The 2020 bocce meeting took place this past Wednesday and as I've said in the past the main part of the meeting is the election of the board members.
This past years accomplishments were mentioned along with thanking various people for their help this past year including yours truly who was thanked several times it was kind of embarrassing.  It was also mentioned that we are close to capacity and each night would be capped at 17 teams.  I'd have rather seen it capped at 16 but two nights were already at 17 so I guess it would be hard to do.
It was great seeing there were a couple more people who were interested in being board members but with a club of our size a few more would have been even better.  Basically the same board was elected except for Gene who had been filling in for Pete who was tragically lost this past year.
Season starts in a month and a half and I'm ready.

We both had been craving cajun so we decided to go to Cape this past Friday to grab some at our longtime favorite Broussard's.
First we stopped at Minglewood which has always been a good time.  This time not so much.  They no longer make the beer we've always liked and they ran out of the one similar to it the night before.  We settled on an oatmeal stout which isn't really our thing but wasn't terrible either.  We both drank about 2/3s of it before leaving.
We headed down the street to 21 Taps for the first time.  I'm not sure about the whole pouring your own beer and paying by the ounce thing but it was enjoyable.  We tried the O'Fallon Red and the O'Fallon Amber.  The Glue had trouble pouring the Red so I finished it for her but forgot the card in the slot.  When the Glue went back to get it she didn't see it and one of the workers went and got it.  This could cause some big bills if the place was crowded.  We traded beers when we were half done so we could sample both and we each preferred the Amber.
We left there and went to Broussard's to satisfy our cajun craving.  We ordered the sampler platter with crawfish etouffee, shrimp creole and seafood gumbo.  They let us sub out the red beans and rice for an extra salad which was nice.  We both got our salads with the house port wine and cheese which is different than what I normally like but it was good.  The star of the meal was the etouffee, it was outstanding.  The gumbo and creole were also good but we may skip on the creole next time we are there.  It was raining as we were leaving so we had a beer at the bar before heading to our car to drive up the hill to Katy O'ferralls.
As I was getting in my car someone honked and it was Dan and Chris for 2 Boobs and 2 Girls so we met them at Katy O'ferralls.  Our plan was to have one there but that turned into three as we talked with them and had a great time.
They were talking about stopping at the Duck Inn but I'd had enough and went home.

The Packers surprising season came to a crashing halt as they lost to the 49ers for the second time this season.  Even with this crushing defeat the Packers season was a success.  Some of that success was due to timing and we caught some teams without their best players and we stayed very healthy all year long.
We made a much needed foray into free agency prior to the year grabbing Z. Smith, P. Smith and A. Amos for the defense and B. Turner for the offense.  All these players started when they were healthy and provided much needed help.  Z Smith was outstanding all year long and was the defenses best player and possibly the whole teams best player.  P Smith started off playing very well but tapered off a lot as the season wore on.  Amos helped stabilize the back end of our defense.  Turner helped the line but I'm not sure he was worth the amount of money in his contract. 
A lesser known free agent, C Sullivan, also ended up playing a lot and shows promise for the future.
More help came in the draft.  Our second pick in the first round D Savage added much needed speed to our secondary and looks like he may be a star in couple years.  The second round pick E Jenkins too over a guard position early in the season and played exceptionally well all year.  Our first pick R Gary was a disappointment and didn't play much all season, hopefully he can make a jump next year.  The third round pick J Sternberger was hurt most of the year but made some impact as a blocker and showed promise in the playoffs as a pass catcher. 
We still have a lot of needs to fill thanks in big part to some very shaky draft picks for several years in a row.  TE remains a big problem area and needs to be address in free agency and possibly in the draft.  WR is also a big need and should be address very early in the draft and possibly in free agency.  RT may also be a big need if Bulaga isn't resigned.  Other lesser needs are qb of the future, backup OL and backup RB.
On defense we have a glaring need at ILB that has to be filled in the draft or free agency.  We also need DL help for K Clark plus some DB depth.
Probably too many needs for one off season but WR, TE, ILB and DL are must and RT if Bulaga departs.
It's always sad to see the season end but this one was worse than the past couple years disasters.  It was a fun season to watch and the Packers always seemed to make games exciting one way or another.
Go Pack Go

Seasoning Bistro has been on my radar for quite some time and we finally made the trip to Benton to check it out yesterday.  Another really nice place where they've renovated an old building and it's on the square in Benton.  The square seemed to have a lot of traffic for 2pm on a Friday afternoon.
I ordered fish tacos with a side of brown butter broccoli and the Glue ordered a fish sandwich with a side salad.  I think overall I preferred the fish sandwich.  The tacos were good but a little too much going on for me.  The broccoli and the side salad were also good and the waitress was very friendly.  We were thinking of going to Sandy's bar and grill and she said it's where she goes when she's not at work. 
She also recommended Pheasant Hollow winery which was about five miles away.  I'd been wanting to check it out too but for some reason I thought it was a lot closer to Mt. Vernon.  Pheasant Hallow wasn't what I imagined but it's a very nice place with a wrap around porch that would be real nice in better weather.  We both ordered a Shiner Bock.  I also asked for a sample of a black and blue slushy they had and it was very tasty.  We ended up sharing a glass of it and for some reason the Glue thought it would be better to transfer it from the glass into the sample container and eat it with a the small sample spoon.  ?????

