A company I once worked for took us to some 4-star and 5-star places. My experience was that a 4-star place was happy to bring you just about anything you asked for, and a 5-star place just brought you things before you asked for them.

This is pretty similar to what’s called a “chili shoe” here in southern Illinois, a chili-topped version of the “horseshoe”.

Funny, I moved from Texas back to Monical's country in 2005. :)

Funny, I moved from Texas back to Monical's country in 2005. :)

The dressing is very good. Unfortunately the salad they serve it with is the worst. Limp iceberg lettuce and some flavorless bits of tomato if you’re lucky. The only good things about the salad are the sweet and tart dressing and the generous amount of shredded mozzarella on top. I do love Monical's pizza, though.…

The dressing is very good. Unfortunately the salad they serve it with is the worst. Limp iceberg lettuce and some…

Definitely something I have to take into account. Last year my wife and I visited our daughter 10 time zones away. Because we don’t live near an international airport, it meant between 32 hours door-to-door to get there and 36 hours to get home. 3 full days of nothing but travel.

I’m not from Atlanta and I’m an old Gen Xer, but I kinda like Ponce City Market. Krog Street Market in Atlanta, too. I mean, it’s a lot better use of the space than the abandoned buildings they would be in my town.

Hey, I saw their stadium back at Christmastime! We were visiting some of the civil rights related sites in Montgomery and drove by there. There’s quite a few minor league teams with interesting names.

Drop biscuits deserve a mention. They can be mixed up and baked pretty quickly, and are great with some butter and honey or jelly. They’re also good with beef stew.

What if my skin is so oily I could join OPEC? Here I am in my 50s and still struggling with terrible acne. :( I have a dermatologist, but insurance companies don’t like to cover much of anything skin-related for us old people. “It’s cosmetic,” they say. Having your skin covered with painful pus-filled sores is not…

What if my skin is so oily I could join OPEC? Here I am in my 50s and still struggling with terrible acne. :( I have…

I don’t know about this thing, but I will say that the regular Crispy Colonel sandwich on a bun with mayo and pickle is pretty darn good. Also available with sauces if that’s what you want. I like the honey BBQ one, but the others are a bit spicy for me.

Some of the Krogers have figured you out and have Starbucks counters inside the store.

It’s about a 20-mile trip for me to the nearest Kroger, but they will usually have things I can’t find otherwise. I’ve gone there for stuff like lamb, wasabi, rainbow carrots, etc. that I can’t find at our local regional chain, Walmart, or ALDI.

It’s surprising how a little squeeze of lemon juice enhances just about any kind of chicken soup. You can’t necessarily even consciously tell it’s there, but it adds something that I miss if I forget to add it.

Because Alton Brown always says on Good Eats, “it should feel heavy for its size,” when we were shopping for flooring and my wife said she didn’t know how to tell what was good flooring, I told her I thought it should feel heavy for its size.

For over a decade I’ve been growing pineapples on the windowsill by my desk. I’ve harvested 3 so far, because it takes 3 years for the plant to grow and bloom and make a fruit this way. I’m now on my 4th-generation plant, growing a new one from the top of the previous one after every harvest. They don’t get big (most…

I’m not big on oysters, but star for the RD reference. :) I do like canned tuna, smoked salmon, and love any kind of olives. My favorite breakfast is cheese and olives.

Does this mean I’ll be able to buy Krunchers again, instead of having the chip aisle full of nothing but Frito-Lay products?!?

My sister and I actually had a couple of pet squirrels when I was in grade school. We found them as tiny babies in a tree we cut for firewood, raised them until they were almost full-grown, and turned them loose in the woods. They were really attached to us. We could take them outside to play, and they would run up…

Don’t know, but Merriam-Webster defines it as, “a cage for a small animal (such as a squirrel) that contains a rotatable cylinder for exercising,” and says the first usage dates to 1821.

Depends on what it’s for. It’s easier to get gaffer tape off of carpet than duck/duct tape, that’s for sure.