Getting our fill of steak at Culinary Fight Club

Disclaimer: The Fandads were invited to cover Culinary Fight Club all thoughts and opinions are our own. 

My wife and I have always talked about trying out as many restaurants as possible. It is kind of a goal of ours to enjoy a nice exotic meal and just really sit there and savor the entire experience. Obviously, since we have children, sometimes it is hard to go to a nice restaurant and just take our time eating. One day we will have that luxury, but in the meantime, we have fun events like the Culinary Fight Club to give us that experience.

Hanging out with the Pitmasters at the Culinary Fight Club

Disclamer - The Fandads were invited to cover the Culinary Fight Club in exchange for tickets to the event. All thoughts, opinions and full stomachs are our own. 

I am not really a foodie. I mean, I am not the type that can tell what spices and seasonings were used in a dish just by tasting it, but I love to eat food. Back in the day when I was home with my daughter I would sit and watch the Food Network all day and attempt to try out some of the dishes I would see. Sometimes the dishes were a success while other times they came out so-so.

Eating to benefit St. Jude Children's Hospital.

Disclaimer: The Fandads are St. Jude Ambassadors and we want to share with our Chicagoland readers an upcoming event that may be of interest to them. Photos provided by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

Being a "sporty dad" I try to watch what I eat, especially since I'm starting to train again for some upcoming runs. So while I limit certain intakes of food, I make sure to have a cheat day every now and then. Well my friends, if I'm going to have a cheat day, May 2 seems like the best day to do it.

What does it take to be the #KingOfSoup #Sponsored

Disclaimer: I have partnered with Life of Dad and Idahoan® Foods for this campaign, but my opinions, dirty dishes, and a full stomach are all my own.

I remember in the early 2000's BC (Before Children), my wife and I would spend countless nights eating dinner at nice, not too fancy, restaurants and enjoying our meals at our own pace. We would talk about the state of the world and life in general. Who am I kidding, I was probably rambling on and on about some comic books I read and she was probably just being nice and listening to me. You know, good conversation.

All that changed once our first child was born. When she was a baby it was all candy and glitter as she slept in her car seat and we enjoyed our meal. If she started getting antsy, we would give her a bottle or her pacifier and all would be golden.  As she got older, things started to change. Fussiness would become crying and crying would lead to tantrums. It would get to the point that we would have to rush sometimes and our nice long dinners turned into asking for to-go containers once our food arrived.

Grilling with the Fandads! #Sponsored

I was originally going to call this post "The five things that you need to grill this summer", but I started to think about it and realized that you can not pick just five things. There are so many great foods out there to grill that you will leave something out and people would start to complain and throw tomatoes at you wherever you go and it would all be a big mess.

So instead of just choosing five things to grill, I'm just going to talk to you about a few things that I recently cooked on my grill. Ever since having kids I have tried something new everyday, so why not trying something new on the grill this summer?

Grilling with STOK grills and the Fandads #Sponsored #STOKDad

Summer is just around the corner and that means one thing to this Fandad; time to grill.  This summer we are going to add some grilling to our site and that comes with help from our friends at STOK. STOK has provided the Fandads with The Island grill to make BBQs at Fandad Homebase that more awesome.