Friday, November 11, 2011

Stop #38: Anderson (#229)

The early part of October brought me and my quest to the Anderson Steak 'n Shake.


And by Anderson, I don't mean that guy who took over Oprah's time slot. Nothing against him, but he's not Steak 'n Shake, and he certainly doesn't house a Steak 'n Shake.

However, there's a decent chance you've heard of Anderson, or at least someone from Anderson. Especially if you watch some of the terrible MTV reality television (don't worry, I won't make you admit it here).

You see, Anderson is home to America's favorite "Teen Mom":

... it's Amber!

You may also recognize Amber's baby-daddy:

... it's Gary!

And you may be familiar with their shenanigans:

... domestic abuse!

I was hoping they'd show up, and then there could be a small recreation of what nearly went down back on Post & 25th. Sadly, they did not show up.

I hit (ha ha!) (okay, that's probably not actually funny, and neither is domestic abuse, but I do have to say that when you proceed with your domestic abuse in front of your reality TV cameras, you can't be surprised when you get called on it and, hey, the intelligence level that goes along with that kind of IS funny) the Anderson Steak 'n Shake with a friend from my part-time gig, Jen.

Jen's awesome people 'cause she got me some really cool wedding gifts:

A Steak 'n Shake t-shirt ...


... and the Steak 'n Shake trivia cards!


Turns out the trivia is not so much about Steak 'n Shake as it is about random facts that can be loosely tied to Steak 'n Shake.

Jen will share an example:

Every Steak 'n Shake Milk Shake is topped
with a maraschino cherry. How do you
pronounce maraschino?

While at the outset, this question SOUNDS like it will be about Steak 'n Shake, in reality, it is about CHERRIES and only loosely tied to Steak 'n' Shake through the fact that the cherries are tossed on top of the milkshakes.

They're still fun, but it made me a little sad, that it wasn't all Steak 'n Shake trivia directly.

Oh, and if you said it's pronounced "mar-uh-sheen-oh," you're wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. And have something in common with me. :)


Our server, Ashley, started asking us questions once she saw us sitting there with Steak 'n Shake trivia cards. I have to say, she was pretty fantastic, or at least I thought so, because she was actually excited by my quest. She asked questions, and then kept asking additional questions when she stopped by the table to bring us food and refill drinks and such.

That's pretty much all you have to do for me to like you, apparently: tell me my quest is cool.

Also, bring me and my friends fantastic food:


Yes, I am horrible: I got a Guacamole Burger, French fries, AND a grilled cheese.


... oh yeah. And Frisco sauce for my fries. Which I ended up using on the grilled cheese. Which is kind of like having a Frisco Melt minus the meat. So, while tasty, probably not something I'll do again until Lent. Unless I give up Steak 'n Shake for Lent. *Gasp* The horror!

In addition to being occupied by trivia cards while we ate food, Jen and I gave the anagram on the back of the placemat a go again.

And, wonder of wonders, discovered that it was actually a new anagram!


Did I mention it was a super-intense anagram? Seriously. Look at all those letters. Just look at them.

Fortunately, I did figure out what secret hidden message Steak 'n Shake was trying to convey this time.

UBYREREBL ASNPAEKC
YUTNROCLILKEST
OTBLOPROEL ' N USEGASA TLISEKL

translates to

ACKBAR'S BALLS, RUSTY SLINKY, GIN PEE, CAB LUTE, TROLL PELT, NOOO RUE EEK.

Clearly, someone wants us to use these ingredients to make some form of a witch's brew that would kill weasels, which we would later rue doing.

By the time we finished eating, got through some trivia, and finished up the anagram, a couple hours had passed -- and we STILL hadn't seen Amber and Gary.

It was a sad, sad night. Thankfully, Ashley was fantastic, so we at least left in good spirits.

2 comments:

  1. I could never, ever, ever, ever imagine you giving up Steak n Shake for Lent.

    The horror, indeed.

    Sincerely, a Minnesotan who is happy she doesn't have cable because otherwise there would be Teen Mom marathons on her television

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  2. Good to see you're still truckin' with your challenge :)

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