How Can A Brewery Be Tapped?

As typical weekends have been going I stayed in on Friday and did nothing. Saturday we had quite the full day though. Adam came over at noon to watch the Badgers fall again to Illinois. Luedke had made his way over at halftime to add another voice yelling at the TV. After the game was over we went to the Lakefront Brewery to take advantage of the four beers for five bucks deal. It’s actually called the brewery tour but we usually skip that part. This is usually a great time but we were actually disappointed this time. They had to setup the upstairs for a wedding so they shuffled everyone to the downstairs taps. When we got down there everyone got one beer and the barrels kicked and they wouldn’t tap anymore. It’s a brewery for crying out loud, tap another one of the hundred kegs lying around you lazy ass. Anyway there were about fifty very upset people, us included because we had two more tokens left. So we gathered the troops and headed to Wolski’s for a couple more brews. At Wolski’s we shot some darts on the real horse hair boards with the classic metal tipped darts. J and I didn’t do so hot but it was fun anyway. After Wolski’s we went to the Hi-Hat and we were going to get some grub but we sat down and put in a drink order. Fifteen minutes later with no drinks and a waiter spilling water on Luedke’s sister we decided to leave. The group all went to some place that I didn’t want to eat at so I hit up Subway for some eats. I finished my sub way before the other group so I went to the Nomad and waited for them there. Finally the group arrived and we stayed there for a good amount of time and drank some specialty brews. Soldiers started falling left and right at about eleven but Feyer called at that time as well and said he was in town. So J and I took a cab home and changed. We met Feyer at the Metro with one of his other buddies. Feyer had to go to Have A Nice Day to meet someone else so J and I stayed at the Metro until about one and called it a night.

I for one hate Valentine’s Day but I do like going out to eat so I took J to a cozy little Italian place called Zarletti’s here in downtown. We had a great meal and our waiter was very “friendly” and really allowed us to stretch out our meal. We were there for over an hour and had a very nice sit down meal which I haven’t had in a while. I had the shrimp scampi and it was delicious. If you want a nice reasonably prices place to take a special someone I give this place a thumbs up. Next holiday up, a real holiday, St. Patrick’s Day.

(Grey) Goose In The White Snow

Friday night J and I had to pick up an item for my mom at South Ridge Mall. We picked the item up and then went to gorge ourselves at The Olive Garden. I always end up eating way too much salad before the meal but that stuff is like crack, I can’t stop eating it. I got my normal Tour of Italy (Lasagna, Chicken Parm and Fettuccini Alfredo). After waddling out to the car we drove home in the beginnings of a snowstorm.

Saturday we woke up to fifteen inches of new snow. We weren’t planning on doing anything due to the snow but Craig Evraets gave me a buzz and said he and Feyer were braving the elements and actually driving to Milwaukee to go to the clubs. I guess Craig really wanted to live it up on his last “free” weekend and was willing to risk the snow covered roads to do it. I figured if they can drive 45 minutes to go out I can walk three blocks to have a good time. J and I met the two at Taylor’s. We had a drink there and then we went to Tangerine for a drink. We finished the night off in vintage Craig style by dancing the night away at 3 with Grey Goose and Red Bull in hand. After that we stopped at Real Chili to get our eat on. This was my first visit to the downtown RC and it didn’t disappoint. When eating late night with Craig and Feyer you know there won’t be a normal sit down meal. We proceeded to dump bowls of oyster crackers in each others chili and we essentially ate crackers topped with a bit of chili. It was a good time and a bunch of laughs. Craig’s final bachelor weekend was fun. The two hooligans went back to Random and made it home safely. Forget this snow it’s off to Mexico!

I Give Thanks For This Alternator

This Thanksgiving wasn’t that wild and crazy Thanksgiving weekend that I’m used to. J and I drove up to Falls after work to take part in the biggest bar night of the year. I could really care less how big of a bar night that it is I just like hanging out with all my old cronies. We hit up the Osthelder and the normal crowd was there. The thing is I’m used to seeing the “normal” crowd. Usually on Thanksgiving there are a couple people that you run in to that you haven’t seen in a while. This Thanksgiving that didn’t happen. So we did the “normal” circuit instead. Went to the Other Place and hit up Big Jimmy’s. I did a little karaoke action at the OP and that was probably the highlight of what turned out to be a below average Thanksgiving-eve night.

