ness

Hah! Didn't bet, but would have lost. Let's say I found a $20 bill in my winter coat pocket.

I've already said too much.

Yeah, haven't really cooked a lot recently and what I have cooked has already been covered here. I did get cooked FOR last night -- a really good white chili with a lot of green chilies. Good salad too, with a lot of chewy, crunchy stuff mixed in. A little good fortune came my way yesterday, so I popped for a bottle of bubbly.

And, while I'm at it I'll post this gem.

In college, I had a couple of friends that were from Chicago. They loved their Cubbies and their Old Style. Every spring Tony (from Cicero) would say, 'I think this may be their year'. We always laughed about it but I admired the loyalty of those guys. I saw Tony for the first time in over 30 years just a couple months ago. He was still on the bandwagon, of course, though it's obviously easier these days. He never gave up. My sister moved to Chicago almost 30 years ago, and her entire family became Cubs fans. BIL and nieces went to a couple spring training camps, even when they sucked -- there was always the early-year optimism. But, they are true fans. They didn't flip when the Sox were good -- they stuck it out and suffered. I just happened to be in Chicago the weekend they were playing in the Series. That town was electric, and all Cubbies. I didn't see a White Sox ANYTHING until the day we left. It was a great atmosphere to be around -- everybody was upbeat and ready for them to win, even after the losses. The ONE person that I saw that was a 'negative Nancy' was the guy working the desk at our hotel when we checked out. He said they always choke and it was gonna happen again. What a sad guy. One of the jerseys I saw the most around Chicago was #18, Ben Zobrist's. He was an extremely well-liked player in his one year, last year, with the Royals. Just a good guy and a lot of us Royals fans hated to see him go. Me, I kinda liked that he went to the Cubs, if he had to go somewhere. Just after the Series last year his wife had a baby girl -- Blaise Royal Zobrist So, now he's sporting two WS rings and got MVP to boot. So, I've liked the Cubs for a long time, but I won't exaggerate it by claiming to be a fan. I leave that to the real fans, and they're some of the best.

Clickers are too accurate. I prefer to estimate my fish counts.

This is my 5,000th post. I won't waste it on a reply

First timers with 25 fish? That just ain't right. Where's the fishless suffering? I hope there were a bunch of tangles, treed flies, broken tippets and missed fish too.

ness tends get repetitive in the kitchen. If I like it, I make it often. Tonight had all the stuff for clam chowder, so that's what I made. Also been working on margaritas. This one is a little better 100% agave silver with 50-50 mix of frozen limeade and lemonade, mixed 1-1 ratio. No orange liqueur. Pretty good.

A+

Guinness beef stew. Served with .... Guinness, doh. Somebody swiped a piece of bread while I was taking the picture.

I wish I understood curries better. There's a Thai restaurant close by that has a 'yellow curry' with chicken, carrots, potatoes, onions. It's greenish in color and pretty sure it's got coconut milk in it too. I love that stuff. Took a stab at it once with a jarred yellow curry paste, and it was a bust. Not even close.

I take my Hormel Tamales with a Beano chaser.

Ate like a hobo last night:

Alright -- in the interest of full disclosure I just got a text from my buddy who said his daughter got the picture off the internet, not that they were in her store. So don't go all Snopes on me. Regardless...funny costumes, great movie.

Friend of mine's daughter works at Target. These folks came in today: 'Ladies and gentlemen -- Sexual Chocolate!'

Googled that place and it looks tasty. We were on a tight schedule -- in town for my sister's surprise b-day party way out in the NW suburbs. We managed to get downtown for a bit, but the only place we ate was Lou Malnati's.

Everybody's a comedian!

Nicely done! Like an episode of America's Test Kitchen right there.

Picked up a four pack--gonna make some stew later in the week. In the meantime...

Making memories and making a sportsmen. Good going ?

Up in Chicago seeing my much older sister. Had a delicious Wheat beer with some Lou Malnati's deep dish pizza. Burp.

I've got one of the enameled cast iron Dutch ovens. I love that cooking vessel.

Yeah, those Jetstream 55s are crap. I won't fly them anymore.