Our Tribe

Ain't it beautiful?

So unusual

Life's a gas and it's running out

Living a cliche

Gonna seize the day

Bottle rockets and celebrate, celebrate, celebrate

~~ “Carpe Diem” by Green Day

It was a great night last night in downtown South Bend.

Our own Mayor Pete Buttigieg invited his supporters to join him for a holiday celebration at CJ’s Pub, a great local haunt and burger joint. We met Shane and Matt there and had a great time getting caught up on everything and talking about how to deal with things.

Mayor Pete gave a brief welcome to us all and said he was keeping it brief because he planned on talking to all of us who attended, and he did indeed keep his promise. He visited with everyone in the room and spent a good 10-15 minutes chatting with the four of us. (We also got to meet his partner, who is a very nice guy!)

We asked Mayor Pete about how we go forward from here, and he reiterated what he wrote in his op-ed (link above). Talk to people. Interact as a community. Grassroots politics is key and we can all participate, whether it is running for office, attending city council meetings, or working with the local Democrats to get out the vote. But his main focus is on connecting with others and taking the time to listen to them.

He is a remarkable guy and I couldn’t be prouder to have him as our Mayor. He is also very easy to talk to and is not intimidating at all. I get the impression that he really wants to hear from everyone and wants to make a difference in our community. It was a pleasure to talk to him and I look forward to seeing what happens in South Bend as we go forward. I see many good things ahead of us!

I was also very touched by something Matt told me. At some point, I guess I wrote something to him and Shane about how while we might be dismayed, disgusted, and downright despondent over this election, those of us who love each other have to stick together and support each other. I said that we are all part of Our Tribe and we will get through this by hanging tough and sticking up for each other. Matt said that that really spoke to him and he took it to heart. It did my heart good to hear that something I wrote made someone feel resolved and ready to support those who are feeling disenfranchised.

It really is all about being stronger together, isn’t it?

Burger Quest

I hope you’ll forgive my lack of posting recently. I’ve had a lot on my mind and a lot on my plate as we get close to our cruise date. Today I got the majority of my packing done, and I feel like I’m in pretty good shape as our departure date approaches. Several odds and ends still to be done, but I feel much less harried than I did, and I found myself hankering to write a bit here.

I’ve had this entry percolating for a while, and I’ve also been gathering data. Well, not so much “gathering data” as “sampling.” I don’t recall if it arose from a Facebook conversation or if it was something that Shane and I talked about, but I’ve been on a kick of trying the burgers at various places we go to around town. I don’t always order a burger when we go out...I like club sandwiches, Reubens, that sort of thing. But I still love a good burger, and I decided to try as many as possible in the area.

I have no criteria for what kind of burgers I order other than I prefer them well done (I’m not a fan of pink burgers) and I’m a burger traditionalist: my favorite is a cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato (usually no raw onion because it sometimes upsets my stomach), and I dip it in ketchup and mustard. I have been known to order and enjoy burgers with different toppings on them, like green olives or avocado or even peanut butter. All fun, and I like trying different things, but at the end of the day, I’m a purist. I don’t even order them with bacon!

It’s been a lot of fun to try this little experiment, and it is ongoing. We’re going to a basketball game Wednesday night, and I think I’m going to get a chance to try another place’s burger! Here is a summary of my results so far. Some of these places are chains and some are local, but we don’t really do fast food anymore, so you won’t see anything like that here. I consider Five Guys fast food, and although they do a pretty decent burger, I still consider it fast food and won’t include it here. Same thing for In-N-Out Burger. Heck, I still get a craving about once every five years for a McDonald’s cheeseburger! But those don’t count as bona fide burgers for my purposes here. General rule of thumb: if you sit down and a server comes to take your order, that’s the kind of place that I’m going to be looking at.

BW3 - I liked this burger enough the first time that I ordered one the next time we went. It was juicy and flavorful, and the bun held up well. However, for some reason, I didn’t enjoy the second one as much and even wondered why I liked the first one as much as I did! Was I hungrier the first time? Were my taste buds more primed for a burger? I don’t know, but it wasn’t the same. Would I order one there again? Sure. I’m not a big wing person, and I like getting their sandwiches.

Maxi’s - This is a local place, so if you want a Maxi’s burger, you’ll have to come visit us! Maxi’s is probably our favorite restaurant in town, and you can’t beat it for delicious steaks. It is also locally owned and operated, and that is a big plus in our book. We like to take out-of-town visitors here, so if you head our way, you can probably expect Maxi’s in your dining future. Maxi’s doesn’t do a traditional burger of just a meat patty. They add some spices and stuff in there, and I’m pretty sure that they add chopped onion. Not the kind of burger that I usually like, but these things are very tasty, as well as huge. I think I took half of it home for Ken’s lunch. It was a little on the pink side for me, and next time, I would probably ask that it not be pink, but overall, this was very good. A nice robust bun, because mushy buns suck.

