of sleep because you and the two oldest kiddos went to see this at 11:15 after graduation kinda tired that cooking is not even on the radar but your grumbling tummy is.

Sorry, I had to tell you about this movie first.  OH MY GOODNESS!!  Between the action and the eye candy I could just barely contain myself!  Seriously, it's the number 1 movie  since it debuted for a reason.   I might see it again, yeah you heard me.

Now...FOOD!!!

Bronson Rock Burgers & Beer

On Main Street in Keller, Texas.  

Thursday nights are biker nights so it's pretty packed then and under 21 not allowed after 10 pm.  on any night. 

They have lots of outdoor seating, live bands and excellent food.

Abogg and I had The Duke burgers and the Cullster had a Pig on the Rock.

Mere tried out those Loaded Nachos and the Hubster had the Barnyard Brawl.

Here's a link to the menu and the above link gets you to the home page.

Give them a try, the burgers will not disappoint you!

Not our food, but it could have been.   Excellent burger!

We sat out on the picnic tables and man, it was nice and so yummy.

We'll definitely be going back to this place!!!

Ok, so I gotta run right now because today is the day I drive the Abogg to Waco so he can leave for geology field camp.  He won't be back until July from his galavanting across the West checking out rocks and whatever else geology people check out.  Quite frankly I never understand about 90% of what he tells me but I smile and nod because he likes what he's learning and it's good when he gets excited about the career field he's chosen.   We leave for the beach on Friday, hallelujah, hallelujah but I've got soooo much to do before then but I'm gonna TRY to keep you guys updated, at least on the food.  Beware however we are stopping in New Orleans for the day/night on Friday so my disclaimer is being issued now.  I'm really not responsible for the photos I post on Friday/Saturday.

Take care peeps & have an awesome day!

Make someone smile and be nice to a grouchy person.  Your smile may be all they need to have a better day!!!

Peace, Love & Yummies!!!