Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The tangled interwebs
Monday, June 28, 2010
Feed me, Seymour!
Today's sandwiches now offer either a thick fried ham steak or two large hamburger patties, and the cheese sauce is poured over the fries.
The name of the sandwich comes from the shape of the ham with the fries representing the horseshoe nails, and the heated steak platter as the anvil. If you order a Pony Shoe Sandwich, it is the same thing, but a smaller or half a Horseshoe portion (usually one slice of toast).
The "Horseshoe" or variations of it soon became a popular item in many Springfield restaurants. Today, every restaurant and chef serving this sandwich, seems to have his or her own secret cheese sauce recipe." (http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Sandwiches/HorseshoeSandwich.htm)
G & J were great. And I have to give a big tip of the cup to the spirit of Sammy. He was a sweet, wonderful old man dog and I am so grateful we were able to see him once more before he passed away. G & L, our hearts are with you.
Kansas City, MO--we discovered that Mike's Hard Lemonade and Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea Vodka make a killer John Daly. It was super to see B & M. We wish you guys the best in your new ventures with being new home owners and new careers (when did the mountain hippie kids grow up?!).
Piedmont, OK--home of my parents. When passing through OKC, OK on a Tuesday, check out the Iguana (see previous posts) for $2 taco/Tecate Tuesdays and then pop by SaraSara cupcakes for $2 cupcakes. I recommend the salsa flight (the Coral Snake was my favorite--pineapple, mango, habenero, onion--mmm). Who couldn't love a $2 Tuesday?
Wagoner, OK--part time home of Scott's parents (the other part is spent in Alaska). We found an Amish run restaurant, Dutch Pantry Restaurant & Bakery, out near there in Chouteau that has home cookin' buffet. It's good food that will fill you up. Note: you will need a nap after this meal.
Little Rock, AR--Popped in on the aunt and uncle and drank good wines.
Oxford, MS--Popped in on another aunt and uncle. Oxford is a lovely little place and if you haven't been, I highly recommend visiting. On the Square, we caught Ajax Diner--the sweet potatoes are to die for and the po' boys aren't bad either. My uncle says the fried okra is the best he's had. The next day we lounged on my relatives' porch which overlooked their huge backyard. We watched the purple martens flying around and introduced Asher to my little cousins. We took my uncle out for lunch at Newk's:
An express casual dining experience in a refreshing and stylish atmosphere with an emphasis on freshness and flavor. Serving fresh tossed salads, oven bakedsandwiches, California style pizzas, made-from-scratch soups and homemadecakes from Newk’s open kitchen. Come in and enjoy for yourself, and see the many good reasons why everyone continues to come back to Newk's Express Café!
This little joint is owned by the same guy that started McAllister's. I ordered the Newk's Favorite (mixed greens, grilled chicken breast, gorgonzola cheese, dried cranberries, grapes, artichoke hearts, pecans and croutons tossed with Newk’s sherry vinaigrette) and Scott ordered The Royal Club. This restaurant is franchised out and you can find them peppered around the south.
Clinton, MS--We stopped in on my grandmother for a few hours and she treated us to some amazing home cookin'. Ribs, cold mixed bean salad, potato salad, home grown tomatoes, watermelon, and good company. We loved seeing her and spending an evening just catching up. This grandmother is amazing and this was one of the few times Scott has really gotten a chance to be around her and hear the stories of my dad as a kid.
Vidalia, MS--My other grandmother lives here. Vidalia sits just across the mighty Mississippi from Natchez, MS--my birthplace. Natchez has the old antebellum homes and apparently very few wi fi spots (I need a whole other post to explain this) and not much that is open after 6pm. While there Scott puttered around helping my grandmother around the house while I graded frantically. We enjoyed some good Mississippi farm raised catfish and hushpuppies from Jugheads Fish Fry and hot tamales from the Donut Shop. Don't let the odd, unassuming exterior of this place fool you, this place has some rockin' tamales and the donuts aren't bad either. My grandmother also treated me to a much needed pedicure just before we took off.
New Orleans, LA--From Vidalia, en route to Houston, we detoured across Lake Pontchartrain to New Orleans . After a driving tour down Bourbon St. (yes, we drove it....welcome to the Taylor one car parade...), we parked the car on St. Louis and then walked over to Bourbon. We go to the strip just about the time happy hour hit on Friday, and holy Lord, New Orleans was coming to life. We were trying to find Cafe du Monde but found Cafe Beignet instead:
"Café Beignet is a cup full of New Orleans' best European traditions. For two hundred years, New Orleanians have savored every sip of their rich coffee accompanied by delicate, crisp beignets (ben-yays).
