September 7, 2012 · 2:35 pm

My recent travel story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune – The High Trestle Trail in Iowa

I forgot to mention that a story of mine about riding bikes on central Iowa’s The High Trestle Trail at night ran a few weeks ago in The (Minneapolis) Star Tribune – for more details see: http://www.startribune.com/printarticle/?id=165756086

Night riding on The High Trestle Trail in central Iowa

Fresh air, exercise and an art bridge

  • Article by: BETSY RUBINER
  • Special to the Star Tribune
  • August 13, 2012 – 2:41 PM

The other night, I did something new and possibly stupid: I rode my bike on an unlit trail through rural Iowa. It was dark, except for the dim beam from the cheap flashlight I jury-rigged to my handlebars and the occasional flickering light of passing bikes. It was quiet, except for the periodic rustling, croaks and calls of who-knows-what. It was spooky.

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September 4, 2012 · 7:08 pm

photos of the eccentric sculptures in Mullinville Kansas!

The folk art sculptor I wrote about yesterday is M.T. Liggett and there’s a great article about him, plus a slide show, in the Wall Street Journal from 2010.

a small sampling of the sculptures along the Highway in Mullinville, Ks.

See: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703630404575053632726040838.html#slide/1 (slide 3 is a photo of M.T.) and http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703894304575047461204497670.html.

Here’s some photos we took yesterday when we passed through Mullinville and

The view from the road in Mullinville Kansas – lots of strange sculptures

met Mr. Liggett.

Art installation along Highway 400 as you enter Mullinville, Kansas

Angry art in Mullinville Kansas (yes, those are swastikas

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September 3, 2012 · 3:00 pm

Meeting the local eccentric scuptor in mullinville kansas

For years, the speck of a town on the map in western Kansas, mullinville, has been a highlight of our nine hour drive from des Moines to wright,Kansas (another speck) thanks to the ever-growing collection of nine foot high whirligigs and metal sculptures lining two-lane highway 400. Many are labeled with familiar names – apparently a commentary on the likes of al gore, Janet Reno, Ted Kennedy, hillary(of course) and even Laura bush (we noticed laura this morning when we parked alongside the near deserted highway to take a closer look and some photos. As we were getting back in the car, a dusty pickup truck came driving towards us and I half expected to need to run for cover. The truck pulled up next to us and an old Guy with a toupee, craggy face, overalls adorned with strange large round plastic buttons and two splotches of blue paint on his knuckles looked at us with piercing eyes and said “you like my stuff?”
He and my husband chatted for a bit – he knew of my husband’s family “good Catholics from Spearville.” He mentioned he was indeed “in a fight with the city council” aka “nazi goose steppers”. Which we we gleaned from one installation along the highway in town which included a toilet bowl (a popular element in his art, several swastikas, and some angry references to things like the Gestapo. (look here for photos tomorrow!)
We did drive down the narrow dirt road lined with more curious sculptures past his studio to see what pissed off the city council and found several homemade private property-keep out signs in the middle of the road, which he appeared to claim as his property. We are guessing that’s the issue – or one of the issues – with the powers that be in mullinville. I wanted to ask him a bit about his politics but conversation didn’t move in that direction. We’re guessing he’s somewhere between a libertarian and an anarchist.

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September 3, 2012 · 2:58 am

Boot Hill, Jalisco, bella Italia…dodge city,kansas

i made a rare visit to the boot hill museum in dodge city this morning to pick up some souvenirs for a Peruvian man my son is living with in Lima. Turns out he is a big fan of westerns so figured he’d like some dodge city stuff. Not sure his wife will. I was surprised by how busy the gift shop was. I didn’t stick around for the midday gunfight. Too much of that going on in the real world these days. Tonight we returned to our favorite Mexican restaurant in dodge, tacos Jalisco, where I tried the garlic shrimp rather than my usual carne asana (we had had steak for Sunday lunch…this being Kansas). Shrimp was good and always an interesting scene, full of Hispanic families and even some african Muslims. That’s dodge these days, with lots of immigrants working in the meat packing plant. We also went last night to Bella Italia, Italian food but everyone we saw working there was mexican. Very sweet people. Food, not great. We hit the road for nine hour drive back to Iowa. Word has it Obama will be back in Iowa again this week (and I will be away again during his visit.)

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September 2, 2012 · 2:57 am

Delano district, old town, Vietnamese-Cajun food in wichita

After barreling down interstate 35 for six hours, much of the time in the dark and rain, we made it to Wichita at about midnight. Did I really live there? It seems another life, another person, another time. And it was 1987. Wichita had some surprises then and it has them now, little pockets of coolness that a come as a pleasant surprise. The Delano district, a five-or-so block stretch of west Douglas, west of the Arkansas river (that’s pronounced aR-Kansas river I quickly learned when I moved to Kansas from connecticut, and don’t you forget it) wasn’t mUch during the late 80s, sort of a poor man’s downtown with nuts and bolts shops, the carpet shop, the auto body shop. There were always a few interesting places that are still there like Hat man jack’s, a great hat store (where I bought a floppy hat for our Peru trip) and the original Nuway, a loose meat sandwich shop. Now there are lots of restaurants,belittle boutiques, bakeries, tattoo parlours. Among our favorites:

Sugar sisters bakery, bike man, Sweet cheeks (for hip-organic chic mommies and babies),la galette cafe and crepes, TJ’s Burger House….you get the idea.

