Visit: Hannibal MO; Part One or Our Arrival

As I mentioned in this post, J and I enjoyed a little weekend getaway in Hannibal, MO to celebrate our first anniversary.  And boy was it fun!  I originally was going to share all of the details and all of the photos in one post but there are too many words and too many photos to share in just one post so I'll be splitting them up into three parts (arrival, afternoon and morning) and posting it all over the next several days!

We began the morning by filling up on delicious iced coffee from our good friend JDP at Cafe Rationale.  Afterwards, we headed back to the house so J could get a few hours of bar exam studying in before hitting the road.  I finished reading The Princess of Nowhere, a quick read I had checked out from the library days before (check back tomorrow for a review!), and got done the chores necessary for our trip: packing, putting out extra food and water for Woods, cleaning his litter box, cleaning out the fridge of anything that would go bad while we were gone and taking out the trash.  After a quick but delicious lunch, we hit the road.

Pictured: Smoked Gouda, turkey and cranberry apple chutney sandwich with Caesar salad

I drove on the way there so J could get a few more hours of studying in for the weekend which was fine with me because I had the Dixie Chicks' Taking the Long Way to sing along with!  We arrived in Hannibal just after two o'clock and promptly checked into our Bed and Breakfast.

We stayed at Lulabelle's Bed and Breakfast which was a bordello in the early 1900s run by a madam from Chicago in its former life.  According to the B & B's promotional materials, the building was one of few that was designed and built specifically for its purpose.

See that grey and yellow box peaking up over the hill there on the left.  That would be a train and a foreshadowing of things to come!

We stayed in the Purple Passion room (all of the rooms have very suggestive names to go with the theme) which was quaint and perfect for our needs.  In our room at least (I don't know about the others) visitors had taken to signing and dating bars of soap or wine corks and leaving them behind as a souvenir.  The bars of soap were literally all over the room and it was fun to read them and the occasions for which people had stayed there to celebrate (engagements, honeymoons, anniversaries).

After we checked in and got settled into our room (including having an ice bucket brought to the room for some champagne we brought along), we decided to explore Main street a little bit before heading to the Mark Twain Caves nearby.  We first stopped by Java Jive which billed itself as the first coffee shop west of the Mississippi (get it?) for some coffee.  We got a cappuccino (for J) and  an iced Chai latte (for me) to go and walked up and down Main street looking in the little shops and generally getting a feel for the area.

When we turned to head back to our room, we saw a white lighthouse at the far end of the street.  I had read about the Mark Twain Lighthouse online--like in Springfield with Lincoln, almost everything in the town had Mark Twain's name attached to it even if it was built after he lived/died.  Our favorites were the Mark Twain soda dispensers and the restaurant that promised Mark Twain Fried Chicken.  We decided a lighthouse in Missouri was worth seeing and wanted to get a closer look.  On our way up there, we came across this lovely bronze statue of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

Halfway up the long flights of stairs was a lookout area that we learned used to be the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge.

Built as part of the New Deal in 1936 and demolished in 2001, the Mark Twain Bridge was a major go-between over the Mississippi River.  Now it is a great place to look out over the river and take in the sites.

Ironically, due to some large overgrown trees in the area, the views from the bridge were better than they were from the lighthouse itself.  The lighthouse's tower itself was padlocked shut, which might have something to do with the lackluster views.  There was also no explanation anywhere of why the lighthouse was built or even what year it was constructed.  Tourism fail!

Lots of green make for a somewhat obscured view of the river

On our way back down, we came upon a house nestled in the hillside there with two lovely orange tabby cats.  They were very sweet and could have been Woods' long lost siblings!

The one in the back looks especially like Woods!

After our little walk around town, we got in the car and headed to the Mark Twain Caves for some cave-exploring and wine tasting, which is where the tale from our weekend getaway will pick up tomorrow! 

In the meantime, have you ever played tourist in a nearby city?  Any summer trips on the horizon?  Where to?  I'd love to hear all about it!

Weekend Teasers and Menu Monday

We had another busy but productive weekend around here--I'm beginning to wonder if there is any other kind!  I'll be posting a full recap post tomorrow but for now I thought I'd share a few teaser photos and our menu for the week.

