Photojourna.list Blitz: Halloween! 2012

No one wants to trick-or-treat with Darth Vader.
Poor guy. But this year our treat-or-treating was lots of fun as we participated in the annual block parade (a lazy stroll down the block with all manner of chaos ensuing as older kids can't wait to get their clammy little hands on C.A.N.D.Y. and little kids have no idea what is going on.) A St. Louis tradition is to tell jokes before getting candy - something that didn't even extend 2 hours west were I grew up - but my mom enforces the tradition now that she's a part-time St. Louisian and most of the kids come ready. The Tin Man needed a little help from Glenda this year, but it all got sorted out and Dorothy was happy. Most jokes have a spooky twist, like, "Why did the skeleton cross the road?" By far the weirdest set of jokes we heard were from a group of kids that all came to a nonsensical punchline of "Get a job!" (And, no, they weren't dressed as political pundits.)
Indio and I went as Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story, while Alyse and Ruby were a pirate and a butterfly. While Indio kept his eyes on (and distance from) Darth Vader all night, Ruby was trying to figure out just what was going on. Daniel carved an awesome pumpkin to look like Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro; Mom doled out the candy, making sure to get a joke and not hand out seconds; Joe was our resident photographer for the evening. We were all in the spirit, making big plans for more candy and all out theatrics for next year's Halloween - except for Ruby and Indio who were still on the lookout for Darth Vader.

Menu and More: Concert Picnics

If you live in St. Louis and you don't know where you can drop in for a free concert then you aren't looking. Just about every ward, museum and park hosts a concert series. Though we missed a lot of the concerts this summer simply because we didn't have our act together, we decided last Tuesday afternoon to gather up a quick picnic dinner and head over to see a Journey Tribute band performing at Twilight Tuesdays at Missouri History Museum.

Just as important as getting to the event is packing a good picnic. Here is our impromptu concert picnic menu. Shopping for and making the menu was only 1 hour (not including driving around).


homemade pesto with tomatoes and mozzarella: Get cherry or grape tomatoes (extra points if you grew them), ciliegine mozzarella (those are just the small 'cherry sized' balls of mozzarella) and pop them into a container. Make some homemade pesto and place in a separate dish for easy dunkin'.

apple and fontina sandwiches: This is inspired by a sandwich I had from Mendocino Farms once. Our take was slices of apple and fontina cheese with a light smear of peach jelly (sounds slightly insane, but it was pretty good.) Cut into quarters for quality picnicking.

cucumber tea sandwiches: I love tea sandwiches. They are just so cute and easy to devour. I pulled a recipe off oprah.com - I thought she wouldn't let me down when it came to food - and they were okay. I wouldn't mind find a better cucumber tea sandwich recipe (hit me up if you have one!) Despite your recipe, you must always, I repeat - always - cut into quarters. Otherwise it isn't dainty.

poor girl's chocolate crepe: Get a good tortilla and heat it in a skillet. Take a good bit of Nutella and spread it in a line on your warming tortilla. Once the Nutella is a bit melted, fold in all the sides of your tortilla and you got yourself a poor girls chocolate crepe.  These folded dandies will save until you are done with the savory picnic and are ready for your dessert. Note on the tortilla: don't go low fat on your tortillas (you are making a faux chocolate crepe, for goodness sake) - those low fat tortillas will just split apart on you and your chocolate spread will be all over the place.

Okay, so summer is almost over, but here are some concert series that happen annually around St. Louis:

Missouri History Museum . Twilight Tuesdays

Missouri Botanical Garden . Whitaker Music Festival

St. Louis Zoo . Jungle Boogie

University City . Starlight Concert Series in Heman Park

Washington University . Jazz at Holmes

...and someone researched this a lot more than me and came up with this listing. Happy listening!

Review: Taste Bar . STL

Before too long you all are going to suspect I get paid to peddle for Gerard Craft's lineup of St. Louis restaurants*, but with food this good the reviews write themselves. That and the menus are very pork heavy, which speaks to my Midwestern soul (we aren't just corn-fed around here).


Ambiance.
I've been to Taste twice. Once, in the middle of winter, where we sat inside in a room at the back of the joint in a second floor with a view of the shotgun main floor. The lights were dim - so dim that I thought my eyesight was failing me. For some, this is romantic. For others (like me), it provides an opportunity to be paranoid about maladies causing the current symptoms of blindness. But, confessions of hypochondria aside, the place was cozy and the bar was where the real action lay - it sparkled with candles; it glistened with all kinds of bottles and all manners of bartending tools. Weekend revelers and foodies sat together for good food and drink.

The most recent time was just last weekend and -- having found the only summer night in a good, long while where Mother Nature had the decency to realize that 100 degrees was just too damn hot for anything after dusk -- we chose the patio. The patio sits on a massive sidewalk in front of the building and stops just short of the street. The neighborhood is charming with tree-lined streets, adorable retail facades and great people watching. With the sun setting and a nice breeze it made for a fantastic atmosphere.

Service.
I have absolutely no complaints with the wait staff that are quick with water refills, the final bill (something I appreciate) and to back up your selection of food or drink. I guess whenever the whole menu is fantastic, it is easy to say "Yes, that's good." and know you ain't lying.


The Taste test
From the spectacularly unique cocktail menu, Daniel got daring with a cocktail featuring duck fat infused Grand Marnier, lemon, mascarpone and pepper, amongst other liquors (name Ab-duck-tion, in case you are taking notes at home.) He reported the creamy drink was definitely something to try, with the citrus notes really lightening the potentially heavy ingredients. But, if a drink with duck fat, cheese and citrus isn't what you're after you got lots of other options.

