A few corrections...and being a neighbor

Think I'm gonna break up the detox posts right now. Sort of a commercial break.

1) I'm glad to see the article on my blog was posted today. However, I need to make two important key corrections. While I respect the Blackhawks, when it comes to hockey, I am a New York Rangers fan and anyone who knows me will vouch for this. Second, I have lived in St, Charles for 10.5 years, not 16 as the article said. I moved to Chicagoland for the first time in 1997 and I was living in Wheaton and Winfield.

2) Ok, one food note. My dad sent me a text today. He didn't know about my diet. He probably would have said something about how I didn't need to do it. But he loves his hot dogs and fried chicken. And he told me on Super Bowl Sunday, if I buy 20 pieces of chicken, I get 10 free. This is definitely not the time to get that text.

3) So I have a dilemma for Valentine's Day night. I could go to a single's masquerade ball at a bowling alley in Hoffman Estates or I could go by myself to see the Marshall Tucker Band in Bolingbrook. I'm not too sure how I'm going to decide this one.

4) Speaking of music, I've been waiting ten years for this. Barry Gibb will be going on tour in the United States in 2014. He'll be performing in Chicago at the United Center in late May. There is no way I'm going to miss this concert!

5) I downloaded John Ortberg's 3-part series about being good neighbors. As I guessed, the opening music was the theme from Mr. Rogers. It's funny no matter how old we get, those corny, yet happy words can still make us smile. Anyway, he stressed the importance of loving our neighbor. It wasn't just a suggestion that Jesus made, it was a command. It went right along side with loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Also, I liked that he actually challenged members of his church to get out and meet neighbors. In the programs, he had pre-drawn diagrams of several houses for each attender and had them write the names of their neighbors in those houses. That is so important. Too many times we can hear a good message or sermon and after it's over, we think to ourselves, "Well, that was nice. On with my day." If we don't apply it to our thinking and actions, then what was the point of listening to it? Faith without deeds truly is dead.

Detox-Part 2

Day 3
It's 3:15 on Wednesday afternoon. Breakfast wasn't too different, just another drink of green machine. A few hours later, I had three handfuls of sweet potato pop chips. I keep going back to those, in small doses. I have to keep reminding myself that they are not fried! For lunch, I made an almond butter sandwich on wheat bread. It's gotten to the point where I'm almost nervous about eating any kind of bread, even if it's whole grain! I also had three stalks of celery and a honey crisp apple. A few minutes ago, I had one handful of my almond/dried cranberry mix and that really does help to keep my energy up and keep my stomach at ease for a couple of hours.

I hadn't been lifting much lately, so I made sure to get a solid workout in. Dinner was a shake with almond milk, peanut butter, a banana, and vanilla extract. It tasted pretty decent. Sadly, it needed a spoonful of vanilla ice cream!

Day 4
Today, breakfast was an orange and a little more green machine. For lunch, I had baked a mixture of Yukon gold potatoes, spinach, asparagus, and tomatoes. I had that along with an avocado. After work, I ran five miles on the treadmill. Dinner was a couple of pieces of crusty whole grain bread and a bowl of lentil soup which I prepared in my Vitamix. It wasn't the best soup I've ever had; it had cumin, cinnamon, and some other spices that gave it almost an Indian or Middle Eastern flavor, which I'm not totally find of. But it was good to have a soup other than chicken or tortilla. And I think it's really cool  that I can actually make soups right in a blender and heat it as well!

So I'm almost to the midway point. I'm down three pounds already. No meat, no white flour, no dairy, no fried food, no caffeine, and no alcohol. But I have to admit I have a craving for some Burt's pizza or some smoked chicken wings and turkey from Q-BBQ.

Detox-Part 1

So a few weeks ago,  mother decided to do this 10-day detox. No meat, which for me is hard enough. Not to mention, no crustaceans or farm-raised fish .But I'm also trying to eliminate most animal products such as butter and cheese. But I may have a few egg whites. For drinks,  I won't have any alcohol for ten days or black tea, which I drink several days a week. Plus, she can't have yogurt or coffee, which are her two staples in the morning. So for me, it's a ton more produce. I try to eat it, except it's inconvenient, expensive, and we don't exactly get the best stuff in Illinois, especially in the middle of winter. This isn't going to be easy for me, especially come Super Bowl Sunday, but I figured I would give this a shot and see what happens. I'm going to track all ten days with what I eat and how I'm feeling throughout the process.

Day 1
I woke up in New York City and after having pasta, braciole, and red wine the night before, I realized I had better savor that food. I'm not gonna be eating anything like it for ten days. I drank a 15-ounce green machine Naked juice, which I drink pretty often, so that was no problem.

For lunch, I finished the second half of a peanut butter FitCrunch bar. Since I still had a little 1 percent milk left, I mixed that with soy milk. I have to say I really enjoyed the taste. I also have almond milk in the fridge and I'm excited to try that for the first time. After running 4 miles at the gym, I came home and had a salmon filet with some leftover mushroom risotto and grilled bell peppers. Pretty satisfying, though I was hungry two hours later. I ate a honey bell (hybrid of a tangerine and grapefruit) and that took care of me for the night.

