Disco Fever (H.H.W.T.)

Last night we traveled back out to the county to a bar/restaurant that several of our friends recommended.  It has a clever name, Kounty (the K I assume is for highway K) Quarthouse.  It's all new and shiny inside, really nice wooden bar, huge comfy booths, friendly people, very clean, and Oh. My. God. the food!  To your left is a picture of the "Disco Fries".  Fries, gravy, and a ton of provolone cheese.  Straight from heaven, right to the hips, and I do not care.  Kerri and I shared some as an appetizer, and that would have been enough dinner for me right there.  However, I could not leave without trying something else.  There were just too many good looking things on the menu.

We met Melanie out at the Quarthouse, and it was she, Kerri and I for this part of the evening.  Lisa was traveling back from touring the U of M with her daughter, which was probably a good thing because I'm not really sure what a vegetarian would find to eat at the Quarthouse.  Meat, meat, meat, and bacon in/on most of it, including the apps.  Heck there's even an app that is deep fried bacon!  I was having a hard time deciding until I came across this burger

This is the Black and Blue burger.  It has a light Cajun seasoning, which concerned me because I don't like it hot, but it wasn't, it was just goooooooooood.  The deep fried onions, piled on thick, with bacon and blue cheese, plus some blue cheese on the side.  Yes, those are more fries.  I knew this dinner would be mostly coming home for tonight, and hey, what the heck?  This burger was at least four inches high.  When we go back, and we will go back, I will have a hard time trying something new because it was that good.  It blows Rapid's "Olive You" burger right out of the water. 

I also ran into two gals from work, Megan and Allison, and Allison's Mom who used to date Kerri's uncle.  That's the seven degree's of separation in Superior.  You can usually connect yourself to anyone around here, but I really think it's only four or five degrees at most. 

So the girls and I had a good time, oh and the whiskey coke?  I almost choked on it.  That was a very little splash of coke!  Kerri says "That's how they do it in the county."  Once the ice melted a bit it was fabulous. 

This appeared to be a relatively calm Friday night out.  Good food, good friends, and when Melanie and Kerri are together there's always a ton of laughing.   Finally it's time to head back into town to meet Lisa, so we get up and start to make our way towards the back door, but someone stops Melanie to chat.   I don't realize it, but we're in part of the walkway.  So I'm just standing there minding my own beeswax, listening to the conversation, and damn if it doesn't happen again.  One hand on each of my shoulders, really squeezing like a semi-hug, and a body right behind me.  The voice in my ear says "Excuse me, Miss." (well....at least it wasn't Ma'am)  Now, my brain thinks, "Ok, now this must be someone I know."  So I turn my head and, uh, no.....and oh brother.  Behind me stands a man in his 50's with very dark, shoulder length, slick, hair, and thick glasses.  He is wearing a black silk shirt cut very low, showing his entire chest, with the wiry greying chest hair displayed for all the world to see.  I said "Whoops, sorry." and gave him the death eyes as I stepped back.  (Insert rant about "no touching" here.)  I didn't freak out this time, just one loud,  "Damn it, NO TOUCHING!" after we walked out the back door.  Which of course sent Kerri into laughing and commentary.  As we were pulling out he came out of the front door for a smoke, so of course she had to honk.  *eye roll*  He really fit right in with the "disco" fries.......

We tried to meet Lisa at Aces, and it was so humid last night, I was really looking forward to a watermelon martini (sorry Val), but there was a class reunion there so we headed off to the deck at the Shack.  Had myself a Hillbilly lemonade, and a liberal dose of Kerri's bug spray was applied!  The skeeters were a very unwelcome guest at the deck party.  Tom, one of the servers was not.  He was off the clock, strolled on over to join us, and was quite the entertainment.  It's always interesting to get to know the bartenders, and servers on a personal level.  We were out until about eleven thirty or so, and then called it a night.  The highlight from that portion of the evening was young Tom (we actually call him junior to ourselves) spraying himself with the bug spray while holding a lit cigarette.  Miss Joanie was all "Tom, don't spray that by the lit cigarette!"  Well that was all it took.  He whips out his lighter and begins a "torch".  I'm pretty sure that when he wakes up today that finger is going to hurt like a mother! 