These golden squares, usually dusted with powdered confectioner's sugar, can best be described as a cross between a French pastry and an American doughnut. In New Orleans, beignets are enjoyed at a breakfast, for dessert, or any time for a special treat.
New Orleans' Café Beignet provides a grand cafe setting outside and in, and the best coffee and beignets anywhere. Breakfast Served All Day. New Orleans Cajun Specialties and Fried Seafood Also Available."
For this stop, we treated ourselves to beignets (obviously), red beans and rice, I had an iced coffee and Scott had a chicory coffee. It was exactly what we wanted when we planned this stop on the trip way back when. We got a taste of Bourbon St. (and all the titty bars with girls hanging out, quite literally...), ate some lovely foods, listened to some live music at the cafe, bought a few souvenirs including pralines and a hot pink and purple feather boa for music festivals later this summer.
Houston, TX--From New Orleans we trekked the six hours to Houston to spend time with another aunt and uncle and their schnauzer dog, Henri. This was an unexpected and very enjoyable stop on our voyage. Houston is hot as blazes and the humidity hovers around 90%+ but we sweated it out on their patio because their backyard is a wonderful place. My uncle had plants everywhere in big planters and in the ground: lime, lemon, orange, mango, pomegranate, avocado(!), fig, crape myrtle, cypress, and other trees. It was amazing. His philosophy on growing: I just put it in the dirt and if it grows, great. Excellent.
We got a nice tour of Houston and I have to admit, I found it to be a nice city. We had lunch at Goode Company Bar-B-Q where I had a chopped beef brisket on jalapeno bread sandwich and Scott had a sliced brisket on jalapeno bread. The baked beans here are amazing with the pork, apple, and pineapple in it. The cole slaw was good but the pecan pie was to die for--thick, gooey, loaded with pecans, tasting of caramel and cream and it just melted in your mouth.
"The Saturday before Labor Day in 1977, Jim Goode wandered into a failing neighborhood barbeque joint to have a late lunch. He struck up a conversation with the owner and mentioned in passing that he might like to have his own restaurant someday. Before he left, he'd made a deal to buy the place, and the original Goode Company Barbeque opened on Kirby Drive a few days later.
Early on, it was just Jim, his wife Liz, his uncle Joe Dixie and a handful of employees that they had inherited from the previous owner. It was hard work. Most nights, Jim and Joe Dixie slept at the restaurant, waking up every hour throughout the night to check the brisket. One slept inside, one outside, and they kept a shotgun nearby to protect the meat, the equipment and themselves, in that order.
From the very beginning, they were committed to producing the best barbeque in town. They agreed that success was a simple matter of doing things the "right way." Even if it was harder and took a little longer, it was worth the effort. Over the years, Goode Company Barbeque has developed quite a reputation around town. It's honest food prepared the "right way" - by hand, using time-tested recipes and the best ingredients."
Austin, TX--Austin, Texas snuck up on me. I had no idea what to expect, had heard that it is the best part of Texas, it's in hill country, yada yada yada, but what did that all mean? How liberal can anywhere in Texas really be, and honestly, what hills exist in Texas? Austin is all you've heard it to be. It is beautiful. The hills just roll along, Lake Travis and Lake Austin are beautiful, and it's a blue city. Not so much gun totin' as there are frat boys running around. Admittedly, if Austin wasn't in the very heart of Texas (I told Scott that the worst part about Austin was that it was surrounded by the rest of Texas) I would consider moving there. It is green and lush, the Colorado River water runs right through it. We stopped in Austin to see some old friends from Colorado, B & A. It had been years--degrees, wedding, moves--since we had last seen them so we had some catching up to do. We went up the road from their great little lake house on Lake Travis to Los Pinos Mexican restaurant. The margs are good, the salsa is hot, the veggie fajitas are tasty but the pozole is a-ma-zing. It was hot and came with a small plate of fixings for it: slices of jalapeno, cilantro, Mexican oregano (no jokes, guys...), and onion. This stuff had Scott and B sweating it out. It was so tasty I should have skipped the fajitas and just had the soup.
After dinner we headed over to Carlos 'N Charlie's. Now, I only know of Carlos N Charlie's as the notorious drinking spot for spring breakers in Mexico. I remember seeing the pics from when friends went in high school and college and I hardly expected to run into one in Texas but it does make perfect sense if you think about it. We sat around talking and drinking tall boy Lone Stars. PBR like but a little more body. They weren't bad. The thing about CnC, and I told A this, I really felt like I just wasn't undressed enough...ok, what I really said was "I'm not skanked out enough for this place" to which she replied "Yeah, I feel like a prude". There was a little band playing 80s and 90s covers and we laughed along at most of the songs.
