I wanted to do something a little different today and instead of sharing reviews and recipes I want to share some details about ME, in case anyone was wondering who I am! My name is Kimmy Ripley and I am from the city of St. Clair Shores in Michigan. I am very very VERY passionate about food and drink. I try my best to always eat with an open mind and I live for the thrill of trying out new things. This Give It A Whirl Girl food blog was started last June and it such a big joy to share my food and drink experiences with you all!

Today I will be sharing 10 questions and answers on the blog so you can get to know me better! There are going to be a ton of photos in this post so get ready! I know some people who “read” blogs don’t read and just check out the photos, so if you are one of those people you are in luck today!

Me! Kimmy Ripley AKA Give It A Whirl Girl

My hubby and I at Kona Grill for one of my birthdays

Give It A Whirl Girl with some Enlightened ice cream pop

Me and my daughter, Chloe Pearl, at the Heidelberg Project

You can also learn more about me in my introductory post!

All About Give It A Whirl Girl – Get To Know Me

1) Favorite food:

This is a tough question. I am not a very picky eater and I consider myself to be a foodie! There are so many foods out there that I absolutely love but if I had to choose one thing, just one thing, it would be…

Sushi! – I love love love sushi but I am also a big fan of things like crab legs or lobster tail because they are such a pricey and super rare treat for me.

My go-to place for sushi is Inyo in Ferndale, MI. We discovered this fantastic Asian fusion restaurant through Groupon. Inyo Ferndale is almost always on Groupon, so if you are local be sure to grab a Groupon for this spectacular Asian restaurant. You can thank me later… wink! wink! Their food is top-notch and we are regulars there.

And just for fun! Here is a photo of my daughter, Chloe Pear, with her chicken teriyaki dinner at Inyo Ferndale — And just for fun! Here is a photo of my daughter, Chloe Pearl, with her chicken teriyaki dinner at Inyo Ferndale

Ok guys! I am obsessed with Inyo. Here is a photo of my Walnut Lobster. This was the most recent meal that I ordered

Honorable mention:

Gotta love a big bowl of noodly pho at Minh Chau restaurant (they just changed the name to New Asian Star). Pho is comfort food for me. The broth here at New Asian Star is on-point! The pho that I enjoy ordering has sliced beef, brisket, meatballs, and soft tendon in it. Yeah I said tendon… and it is a weird meat to eat but I do enjoy it here. They also have a pho available with tripe if you are feeling really adventurous.

You can also stop in here for a bubble drink!

Big bowl of yummy pho at Minh Chau (now known as New Asian Star)

Pure comfort food right over here. I love pho at Minh Chau (New Asian Star)!

2) Least favorite food:

Oh this is an easy one. I used to eat some funky stuff when I was a little girl… things I could not fathom stomaching now!

Herrings in cream sauce (ew) I used to eat these fishy fishes straight out of the jar.

Giblets and hearts in my stuffing (ew! ew!) My mom always put those nasty things in my Thanksgiving stuffing. NEVER AGAIN

Liverwurst (ew! ew! ew!) All by itself or on some plain white bread. No thank you!

3) Favorite fruit

Want to know about my favorite fruit? This is an easy one to answer for me… dragon fruit, and that is followed by passion fruit, another favorite of mine. I am a HUGE fan of exotic fruits and I love to create exotic smoothie bowls with these fruits. If you are local, you can usually pick up a wide variety of exotic fruits at Nino Salvaggio.

Dragon fruit can have either a white center or pink center. You never know until you slice it!

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Exotic fruits that I purchased at Nino Salvaggio

4) Favorite meals that I have cooked:

Truth be told, and many of you all know, cooking and baking is my #1 passion in life! I love to serve up a delicious dish for my little family of 3

Italian drunken noodle is hands down the family favorite over here in the Give It A Whirl Girl kitchen. You can find the recipe for this delicious dish on my blog. Italian Drunken Noodle features Pappardelle pasta, Italian sausage, and mix of peppers with chardonnay wine.

A big plate of Italian Drunken Noodle and a glass of chardonnay

Italian Drunken Noodle - Give It A Whirl Girl's favorite meal to cook — Italian Drunken Noodle – Give It A Whirl Girl’s favorite meal to cook

Honorable mention:

Gigantic mozzarella stuffed meatballs are a big favorite and I have the recipe for these on my blog. This is the kind of meal that I invite my family over for. This recipe serves up a generous portion of meatballs.

CLICK HERE for my Huge Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs RECIPE!

Huge mozzarella stuffed meatballs simmering in the slow-cooker

A big plate of mozzarella stuffed meatballs served over spaghetti noodles

Pineapples stuffed with a teriyaki chicken is another family fave but it is somewhat complicated and tedious to create. You can find the recipe and learn more about this gluten-free dish on my blog.

