Happy Hanukkah to everybody celebrating tonight in Latkeland.

We had lunch yesterday at Alfredo’s Steakhouse in Forney, Texas. We’d been driving past it for years on our way to other restaurants and finally decided to give it a shot once we noticed the parking lot was full at an odd time of day. Now we know why! Alfredo’s is NOT a trendy restaurant that’s trying to act like a 1950s diner; IT’S THE REAL DEAL where all the food is made from scratch by Alfredo himself with his own two spotless little hands. They’ve got huge portions, Flintstone-size dinnerware, retro prices, adorable round dinner rolls and pour real gravy on practically everything. Sam ordered a breakfast burrito for $4.99 that could have been the centerfold for this month’s issue of Popular Obesity. They even have liver and onions. LIVER AND ONIONS! We can’t wait to go back because Alfredo’s is only 15 minutes from home and we want to try everything on the menu.

For your possible interest the following map indicates: A) Howdygram headquarters; and B) Alfredo’s Steakhouse on U.S. 80 in Forney.

Incidentally, we almost got to meet Alfredo but he was too busy to horse around in the dining room with customers. I tried to find a photo of him online but had no luck, so here’s a picture of Cesar Romero instead.

Weather.com says there’s a cold front heading for Dallas tonight, which explains why my knees were stiff as a board when I woke up this morning and why I decided to stay in bed for an extra hour and skip our planned junket to Costco. I sent Sam by himself to load up on some of our favorite crapola, which included: 1) a gigantic jar of shockingly-tasteless dry-roasted peanuts; 2) a two-pound tub of rotisserie chicken salad; 3) a carton of Angus 100% beef fully-cooked char-grilled hamburger patties; 4) a couple of overstuffed calzones; and 5) a large package of sliced pepper jack cheese. Sam said he got really excited at the checkout when he realized he might be getting out of Costco cheap this week except at the last minute they tacked on our annual membership renewal and loused everything up.

The Howdygram would like to extend its warmest wishes for a happy Hanukkah to everybody celebrating tonight in Latkeland. Thank you and shalom.

This just in from our Sports Desk! The Irving, Texas, police have reported that Cowboys linebacker Jerry Brown died yesterday in an early morning car crash, and Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent was charged with intoxication manslaughter in Brown’s death after ramming into a curb at high speed and flipping his vehicle while driving drunk. I’m not saying this is an excuse or anything, but if I tackled noses for a living I’d probably get plastered, too.

I have no agenda for the rest of the evening except for dinner and a hot shower. Since Sam is asleep in the family room (his third nap today) and showing no interest whatsoever in food, I’ll probably be dining alone unless you’d like to drop in for a while and watch The Shop Around the Corner starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. Let me know so I can turn on the driveway light.