Day 2
Breakfast was a swig of green machine juice, which I imagine will become a habit. I did also ahve a honey wheat English muffin with some peanut butter. I'm going to try to limit the peanut butter, but it'll be tough to eliminate it, especially since I'm avoiding meat. Lunch at work was ratatouille, which was a homemade mix of tomatoes, eggplant, onions, zucchini, and mushrooms. I didn't bring any bread and obviously I had no meat with it. I had never had it, but I enjoyed the taste and would eat it again. Unfortunately, some good crusty bread would have really come in handy! As it was, I ate a couple handfuls of sweet potato pop chips. Since these aren't fried, I think I can have a few of these in small doses.

I skipped the gym since I had some homework to finish on the last night of my third grad class. By the time I got home six hours after lunch, I was more than ready to eat. I waited for mom to get home from Mariano's grocery store, but the waiting wasn't going so well for me. I took out a piece of whole wheat bread, spread a generous portion of almond butter on top, and wolfed it down. I wound up having two pieces of mahi mahi that I baked in parchment paper with a slice of tomato and some zucchini. Sure, it tasted light enough, but it more flavor, like some olive oil or lemon juice. Something to marry the flavors together. Along with that, we had some green beans which we topped with salt, pepper, and some balsamic vinaigrette. Not too bad. Then, there was some lousy deli salad with chickpeas and garbanzo beans that I would rather not touch again. The only other thing I had the rest of the day was a handful of popcorn.

As Day 2 is coming to an end, my stomach feels a little empty, so I'm just trying to be strong. I'm pretty sure I can get through this right now.  I don't feel much different yet in terms of energy or that kind of thing; I'm guessing that will take some more time. By the way, I weighed myself on Day 1 when I went to the gym. I weighed 169.6 pounds. Let's see if that changes.

Thanks...and an interesting Friday night

1) I'd like to thank Joy Davis for finding my blog and offering to profile it in the Beacon News. Maybe that will increase the average readership from 10 all the way to 12, you never know! I just enjoy writing regardless, no matter if people read or not.

2) The next restaurant in Chicago I want to visit: Butcher and the Burger. It's right off the Armitage stop on the brown and purple lines. It intrigues me that they have 9 or 10 different meats and that there's an actually a butcher who prepares the burgers on site. I definitely like bison, but I don't know if I can justify spending $14.50 for a bison burger, especially once I add the extra toppings.

3) Speaking of burgers, the Squared Circle makes one of the most filling ones I've ever had. I ordered the Hottie Tottie, cheddar-stuffed, topped with more cheddar, four strips of deep-fried bacon, and two types of BBQ sauce. Throw in a side of the beer-battered onion rings and I'm still amazed I was able to walk at the end of the night. The toasted marshmallow shake did help to calm my stomach down though. That shake along with the oatmeal cookie shake are worth returning for.

4) And getting home from the Squared Circle was quite the adventure. First, Q gave me a ride from Ashland and Fullerton to the Clybourn Metra station. Since it was 10 degrees and snowing out, waiting outside for a train wasn't exactly ideal. My plan was to take either the North or Northwest line one stop south to Ogilvie. After that, I would walk over to the west line and head an hour out to West Chicago before driving 15 minutes home.

Well, I waited ten minutes alone in the snow. The North line came first and the ten minute ride to Ogilvie went smooth. So I stepped off the train around 10:22 and walked down the track to the main platform where the monitors were. I checked the schedule and I saw the Elburn train was leaving at 10:40, which I knew, and was leaving from Track 7. I saw the track and saw the electronic display where all the stops were posted. I climbed on and walked past several cars of Blackhawks fans before finding a seat. I removed my winter jacket, hat, and gloves, and settled on the leather seat. I took my iPod out and put some music on, not sure what the song was, but it was not too loud.

Good thing it wasn't loud. All of a sudden, I heard the conductor's voice over the loudspeaker. "Ladies and gentlemen this is the 10:30 train to Crystal Lake." I sat up in my seat and I was thinking "Did I just hear him right?" I put my jacket on and made my way quickly down the narrow aisle. I was just waiting for the train to start moving. I tried to open three sets of double doors, but they were all locked. I finally found the conductor and he let me off. I wound up next to this cute brunette girl who apparently made the same mistake I had. We both felt much better, knowing we weren't the only one who had been duped. With ten minutes, we realized the correct train was actually one track over. So somewhere there was a mix-up, we don't know what it was, but we were glad we figured it out in time.

I asked if I could sit with her and she said "Sure." We chatted about a little bit of everything. Of course when she mentioned she liked Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, I scowled. I opened my coat and showed her my New York Jets hoodie that I was wearing. Yeah, that killed the mood pretty quick for both of us! Actually, we had a decent conversation about the city vs. the suburbs, work, parents, etc. We sat together for about a half hour, before she got off at Elmhurst, well before my stop. I thought briefly about asking for her number, but I think I had about ten years on her, it just didn't seem like it was a great idea. But it was fine while it lasted.

5) Even though I'm looking forward to the merger between American Airlines and US Airways going through, it's apparently not helping my weekend trips to New York City. Usually, American had 7 or 8 flights from O'Hare to LaGuardia every Saturday. This coming Saturday...three stinking flights to New York all day. There are probably more flights going to Ann Arbor that day. Ridiculous.

