Mystery Weekend

Guess where I was this weekend.

Here's some hints.... a stainless steel bar of soap.

Colorful yet dignified fridge magnets.

A delicious spread. My favorite thing were those little 'cheesburger balls' in the far left of the picture. Not sure what they're really called, but that's what Kevin called them.

Still wondering?

Submit your guesses in the comment section.

Murphy Pride

It's no secret I really like the area of southern Illinois where Phil lives. Everywhere you look it's rolling hills and wineries that use locally grown grapes and fruits. It's pretty and it's laid-back and I appreciate the opportunity I've had to get to know a part of the country I didn't even know existed.

Last weekend Crystal and I drove the doggies down to Murphysboro. Chad arrived the next afternoon on his motorbike, and when Phil returned from a computer think in Kansas City a bit later in the afternoon, we all enjoyed all that Murphsyboro has to offer. Seriously, the town has like 3 cool things.
Of course we visited several wineries. I took this picture from the deck/porch/pavilion thing at Hedeman Winery, where we had coffee and pie.

Look out for the big bug in the tree! This is from the tiny town of Makanda, where hippie artisans half-assed a secret garden.

One of the bestest things about Murphysboro is the Apple Fest. Crystal and I went to the parade. It was like 2 hours long-- now THAT'S a parade! More pics from Apple Fest to come, if I can find them....

Porch Sittin

What a lovely, warm, pre-summer night. When Crystal got home from work tonight she rang my bell, which prompted me to uncork a bottle of Starlight Red from Huber Winery. It was almost Pavlovian. We very much enjoyed the slightly sweet, chilled red wine, which got grapeier (oh, it's a word) as it warmed on this nearly sultry evening. Chad got home about half way through the bottle and the three of us enjoyed the evening on our porch. At dinnertime they decided to order a pizza from Circle City Pizza, the place I ordered from last night. I waited 2 hours for my pizza last night, but theirs was delivered in 45 minutes. We all agree it's a good-not-great pizza. By the time the pizza arrived Crystal had opened a bottle of something from Alto Vineyards, a decent winery near Phil, in southern Illinois. I like Alto Vineyards because they are a sponsor of Carbondale, IL public radio, but this wine was not as yummy as the Huber Starlight Red.

All in all, a very satisfying first night with the new neighbors.

The Place That Will Remain Unnamed

I'm all about the whirlwind weekends lately. This time Crystal and I went down to southern Illinois to spend some time with Phil. We did lots of fun stuff in a pretty short time, and probably the most unique place we went was this place, where we got in trouble by the owner.
This place is crazy! Crystal was especially entertained by the fact that the ducks are poised to come in for a water landing.
We had fun drinking root beer and eating over-priced seafood, then the owner walked by and told us photography was not allowed.
Seriously? You make your place up to look this crazy and you don't let people take pictures of it? Not very cool.
We put away our cameras and somberly finished our root beers.

I Heart Thai

After spending three hours this afternoon at the salon having my hair cut and colored, I was ready for a great meal with some good people. That makes it sound like the food was better than the company, huh? Let's say I enjoyed the food and the company equally.

What did I do? Who was I with? Dad and Mollie have been interested in trying out Thai cuisine, so we all met Scott, Crystal and Chad at Siam Square in Fountain Square. All the guys finished every last noodle of their pad thai, Crystal had the fabulous drunken noodles, and Mollie loved her sweet and sour chicken. Oh, I had a peanut curry with chicken, spinach and broccoli. Yum! What I like about this place: they have a great and reasonably priced beer and wine menu. What I don't like: they only have low-med-high heat levels. I like a place with a larger scale... I like to order spice level 3 or 4 out of 5, depending on the dish and my mood. Crystal and I did order med-high spice level, so I guess it worked out ok.

But I surely do love Thai food! I've been to this place twice, and each time I just can never decide what I want to eat-- last time I asked Phil to choose from the 3 or 4 I'd been able to narrow the field down to. Next time I'll either get the eggplant stirfry or the shrimp/calamari with veg. Or the drunken noodles.