Whirlwind KC Tour
Most people with a lick of sense in their heads use the days following Christmas to relax, play with new toys, read new books, and generally not do anything too strenuous.
Me: not so much sense in the head.
I decided to pack up the boys and zip down to Kansas City for a couple of days. It was kind of a present to Bill, too, so he could hang out and play all the non-Lincoln-safe games and drink adult beverages augmented with his new Whiskey Cubes. So I got a Priceline hotel deal ($50/night for three nights at the Overland Park Doubletree), packed up the van with some baked goodies for friends, and hit the road at the crack of noon on Dec. 26. We listened to Neil Gaiman reading "The Graveyard Book" on the way down, and it made the miles fly by. The idea was to make it down in time for the annual Boxing Day party, at which Clay's old bandmates were performing, and thanks to great weather and very light traffic, we rolled in around 7:30, about the middle of their set (and they sounded great!).
Poor Linc was the ONLY kid at the party, filled with about 50 adults (most of them well-oiled). We got him set up on a movie, and I got to stand in as the hosting royalty (I'd won the distinction for the previous year, but hadn't been able to attend... and there was a huge blizzard last year, so the party barely happened). That meant I sort of explained the rules of the mathom exchange, and tried to keep the thing moving. I gave up after being repeatedly thwarted by drunk merrymakers, and repaired to the dining room for nibbles and chatting. I gathered up Linc around 10, who was cuddling his new little stuffed ferret that Clay had snagged for him, and left Clay to go stay with the marvelous cosm3 and her family.
The next morning, Linc and I headed off for breakfast at Eggct., a brunch place near the Plaza (the place was NOT able to handle the holiday crowds, unfortunately). The weather was gorgeous, bright blue sky and up in the 40s, so after our meal we headed over to a favorite old haunt, the Loose Park playground. Linc tore around like a crazy thing (he'd been good as gold for the entire trip down the day before, so he had some yayas saved up) and I fooled around with my nifty new Kindle from 1firefly. I also walked around the playground about 10 times to get my blood moving, and felt MUCH better (I'd been tempted to go to Nia, but I would have had to leave Linc with Clay and I was certain Clay was still sound asleep).
We showed up at Chez Laessig about noon, and had a quick visit. Then I left Linc with the boys and ran off to meet Moosnsqrl, one of our old KC food friends (met her on eGullet way back when). She very kindly took me out to Grünauer, a new German place where City Tavern used to be (behind Union Station near Lidia's). I had some excellent cassoulet... perfect winter-warming food (though it was still sunny out!). I wondered aloud about their pastries, and learned they FedEx'd them in... once again, I am amazed and grateful for my past proximity to Konditorei in Davis for so many years. It was fantastic to chat with Judy and get all the latest dirt on the KC food scene... and she gave a very enthusiastic thumbs-up to my plans to eat at the Rieger later on that evening (she'd already been there twice).
I dashed off to meet a KCAP friend, Kenna (an amazing baker, herself), at Christopher Elbow's ice cream shop, Glacé. I had salted caramel and spiced butternut, with some liquid chocolate to share (it was kinda... gritty? grainy? compared to the velvety smoothness of the first time I had it, but it still tasted wonderful). Kenna's sweetie, Mike, is one of the folks behind Weston's brewery and Irish pub, and I'd been looking forward to meeting him for a long time... but he was feeling under the weather and had to leave. So I kept Kenna and her adorable daughter with me, and we headed back to Christina's for a visit. Linc and Lenore ran around together while Christina, Kenna and I played with toys and had a nice chat. I dropped them off at Kenna's parents house, and hung out a little more, before swinging back into town to grab Christina for our dinner at The Rieger.
Ah... the Rieger deserves a post all on its own. I was a total idiot and forgot about the fantastic little camera 2006in2006 had given me for Christmas (it was even in my bag!) and so I have no visual evidence of the delightful evening we had at this place. The owners are Howard Hanna (who we first encountered at Room 39; he did an amazing outdoor brunch buffet out at the Crum place at the end of the eGullet gathering a few years back, and we are still hoping to someday obtain his kouign amann recipe) and Ryan Maybee, the force behind the magnificent Manifesto (closed when 1924 Main went down a while back). Manifesto is back again, and the Rieger was just terrific. It had only been open for under two weeks when we went, and it was hopping (hooray for Open Table!). The gracious service was a little slow due to the crowd, but we never felt rushed or hurried, and had a fantastic time. I really loved the open view into the kitchen, and would sit at the bar seating to watch the show if I went again.
