Why I Oughta...

Plenty of ink has already been spilled on Burt's Place and the delicious pizza Burt himself serves up, so I won't go into a long-winded review.  I *will* however tell you that Burt's is the place that we'll be bringing our out-of-town guests when they say that they want to eat deep dish pizza.    As most of you folks know, my preferred pizza is a thin crust tavern-cut crispy pizza.  NOT deep dish.  I'll eat it, but I prefer others.  There are just a few Deep Dishes on the list, but Burt's does NOT take the top spot in my mind.  That still is held by Louisa's in Crestwood .  Here's the full list of pizza places we're trying .  If I had to sum up this place in one word, it would be:  Character. The place has character.  The guy (Burt!) is a character. And...most importantly:  The pies have character.  We followed the rules and called the kitchen at about noon the day we went to pre-order our pie.  Within 10 minutes of walking in the door,

While Nat came away with a little loveseat/couch, a shirt, and a neat map to go on our wall, all I got from Shipshewana was these 4 tire valve chromies.  At least that's what we used to call them when we were young and attempted to steal them off of cars in the Apples Grocery Store parking lot so we could put them on our bmx's. Ever been to the Shipshewana Flea Market ?  It's billed as the "Midwest's Largest".    This was (at least) my second visit.  And I tell you what....I wasn't that impressed.  Loads of junk.  Absolute junk.  All the action is in the auction barn where they're hording all the good stuff including furniture and such.   I don't think we need to go back for a while just because the booths were full of a lot of nothing, but the Amish are kinda interesting to gawk at, though.

It was this past January that " Let's Have a Party" closed in the spot on York Street just north of the York Theatre.  As we were walking by this weekend, we spotted the marquee up for a new shop:  The Elmhurst Olive Oil Company.  From the looks of the set up inside, they're going to have various stations around the small space.  The signage all calls out that they're going to selling not just oils, but also vinegars and spices.  Nat heads to Oak Park every once in a while for Penzey's, so perhaps this place can supplement those trips.  That would be nice.  As I pointed out in my post when "Lets Have a Party" closed, this was a big - high profile - opportunity.  I'm thrilled that it isn't a salon, aren't you? 

Equation Boy/Man finished the 2011 Chicago Triathlon with a personal record best time today.    Last year he ran the Sprint Distance, but this year he kicked it up with the International Distance which included: 1.5K swim (just under a mile) 40K bike (just under 25 miles) 10K run (6.2 miles) Really very impressive stuff all around.   He said he was struggling on the end of his run, but from the looks of his time, he did just fine.  Killed it in his age group and overall.  I shamelessly cribbed this photo from my sister Vic's FB page, but I thought it was a great shot of him after the race with 2 of 3 of his kids. I couldn't imagine doing those stairs after the race! He's clearly caught the bug and after spending some time with him this afternoon, sounds like he's already plotting his training for the 2012 race.  He's really committed to getting the most out of his fitness routine and all his hard work has clearly paid off. Congrats, Marc!  We're a

When we were up in Michigan we stopped by a restaurant that we've long been eying - The Board of Trade .   It is on the other side of the lake from us, but right in this little pocket of homes that we call "Summer Rental" because it has a distinct feel that is different than the rest of the lake.  Small, cozy cottages that are really close together. The Board of Trade restaurant itself was fine - nothing crazy, but at least as good as the Friendly - so it gives us another option.  But the food isn't the reason that I'd go back.  It's the Keno.  Yes....Keno at your table. I had never played Keno, but I plunked down eight bucks and had fun for 16 minutes.  There's a draw every 4 minutes so you can really spend some dough.  I'm not a gambling fiend, so it was just enough to wet my whistle.  Now....I won't go into this at length, but I suppose there is some issue with this being available.  I *get* that the state is trying to generate some revenu

I don't know why, but I found this endlessly fascinating:  there was a group of three women prisoners from the Michigan Department of Corrections cleaning up/shoveling up the sand in the parking lots/roads on Silver Beach in St. Joe's Michigan yesterday.  I wanted to go ask them "what they were in for", but I couldn't quite get up the courage.  They'd likely be packing a shiv at the very least, right?  Sticking it to loudmouths like me would be fun, I'm sure. 

My sister Vic gave me some Sunflower seeds for my birthday back in April.  I didn't get around to planting them until sometime in June, but they've sprung up big time.  Well...some of them have at least.  We got back from vacation this evening and a bunch of the flowers have budded and these big beautiful yellow flowers have emerged.  I wonder if they'll darken like the commercially-available ones? I have them tucked away back behind the swingset and I think I'll try to make this a tradition of planting the seeds there each year.