P.S.  The disco fries rocked, but as far as regular fries go the Shack is still the best!  Lisa and I will be back on their deck next Friday night.  There is a new menu to dissect!  Come on down and join us!

H.H.W.T. Mascot

You just never know what you're going to get at Happy Hour!  Again, two separate blogs that I will try to intertwine.

When I got home from work today I put this as my Facebook status.  "Get home early and the landlord pulls up. :( Now I'm hiding out........ hmmm.... I AM wearing a tank top, it might be the right time to ask for a dog!"  I didn't, of course, I avoid contact with my creepy Santa landlord at all costs.  It was a joke, but of course when you put something out into the universe.....

So I pack up the quesedilla fixin's and head over to Happy Hour on the Gordon Deck!  It's a fabulous new spot.  The drinks are cheap, the food is great, and the service is amazing!   Thanks Kerri for having us over to christen the new deck!  I think everyone had a good time, I know I enjoyed the evening.  Next time remind me that I have that slushy drink on top of my fridge!  I headed home after the sun went down, it's hot and humid, and all I wanted was a shower and to relax.

I had my first pseudo celebrity moment tonight!  While I was getting some apps together a friend of Kerri's arrived.  "Are you Joanie?"  "Yep, that's me."  A little more small talk, then she adds "I had to come, I want to be in the blog!"  I was flattered that she knew about it.  So I told her that if anything exciting happened she would be in the blog.  Then when I found out she brought a Culvers Oreo Ice Cream Cake to share with us, I told her she would definitely be in the blog!  So there you go Heidi!  Thanks for the awesome dessert!!

It was a quiet laid back kind of evening, just five girls, some assorted kids, one guy, and their dog.  Wait a minute.  Dog?  Yes.  When I walked outside with my food to sit on the deck a dog comes out of nowhere and puts it's head on my leg.  I think he's a lab/border collie mix.  He spent the next four hours just hanging out with us.  No barking, no jumping, no anything bad at all.  He let Heidi and I look in his ears, he let me look at his teeth, no fuss no muss.  We spent a long time trying to figure out his name, and  when Jared said Max, he snapped to attention, so Max it is.  He's black with some white.....kind of like Milkie.  Milkie and Max.  Has a nice ring to it.

I came home after the festivities were pretty well wrapped up and got Max some food.  He'll be spending the night at Kerri's.  She'll check with ARF (pound) tomorrow to see if anyone is looking for him, then if he's a free agent I'll be dog sitting in the afternoon.  I will be bringing him to meet my sister's family as they are semi looking for a new dog.  It would take a special dog to fit into CeCe's life, and this boy might just be the one.  I also sent Leon a text, as I know he's thinking about getting another dog.  I think Max would get along with Sammy just fine, and he would fit right in to the current custody arrangements.  :)  I've been able to do that because Sam was here before the landlord decided no more dogs.  Would he really realize there weren't two of them the whole time?  Would he really tell me no if I asked him to have Max permanently?  It kind of seems like the universe would like me to.

H.H.W.T. Whirlwind

This is a Happy Hour World Tour blog!  I'm having a little trouble coming up with an interesting PG version of last nights events.  The other stuff is so much funnier.  Scaring away the third base coach.  (Perhaps our discussion of the male anatomy was a tad too loud?) Is "Commando" Quinn really playing baseball that way?  (No, there were batman underwear disclosed to ALL of us later.)  Is Danny Boy really coming in from the outfield smoking???  Yes, yes he was.  Did that jerk really just call the ump a douche bag?  Would it be wrong to tattle on him?  We raised our hands, but no one called on us. :) 

The weather forecast for last night was kind of "iffy", so we decided that instead of getting drenched on a deck we would check out some of the establishments that do not offer that amenity.  

