St Louis is Fair (to Purdue)

So, Faithful Readers, 

Our time in the Arch City is over.

Those of you who half follow "ball" will know that Purdue won Sunday morning/afternoon by ten over Miami.  Here is a picture from out seats -- not too bad. 

It was not the easiest game on K, as Purdue decided to play blase for the first half, trailing at halftime by 2.  They took the lead at the 18:30 mark and never relinquished it, building to athe 10-point finish.

ICYMI they advance to San Jose for a game at 4:10 California time Thursday.  It gave us little chance to get home and get on a plane to Cali, so we forewent the opportunity.  ):   (not that the airfare would have put us off AT ALL!!!) 

We ended up Sunday night at a local place called Grace's, where the only meal that was photographed was RR's fried catfish -- 

Grace is a down home fried place -- I had chicken fried chicken (I didn't actually seeing a chicken frying it), K had their shrimp dish, and EH had ??? (I've slept since then). 

We were up and out the airbnb, which we liked, although it failed in two of my main criteria (towels and shower -- I think it's the longest I've ever had to stand and wait for hot water to appear!).  Still, it was good. 

Then we ate a second time at Chris's, although EH had another place selected but didn't say anything till we were sitting at the table. 🤷

Then RR drove his back to Indy; the highlight was a stop at the Indiana Welcome Center, which looked like an Indy 500 museum.  It even had an Indy car in a case in the middle of the building! And had a starter's pole out front.  We suggested they should spend more money on the pavement and less on that, but who are we to say?

Back in Indy, RR left us to dinner on our own, so we hit HC Tavern in Fishers, which is run by the same people as the famed St. Elmo's.  They even had the famed shrimp cocktail, which EH and I split.  EH had never had it and you should have seen her face when she took her next bite -- she wasn't ready for how hot the horseradish made the sauce.  It's nostril clearing! 

EH and I had the opened-face steak sandwhich.

K had the shrimp and pasta (see a pattern?)

EH had this drink; I know that's a fig and there's a special ice cube.

And then we came home today.  No problem. 

We have tentative plans to go back to Indy next week --  🤞🤞🤞

If not then, our next trip is to Houston in three week's.  Until then....

 

St. Louie #2 (with food porn)

 Hey everybody -- 

It was our nth day in St. Louis (was that first day really a day?) and we took it easy between basketball games. 

An editorial comment: some whiney readers have acted confused by the initials that I use.  To remind you, K is my life partner, EH is my daughter, and RR is my college friend from Indy (he's had to explain the RR to his kids...or thought he might have to 🤣).  I doubt there will be any others today.

Today's big adventure was the St. Louis Aquarium.  After brunch, RR said "let's just go down to Union Station and park and see what we can do."   That was the plan.

Union Station was a big deal back when as a railroad (I won't use RR because SOMEONE will get confused :) )depot -- they had the World's Fair and Olympics here not long after the railroad opened in the late 1890s.  There's an aquarium in the old train shed, along with a bunch of other businesses, including a hotel, eateries, and then there's a Ferris wheel nearby.  And a large koi pond (trivia: did you know koi can live up to 200 years? seems fishy, but that's what the sign said). 

So we did the aquarium.  We all agreed we like aquariums. 

But first...they said there was a train to the aquarium.  We got "on" and found we were in a room that was meant to look like an old train car and it had screens for windows.  We were told to not look if you got motion sick.  And then the screens raised and it showed the station in XXX and we rolled out and eventually, no, I'm not making this up, took flight over St. Louis.  Yes, I understood the instruction about looking away.  Then we ended up IN the Mississippi River, which seems a negative thing to do if you are a train.  Anyway, it was not for my age group (as RR attested :) ) and we went in.

It was a good aquarium.  I liked this picture --

of the pretty coral.   Or here's one of the glass fronted clock (you can see all the fish inside) in the waiting room for the train. 

After walking around a bit, we decided we were okay with going back to the AirBnB, turning on the basketball (there really wasn't a good game) and hunting down ice cream. 

Brunch (to swing back) was found by EH, who deserves credit, in a neighborhood near Washington of St. Louis campus.   It was in a garden center.  

The food was outstanding.  As RR said, a cut above yesterday's and twice as expensive.  Let's start with the appetizer K and EH got -- a pistachio tea cake. 

EH had a breakfast burrito. 

I had the churro waffle -- it has la dulce sauce on it. 

And RR had the crab cake bennie. 

All was good. A+. The place's name is Bowood. 

After some short naps and the end of a game, EH and I made the hot walk (it was 85 again today) to the local ice cream shop -- Serendipity.  

That's mine.  I had not had ice cream in four days, so I was going through withdrawal.  Not kidding. The top flavor is Take Me Out to the Park, which is flavored like Cracker Jacks (get it? :)) and the bottom was Gold Coast, a dark, dark chocolate that wasn't quite sweet enough, but strong cocoa to the point of slight bitterness.  EH had the mundane mint chip.  I finished my two scoops faster than she ate her one (there was a long explanation as to why) :) 

[period of time elapses, in case you think we went straight from ice cream to dinner]

EH made dinner reservations in The Hill neighborhood; they have road signs with their name on Italian flag colors.  She chose Italian.  We even got lucky and found a spot in their too small parking lot (somewhere here I am supposed to say what a good job RR has been doing of driving, so here it is.  No irony here.  No, none. :)) 

It was as genuine an Italian restaurant as McGurk's was an Irish pub.  White table cloths, Italian music, and so on.  So we went big on Italian food.

