Monthly Archives: May 2010

If you go to KC MO

An equally appropriate title would read, “Go, go to KC MO,” because we enjoyed a wonderful extended weekend in Kansas City.  We dined at some known favorite restaurants and discovered some exciting new dining destinations.

We stayed in the County Club Plaza (or simply, The Plaza) area of Kansas City.  The upside?  Many restaurants and stores within walking distance.  The downside?  Most of those restaurants (and stores), were chain-type establishments (with the exception of Eden Alley).  Not very exciting for these foodies.

With the exceptions of Eden Alley and Füd, all of the restaurants I mention offer both vegetarian and meat options.

Oldies but goodies*

 We started our gustatory adventures at Eden Alley, a vegetarian and vegan restaurant that also uses many local ingredients.  My sister ordered a pineapple bruschetta that was the star of the meal (one of the daily specials, I believe).  I selected the egg salad on greens — it was only okay, definitely not the best egg salad ever.  From past visits, some of the menu stars include the sweet potato burrito and the spinach and mushroom loaf.

For dinner Thursday evening, we hit up Bluebird Bistro.  They focus on local ingredients, with food for vegetarians and carnivores alike.  They make everything from scratch, including ketchup.  Check out their eight for $8 menu served until 8pm, Monday through Friday.  Both the vegetarian shepherd’s pie and the baked egg dish from the $8 menu were fantastic!

We picked Bluebird Bistro knowing that we would return 24-hours later for my brother-in-law’s rehearsal dinner.  Twice in one weekend?  No problem.

*None of these restaurants are all that “old,” but we visited them on past trips.
 
New finds

Thanks to an insider tip (only illegal in stock trading, not restaurant selection), we discovered You Say Tomato, our Friday lunch destination.  Again, focus on high-quality, fresh, local, made-from-scratch foods.   Due to different eating schedules, our party of four managed to eat lunch here twice in one day.  By the time we returned for Sunday brunch, we were regulars.  If you pick one meal to eat here, go for the Sunday brunch (menu changes weekly).  Leek and mushroom galette — yum!
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We really liked the idea of walking to dinner on Saturday night, but after a bit of foot scouting, we remained nonplussed by the options in The Plaza.  (Eden Alley was closed for a private party.)  Instead, we followed a tip from our friends at You Say Tomato and headed over to The Westside Local.  Perfect choice!  Again, a strong commitment to local, made-from-scratch deliciousness!  I ate the first French fries I’ve had in quite awhile, dipped in homemade ketchup, of course 🙂
 
Saving for later

We saved a few places to explore on our next visit to KC MO: Füd (we think this is pronounced “food”), Room 39, Cafe Seed, and Chez Elle.
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The Westside Local, Füd, Bluebird Bistro, and Chez Elle create a cluster of fabulous food options at the intersection of Summit Street and 17th Street.  Our ideal return trip includes finding a bed and breakfast somewhere in this neighborhood (any recommendations?).  We plan to travel to Kansas City on Amtrak, bicycles in tow, so we can explore the culinary delights of Kansas City using our favorite form of transportation.

Isn’t this how everyone cleans the kitchen floor?

I recently started seeing a homeopathic medicine practitioner.  On my first visit, she prescribed faerie dust a homeopathic remedy and ordered lots of blood work.

The results?  While not technically deficient in anything, my levels of some micro-nutrients (in this case, iron, zinc, vitamin D, and vitamin B12) came in a bit on the low side of the ranges.  While I would prefer to get all my nutrients through real food, I agreed to go along with a supplementation plan.  Our bodies do not readily absorb the form of iron found in many typical OTC iron supplements (which may explain why my levels were low, despite the fact that I take a multi with “100%” of the RDA of iron).

My doctor initially recommended an iron supplement consisting of fractionated liver bits, but moved on to plan B upon remembering that I’m vegetarian.  What was plan B, you ask?  An atrociously expensive — but supposedly effective — liquid iron supplement.  At the recommended adult dose of 2 teaspoons, twice a day, it costs $1.76/day.  Hmm, now that I’m looking at the numbers, maybe it’s not quite as pricey as I thought, but still not cheap.

They package this magic iron elixir in a bottle that is impossible to pour from without dribbling liquid down the bottle and/or all over the counter.  To make matters worse, the top is a bit tricksy.   So, the other evening, I shake it (as instructed), only to find that the lid was not on tightly.  Expensive liquid iron supplement splashed all over the kitchen floor.  Distress and desperation!  I decided the quantity on the floor was close to my 2 teaspoon dose, and I proceeded to clean up the mess.

A bit extreme?  Yes!  Was the kitchen floor clean?  Probably not.  Matthew grabbed the camera and started snapping these pictures and much laughter followed.  Oh, the frugality!

Car-tunes

So one thing that I find kind-of sort-of maybe not so bad about a car commute?  The radio.  At home radio listening revolves almost exclusively around NPR, so I only listen to other stations when I’m in the car, which, up until six months ago, was almost never.  I lost touch with the latest pop music (maybe not a huge loss?).  Biking is plenty of fun without the radio.

I fall into the “channel surfer” category when it comes to the radio.  I flip channels during commercials, DJ blathering, songs I dislike, and songs that clash with my mood.  That adds up to a lot of channel surfing.  Total radio ADD.  I imagine being in the car with me would be QUITE annoying.  Sometimes I manage to annoy myself, and I just have to pull the plug.

Anyhow, I have a couple of favorites at the moment.  While driving home the other night, I heard all three of them back-to-back!  Yeah, that was a good drive.  Without further ado, my top three, in no particular order:

  • All the Right Moves – OneRepublic
  • Breakeven – The Script
  • Young Forever (i.e., the Forever Young Remix) – Jay-Z and Mr. Hudson

No doubt that I’ll tire of these and move on to other songs of the moment before too long.

No cook couscous

I’m melting!  Or at least wilting — I do not like this heat one bit!  With almost a month until summer officially starts, we broke down and turned on the A/C before bed two nights ago (not green, but the reality of living in a brick oven).   GRRR!

Mixed greens with radishes, sugar snap peas, garbanzo beans, onions, cucumbers, homemade vinaigrette, and sunflower seeds

With all this heat, ’tis the season for low- or no-cook meals.  Great big garden-fresh salads rounded out with a side of no cook couscous.  Couscous is technically a pasta, wheat-based and cut into tiny pieces.  Because the pieces are so small, you can “cook” couscous by simply adding the appropriate amount of water and waiting for it to absorb.  The golden ratio for couscous is 1 cup of grain to 1 1/2 cups of water.  I prepared a single serving: 1/4 cup dry grain + 3/8 cup water.  The couscous absorbed the water in about 15 minutes.  When the water was absorbed, I simply added a bit of olive oil and salt — one side of couscous, ready to go!

Notes:

  • Look for whole wheat couscous in bulk bins.
  • Couscous tastes great simply prepared, as suggested above.  Try adding chopped fresh herbs (parsley comes to mind) to spice it up a bit.
  • Couscous also works well as a grain base for vegetable stir fries.
  • I would never prepare a single serving of a grain that requires boiling (as most do), because it is much more efficient to cook multiple portions at once.  However, with the no-cook method, it doesn’t really matter, since it requires no energy.

Go, Iowa!

No, I’m not cheering for the Hawkeyes, I’m cheering for Iowa’s 7th place finish in the Bike Friendly State rankings.  My current state of Missouri didn’t fare so well, coming in 28th.  Lots of good things happening all around, but a lot more work to do!