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Since weather considerations interfered with me and JAG spending her bday together, I felt somewhat obligated to not talk her out of her harebrained ideas.

"Let's go shopping in the morning. Then take a cab to this place called Hot Doug's for lunch. Three people told me they have great duck fat fries. It's only 3 miles from our hotel."

JAG shows me the menu on her iPhone and adds "this is the cheapest place you will ever take me to lunch."

Well, it's 3 miles on the Dan Ryan Expressway which is having more work done to it than Nancy Pelosi's face. Stop and start. Stop and start in a hot cab. My stomach felt worse than when my plane landed in Chicago at 2 am during a blistering rain storm after consuming 4 bottles of blended scotch.

We finally get out of the $20 cab ride from hell and find a line outside of Hot Doug's.

"Do you think the locals are mocking us for standing in line the same way we mock the people who stand in line at Mother's?"

"You make it so hard to be nice to you."

"thanks."

I buy a Chicago Sun Times. Utterly the most worthless paper in America. I read about a huge marijuana bust.

We finally get to the front of the line. Doug actually takes your order. We order a brat, a polish sausage (JAG's first of the day) and a bison chipolte with ale mustard and a Irish cheddar porter cheese, one order of duck fat fries and two t shirts which instantly double the cost of the meal. Doug is a fairly engaging dude and had specific condiment recs for each sausage.

We get our drinks. After about ten minutes the food is brought. The duck fat fries were awesome. Rest of the post tomorrow. Jag is craving more polish sausage.

Wszystkiego Najlepszego, JAG! Eat some Polish sausage for me. I used to order my Mardi Gras brats from Meyer's Deli on N. Lincoln Ave. Meyer's is no more, but the old store space has been taken over by Gene's, which gets very good reviews on average. Gene's first, much older location is on Belmont. I am going to order from Gene's on Mardi Gras for 2011. Tried Paulina Meat Market this past year for MG - good product, but their prices are ridiculous. Nothing better than great fresh sausage - German weisswurst and smoked thueringer are my favorites. Some friends of ours from the Green Bay area are coming down in a couple of weeks and they are bringing us an assortment of good stuff. Have seen Hot Doug's on Food Network so appreciate the review. Have fun!

What? No A/C in the cab? Please tell me you asked.

There's no AC in Chicago. But the sausage is great! It's been fun but I'm so ready to go home.

justagirl wrote:There's no AC in Chicago. But the sausage is great! It's been fun but I'm so ready to go home.

After reading that line, I just have to say, I have a really nice birthday present waiting for you! When do you get home?

What I meant to say is when you said "I'm so ready to go home", it warmed my heart! Text me when you get home!

If all goes well, which is unusual for ORD, I should be home just in time for rush hour traffic. I'm ready now though....but there are no earlier flights available. I miss my babies.
But on a food note, we have eaten well and had a lot of fun. I need to do a little more shopping before heading to the airport. I have a hot date at Martinique tomorrow night

I am shocked no one has said it, but doesn't the subject line for this post speak for itself?

justagirl wrote:There's no AC in Chicago. But the sausage is great! It's been fun but I'm so ready to go home.

I lied. There is AC in Chicago. It's all at O'hare. Which I'm guessing is also my new residence for the forseeable future.

sirvelvet wrote:I am shocked no one has said it, but doesn't the subject line for this post speak for itself?

I don't get it...please explain in graphic detail.

I think sir's mind is in the gutter.