First, the photos...

Saturday project

Our wares from the Farmer's Market

Lemon and garlic greens risotto

Now, the menu...

Monday: Leftover Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo with local andouille sausage courtesy of the Farmer's Market--recipe and photos to follow!
Fresh Blackberry Pie 

Tuesday: French Onion Risotto with fresh salad greens from the Farmer's Market--if our original recipe works, we will be posting the photos and recipe as well!

Wednesday: Vegetable Fried Rice with Bacon--recipe and photos to follow!

Thursday: In honor of Cinco De Mayo, Steak Fajitas, Black Bean Salad and dos cervezas (beer)


What's on your menu this week?

Friday Friday Friday

I don't think I've been so excited for a Friday in a long time.  After working all weekend, our boss gave us today off which means I will be spending the day doing whatever I feel like doing!  I have already had some delicious coffee at this lovely establishment and will be spending the rest of my day doing the following:

• Shopping for groceries
• Making a vanilla dutch baby for breakfast topped with fresh fruit--pictures and recipe to follow!
• Shopping for some spring-time accessories at the Mall
• Making a crisp goat cheese salad for lunch--pictures and recipe to follow!
• Catching up on some of my favorite shows (and blogs!)
• Spending an hour or so at Barnes and Noble reading more of this month's BBC book
• Attending a cake and cocktails 1st birthday party this afternoon
• Making lentil and cilantro-cucumber yogurt burgers for dinner
• Watching a few more episodes of Mad Men

What's on your agenda today? 

Happy Friday everyone!

P.S. I just realized that the title of my post closely mirrors that annoying Rebecca Black song Friday.  That was purely by accident and my apologies if the song is now stuck in your head!

P.P.S. This post has no pictures because my Photobucket account (which I use to host my photos) is down.  On the bright side, I get three months of Photobucket Pro free for the trouble!

Saturday Night

After spending two weekends away (one to South Bend and one to Peoria), it is nice to be home for a change!  Yet somehow, I still have managed to stay fairly busy.  Here's what I've been up to:

Friday:

• Ventured to a local Asian food store to buy some ingredients for homemade miso soup (the Hondashi in the photo above) and some other Asian essentials for the next time we have a sushi night--photos and details to follow!
• Got my car stuck in the snow behind our house
• With the help of some good friends, got said car out of the snow
• Watched The Business of Being Born on Netflix Instant 

Saturday:

• Attended a coffee cupping with the friends who had come to my rescue the night before
• Got my hair cut and colored--photos coming soon!
• Bought some new clothes from New York and Company--photos and details tomorrow!
• Started watching The Pillars of the Earth

On the docket:

• Dinner with some friends at a local sushi restaurant
• Church
• Cupcakes with my little from Big Brothers, Big Sisters
• Making guacamole and blackberry pie for the Super Bowl party we are attending
• Watching the Super Bowl

What's on your agenda this weekend, friends?

Weekend of Freedom

J is finished with his second to last finals ever (woo!) and this weekend will definitely be a celebration of that new found freedom!  When we are not watching some new (to us) television series and movies on Netflix or shopping for the last of our Christmas presents for family and friends, we will be doing the following:

• Tonight: having dinner with Ashlee and her husband JY at Pi.  Pi specializes in cornmeal crust deep dish Chicago style pizza. It is so good President Obama had it made for him at the White House, causing quite a stir amongst Chicago pizzeria owners!
• Saturday: heading to an event at the Rams stadium for some holiday festivities with my little.
• Sunday:  Ashlee and JY are joining us again for dinner, this time at our house.  We will exchange presents and I am going to decorate our table for the occasion.  Stay tuned next week for details!

How will you be spending your last weekend before Christmas, friends?

Happy weekend!

Weekend, weekend, weekend

I am heading back to Peoria this weekend to spend some time with my grandparents and relative who will be in town for: Oyster Stew!

More details (with a recipe or two) next week but for now let me just say, it is delicious and a yearly tradition in my mom's family.

The menu for this weekend already has me drooling:

Tonight: KofC (Knights of Columbus not KFC) fried whole catfish served with baked potato and rye bread

Tomorrow: My grandpa's French Onion soup, Caesar Salad (with homemade dressing and croutons), and steak on the grill--never mind the temperatures will be in the teens!