Our evening started off at "Grizzlies", now you are going to have to excuse my lapses in memory because I started off with a "Titanic Tea" and I should never, ever, ever, drink Long Island Tea.  It is sooooo gooooood, and true to form, two inches into the glass and I'm giggling like a nut.  The strawberry tea, and the service were very good.  The food and the prices, not so much.  Let's see.  There is a three apps for 9.99 deal, so since we knew we were going to several establishments that seemed like a good place to start.  Potato skins, (bacon on the side for the vegetarian) onion rings, and cheese curds were what we chose.  The tiny plate of food that arrived was kind of a shock.  We're used to the app platter at C's, where the food is cheap, plentiful, and delicious! (Too bad they closed.) What arrived was definitely the opposite.  So we each had our little portion and then climbed into Lisa's Jeep Liberty to head out to the next destination.  Yes, I had to leave my car behind.  I freely admit that I can not hold my liquor, but at least I'm smart about it!

Our next stop?  Aces on 29th.  Now, we have had some bad experiences here.  The food has always been good, but the service absolutely sucks.  Not just a one time thing, and many different friends having the same issues on different occasions.  We have shunned it for awhile, but heard there were some changes, so decided to stop in and take a chance.  I figured I could at least write an evil blog about them.  We were pleasantly surprised to say the least!  Nice happy hour prices, the three dollar watermelon martini was FABULOUS!  I tried Lisa's melon martini, but tooooo much orange juice for me.  We decided to order the app sampler to put it right up against what we had at Grizzlies, and let me tell you it was far and beyond the winner!  Generous portions of really good apps.  The BEST part of Aces was Nick, our server.  When he came to see if we needed anything else some old song had just come on  and we three were swaying to the music..... he walks up and says "Is everyone good?"  Kerri responds with "We're just swaying."  Lisa adds "Sway with us." and he does.  I like the general ambiance of Aces, so it will be nice to be able to go back!  This is also the bar I see when I look out the windows at work, so now I will be thinking about watermelon martini's when I'm tearing my hair out!

We wound our way over to O'Neils, (I believe that was the drive where Kerri and I were singing loudly to "Already Gone" by the Eagles, and Lisa, who does not sing, was waving her pointer finger to her "part". ) and just chilled on one of the couches for awhile.  Good happy hour price, so-so whiskey coke.  The guys were playing ball at nine and we were trying to get a babysitter for Kerri so we could go.  Lisa pulled a fabulous Mom move on her teenager and sealed the deal.  Em didn't really want to babysit, she just wanted to hang out at home with her boyfriend.  The boyfriend, however, is allowed to go with to Kerri's while she babysits.  So Lisa says, "Well, it's your choice.  I'll be home soon."  Em says "What?"  "Well," continues super Mom, "If we don't have a sitter then Kerri can't go, so I'll be home soon."  Leaving the teenager with the choice of alone time with bf at Kerri's or  together time with Mom at home.  mua haha!   One sitter procured!

Did you know that UV makes a birthday cake vodka?  It's pretty damn good!  Yes, at this point my car is still parked at Grizzlies.

Our three stops actually only took two hours, leaving us plenty of time for wardrobe changes, and visiting while waiting for the sitter.What a fun way to spend a summer night!  Minus the bugs.  We were the only fans in our section of bleacher so we just chatted away while the guys played, and cheered and laughed, and scared away the previously mentioned third base coach for the other team.  After the game (ended early in our favor by the 10 run rule) we piled into Kerri's car and took Commando along for the ride down to where Ben and Rookie were parked, and then all hung out there chatting for a bit.  One last stop at Players in Duluth, that's the bar they were playing for on this particular night.  Nice enough bar, but I had stopped drinking quite some time before.  I knew I'd be the last driver of the night.  I did have a sip of something called apple pie and oh my goodness was that good!

The deal with the sitter was that we be home by eleven, and we were true to our word.  This is a huge blog, but we covered a lot of ground last night!  P.S.  Lisa and the bartender have mended fences so while we continue the world tour we will still be able to go back to home base on occasion!  So far The Shack is still head and shoulders above the rest.

