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.)
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!
Filed under Kansas misc, Uncategorized, Wichita
when next in Evanston, Ill. – 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
Filed under Chicago
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….
Filed under Chicago, Des Moines
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/
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>> http://www.brennansneworleans.com/ (see foto above)
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Filed under New Orleans
fro-yo coming to Des Moines’ Ingersoll Avenue; lululemon to East Village
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!
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.
Filed under Des Moines
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
Filed under New Orleans
Sending my son off to Peru…without a smart phone
One of the hardest things about dropping my son off at the airport in Omaha this morning is that he didn’t take his smartphone with him (he won’t be able to use it in his destination city: Lima). So of course right after we exchanged our last wave, just before he went through the x-ray machine, – me crying, him looking a little concerned – I thought of something I wanted to tell him. And I couldn’t. Soon enough he’ll be somewhere that he can email us from but not having the ability to text is tough. It’s not like we text that much – I try not to. But not having the option stinks. It makes me wonder how my parents coped when I flitted off to Europe and the Middle East for months on end, just roaming without much of an itinerary, and there was no email or texting option. Back in 1982, our only option – beside very expensive phone calls and not-very-timely postcards – was telegram and I do remember once sending a telegram to my dad for his birthday from Istanbul (when I almost forgot it was his birthday). I made the mistake of wishing him Happy Birthday in Turkish – which he of course didn’t understand so I may have unnecessarily alarmed him and my mom. This was only a few years after the movie “Midnight Express” came out…
Anyway, I hope to get an email from my son sometime tomorrow just telling me he’s arrived in Lima safely. Then I’ll be fine. I think.
Filed under Adventure travel, Peru
Chicago’s Gold Coast – indie shops to visit
Life Is Sweet Candy Museum
We are fortunate to stay in Chicago with relatives on the Gold Coast – although I’m not sure we can afford to shop there. Still, the NYT recently had a story about some shops that at a minimum could be fun to browse in. And they are….
– Independence, 47 East Oak Street. Men’s wear
– Candyality, 835 N. Michigan Av. (artwork made from candy, exhibits on the history of candy making in chicago, and…real candy. this place I’m visiting!)
– Perchance, 11 East Walton, fancy women’s wear
– Space 519, 900 N. Michigan Ave. refurbished vintage furniture, etc.
– Samantha Chicago, 64 E. Walton, haute hippie for the young (or young at heart?)
Filed under Chicago
West Des Moines: Olympic gymnastics hotspot thanks to Chow, Gabby, Shawn
We met Liang Chow and his wife about 10 – 15 years ago when our daughter took lessons at his then-fledgling gymnastics studio in West Des Moines. Who knew that he would become a darling of the 2008 and now 2012 olympics but it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Who knows what really goes on between a coach and star pupil but I do know that I’d trust my kid’s fragile body and emotions with him if I had a budding gymnast on my hands. He always seemed a bit unknowable behind his omnipresent smile (a stereotype I know) but he also seemed very calm and kind and dedicated. Just what you want in a coach, I’d think. So happy for him – and his star pupils Gabby Douglas and, in 2008, Shawn Johnson (who I no doubt watched as a kid when I sat through my daughter’s gymnastics classes. She’s a year older than our daughter.) Happy too for my adopted city and state to catch a little unlikely fame. Wonder who our next Iowa-trained gymnastics superstar will be? (A few contenders can be found on http://www.chowsgym.com.)
Filed under Des Moines
TakeBetsywithyou 