Sunday: Oyster Stew, ham sandwiches and relish tray.  What can I say, we love our relish trays!

There is loads to come next week, including recipes, photos, another book review and a super special holiday surprise you won't want to miss, so stay tuned!

Have a safe and happy weekend everyone!

Weekend's Here

The weekend's finally here.  Adjusting to Daylight Savings Time seemed to take more out of me this year, so the weekend is much welcomed!

I plan to do a few things this weekend:

• Laundry (I never made it to the laundry mat on Monday)
• Menu planning
• Grocery shopping
• Read (and hopefully finish) one of my books
• Go out to dinner with friends tonight after work
• Go to a concert tomorrow night with Ashlee
• Write my first letter to my pen pal
• Take a nap
• Watch some football

What's on your weekend to do list?  Happy weekend, everyone!

Weekend's Over

The weekend is over and it went by rather quickly, especially considering the weekend before I was working the entire time. Even still, I managed to get some things done and have fun in the process.

Friday night, J and I went out with Ashlee and her hubby and some friends from her work to Fast Eddie's Bon Air in Alton, IL (this link plays music so if you are reading this at work or in a library you may want to turn down/off the volume before clicking on it).  It is a bit of a hike for us in StL but totally worth it!  Where else can you get freezing cold beer, 29 cent peel and eat shrimp, dollar hamburgers and hot dogs, to say nothing of their Big Elwood on a Stick (marinated beef tenderloin with peppers) for 1.99 a stick?  Nowhere but Fast Eddie's!  After gorging ourselves, we stopped by Alton Cemetery, where an early martyr to the abolitionist cause and newspaper man Elijah Parish Lovejoy was buried, among others.  It was dark, there was a full moon and plenty of Civil War-era graves to look at in the moonlight.  What a perfect October night!

On Saturday I had a tea party with the girl I mentor.  We made cucumber-cream cheese sandwiches (my favorite!), egg salad sandwiches and PBJ sandwiches just in case.  We also had scones and strawberries with homemade whipped cream.  It was her first time trying egg salad sandwiches, tea and cucumber-cream cheese sandwiches.  She liked everything except the cucumber cream cheese which was okay because it meant more for me!

Sunday J and I got up early and went to church then met some friends for breakfast crepes.  In the afternoon while J studied, I read some more of my book and watched The Blind Side.  We finished our weekend like we often do, making Sunday Night dinner together.

Here is what was on the menu this week: Baked Cod with Capers, Olives and Limes with Green Rice.

How was your weekend, friends?

The Best Way to Spend a Monday Afternoon

After a very busy weekend at work--that's right, I was working all weekend!--a relaxing Monday afternoon was extremely welcome and much needed.  Here's a breakdown of how I spent it:

• Went to the library and checked out a few new books since I'm almost finished with the four I checked out a few weeks ago.  More on what made the cut and reviews of the books I've finished reading in future posts.
• Made myself a cup of tea with milk and sugar

• Drank said tea and finished reading Mercy by Jodi Picoult
• Sat and cuddled with Woods 

He really does love me, he just dislikes having his picture taken!

It's the simple things in life, right? 

Weekend's Here!

My plans for this weekend are:

• Finish reading two of the four books I borrowed from the library that are due next Tuesday
• Spend time with J, maybe going apple picking and pretend it is truly fall despite the 80 degree weather we are supposed to have this weekend
• Make Halloween sugar cookies
• Clean the house and get ready for a visit from Father Collins who presided at our wedding
• Restring my guitar
• Relax!

Me apple picking last year

What are your weekend plans, friends?

Cleaning House, err Closet

This weekend, as promised, I cleaned out my closet and boy was it in need of cleaning!  It had gotten to the point that when I opened the closet, things would just come tumbling out.  Not a good situation and definitely not safe for Woods, who tries pretty regularly to play in our closets.

Worse, I could never find anything to wear, despite my bursting at the seams closet.  After reading a few blog posts about frugal living and clothes (here and here are some good ones) I felt ready to attack the closet.  Because I want to keep it real on this blog, here is a before picture of my closet.

