Of books and barbecue

Every book I check out lately is a winner, so I pass them on to Cliff before returning them.  Sometimes this means giving up my Ipad while Cliff reads a book on it, but that's OK; I'm willing to sacrifice for the sake of my husband.  
The one I just finished yesterday is This is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper.  It's a little bawdy in places, so if that sort of thing bothers you, I wouldn't recommend it.  But I don't know when I've laughed out loud as much as I did at this book.  Cliff was reading a Rex Stout book at the time, and I told him, "I have your next book right here.  This leading character thinks just like a typical man."  
He's been laughing his way through it, just like I did, and at one point said, "This guy must have lived through all this.  You couldn't make this stuff up, it's too real!"  
Well, it isn't an autobiography, it's a novel.  But I'm sure the guy did use his life experiences as he wrote the book.  I found this novel on a list of sixteen books you should read before they hit the theaters, and the book I'm beginning today was on the same list:  Dark Places.  It's been awhile since I've read a mystery-thriller.  
Any time I see a book suggested, by a friend or an online column, the first thing I do is check out how people rate it on Amazon.com.  Of course, fantasy, romance and sci-fi are eliminated right out of the gate.  Those are not my cup of tea.  
So this morning I open my latest read and find out it's set in Kansas City.  *perk*  This should be interesting.  Just a few pages in, the main character is meeting up with a banker at a steak house ("the restaurant--- a great, old-school KC steakhouse--- is surrounded by hollowed-out buildings").  Now, I was reading this before breakfast, which means I was starving.  We already had plans to get some pizza today, since the danged old two-or-three pounds we're packing around won't come off anyway.  But when I read "KC steakhouse", my mind totally turned those words into "KC barbecue" and I said, "Cliff, I think I want Oklahoma Joe's instead of pizza today."

a barbecue joint in an old gas station

Because that's how I roll.  

Cliff wasn't thrilled about this turn of events, but we haven't eaten out in a long, long time unless you count Subway followed by ice cream cones and senior coffees at McDonald's, so he would indulge me.  

However, now that I've had my oatmeal (that's what we always have on mornings when I plan evil foods for dinner, like it all balances out, even though it really doesn't), I'm thinking I should just go back to the pizza idea.  We can travel ten miles to Pizza Hut and only spend $15 at the buffet, or travel 50 miles to Kansas and spend $25 getting the slab dinner and splitting it.  Sure, we could get the Z-man sandwich, but since we don't do Kansas City barbecue often, we like to do it right.  

Then there's the fact that if we leave the house, I'll actually have to wear something besides sweats and comb my hair.  Maybe I'll just stay home and read my book.