We started with some house-made ginger ale (it was spicy and sweet, definitely in the style of my newly beloved Ginger Sluts recipe) and the charcuterie plate: a selection of wonderful pickled vegetables alá Momofuku, some wonderful whole-grain mustard, a buttery chicken paté, some mild headcheese, and, what was the stand-out for me, a cute little crock of pork rillette (I'm not sure I've ever HAD a rillette before, but this was really good), all with some tiny toasted bread squares.
We did take a while to order, but we didn't get our meals until we'd been there for almost two hours. It was OK, I had excellent company (cosm3 and Chris H., another homeschooling mom), and we made our appetizer and drinks last, but I'm sure the service will pick up after the initial slam of the opening crowd dies down.
My dinner was the Crispy Berkshire Pork, succulent cubes of 12-hour sous vide pork shoulder with more of that mustard, creamy silky-smooth polenta, and sauteed cavolo nero (which was essentially kale). It was another warming winter dish that was put together perfectly, all its components prepared and presented with deceptive ease. Sure wish I'd remembered that camera!
We split a personal chocolate cake with crême fraiche, which was truly a delight... not too sweet or heavy, but intensely chocolate and warm and rich. Then we zipped down to Manifesto (the speakeasy bar in the basement; that link is a pdf of their menu) and I tried the Ode to San Francisco (Pisco, Lemon, Sarsaparilla Honey, Gosling's Rum, Champagne, Nutmeg... it was heady and light and delicious). Unfortunately, things started to fall apart with the boys, so we had to leave faster than I would have liked.
Linc and I repaired back to the hotel. The night before, I'd set the temperature control on the coolest setting, but the room had still been stuffy and hot. One of the hotel's engineers was at hand, and came up with us to see if everything was working. For some reason, the hotel maids hadn't done up our room, and I grinched about it to the engineer. He immediately got me new coffee cups, an Internet code, and two passes to the breakfast buffet! (The 'net connection was something like $12/day, and the buffet was $15). So even though the room was still too hot, those things definitely improved my mood. I immediately used my Internet code to send a nice note about him to the hotel manager.
The next morning, we woke up late for our KCAP playdate, so we set aside the buffet coupons for the next morning and hit Sonic on the way to Raegan's. Monica and Christina A. showed up, and we had a total of six boys running around. Unfortunately, Linc and our hostess's son Khary kind of got off on the wrong foot, but there wasn't any serious meltdowns. Raegan's husband Dawud was home from work, and we got to geek with our phones together for a bit.
Then I grabbed Clay to head over to Union Station to meet up with Kit and Sharai, two young women who had been buddies with Julia back at Penn Valley (and who had both known Linc since infancy). The diner at US was shut down, and I tried to go check out the new model train set-up, but Linc needed to be fed and wasn't being cooperative with my desire to explore. So we hiked over the bridge to Crown Center (both UC and CC were jammed with visitors), and finally wound up at the comparatively empty Milano restaurant. There was a nice buffet with a chef creating cooked-to-order pasta plates, and everyone seemed to enjoy their lunch.
I dropped Clay back with Christian, and took off to Shawnee to meet up with more KCAP families, Monica and tara_doula. I stopped for some libations (Woodchuck 805 ftw!) and we had a couple of hours just kicking back together while the seven kids ran around like feral wolves (but happy feral wolves). It was really nice to just chill for a while.
Linc hadn't eaten much there, so we grabbed him a kid meal from Chik-fil-A, and then back to the hotel. Bath, stories, sleep...
The next morning, we wandered down to the spiffy restaurant for the buffet. It really was a nice one, with biscuits and gravy, bacon and eggs, potatoes and peppers and onions, yogurt, bagels and toast, lots of fruit, a bunch of cereals... we had a little bit of everything, plus coffee and juices. We packed up and checked out, and went to collect Clay. I hung out with the gracious and lovely cosm3 for a bit, then we hit the Brookside Market for a cooler full of Scimeca sausage, a bag of Roastarie's Super Tuscan espresso, and sandwiches for lunch.
After a side trip back to Skylar's to grab Clay's forgotten hat (and a nice chat with Karen, his mom), we headed back across the beautiful new Paseo Bridge and set our sights on Chicago. The weather was pretty foggy and icky, but warm... no ice or snow to speak of. We listened to more of Gaiman, finishing off "Graveyard Book" and starting "Stardust." Linc and Clay were both terrific travelers, both directions, and made it easy for me to get the drive done (well, them and the Provigil).
All in all, a wonderful trip... I missed some folks I would have loved to see (Anne U., Anne B., Angie B., Lisa S., and jillcook, I'm lookin' at you!) but ate some great food, had some lovely conversations, saw some beautiful babies growing up too fast, and had a smashing adventure overall.