Thanksgiving we did the normal Thanksgiving thing. We went over by my brother Randy and had dinner. We ate late this year which was a little different than our normal mid-afternoon time. We drank a couple bottles of wine and I played with my nephew. Once the food was ready we dug in and it was delicious, how could it not be. After dinner we laid around and got tired. We headed home and gave in to the tryptophan.

The day after Thanksgiving I had some things that I had to buy. I know the stores are crazy packed but I really didn’t have any other time to do my errands. I headed to TJ Maxx to look for some dress pants. They didn’t have any pants but I did find a great deal on an acoustic guitar. I have wanted one for so long so I finally bought one and am going to learn how to play the axe. If you aren’t on my good side right now you might want to start sucking up because I might just forget you when I’m a rock star in a couple years. We went to a couple other stores but I rushed through them so I could get back to my brothers and start jamming on my guitar. Once we got back to my brothers house my jam session was further delayed by a quick burger from On the House bar down the street. Finally, I was able to start living my dream. I quickly noticed that my dream would take a long time because it was extremely hard to play the guitar without a tuner or a pick. I figured I would get a tuner on eBay but I could buy some picks now. So I hopped in the hoopty and drove to the music store to buy some picks. On my way to the store I noticed instantly there was something wrong with the car. Whenever I stopped at a stoplight the radio would turn off and the lights would dim. I knew I had some power problems but I would not let this sidetrack my rock star dreams. Hoping that I could complete my trip I parked at the music store and got my picks. When I got back to the car the thing was dead as a doornail. I had to call Jocelyn and Billie to come jump me so I could at least get the car back to my brothers. Risking electrocution in the rain I jumped the car and drove back to my brothers. It ended up being the alternator. This situation was mixed. If this would have happened in MKE it would have cost us at least double. On the other hand we had really had enough of ‘boygan and wanted to get back. So we called AutoZone and luckily they had an alternator for us. So we told them to hold it and we would pick it up the next morning. Now that we knew where we stood we continued with our actual plans. J and I were going to take my brother and his wife to Schwarz’s for some steak to pay him back for all the work he has done on J’s cars (oh the irony). Since our car was dead we took their ride. My porterhouse at dinner was delicious as usual, still the best steak in the world. From there my bro dropped us off at the microbrewery in Sheboygan and Jocelyn and I sat there and wasted the night away. We went to a couple other bars after that and then took a cab home.

Saturday we woke up and headed to our most frequented store in Sheboygan, AutoZone. We went there and asked for our alternator and to our surprise the delinquent that was working the phones last night didn’t have the part. It turns out they couldn’t find the part. So we proceeded to call every mechanic in the area to track down the part. We ended up finding one in Fond Du Lac. Once again we got extremely lucky because Billie was shopping in Fond Du Lac and she was able to pick the part up for us. We got the part around five and had it in within an hour. Another thanks to the bro and now we have another reason to go to Schwarz’s for another steak. I got washed up and we headed back to MKE. That night Chappy was having a party to I cruised over there solo because J was shot. I hung out with the boys and grooved until about midnight and then went home. The end to an exhausting weekend.

Whoa is Me, Badgers!

On Friday J and I went to eat at Zyang Asian Grill here in downtown Milwaukee. The food was very good and I recommend it to all. The prices were very reasonable and the sake was very good. Not much more to discuss on Friday. We went home after that and vegged out on the couch.

Saturday I was going to watch the Badger game at my place but I called Luedke and found out that a bunch of my peeps were going to be watching the game at the Miller Time Pub. During the walk to the pub I was feeling really good. There was a nice football crisp in the air and Ohio State had just beat Michigan so a win by Bucky and we were heading to the Rose Bowl. Well the optimism faded as soon as the ball was kicked. For the second week in a row the Badgers got it handed to them. They looked like a high school team and ruined what could have been one of the best years in Wisconsin football history. The not having had a bite to eat all night really turned me into a mess. We left Miller Time and headed to a friends house where I met up with Jocelyn. From there we went to a bar called Lava. I would elaborate on the night but to tell you they truth I don’t really know what happened after we left Miller Time Pub. It’s been a long time since I have been in a state like this. I guess we all had a good time because my wallet was empty and I had mysterious charges on my bank card from that night. Badgers disappoint!

