My 9 day Bethalto eating extravaganza

I had the opportunity to spend last week at home in Bethalto. When the trip was finalized the first thing I did was make a list of all of the food that I wanted to eat. Even though Austin has some great restaurants, you just can't beat the food you grew up with. Here are the food highlights of the trip.

I got in late on Sunday night, just in time to go to the carnival on Monday with the family. We only go to the carnival for one reason: to eat. And eat we did.

Pork burger

Ribs

Fresh potato chips

Funnel Cake

I forgot to take a picture of the blackberry cobbler and root beer float with homemade ice cream from our church. I hadn't gone to the carnival since my freshman year of college, so it was nice to be able to go again.

Later that night we had a bonfire. My dad is the master at roasting hotdogs and marshmallows.

This is probably my only s'more of the fall unless Texas gets a ton of rain and they lift the burn ban.

On Tuesday night we went to Casa Romero and I had Arroz con Pollo. It is the best mexican dish ever and it did not disappoint. People think that I am crazy because I prefer Arroz con Pollo from Rosewood Heights, IL to any mexican dish that I have found in Austin, TX. Mom and I also went to Casa on Monday night. (Never ask me what I want for dinner and say that you don't care... my choice will almost always be Casa Romero.) I meant to take pictures both times but honestly, I was too excited to start chowing down and didn't want to wait so I could snap a picture. I know, I know, I am crazy.

On Wednesday, we had the grandparents over for dinner. I think if our family had to choose our favorite meal, hands down it would be barbecue pork steak with parmesan potatoes. Seriously, best. meal. ever.

I could have eaten this entire bowl all by myself. No lie.

We also had Roma's Pizza one night. It was delicious as always but again I was too eager to eat to stop and take a picture. Oh well.

Amazingly I only gained 1 pound over the whole trip. I think that was due to all of the hard work we did on the inside of the house. More on that to come...