Brothers Bar & Grill - Speaking of mushy buns, I’m lookin’ at YOU, Brothers! We love Brothers, which seems to be a chain that locates in college towns. This is our go-to place before Notre Dame hockey and basketball games. I’ve had a lot of good sandwiches there, and I love both their chili nachos and chicken nachos. I was very disappointed in their burger, though. It was a nice size for me, and I was able to eat it all, but the bun was soft and steamed, and was unable to hold up to the intense pressure of life with a burger. It squished down to almost nothing and although the flavor of the burger was good, the bun really detracted from the whole experience. Get different buns and toast 'em on the grill for a few seconds, Brothers!

TGI Friday’s - Yes, this is a nationwide chain, and we usually try to avoid those. But we had some coupons, and we were going out a lot because of Notre Dame games, so we decided to save a few bucks. I can’t complain a lot about the food there, either...nothing fancy, but it’s decent. Much to my surprise, their burger ROCKED! It had a nice charred edge to it, and I could really taste that charcoal flavor that I love. The bun was nicely toasted and provided a slight crunch. It wasn’t a massive burger, and I was able to eat it all. My only complaint was the chunks of iceberg lettuce (obviously from salad makings) that they piled on the burger. I took most of those off. Just provide a nice, green leaf of lettuce, and a fresher tomato slice (hard to do in Indiana in the winter, though, so no points off for that), and that’s a burger I would eat again.

CJ’s Pub - This is another local place that we’ve added to our regular rotation, often before going to shows downtown. This is absolutely one of the best burgers in town. I don’t know what kind of seasoning they put on their burgers, but the flavor is fantastic. They have numerous varieties and all kinds of ways to customize your burger. This is where I had the olives on a burger, and I liked it...but a straight-up cheeseburger is still king for me, and CJ’s does it great. I always get the Cubby burger, which is a smaller sized burger that is just right for me. My sister seems to like the Juicy Ducee, which is stuffed with American cheese, and there are all kinds of other varieties and combos you can get. It really is hard to go wrong with these burgers!

Hensell’s Oaken Bucket - I have saved the best for last. Another local place, one that sits on the St. Joseph River. When it’s nice out, it’s fun to sit on the patio and look out over the river. Like CJ’s, I don’t know what it is they do to their burgers, but these have incredible flavor. Every time we go there, I think that I should order something different, but I always end up with a burger. The Oaken Bucket is right up there with my all-time favorite burgers, the ones at Breakers in New Smyrna Beach and Port of Call and Clover Grill in New Orleans. They really are that good. It’s a very unassuming place, with wooden booths and college-town decor, but it’s been our experience that sometimes the humblest places have some incredible food. Even if the food isn’t incredible, it’s fun to patronize local places rather than chains, and step outside the cookie-cutter model of what a restaurant is “supposed” to be. I have to give the Oaken Bucket the Best Burger in Town...so far.

Upcoming contenders: O’Rourke’s Pub near Notre Dame and Pat’s Bar in LaPaz (a small town a little to the south of us). Perhaps I'll try one in San Juan, too, before we set sail...we shall see.

The Burger Quest continues.

Time Warped

Well, last night was just a stone cold blast, Daddy-O! (Click on any picture to embiggen.)

First we headed to Shane and Matt’s groovy pad to exchange Christmas gifts. Better late than never, right? They seemed to enjoy their gifts, and they got us some fun and cool stuff. I just love the heavy glass squirrel bookends they got us! They are gorgeous...thanks, you guys! The squirrel is kind of the unofficial mascot of Nutwood, and we have quite a few squirrel things. These are by far the most beautiful!

Then we headed to downtown South Bend to grab a bite to eat at CJ’s. It is just a few feet from the State Theater, so we walked down there to see if we could pick up our tickets a little early. As we walked in, Drew, the guy who is spearheading (I can’t believe I just got to use the word ‘spearheading’) the renovation of the State, was walking through the lobby towards the doors. He saw us and said, “Are you Beth? Beth!” and came up and gave me a hug, and shook Ken’s hand. Awww! How sweet! Dude is a tall drink of water, too. Hard for me to judge, since I’m so short, but he has to be at least 6’4”. Anyway, he was just heading for CJ’s to meet up with us, so the timing was great. As we headed back to CJ’s, we saw Shane and Matt outside, and there were introductions all around.