Happy Hour World Tour

Well, it isn't a world tour exactly.  In reality we will just be trying out many of the local establishments, seeing what they have to offer, how the decks are, and in general just being judgy about the bars/restaurants in the area.  However, when I was actually writing the  blog a minute ago that title popped out at me, and here we are.  New blog, new title.  The old one was called "The Hangover" because that's me today.  Unfortunately it is due to a cold and not to a wild rollicking night of drunkenness and debauchery. Oh, those things were represented all right, just not by me.......mostly.

I've decided that along with my other ramblings I'm going to blog out some of this adventure.  Of course, "What Happens in Solon Springs (or in the car, etc. etc.) STAYS in Solon Springs, so you are going to get the PG version unless it pertains directly to me and it's something I don't mind my employer or family seeing. ;)  I have serious thoughts about writing another anonymous blog where I can just let it all fly.  This censoring shit is for the birds.

So last night we started out the tour at Rapids Riverside, which is located just out of town.  They have a new deck, which is very shady and I'm not a sun seeker, so I liked that.  The weather was gorgeous, high seventies with a light breeze off the big lake.  I had my first strawberry margarita of the season, but it tasted kind of odd, not the usual flavor.  The service was slow with a capital S, and no, they weren't very busy.  The O Luv U burger was absolutely fabulous!  It's a big ol' burger with lots of green olives and their own home made blue cheese dressing.  The fries are good too, nice and crispy.  Kerri and Lisa had the pizza roll up things....damn I can't recall what they are called.  Old Chicago has them too...... Well anyway, they loved them.  They also ordered the garlic knots which were a bit too buttery, but I love garlic, and they were good.  Lets see, what else?  The happy hour at Rapids offers .50 off drinks so if I had ordered my usual whiskey coke it would have been 2.50.  Not bad.

Then we moved on to Solon Springs, a little community about a half hour south of here.  It's very rural, and this town has it's own sub-culture.  We refer to them as "Solon Swingers".  If you follow.  I suppose there's not much else to do in Solon.......   Anyway.   Kerri's hubster, Ben, plays on a softball team and they are having a tournament there this weekend.  The service at Rapids was so slow that we only caught the last part of their game, but they won!  We watched almost all of another game and then walked over to the "Village Pump".  The bar is newer and really nice inside.  The locals didn't seem too amused with us, and our noise, well......I suppose it's harder to "hook up" when all that ruckus is going on.  Had a Bud Light.  Yes, I know.  I hate beer.  However, when a much younger man walks up and hands you a beer that he just bought for you, you smile, say thanks, and drink the damn beer.  Alas dear readers, he is married. *sigh*

Oh, how could I forget the "man rating" at the game???  Kerri at one point asked me if I saw anything to my liking amongst this field of men.  Yeah....... no.  So that encouraged a little game where when a man was "on deck" we gave them a rating of 1-10.  We decided to do this right at the beginning of the second game, and the first guy up was this little stick man......which sent us into gales of laughter.  Mean? Yep.  Fun? You bet.  We did rate one guy a collective 8, but the rest never made it past 4.  "Oh, a tattoo......that's an extra point!"  "Oh, a tattoo.......take away a point."  

So we hung out at the bar for awhile and Lisa, Ben, and Kerri talked to a few other friends who wanted to meet up at V.I.P. in Superior.  I piled four fairly inebriated friends into Kerri's mobile and headed back into town.  Between the road construction, pea soup fog, jiggy music, and the revelry in the back seat (what happens in the car, stays in the car) it was an interesting ride to say the least.  We did kidnap "Rookie" and drag him back to town with us, which was kinda fun.  New friends are always a good thing.

Quin met us at V.I.P. and Shelly made an appearance also.  A few of the ballplayers came back into town too. That seems to be the new "hang out" for our little group, although the bartender wants to date Lisa.........and that's why we had to leave the Shack.  You don't screw around at work, and you don't F... the bartender.  When things end, as they frequently do, it doesn't go well.  It's a shame though, cause Barry the Bartender is a really good guy.  Uh, plus......he tends bar for something to do, doesn't drink, and he has car/boat/home on skyline drive.  Not bad.  Not bad at all. 

So the night ended around 1:30 with Quin taking some and me taking the rest home.  Got a big ol bear hug from the Rookie, and my night was complete.