We also stopped briefly at the old town farmers market downtown where a bluegrass string band planned near the cold ales Keen Kutter building, now a hotel. We picked up some succulent plants for a song, at a stand run by a nice transsexual woman,drank some good cherry lime made, entered a raffle for a quilt run by deaf Kansas. On the way back we hope to try a Vietnamese-Cajun restaurant we just read about in the nytimestravel section. Surprise!

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August 27, 2012 · 8:04 pm

when next in Evanston, Ill. – Hummingbird kitchen!

HummingBird Kitchen

HummingBird Kitchen

I won’t be taking my usual trip to Evanston, Illinois this fall because our son – a Northwestern junior – is studying in Lima (where we will travel to instead.) But when he returns to school in January, I’ll try to check out the Hummingbird Kitchen – a food truck that word has it has just two sandwiches including one that’s highly recommended by Midwest Living mag. – the lamb sandwich.  The place also has one of the more clever websites for a food truck, or any other enterprise come to think of it: see hummingbirdkitchen.com

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August 18, 2012 · 5:34 pm

The Slurping Turtle in chicago, Oasis in Iowa City, Splash in Des Moines

Outside The Slurping Turtle on Hubbard Street in Chicago

I met my sister and her daughters at a new place in the River North area (I think) of Chicago called The Slurping Turtle, cute place with good Japanese-influenced food run by a celeb chef (he’s on Top Chef Masters, we were told.) The best dish was the Tori Ramen a egg noodle soup with a poached egg, chicken, Chinese broccoli  and pea pods. Also some good gyoza appetizers (potstickers) and duck fat fried chicken. On the drive home, I  picked up my daughter in Iowa City and we went to one of her favorite places that I’d somehow never been to – Oasis, a middle eastern restaurant where I had a humdinger of a pita sandwich with perfectly cooked and seasoned chunks of lamb, felafel, chunks of cucumber and tomato, hummus. Excellent. Last night we did the $25 restaurant week dinner at Splash with four other friends. We were told the portions were slightly smaller for the discounted meal – which I thought was a bit stingy – but when the dishes arrived they were certainly big enough for me. The highlight was the key lime cheese cake and a chocolate dessert that was some of a round cake with a soft chocolatey center.  And now I must stop eating for awhile….

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August 10, 2012 · 7:15 pm

New Orleans Restaurants cont’d: dad weighs in

 

BRENNAN’S STARS WITH DUFF GOLDMAN

My dad weighs in with some restaurant recommendations for NOLA: (One of which we went to when I was last in New Orleans in around 1989 – Commanders Palace.)

Haven’t been to New Orleans in ages, but do remember Brennans  for breakfast as being a classic…go late at night and have breakfast. Also remember eating oysters bienville which I haven’t seen anywhere else. Also, if it still exists, Commanders Palace in the garden district was beautiful.
> http://www.commanderspalace.com/
>
>> http://www.brennansneworleans.com/ (see foto above)
>

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August 8, 2012 · 7:02 pm

fro-yo coming to Des Moines’ Ingersoll Avenue; lululemon to East Village

Lululemon Athletica logo.svg

Be careful what you wish for. I’ve long wanted a frozen yogurt place on Des Moines’ Ingersoll Avenue and now comes word that two are about to open, within blocks of each other: Orange Leaf next to Gusto Pizza; Menchie’s a block or so west. I guess this is good. I’ll be looking for the Greek stuff!

Hy-Vee Triathlon

Also surprised to see that Lululemon has set up shop in Des Moines’ East Village. Not sure if this is a good or bad sign. Good that a trendy athletic clothing chain is attracted to the neighborhood, which not long ago was a shopping wasteland. Not-so-good if chain stores start driving up rents and pushing out the independent shops that make the East Village distinctively charming. It does arrive just in time for the Hy-Vee Triathlon over Labor Day Weekend in downtown Des Moines.

Frozen Yogurt @ Orange leaf

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August 7, 2012 · 4:12 pm

New Orleans Restaurant Recommendations from someone who should know

My sister-in-law-in-the-know (she was a restaurant critic for a major East Coast newspaper for years) suggests these restaurants in New Orleans (two of which I’ve already booked – Cochon and Boucherie):

Also found a good website with info on restaurants and beyond:

EAT new orleansMy sister-in-law-in-the-know (she was a restaurant critic for a major East Coast newspaper for years) recommends the following restaurants (two of which I’d already booked – cochon and boucherie):

Also found a good website for more info: www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/cuisine/restaurants.php

Cochon
A Mano
Arnaud’s (her favorite classic)
Irene
EAT (for brunch)
Stanley
Nola
Her saint
Dorky chase
Boucherie

Chef of the YEAR (2009)
Donald Link

Cochon, Cochon Butcher, Calcasieu, Herbsaint

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