Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Friday evening in the garden
After a few busy weeks of family visits, it was lovely to have Friday evening to relax at home in the garden.
Truly...
Thursday August 18. A beautiful day, lunch with a friend, a celebrity spotting (saw Katie Perry on the Plaza- hilarious), and a lot of work done. Truly bliss.
Company
We hosted dear friends for a simple Wednesday night dinner, and they were kind enough to bring beverages and fresh cut flowers. So sweet!
The last summer fun book
The last summer fun book that I got in was The Wordy Shipmates by the ever hilarious and well-researched Sarah Vowell, who you may know from her frequent appearances on the Daily Show. The book recounted the saga of the Puritans and the Massachusetts Bay Colony, about whom much false information exists. Vowell does a fantastic job of keeping the topic light-hearted while providing great information and a realistic perspective on the founders of our nation.
Zoo again
Another Sunday at the zoo, this time with the other set of grandparents. Little man got up close to the gorillas, I love this guy's chill pose.
Roxy Paine
A Saturday morning visit to the Nelson-Atkins with Joe's family, we strolled the Sculpture Garden to view the new Roxy Paine, so striking!
Friday night
Relaxing at home after dinner out with the other side of the family, who were in town for the weekend.
Hibachi
Using our Groupon for Nikko, a hibachi-style Japanese restaurant out in the 'burbs. When I was a kid the t.v. commercials for Benihanna always drew me in, but it was I'm sure too expensive to take a kiddo, particularly a picky eater like myself. So, this was a childhood wish fulfilled. It was fun and kinda cheesy- the chef told jokes and tossed bites into our mouths. A good time, but probably something I don't need to do again soon.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Summer Tomatoes
As I've said many times, one of the best parts of summer in the Midwest is the bounty of produce, especially summer tomatoes. The July heat wave made it difficult to grow tomatoes, but our local farmers manage to do what I can not, and the result was a fantastic Wednesday evening dinner. We combined heirloom tomatoes, garlic, basil, and fresh mozzerella over pasta with a glass of red wine, and a small loaf of fresh bread for the perfect patio meal.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Kansas City Zoo
A trip to the zoo! I'm so happy that zoos are now focused on conservation and creating somewhat natural habitats for the animals, rather than the icky cages and exhibits of the mid-twentieth century. The KC zoo is pretty neat- we particularly enjoyed the polar bear, the lions, the hippos, and the baboons on a hot day, walking around the vast grounds in Swope Park.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Roasterie Tour!
With my family in town we spent a lot of the weekend doing fun touristy things, like the Roasterie Roasting Tour on Saturday morning. This free tour informs visitors about coffee roasting, buying, trade, and history, as well as how to properly slurp coffee to get the most of your taste. Also- free coffee samples!
The Well
Out for drinks late on a Friday night, we walked over to The Well. This is a place that I wouldn't consider going into during the winter (read: frat-boy lame-sauce crowd), but the rooftop bar is so lovely on a warm summer evening, torches going, drink in hand, watching the hilariousness that is Waldo, that it doesn't matter who the other patrons are.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Grading
Thursday the 4th of August- the heat wave broke! A high of only 91! I took the opportunity to sit out on the terrace at the Roasterie Cafe, enjoying the weather and finishing up grading for my summer school course. Work bliss.
Coleus
I've posted a lot of photos of the flowers in my garden this year, but some credit needs to go to the potted coleus that have graced our front porch throughout the July and August heat wave. Their foliage is reminiscent of a lush tropical look, and they have grown to be quite large in the height of summer.
Sunflowers and extreme heat
Tuesday August 2- the high temperature was 109. The all-time temperature record for Kansas City is 113, so we were close, but missed the mark by a few degrees. Even the sunflowers weren't happy with such heat.
Friday, August 05, 2011
Rosemary Olive Oil Focaccia
Fresh from the oven, best enjoyed hot and with a glass of wine. This was my first attempt at focaccia; it was surprisingly easy to bake from scratch, and with heavenly results.
Indian Creek Trail
Despite continuing into the third week of suffocating temperatures, we took a walk on the Indian Creek Trail in south KC on the last Sunday morning of July. Hard to believe that just beyond the trees is the city....
Sayonara, Lara!
Lara and the Strawberry Chiffon Cake I baked to celebrate/mourn her departure from Kansas City and KU. So sad to see you go!
The Hill
As summer school winds down, the view from near KU's Watson Library, looking south across the valley. Wednesday the 27th was my last day of teaching Eastern Civ, as Thursday was review day and Friday the final exam.
Summer reading continues...
On Monday the 26th I finished the next book on my summer fun reading list, My Korean Deli: Risking it All For a Convenience Store. This was a great summer read (thanks NPR!)- fast to get through, witty, and a nice commentary on humanity, despite some bumps along the way. Highly recommended!
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Jules Olitski at the Kemper
July 24 was yet another day of heat warnings and high temperatures, so we spent part of the afternoon at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, viewing the current exhibition of paintings by Jules Olitski.
Monday, August 01, 2011
Yum.