RR had the lobster bisque to start (K and I had a Caesar -- it was the week of the Ides of March).

EH had the seafood risotto.  

RR had the veal marsala, with its side of angelhair. 

The pictures of my lasagana and K's branzino didn't come thro (operator error).

We were stuffed; RR failed his much repeated goal of being in the clean plate club.  WE brought boxes (and dessert) home.

Worth noting is that the townhouse next to us is the home of a motorcycle club.  This morning they had a gigantic smoker rolling; about 20 bikes showed up in the afternoon.  They had a full pig on the smoker -- it has smelled good all day (laced with marijuana smoke).  I saw the town security car come by this afternoon and stop and give them a long look, then roll on.  They've been pretty quiet, so, NBD, but it's been interesting. 

The Purdue game is at 11 in the morning.  WE're going to grab a breakfast and hit the arena.  #BoilerUp

Purdue-y in St. Louie (& food porn)

 Hi everyone!

We're in St. Louis with my college friend and wedding best man, RR (he wanted his own initials)!  😁 

Why? You ask (or know already)...to see Purdue play in the NCAA tournament.  It's the 3rd year in a row we've gone to see them in the tournament.  Rah rah. 

Briefly, for those who don't care about basketball, Purdue won tonight, by a score of 104-71.  The game was never really in doubt as they got ahead early and were even up at halftime by 12.  Rah effin' rah. 

Where to backtrack?

We stopped in Indianapolis Wednesday (we drove, obv) and had pizza with GB and her bestie boo (a term I learned that evening :)) at a place called King Dough, right downtown.  I don't think there were pics. EH and I shared one of their pizzas called "Stinky Pete."  I will let you ponder what that might have had on it. :)

Then we had brunch at First Watch.  If you don't know it, it's a chain brunch place.  I had lemon ricotta pancakes.

Then we stopped on the way at our alma mater, which RR and I agreed hadn't really changed that much: the quad has pretty much the same buildings, a couple with new facades in parts.  One part of this that tortures me is all the red -- I am NOT a fan -- and everything there is red, including the banisters on staircases, the seats in the gym, you name it. Yucky.  Bad vibe. I wonder if it was like that when we went there if I could have ignored it and gone there. 🤷

Then to St. Louis.  

I had a recommendation of McGurk's for tendies.  Acc to Josh, they were the best he's ever eaten.  Three of us had them, and they understood his sentiment.  Here they are:

That's their buffalo sauce on the side. 

I had the Guinness stew and we took home the Bailey's Irish Cream cheese cake and the Jameson's bread pudding. 

But about McGurk's: it's an Irish pub. Having been in Ireland multiple times, it is the real McCoy.  The stained glass in various windows and doors, all the wood, and the menu, with fish and chips, soda bread, and shepherd's pie. Great atmosphere.  Two vans full of oldies came while we were there, so you know it is a good place. (the staff person recommended a bar nearby, too)

But it was the guy who seated us and started waiting on us who was amusing.  He talked with this heavy Irish brogue and I asked where he was from and he said "here in St. Louis."  🤔  I said something to the other person and he said "he wasn't faking an Irish accent again, was he?"  We weren't sure who was having us on. 🤣

We came back tot he airbnb, which is 2 miles from the arena where the games are played, and watched games till the end of the night.  I could tell you about the ubiquitous struggle to get the Airbnb TV to give you the anything you want -- eventually it gave me Google TV with YouTubeTV.  

This morning we ate at Chris's Pancakes, which is in The Hill district (we're gong back for dinner tomorrow night), which various sources said was the best breakfast place in town.  It might be. 

I had the special: C&C biscuit.  Chicken and canadian bacon and I got hollandaise on it. 

RR had the country fried steak and pancakes:

EH had the benedict.

Mrs Narrator had something I didn't take a picture of. 

Then we went out east to Cahokia mounds.  These are ca. 12th century mounds, built over hundreds of years, that were the something for the natives there at the time.  It's not real clear what -- most aren't burial mounds.  There was also a sundial thing a la Stonehenge, except with wood poles.  Cool.  

The largest mound had 150 cement steps (EH counted).  It took an hour before my heart went back to normal.  It definitely wondered what I was thinking. 

Then back to town for the pre-game Purdue party at a place called The Midwestern.  It was right across the street from Busch baseball stadium.  Not a lot of blocks from the arena.

It was full of Purdue fans, with lots of black and gold!  They gave us beads and rubber bracelets (Boiler Up!) and stickers, which you see here on RR's face. 🤣

The guy behind us was so excited that he photobombed us!!! SMH...

There were a lot of people to watch, most in Purdue gear, but there was some Mizzou, some Miami, and other oddities. 

Funny final story: RR and I were at the bar getting drinks and I sent the other two to get seats and I looked and they were sitting at the end of an 8-10 person high top with a bunch of girls.  When we came with the drinks, they were standing and I asked...and they said a woman came over and said they were her underage something team and she didn't want other grownups sitting next to them!!! Well, why are they in a bar??!!?!?

Oh, well, that's our first days on this trip.  Having won, we now stay till Sunday sometime (we have the airbnb till Monday).  We have reservations for brunch and dinner tomorrow.  FYI it was 86 here today and is supposed to be similar tomorrow.  Rah rah.  Fini#