Woods carefully inspects the danger zone

The first thing I did was make the bed so I had a large flat surface to work with.  Then as I took out of the clothes, I sorted them by type: short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts, dresses and skirts.  Any summer clothes (extra pairs of sandals, shorts, tank tops that don't layer well) went into two long plastic containers to be stored under our bed until next spring/summer.  While I was at it, I also emptied every single drawer, continuing to sort and store as I went.

Woods helps sort clothes

Once absolutely everything was out on the bed and dresser, I began paring down or editing my wardrobe.  I created two new piles: items headed for consignment or those headed to a thrift store.  I tried on every pair of pants and those that no longer fit went into one of the two piles.  Any item that had not been worn since we moved to St. Louis or was stained or torn also went into the piles.  All in all, I was left with one brown paper bag for consignment and two paper bags for thrift stores.

Next, I sorted the remaining items by color, from dark to light.  The idea here is that it will be easier to find clothes to wear for work if I can match colors quickly.  Once they were pared down and sorted, back into the closet they went.  I also visited Hobby Lobby on Saturday and got two fabric hat boxes for belts and other odds and ends that needed corralling.

My purses and bags that were previously deflated and bunched up on the floor got wrapping paper stuffed inside them to help them maintain their shape and found a new home on the shelf in the closet.  A red plastic bin that I had gotten a while back the Dollar Store found a place on the lower shelf to store my perfume, watches, hair ties, and so forth.

So there you have it, that's how, after several hours and a fierce commitment to simplifying my closet and my life, I cleaned house, err closet.

Woods inspects the final product

I must say that having a clean and organized closet has definitely made getting dressed for work in the morning easier!  I can clearly see what items I have to work with.  I am also more motivated to hang clothes up as soon as I am finished with them, since they have such an orderly home to go back to, keeping the whole bedroom clean and tidy.

Have you recently cleaned out a closet?  Any tips for ruthlessly paring down your wardrobe?  Please discuss...

Weekend's Here!

The weekend, and October, are finally here!

This weekend is shaping up to be a little bit busy but mostly relaxing.  I am hoping to get a lot of reading done and finally tackle my closet!  With the change in weather around here lately, I need to put summer clothes away in preparation for warmer clothes and cooler temperatures. 

Tomorrow night I am making these carrot cake cupcakes for a Notre Dame football party at my cousin's house.

Sunday we are attending our neighbors' wedding, which will be very fun and exciting!  The wedding is at the Jewel Box in Forest Park, which is a beautiful place to have a wedding.  We can't wait to celebrate with them!

What are your weekend plans?

A picture of my parents at our wedding


Also, a very special shout out to my dad today on his birthday.  I hope you have a fantastic day Dad and wish I was there to celebrate with you!!

So, about those weekend plans...

Woods, "helping" put away groceries yesterday afternoon

I accomplished about half of what I had set out to do this weekend.

I had a great time at Clever Betty's craft show and got a very cute business card case from her to hold all of my cards: debit, credit, gift and otherwise (like this one but with different colors)!

I made some fresh white bread and read some of my new book.

I did not recover the chairs in our dining room, nor did I go on a bike ride.

Instead, J and I shared a spot of tea with some good friends yesterday at the London Tea Room, one of my favorite places here in the Lou.

I made my grandpa's gazpacho (on his birthday no less!) for lunches this week. In fact, I have a bowl of it waiting for me as soon as I finish this post--yum!

We also spent 3 1/2 hours baking, cooking and cleaning up after our Sunday night dinner feast. It was fun but I was exhausted and in bed by 9:30 last night!

How was your weekend, friends? Hopefully a little more successful than mine!

Weekend Plans

This weekend promises to be a busy but fun one. First, I am heading to the second to the last weekend of the Farmer's Market we love to visit for some fresh fruit and vegetables. I can't believe summer is over!

Then, Ashlee and I are heading to see our friend Lauren over at Clever Betty's booth at Strange Folk Festival. It is the first show of Lauren's we have gotten to go to, so we are both very excited!

