Kings of Leon's Crappy Concert: The Other Side of the Story

Kings of Leon's Crappy Concert: The Other Side of the Story

Kind of funny (click on the link above)

Loving Louisville, KY!

Though Louisville is only 150 miles or so from Carmi, IL, my hometown, I’d never spent any time at all in this city. It is the destination this year for members of the 99th Infantry reuniting another time to renew friendships and reminisce about WWII army days. Dad, Mom and I set off on Thursday morning along I-64, and arrived in early afternoon in time to greet some of the familiar faces in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel in downtown Louisville.

After resting up a bit, we headed out for dinner at a nearby restaurant, Bistro 310. If Mom and I had not gorged ourselves on the complimentary tortilla chips and hot cheese dip, we might have enjoyed our meal even more (mussels with frites and a glass of pinot grigio for me). As we stepped out of the restaurant, we saw a horse drawn carriage at the curb waiting for passengers. On the spur of the moment, we hopped aboard and took a twenty-minute tour of Louisville’s downtown. (See picture of us in the carriage above left)

It seems as pretty as St Louis, and has lots of the old early 1900’s type of beautiful brick architecture that is in our own city by the river. Another interesting feature are lots of building facades fancifully created out of pig iron, which was in production in Louisville at the turn of the 20th century. There are many new, taller buildings mixed in as well. I was impressed with all the large companies that are headquartered in Louisville, like UPS, Humana, Papa John’s, Argon, YUM group and others.

The next day, the large air-conditioned motor coaches took our group out into bourbon country to visit a distillery at Bardstown, KY. There are many distilleries in the countryside, using the wonderfully pure water that is filtered through the limestone in the earth here for the Kentucky whiskey that is known all over the world. We toured one of the smaller, and probably the prettiest one, Maker's Mark. Sampling bourbon in the tasting room at noon, I didn’t find it especially appealing, but could appreciate that it might be nice to have a thimbleful on some cold wintry night, sitting fireside after dinner! Or possibly a mint julep would go down well on Derby Day, too.

Gaga for Gaga

The long-awaited concert by Lady Gaga was last Saturday night.  I bought my tickets within 5 minutes of the box office being opened online, and had to do it from Paris last April.  Therefore, I thought I would have some of the best seats in the house, which was not the case.

Regardless, Lady Gaga put on a show that blew our socks off.  Two hours and ten minutes worth of singing, dancing and other pyrotechnics rocked the house of ScottTrade Center in St Louis.  Lady Gaga herself was in every song, singing, dancing, playing the piano, and off the stage only for brief costume changes.

Just walking in the door, you could feel the pulsing excitement.  Kids had gone all out to dress up in Lady Gaga sorts of clothing.   I wore a clean white t-shirt and blue jeans, and kind of stood out in the crowd.  Plus I was also a good forty years older than most of the other concert-goers!

Just Dance was the opener, and the closer was Bad Romance.

Oasis

Lunchtime at Brasserie Niche has proven to be a small respite from hospital visits.  Though we wish we were eating at the nice little restaurant for other reasons that the fact that we are down that way for a serious medical situation, this European style restaurant can take us away for an hour or so.

My favorite has turned out to be a wild mushroom tartine (open faced sandwich of sauteed mushrooms, and gouda cheese, sitting on top of a toasted slice of baguette).  Another time I also enjoyed a gigantic hamburger with a mountain of skinny pommes frites, homemade mayonnaise on the side, but think a better choice could have been made health-wise.  Steve has tried the salade niçoise, and rates that very highly.  Steve is pictured sampling the steak tartine, which was also perfect.   Chef Gerard Craft has a winner in this more casual offshoot of his  main restaurant in Soulard, called Niche. 



The trees along the sidewalk provide enough shade that we have been able to sit outdoors in spite of some hot days. Just for a second, you might imagine that you are in a sidewalk cafe along the Rue de Rivoli in Paris.

My feelings exactly

WFO in Keyesport

Steve's been spreading the gospel of pizza pie from a wood fired oven (wfo) for quite a long while.  His main acolyte has so far been Mark Meyer, who has built an exact replica of our oven at his farm in Keyesport, IL.  In fact, it might even be constructed with a higher level of craftsmanship since Steve had to make all the mistakes on his own oven which were corrected in Mark's oven.

At any rate, we are now the beneficiaries of lots of good food straight from farm to table when we visit the Meyer Farm.  It cannot get any better than last night.  While thunder and lightning rolled around us to the north and the south, it stayed dry and comfortably breezy on the pretty patio.  The fantastic food started coming as soon as we arrived.   A platter of hot zucchini fritters accompanied by a cool yogurt dip was ready to go with the first glasses of dry white wine. 

