Yesterday we had our daughter and son in law pick up a chicago style pizza from Two Guys pizza on their way back from Marion.  We ordered it with pepperoni, salami and mushrooms.  When I called it in they told me it would take 15-20 minutes which made both of us nervous since it takes a lot longer at other places.  It's a good thing they cook it that fast since there was a problem and they had to redo it while Bailey and Shad waited.
Of the chicago style pizzas we've tried lately I think this was my favorite.  It makes me wonder how good their other styles are and how good it would be to eat it fresh.
As a plus Bailey found charmin in the red package so we're good keeping our hineys clean for a while.

With no bocce and restaurants closed to sit down service and of course some crappy weather it's been way too much tv lately.  Yesterday we decided to take a ride before the mandatory stay at home order goes into effect.
We finished up our ride by ordering at New Kahala for curbside pick up.  The Glue ordered chicken in chili sauce with fried rice and hot and sour soup.  I ordered beef and chinese vegetables with brown rice and hot and sour soup.  The smell on the ride home only added to the anticipation.  I really liked mine but should have gone with the fried rice instead of the brown rice.  The hot and sour soup was good but a little too thick for me.  The Glue really like hers too and the taste I had of it was real good.  She got hers spicy but I didn't think it was too hot.
The Glue keeps saying we're in for a dud because the last several places we've been to have been real good.

On a brutally cold day yesterday the bocce season officially go under way with the annual St. Patrick's Day tournament.  It got off to a rocky start for the Grump Shillelaghs when Ted called and was sick.  After a couple quick phone calls BBJ answered the bell and is the newest Grumpy Shillelagh although we played together and won years ago under a different team name. 
The Glue once again made Irish Stew and on a cold day it went over great.  I had a taster bowl before we went down and it may have been the best I've had.  Tim was also there making bagels and Jay furnished chili and deer sausage.
On the draw we ended up in a three team pool with fellow Wednesday night teams Muddy Rollers and Mission: Imbocceball.  Because of the three team format we played each team twice.
In the first game we got Mission: Imbocceball who had just beat the Muddy Rollers and were playing back to back games on the same court.  They got the first three points once of which I took away from us on the last throw.  We did come back and win 9-6 though.
In the second game we jumped out to a big lead against Muddy Rollers and survived a late comeback to win again 9-6,
Muddy Rollers beat Mission: Imbocceball in their rematch so we knew we just had to win one more games to advance when we took on Mission again and we proceeded to take care of that with a 9-5 win.
There really wasn't a reason to play our last game but they wanted to so it was a kind of warm up game for us but we still managed to pull out a win.
Only one team advanced from each pool and we took on the Punishers in the final four of the tournament.  By this time the cold was taking it's toll and me as was standing all day and of course the aftereffects of the day before.  It showed in my throwing as I was off all game and we went down with a whimper 9-4 while the Punishers went on to win the tournament.
During the day we found out that the governor was closing all bars and restaurants until the end of the month.  Later on that evening it was announced the Park District was cancelling all events which includes the bocce season. 

The Glue has been on a pizza roll lately especially chicago style so we finally decided to try Martels chicago style pizza.  We haven't got much delivered lately because in a small town it's easier to pick it up and not risk the driver making other stops before yours.  Anyway Martels got the pizza there pretty quickly considering the time it takes to prepare chicago style.  They only offer it in a large and it's pretty expensive.  The pizza itself was a good solid pizza but the crust was outstanding.  If we could combine Martels crust with the insides of Tower Square it would be great.
Yesterday we decided to go for more pizza and decided to give the Marinas pizza another chance.  The first time we had we were not impressed at all but they hadn't been open very long.  This time we got a pepperoni, sausage and mushroom pizza and it was good and gives us another option when we eat there or want pizza.

On our way back from Sam's on Wednesday we stopped at Rise Above It in Carterville to have lunch.  We mainly went since they are on the Top 2o card.  They don't have beer so I was very surprised the Glue went there. 
They've done a really nice job in repurposing an old building into a nice place.  There's lots of Carterville memorabilia on the walls and it just has a homey feel to it.
I ordered the rueben and whaffle fries which were both good but nothing real stood out about either of them.  On the other hand the Glue ordered a pick two consisting of a half italian beef sandwich, half a Crystals salad and a cup of some sort of chowder.  The italian beef was really good and the roll held up excellent against the juice from the beef.  The salad dressing was great and I even like the chowder and I'm not a big fan of thicker types of soup.

Bocce starts in a week and a day.

On Sunday we went to Bottoms Up for a late lunch after I was done golfing.  We got there between 2 and 3 and I the place was very crowded which surprised me. 
I ordered catfish with a salad and slaw while the Glue had all white fried chicken with a salad and chips.  I'd been wanting fish for a while and they normally have pretty good fish but I was disappointed in it this time.  It wasn't bad just not as good as normal.  The slaw was real good though and so was the salad.  The Glue's chicken was on point and the chips were too.
On Monday we went to Sergios mainly because neither of us wanted to cook and there's not a lot of places in Murphy that are open on Monday.  I hadn't been there in a few years and they've remodeled the inside which is a big improvement.  They still have Bud Light and Miller Lite on draft but have added Corona Premier which I wasn't aware of until after we'd ordered or I might have tried that.
After much studying of the menu I ordered the seafood plate and when I mentioned I was getting that the Glue found Diabla shrimp and ordered that.  My seafood plate came with grilled shrimp, scallops and crab and it was excellent.  The Glue said hers was too and of course both came with rice and their version of a salad which is just ok.  I'm really glad we went there since it'd been a while for me and we'll go back pretty soon.  I just wish they had different draft beers.

I finally got back to golfing on Saturday and it was cart path only so I was pretty beat up when I got done.  I'd mentioned chicago style pizza earlier and the Glue said it sounded real good so we decided to go to Tower Square to get it.
When we got arrived there were several tables already in use which surprised me a little.  We didn't have trouble getting a seat though.  We ordered a pitcher of Blue Moon and decided to go with the smaller chicago style pizza with pepperoni, canadian bacon and mushrooms.  The waitress said it would be every bit of 45 minutes until it was ready with the number of orders being processed.
As we sat there people kept streaming in and there were people waiting for tables.  At one point I looked up and my cousin Jane and her husband Craig were walking in the door.  They stopped by the table for a quick chat and said they were going to a play or something at the civic center which probably explained the crowd. 
Shortly after they left our pizza arrived and it was very good, the Glue especially liked it.  My biggest complaint is that they only cut it in fourths which made pretty big slices and it would have been nice if they cut it in sixths.