Sports recap

1) So we are two weeks away from the Super Bowl. No doubt, the two best teams in the game, Seattle and Denver, are playing in Met Life Stadium. Bottom line: I can go to a Super Bowl party without being afraid of watching New England win.

I looked back at my NFL predictions to see how I did. In the AFC, I got 4 of the 6 playoff teams correct, and Pittsburgh very nearly made it 5. I'm glad I picked Kansas City to rise up and win a wild card; they did just that. But I actually though Houston would be the number one seed. Not just a playoff team. Not just a division winner. But the number one seed in the whole AFC. And they wound up with the worst record in football. I picked them to beat New England in the AFC title game, so at least I had the loser of that game right.

In the NFC, I correctly picked Seattle to win the conference. They were the best team all year and they proved it. I had them beating Green Bay in the NFC title game and the Packers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Then again, if Aaron Rodgers hadn't been injured for 6 weeks, they would have had a better record and would have avoided playing San Francisco. I also picked 4 of the 6 NFC playoff teams correctly. I didn't believe in Carolina and I believed in Atlanta and the Giants. But I was correct that New Orleans would come back and make the playoffs.

As for the Jets, I thought they could win 7 games, but I went conservative and picked them to win 6. They surprised me, they won 8.

2) The Knicks stink. Outside of Carmelo Anthony, they are deplorable. Mike Woodson needs to be fired as coach. Players like Melo and Tyson Chandler are questioning his defensive strategies to the media. That tells me that he has lost the locker room. The guard play has been the biggest disappointment to me though. Iman Shumpert has regressed. Raymond Felton has regressed so much he's traveling back in time. Tim Hardaway Jr is a good rookie, I think he can be a fine player. But there is just no ball movement and not enough toughness.

3) I'm going to see the Rangers play an outdoor game in Yankee Stadium against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday afternoon. This is going to be a special event. I still haven't decided how to dress for the cold. I'm pretty sure I'll need to wear a winter jacket. I hope I can fit one of my old Rangers jerseys over the jacket. Technically, this is a Devils home game, but amongst the 50,000 who will be in attendance, I'll be interested to see which team has more fans in the seats.

4) I like the Mets signing SP John Lannan to a minor league contract. Between him, Wheeler, Niese, Gee, Mejia, and Colon, they have some very good depth in that starting rotation. That's with Matt Harvey injured for the season and leaving out Noah Syndergaard who will likely enter the majors around June or July. It doesn't look like Ike Davis will be traded, now that Milwaukee has signed Lyle Overbay to play first base. Fine by me. I'm willing to give Davis one more season.I wish Lucas Duda could be traded out of here, I really think he is useless. He is like Ike, except he plays worse defense. And Stephen Drew is still on the market. I would happily take him in the lineup to play shortstop over Ruben Tejada, who I have all but given up on.

I'll write a deeper preview of the Mets in the coming months, but I'll say this for now. I hope they can settle on a leadoff hitter. I wouldn't mind Eric Young Jr, except it's hard to see where he fits in this lineup. Chris Young? He has done it before, but strikes out about as often as Davis and Duda. If they could settle that spot, I'd have more confidence in that lineup.

5) Finally, I'm not ashamed to say this. I watched the two-part documentary of Vince Lombardi on NFL Network. I admit it. I cried.

Goodbye

I’ve been fortunate in many ways in my life, but one of the biggest ways is that death has not touched me too many times or too deeply. The death that has been the hardest on me was losing my dog, Hogan, in October 2007. But if I was asked what human being’s death grieved me the most, I wouldn’t have a long list of candidates to choose from.

I don’t have a large family. My paternal grandparents are both gone now. Like Hogan, they passed in 2007, my grandfather first from heart failure and my grandmother from Alzheimer’s complications. My maternal grandparents may go soon, but their deaths certainly wouldn’t shock me. None of my classmates have died. One of my colleagues at California Pizza Kitchen suddenly died at 19 years old in 2005, but as sad as it was, we were never close. No church colleagues have died and no close friends either.

So a letter came to my house in the mail yesterday. I got the news about someone dying; it was someone I used to spend a lot of time with. Someone I thought I knew well. He had passed away on December 20, 2013, so almost a month after the event. Even though he lived in Illinois most all his life, he died in Hot Springs, AR. It was David Unger, my ex-stepfather. He had suffered from Alzheimer’s, like my grandmother had, for about five years, maybe more.

He came into my life in 1993, around the time my parents were divorcing. He seemed like a decent, mild-mannered guy. He rode his bike a lot, enjoyed good food and travel, and had an engineering background. I didn’t want a step-parent, which is the case with most teenagers, especially when their other biological parent is still alive. I didn’t even attend the wedding; I couldn’t tell you when it was and I only know it was on a small boat somewhere in the Caribbean. But once the three of us moved to Illinois in 1997, we all seemed to get along decently. We had three timeshares and because of that, I was able to enjoy trips in places like Orlando, Cabo San Lucas, and Cancun. We even took a weekend trip to Cleveland, where we saw an Indians-Reds game and watched “Whose Line” in the hotel. I remember the episode vividly, Richard Simmons was the guest. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

But it was around the time we moved that Mom started to discover this guy wasn’t what he claimed. He was a pathological liar. He even lied to her about the number of times he had been married. Call me crazy, but I think that’s kind of an important thing to be truthful about. He lied about serving in the Vietnam War, so we worked to get his VA benefits when he never was eligible for them. When he was diagnosed, Mom would take time off of work, drive to his small apartment in Mt. Morris and drive him a half hour to a hospital in Rockford to get checked out. They divorced in either 2006 or 2007; I know the marriage lasted ten years. Despite the marriage never being good and despite two periods of separation, she wanted to be kind. She would take him on an occasional trip, she would drive him to see his parents’ graves, and she would buy food at Costco and drive it an hour to his apartment. She went so far above and beyond for him, it was amazing to me.