Pineapples stuffed with teriyaki chicken are a fabulous summer meal

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5) Favorite desserts I have created

I love to bake cakes even though I am not the most talented baker and cake decorator. I created a bubblegum cake and a cotton candy cake. These cakes and cupcakes were a ton of fun to create and even more fun to eat!

Here are some photos of my favorite baking projects:

Bubblegum Gluten-Free Cake - Let's Get The Party Started — Bubblegum Gluten-Free Cake – Let’s Get The Party Started

COTTON CANDY CAKE by GIVE IT A WHIRL GIRL - Gluten-Free - How I Created It — COTTON CANDY CAKE

6) Favorite drink (non-alcoholic):

I don’t know how I can pick one here. I am a self-confessed coffee addict and I am also addicted to my energy drinks (have to have at least one a day!). My favorite energy drinks are by Bang Energy. With flavors like Unicorn and Cotton Candy, how can you resist?

7) Favorite alcoholic drink:

I recently started getting into craft beer and hard ciders. I was always attracted to the labels and packaging. It is so fun and colorful! I grew up my entire life, hating on beer, and saying it tasted like pee. Then one day I went to Hop Cat and I went there with the intention of giving beer a whirl and I ordered a flight with three different craft beers. Guess what? I enjoyed each and every one of them! I was impressed with myself that I gave craft beer a chance. I love craft beer and the entire drink experience with them. I love all of the unique flavors out there… Lucky Charms cereal, etc. etc.!

So sorry for the poor quality photo! I apologize but here is a photo of me with my first craft beer! I gave it a whirl at Hop Cat in Royal Oak, MI

First flight of craft beer for me at Hop Cat and I loved each one of them!

Rekorderling Passion Fruit hard cider – This was the greatest hard cider I have tried!

An assortment of craft beers... all delicious! — An assortment of craft beers… all delicious!

Cranium Crush - Raspberry Waffle Cone Ale — Cranium Crush – Raspberry Waffle Cone Ale

An assortment of craft beers that I tried out. And we save all of the bottles and cans and display them in our basement.

8) Favorite candy

Jelly Belly Raspberries & Blackberries are my favorite candy! What is yours?

There is no better candy than Jelly Belly’s Raspberries & Blackberries! These berry flavored candies are extremely highly addictive to me and I will kill a bag in just a couple of minutes!

9) Favorite post on the blog

I am nearing 200 published posts on the blog and if I had to choose one favorite post I simply can’t. I am going to declare a tie here. The two posts that were my favorite to do were both local reviews. I would love to visit more places nearby and review them. The local reviews I have done are my top performing posts. Here we go…

Modern Cone Review

and

Kawaii Bubble Tea Review

Modern Cone is an ice cream shop in St. Clair Shores that specializes in creative ice cream concoctions. This is the place to go if you want a unique ice cream concoction that is fun to eat, and very Instagrammable!

Make sure you are following my Facebook page because I will be sharing a Modern Cone gift card giveaway very soon!

Cereal Killer ice-cream Stacker available at Modern Cone

Kawaii Bubble Tea is located in Clinton Township, MI and they have some of the best bubble teas (boba) that I have ever tried. They also have a wide variety of macarons available. If you have never ever tried boba you definitely need to check out this place. It is a very fun drink experience.

Enjoying our boba drinks and macarons at Kawaii Bubble Tea in Clinton Township, MI
What a fun experience for all of us!

Honorable mention:

Tou & Mai is located in Detroit’s midtown area and they offer some very unique desserts. I tried their halo halo (Hello Hello is what they call it). You can read the review on my blog where I spill all the beans about this awesome dessert destination!

Tou & Mai Review

Sweet beans in my ice cream~!

Hello Hello (Halo Halo) at Tou & Mai in Detroit, MI

10) Favorite place to grab a sweet treat

This is an easy question to answer. Menchie’s and Orange Leaf are definitely my favorite place to grab a dessert. I am obsessed with frozen yogurt, also known as froyo. You can read my Menchie’s review on the blog.

Want to give Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt a whirl? Grab a Groupon and save on your visit!

Menchie's Frozen Yogurt (Froyo) Build-Your-Own Creation — Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt (Froyo) Build-Your-Own Creation
Edible art!

Menchies Heritage Village in Warren, MI toppings bar

Final thoughts

I truly hope you enjoyed this post over here at Give It A Whirl Girl. I would love to hear from my readers so leave me a comment here and tell me about your favorite food!

Question Time!

What is your favorite food? Least favorite food? Please share with me. I love to hear from my audience!

Also…

If you have any questions that you would like to ask me, leave a question in the comment box and I will be happy to answer it.