A mere 22 food items comprise the menu of Taste - including appetizers, mains and desserts. But quality over quantity ruled. We selected pig popcorn (you heard me right), fingerlings with spanish sauce and manchego cheese plate from the 'Snacks' menu and then got serious with a summer vegetable tart and ricotta gnocchi from the 'Small Plates.' The summer vegetable tart and ricotta gnocchi were all they promised to be and more. Mmmm, mmmm...so much more. The tart pastry was fantastically crisp, the summer vegetables caramelized and piled on; the gnocchi were big, fluffy and savory, becoming the perfect thing to sop up the butter, orange, tarragon and bits of walnuts in the cast iron pan. Realizing we were satisfactorily full, we stopped short of dessert. Perhaps I'll have more to report on this in the future.


*Taste, in its original form, was a Gerard Craft production. My brief online research tells me in late 2010/early 2011 chef Adam Altnether bought Taste by Niche to become the chef/owner. So really this review becomes a quirky love letter to chef Altnether, rather than chef Craft. See, we have variety in our reviews.

Photojourna.list: Chinese Lantern Festival

The Chinese Lantern Festival at Missouri Botanical Gardens as close to magical as you can get in real life. The massive silk and wire lanterns (some are 3 stories high) are scattered around the grounds of the gardens and light up the summer nights. So glad we checked it out before the festival ends.

Show Me St. Louis

Our good friends Sam and Erin were in town for 36 hours and it was our mission to show them what St. Louis is all about. Our plan was to mix classic St. Louis with a bit of a local's take. For food, we went for variety: a local fast food chain, light fare and upscale dining. I know, I know, we didn't introduce them to a single can of locally produced Budweiser.

Imo's pizza
Toasted ravioli
Fitz's rootbeer
Schlafly beer
Chocolate Gooey Buttercake
Niche Restaurant
Cafe Osage
Kaldi's coffee


View St. Louis Tour - 36 hour in a larger map

Driving along the main corridor from University City to the Arch, we took in a sample of the architecture and neighborhoods that constitute St. Louis proper. This tour was by no means exhaustive, but with one afternoon of hitting the streets we exhausted ourselves and were quite satisfied with the progress made. (Complete route mapped above - the blue line was the afternoon route, the green was the course we took to and from dinner):
Delmar Loop
Central West End
Midtown through Grand Center
Downtown
Forest Park
Clayton
Benton Park

But it wasn't a total driving tour - we took in Laclede's Landing to the Arch Grounds on foot and then stopped by the Cathedral Basilica for a breathtaking stroll around the beautiful interior whilst taking a million pictures.

There are so many other places that would have been on my list with a little more time and energy. For those of you visiting St. Louis, here are some resources that may help with your tour:
Core of Discovery
design sponge: St. Louis City guide
Explore St. Louis
City Museum
Zoo Museum District
NYT Travel: St. Louis
Yelp

St. Louis Event Calendars:
Local publications: Riverfront Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sauce, Feast; St. Louis Magazine
ArtsZipper.com
KDHX Calendar
City of St. Louis

Photojourna.list: Circus Flora

Mother's Day 2012

For Mother's Day, I decided I wanted to go to the zoo. I wanted us to ride the zoo train and see some animals. Indio loves the zoo and loves shows about trains, I thought nothing could be better.

We wait for the train...
And wait (such patience)...
Wait for it, wait for it...
we hated it. (I didn't see that coming.)
Despite the train debacle and my terrible use of 'shortcuts' that took us away from our destinations, we still had a great morning at the zoo. And we became members!

Photojourna.list: Goings On

This last week has gone by in a blur. Last Friday night Daniel and I went to the Radiohead concert at ScottTrade Center in downtown STL. The stage was amazing, the music was good, the people watching was fantastic...so fantastic. I swear, I need a spy camera sometimes. Or I need to not totally dork out when I am trying to be sneaky. Ahem, anyway, prior to the show, we ate dinner at the breakfast-cum-Mexican restaurant Medianoche (Half & Half by day, Medianoche by night). It was delicious, I will give all the details in another post. (pinky swear on my underwear)

We woke up Saturday morning to our normal Saturday morning ritual of class at the YMCA and St. Louis Bread Company and then we went to Ruby's first birthday party. It was a technicolor dream...Alyse outdid herself (and me) with the decorations and planning for this party. Try to imagine if Pinterest and Martha Stewart had a love child and they threw her a rainbow-themed first birthday party. Completely awesome.

During the middle of the week Daniel popped over to Los Angeles for a 36 hour whirlwind and while the cat's away, the mice will...organize! Indio's room is now a vision of organization. The most impressive part is his closet can actually be opened without stuff tumbling out like a bad sitcom stunt.



I would be totally remiss if I didn't put in a word or two of last week's highlight of going to see our brother-in-law coach his alma mater high school team in hockey. The game was played at ScottTrade Center, where the Blues play, and it was an exciting game. Indio got into cheering on the team by following the students' lead. Although they lost, they did it in grand fashion and Indio now pumps his arm if you chant, 'Let's Go South!'

Photojourna.list: Trip to the Zoo

Sunday lived up to its name and graced us with a sunny, beautiful day. With temps in the 60s, we decided to brave the wilds of the St. Louis zoo, knowing that every man, woman and child within a 100 mile radius was likely planning on doing the same. We found the zoo was manageable and our little ones (Indio and his cousin, Ruby) loved it, as well as the adults. This photojourna.list is a two-for-one so you can take in all the pictures of Ruby and Indio and I took the liberty of making a few graphs to commemorate our trip. Perhaps I'll muster a PowerPoint presentation one of these days...






















































































































Another recap of the glorious outing on my sister's site.