Perhaps We Won't Celebrate Chicago-Style

My beloved Chicago Bears are playing in the Super Bowl next Sunday, in case you just crawled out from under a rock. I grew up in central Illinois where I was doomed to become a long-suffering Bears (and Cubs) fan. That is until the 1985-86 Super Bowl Shuffle team destroyed everyone in their path (exept for the lowly Dolphins). We enjoyed one year of celebration before the Bears (just like the Cubs) settled back into mediocrity at best, if not downright ineptitude.

Until this year. I hoped, but honestly did not believe, that this year the Bears would have a chance to play for the title. They have given me glimmers of hope in the past, only to smash it to smithereens and then stomp and grind it into a fine dust. They haven't won the title yet, and could very well perform their perfected smash, stomp, and grind during the Super Bowl, but at least they've got a shot.

So we will be watching the Super Bowl with vested interest this year and wanted to do something special for the occasion. Diane came home from work last night and told me of a co-worker, a home-grown Illinoisan, who was ordering Chicago-style pizza from Gino's East in Chicago and having it delivered for the game. Apparently, they partially cook it, freeze it, pack it in dry ice, and then ship it. Pretty frickin' cool. We like Gino's East, but our Chicago-style, deep-dish pizza of choice is Giordano's. We decided to check it out.

Diane jumped online first and found the Giordano's website. For some reason, their website took forever to load and navigate even though we have high-speed DSL. She grew frustrated and asked for me to take over. So I did. I ordered a 12" Cheese and a 12" Spinach pizza for around $34. I figured shipping would be around $10-$15. I went to check-out when my eyes bounced off of the monitor at about the same time that my jaw slammed onto the desk. The total, for TWO (2) 12" deep-dish pizzas was just under $83!

What the crap!!

A closer look revealed a shipping charge of $45 and change. No frickin' way!! I went to Gino's East to see if they were any better. They were, but not much. Shipping was only $18, but two 11" pizzas were $54!! I can't say for sure, but I wonder if these places are sticking it to potential Super Bowl customers. In any case, we were bummed to say the least, which seems to be happening a lot lately (stupid American Airlines). We so hoped to have Chicago-style pizza while rooting for our Chicago-style Bears, but I just couldn't pull the trigger. Is $83 too steep for two pizzas? For now, it is. But I still have another day to change my mind.

Breakfast in Bed

This morning as I was frantically composing my third complaint letter to AMERICAN AIRLINES (more on that later), Kyra approached me with a piece of paper. "Can I take your order, please?" I looked at the paper where my wife listed several breakfast-y options. Apparently, they were going to prepare me a birthday breakfast. Sweet! "When you know what you want, just circle, no, UNDERLINE them. Then I'll come back and take your order." She then ran off to play. I don't know why...it only took me two seconds to complete my order: French toast, scrambled eggs, orange juice, and coffee.

She returned a short while later, then disappeared with my order. I turned my attention back to my scathing letter to AMERICAN AIRLINES, sons of b..."Oh, hi Sweetie!" Kyra reappeared at my side with a twinkle in her eye.

"Awww, Daddy, you look exhausted." Kyra doesn't pronounce her "R's" very well, so she sounds a little like Tweety Bird. "You should go back to bed and get some west." I smiled as this was a much-welcomed distraction from the daunting task of dealing with AMERICAN AIRLINES. I grabbed her hand and allowed her to lead me back in to the bedroom where she tucked me into bed. "Alwite, you just west and get some sleep." No argument here.

She and Diane tiptoed into the bedroom with, SURPRISE, my breakfast, complete with a birthday candle. Diane lit the candle and they sang to me, and I blew out the candle and made my wish (that AMERICAN AIRLINES would go out of business...darn, I guess now it won't come true).

