Flow State

Another week, another hot dog stand. Today I went to an old standby: Mustard’s Last Stand in Evanston, right across the street from Ryan Field.

Mustard’s is another small place with just a few counter seats inside, although they do have some outdoor tables. Fortunately, the weather cooperated, so we ate outside.

Today I only had one Chicago dog, so I added cheese fries. I prefer it when they give you the cheese in a separate cup. Less messy, more control. But let’s be honest, drowning the fries in cheese is pretty good, too.

The best part of the outing, though, was the company. I met up with my oldest friend. Oldest not in age, but in how long I’ve known him. We met in kindergarten and went to school together every year except freshman year of college. He went to a different college for a year, then transferred to UW-Madison. We ended up living together, along with some other guys, for our last two years. So, what is that? Something like 55 years of continuous friendship. Not bad. I probably should have included that in my streak post. We see each other about once a quarter, so it was good to catch up. And we got to do it at a place we’ve been going to since high school. Back then, we worked at a beach nearby, and we also had a friend who lived in the neighborhood. Mustard’s was a regular stop, along with Chuckwagon.

There’s something pretty great about sitting outside, eating a Chicago dog and cheese fries, and catching up with someone you’ve known since kindergarten. We’ve accumulated a lot of years and a lot of stories in that time. And somehow, we can still go back to a place we visited as teenagers and pick up where we left off.

Good food, good weather, good friend. That’s a pretty successful lunch.

Five down. 47 Chicago dogs to go.

Once again, I had to steal a photo from the internet because I forgot to take one.  I did take the dog and fries though!