Soulard Coffee House

June 6, 2010 - we hadn't been to Soulard coffee house in a while, so we made it for brunch.

it has such a beautiful garden outback and some great food!

waiting on our yummy breakfast

prime location next to the water fountain

ron, his coffee and a zine

Memorial Day Weekend 2010

May 28, 2010- im.promp.t.Q

Dan, the grill master

Dave, love all the cardinals red!

Leslie (strawberries), Barbara (icebox cake), Me (spatula)

Ron and red cup

May 30, 2010- wine and cheese night and Rock Band

Dave (guitar), Barbara (mic), Ron (Bass), Amanda (drums)

me (smile), Ron (goof)

me (emo), Ron (emo goof)

me (smile), Ron (CHEESE!)

May 2010: Nashville

Well, it's time to play catch-up here again. Can't believe it has really been a month and a half since the last post. The good thing about having a lot going on is that there's a lot to post here. The bad thing is that there's no time to post it.

Going all the way back to the beginning of May, Claire and I went down to Nashville (or Tullahoma, to be more specific), TN for my younger sister Christine's graduation from nursing school. It was the first time that my family had all been together in about 3 years.

(Pictured in the following: Dad (Ron Sr.), older sister (Tara), her kids (Anna Chey, J.T., Cierra), younger sister/graduate (Christine), her husband (Brian) and kids (Aubrea, B.J., and Cayce), and of course, Claire and me.)

Finally got a picture of him after trying all day.

More on this guy here.

The graduate.

On our way out of town, I took Claire by the Parthenon, which she had never heard about. (I think that it's really strange that Nashville even has this, especially since no one in Nashville really cares and no one outside of Nashville really knows about it. All it's really ever used for is for high school kids to have a place to drink and such. Or so I've heard. That and artistic re-enactments, as pictured above.)

Royale

(header courtesy of the royale website)

It got late to go to the grocery store or even fix dinner, so Ron and i went to the Royale.

(photo courtesy of the royale website)

We split the Juniata (veggie burger made with match "meat") and an east west club (with match "meat" chicken). i ordered the sweet potato chips as my side and they were perfectly done (sometimes they are too done). the food is always good! next time, its time to split the fish tacos again (best fish tacos in St. Louis)!

Taxes

Last night Ron and i split a ride to the downtown St. Louis Post Office to drop our 2009 taxes off. We were both very last minute this year. Thanks to taxslayer, it was fairly quick

and cheap, only 14.95! Looks like the Puerto Vallarta trip is paid off after Ron finished his, 2007, 2008, AND 2009 taxes!!

Afterwards, it turned into one of those stupid dinner nights, where everything goes wrong trying to decide on where to go for dinner and when we get there, it's either too pricey for what it is, of the doors are locked, even though they should still be open for dinner. ugh!! so, it was a DEL TACO night.

Cooking with....

Here is a peek at what Claire and I had for dinner tonight:

MMMMMMmmm...tasty.

A few weeks ago we were watching Simply Ming on the local PBS. His theme that day was "sesame" and one of his dishes was Sesame-Chive Butterfish with Buttered Edamames and Spinach. It looked delicious and I was obsessed with making it. I looked into actually getting butterfish but it seemed a bit difficult around here if not a bit risky, since there are many different kinds of fish that might be labeled as "butterfish". These would include "escolar" which is known to cause abdominal cramping and LOOSE STOOLS. SO, in our recipe, cod seemed a suitable alternative.

I'm happy to say that after more than a week of having the ingredients on hand and waiting for a night when it seemed like the right time to make it, we finally got it together, as evidenced above. I thought it was quite nice. Claire said it was "interesting" or "different" or something like that, but she cleaned her plate, so that says something. And so far, no cramping, etc. But it might be that all of the poison in the edamame is keeping that at bay.

Bon Appétit!

the informant

Ron and i watched the informant last night. i was so confused the whole movie, but i think that is the point. Matt Damon was great in this role! i loved all of his voiceovers of the characters thoughts!!

"I don't like wool on skin. Not even that merino wool they have at Marshall Field in Chicago. Ginger likes it because it's formfitting, but she likes avocados. And who wants that texture in their mouth? "

The other thing about the movie was the characters hair. i kept trying to figure it out, turns out it is supposed to be a toupe!!