And how was she repaid? Once we got his social security established, his first wife comes back, marries him, and sues us. I have never seen my mother go through so much stress, heartache, and pain. Long story short, we lost a lot of money through a series of very painful court proceedings. Since the decision came down three years ago, I never saw him again. Nor did I care to.

I actually don’t remember the last time I saw him. I don’t know the cause of death, whether it was Alzheimer’s or not. I don’t really care. But it isn’t lost on me now that at church last Sunday, Pastor Bill’s sermon was all about truth-telling. David could have used that message years ago. Even though he’d go to church, he apparently never understood how much God hates lies. Christ claimed he is the way, the truth, and the life. It wasn’t a multiple choice question.

If I could say something to him now, I think I would just ask him was it really worth it to screw my mother and I? Then again, could I really believe his answer? I don’t think I’d trust him even if his tongue was notarized.

Goodbye and to be honest, good riddance.

Florida-Days 5 & 6

I woke up at 6 and Mom was not happy, as our bill had been slipped under the door. Our original reservation had us checking out on Sunday, but we had subsequently arranged to check out Monday since I would have the room alone for 24 hours. Thankfully, we were able to handle it and they said I could get a free breakfast when I came back. I drove Mom to the Wal-Mart in Clearwater to drop her off for her tour to Savannah. The rain had started by now, so it wasn’t smooth sailing on those roads. And on my way back, my GPS got me lost. Apparently, it wasn’t  anticipating the detours in the roads. So it took me 45 minutes to get back instead of 30.

I ran five miles on the treadmill, then headed into the hotel bistro where I ate egg whites, bacon, sourdough toast, and a few bad breakfast potatoes. Needed seasoning! After doing some more schoolwork, I headed north in the rain to Lifepoint. It turned out the Saturday night service had been cancelled, since they had already run a dozen Christmas week services. I introduced myself to the woman behind the desk and she was amazed that I went to Willow Creek Church. People really seem to have a fascination with that church and with Bill Hybels. The music was loud and the pastor talked about a new start in 2014. I don’t remember too much about his message, but I remember at the end he pointed out that you can’t start a new chapter if you keep re-reading the last one. That’s something I’m gonna take with me.

I took off and drove nine minutes southwest to Peabody’s, home of the Jets fan of Tampa Bay club. It was a pretty huge bar and the Jets fans had their own room, which was kind of cool. We had a huge projector screen to watch the game and there were probably 30 people or so. They said it was kind of a low turnout with the game being on locally, Christmas time having just passed, and the Jets being eliminated from playoff contention. But I went there to make some noise and the Jets gave me reasons as they dominated the Dolphins 20-7, eliminating them from playoff contention.

I met a few interesting people like Al, who has been a Jets fan since 1960 (bless his soul) and Melissa, a recently converted fan, who gives great hugs. She also likes the Bears and is originally from Fort Wayne, IN, so she was pretty interested that I was from Chicago. I’m still trying to figure out how to contact her. They had a 50/50 raffle for cash and Jets prizes. I contributed five dollars, which gave me ten tickets. The total pot was $22, which means people had spent $44 total. So I had pretty good odds of winning. They pulled nine tickets and none of mine were ever called! One guy actually won four times! In the end, they gave me a Jets mini-pennant, maybe out of pity.

I left with the rain falling harder and drove south down 4 and 275 to downtown Tampa. I hit a pretty hard traffic jam, so instead of going back to the hotel to clean up, I just headed straight for the parking lot. I parked about three blocks away from the Tampa St Pete Times Forum just as the rain was stopping. I changed from my Jets t-shirt into my white Henrik Lundqvist jersey. I walked to Thunder Alley, the concourse outside the arena and saw a lot of Rangers fans. I conversed with a lot of them, asking where they were from, if they went to a lot of games, etc. I even bought a couple of Lightning pucks from the store. They had a Lightning logo but with a beach background, so I thought they were pretty cool.

They let us in an hour before game time and I headed straight to Section 105, where the Rangers would come out for warm-ups. I took time to observe the arena and was quite impressed. They had a huge scoreboard just like the one at Cowboys Stadium, the seating areas were clean, the seats were comfortable, and they had a huge pipe organ behind one of the goals in the upper level. It was like Phantom of the Opera at a hockey game! The warm-ups finally did start around 6:35, it took 45 minutes of waiting.

I sat in the upper level in Section 304, on one of the corners in an aisle seat. The pre-game was pretty elaborate with electric waves going off around the scoreboard. The fans were pretty loud although they could use a little etiquette about when to cheer. The elongated goalie chant is done after the home team scores, not at any random moment. And they were singing all these songs in one section, 307, though I couldn’t make out any of the words. At least they had energy.