We enjoyed conversation and games of bocce ball on the freshly mowed lawn.  We further inspected Mark's small but extremely productive garden full of broccoli, fennel, several varieties of tomatoes, beans, herbs, etc., and examined his fruit trees loaded with peaches now, and pears and apples still to come.  Even his rowdy patch of raspberries looks like it is having a banner year. 

When we finally all sat around the table, our eyes popped as the beautiful tomato and mozzarella starter was set before us.  A small glassful of basil sorbet was alongside this dish, and we used Angela's pretty teaspoons to drain every drop.  Nicole outdoes herself with every meal in both conception and execution. 

There was an interval as Jamie Oliver's roasted chicken caesar salad dish was in preparation.  Mark and I paired up as a team against Jeff and Angela in a round of bocce ball, and I believe for the first time ever I was a winner (thanks, Mark!)


The main dish was a resounding success, and the two huge bowls of salad were cleaned to the bottom.

The grand finale was fresh peaches, a wonderful peachy cake and homemade ice cream.  Again, we licked the plates clean.

Another great evening atop the hill on the Emerald Road concluded with fireflies winking in night.

This recipe is worth trying at home in your own (indoor) oven:

Crunchy Crispy Chicken Legs Caesar Salad

6 to 8 chicken chicken legs with thighs
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 tab olive oil
Salt & pepper
8 to 10 slices of pancetta or bacon
1 loaf of uncut bread ripped into chunks
1 Romaine lettuce

Caesar Dressing
2 or 3 anchovies
½ clove garlic
1 tab creme fraiche
Juice of 1 lemon
½ cup oil
¾ - 1 cup grated fresh parmesan

Chicken
Peel off the leaves from the rosemary stalk and bash together with the oil, salt & pepper in a mortar & pestle.
Rub all over the chicken.
Place some extra sprigs of rosemary and the bread on the bottom of a cast iron pan (or a heavy based roasting dish), place the chicken over & bake until cooked and crispy. (The bread will soak up all the chicken juices & oils and these will be used as the croutons in the salad)
Remove from oven, lay over the pancetta/bacon, return to oven & cook until pancetta/bacon is crispy.

Caesar Dressing

Place the anchovies, a little of the anchovy oil & the garlic in a mortar and pestle and smash together well.
Add creme fraiche, lemon juice & parmesan cheese.  Mix well then add the oil and mix until combined & smooth.

Salad
Place the Romaine lettuce leaves into a bowl.
Take the chicken from the oven and tear off the meat then rustically chop up with the pancetta/bacon & bread (reserving some bread & pancetta/bacon for topping).
Mix the chicken, pancetta/bacon and bread in with the lettuce leaves and drizzle over the dressing,
Sprinkle over the reserved bread & pancetta/bacon & shave over some fresh parmesan.

the Status

It's been hard to blog while Mary Lou has been in the hospital.  The best news I have had in a long while is that Mary Lou is free to drink as much water and orange juice as she likes.  Since she has had nothing by mouth since June 29, one can only imagine how horrible it is to have a dry and parched mouth on top of all the other pain and suffering that goes with chemotherapy, surgery and related infections.  While this is just a baby step overall, it feels like a huge leap forward.  We have set up a web site for friends and relatives to check in on Mary Lou's condition.  It is called the Status.   It has been wonderful for keeping everyone up to date on daily progress without the necessity to let everyone know in individual phone calls about Mary Lou's illness.   And now a shout out to all the brothers, who have rallied round in the most spectacular fashion.  Thanks Stan (#2), Dave (#3) and Greg (#4) from the wife of Steve (#1).   Plus, I would be horribly remiss not to thank all the mates and children of the brothers for allowing them to spend this time with Mary Lou and Jack. 

Ringo is 70???

I still remember wearing my new Beatles t-shirt to my sixth  grade class room, and feeling very cool.


I also remember getting my first look at a Beatles performance on a Sunday night at my aunt and uncle's house on a black and white TV. My parents were playing bridge with Aunt Ruth and Uncle Dick, but we kids could hardly wait for the plate spinners and other mediocre acts on the Ed Sullivan Show to finish up so we could get a look at the slightly subversive seeming singing group from Britain. Finally John, Paul, George and Ringo appeared. My cousins and I were astonished at the collar length hair and pointy black boots of the Fab Four, and even the grown-ups trooped in to get a look at this wild new group.


I never had a favorite Beatle like some of my friends did, but frankly, I still have great affection for both Paul and Ringo, and love that they keep on keeping on.