Kyra joined me a short while later because to her, breakfast in bed is pretty cool. She told me that she didn't get to have breakfast in bed on her birthday, so she was going to have it on mine. Fair enough. So we sat there next to each other chowing down on French toast, dropping powdered sugar down our shirts, and watching Regis & Kelly. Not a bad way to start the day. Now bring on the presents!

It Pays to Be Nice

I almost didn't stop. I was running a little late and the Sunday drivers were out a day early slowing the flow of traffic. I decided that I would pull in and see how the drivethrough looked; if it wasn't packed, then I would stop. But it's a Saturday afternoon and I've never seen fewer than three cars on a Saturday afternoon. I'm a Starbuck's junkie and I need my almost daily fix, especially before a 12-hour, no-break workday. The thought of a Starbuck's drivethrough drive-by gave me cold sweats, and I was delighted and amazed to see it empty.

I normally order a drip coffee, venti-sized, please, but on the special occasion of an empty drivethrough, I decided to splurge: venti vanilla latte. I pulled around to the window, grabbed my wallet, and selected the $5 bill I stole from Diane yesterday (hee hee hee). Two of the baristas greeted me as I drove up to the window. "We took a vote, and because you are so nice and in such a good mood every day when we see you, we decided to buy your drink for you today!"

Several thoughts crowded my mind, the first being, EXCELLENT!!, which was immediately followed by, "Wait, 'good mood'...are they sure they have the right guy?" which was closely followed by, "Who cares...FREE LATTE!!" Apparently they had served such an endless series of foul-mooded people, that my neutral moodiness was a breath of fresh air. Either way, I got a free latte and it made my day. And to think I almost didn't stop...and I still have Diane's $5!

THEY'RE BACK!!!

One of my guilty pleasures is pumpkin pancakes from IHOP. This goes way back almost fifteen years ago, shortly after Diane and I were first married. We stumbled into an IHOP (I make it sound like we were drunk. Not that there's anything wrong with a drunken pumpkin pancake binge, but we were sober.), saw pumpkin pancakes on the menu, thought they sounded intriguing, ordered them and fell instantaneously in love...with pumpkin pancakes. Oh, how we loved our pumpkin pancakes! We quickly discovered two problems, though. First, IHOP did not offer pumpkin pancakes year-round. They were seasonal, usually introduced around mid-October and served through Thanksgiving, perhaps through Christmas. Second, neither Diane and I are very good at planning or marking things on the calendar, so quite often we would miss the window of opportunity to enjoy our beloved pumpkin pancakes. It's actually been five or six years since I last enjoyed pumpkin pancakes (can it really be a guilty pleasure then?). Until Sunday.

We were sitting in the van after church going through the ritual of putting together a plan for lunch. After much discussion and some opposition from Kailey (one of the girls always opposes the lunch plan), we decided upon IHOP. You can get breakfast OR lunch there, even though it is the International House of PANCAKES. We arrived and sat down in a booth, arranged the activity mats and distributed crayons to the girls. The hostess gave us only three crayons and I was surprised when there wasn't a fight over who had more crayons. After helping the girls decide on their order, Diane and I perused the menu. I was investigating the omelette section when I heard a gasp. I looked up to see Diane reaching for the little advertisey-tent-display-thingy that restaurants always adorn their tables with to inform patrons of the latest cuisine and beverage specials.

"They have pumpkin pancakes," she breathed.

My eyes exploded from my head and we stared at each other in a competition to see whose eyes could bulge out the farthest. "Do you think we can add them on to our omelettes?" she asked.

I would have paid any amount of money to add pumpkin pancakes to my order. Turns out that for an extra $.79, we could add pumpkin pancakes to anything our hearts desired, at IHOP anyway.

They were delicious. Just like I remembered them. Kailey likes pumpkin pancakes too. HA HA...a convert! Kyra declined to try them, but she too will be turned. So head out to your local IHOP today and try the pumpkin pancakes. Tell 'em I sent you (at which point they'll cock their head and look at you strangely). But stay away from the coffee. IHOP coffee still sucks.