We took a quick trip to Herrin to eat at Joe's Pizza yesterday.  I'd done some picking up and cleaning and Lisa had de-christmas our house and neither felt like cooking anything.
We chose Joe's over Quatros, Frenchmans Widow and Champs. It appeared they were just getting over the lunch rush so we chose a booth that still needed cleaning. Lisa likes booths over tables and I probably do too.
We ordered a small pepperoni and sausage chicago style pizza.  Mike and Debbie ordered thick crust pepperoni and also salads. I have to say the salads looked good and so did their pizza when it go to the table.  Our pizza was good, Joe's has a sweeter sauce than most and it paired well with the other ingredients.  Small was more than big enough for us, in fact we had two pieces left that Mike and Debbie took home.  I tried a corner piece of their pizza and it was really good.  I'll probably push for that the next time we go over.

I got a text from Thursday night from Teresa, a neighbor from when I was growing up.  She said her mom would be at Faye yesterday morning.  Her mom practically raised me, I was over there all the time mainly because of her older brothers Mike and Tom.  Mike is a year older and Tom is a year younger.  Allen from the neighborhood was also there.
I ordered orange juice and a sausage patty only to find out they were out of sausage so I ordered bacon instead.  The orange juice was good and bacon is always good but it wasn't about the food.  It was about the memories and there were more than a few stories told.
Really enjoyable.  Lisa couldn't make it because Bailey got sick and we had to watch Brinley and Dax.

I make no secret of the fact that I'm not a fan of Christmas.  Call me a Grinch or a Scrooge  if you must because I just don't care for it.  Too much packed into a short time.
Once again I didn't start my normal shopping as early as I would have liked.  To clarify that is shopping for all the groceries that we need for the various Christmas activities.  I ended up going to Walmart four out of five days.  I really don't mind going usually but this was a bit much.  I usually forget something or pick up the wrong thing even though I keep an excel spreadsheet with  a list of things we need.  I don't think I did that this year but Lisa thought I didn't buy enough of some things.  We had plenty.
We had our normal "family" dinner on Sunday since that's about the only time we see our son.  Then on Tuesday we had our normal breakfast with our Nephew and his family.  Or course Bailey and her family come over too.  Then that night we had Lisa's family annual Christmas eve gathering.  The on Wednesday we had Christmas dinner.  To make matters worse the Packers played on a Monday night so there was another thing added into the mix. 
It's helped that Lisa's family no longer do Christmas dinner and we've moved breakfast to another day but it's a lot especially with the Monday night game.
Lisa has been chomping at the bit for redemption for her Thanksgiving debacle with the dressing and she got it.  Not her best but it was still really good and she's really getting the turkey thing down.
One thing I do like is watching the kids open the presents.  Greyson was fired up at the breakfast and of course that gets Dax going too.  Fun to watch.

We had some much needed new furniture delivered yesterday so of course I made the mistake of jokingly telling Lisa we should have a beer.  She didn't get the jokingly part so I had to get us a beer.  Not a big deal except it was 10:30am. 
Joe stopped by and picked up a chair and some end table for his buddy Dez.  Bailey and Shad stopped by to check out the furniture and then Mike and Debbie did too.  By this time it was past 1pm so we decided to go to PKs for burgers.  All four of us ordered burgers with various toppings.  Both me and Mike ordered American fries and Lisa ordered chili.
My burger didn't seem as big as last time and I should have got a double.  It was still a really good burger and everyone seemed to like theirs.  The American fries looked more like hash browns but were good.  Mike ordered his well done and they were almost burnt and dry.  While we were there we ran into our old friend Red who we hadn't seen in a while.  He was part of the slow pitch softball team I played for and I tried to talk him into coming to cards some Monday.
After we left we stopped at Boobys for a beer.  I also ordered a tyrolian sub to go.  When we got home Lisa put half the sandwich on the panini for me.  It really hit the spot at that point.

We don't eat breakfast out much but for various reasons we did yesterday.  I chose Mary Lou's because we know the owners family and we always prefer to eat local.  Once there we chose to eat at a table instead of the counter.
I ordered sausage, hash browns and two eggs over easy and of course I also got the complementary biscuit and gravy.  Lisa got bacon, two eggs and the biscuit and gravy.  We had barely ordered and the biscuits and gravy was there.  Good because I was hungry, bad because I was afraid I would get full before the rest of the meal.  We both managed to pace ourselves and the rest of the meal arrived a little later.
Now to the important part.  The sausage was good but a little done for my taste.  The two eggs were done like I like and tasted good.  The real star was the hash browns and the biscuit and gravy.  I normally put bbq sauce on my hash browns and they had Country Bobs on the table so why not?  It was really good combination.  The biscuits and gravy were also very good. 
About halfway through I realized I should have just ordered one egg.  A little bit later I realized I should have just ordered B&G and hash browns.  Not that it wasn't really good, just that I couldn't eat all of it.  I was afraid someone was going to stamp Goodyear on my butt and float me around.

