Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Chicago Hot Dogs- Chris and Rob's

I needed to do laundry tonight so I decided to go across the street from the laundromat to eat and to the Chicago hot dog place- known as Chris and Rob's. There are three locations in the Twin Cities, in St. Paul, Fridley, and Minneapolis. I like looking around at all of the pictures on the wall each time I am there, and the employee recognized me as the one who had given their business card before. He did ask when I was leaving if I would be writing about it. I think it is so cool that this place is inside a former railroad car, though they've added onto it. I would say it was a fairly routine visit as it meant getting a chili cheese dog, no onions, tater tots, and a can of Sprite. I like how I can go someplace where I am known since I am there often enough.
   Doing laundry, well I guess there was a good story from this visit as well. Since I was asked to help with folding bedsheets just out of the dryer. This is kind of a two-person job. I would have liked seeing the Charlie Brown special on TV tonight but I already have the Thanksgiving special on video so I can watch it whenever I want. It in many ways was a big deal to give up a comedy night, but the day before a holiday I knew I had some errand running to do. After laundry it meant going to the library to print things, arrived during the final 20 minutes but it was long enough to get things done.
   After the library I did go to a Rainbow Foods and got a box of Hostess mini-muffins, blueberry. There isn't much left in most stores I've tried, if anything at all. It varies at to what is left, but more often than not it is the Donettes- at least in the snack cake section. Sometimes I've seen other items, like sweet rolls or fruit pies. But I am still being careful about checking the expiration dates before buying, giving me more time to eat them. Even checked what it looked like at the Wonder Bread and Hostess bakery outlet in Maplewood, where I was at a few days earlier. It was no real surprise to me when I pulled into their parking lot and seeing a homemade 'Closed' sign up, as there's no need to be open any longer if all of the inventory has been sold and there have been no more shipments.
   One of the news stories today was about the bankruptcy court approving the company's request to liquidate, which was expected after Hostess was unsuccessful in mediation talks with the bakers union. It did get mention on the ABC affiliate in the Twin Cities. I also decided to order a few souvenirs on E-bay, one of them was a Wonder Bread postcard from the Chicago World's Fair from 1933-1934. The other items were Wonder Bread magnets on bottle caps, and Hostess buttons with most or all of the characters used to advertise their products. Reminds me of the McDonaldland characters, but I know very little about the Hostess characters besides Twinkie the Kid.
   It was a fairly slow day at work, no surprise there when right before a holiday. But some of this was due to IT issues. I got one payoff report early, then the other two were in the mid-afternoon, with just over an hour to complete before our record-keeper left for the day.  

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