Me: not so much sense in the head.
I decided to pack up the boys and zip down to Kansas City for a couple of days. It was kind of a present to Bill, too, so he could hang out and play all the non-Lincoln-safe games and drink adult beverages augmented with his new Whiskey Cubes. So I got a Priceline hotel deal ($50/night for three nights at the Overland Park Doubletree), packed up the van with some baked goodies for friends, and hit the road at the crack of noon on Dec. 26. We listened to Neil Gaiman reading "The Graveyard Book" on the way down, and it made the miles fly by. The idea was to make it down in time for the annual Boxing Day party, at which Clay's old bandmates were performing, and thanks to great weather and very light traffic, we rolled in around 7:30, about the middle of their set (and they sounded great!).
Poor Linc was the ONLY kid at the party, filled with about 50 adults (most of them well-oiled). We got him set up on a movie, and I got to stand in as the hosting royalty (I'd won the distinction for the previous year, but hadn't been able to attend... and there was a huge blizzard last year, so the party barely happened). That meant I sort of explained the rules of the mathom exchange, and tried to keep the thing moving. I gave up after being repeatedly thwarted by drunk merrymakers, and repaired to the dining room for nibbles and chatting. I gathered up Linc around 10, who was cuddling his new little stuffed ferret that Clay had snagged for him, and left Clay to go stay with the marvelous cosm3 and her family.
The next morning, Linc and I headed off for breakfast at Eggct., a brunch place near the Plaza (the place was NOT able to handle the holiday crowds, unfortunately). The weather was gorgeous, bright blue sky and up in the 40s, so after our meal we headed over to a favorite old haunt, the Loose Park playground. Linc tore around like a crazy thing (he'd been good as gold for the entire trip down the day before, so he had some yayas saved up) and I fooled around with my nifty new Kindle from 1firefly. I also walked around the playground about 10 times to get my blood moving, and felt MUCH better (I'd been tempted to go to Nia, but I would have had to leave Linc with Clay and I was certain Clay was still sound asleep).
We showed up at Chez Laessig about noon, and had a quick visit. Then I left Linc with the boys and ran off to meet Moosnsqrl, one of our old KC food friends (met her on eGullet way back when). She very kindly took me out to Grünauer, a new German place where City Tavern used to be (behind Union Station near Lidia's). I had some excellent cassoulet... perfect winter-warming food (though it was still sunny out!). I wondered aloud about their pastries, and learned they FedEx'd them in... once again, I am amazed and grateful for my past proximity to Konditorei in Davis for so many years. It was fantastic to chat with Judy and get all the latest dirt on the KC food scene... and she gave a very enthusiastic thumbs-up to my plans to eat at the Rieger later on that evening (she'd already been there twice).
I dashed off to meet a KCAP friend, Kenna (an amazing baker, herself), at Christopher Elbow's ice cream shop, Glacé. I had salted caramel and spiced butternut, with some liquid chocolate to share (it was kinda... gritty? grainy? compared to the velvety smoothness of the first time I had it, but it still tasted wonderful). Kenna's sweetie, Mike, is one of the folks behind Weston's brewery and Irish pub, and I'd been looking forward to meeting him for a long time... but he was feeling under the weather and had to leave. So I kept Kenna and her adorable daughter with me, and we headed back to Christina's for a visit. Linc and Lenore ran around together while Christina, Kenna and I played with toys and had a nice chat. I dropped them off at Kenna's parents house, and hung out a little more, before swinging back into town to grab Christina for our dinner at The Rieger.
Ah... the Rieger deserves a post all on its own. I was a total idiot and forgot about the fantastic little camera 2006in2006 had given me for Christmas (it was even in my bag!) and so I have no visual evidence of the delightful evening we had at this place. The owners are Howard Hanna (who we first encountered at Room 39; he did an amazing outdoor brunch buffet out at the Crum place at the end of the eGullet gathering a few years back, and we are still hoping to someday obtain his kouign amann recipe) and Ryan Maybee, the force behind the magnificent Manifesto (closed when 1924 Main went down a while back). Manifesto is back again, and the Rieger was just terrific. It had only been open for under two weeks when we went, and it was hopping (hooray for Open Table!). The gracious service was a little slow due to the crowd, but we never felt rushed or hurried, and had a fantastic time. I really loved the open view into the kitchen, and would sit at the bar seating to watch the show if I went again.