We all enjoyed the beverages of our choice, and it was a great opportunity to talk with Drew about his plans for the State and why he decided to stay in the area after graduating from Notre Dame. He basically felt like there was a lot of potential for downtown South Bend, and we all agreed that there has definitely been a sort of renaissance downtown. Since Shane and I grew up here, I think he enjoyed our perspective on what downtown used to be like, including the Ethnic Festival, which used to be held downtown, but was moved to a city park. We all agreed that we’d love to see it move back downtown. There used to be a lot of cool little places downtown, like Vegetable Buddies, that hosted local bands. It was a great conversation, and he really impressed me with his vision and ambition to restore the State and make downtown a real destination again. You rock, Drew!

He couldn’t linger for long, because they were doing a 9 pm showing of Rocky Horror, so he had to get back for that. After he left, the rest of us sat there and chatted a while longer, and then it was getting close to the midnight hour, so we headed out.

There is a salvaged church pew at CJ’s, and Shane took my picture. Despite wearing a Mick t-shirt and fishnets, I managed to not burst into flames. What a relief!


So wonderful to see the State marquee all lit up, and people in line! Everyone was in a great mood, and we were all having fun. We had a little bit of a scare when we got up to the table and they didn’t find our names on their list...then either me or Ken said, “Drew said he was going to reserve four tickets and...” and she was like, “Oh!” and checked another list. She found our names and said, “Okay!” and marked an “R” on all of our hands. Well, all righty then!

I didn’t realize until later that no payment took place. Ken told me later, and I said, “What?” He said, “Yeah, I guess Drew comped us the tickets!” Drew, did I mention that you rock? Thank you!

So sorry I didn’t get a good pic of me and Ken, but I forgot that my forward-facing camera on my phone doesn’t have a flash. Drat! I’ll see if I can doctor up the picture and get it a little brighter!

We bought our “survivor packs” in the lobby, a large baggie filled with all the stuff you throw at the screen during the movie. Including toast!

We found some seats, third row, and settled in to wait. After a brief warm-up from someone with the “shadow cast” (a troop that acts out what is happening onscreen), the movie began.

I hadn’t seen the movie since college, it had been years since Shane had seen it, and Ken had never seen it before. I could be wrong about this, but I don’t think Matt had ever seen it before, either. (Hazy memory, sorry!) I had forgotten how much fun it is, how good the music is, and how poignant the ending is. It’s obviously a bizarre movie, but there is a lot to be seen there, on many levels, and I’m not ashamed to say that I got a little verklempt at the ending. The participatory portion of a Rocky Horror viewing is a blast, but I think the movie stands on its own as a campy and bizarre cult classic. It was a total blast! We really did all do the Time Warp, and it was so much fun! It was a raucous and enthusiastic crowd.

I think my favorite part was “Great Scott!” and the throwing of the toilet paper. When was the last time you got to throw a roll of toilet paper with great abandon and joy? It’s been too long for this gal, I can tell you that! But the toast part was pretty fun, too. You can see the aftermath above (picture via the State Theater’s Facebook page). Yikes!

Drew hopes to make it a regular feature at the State, and although I’m not going to be going every time it’s held there, I would definitely go again on occasion.

I’m sorry to report that there was one casualty of the evening. My fishnets took a beating when my bracelet got stuck to them, and I had to tear a hole in them to get it unstuck. I’m not throwing them out, though...they’ll be my future Rocky Horror fishnets!

The State has a ways to go on renovation, but good things are happening, and work is progressing. It is once again becoming a downtown destination and the “Pride of South Bend,” and it makes me happy to see this happening.

A fun night!

Of course, we had to end the evening with a Minion Flip-off! This might be a new tradition!

O the horror!

Tomorrow is going to be a good time, because we’re getting together with Shane and Matt. And that’s always a good time!

FIrst, we’re heading to their place to have our Christmas exchange.

YES, I know it’s June! We didn’t quite make it to the point where we could say it was Christmas in July, but it was pretty damn close! Based on everyone’s schedules and activities, we just haven’t managed to do this before now. We’ve seen them a couple of times since Christmas, but it was going out and to a show where we couldn’t exchange gifts. It will be fun! Merry effin’ Christmas!

Then we’ll head to fabulous downtown South Bend and grab a bite to eat at CJ’s Pub (great burgers!) and hang out there until it’s time for the midnight showing of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at the equally fabulous State Theater.

It’s been about thirty years since I last saw Rocky Horror, guys. I saw it in college at a midnight movie with my friends Barb and Babes. It’s going to be fun to see it at the renovated beauty (work in progress) State Theater! Thanks to Drew for reserving four tickets for us!

You can count on pictures! I’m breaking out the fishnets!