After two bouts with stomach problems I finally recovered enough to start eating again.  After another great Kilby's sandwich on Thursday we decided to pick something up again on Friday.  I'd about decided to pick up spaghetti from Cummares but happen to mention to the Glue that we needed to give New Kahal a try since we hadn't had it in a few years.
We used to pick it up often after volleyball at Pinch Penny a long time ago and I used to walk over and get it occasionally when I worked in Wham but have only been there once since it moved several years ago.
I decided on chinese vegtables with beef and fried rice instead of white rice while the Glue went with twice cooked chicken and also fried rice.  Both of us also had hot and sour soup.  I went in and lo and behold they now have beer which means we will go over and have it there instead of bring it back,
They give you a lot of food especially rice.  I have to say I was disappointed in mine.  I think it needed more sauce on it and I like it better from New China.  The Glue really liked hers though so I gave hers a little taste and I thought it was real good too.  Both of us really liked the hot and sour soup.

Yesterday we decided on taking a day trip and ended up going to Belleville to check out Beast Craft BBQ which our nephew Andrew really likes.  It's also been getting glowing write ups in some area internet sites.
We got to Belleville sooner than I expected so we went to Hofbrauhaus to have a beer and check the place out.  It's kind of in the middle of nowhere and the entrance is facing away from the road but once we got inside:  Wow, what an awesome place.  It's setup along the lines as a german beer hall.  Two days of ham and beans gave me a great reason to visit the bathrooms and once again, wow.  The toilets each had there own little room with block walls, very nice and clean.  They did have an odor to them but that was probably caused by some guy that had ham and beans two days in a row.  We ordered a lager and a dunkel both of which were good but could have been colder.  The Glue saw a pretzel so we split a small pretzel and it was very good.  We will go back and eat there sometime.
One of the guys at the bar told me about some places where we can park and walk between them so we went to Copper Fire.  Really nice place with a long horseshoe shaped bar.  They had about ten beers on tap but none really jumped out at me so we both had the Boston Winter Lager.  Beer was good and cold and their menu had several items that sounded good.  The Glue wants to go back and try their wings.
We then walked across the street to Tavern on Main which looked like a couple buildings cobbled together.  I was disappointed they only had about six beers on tap which didn't seem right.  On a whim I asked the barmaid if that was all they had and she said no they have several more at the other bar and here was a waitress handing us a beer list.  I'm not sure how many taps they have but it's a lot.  We both settled on Breckinridge's Avalanche amber.  The bar had a ice ring on the inside of it to set your drinks on to keep them cold.  It would have worked much better if we had the normal pint glasses instead of ones with stems.  They also have an interesting menu and a place we will go back to.
The barmaid was a little hesitant in recommending the bar next to it but said we should be ok during the day so we went to Big Daddy's 618.  We should have paid more attention and just skipped going.  Basically a dive bar which doesn't bother us but there was nothing special about the place.  No draft beer and "nothing fancy" as the barmaid said.
We then went to Beast Craft and it was nothing like I expected starting with the building.  I expected newer and bigger but a lot of the best bbq is in old buildings.  We didn't realize you walked into the place and placed your order right away, also I expected a good variety of draft beer.  Once at the order station we both felt very rushed.  The waitress said to take our time but she seemed impatient.  We ordered burnt ends, pork belly and brussel sprouts and candied bacon.  Luckily I noticed they had Alaskan Amber when we walked in so we both went with that.  The service was fine but when we got our food it didn't seem like there was much there.  The two pieces of candied bacon were outstanding but 2 for $3.50 seemed steep.  The pork belly and brussel sprouts were real good for brussel sprouts but I didn't see any pork belly.  The Glue said she had some but they were very tiny.  The burnt ends weren't very good.  They seemed like cooked chuck roast.  No real smoke flavor and no sauce, just very plain.  All in all very disappointing and we should have gone to long time favorite Hicks.
On the way back we stopped at Lieferbrau for a beer but they were closed for their christmas party so we went across the street to Burnt Ends.  We both had an Off Duty from 4204 and while we were sitting there talking we mentioned burnt ends and the waitress said she thought they were coming off the smoker right then so we ordered some.  Night and day difference from Beast Craft, they were very good. 
I found out that the owner of Beast Craft used to cook with the food editor of Riverfront Times and she blew them up before they were even open which is how they got their rep.