Carol and I wanted meat. Barry & Buffy wanted meat. It was time to do something about it.

We drove into the city to pickup B&B. First stop - breakfast at the Salt & Pepper Diner on Clark Street, in the shadow of Wrigley Field. Filled up with omelettes, bacon and coffee, and then it was time to hit the road. We drove all the way from Chicago through Indiana to Sawyer, Michigan to hit our favorite place for meat - Falatic's Meat Market. We've been there before - it's not far from my sister Diane's house in Sawyer. We think this is a quality place. For us, it may be an hour and a half ride, but it's worth it. It really all started because we needed filets for the New Year's Eve party at B&B's, and, well, we all just wanted meat. So, combined, we must have been there for half an hour and spent just shy of $400 on beef, veal, chicken, lamb, and sausages. The owner (Ron) is just really a nice guy. They even helped us out to the car (it was a lot of meat). Then after a quick stop at the Truck Stop in Sawyer for a potty break, we drive all the way back to the city, but to Costco over by Damen and Clybourn. We've stopped for lobster tails (about 9-10 oz) to go with the filets for the dinner. Of course, there were a few other things to pickup for B&B (like brie for the party and other things). Then it's off to Binny´s Ivanhoe Castle on Clark for wine (the champagne has already been taken care of) and some paté. Finally, it's back to B&B's. But we're not finished. We brought with our FoodSaver, so now it's time to vaccu-seal all of the meat we bought today. B&B's freezer is now full of meat. Carol didn't bring enough of the plastic material to make enough bags for everything that was bought, so we brought home our chicken to seal it at home. Long day, but damn it - we got our meat!