We started with some house-made ginger ale (it was spicy and sweet, definitely in the style of my newly beloved Ginger Sluts recipe) and the charcuterie plate: a selection of wonderful pickled vegetables alá Momofuku, some wonderful whole-grain mustard, a buttery chicken paté, some mild headcheese, and, what was the stand-out for me, a cute little crock of pork rillette (I'm not sure I've ever HAD a rillette before, but this was really good), all with some tiny toasted bread squares.
We did take a while to order, but we didn't get our meals until we'd been there for almost two hours. It was OK, I had excellent company (cosm3 and Chris H., another homeschooling mom), and we made our appetizer and drinks last, but I'm sure the service will pick up after the initial slam of the opening crowd dies down.
My dinner was the Crispy Berkshire Pork, succulent cubes of 12-hour sous vide pork shoulder with more of that mustard, creamy silky-smooth polenta, and sauteed cavolo nero (which was essentially kale). It was another warming winter dish that was put together perfectly, all its components prepared and presented with deceptive ease. Sure wish I'd remembered that camera!
We split a personal chocolate cake with crême fraiche, which was truly a delight... not too sweet or heavy, but intensely chocolate and warm and rich. Then we zipped down to Manifesto (the speakeasy bar in the basement; that link is a pdf of their menu) and I tried the Ode to San Francisco (Pisco, Lemon, Sarsaparilla Honey, Gosling's Rum, Champagne, Nutmeg... it was heady and light and delicious). Unfortunately, things started to fall apart with the boys, so we had to leave faster than I would have liked.
Linc and I repaired back to the hotel. The night before, I'd set the temperature control on the coolest setting, but the room had still been stuffy and hot. One of the hotel's engineers was at hand, and came up with us to see if everything was working. For some reason, the hotel maids hadn't done up our room, and I grinched about it to the engineer. He immediately got me new coffee cups, an Internet code, and two passes to the breakfast buffet! (The 'net connection was something like $12/day, and the buffet was $15). So even though the room was still too hot, those things definitely improved my mood. I immediately used my Internet code to send a nice note about him to the hotel manager.
The next morning, we woke up late for our KCAP playdate, so we set aside the buffet coupons for the next morning and hit Sonic on the way to Raegan's. Monica and Christina A. showed up, and we had a total of six boys running around. Unfortunately, Linc and our hostess's son Khary kind of got off on the wrong foot, but there wasn't any serious meltdowns. Raegan's husband Dawud was home from work, and we got to geek with our phones together for a bit.
Then I grabbed Clay to head over to Union Station to meet up with Kit and Sharai, two young women who had been buddies with Julia back at Penn Valley (and who had both known Linc since infancy). The diner at US was shut down, and I tried to go check out the new model train set-up, but Linc needed to be fed and wasn't being cooperative with my desire to explore. So we hiked over the bridge to Crown Center (both UC and CC were jammed with visitors), and finally wound up at the comparatively empty Milano restaurant. There was a nice buffet with a chef creating cooked-to-order pasta plates, and everyone seemed to enjoy their lunch.
I dropped Clay back with Christian, and took off to Shawnee to meet up with more KCAP families, Monica and tara_doula. I stopped for some libations (Woodchuck 805 ftw!) and we had a couple of hours just kicking back together while the seven kids ran around like feral wolves (but happy feral wolves). It was really nice to just chill for a while.
Linc hadn't eaten much there, so we grabbed him a kid meal from Chik-fil-A, and then back to the hotel. Bath, stories, sleep...
The next morning, we wandered down to the spiffy restaurant for the buffet. It really was a nice one, with biscuits and gravy, bacon and eggs, potatoes and peppers and onions, yogurt, bagels and toast, lots of fruit, a bunch of cereals... we had a little bit of everything, plus coffee and juices. We packed up and checked out, and went to collect Clay. I hung out with the gracious and lovely cosm3 for a bit, then we hit the Brookside Market for a cooler full of Scimeca sausage, a bag of Roastarie's Super Tuscan espresso, and sandwiches for lunch.
After a side trip back to Skylar's to grab Clay's forgotten hat (and a nice chat with Karen, his mom), we headed back across the beautiful new Paseo Bridge and set our sights on Chicago. The weather was pretty foggy and icky, but warm... no ice or snow to speak of. We listened to more of Gaiman, finishing off "Graveyard Book" and starting "Stardust." Linc and Clay were both terrific travelers, both directions, and made it easy for me to get the drive done (well, them and the Provigil).
All in all, a wonderful trip... I missed some folks I would have loved to see (Anne U., Anne B., Angie B., Lisa S., and jillcook, I'm lookin' at you!) but ate some great food, had some lovely conversations, saw some beautiful babies growing up too fast, and had a smashing adventure overall.