Follow Give It A Whirl Girl on social media

Give It A Whirl prepping a from-scratch pizza

At Tony's I-75 in Birch Run, MI with our gigantic banana split — At Tony’s I-75 in Birch Run, MI with our gigantic banana split

Learn more about this COLOSSAL banana split in my Tony’s I-75 restaurant review

Chloe Pearl and I cooking a from-scratch pizza in the Give It A Whirl Girl kitchen

Did you enjoy this post? Here are more posts at Give It A Whirl Girl that you might enjoy!

SHOP PYKNIC ON AMAZON (One of my favorite brands… all food/drink related items too!)

Tony’s I-75 restaurant is located in Birch Run, MI. This place is not for the faint of heart. It is not the place to go for a light meal. And it might just be a heart-attack waiting to happen. This establishment will literally put an entire POUND OF BACON on your sandwich. Do you want an omelet? They will put a DOZEN OF EGGS in there. Not kidding. This is a family restaurant that serves up meals of EPIC proportions. They are famous for their serving sizes and they are also famous for the bacon that they serve up here. It is a bacon-lover’s paradise and dream come true here. Did you know that they use up 11,000 lbs of bacon weekly? It is true, read on in my Tony’s I-75 restaurant review!

Tony's I-75 restaurant in Birch Run, MI — Tony’s I-75 restaurant in Birch Run, MI

Located in Birch Run, MI is Tony's I-75 Restaurant — Located in Birch Run, MI is Tony’s I-75 Restaurant

Tony’s famous BLT sandwich – (Image courtesy of http://www.tonysi75restaurant.com/)

My Tony’s I-75 Restaurant Review

About Tony’s I-75

Tony’s I-75 restaurant has been around for nearly seven decades. This place is a Michigan classic. If they had a motto I believe it should be, “go big or go home”. It is a once a year tradition for our family to dine here in the summer. This is not the kind of place you should be going to every week. I wish they included nutrition facts on the menu because the amount of calories here would be off the charts.

If you are in a hurry to eat you will often be confronted with a line out the door. Even on a weekday afternoon, there is a line to get in here. The building is not large enough to accommodate the demand. It is a small, cramped restaurant and I wish they would expand to a larger building but they have been at that location for decades and I doubt they are going anywhere. It is worth the wait though and the line does move fairly quickly.

Tony’s I-75 restaurant not only serves giant portions of food but they also have a massive menu. They have anything ranging from sandwiches, soups, salad, burgers, subs, dinners, seafood, Italian, and Mexican. And save room for dessert! You can not leave Tony’s without dessert.

There is also a decent children’s menu. I highly recommend the kid’s spaghetti with the giant meatball. My daughter ordered chicken strips this year. The portion size for children is very reasonable and they don’t go overboard with kids, which I think is totally cool.

Because the menu is so big, I did not capture a photo of every page of it but I tried my best to give you a good idea of what they offer and the prices. Their prices are very reasonable considering the amount you receive. You can view the entire menu online at their website.

Tony’s I-75 menu

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My BIG meal at Tony’s I-75 restaurant – Antipasto Salad and boy was it ever huge!

I often like to go for the seafood here. If you like clams they are jumbo clams. I am talking gargantuan! That is what I typically order but this year I went with the Antipasto Salad. This was my first time ordering a salad here so I wasn’t sure what to expect. When it was brought out my first thought was that it was a beautiful salad. It had all the fixings of an antipasto salad and the portion size was colossal. There was one problem though, my mozzarella cheese was not on my salad. I didn’t realize this at first. It took a few minutes to flag down our waitress but she apologized and was helpful in getting me my cheese. The salad came with a house-made Italian dressing and it was the perfect addition to my plate. The dressing was sensational, and there was excitement in every bite of this salad. I really appreciated the addition of green olives. I never had an antipasto with green olives.

Tony's I-75 Antipasto Salad — Tony’s I-75 Antipasto Salad

Antipasto Salad at Tony's I-75 Restaurant — Antipasto Salad at Tony’s I-75 Restaurant

My mom’s gigantic burrito at Tony’s I-75 restaurant

You should see the size of my mom’s burrito that she ordered~ MASSIVE! We were all stunned when this burrito came out because I have never in my life seen one this large. Somehow my mom managed to pack half of this in and took the other half home for leftovers. When you dine at Tony’s I-75 restaurant you do often leave with a doggy bag because most meals are impossible to finish for the average person.

My mom and her giant burrito at Tony's I-75 restaurant — My mom and her giant burrito at Tony’s I-75

My husband’s pizza sub at Tony’s I-75 restaurant

Joe ordered a pizza sub and the size of that did not disappoint! He tried to take it on and eat the entire the whole thing but he failed! Wondering what was on this monster sub? It came with, ham, pepperoni, mushrooms (Joe left these off), pizza cheese, pizza sauce.