We don't go to a lot of BBQ places because I'm somewhat of a BBQ snob having ate too much competition BBQ.  We also rarely go places that don't have beer but Smokin Ks in Marion came on our radar recently because of the cajun part of their menu and also having oxtails.  I've never had oxtails but they looked really good.
We got a little bit of a late start and I missed the turn and had to come in the back way, not really a big deal.  Oxtail was one of the specials and I mentioned we'd never had it so they brought a piece out for us to try.  Debbie wouldn't try it and of course Mike wouldn't either but both of us thought it was good so we got an order of oxtails and an order of gumbo.  We had three sides so we chose red beans and rice, slaw and fried okra.  Mike got his standard pulled pork sandwich with fries and Debbie got burnt ends with red beans and rice.
The oxtails reminded me of a more flavorful and rich chuck roast.  I liked them but not sure when of if I'll get them.  I'm glad I tried them.  The real star was the gumbo.  I don't remember liking gumbo as much as I like this.  The red beans and rice looked kind of thick but were very good.  Lisa really likes fried okra and said this was the best she's had, I have to agree - very good.  Mike said his sandwich was okay but didn't like his fries, not thin and crispy,  Debbie like her burnt ends. 
Nice place and I hope we make it back soon.
We stopped in at 618 Taphouse, Mike and Debbie had never been there.  They were talking about going to Frenchmans Widow but it was getting dark and I wanted to get back to Murphysboro, sadly it was only 3:30. 
We finished up with a quick stop at the Da Nite.

Both of us have been hankering for a pizza so last night after the grandkids cleared out we ordered one from Cummares.  It's been a while since we had anything from there in large part due to closing from 1-4.  That's doesn't really fit into our current lifestyle plus they don't deliver so someone, me, has to go get it.
It was ready when I got there so I didn't have to wait around.  We got the pepperoni and italian sausage medium pizza.  In the past I've been a huge fan of their pizza but this one seemed different.  Still really good but not as good as I remember.  That being said we both really liked it and is one of the best thin pizzas around.  There were plenty of toppings and sauce.
I think I'm becoming more of a deep pan/chicago style pizza fan.  Having said that we won't wait near as long to order Cummares as we did this time.

Yesterday we managed to get away for a quick trip.  We decided on Champs but decided to call to see what the special was.  Good Move.  The kitchen is being remodeled so we decided on PKs.
Our nephew Andrew has been saying they're the best burgers around so we decided to see for ourselves.  We both got Amberbock drafts while we decided.  I tried to run a tab but I'd forgot it was cash only.  No problem really.  I decided on a double cheeseburger with swiss and no Ketchup and some fries.  Lisa went with a single with no ketchup and a bowl of broccoli cheese soup.
Score a rare point for Andrew, the burgers were spectacular.  I'd say the best true smash burgers around.  They brought me waffle fries instead of regular and they were just okay.  Lisa like the soup but said it was a little thin.
I think PKs will be added into our favorite rotation now.

The time between thanksgiving and christmas has been a very busy time even busier than normal.  We haven't had a lot of time to do anything.  Plus watching Dooder three to five times a week wears a person out.  Last Saturday we had an open day but both of us decided to relax at the house.
I don't write much about Lisa's cooking but probably should, she's a real good cook so last Saturday while we were relaxing she cooked up some fried pork chops and green beans.  She'd mentioned them for my birthday but we went a different direction so they've been on my mind ever since.  Fried pork chops are not in her wheelhouse but boy oh boy did she make some good ones. 
As most of you are aware I'm not a christmas guy, no exception this year.  I'll power through it but I'm ready to get it over with.  Bah Humbug.

Lisa had "hair", some kind of secret ritual for women.  So we had just enough time to go someplace and eat.  That someplace was Boobys. 
I ordered a Robyn and Lisa went with a Tyrolian.  We both got them toasted and both got sea salt chips.  Once again there was only a handful of people there counting us.
The Robyn was a good change from my normal tyrolian and I'm not sure which one I like better.  The only downside is they now have tomatoes on them.  I asked and they said they always had tomatoes on the sandwiches, I don't buy it though.  The chips were fine but not the charleys chips of the past.
After we left we walked down to PKs for a quick beer before heading home.  Mike and his son Jacob were in there and we had a nice conversation.  Oh and the beer was nice and cold.

Last Friday was my birthday, black friday.  Kind of a pain.  I had to go to Rural King for dog food around noon and was surprised by the number of people still there.  Since going to a lot of places were out of the question Lisa offered a number of tempting choices but I finally decided on Bottoms Up to redeem my last trip there.
Me and Lisa decided to split half a chicken all white and each got a salad.  Mike as always ordered chips for the table.  The salads really hit the spot and were just big enough without filling me up.  For some reason the chips tasted even better than normal and were well seasoned.  The chicken is always great and this was no exception.
We decided on a stop at Brews Brothers.  While driving there some guy almost t boned me going down spruce st.  I don't know how we didn't wreck.  After one at Brews we headed to Da Nite for a couple before heading home.
Lisa really stepped up on the weekend by fixing smoked sausage, potatoes and carrots that I really like and then chicken and dumplings on Sunday to official redeem her dressing failure on Thanksgiving.