Category: Food

BBQ Scarecrows

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I think we finally found our go-to BBQ place! Finally, after 17 years! I mean, Smoque in the city is amazing, but it’s just too far when the craving hits. I recently read about a place called Route 38 BBQ which is less than twenty minutes away, so we decided to give it a try on Saturday (10/08). Not only is it cheaper than Smoque (we got a meal of double meat plus mac & cheese, coleslaw, cornbread, and mashed potatos for $25 whereas a comparable meal at Smoque would run closer to $50), but dare I say their beef brisket tastes better. It’s so good you don’t have to drown it in sauce. Winner, winner, brisket dinner! (No photos were taken because we greedily ate everything up).

Sunday (10/09) we visited St. Charles for their annaul Scarecrow Fest. This may be the last time. Not only were the number of scarecrows shockingly low, but everything was just blah. I have lost my enthusiasm for the craft booths too, and the food vendors are ridiculous. The corn dog booth had a sign that read “Corn Dogs w/ free fries” but when we asked how much they were the girl goes “$5 for the corn dog and $10 for a corn dog with fries”. Ummm… I don’t think they know what free means! Needless to say, after a disappointing half hour of walking around we went to Atlas Chicken Shack in nearby Geneva to grab some rice balls that we took home to eat.

Labor Day

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Not sure what most people did for the holiday weekend, but we didn’t do much – got some pizza, finished a few series, watched a couple of movies, listened to some music, and visited a nearby park.

I was bummed that I decided to leave my camera at home because I spotted some juvenile wood ducks! They were too far to capture with my phone’s camera, and if I hadn’t viewed them with binoculars, I would have assumed they were mallards. Joe didn’t believe that they were wood ducks but I’m 99% sure they were based on the extra feathers on the back of their heads, the white markings on their cheeks, and their distinctive red eyes.

They looked a lot like this (NOT my photo):

We had hot dogs, pasta salad, and corn on the cob yesterday.

We didn’t feel like firing up the grill or boiling anything, so we used the microwave for the corn and the air fryer for the hot dogs; everything came out great.

McDonalds

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I really need to stop looking at the McDonald’s app because the deals draw me in all the time. For awhile I was getting an iced coffee 1-2x weekly because they had a $1 special. Then one day it disappeared and was replaced by an offer for a free coffee when you spend $1 or more.

At first glance it sounds like more for your money, but nothing is only $1 at McDonald’s. They were running a 2/$2 sausage McMuffin special so I ended up getting that and splitting it with Joe. He got himself a $1 iced coffee because his app still had the deal. I didn’t want to continue doing that, however, because it’s not healthy.

We surmised they change offers based on user habits which I confirmed when speaking to friends who noticed the same thing between their account and their spouse’s. It took me a week to have a lightbulb moment – we can use the new deal in my app to get two iced coffees for $1 each instead of each using the app separately, so that’s what we did this past weekend.

When I was at the vet this morning I pulled up the app to see a special one day only deal I could not pass up because I have no self control.

The chicken McGriddle isn’t bad (I usually get the bacon one). A bit spicier than I would like, but I added some honey to it which made it better.

Incidentally, I was pleased to see the correct location come up in the app automatically this time around. I have a specific location in my favorites, but I noticed that it will automatically select the nearest location without you noticing until you see the prices are higher. There’s one location in particular that charges almost $1 more for most items so we never go there.

A few weeks ago I was literally across the street from my preferred location and it still selected the more expensive location further away. I was so annoyed that I went home and immediately filled out their survey online to complain. I feel like that location is paying them to push them in the app. In any case, either they fixed a bug, or I got lucky, but the correct location came up this time even though in the past it would still select the restaurant three times further away.

Family Dinner

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The kids came over Friday (just them) for dinner. They were a bit late (we agreed on 5:30, they texted earlier in the day to say they’d be over closer to 6, but arrived around 6:10 (turns out K had been at Indiana Beach with her SO and they caught traffic getting home)).

E brought us another copy of Aggravation.

I’m not terribly fond of this version. It’s sweet how he always buys them for us, though.

He also got me a Cure vinyl import called Pillbox Tales I had never even heard of!

I made spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread for dinner, which they loved (my meatballs came out fantastic even though I haven’t made them in years) and we played UNO all evening. They left around 11 pm.

Yesterday I realized you can make public portions of your collection in Libib (a free app/website I use to track all our music, DVDs, and video games) so I published my vinyl collection and shared the link with E. He in turn shared his whole collection from the same app, haha! I wonder if he got the idea to use it from an Instagram post I made a few years ago when I started using it. I’ll have to ask him next time I see him.

COVID Positive

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Not me, oh no, but Joe. It was going around like wildfire at his job the week before he got it.

Monday (7/18) evening he started sneezing and I was like “stay away from me, germy”. He teased me for being paranoid, but the following morning (Tuesday 7/19) around 11 am he texted me from work saying he suddenly didn’t feel well and was coming home. When he got home he took a home test and it was positive. He told his job who told him not to come back to work until the next week. Then he called his doctor who ended up prescribing him Paxlovid.

We set it up so he stayed isolated in his office upstairs with the door closed. Anytime he came out to use the bathroom or I brought him food we’d both wear N95 masks.

The week he was sick (with a slightly sore throat, mild cough, and fatigue) was strange as we had to do our own thing and I was in charge of all the cooking which seemed to take up a lot of time. When he’s at work I usually only have to worry about dinner and on the weekends he’ll often make breakfast and we’ll skip lunch and get take out around 3 pm for an early dinner. I didn’t want to watch any of our shows without him, so I got back into watching Dateline. I’ve been watching it in the afternoons during the week now.

On Sunday (7/24) he tested negative so he came out of hiding and was able to participate in the butterfly release. I had purchased a cup of caterpillars earlier in the month that had quickly formed into chrysalis and while Joe was in insolation they started emerging. I fed them sugar water and orange slices for a few days but released them on Sunday to ensure they had time to do their thing as their lifespan is about two weeks.

Anyway, I’m happy to report our efforts worked and I never ended up catching anything. I’ve still never had COVID (unless I had an asymptomatic case at some point) and I hope to keep it that way. I’m not worried about dying from it but the long-term damage it can do, even in mild cases, is concerning and not entirely understood.

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A funny thing happened the day Joe tested positive. An hour or two later the doorbell rang. I almost didn’t answer, but then I spotted the unmistakable Crumbl cookie pink box through the video doorbell camera, and got very excited as I knew it was my bestie who had sent them.

The message on the side of the box was funny:

I liked all the cookies except for the chocolate chip which I actively disliked. The two all-chocolate ones were my favorites. They may be on the pricey side, but I’d say they are worth it.