We had an interesting start to Thanksgiving day.  Lisa had gotten a lot of the prep out the way before thanksgiving.  She also decided to the turkey how I've been wanting her to for a while.  Everything was going great but....
The dressing ran over into the bottom of the oven and it started smoking.  In fact the smoking was so bad we couldn't be in the same room for a while.  Lisa managed to turn off the oven and we finally were able to get the turkey out.  By this time it temped perfect so now it just had to stay warm for a while. 
I started up the smoker and we had to finish the dressing in it.  I also melted the marshmellows on top of the sweet potatoes and cook the rolls.  It looked like everything was back on track on going good, not great.
That is until it everyone was eating.  The turkey was probably the best she's done.  Really moist and tasty.  The sweet potatoes were also really good.  The dressing was another story.  Something was wrong and she makes really good dressing.  It could have been prepreping early but must likely was the bad smoke from the oven.
It was bad enough that our smart ass nephew Josh said he didn't know gasoline was part of the dressing recipe.  Epic fail.
With the exception of the dressing it was a good day and Lisa is anxious for redemption with the dressing.

Yesterday was Debbies birthday so we gave her a lot of places to choose from.  She chose the Dew Drop Inn in Bloomsdale Mo.  It's really a nice drive up route 3 then across the bride before turning on route H.  From there its a turn onto route 61 and straight to the Bloomsdale and the Dew Drop.  Bloomsdale is a town of 639 and it takes a little over an hour to get there.
It's confusing as there are two or three places in the same building.  There was a nice lunch crowd there for a town that size but I imagine they draw from a large area.  They have an impressive 16 taps.
I chose a big spicy cuban with a side of onion rings while Lisa got a single smash burger with a cup of chili.  Mike went with his standard pulled pork sandwich.  Sadly I don't remember what the birthday girl got.  We also ordered pretzel sticks and fried mushrooms as appetizers.
The pretzel sticks were really good and I managed to snag the one with the most salt.  The mushrooms were great and very big.  So big cutting them in half was the way to go.  The breading held really well and they were fully coated. 
My cuban was on point and not overly spicy also a very good size.  I could only eat half.  The onions rings were awesome, well breaded and very tasty.  None of them had the onion pull out leaving only the breading.  Lisa liked her burger and her chili but it needed to be hotter.  Mike said his BBQ was really good.  Everyone liked the shoestring potatoes sides that Mike and Debbie got.
Really great place and hopefully it won't be several years before we go back.

A lazy day yesterday so a trip to Carbondelis was the call.  We both customized our own sandwiches.  I went with a 12" knowing I'd have leftovers.  I got their regular bun with pepperoni, salami, pastrami, ham with provolone.  For toppings I got red wine vinegar, olive oil, cucumbers, lettuce and red onions.  I also had it toasted.
They were having an issue wrapping the whole sandwich soI told them to wrap the two halves separate.  Much easier to wrap and better for me since I only planed on eating half.
The sandwich was great but too big, hard to get it in my mouth (I know surprising).  Lisa said hers was good too.
Really good sandwich but should have got less meat.

Lisa had another follow up appointment in St Louis yesterday and got some good news.  She doesn't have to go back for a year.  It was a lot easier trip than last times monsoon trip.
We've been coming back route 4 most of the time lately mainly to get off the interstate sooner.  This time I decided to just head on back to 13 and come home that way mainly so we could stop at Jules Joint in Nashville.  Not a lot of options on Monday.
I was tempted by some other things but I stayed with the plan and got a cheeseburger with a side of house made chips.  Lisa surprised me by ordering a cod sandwich with a side salad.  The burger is hand pattied and the chips are made in house.
The burger was just okay but nothing special, for some reason I expected better.  The chips were very crisp but with very little seasoning.  Salt helped but still underwhelming.  Lisa's fish was really good.  The bun was great and the fish done very well.  Her salad was stems and twigs otherwise known as spring mix so I wasn't impressed.
It was a welcome stop on the way home but disappointing for me.  We'll be back though.