Most importantly, the Rangers won 4-3, thanks to three power play goals and some exceptional play in goal from Lundqvist during the third period. I did have a really good hot dog off a flat grill with mustard and sautéed peppers and onions. Getting downstairs to get the hot dog was brutal, there is only one escalators that go from the 300 level to the 100 level and one on the opposite side that goes the other way. That’s probably my biggest complaint. And I stayed after for the Lightning postgame radio show, where the hosts interviewed Anders Lindback, the Tampa goalie. It was pretty cool to have that approachability between fans and the organization. I got back to the room and watched the end of the Philly-Dallas game to determine the NFC East champion. Surprise, Cowboys lose. Third straight year their season ends in Week 17 with a chance to win the division. Sorry Dad.

On Monday, I woke up at 7 to grab one more workout at LA Fitness. Those tricep press downs and incline presses felt great. Then after a peanut butter and banana protein shake, I packed, checked out of the hotel, and dropped the car off at Sixt. With ¼ tank of gas, just like when I picked it up on Christmas afternoon. With some time to kill before my 12:20 flight, I took the shuttle to Terminal F instead of E. I had to pass security, but I wanted one more taste of Columbia for some Cuban food before I left. So I sat down at the Columbia Café bar and ordered a half and half: 1905 salad and Cuban sandwich. I got to see the chef mix the salad and assemble the sandwich right in front of me, which was really cool. He explained to me the basics of the Cuban roast pork and how the combination of orange, lemon, and lime bring different flavors to the pork, but make it taste great. It was really cool.

So when that was done, I took the shuttle back to the main concourse, took the shuttle to the E terminal, went through a much longer security line, and got to my gate. I made it easily and flew home. After picking up my bag, I had to sprint to make the Blue Sky van to get back to my car. I had to run so fast, I didn’t even have a chance to put my jacket on. So I’m running outside in just a polo shirt and it’s 15 degrees out! Not what I had in mind! I got the van though, packed my car, paid the $48 bill and headed home.

Florida-Day 4

So it was Saturday. Since the Courtyard offered free passes to LA Fitness down the street, I took advantage and headed over. The gym I usually work at is close and cheap, but it is limited in terms of the equipment they offer. This place, though, was loaded. They must have had 30 treadmills; in my gym, we have maybe nine. Suffice to say ours don’t have TV’s on each machine either. I was doing incline and decline bench presses, tricep press downs, kneeling torso rotations, hip abductions, all exercises I couldn’t do in my own gym. Afterwards, I wolfed a down a peanut butter Fitcrunch bar with a  glass of milk and I was feeling good.

Our first stop was Dunedin, which is a coastal town a little bit north of Tampa. One thing I like about it is there are practically no chain stores in downtown. It’s very independent and unique. They had a block roped off for a street fair with local merchants selling food, beauty products, art, etc. I sampled a few food items like jalapeno bratwurst, Italian olive salad (where were the cold cuts?!), and a vegan burger patty. The latter reminded me of why I eat meat. There was one company that stood out called Open Hearth Pizzza. They had a pizza oven that looked like an igloo that was attached to the back of a trailer. They cooked artisan pizzas in this oven and used wood to fire up the oven. Mom and I split a piece of tomato, spinach, and fresh mozzarella for four bucks. It could have used some more sauce, but I really liked the earthy taste of the crust. We walked around a little more, past the Dunedin Brewery, which is the oldest brewery in the state of Florida. I wasn’t ready for a beer, so we checked a few local shops out. I found an orange cowboy hat and orange and black Hawaiian shirt that I put on while Mom took a couple of photos. It was pretty funny. I also drove by the home of the Dunedin Blue Jays, which is one of Toronto’s Class A baseball teams. It was funny seeing a baseball stadium across the street from a VFW hall and next to a public library. The stadium was just there, like it could be passed by so easily. I think it may have been nicer than Tropicana field, at least from the outside!

Then, we headed two towns north to Harpon Springs, which is a very Greek town. We thought about heading towards the inlet to check out the boats, but it was really crowded and nothing in downtown really interested us, so we kept going. I decided to drive us back to Ybor City and go to the Tampa Bay Brewing Company. Yep, this place was on the Food Network too. Before we got there, it took ten minutes to find a parking space. This place has very few lots and there is a trolley that runs down the main street and it’s $2.50 for a ride. I can ride the CTA for less money and travel a lot more distance. Anyway, we get to the brewery and I sampled a couple of their homemade beers. In the end, I had a One Night Stand. Well, a One Night Stand American pale ale. We ordered a soft pretzel appetizer, but it never arrived. It may have been for the best, because we split the meatloaf and the bomb. The meatloaf is bacon-wrapped and is served with crispy onions and a mushroom demi-glaze over white cheddar mashed potatoes. I’m no meatloaf eater, but this was really satisfying. Just some fine comfort food. The bomb, well, that was one of a kind. It’s a half-pound burger topped with cheddar cheese, smoked bacon, and crispy onions. Then they stuff it inside their homemade pizza dough (which has beer) and bake it. They serve it with a horseradish ale that tastes a lot like the Bloomin’ onion sauce at Outback. It’s an outstanding burger, one of the more unique ones I’ve ever had.

