Knockoff Nachos

Because I know that a lot of my readers live near Old Chicago (or near Chicago, itself . . . hey guys up north!) they will (I think) know how happy the BF and I were when we discovered an Old Chicago in Brandon, FL, about 20 minutes away.  They will also, then, know how devastated we were to learn that the Old Chicago in Brandon, FL (and the ONLY one in Florida, by the way) closed at the end of last year.  Insert (the BF's) tears.

Old Chicago makes some absolutely bitchin' Italian nachos.  And since we can't get the real thing in these parts anymore, I thought I would try and recreate them last weekend, when the BF's sister was in town (HI!).

I purchased what ended up being an excessive amount of wonton wrappers, and used about 1/20th of what I bought, and deep fried them for 2 minutes per side, in vegetable oil, then drained them in a colander over paper towels.

I layered the deep fried wontons in a 9x13 baking dish with browned Italian sausage, pepperonis, slice pepperoncinis, and mozzarella cheese, and put them in the oven at 325 for 15 minutes, then under the broiler for about 5 minutes.  I served them with hot red pepper marinara and they were a hit!  (And for those of you wondering:  yes, they taste like the Old Chicago nachos and no, this isn't part of my "diet.")

While looking for shoes to fulfill my graduation requirements I came across these:

Brian Atwood via Saks.

While our "regalia instructions" indicate that dark shoes are best, I'm not a rule follower and I think these would look great 5'7" below my mortar board.