Food Adventures with Tonya and Ruthie

by Bruce Grimes

Tonya and Ruthie wanted to grill food for a contest on a TV show. They wanted to grill for Gordon Ramsay. They wanted to grill old-fashioned hot dogs, but Gordon Ramsay said, “No! Grill some premium, expensive fish.” 

They got kicked off the TV show. He said, “Since you don’t know how to grill expensive fish, you’re off the show!” They cried. “Waah! Boo hoo!” 

Tonya and Ruthie raised $500 to open their own drive-in restaurant. Unfortunately, the restaurant caught on fire when they were cooking bacon. They rebuilt it and changed the menu to seafood. Now they really did have to learn how to grill fish.

Then Gordon Ramsay stopped by their restaurant and tasted the fish. He said, “Wow girls, you have improved yourselves!”

They said, “Will you give us $100 now?” But Gordon Ramsay said, “You deserve much more than that,” and he gave them $1,200. They used that as the beginning of raising money for a food truck.

They used cooking oil to fuel the truck and took it on the road . . . all around the world! They were cooking all different kinds of food: seafood tacos, pizza burgers, and hamburger patties. They also cooked their first favorite food: old-fashioned hot dogs.  

Tonya and Ruthie started their food truck journey in New Mexico. While they were there, they learned how to cook pineapple and kiwi on the grill. People asked for the food deep-fried instead of grilled. They asked for zucchini bread also. On the food truck, Tonya and Ruthie had an oven that ran on propane. They baked zucchini bread and muffins there. They sold them for $5 each. Those were the top-sellers on the food truck. 

Then Tonya and Ruthie took the truck to Texas and later, New Jersey. They went onto another TV show called “Bar Rescue.” They raised money for another business: This time, they wanted to open a bar. Tonya and Ruthie wanted to start with a bar from the show “Bar Rescue,” a bar that people didn’t want to go to. They made it into a bakery and bar together. They did so well that John Taffer from “Bar Rescue” gave them $1 million.
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Tonya and Ruthie said, “Wowie! Now we really have some money!” They put it in the bank to save up for a vacation. They planned to travel around the world and taste as many different foods as they could. Including old-fashioned hot dogs.