No soup for you

It’s that time of year again, when a trip to our ophthalmologist is necessary. My arms weren’t long enough for me to read a book. Jim’s eyes are so bad (How bad are they?), when he went to take Rosie for a walk, he put her harness on backwards and couldn’t figure out why she only had one eye! After our examinations, we hurried off to get our new frames and lenses. Sparing no expense, we went to Sam’s Club. All of this activity worked up quite an appetite so we decided to stop at a nearby restaurant called Around the Clock Restaurant and Bakery in Crystal Lake.

“UMI,” OH MY

Nancy’s hip replacement is now ancient history. Despite the best efforts of a local hospital, she is now doing really well. While she was rehabbing, her physical therapist recommended a buffet style restaurant. Since Nancy no longer requires a cane, she was free to run around the buffet grabbing copious amounts of food with both hands. The restaurant he recommended was one that has two of Nancy’s weakness’, shrimp and crab. With empty tummies we ventured out to Umi Sushi and Seafood Buffet in Niles.

Facebook farce

Jim has been bugging me to try a restaurant for months now that he repeatedly saw on a Facebook ad. He said it looked really good, and the owner owns a farm nearby and they offer farm to table ingredients. I wasn’t too excited about the restaurant, but I finally gave in since we had to make a stop at the DMV which was nearby. So, with high hopes we made our way to Isabel’s Family Restaurant in Woodstock.

Rattlesnakes and roadkill

If you’re living in Del Webb and reading this, you’ll probably remember TV westerns from the 1950s to the early 1960s. There were such classics as Have Gun Will Travel, Bonanza, and the most iconic western of all, Gunsmoke. As it turns out, Jim and I are gradually turning into the characters on that show. We are constantly talking to a “Doc,” Jim is walking more and more like “Chester,” and every day I am looking more like “Miss Kitty.” In keeping with the TV western theme, we decided to hitch up the 189 “horse”-power mini-mobile and gallop off to Texas Roadhouse in Crystal Lake.

Nancy had a reason to celebrate recently when she was cleared for surgery to have her hip replaced. She has waited months due to health reasons. What better way to build up her strength than with a nice juicy steak. She limped into the Mini-Mobile and we sped off to the Stoney River Steakhouse and Grill in Deer Park.

Something in the air

Cabin fever is at an all-time high this year. If it’s not the snow, it’s the bitter cold keeping us in. Even poor Rosie has learned to do her “business” outside in record time so as not to spot weld herself to the ground. In one of the rare breaks in the weather, we bundled up and high tailed it out to Woodstock to the Green Garden Chinese Restaurant for a nice Chinese meal.

Pizza, pizza

Jim grew up on the northwest side of Chicago. It was an Italian/Polish neighborhood and his family was the token Germans they allowed in. As a result of this ethnic rich neighborhood, he grew up with the best food in the world. He didn’t have to look far to find a great pizza joint. Then he met me, a suburban girl, and he had to share with me Chicago’s culinary delights. One of my favorite places was Leona’s on Irving Park Road.

We were surprised when we found out that there was a Leona’s pizzeria in McHenry. We decided to fire up the “Way Back Machine” and go back in time for a good Chicago pizza.