Not all Hooters are the same...

I was alone with my kids last night and downtown and wanted to find a cool, clean and nice place to sit down and eat.  I also wanted a location where I know has food that they will eat as well.  I saw the Hooters downtown and after navigating  the maze of one-way streets, I found a nice spot in front of Kiener Plaza.  My two sons and I were greeting warmly by a server named Nona and we were directed to a booth close to the door.  My kids had a bathroom emergency however, and we ran back to use the bathroom then.  The bathrooms were clean, which is always a plus.

Now after we sat down and were greeted again nicely by the server, she took our drink orders and she left to fill them.  I looked at the menu when my oldest had some questions.  First of all, I think everyone from Gordan Ramsay to Robert Irvine has said this, but you don't put items on the menu that you have no intention of serving!  The Hooters here had "Kid's Liver and Onions.....$22.99" on the menu.  So, it was the bottom item on the kid's menu and at first thinking it was a joke and then doubting myself because why would there be a joke on a menu?

Nona came back to take our order and she was asked by my son about the liver and onions which she replied that it was in fact a joke.  But still, why do that on a menu?  What if someone ordered it and wanted it?  Then that someone would complain because there was something on the menu that wasn't real.  It was not a very good or well placed joke.

So, we ordered boneless wings and went on waiting.  Just like other locations, we had received our food rather quickly and it felt like less than 20 minutes.  Albeit that the restaurant maybe had 10 other people it besides us, so it shouldn't have taken long at all.  But the waiting time wasn't an issue with this; the issue was afterwards.  You see that the service at restaurants has to be consistent and when our server is super nice and greets us and checks in on us every 10 minutes at most and then stops, it sends sense that she doesn't care.  The problem was that from the front door, 3 people came in who appeared to be friends with our server.  These two women and small child, hugged Nona and Nona went and sat down at the first booth with them.  Now, I had finished my food at the time and was waiting for my children to finish their's.  But, I watched our server chat and frolic with the group she sat at the first booth.  One of the older women even grabbed and squeezed her butt in her shorts.

So, now I sit and wait, and wait, and wait as my kids finish and we wait 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes the server, Nona, gets up and walks 4 feet over to our booth and asks if we need anything else.  You know, there is a certain kind of special when you ignore a paying customer for your friends.  I bet her friends will pay and I bet they will tip, as well, but the difference is that I would likely tip more if I had better service.

Let's make ketchup.

Or is it catchup?  Or catsup?  It has so many different spellings that the name is impossible to set in stone; like Cuthulu.

So, this all started a year ago when my family decided to do away with all of the high fructose corn syrup.  We found it almost impossible to find a ketchup brand that did not have high fructose corn syrup in it.  Now, for those who are not into scientific research and think that there is nothing wrong with high fructose corn syrup, then just think of this as a sugar substitute.  For those of you looking for low sugar or low calorie foods, then you may miss this condiment.  Most people don't think of ketchup as a source of calories and when they diet and have it as a sauce, they wonder where those extra calories come from.

I am not associated or affiliated with this company in any way.  I have to say that I grew up, all my life, eating Heinz Ketchup and always thought it tasted like this.  I was alive when it switched from sugar to high fructose corn syrup but honestly didn't notice a change in taste.  What I notice is that a single tablespoon of this stuff has 20 calories.  However, who uses 1 tablespoon?  A large french fries from McDonald's requires about 1/4th of a cup, 4 table spoons at least, and that is already at 80 calories.  This is how calories start to secretly rack up.

So, I decided to do something fun:  I made sugar free ketchup.

First step, is to cook chopped onions.  I like this recipe already.  Then you add some vinegar, tomatoes and brown sugar, with which I used a brown sugar replacement.

So, everything gets cooked together and then it looks like this.  You use a blender and pure' it down so it can fit into a bottle or squeeze bottle.

  What does this taste like?  The best tasting ketchup, and I don't even use ketchup.  This was a great thing and now, with about 3 calories a tablespoon, it is way better than the latter.  The Heinz product has both sugar and high fructose corn syrup in it which adds added calories but no real tomato flavor.  My ketchup tastes like tomato, which is not what I can say for the big brands.