We almost just stayed home yesterday but finally decided on a little Jeep ride around Hutchins Creek.  It's become one of our favorite places mainly because there's a couple creeks that are easy to cross.  We went through them one way and then turned around and came back the same way until I went down a rode I don't think I've ever been on that took us to 127.
We stopped in Havisham in Alto Pass on the way back for a couple drinks.  It's a really nice place but expensive, Mike and Debbie said California prices.  They had Smithwicks on draft so that's what I had, everyone else had blackberry lemonade.  While we were sitting there the place really filled up.  After a couple rounds we decided to go grab a bite to eat and finally decided on Sergios Cantina.
I backed off my normal seafood del mar and went with two street tacos, one steak one chicken, and some rice.  Mike got street tacos while Debbie got enchiladas while Lisa got birria tacos. 
The street tacos were very good and Mike said they were the best he's had.  I liked the chicken better than the steak which really surprised me.  Lisa's birria looked great and I'll probably try next time we're there.  Debbie seemed to like her enchilada.  The rice was good but I probably should have passed on it, very filling.

On Thursday we went to Ashleys to check out some deals and were debating on going to Smokin K's in Marion but finally decided to go to Chilis instead and get the $10 special.  Lisa had a coupon for free chips and salsa so we opted for a different special.
I went for a side salad and smash burger and they let me get corn on the cob instead of fries.  Lisa got a smash burger with mac & cheese but don't remember what else.
I didn't realize the side salad was a spring mix I think.  To me this just a bunch of stems and I don't really care for it.  The corn was okay but nothing special.  This time the burger didn't taste near as good, it seemed like it had too much thousand island on it.
This morning we went to Ashleys again and ordered some much needed furniture.  On the way home we stopped by Bunmakers.  Lisa had a $25 gift certificate.  She got B&G with scrambled eggs with cheese on top.  I got some sort of combo with a biscuit, sausage patty, hash browns and scrambled eggs. 
The biscuit was good but would probably be more suited to B&G then stand alone.  The sausage patty was pretty routine.  The eggs and the has browns were really good.  I had a taste of Lisa's B&G and really liked that.  She also got two small cinnamon rolls that were big.  I took a taste of one and it was great but sweet.

I had three things I've been wanting lately: Gumbo, chicken and dumplings and fried chicken.  No idea why.  Lisa took care of the gumbo "hankering" this past week with a pot of her yummy chicken and shrimp gumbo.  Normally we have smoked sausage instead of chicken and it really tasted good.  Apparently there's some unwritten rule about mixing seafood and meat in gumbo but that's probably traditionalist which I'm not.
With Lisa in St Louis shopping we went down to Bottoms Up yesterday to take care of my fried chicken desire.  I wanted to be back in time to watch the Red Devils so it was a quick trip.  I ordered a 1/4 chicken with a salad and steamed veggies.  I requested some extra seasoning on the veggies and they said they would but they didn't have  much left.  Mike and Debbie went with 1/2 fried chicken with tons of chips.
I had a few chips while we were waiting and they were really good.  My salad was good but plain since I'd ordered no tomatoes or cheese. Just as the food was coming out I mentioned that I thought I'd forgot to order all white.  I'd forgot so the meal was disappointing from the start.  The leg and thigh I got were okay but small and just not as good as the breast and wing.  The veggies were okay too but not to much you can do to jazz up frozen veggies.
We got back a little after the game was on and the Devils were already down 14-0 but played better the rest of the first half.
Overall a rare disappointment from one of my favorite places but that's my fault.

It appears another Octoberfest season has come and is closing fast.  As mentioned previously I really like most Octoberfest and have tried so many I had to start keeping track of what I've tried so I know which ones I like the best.
Here is a list of what I tried this year:

Sam Adams - still my favorite and first out this year
shiner - not as good as last year
Boulavard Bob's 47  - a new one and I really can't decide on
Leinenkugel - really good this year, probably second favorite
Hand of Fate Octoberfate - not bad
Urban Chestnut O-Katz - okay but nothing really special
Riggs - don't remember it
Big Muddy - really good
Half Acre - don't really remember
St Nicholas - good
Molly's Pint - had a quick taste so really not much to go on
Schlafly - better than I remember but had it on tap
Blue Jay - new brewery, really enjoyed it.