Since Mom was tired, I took her back to the hotel. We were planning to go to Lifepoint Church in North Tampa, but that fell by the wayside. I couldn’t bear to stay in the room for six hours before going to bed, so I headed to the lobby and finished a bibliography for school. Then, I headed back to the Brick House where I watched the Tampa Bay vs. Montreal game. I may have been preparing for the next night at the Forum…anyway, I ate a yardbird sandwich (chicken and a bunch of other ingredients) and drank a Yeungling. I also chatted with a youth hockey coach who was next to me for a while and has attended the Masters golf tournament three times, it was pretty cool. And this new bartender was from Chicago originally. She had the classic Florida look, curly blonde hair, thin, etc., but also had that husky Midwestern voice. Quite the combination. Not quite as exciting a night as the first one.

Florida-Day 3

I opened the morning with 30 minutes on the elliptical. We had planned to go to Sarasota on Saturday so Mom could see an elderly friend of hers. Unfortunately, the friend thought we were coming the previous Saturday. So a few days after, she had hip surgery and now couldn’t see us. So we switched plans, choosing to drive an hour south to Sarasota on Friday instead. We had a little rain early in the morning, but the sky was starting to show some blue by the time we reached Sarasota. And I didn’t mind 70 degrees either.

We went to Alpine Steakhouse, also seen on the Food Network. They are known for their turducken, which John Madden probably made famous during the old Thanksgiving football broadcasts. It’s duck, inside a chicken, inside a turkey. It also has roasted red peppers, an andouille sausage stuffing, and a cornbread stuffing. They serve that with mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberries. The lunch portion was $15.00 and it was really a unique combination of tastes. I could have used a little dark meat though!

We headed 10 minutes north to St. Armand’s Circle, a very trendy shopping area just off the Florida mainland. It may be the busiest rotary I have ever seen. There are probably five entrances/exits and there are tons of pedestrians and shops all around it. I drove just south to Lido Beach, where I stayed with my parents five years earlier. I took of my sneakers and socks, unbuttoned my shirt, and walked down the white sand taking in the sun and the beach atmosphere. I do miss having an ocean nearby. Sorry, Lake Michigan just isn’t the same. We even saw Siesta Key, the hotel we stayed at and walked around it. I would have even played a game of shuffleboard if the equipment was still around.

Then we walked a little farther and stopped at the Ritz just to explore. I let Mom go and just sat with my legs in the Jacuzzi as the sun beat down on me. Yeah, that was relaxing. All I needed was a Mai Tai. Anyway, we headed back and finally found a parking space. The clouds were quickly starting to cover us. I checked out a couple of stores, like Tommy Bahama. There were a couple of nice summer shirts that I liked. Of course, they were all $88 or $98. Next. I went to the Pepper Palace, a shop that specializes in hot sauces, salsas, and spices. And they had at least 30 out for sampling. I thought about trying a ghost pepper sauce for about half a second before common sense got the better of me. The Level 7 tomatillo salsa was plenty spicy for me. We also checked out a spice shop where I bought a packet of key lime pepper spice, which I will use on seafood and maybe even chicken. There was a stadium shop that featured banners of sports teams and unique photographs of stadiums. I saw a few interesting shots, but nothing worth paying over $100 for.

By now, it was almost 4 pm and I was feeling pretty tired. I was ready for some more food. We headed back to the mainland and over to the Old Salty Dog, only a five minute drive on City Island. This place I saw on Man vs. Food and I was mesmerized by the laid back atmosphere and that it was right on the bay. It’s just the perfect place to drink a Corona or two and I did! Even though it’s run by a British guy, they are known for their deep-fried hot dogs with four cheeses, bacon, sauerkraut, and sautéed onions and mushrooms. I wasn’t quite ready to do that, but we did get an appetizer of deep-fried dog bites. They were really good, especially the light and crispy beer batter. The hot dog is their own recipe of beef and pork. I also liked that it came with a light mustard, it was almost like a honey mustard. Really, really good. We ordered some mahi mahi tacos and peel ‘n eat shrimp to split. The tacos were pretty good. Very fresh fish, a lime sour cream and some green salsa. The shrimp had a nice kick with the garlic butter and Old Bay. Messy, but really enjoyable. With the Corona, it was just a perfect way to spend a late afternoon on the western Florida coast.

I decided to treat for dessert. We drove 20 minutes east to Yoder’s, which is an Amish restaurant in the middle of Sarasota’s Amish community. They are well known for their fried chicken and pies, they make over 30 types of pies each day. Driving into the tiny, winding parking lot, I tried to turn right inside but some jackass was trying to exit in the area that was marked entrance.  So I drove passed and entered the lot in the exit area. And of course, I was driving the wrong way in the packed lot. I got a spot after about three minutes, but with an SUV and almost no room to maneuver, I’m just glad nobody got hit!

Anyway, we checked out the gift shop, which of course, had a ton of Christmas stuff on sale. Then at the carry out window, we ordered two pie slices, a peanut butter cream and a southern pecan. The pecan had tons of pecans on it, which is key. It could have used some whipped cream though. Then again, I could have used a glass of milk. The peanut butter cream was awesome. It has vanilla custard, tons of whipped cream and two layers of peanut butter crumbs, which is a mix of chunky peanut butter and powdered sugar. One of the better pies I’ve had in a long time.

