Out on the Tiles

The old lady decided to visit her old college roommate in Bloomington yesterday. Then he decided to follow her back here because a friend of his was in New Albany, Indiana and he thought he might be able to hook up with her later. Big mistake: The Kentucky Derby Festival is officially underway and Thunder Over Louisville went down yesterday. Putting it bluntly, downtown Louisville is a fucking mess each year during Thunder; they actually close down the interstates leading to and from the city. Getting to New Albany from Louisville, which normally takes 15 minuts max, is a two-hour project on Thunder.

(Also, it was freakishly cold in Louisville yesterday, so all the yokels who turned out for Thunder froze their redneck asses off. Suckers.)

So college roommate decided to hang with us instead. We went with the Restaurant Experts With Expensive Taste to the Alameda Bar & Grill, a joint we've driven by about 724 million times since we moved here but never tried out. It was really good. Their "Texas Bluebonnet" is a dead ringer for El Mundo's "Blue Mundo." I'd definitely go back again.

Our friends bailed after the meal so we went to Seidenfaden Cafe, our neighborhood joint, or as the Brits would call it, our local. Seidenfaden is a strange place: It's an "old man" bar most of the time, but late nights and weekends, all the little self-styled hipster kids like to hang out there -- most likely because the drinks are very reasonably priced and the bartenders pour stiffly -- but thanks to Thunder, it was much less crowded than it usually is on a Saturday night. Also, they got a new pinball machine (well, it's new for Seidenfaden), so when the wife and the roommate started in on the "Remember that time..." trips down memeory lane, I was able to amuse myself.