As Promised

As my previous post states, I'm going to summarize in great detail, our New Years Eve outing. First of all, I have to thank Grampa and Gramma Schwartz for watching the kids. The kids love hanging out at both grandparents houses, so we knew it would be fun for the kids. Plus, Stacey and I very badly needed a night out with out a crying kid waking us up. Since the entire Schwartz clan resides in the much improving city of Des Moines, this is where the venue would take place. We left Clear Lake right on schedule after lunch on the 31st. A teary goodbye from Grandpa and Gramma Kehrt, and we were on our way. The plan was, come to a rolling stop at Grampa and Gramma Schwartz's house, toss the kids out (safely), and head for the bar. Not really, but it crossed my mind. What really happened was, we stopped and chatted for a while, but Stacey needed to get to the mall to finish off her outfit for the evening's events.

Lucky for me, there's a little bar called Old Chicago attached to the mall. So from the car in the parking lot, we went our separate ways and agreed to meet up in said bar. Also lucky for me, this bar has 110 beers available and a little club they call the World Beer tour. I was in business. I'm a "belly up" kind of guy, so that's what I did. I started out with a New Castle. Sitting next to me was a gentleman that appeared to have been in the bar since it opened for the day. Nice guy though. He's the one who introduced me to the World Beer Tour club, which I promptly joined. We talked about football, I guaranteed an Oklahoma State victory over Indiana, which proved correct and I put a 3 beer dent into by World beer tour. Only 108 to go. This is when I find out you can only knock out 4 beers per day. Bummer. I finished the afternoon with the New Castle, a Harp, and a Guinness. Just then Stacey showed up and it was time to go meet Jen and Brian at their house in Beaverdale (Des Moines neighborhood).

From here the plan was get dressed, go to a bar called the The Cab for appetizers and drinks. Then, dinner at Sam and Gabes. Supposed to be really good. Brian and Jen had a bottle of Red they picked up in Italy that I was REALLY looking forward to. After dinner, who knows. We hit the Cab around 7 and ordered our drinks and appetizers. I started off the night with whiskey and pretty much stayed there. Hell yeah, Makers Mark Clary. Love it. A couple of your standard pub fare appetizers and drinks hit the spot. Jen and Brian were great company. Stacey and Brian have a very close sibling relationship, which I do very much respect, except when my f**king cell phone bill shows up each month. And Jen, well, everyone in my family on both sides knows, that as far as I'm concerned, this woman walks on water. Jen rocks. I love her, we love her, my kids love her, and I've never met anyone her age that has their shit together like Jen. Here's to you Jen, (clink).

The drinks went down well, we argued over the bill for a minute, and it was time to get to our 9:15 dinner reservation. Brian had wisely called ahead to make sure he could bring in his own bottle of wine, which was allowed for a small corking fee. We were seated almost immediately and the atmosphere of Sam and Gabes was perfect. Again we ordered drinks and an appetizer, but ordered pretty quickly. I'm a big, big fan of veal. I know this offends people, but ya know what. It's a cow, okay. One way or the other it's ending up on a plate, so lay off me. But the real treat was yet to come. The wine. Oh my the wine. When our meal came the waiter poured it and I couldn't wait to try it. It was all I hoped it would be. Thanks again Brian and Jen for keeping that bottle in your packs in Europe for however long it was. It was great. And the veal, perfect. Everyone else seemed happy with their meal as well.

Next, we needed to get to a bar where we could hang out until midnight. We were in search of a non-smoking establishment, but as it would turn out, the ones we hoped for were not open for the evening. So we headed back to Old Chicago. I got to knock off one more beer to meet my daily quota, thought I can't remember which one it was right now. They keep track for you on their computer, so I'll be able to find out before I duplicate it.

We watched the ball drop on the TV and we kissed our spouses and headed home. We hung out for a while and even tried to watch a movie, but I was spent. So that concluded the evening.

Thanks again to Brian and Jen for hosting us. We had a great time.