Here is a photo of my hubby's giant pizza sub at Tony's I-75 restaurant — Here is a photo of my hubby’s giant pizza sub

And the moment you have been waiting for! Tony’s I-75 banana split!

Once a year when we come to Tony’s 1-75 we take advantage of their enormous banana split. There were 4 adults at our table plus one child (my daughter). We usually cannot finish this heavyweight dessert but this year we tackled the banana split and ate the whole entire thing! I felt like a pig afterward (oink oink) but I kept on using that spoon as a shovel to shove more and more ice-cream into my mouth. I deserved the little bellyache I had on the car ride home.

The ENORMOUS banana split at Tony's I-75 Banana for $10 you can feed the whole table dessert! Tony's I-75 restaurant review by Give It A Whirl Girl — The ENORMOUS banana split at Tony’s I-75 Banana for $10 you can feed the whole table dessert!

The banana split at Tony's I-75!! Do you think you could tackle it?? Tony's I-75 restaurant review by Give It A Whirl Girl — The banana split at Tony’s I-75!! Do you think you could tackle it??

We came. We saw. We conquered that banana split at Tony's I-75 restaurant — We came. We saw. We conquered that banana split at Tony’s I-75

Final thoughts about Tony’s I-75 restaurant

Overall we were satisfied with our meals. We all left with full bellies and smiles on our face, that is for certain. We will continue with our yearly tradition for meeting up here once a year. For weeks leading up to it, we are always all talking about that banana split. That dessert is truly the highlight of the meal for me. This is a great restaurant for family dining and I think that everyone in the area should experience this place at least once in their lifetime. I am hopeful and optimistic that this Tony’s I-75 restaurant review will inspire you and your family to give it a whirl someday. It is most definitely worth the drive!

Have you ever been to Tony’s I-75? What do you enjoy ordering there? Leave me a comment and let me know what you like! If you have never been to Tony’s I-75 restaurant what appealed to you on their menu?

Details about Tony’s I-75 Restaurant

Visit Tony’s I-75 Restaurant online

Tonys I-75 Restaurant Location

8781 Main St,
Birch Run, MI 48415

Telephone:

(989) 624-5860

Tony’s I-75 Restaurant Hours

Hours
Mon.-Thurs.: 6:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Fri. & Sat.: 6:30 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.
Sunday: 6:30 a.m. – 10:00 p.m

You can also learn more about me in my introductory post!

All About Give It A Whirl Girl – Get To Know Me

1) Favorite food:

Honorable mention:

2) Least favorite food:

3) Favorite fruit

4) Favorite meals that I have cooked:

Honorable mention:

CLICK HERE for my Huge Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs RECIPE!

5) Favorite desserts I have created

6) Favorite drink (non-alcoholic):

7) Favorite alcoholic drink:

8) Favorite candy

9) Favorite post on the blog

Modern Cone Review

Kawaii Bubble Tea Review

Make sure you are following my Facebook page because I will be sharing a Modern Cone gift card giveaway very soon!

Honorable mention:

Tou & Mai Review

Sweet beans in my ice cream~!

10) Favorite place to grab a sweet treat

Want to give Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt a whirl? Grab a Groupon and save on your visit!

Final thoughts

Question Time!

What is your favorite food? Least favorite food? Please share with me. I love to hear from my audience!

If you have any questions that you would like to ask me, leave a question in the comment box and I will be happy to answer it.

Follow Give It A Whirl Girl on social media

Did you enjoy this post? Here are more posts at Give It A Whirl Girl that you might enjoy!

SHOP PYKNIC ON AMAZON (One of my favorite brands… all food/drink related items too!)

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My Tony’s I-75 Restaurant Review

About Tony’s I-75

Tony’s I-75 menu

My BIG meal at Tony’s I-75 restaurant – Antipasto Salad and boy was it ever huge!

My mom’s gigantic burrito at Tony’s I-75 restaurant

My husband’s pizza sub at Tony’s I-75 restaurant

And the moment you have been waiting for! Tony’s I-75 banana split!

Final thoughts about Tony’s I-75 restaurant

Have you ever been to Tony’s I-75? What do you enjoy ordering there? Leave me a comment and let me know what you like! If you have never been to Tony’s I-75 restaurant what appealed to you on their menu?

Details about Tony’s I-75 Restaurant

Visit Tony’s I-75 Restaurant online

Tonys I-75 Restaurant Location

Telephone:

(989) 624-5860

Tony’s I-75 Restaurant Hours

Other posts you might enjoy

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