Sunday we didn’t do much. I usually just skip the Sunday entry because it involves sitting around watching football. But this Sunday I took a little time from watching football and went to see Jocelyn’s new place of work. For those of you that don’t know, Jocelyn started a new job this week with Stark Investment. It’s kind of the same thing she was doing in NY but she’s on the other side of the business, I don’t know, have her explain. Her building is in St. Francis and is very modern and fancy. They get their own gourmet chef who cooks for them every day. Their lunch is paid pretax for get this, $2 a fancy gourmet lunch. Cheaper than my damn microwaved Smart Ones. The whole place was super nice. On the lake, has a full gym, and that chef in Le Cafe. So props to my woman, wish her luck at her new job.

The Packers won another barn burner Sunday night with a yet another Favre comeback and another Longwell field goal. The Pack is back! Happy Turkey Day!

How Would You Like Your Steak… Large Please

Friday we took off for the PGA championship festivities up in Sheboygan. I thought the traffic would be awful but we were actually able to fly right up. I’ve been looking forward to this trip for at least a month and it’s not because the golf tourney, who care about golf, it was the steak. I’ve had my fair share of steaks at my fair share of restaurants and the world’s best (and cheapest) steak is right in my back yard. Schwarz’s in St. Anna (it’s a crossroad in the middle of nowhere, seriously, nowhere) has the best steak ever. Once you find the crossroad you come upon your typical crossroads town. A church, a couple bars, and some houses. This boonies town happens to also have Schwarz’s and it is always packed so be prepared to wait at least an hour. You can’t make reservations at the place, in fact the have a sign “If you want a reservation, you’re at the wrong place.” and the whole process isn’t like your normal supper club meal. The normal crowd (this time was no exception) has farmers who just finished their daily chores to dressed up businessmen in their beamers. Now when you walk in the door, or should I say squeeze in the door, you are greeted by a large bar and some waitresses with menus. You place your order at the bar and then sit there and suck ’em down until your table is ready. I ordered the porterhouse ($22) and Jocelyn got the petite NY strip ($13). So once our order was placed we sat at the bar, watched some golf, and sucked down some of their world famous $2.90 Old Fashions. A couple drinks later and our table was ready. The whole dinner part of the experience only lasts about thirty minutes. When you get to your table they have your salad sitting out for your and a veggie platter with bread. Once you get your salads done the waitress swoops in with your steak and you’re ready to go. When my steak came even I was amazed and I’ve been there a good amount of times. My porterhouse had a little umbilical cord that was attached to another steak that was bigger than Jocelyn’s NY strip. The steak had to be somewhere in the 35 oz. range. I dug right in and it was done perfectly and tasted great as usual. Their seasoning and melt in your mouth tenderness is something no other restaurant can compare to. I polished off the steak, felt gluttonous, and loved every second of it. I paid the bill, a whopping $38 and was once again able to bask in the glow of my meat high. Once we were done we headed back to Falls. It was the same old thing except this time everyone was wearing PGA Championship clothing instead of NASCAR and Packers gear. The O and Firehouse had a band so we checked both of those out. We pretty much did the Falls bar crawl and hit up all the fine establishments as well as the new bar across from the post office. It was a good time. We headed to my brothers a little before bar time and got some sleep.

Saturday was the 1st annual Murray family picnic. I haven’t seen a lot of my cousins in a long time so this was a fun time. We rented a park and set up shop. The day was full of drinking, eating WAY too much, and every lawn sport that you can think of. I played (and dominated) bocce ball, horseshoes, wiffle ball, and threw every kind of ball and saucer you can imagine. Really not much more to say other than it was a good time with the fam. My uncle Tommy did put on quite the show when he made his tacos on the grill and told his story and how he served in the military with Elvis, funny stuff. The picnic was over at about 8:30. We were planning on going out but we couldn’t get ourselves going, we were spent. So we staying in and watched the Olympics on Saturday night.

Tuesday we went to the Brewers v. Cubs game. Jocelyn’s dad and her sister came up from Peoria for the festivities. We grilled out in the parking lot before the game. Once we were in the game I met up with my cousin Steve who also came up from Chicago for the game. Steve came up with some of his buddies from work and a couple of guys from India that he works with, it was their first game. I sat with Steve and his buddies and booed the Cubs. I got heckled at my own stadium but I didn’t care because the Brewers won! Go Brewers! Wednesday we went to the game again but this time the outcome wasn’t as good. The Crew lost in 11. The one positive about this game is that I don’t have to see the damn Cub fans taking over our stadium any more this year. GO HOME CHUBS!

Congrats to by bro Randy and his wife Becky. They had a baby girl on the 16th so now I have someone to celebrate my birthday with!