Snacks are my favorite meals. I picture heaven as an endless sea of passed appetizers.  I remember exactly when I realized snacks could be meals.  I was watching Mermaids (a movie with Cher, Winona Ryder, and Christina Ricci. You’re welcome.) and Cher played the mom.  Making dinner consisted of playing some music and a heapload of snacks on the table.  It struck me that when I grew up I could skip meals and just live on snacks, and it seemed glorious.

Having date night at a happy hour is kind of like that. You get to order all the things, instead of having to pick one big thing.  It’s expected that you will adventure a little–maybe order beets even though you think they taste like jelled dirt. When you’re only committing to a few bites you can give things a try.  I’m pretty certain this is how we all wound up eating roasted brussels sprouts.

So when AFBA sent out the invite to Happy Hour at III Forks, I was pretty motivated to get there, as you can imagine.  I even put on a dress! And real shoes! And I was glad I did.  III Forks is everything a traditional steakhouse should be. Lots of wood, dim lighting, quiet booths, large bar, great staff.  They’d set up several trays for us to sample: lamb meatballs, crab cakes, Blue Point oysters, caprese salad skewers, tenderloin skewers & stuffed mushrooms.  It was all lovely, with the perfectly cooked beef and the oysters being the stars of the show.  I haven’t had such great oysters in a long time!

How does this work as a Cheep date? Because you don’t have to be a food blogger to enjoy their usual happy hour, which is every Monday-Friday from 4-7pm.  $5 martinis, and $1 oysters are a nice way to while away an hour or so.

If you needed something more substantial, or with less gin, they also have half price glasses of select wines, champagnes, and sparkling wines, which you could pair with an Angus burger (half off as well, making it $8.50!). 

They also have sliders for $5 on the Bar Bites menu, but I didn’t get a look at them, so am not sure if they’re a good deal. Short rib on a blue cheese biscuit is intriguing, though.

Many thanks to III Forks for hosting, and the volunteers at AFBA who make these fun events happen.  

 

Yes, there are only today and tomorrow for these prices. That’s not a lot of wiggle room. But I have time to write today, so here we are.  Next week we should see the BBQ sales–brisket, pork butts and more should be under $2/lb, so clear your freezers and buy firewood! And invite me over, I make fabulous deviled eggs.

I’ll be picking up a bag of carrots at Sprouts, and since it’s too hot to bake a carrot cake I might make carrot and raisin salad. Remember that stuff? It was at every gathering a grandma was invited to forever, and then disappeared. I don’t think I ever even tried it, but lately I’d remembered it and now one of my favorite deals rolls around and I’m going to give it a go.

 

Happy shopping, Cheepsters!

Randalls

strawberries, 2lb.               $3.33/ea

Honeycrisp apples               $1/lb

large seedless watermelon       $5/ea

pork loin                              $1.29/lb

 

HEB

 

mangos                      50c/ea (type unspecified)

pork tenderloin                     $2.99/lb (whole, in bag)

Oscar Mayer meat weiners, 16oz           99c/ea

 

Central Market

xl California yellow peaches        $1.47/lb

 

Poco Loco

chicken leg quarters, 10lb          $3.99/ea

NOTE: These are most likely the same ‘style’ as the ones Fiesta has. They need a bit of cleaning up usually.

 

Sprouts

red cherries                  $1.77/lb

Roma tomatoes               50c/lb

Hass avocados                 50c/ea

organic carrots, 5lb       $2.98/lb

boneless skinless chicken breast     $1.88/lb

 

Weekly Flier Links:

• HEB: more grackle     less grackle
• Fiesta
• Sprouts
• Randalls
• Wheatsville
• Central Market
• Trader Joes
• Whole Foods
• Poco Loco