Dose of Reality in South Bend

Just like anyone else, Tim and I get hooked on random reality shows every now and then. One that's been off and on this season (meaning - in between the Presidential debates and the World Series) has been "Kitchen Nightmares". It's hosted by Chef Gordon Ramsay, who also has another popular reality show called "Hell's Kitchen". Don't ask me what has gotten us so intriqued with these restaurant shows, but we are.

Quick synopsis: In Kitchen Nightmares, Chef goes to dying restaurants - whether because of horrible food, bad service, or cleanliness (mostly because of all three), and gets in their face... literally. He fires people, hires people, changes the menu and redecorates the restaurant.

So of course, when we heard Kitchen Nightmares filmed at "J. Willy's" in South Bend, we had to go. I mean, it's only 15 minutes from us - how could we not? Well, that was 3 weeks ago and the episode is schedule to air this Thursday on Fox. Hopefully J. Willy's will have a long and successful run.

Yes, Tim & our brother-in-law Sean both had the ribs.

The Real "Jimmy"

Hoosiers. Probably the best and most time-tested movie of all time... according to me :) The only movie I can quote line for line, point out video discrepancies and name all the characters.

If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. And you probably know that it's based on a real-life story featuring a small town basketball team - the Hickory Huskers - winning the Indiana state championship... all because of one shot. A shot made by Jimmy Chitwood. However, the real-life town is Milan, IN and the real-life Jimmy is Bobby Plump.

So imagine my excited when I read in a magazine a couple month's ago that Bobby's son operates a grill in downtown Broad Ripple (Indianapolis) called "Plump's Last Shot" - totally dedicated to the movie and to the real-life story.

So when we went down to Indy this past weekend to visit Tim's sister Mandy, she knew exactly where I wanted to eat.

"Plump's Last Shot" was exactly how I'd imagined - fun atmosphere and memorablia everywhere. But what I wasn't expecting was for who was there... Bobby Plump himself!

My kind of "celebrity"

Tim & I outside "Plump's Last Shot"

Truly in the Dawg Pound

It's no secret. I like football. And as a Browns fan who actually finished with a winning season at 10-6 last year - myself and a few other thousand Browns fans had something we'd never had before... hope. Well, it didn't take long for that to be dashed, as we started the season 0-3. So when I got this email forward from a friend today, all I could do was sigh...

Q: What do you call 47 millionaires around a TV watching the Super Bowl?
A: The Cleveland Browns.

Q: How do you keep a Cleveland Brown out of your yard?
A: Put up goal posts.

Q: Where do you go in Ohio in case of a tornado?
A: To the Browns Stadium - you never see a touchdown there.

Q: What do you call a Cleveland Brown with a Super Bowl ring?
A: A thief.

Q: What's the difference between the Browns and a dollar bill?
A: You can still get four quarters out of a dollar.

Q: How many Browns does it take to win a Super Bowl?
A: Nobody knows and we may never find out.

Q: What do the Cleveland Browns and possums have in common?
A: Both play dead at home and get killed on the road

The things I put up with being a Brown in Colts country...