I also plan on visiting a fabric store to buy new fabric so I can recover our dining room chairs. While I am there, I will look into buying some fabric to cover the back of our dining room hutch. You see, ever since I got a new circular rug at Target, our chairs just haven't matched like I was hoping they would. Since it's a fast and cheap change, I am going to recover them again. And, like last year, I will probably do it while watching the Notre Dame game!

Sunday plans include making some more fresh bread, reading my new book on Haitian history, and perhaps a bike ride or walk in the park.

What are your plans, friends? Whatever they are, have a happy weekend everyone!

Weekend Events

This weekend was a busy but happy one. First, we saw two of our good friends get married in a beautiful and very personal outdoor wedding! Their siblings shared readings they selected for the couple which had all of us laughing, smiling and nodding our heads in agreement--the readings fit the couple and their relationship so well! A reception at a yummy local Thai restaurant that followed perfectly capped off the day.

You may kiss the bride!

Yesterday I spent the day reading The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I know I am a bit behind the curve on reading this book since they have already made a movie about it, but I tried to read it once when it first came out and couldn't get into the novel. This time, I couldn't put it down. Part of the novel is set in the township of South Haven, MI which is where my family has a vacation home. It was so fun to read the novel and recognize places I've grown to know and love, like St. Basil's Church! I started and finished this novel in one day, something I haven't done in a long time and felt oh so good. Her follow-up novel, Her Fearful Symmetry, is likewise haunting and delicious. I strongly recommend them both to you!

I also spent time on Sunday baking French bread, using my KitchenAid Stand Mixer as a bread maker for the first time. It was a smashing success and created a great aroma in the house that I enjoyed while reading my book and drinking some Irish Breakfast tea on our couch.

Fresh bread, anyone?

Overall, it was a very relaxing and beautiful weekend around here. How was your weekend, friends?

Visitors

We have had a few visitors around here lately, including the best man from our wedding last weekend, and my aunt will be visiting us this weekend. We have a lot planned: cocktails tonight at the restaurant my cousin works at, dinner at another cousin's house tomorrow night, farmer's market Saturday morning before the Nebraska and Notre Dame games, the later of which will include a large viewing party again at my cousin's home. I usually have to watch Notre Dame games alone or at least with not very enthusiastic fans, J and Woods. J is too much of a Big Red fan to ever truly root for Notre Dame. Woods just gets confused when I yell and cheer loudly at the TV. No matter this weekend, as I will be surrounded by fans, family and love.

Visitors can be tricky around here. We have a pull-out couch, but it is the living room which has three major drawbacks:

1) Noise. Our apartment is right off of a fairly busy street and while we cannot hear traffic (except for the occasional fire truck) from our bedroom, the noise is quite a bit louder in the living room.

2) Light. We do not have curtains in the living room currently and while we have blinds, the light from street lamps makes for a less than ideal sleeping room.

3) Woods. Woods is very territorial over what he deems as his couch, and has been known to bite over this perceived invasion of his property, as has been documented earlier on this blog. We have never tried an overnight guest on that couch, but can only imagine what he might do in the middle of the night if the mood strikes. I fear that it may be somewhat like his torture of J and I the first few months we had him, in which we got little sleep and were covered in scratches and bites on a daily basis.

Woods attacking his tail.
You would not want this terror turned on you, trust me!

Now we do have a second bedroom, but as this houses two desks, we do not currently have a guest bed. As I have said before, I hope in the future is to get a new bed (a girl can dream) and move the current bed into the guest room. Luckily, our friends Justin and Ashlee came to our rescue and not only let us borrow their queen size air mattress, but also lent us their lovely sheets and comforter. Our guests over the last two weekends have stayed with us in style.
This week, I decided to spiff up our guest room space a bit with a small folding table and a few personal touches. I placed a small Tiffany-style lamp that normally is housed on my desk, a few new magazines including the newest Vanity Fair and New Yorker for some light and interesting reading, a glass for water, some hand lotion, and a small dish for her rings, watch and other accessories.
I also wrote up a little note (on the backside of some left over Thank You notes from our wedding) for her. The finishing touch, a frame, (which my aunt gifted us) with a picture of the two of us from our wedding a few months ago. Along the lines of YHL, I would like to swap out the current photo for others of us with our future guests when they come to visit us.
I finished it off with a few pillows from our room (which compliment Justin and Ashlee's bedding perfectly) and some fresh towels. Our office is now guestroom ready! What do you think? What are your weekend plans, friends?

