Food vacation

There's a group of us who enjoy traveling to eat. Our motto apparently is, “If it’s not more than two hours away, it’s not worth it.” This past winter, we started planning our biggest food vacation yet – a two-hour drive west of Dallas to eat supposedly the world’s best chicken fried steak. Or biggest chicken fried steak. Frankly, I’m still not 100 percent sure what the chicken fried steak claimed to be. It was good. It was big. So it could have been either.

So, yes, we drove six hours to eat the world’s best/largest chicken fried steak. Coupled with the world’s biggest bowl of gravy. And a really delicious fried pie.

Insulin and chicken fried steak

In the small town of Strawn, Texas, Mary’s Café is pretty much the only thing around. And, if you’re into food vacations, it’s worth it. You had an option of a small, medium, or large chicken fried steak. I’m not sure how many pounds (yes, POUNDS) the large was, but it was, as you can tell, epic.

I was the only one at the table who ordered a small. And I also was the only one who finished my meal and subsequently was hungry at dinner.

The remains of the large

Believe it or not, we did eat again. I did serve as ringleader for the ladies later that evening after our Mexican dinner. We headed to Grand Luxe Café at the Galleria to enjoy late-night dessert and coffee.

Mouth-watering mocha 

Sticky bun bread pudding. Yum!!!

And, ironically enough, the next day we headed to a more upscale grocery store to do some shopping. I nearly wept when I saw THREE ROWS of coffee beans, just lined up, waiting for me to buy ALL OF THEM.

I didn’t buy all the coffee. Promise. But I had to have some of this.

This is some of the best coffee in. the. world. It’s not Red Sea Blend (ultimate fav), but it’s outstandingly mouth-watering. Heck, I’m drinking Caribou from the Keurig right now, and I’m thinking how great a cup of Kenya AA would be.

And, after all the food (the chicken fried steak, the breakfasts at the hotel, the desserts, etc.) and our last stop being Central Market, I saw one last item that was necessary to consume on our food vacation: Lavazza coffee. Granted, I was full from total gorging over the past two days, but I fell in love with Lavazza in Chicago…and carpe diem, right?

See, folks? THIS is why I run. ;)