Too hot to cook, we got take out salads from Ingredient on the Plaza, and the sparkles on this beautiful Carrot Cake Cupcake were too good to pass up. Yum!
Workin'
As the first deadline for my summer freelance project approaches, the pile of books on my desk grows taller....
Nihon ryori
Monday night simple homemade Japanese dinner. From the top- Sake, Salad with Soy Ginger Vinaigrette, Japanese Pickles, Zaru Soba (cold soba noodles topped with nori (toasted seaweed) and dipped in soy-based sauce), and Stir-fried Tofu and Veggies. おいしかった！
Chips and Salsa
Entering the imitative behavior stage of toddler-hood provides for a lot of cute scenarios. For example, anyone who knows Joe knows that he eats chips and salsa daily. So when we had dinner at Jalepeno's in Brookside, it shouldn't have taken us by surprise when little man jumped in and hit the salsa, copying the behavior that he sees his Dad perform every day.
Power outage
Not much to do without electricity, so we watched the lightning and rain for a bit. Thankfully the power came back in the middle of the night, but with such hot temperatures it wasn't without a bit of discomfort. Let's all give a little thanks to the air conditioning gods.
Hot
July 11, 5 p.m., 104 temperature. Ugh. The best part about this photo is that no matter what I try, blogger refuses to post it right-side-up. Posting retrospectively after three weeks of crazy heat wave and going into our 11th day of temperatures over 100, I get it. Everything is too hot to function, trees are wilting, bushes are crisping up, so it makes sense that the temperature just flip on its head for a bit. Seems to be representative of the awful climate change induced weather we've experienced this year.
Nelson-Atkins
July 10 brought temperatures over 100 degrees to Kansas City, so we spent the afternoon in the cool galleries of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. One fantastic thing about KC is that the major art museums, such as the Nelson, Kemper, and Nerman are free, no $18 admission like at the Art Institute in Chicago or $25 like MoMA in New York. The Nelson has an amazing comprehensive collection, particularly in Chinese art, and it's fantastic that we can pop in whenever the mood strikes, not worrying about high admission costs.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Hearts of Darkness
Friday the 8th of July brought beautiful weather to KC, as well as a free show by the fantastic Afrofunk band Hearts of Darnkess on the lawn of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, out in the suburbs. We enjoyed a Thai take-out picnic, and had a great time lounging on the lawn, but perhaps the best part was when little man was dancing and then received a spontaneous hug from another dancing toddler. Too funny!
Birthday!
Wednesday the 6th was Joe's birthday (I won't say how many he has now celebrated...). We enjoyed an evening out in KC, starting at the fantastic bar at Pierpont's at Union Station. The station itself is a holdover from a more elegant era- the gorgeous interior space of the station is inspiring, and rouses a longing for a time when travel was elegant and when the U.S. had a real transportation system. I never get this feeling from the cramped and plain airports that we use today, and car travel on our crumbling infrastructure is simply ridiculous (see my post from four days prior). One can still take the train from Union Station, but it is slow, expensive, and inefficient. For example, to travel to Chicago via train is more costly than flying, takes longer than driving, and travelers only have the option to leave two times a day. That and the Amtrak trains that I see pulling out of the station appear to be of the same era as the station itself- pre-World War II. As a result of the decreased use of the station for transportation the city has tried to place a variety of tourist attractions in the station building, some with more success than others. While I'm not excited about the type of exhibits they bring in (Princess Diana's stuff, Motorcycles, etc.), I do love Pierpont's, which is located in a corner of the station. I haven't eaten in the restaurant itself, but the bar is beautiful, and the service on Joe's birthday was fantastic.
Back to KC
A distant view of Kansas City as we passed over the Missouri River on our way home from a great holiday weekend in Chicago.
Holiday weekend continued...
On July 3rd, we enjoyed so many things, it was hard to select a single photo. We ventured to Mitsuwa, the huge Japanese market in the Chicago suburbs, where we picked up some hard to find Japanese groceries and had lunch, we had a fabulous afternoon garden party with friends and family, some of whom we hadn't seen in years, and we saw Mark Farina (with a few other great djs) late night in the city (below). A perfect day! :)
Monday, July 11, 2011
Taste of Chicago
I took this photo waiting for our friend Shana on the steps of the Art Institute, and before we all indulged in a sampling of food at the Taste of Chicago for lunch. We enjoyed everything from vegetarian "chicken" wings to frozen cheesecake dipped in chocolate and served on a stick to mango dusted fries with chutney dipping sauce.
Transportation fail
We spent the afternoon, evening, and into the night on July 1 driving from Kansas City to Chicago. What would be a 4 hour bullet train ride in Europe, Japan, or China, became a 10+ hour drive through America's crumbling infrastructure. We hit traffic, construction, and even a 12 minute wait at a tollbooth (at midnight!) on our drive. I will never understand why Americans are so car-obsessed; if we had a real train system we could have relaxed on our trip, moved around at our leisure, and had a much safer journey. Instead we were subject to the poor driving of others, stuck in a seat, and forced to pollute at a much higher rate.
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