Thursday, May 31, 2007

Macomb in the Summertime

The thrill of the season is upon me-the return of the snow cone shack!! This is only my second summer, so I don't know how many years this thing has come and gone, but we've been anxiously awaiting its arrival. I was reminded that it was the place we went after going to the woman doctor office after a checkup of the fetus. I tells ya, nothing more exciting than getting a grape and lemon shaved ice and heading to Farm King for galoshes and mixed nuts.

It gets rather boring around here when the kids go home for the summer. The traffic remains the same throughout the day, but there's just less dumbass girls on cell phones. Usually less girls doesn't mean good things, but when the group of three have two phone conversations going on, it just makes me shake my head.

It's hard to live in a place that has only one option for seafood, and that happens to be Long John Silvers. Now I realize that LJS can't really be considered oceanic in any way, but their hush puppies are a guilty pleasure. Seafood, to me, doesn't have to be a fancy issue. The fare at the Red Lobster suits me just fine, what with their biscuits and scampi.

This weekend we're heading back to Peoria. Now I've been anxious to try out that Corky's over in East Peoria. I've heard many mixed reviews about the food and its genuineosity. I know it is a franchise of a BBQ joint that got going down in Memphis, but that it has been mainstreamed a bit. We'll see if I can get over there. What I'm looking forward to is the first co-ed softball game I've been able to participate in all year, then a trip down to the Silver Bullet in EP for beverages and some good bar food. I'm thinking it's horseshoe time!!!

The Corky's thing may not come off, though. In a few weeks me and a few pals (Aaron, Jason) are heading down to Kansas City to see the Royals take on their I-70 rivals, the St. Louis Chickens-On-A-Stick. We'll precede that by a visit to probably Arthur Bryant's BBQ or KC Masterpiece. Next day we'll eat at some other BBQ joint (I'm hoping Gates' BBQ) and go to the Negro League Baseball Museum.

Speaking of horseshoes, the best EVAH can be found at the Jackson Street Pub here in Macomb. I have no doubt of this bold statement.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Back for some action

Well, I'm still down here in Macomb, but with the summer upon us and the gas prices being absolutely affordable, we will be making not infrequent trips back and forth to Peoria for various and sundry reasons. I've been messing around with the idea of firing this back up, with the hopes that when we finally make the move back to Peoria this December, I'll have a good list of restaurants nailed down, sometimes two or ten times.

Hat tip to Chef Kevin over at his blog,
Culinary Rants and Raves. He entertains me when he writes about the places he visits. He does it from a professional viewpoint-a guy who actually knows when something is done right or wrong. I take it from a different approach. You have to really screw something up for me to be unhappy about food and restaurants. Like the Texas Roadhouse did a few years back. Still pisses me off. Still haven't gone back, either, and I sneer at them when I pass their building in East Peoria that always has a letter or two unlit on their sign.

Anyhoo, difference between me and him is that he's a pro talking about a restaurant, and I'm a fat guy talking about a restaurant. His writings kept me interested in starting my own blog back up again.

So, update your blogrolls and get me up there on the list. I'll be talking about the places I visit and giving the lowdown on what's hot and what's not in Central Illinois dining, from a sammitch at Wendy's to a bone-in ribeye down at Jim's. I may even talk about the occasional Icee from Target or the Crap-a-cino I get from Starbucks. Nothing is taboo, and nothing is far from my reach. As long as my gut doesn't get in my way, I cannot be stopped!!