In the New York Times article about Ringo's 70th birthday, the interviewer asked him what he wanted for his birthday. And, as it ever was, Ringo answered: "You know what I’m asking for: peace and love."

Super fast cat attacks !!!

Worth waiting for. . . .

Our vegetable garden is not very big - one raised bed with 4 rows of pole beans, one raised bed full of basil, and one raised bed with 4 (scraggly) tomato plants.  Our delight is to harvest a basketful of fresh green beans just before steaming and serving with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt.  If we get all fancy, we might shake on some thyme.  The two or three months we are able to harvest are anticipated greatly.  Thanks, Steve, for all your effort in this endeavor!

Hair today, gone tomorrow!

Emily­ just donat­ed 13 inche­s of beaut­iful brown hair to the Ameri­can Cance­r Socie­ty to be fashi­oned into wigs for patie­nts under­going chemo­thera­py.


Em has been growi­ng out her hair for a coupl­e of years with this inten­tion, of cours­e witho­ut the knowl­edge of what would be happe­ning with her grandmother Mary Lou today­. But what a great gift at a very fortu­itous time.


By the way, the look is sensational, Emily!

If you can't cry, try laughing

Hot town, summer in the city....

[blog title courtesty of The Lovin' Spoonful]


Known the world over, Ted Drewes concretes are one of the compensations for St. Louis' incredibly hot, humid, sultry summer weather. 

A concrete, for those of you who sadly don't know, is a cool concoction of custard ice cream that is so thick and creamy, you can turn the cup upside down with a spoon in it, and not a drop will spill.  [see photo demonstrating same on my concrete last night]

There are a myriad of ingredients you can add to the vanilla custard at Ted Drewes.  Steve's favorite is blueberries.  I like to switch it up between banana and chocolate chips, or Reese's (blobs of peanut butter and chocolate).  And it's not just a tiny bit of flavor - there are lots of blueberries, or lots of chocolate, or lots of whatever it is you ordered in your frosty cup.

As you drive up to the old-fashioned ice cream stand, you immediately feel dismay because there are literally a hundred people milling about in front of the joint.  But the workers inside the stand are fast moving, well-trained, and keep those customers moving quickly.  It takes maybe five minutes between when you walk up and get in line, and then are putting that first spoonful of refreshment into your mouth. 


We went last night at around 9:30 - still 98˚ on the thermometer, with heat radiating from the black asphalt pavement.  Ted Drewes made us forget the sweat rolling down the backs of our necks.


Woo-hoo! 

Shakespeare in the Park - 2010 (or the play's the thing)

This year marks the ten year anniversary of Shakespeare in the Park in St. Louis.  The beautiful venue in Forest Park has always been a draw, and generally we have excellent picnic food to enjoy before the play.  Steve and I have not gone every single year, but we've gone to many of them.  Some years it has been freezing cold, some years we've been rained upon (and even rained out - though it takes a lot for that to happen).  One year we observed a woman breaking an ankle as she stepped into a hole in the ground right next to us, and she had to be carried out on a stretcher.  That was more drama than we bargained for.

This year we went on the absolute last night of the performance season, and it was boiling hot.  Max joined us, and we had our usual good picnic repast:  soba noodles with a Thai seasoning, nice salami and Swiss or turkey and havarti sandwiches, chilled bottle of rosé.   

But the most amazing thing of all was that it was the very best performance of a Shakespearean play of the whole ten years!  The production of Hamlet was top notch - and it is a play that has everything:  humor, tragedy, exciting swordplay, ghosts, doomed love, madness.  The play itself has so many well known lines that it might seem too familiar.  But we hung on every word during the entire three hour performance.   The actors were  powerful across the board from Hamlet himself to the gravediggers #1 and #2.


Bravo!


Just a few of the more familiar lines:

"To be, or not to be: that is the question".

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend".


"This above all: to thine own self be true"


"Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't."


"That it should come to this!".


"The lady doth protest too much, methinks".


"In my mind's eye".


"The play 's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king".


"Brevity is the soul of wit".


"When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions".


Good-night, sweet prince; And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

You've got to raise'em up right

And so we have, with Max mastering the grill at his condo complex.  We have enjoyed a couple of meals now, planned and prepared by Max, and served up with panache on the patio.


The first time, Max perfectly grilled lamb kabobs and a side dish of asparagus.  The second night, he served  the ever wonderful chicken sausages (a choice of Italian seasoned or Buffalo Blue Cheese) you can find at Whole Foods.   A nice cherry tomato and fresh mozzarella salad accompanied the sausages.