Then, we drove towards the highway. Mom wanted to stop at the Dollar Tree to get some laundry detergent. We did that, but two stores down in this strip mall was an HSN outlet. I knew HSN recorded their shows in Florida; I thought they might have some interesting merchandise. We went inside and my heart sank. 90 percent of this store was women’s clothes and the other 10 percent was bad kitchen appliances. There were three racks of NFL gear though. One was suede jackets that former Giants linebacker Carl Banks endorses. I found a Jets one that fit me, but I already have two jackets made of leather or suede. It was 40 percent off, I could have had it for $60, but it just didn’t make sense. The only other Jets gear I found was a rain jacket. Even though I didn’t love the look, it could have used some kind of Jets logo on the back, I needed something like it. So I got it for 40 bucks, which was about $25 off the retail price.

Florida-Day 2

So it was our first full day in Florida. I actually overslept by an hour, I guess for the alarm clock on my phone to work, the phone needs to stay on. I guess a certain someone in the hotel, not named me, left too much toilet paper in their pants, since I wound up seeing a trail coming out of their crack. Must have been ten feet long at least. Anyway, we went south down 275 towards St. Petersburg. We found the Skyway Fishing Pier, which used to be the bridge that connects St. Petersburg and Terra Ceia. Now they have a new bridge next to it and it’s rated one of the Top 10 bridges in the world. So we walked the length of the pier before leaving and driving a little bit north past Tropicana Field where the Tampa Bay Rays play baseball. And yes, it really is as ugly and dull as the hype.

We headed to downtown St. Petersburg, so Mom could check out the Mayflower Tours office. Being that it was one day after Christmas, it was closed. So instead, we went to a small art museum, which had a lot of food-related art. I did see one nice painting of cinnamon rolls. I also liked that there were three wrestling-themed drawings: one of CM Punk, one of Randy Savage, and one of the Road Warriors.

Then we went into northern St. Petersburg and found the Florida Orange Grove Winery. We went in and they let us try nine fruit wines and three smoothies. I think my favorites were the watermelon and Coco Polada, which had pineapple, orange, and a lot of coconut. If I lived in Florida, I’d be drinking a bottle of that every week!

Lunch time and I knew where to go: Ted Peter’s Smoked Fish. I had seen it on the Food Network and it’s tough to get great seafood in the Midwest, so I thought it would be a good idea. It’s basically a covered shack, nothing fancy at all. The waitress gave us free samples of their fish spread, Manhattan clam chowder, and German potato salad. Everything was amazing. The potato salad had bacon and bacon grease, no mayo, the way potato salad should be made! And even though the fish spread looked a little like tuna salad, it was awesome. I spread that on a saltine cracker and it was just a really light, flavorful condiment.

Mom got the salmon and I got the mullet, a fish I had never had, but was supposedly a big deal in Florida. Of course, I got another order of potato salad. The plate came to me with a huge filet, a pickle spear, tomato slice, onion slice, and a wedge of lemon. Apparently, you squeeze lemon on the fish and then eat it with the tomato and onion before taking a bite of the pickle. I have no idea who comes up with this, but it was great. The fish was moist and flavorful. The only hard part was I had to pull a lot of little bones out of it; there must have been at least 20. I would definitely return.

After that, we went into the fancy section of Tampa to walk around the pier. It was cool seeing people riding bikes, driving boats, and just remembering what a palm tree looked like. We checked out the Vinor Hotel, which is an elegant 100-year old hotel. I took some photos of their waterfalls, pool, and lobby Christmas tree. Then, we went into the Chihuly museum. Dale Chihuly is a famous glass designer who has galleries across the country. So we checked out some really interesting designs for about an hour or so. The colors were really bright, the designs very intricate. I can’t even begin to explain how they were made, but it was a neat thing to check out. Just goes to show I have interest in things other than sports and food, despite what some may think.

OK, back to food. We walked down the street and stopped at Kilwin’s, a well-known ice cream joint. Mom got a scoop of peppermint and I got cinnamon crumb cake ice cream in a waffle cone. What made this different than other cinnamon ice creams was it had bits of cake batter and a gooey cinnamon swirl mixed in. Absolutely crazy good ice cream. Then, back in Tampa, we made a stop at Publix to get some fruit, milk, yogurt, and, for me, a toothbrush. I forgot my Sonic Care at home; I always forget one thing every time I travel.

We stopped back at the hotel to chill for a while and I used the computer in the lobby for a while. Feeling in the mood for pizza, I drove us to one of the local malls for some Garibaldi’s. It’s a Brooklyn-themed pizza place and I liked that it had several NYC subway signs in the restaurant. I tried taking some photos of it. Unfortunately, I backed up towards the bar and there was a middle-aged woman right near me and I guess she didn’t sense me there. Our backs were to each other and somehow her right elbow hit my left shoulder. As that happened, she apparently spilled her glass of water on herself. She was pretty upset, but at least it was only water. The staff even apologized to me about it, but I wasn’t really upset. We got a 16-incher with sausage, tomatoes, and roasted peppers.  Even after eating a caprese salad, we had no trouble wiping out the whole pie.