Here is a list of what I've tried before:
Sam Adams - first I saw this year and still at the top
Shiner - second out this year and seemed better than in the past
Leinenkugel - One of top 3 or 4
Sun King - probably my least favorite I tried this year
Desthil - okay but didn't really make an impression
Civil Life - good
Breckenridge - really good
Salukioctoberfest - very disappointing
St Nicholas - probably my new favorite among local breweries
O'fallon - nice tasting beer I had at Big Muddy Brewing, come on Chuck brew one of your own.

top tier
Sam Adams - easy to get and really good on draft.
Leinenkugel - another easy to get and it's close to Sam Adams
First two are bottles but these two are cans
Founders - a surprising find from last year
Alesmith - first year having it but it's right up there
Flying Dog - real good but more expensive (bottle)

Next tier - good but not as good as the top tier
Revolution - very good especially on tap
Tighthead - would be top tier but comes in a 4 pack of 16oz
Civil Life - just misses out on top tier
Brooklyn - a touch behind Civil Life
Odells - same as Brooklyn

Just misses out on top two tiers:
Bells - good at first then goes a little downhill
Shiner - Good and normally the first one out
Schlafly - Haven't tried this year
LeftHand - really had to get a handle on this one.
Sierra Nevada - a little hoppy but not bad, haven't tried this year

Middle of the road tier
Staghorm - surprisingly mediocre
4204 - ok but nowhere close to top tiers
Old Nation - barely in the middle tier and it comes in a 4 pack of 16oz cans
Sierra Nevada - a little hoppy but not bad
Great Lakes - has a different aftertaste, just ahead of the bottom tier

Bottom tier
Paulander - good but only comes in 11.2 oz bottles
Spaten - ok but nothing stands out
Hschorr- Pschorr - like Spaten nothing really stands out

Least favorites
Capitol - surprising close to Von Jakob
Von Jakob - couldn't drink a whole glass
Hofbrau - light taste and only comes in 11.2 oz bottles

With a kid free day yesterday we decided to bring New Kahala home and relax.  I had a dermatologist appointment at 12:45 so I told Lisa what I wanted and then sent her a text when I was close to being done.  I still got there early but no big deal.
I ordered beef rice noodle with extra sauce and veggies with some egg drop soup.  Lisa ordered twice cooked chicken with extra sauce and an egg roll.
Mine just didn't seem to have much flavor or extra sauce.  Both are very unusual for New Kahala.  Lisa's tasted good but had a little too much spice for me.  The egg drop soup tasted really good.
New Kahala is a long time favorite but is just didn't hit the spot this time.

Yesterday Lisa had a follow up from her surgery in St Louis.  I dislike driving on interstates but sometimes you have to do it.  Yesterday was awful.  Rain was coming down and the visibility was way lower than normal.  I was still able to drive a decent speed but it became obvious we were cutting it close.  The rain finally let up as we got to the river and we were able to get to the appointment on time.
On the way home we got out of St Louis but on the Illinois side the rain came down even harder than before.  Visibility was way down and of course there were still people going way to fast for conditions.  I finally got behind a semi with it's hazards on and followed it until I could get off the interstate on route 4.  The rain once again let up as we got a little south and the rest of the ride wasn't bad except for some hydroplaning and missing a turn.
Only hillbilly moment was when we were exiting the parking garage and missed the exit and had to make another run through the building.
Overall a rough trip there and back.

Lisa asked where you taking me so that meant she's not cooking.  We had to be back by 3 so that limited the places we could go.  We finally decided on Emily's Eatery mainly because their Thursday special is normally blacked ribeye and that's been sounding really good.
They don't have draft beer but but they had Modelo Negra so we got those.  I was very tempted by the handbreaded catfish sandwich but in the end stayed with the blackened ribeye with a salad and a baked potato.  I first ordered their excellent onion rings but changed to baked potato.  Lisa went with a club sandwich with a salad. 
As we sat there a guy came in who asked it I was Joe Melvin, turns out his name is Jeff and we worked together 45+ years ago at the student center bookstore.  We'd only ran into each other a couple times in the time since we worked together. 
Anyway the food arrived and my steak was very thin.  It surprised me.  I didn't think they could get it medium but it was close.  The flavor was okay but it wasn't the best ribeye I've had.  I'd have rather paid more and got a thicker steak.  The baked potato was a baked potato, nothing special stood out.  The salad was good especially the french dressing and you gave you more than enough dressing.  A lot of places don't give you enough.  Oh and once again their garlic bread was outstanding.  Lisa really liked her sandwich and it was plenty big.  She got the house dressing on her salad and the bite I had was really good.
Tale of two meals, mine was mediocre hers was good.