It's been a slow couple of weeks but we finally got a chance to get away and try a new place, Emily's Eatery.  I've been wanting to go there for awhile but really wanted to go when they have a good special.  Meatloaf was the special and I just don't really eat meatloaf when we're out.  I'd been to the Vet 30+ years ago so parking in the middle of the street didn't throw me off.
I ended up get a double burger with cooked carrots.  The cooked carrots were supposed to be with the meatloaf but they let me sub them out as a side.  Lisa wanted potato soup which was another special but she couldn't get it as a side so she ordered a full order.  She also got a BLT and onion rings.  The onion rings were really for me. 
I've got to quit ordering double burgers, they're just too big for me.  This came with grilled onions, pickles and mayo.  It was a really good burger but I think if I'll get it with mustard instead of mayo.  The carrots were great but could have been a little hotter.  Lisa said the same thing about her soup, good but not very warm.  She also didn't like that the potatoes were kind of big.  Her BLT looked really good and it appeared to have plenty of bacon.  The onion rings were made there and very tasty, not overly heavy.
After we finished we walked next door to the Vet.  It had changed a lot in the decades since I'd been there, much nicer than I remembered.  We both had drafts, a Stag for me and a Busch Light for Lisa.  There was one customer in the bar and the bartender.  We got to talking and the customer's mother is from Murphysboro and was in school between the two of us.
There is serving window between the two places but we didn't know we could order from the other side or we'd have had drafts while we ate.  The day after we ate there the special was chicken fried chicken that I love, oh well
It's definitely a place we'll got back to.

The Packers season came to a halt last night 😞  It ended way too soon but it also lasted longer than I thought it would.  Missed opportunities were the story of the game for the Packers. 
I always have a let down when the season ends and this year seems worse.  Longer post coming.
Go Pack Go

There is on series of commercials that are so bad I have to change the channel or turn the TV off.  It seems they always air around the holidays and are on hourly if now more often.  Of course I'm talking about the abused animal commercials.  I can't watch them.  I'm not sure it's real but I can't stand seeing animals treated like that.
I don't even like thinking about it so I'm done.

We got a late start yesterday but still decided to go to long time favorite Broadway Bayou.  I've had a craving for etouffee lately and theirs is usually pretty good, usually is the operative word.
Me and Lisa split an order of etouffee and the cajun quad appetizer.  We got the cajun quad because they let us get both shrimp and gator instead of having to get calamari.  I'm just not into squid or whatever it is.  Mike and Debbie have become big fans of etouffee since we introduced them to it last time we went to Broadway Bayou.  The waitress knew we were splitting so she gave us an extra piece of cornbread and also gave one to Mike who loves bread.
The etouffee was warm at best and some of the rice was crunchy, worst was they used fried crawdad in it.  Not being quite done happens when you go to places mid afternoon, hopefully using fried crawdad was a mistake and not something they've started doing.  The cajun quad was way too much fried food for me but I should have known that.  The gator in is was real chewy but it has been every time we've tried it there.
A disappointing visit to one of our favorite places and I hope this was just a bad day.
We stopped at the Korner Tavern in Ava for a quick drink but nothing was happening there and  I didn't really care for the place.

Is it me or have TV commercials got even stupider and more obnoxious?  On top of that you get beat to death by them.  Even commercials that are decent morph into stupidness.
One that grates on me is two women all dressed in red singing a christmas song then a cat starts playing the piano.  Ugh.  I'm not sure why that one gets me but it does.
Insurance commercials are some of the worst.  The guy that runs around with an emu, drop a piano on both of them.  The green lizard needs to be stepped on.  State Farm used to have good ones in particular the early RODGERS ones but they got stupid too.
Lawyers are the bad.  Does anyone who served at Camp Lejune not know they could be entitled to compensation.  Same with roundup and other class action lawsuits.  Each add is full of might, could, may, possibly type words, nothing definite.
I could go on and on but you get the picture.  I've saved the worst for a separate post.

Nobody can hit 100%.  Dale's Burger Shack has been close until last Thursday.  I debated between a chicago Dog or an italian sausage before decided on the italian sausage.  Lisa wanted an italian beef but when we got there the were out of beef so she went with a burger.  Of course we had to get a huge bag of fries for the ride home.
The fries were just okay mainly because for some reason we got all shorties like you'd get at the bottom of a bag.  They tasted okay but not what I've come to expect from there.  My italian sausage came with peppers and onions that I ended up scraping off.  The bun really overwhelmed the sandwich, the only thing that saved the bun was to dip in in the au jus.  The sausage itself seemed too chared or even burned, just not good.  On the other hand Lisa's burger was real good.
Yesterday I wasn't feeling that good so we decided the chicken soup from El Jalisco sounded good.  The came highly recommended from my cousins, Joey and Jane.  I ordered chips and salsa only to find out they come with an order.  Not my favorite chips and salsa, I prefer thin and salty chips these were thicker.  The salsa was just okay,
The soup was great.  I got home and put my soup in bowl but there was still plenty left so Lisa took that.  We both like the soup but she mentioned too much rice.  I didn't even realize it had rice in it, apparently I poured it and all the rice was on the bottom.  Live and learn. 

Our dishwasher is starting to have problems, it seems like it was just a few years ago we got it but I started looking and it is 17 years old.  Hard to believe but I guess we got our moneys worth out of it.  Anyway we went to Murdale Appliances/ Ace to order a new one yesterday.
After we left we walked down to El Paisano for a quick beer or so we thought.  We were served chips and salsa and then it took a long time to get anyone to take our drink order,  The chips and salsa were really good but they brought a couple different salsas for us to try since Lisa asked about spicier.  I didn't care for those.
We left there and went to Frenchman's Widow.  Mike is always disappoint because few places have Sailor Jerrys rum but they did so right away he loved the place.  We started with cheese curds for an appetizer. The special was buy 10 wings get 10 free so we order those along with two french dip sandwiches with house chips. 
The cheese curds were really good.  We found out the wing special was for boneless which was a disappointment to all of us but they ended up good.  Of the four sauces we tried the parm garlic was far and away the best.  We split the sandwiches four ways.  I had a couple tough spots in mine but overall it was a really nice sandwich. 
Did I say Mike loved the place.
When we got home we stopped in the Da-Nite for a quick beer that turned into three or four as Mike and Shank took turns buying.  Shank introduced us to pickle vodka that had a really nice flavor.
Finally I said if you're going with me we're leaving and so we went home

The year started good with Mike and Debbie moving here for california.  A little later I got sick and couldn't shake the cough that caused a trip to the ER and a 3 day uncomfortable stay in the hospital with a herniated lung that had gone into my ribs.  This impacted the rest of the year.  I wasn't able to golf or do much of anything too physical.  It seems to have finally cleared up though.
Next up I got Covid that caused sleeping issues and a bad skin tear.  When I finally felt well enough to golf I hurt my back.  When it was finally feeling better I hurt it again lifting a recycling bin.
There were several issues that made this a bad year.  The way the year ended was the worst but I'm not going to write about that.
Hopefully 2024 is going to be better.