Sour Cream and Onion Dip

I don't super enjoy sour cream but I LOVE SOUR CREAM AND ONION flavoured chips. So, what do I do with some leftover sour cream? Make delicious sour cream and onion dip (with a purple onion)!! I tried to follow this recipe but I didn't really follow the weight amounts... let's see, I used one medium purple diced onion thrown on the stove at 200 degrees F for about 10 minutes, maybe 250 g of sour cream, 3 self-serving packets of mayonnaise, a lot of garlic powder, a bit of salt, and some herbs.
TASTES LIKE SOUR CREAM AND ONION POTATO CHIPS.... without the potato chip part.

Joe's American Bar & Grill

Such an iconic name. I wonder how filled-to-capacity this chain restaurant was, during the 2008 elections?

We went to the Braintree Mall on Wednesday the 21st, after visiting schools in Cambridge, and I honestly think that I shouldn't've ordered. In a family of 6 [for now], we should always order 4 items in an American restaurant. We have never finished 5 items, let alone six. Usually, I'm the one who doesn't order, simply because there is no main dish that I can eat due to the animal pieces. Also, though, I usually am the one who likes side dishes anyway [think salad, the bread, mashed potato... you know].

That day, my dad didn't order but I did, just to "change it up a little", though in all honesty, neither of us should've ordered. I got the spinach and artichoke dip, which is basically ubiquitous in any American grill style restaurant. In fact, if it wasn't for the seafoods section of the menu, one'd think that he/she had just walked into Applebees with different decor. Or Chili's with different decor. Or TGI with different decor. That's the problem I have with American restaurants. Sure, they offer a sense of "homeliness", but they also use the same cookie cutter. Except, Joe's American apparently makes all their food from scratch, whereas TGI reheats it.

My brother got chicken fajitas. I wish I could have a corn tortilla for once in my life instead of flour tortillas...

These are the best oyster crackers. Ever. Someone needs to send me a box of these. NO, NOT THE "Premium" brand oyster crackers [those have PHO]. It HAS to be this brand!!!!

My grandpa doesn't like coleslaw. This coleslaw wasn't as oily as the one from Clark's but I don't think I'm a huge fan of not-sour-enough-and-too-fatty coleslaw.

My brother's clam chowder. Okay, I tried some of the soup part. It was okay. Creamy. I like corn chowder more.

Spinach and artichoke dip with fatty cheese. Funny how we turn two vegetables into heart attacks, right? It was really creamy and definitely tasted more real than the kind from Applebee's. I'm serious. There were actual chunks of artichoke that LOOKED like chunks of artichoke! The pita chips were too salty, though. I liked how they gave us some celery with it, because at least that's a little different from the other stores out there, which probably don't even stock fresh celery.

My mum got this fish thingy with a corn and cucumber salad, which was quite amazing since I never imagined that the two could get moshed together so yummily.

My sister got a cheese pizza, with thin crust. It was amazing crust - look at the grill marks on the back! The topping wasn't that interesting though, and it was drenched in lipids.

Joe's American Bar & Grill, 250 Granite St. Braintree Mall, Braintree MA.

CANDY STORE OUTSIDE!

JM's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JM!
The problem with getting home late from parties is that I don't have time to update, so I hope that you all can imagine that today is the 12th, and not the 13th.
I didn't actually take many pictures because I spent most of the time playing frisbee and watching Up and Little Miss Sunshine. For some reason, a bunch of the other girls thought that the 15-yr old guy who doesn't talk is really "hot", yet I doubt that they'd want a boyfriend who wouldn't speak and was a misanthrope. ANYWAY.
The funny thing is that pretty much everyone ate the cookies and the chips, but only a few grapes were consumed throughout the whole party. It was pretty upsetting, actually. Anyway.
We should've just cut the pita bread [well, it was "flatbread" since it lacked the pita pockets] into 8s. We actually spent a while debating the shapes into which we could segment the pita rounds... and this appeared to be a very... er, "varied" plate of shapes.

Somehow, JM's mum cut the pineapple into that amazing masterpiece. Very interesting.