Last night I was privileged enough to join 11 cities Nationwide in the Foodie Chats Monday Night Football meetup. Applebee's generously sponsored the event, and it was a great night all around. I invited two of my friends out, along with my wonderful boyfriend, B, to join me while I live-tweeted with Foodies across the nation.
Buffalo, St. Louis, Atlanta, Dallas, and Kansas City(to name a few) all joined in at 8pm ET to the #FoodieChats hashtag along with Applebee's twitter account for the fun. It was a Nationwide networking event that got foodies together, allowing us to share blogs, ideas, and fun pictures. The very fun #BurgerSelfie was a favorite...
— Le WannaBGourmande (@WannaBGourmande) September 14, 2015
The designated Applebee's for Kansas City was the one located at 6800 Johnson Drive, which is extremely close to the highway and very easy to get to. Parking was not bad at all(a problem I often have with chain restaurants) and we found our seats quickly. When I informed the hostess that I was the Foodie Chats Ambassador for KC, the manager promptly came(sharply dressed, I might add) and escorted us to a table with lots of natural light by the window.
— Le WannaBGourmande (@WannaBGourmande) September 14, 2015
Disclaimer: Just so you know, I'm making that face because of how unbelievably pale I look in that shot. Because I am the opposite of pale. I am full of melanin thanks to my extremely Filipino mother. I am dark as Hell.
— Le WannaBGourmande (@WannaBGourmande) September 14, 2015
The night began with cocktails. I ordered a jalapeno mango margarita, while Emi stuck with the Bourbon/Whiskey-based drinks. Halie got a strawberry-lime margarita; B(oyfriend) was my designated driver so he stuck with the water, but had a few sips of mine. I wasn't a fan of the bourbon drink, and the strawberry-lime margarita was good, but I was definitely happy I stuck with the jalapeno margarita.
I will say this: I wish that the garnish wasn't an actual slice of just raw jalapeno, with seeds to get freely stuck in my straw. Maybe they could make a jalapeno syrup instead, and then make candied slices for the garnishes? I could be splitting hairs; but I am a very annoying foodie like that...splitting hairs, and all.
— Le WannaBGourmande (@WannaBGourmande) September 14, 2015
I had been starving myself all day, so we got an appetizer sampler platter, consisting of the Kobe Meatballs(in chunky marinara), wonton tacos, and potstickers.
I wasn't a fan of the potstickers, as they seemed to be lacking in any real filling or flavor, and the wonton tacos were just okay. I really liked the meatballs, though they were a touch dense for my taste. The sauce they came in was pretty tasty, though, with big chunks of tomato and red pepper. B and I polished that off while Halie and Emi enjoyed the other two.
— Le WannaBGourmande (@WannaBGourmande) September 15, 2015
When our burgers came, we took a big #BurgerSelfie, but I could barely fit us all in because my arms are too short. I got the Mushroom-swiss burger, Emi got the All-Day-Brunch burger(with sweet potato fries), Halie got the Triple Bacon burger and B got the Angry Texan(which was basically a burger combined a pulled pork sandwich + jalapenos). We hoarked everything down pretty quickly, and didn't take any more pictures for another half hour while we answered the Q & A.
FoodieChats have their live tweeting events every Monday night at 8pm ET. Questions are asked, answers are live-tweeted back, and we all bond over that. Questions are formed like this:
Q6 #Foodiechats via @Applebees If you could eat only 1 burger for all time, what would it be? #AllInBurger
— #Foodiechats (@Foodiechats) September 15, 2015
And then we all tweet back using A6/A9/A32/A-whatever and get to have a real open forum like that. Here's what it looks like:
![]() |
Yeah. I Reddit. So what. |
I feel like Social media has a lot of stigmas, even though a good portion of the population uses it. I feel like the people over 40 don't get it because they think we're just staring blankly into these little "idiot boxes" that we carry in our pockets... The truth is we are all connecting and learning from each other, reading articles and networking, sharing photos and sharing experiences. I am so violently pro-social media that it's not even funny; I love seeing tweets and my friends' selfies. I love seeing things trend. I love seeing people bonding together over food and fun. I love the hivemind and the feeling of being connected.
I feel like only the people that are truly unhappy are the ones that are bothered by how other people enjoy their lives. Why do the older generations get so mad about us taking photos, taking selfies, sharing our experiences on social media? Why can't we just have fun and enjoy our memories that way? Why is it so wrong to say "I am here"?
I can't speak for all, but I personally keep such detailed records of what I do and where I go and with whom I do things because Alzheimer's runs in my family and I'm terrified I'll forget my amazing and beautiful life. I keep such records because I want to be able to smile and look back at my life as a teenager, as a 20-something, as a 30-something, and be able to say: "Wow, I had fun." I don't want my life to just slip away. I want to look back and be reminded of my wonderful friends, of my wonderful pets, of my family and places I've worked. I want to look back on the things I've cooked, the blogs I've written, and say "I had something to say." I want to look back on my life as a spider admires her web, and say "well done, madam." I want to look back on old pictures of myself and say "I was beautiful."
![]() |
Also, "Damn that's a large animal" |
Maroon 5's "Sugar" just started playing #noreally #appropriate #Foodiechats pic.twitter.com/DR4aDqfUq8
— Le WannaBGourmande (@WannaBGourmande) September 15, 2015
I was feeling PMS-y, so I figured we could all benefit from sampling four desserts. The s'more's churros was a favorite, but the Triple Chocolate cake was honestly my favorite. The brownie was reminiscent of the kind your mom would bake out of the box, and the pretzels were good, but not great. Did they say "chain family restaurant"? Absolutely. But what's wrong with that? Kansas City is the original home of Applebee's, and therefore a pioneer in how you eat....kinda.
I know that you may think that Applebee's isn't the foodie destination, especially for such an exciting town like Kansas City, that has a thriving food scene...but let's be honest: there's something to be said for knowing exactly what you're getting, and knowing that it'll be consistent. There's no real risk in a dinner at Applebee's, and that feeling of solidarity in an ever-changing world can be a good thing.
The point is this: Foodie Chats is fun, and you should give it a try. And follow me on twitter, if you haven't already.
Happy eating and happy Tweeting!
No comments:
Post a Comment