I had a serious case of the winter blues, so I asked my sister to meet me for lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Hickory Park in Ames. We've been going to this restaurant since we were little girls. Our parents used to take us to Iowa State University basketball games during winter break, and they would often treat us to lunch at Hickory Park or at Ruttle's. (Does anyone else remember Ruttle's? We loved their malts and burger bar.)
I checked ahead of time to make sure there wasn't a home basketball game, when the lines at Hickory Park are especially long. Luckily, we got seated right away. I was in the mood for fried food, maybe because it was 10 degrees outside, so we ordered an appetizer tray of onion rings, cheese balls and sweet potato fries. I especially loved the sweet potato fries! I'll be ordering these again next time.
My sister loves cherry cokes, and I decided to order one, too. Hickory Park makes them the old fashioned way, with cherry flavored syrup.
For lunch, I ordered the Saucy Southerner pulled pork, beef and chicken sandwich, with a side of cole slaw. Hickory Park has the best cole slaw. My sister ordered the cheeseburger. (She always orders a cheeseburger wherever we eat! But the Hickory Park burgers are terrific.)
Hickory Park offers an amazing ice cream menu, but instead, we ordered a side of pickles to end our meal. We gobbled these up quickly. We both love pickles!
After lunch, we bundled up in our winter coats and headed over to the new bowling alley on the west side of Ames. It was a great way to spend an afternoon. We both agreed we should bowl together more often. My sister won the first game, but I won the second! We were just happy to bowl a score of 100!
What does your family do to beat the winter "blahs"? I've been doing a lot of baking, but I try to get outside as much as I can, especially on the weekends.