B treated us to homemade Austin migas-style Breakfast Tacos that were delicious with fried tortilla chips, scrambled eggs, Morningstar grillers, tons of cilantro, onion, and topped with sharp cheese and Scott's homemade salsa. Gah, these were good! B, I'll let you cook breakfast for me anytime.
Ft. Worth, TX--And now our adventure finds us in the Ft. Worth area visiting Scott's aunt and uncle. They have a salt water pool that is so nice. We walked in the door after a terrible drive on I-35 (note: Dear Texas drivers, please know that the left lane is for passing, not driving slowly and braking suddenly). Seriously, I think Texas drivers are the worst drivers we have encountered yet on the trip... Anyway, we walked in the door yesterday and after a hug from his aunt I heard the magic words: "Do you want a margarita? I just made a new pitcher". Oh my word, this was the best solution for relaxing after a long drive. Scott's parents and sister and her bf came down, the cousins were over, and Asher was the star entertainer. She has the run of the backyard and as I type this I see that lazy little lizard sunning herself on the rocks above the pool.
It's been a trip. Thank you friends and family for the wonderful times, the hospitality, the support, and the love that you have shown us wandering gypsies. We have loved this part of our trip and are so grateful for you!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Days gone by
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The honeymoon phase 4
Saturday, June 12, 2010
It's been how long?
Friday, June 11, 2010
The car
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Hot, hot heat
Friday, June 4, 2010
The honeymoon phase 3
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Maladies, Melodies, allergies to dust and grain
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Oh goodness
We went to Indianapolis for the Indy 500 from late, late Friday through late Sunday. We managed to pack up a lot of the house before we left so there was still some left when we got home. We were so exhausted by the end of Indy, though, that we came home and passed out. Scott didn't even make it into bed. He was half on, half off and I was in a Benedryl haze. Pretty sure there was some drooling and snoring amidst the thunderstorm. We fell asleep with the windows open because it was incredibly stifling in the house and when the storms began I woke up thinking someone was trying to break down the window in the living room. Note that this would be impossible with the bars over them--again, Benedryl haze. I crept in there only to realize that the blinds were flapping around like mad. I managed to wrestle it closed and fell back into bed. Once the torrential rain began, I had to jump out of bed to close the windows in the bedroom only to realize that the meds had made my arms noodly. I was practically hanging onto the windows trying to get them closed with no luck. Rain beating in, thunder making me jump, I finally went and began shaking Scott from his stupor to help me. He stumbles to the window reaches up and slams them shut and then literally falls back into bed.
I should say that at this point in the move "bed" consists of rugs, thermarest bed rolls, sleeping bags and sheets.
We finally awoke on Monday around 7:30ish (heavy on the ish) planning to finish packing, clean, and do a walk through with the apartment people. By 9:00, the apartment people aren't in and we realize that they probably aren't coming in since it is a holiday. There was no notice about the office being closed, however, so I kept a diligent eye on it just in case. So we kept packing while trying to figure out a timeline. I had to teach from 6-9 and then grade two classes worth of discussion board work (67 students' posts). The final plan became "hang in Chicago, teach and grade frantically, and then hit the road around midnight." Great plan!
Not so fast, my friends. We needed to get in touch with J and G in Springfield to be certain it was fine if we busted up in their place at 4AM. J worked a double on Memorial Day and was working Tuesday morning. Their little guy has also taken up early mornings and gets going around 6AM. I had been sending messages to G during the day and then the day got away and I slacked on the messages. I taught, I graded, and Scott packed and cleaned. 11:30PM came and I sent a message. No response. I called both--no response.
We both blanked. What to do? Several plans flew around and we finally decided: sleep here for a few hours, get up at 4AM and hit the road by 5 so no one would be in the apartment office yet. We would be getting into Springfield shortly after J went to work and G and the little guy would be up.
We let Asher sleep wherever she wanted and I found her in the bedroom curled up next to her reflection in the mirror. We threw a tapestry on the floor with pillows and I used my raincoat as a blanket. We slept, got up at 4:30, threw the stuff in the car nd hit the road by 5:00ish. Scott drove, I dozed here and there, and we saw the sun rise on Chicago for the last time. We made it to Springfield just as planned with G and the little guy up and in the middle of a cereal breakfast and Dora the Explorer.
Oh, yeah, and the Blackhawks were playing last night so Scott went to the little work out room in our building and watched part of it there. 2 games up, they might really be Cup contenders.