Stop #23: Downtown Indianapolis (#?)

Stop 23 happened on the 23rd of June, which is one of my favorite days because it is, after all, my birthday.

Not only was it my birthday, but it was Fiancé's birthday, too.

Sadly, it may be Fiancé's last birthday, as he turned 30, which means he may well not live to see another birthday 'cause he's so damn old.

Of course, that didn't stop him from letting his maturity shine through.


Because it was my birthday, I enjoyed my current favorite, a Guacamole Steakburger. Again.


Fiancé enjoyed a chili. Well, he wanted to enjoy a chili. But actually, our friend Charlie was probably the only one to really enjoy a chili. As Fiancé's came out much earlier than the rest of the food, and he felt he should be polite and not eat until others got their food, nevermind that it was his birthday and all and, you know, the one day he really gets to get away with such behavior.


Charlie, on the other hand, had no qualms with the guilt associated with eating chili before others got their food.

Fiancé may have been the winner, however, as he did end up getting a fresh bowl of chili when the rest of the food actually did come out. So ... huzzah, Fiancé, for being a picky bastard? Even if he wasn't really in this instance, I'd like to point out that he most of the time is.

An added benefit of having a birthday at Steak 'n' Shake was that we got to open a couple of presents/cards there. Including this fantastic card from Sami and Matt, about an old man sharing his wisdom of what will keep you alive longest.


That advice was, namely, "Keep breathing as long as you can!"

Fiancé, please do that. :)

The birthday stop was also fun because we got to play the anagram game again.

And, in playing the anagram game, I got to show Sami my super mad skillz that make it so, when you Google "LAL UYO NCA TEA KENPCAAS," my blog is the first nine of 10 hits you get. She said her company would pay for search returns like that.

You hear that, Steak 'n' Shake? Someone would pay for the awesome skillz I have. Which, in a professional setting, would definitely not be spelled with a "z" on the end.

But back to the original point. Once again, we played the anagram game, and proved that, without a doubt, "LAL UYO NCA TEA KENPCAAS" cannot spell "ALL YOU CAN EAT PANCAKES." In fact, it surely must spell "STOP A NUN A LA CAKE ALE." I'm not sure how one would go about stopping a nun with cake ale, but cake ale sounds possibly tasty, and so I'm sold.

Unfortunately, birthday Steak 'n' Shake was not all joyousness and rainbows and unicorns. It actually wasn't rainbows and unicorns, at all, even though it was mostly joyous.

You see, I decided, since it was my birthday and all, I should try the cookie milkshake attempted on the last stop again. This time I did it right, though: I ordered a cookie dough milkshake and a pair of chocolate chip cookies as soon as I sat down.

Unfortunately, my milkshake came out. But no cookies arrived.

I asked our server, and she said that they had been out of cookies, but that they were making more.

I thought, "Awesome. 'Cause I have no real cooking skills, but I have done chocolate chip cookies before, and they take all of, what, 10 minutes?"

Unfortunately, time passed. And passed. And still no cookies.

Every time our server came by, I asked, with a hopeful look that if I'm lucky resembled the look my mom's dog gets when you go anywhere remotely near her treat container. And every time, she said that they still weren't ready yet, until she finally gave in and said that they weren't ready yet, but when they were, she'd bring me FOUR cookies for being so patient.

Not something I really needed on a day when I'd already had a piece of ice cream cake and was going to have a milkshake, but hey, at least I didn't realize she was probably being sarcastic until after the fact.

I, of course, left my milkshake sit untouched until those cookies came out, so I could give you this glorious photo of my concoction.


Sadly, this photo had to be timed, with Matt holding the cookie up until just as I pushed the button on the camera -- the milkshake was at that point so liquidy that the cookie would not stand upright as it was supposed to.

And what was worse? The cookies came out cold. Liar-liar-pants-on-fire, dear server at the downtown Steak 'n' Shake. Thanks for ruining my birthday!

Slightly kidding. The birthday was not ruined, even if the cookie dough cookie milkshake left me so disappointed that I fear I will never try it again.

("Don't worry," I know you're saying, "you still have 47 Steak 'n' Shakes to go! I'm sure you'll be up for giving it another try at one of them!"

And I'm sure you're right. Sadly, it won't be any time soon.)

Actually, it was, all in all, a pretty good birthday. I would like to thank Sami, Matt, Molly, Jen, Jamie, Charlie, Adam, Megan, and Marc for making my birthday awesome. And for making the quest more awesome, to boot.


Added note, I want to apologize for not being able to provide the store number for this location. I promise I went -- I just did not get a store number because somebody/ies pictured above got my Steak 'n' Shake, and as a result, I did not get a receipt. Thank you guys! :)