Life is Good

Dinner has been made (and consumed): Asian lemon chicken, a recipe from my childhood. Cookies have been made (with the new stand mixer) for dessert tonight and lunches this week. Laundry from this weekend has been cleaned, folded and put away. J and I were able to take a long walk after dinner.

We have a dear friend (and best man at our wedding) coming to visit this weekend, which also coincides with the start of college football season. I have my new "The Shirt" from Notre Dame ready and waiting.

Life. is. good.

How was your weekend?

The Good, the Beautiful, and the Ugly

This slightly altered phrase pretty much describes our weekend.

The good was the Saturday J and I had this weekend. We visited our favorite farmer's market in the northern part of the Lou that guarantees that all of the produce is local and picked fresh within 24 hours. We always find great and sometimes unusual ingredients to fill our bags, and this weekend was no exception. We bought fingerling potatoes, leeks, yellow and red bell peppers, purple basil and gorgeous heirloom tomatoes. The fingerling potatoes made an appearance in our dinner tonight: steak with "Secret" sauce and oven-roasted rosemary fingerling potatoes--so called because my dad invented it a few years ago and will only share the recipe with close family and friends! The leeks will be used in Vichyssoise later this week which is another of my dad's recipes. The purple basil and heirloom tomatoes were consumed almost immediately. J and I used them in a Caprese salad as part of our picnic in the park Saturday afternoon. It has been so hot lately that we have done very little outside other than go to work, go to the grocery store and sweat! It was so wonderful to be able to sit outside, eat fresh, local produce and drink crisp wine under the shade of big oak trees, all without getting our shirts damp.










The beautiful is my new KitchenAid 5 Quart Architect Series stand mixer. She is a beauty and currently sits on our counter waiting for me to make all sorts of pies, cookies and bread with her. J and I hope to add these attachments to our collection eventually, which expand her uses to pasta and ice cream making. I intended to make some french bread this weekend, but the coconut cream pie I made took up too much of my Sunday afternoon to make that possible. All the ingredients are in my pantry though, so I plan to take her for a spin again soon!

Hello lover!

Speaking of pie, we now move to the ugly, which is the end result of my coconut cream pie. See, while it tastes delicious and looked perfect right out of the oven, it never set up properly. Also, the meringue on top began to pull away from the sides of the pie (even though I pushed it all the way to the edges like the recipe suggested) and began to weep. Cream pies are J's favorite though, so I will have to try it again. Thinking back on my execution of the recipe, I do not think I let the cream base cook down and thicken enough, which could explain the liquid soup center. As far as the underwhelming meringue, who knows! Whipped egg whites have been known to be temperamental!! Since the recipe didn't turn out the way I planned and I'm not sure why, I am not going to share the recipe as I normally would. I don't want your pie to turn out like mine did. I did want to mention the experience, however, because around here, we like to keep it real.

How was your weekend?

These Boots are Made for Walking

Tonight, J and I are meeting friends for dinner and line dancing at a local country bar. These are the closest thing I own to cowboy boots--I think that I need to find some new ones!

This weekend I plan on spending lots of down time with J, cooking up a banana cream pie for the two of us with my new KitchenAid stand mixer (!) and cleaning off my desk--it's a big pile of indistinguishable items right now! What do you have planned for one of the last weekends of summer?

Happy weekend, everyone!

Weekend Plans

I am very excited for my weekend to start--very, very excited! I am heading home to sunny Southern California to visit my family, get a much needed hair cut and highlights, and my final dress fitting!!! I already packed my shoes (I forgot them the first time--ooops!) and cannot wait to try on my dress and veil (which my seamstress made for me!)

I also plan on catching up on some reading on the plane and getting to spend time with family and friends I don't get to see enough! I will miss Woods and J while I am gone, but excited that my return flight gets me home in time so that I don't miss our weekly (and sometimes fancy) Sunday night dinner--yay!

Hope your weekend is as fun and relaxing and productive as mine is slated to be!