We got back around 7:30 but I wasn’t ready to settle in for the night. I walked over to Brick House which was adjacent to our hotel. I had a really cute blonde bartender named Sam, who I chatted with a fair amount for a couple of hours. And I also talked for an hour with a girl named Rochelle, who was sitting next to me at the bar. My drink of choice was the Jacked Up, which was Bass Ale, Jack Daniels, Red Bull, and sour mix. I definitely didn’t notice the Bass; the other flavors were much more noticeable. It was a fine drink though. Then to top it off, I had a 22 oz Fat Tire.  On the TV, I watched a little of the Northern Illinois bowl game. I’m not a college football fan, but that’s kind of the local team, so I hoped they’d win. They didn’t. I made it home at 11:30 and went straight to bed.

Florida-Day 1

I woke up on Christmas morning at 2:20 am not to open presents, but to catch my first flight of the day, a 5:30 departure from O’Hare to Miami. I made myself a shake with 1% milk, peanut butter, a banana, and whey protein. Anything to avoid buying food in the airport. I dropped mom off at the terminal with the luggage and then I parked over at Blue Sky in Schiller Park. At 8 bucks a day, that saves me about 50 dollars vs. parking at the airport for five days.

I slept most of the Miami flight and since Mom offered to buy breakfast, I grabbed a bagel sandwich with egg whites, sausage, and cheddar cheese with an OJ. Of course, this is Miami, so they did things a little differently. First, the glass of OJ has ice cubes. Some drinks should never have ice and the first two I can think of are OJ and root beer. They used shredded cheddar cheese that wasn’t even melted. Finally, I expected a sausage patty; that’s standard on any bagel sandwich. Not here. They took two sausage links and cut them lengthwise. The sandwich was fine, but yeah, that Miami, is one quirky town. I was also a little disappointed that there were almost no Christmas decorations in the entire airport, unlike Chicago, which is well known for its Christmas scenes.

The flight from Miami to Tampa took about an hour. I spent most of reading it fruitlessly trying to solve Sudoku puzzles and reading That First Season about Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers in 1959. And I had to put my headphones on since right in front of me this woman with the overly thick Lawng Oiland (Long Island) accent was just going on and on about her divorce. I was just thankful she wasn’t on the Chicago-Miami flight.

So after an hour, we landed in Tampa. And I loved that first blast of warm air as I walked off the plane and onto the Jetbridge. Such a refreshing change from 15 degrees in Chicago. After claiming luggage, two bags for Mom and one for me, we took the shuttle to the offsite Sixt rental car agency. Take a second to Wikipedia that. I’d never heard of it either, apparently, it is German. Since I was the driver, I took care of the contract and I chatted with a cute Latina girl behind the counter. She gave me some places to check out in the area like the Blue Martini. Mom was convinced she was flirting with me, I definitely didn’t think so. I mean it’s not like I’m trying to pick a girl up at the rental car desk. But I expected a compact car and she gave me a black Chevrolet Captiva, which is a mid-sized SUV. I loved the features in this car: USB plug in for my Ipod, moonroof, the electronic tire pressure indicators, even the rear windshield wiper!

So I put on my sunglasses, I open the windows, and start her up. I start driving out on Cypress Road feeling like I’m on the top of the world. I look down at the display and saw the gas gauge. It was less than ¼ full. U-turn! It turns out this company doesn’t give a full tank of gas, but I wouldn’t have to fill it up before I returned it either. I’ve never seen a rental car company that operated that way, but no big deal.

We drove east to Ybor City, which is the happening area of Tampa. We went to Columbia, which is Florida’s big Cuban restaurant, for Christmas dinner. The place was absolutely packed, but we got a good spot near a wall, where Mom was able to charge her Iphone. We ordered the 1905 salad, a staple of any visit. It’s the simplest salad with iceberg lettuce, tomato, ham, green olives, Swiss cheese, turkey, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and a classic dressing with extra virgin olive oil. Somehow, all those flavors come together perfectly. And I have to get it with the shrimp al gambillo, a spicy Latin flavored grilled shrimp. It just puts the salad over the top. Oh, and they give each person a loaf of Cuban bread.

We also got a pitcher of sangria. The flavor of fruits and light red wine just cry Florida. For entrees, she ordered the paella which was fine. The scallops were great, the squid, not so much. I ordered the Joe y Marilyn salteado, which is a Chinese-inspired Cuban dish. Apparently many Chinese people came to Cuba in the 19^th century and this dish came from that. It’s like a Cuban stir-fry with chicken, tenderloin, pork, shrimp, chorizo, potatoes, peppers, onions, EVOO, garlic a splash of red wine…great stuff. And I did get a piece of key lime pie to go. I still believe in the sweeter taste, not the tart taste, by the way.

We drove towards the Courtyard in South Tampa, but I first stopped at Raymond James Stadium, where the Bucs play to take a few pictures. We checked into the hotel, which was pretty nice. I especially liked being on the first floor and we had a fridge in our room, which I think sort of kept food cold. After changing my clothes, I wound up napping for two hours. I grabbed a quick workout in the gym, then heated up the leftover salteado in the microwave. I came back to the room and watched some Jeff Dunham on Comedy Central before texting a certain friend in NJ for a few hours.