Moments 03 23 :: Week 05

The scene the day we left for St. Louis. It was actually pretty treacherous. Personally, I'm done with winter. 

A pretty corner of the house.

Cole had to take a placement test at North Central College. Zoë came along and we walked to get coffee. We also got to meet Cole's coach, see where he will be living, and walk around campus. 

Met up with Melissa at Mitsuwa Marketplace for ramen. It was a quick visit, but so fun seeing her. Hope to get to do that more soon. 

We had a blast grocery shopping afterwards and getting matcha/black sesame ice cream.

We picked up stuff to make sushi. It might not have been the prettiest, but it was fun and delicious.

Miss Gretel turned 9! She does struggle a bit more, but is still spunky.

I made pupcakes. It's safe to say they both loved them.

Hudson is at The Ohio State this weekend for club swim Nationals. He'll be swimming in four events. So exciting. What a cool venue.

St. Louis Spring 23 :: The Food

Couldn't not post about some of the amazing meals we had when we were in St. Louis. Didn't take photos of it, but we had delicious sandwiches at The Gramophone, and yummy coffee at Coffeestamp as well. These were some of the delicious things we at at Corner 17 and iNDO. 

Corner 17 - Handmade Wonton with Homemade Chili Sauce, Handmade Sticky Rice Chicken Shumai, Handpulled Dan Dan Noodle

iNDO - Cocktails, Shrimp Toast, Palm Sugar Ribs, Isaan Hamachi, Toro Scallion Handroll, Sake Sashimi, Chocolate Chocolate Chip Ice Cream [Cocktails were Million Dollar Kikuchi, NA Ang Ka Stroll, NA Let That Man-Go, Whisky Cha Boran]

St. Louis Spring 23 :: Day 03

Last day in St. Louis. Brian and I walked around campus and ran into the Wienermobile. According to Hudson, it is there a lot. Turns out we rode the elevator down with the driver and already talked to her. She handed us Wiener Whistles and we found out there are only 6 Wienermobiles in the US. The drivers commit to a year, and travel all over. After we checked out of our hotel, we met up with Hudson, then had lunch at City Foundry before making our way back home. The boys all had on one of their trips without me, but I had driven by Pink Elephant Antiques so many times, and had never been. We weren't in a rush to get back, so made it happen this time. The inside was insane. Those kinds of places make me crazy, so I wasn't a huge fan. But I loved the quirky sculptures outside. After that stop, it was time to head home. I already can't wait to visit St. Louis again.

St. Louis Spring 23 :: Day 02

The next day, we woke up, had a little breakfast in the room, then met up with Hudson again and went out for coffee. When we were outside, we heard a police car squeal and turnaround quickly. Soon we saw what they were after -- a car went speeding down the street towards the area we were in. Along with a bunch of other people. It tried to make a quick turn, but ended up going over a curb and crashing. It was crazy. The person was fine and ended up running down the street (we think he was caught later). What blew me away (in a good way), is people ran towards the car to help. One of the chefs in a restaurant even ran out with a first aid kit. I thought that was pretty amazing. It was a scary situation though. And what's really nuts, is when we were in The Loop the night before, there was a high speed chase through the main street. We saw two in less than 24 hours. Really sad, if you ask me. Anyhoo, after coffee we went to check out St. Louis City stadium. It's really impressive. Hopefully some day we'll get to a game. When pre-sale started for season tickets, there were over 65,000 people who signed up. Tickets are impossible to get and super expensive. The team is doing great though. There's always Amsterdam Pub I guess. After that, we walked through The Gateway Arch. We hadn't done that since Spring Break four years ago and it was the perfect day. Then we walked through The Grove and grabbed sandwiches at The Gramophone. Hudson had to get back for a meeting and swim, and Cole wanted to chill in the room for a little bit, so Brian and I walked through City Foundry then grabbed slushy cocktails at Narwhals before going to back to the room to get ready for an amazing dinner at indo. We've been wanting to go there for awhile, but never planned well enough -- until this time. It was a really nice treat for all of us.

St. Louis Spring 23 :: Day 01

We just got back from a couple days from St. Louis. I can't believe we haven't been there since September. It's such a fun city to visit. We left during a crazy snow storm. Honestly, it was pretty treacherous. But we made it, and thankfully, the weather was gorgeous in St. Louis. Hudson met us at our hotel, then we went to the St. Louis University soccer game. Afterwards, we headed to The Loop for some hand tossed noodles and dumplings at Corner 17. I had never been before and have been wanting to go the past few times I've been there. It was a long wait, so we picked up some boba and headed to the record store for a bit. After dinner, Hudson took us to Amsterdam Tavern to watch the St. Louis City soccer game. It was packed, and so much fun. Such a fun first day.

Moments 03 23 :: Week 04

Friday was Brian's birthday, so we had our friends Aaron and Stephanie over to celebrate.

We had our traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner. Actually, I tried a new recipe this year, and it was fantastic. 

I also made a pistachio cake that was to die for. Wish I would have taken a better photo. Our friends Jennie and Brian also stopped by after their dinner reservations (it was that Brian's birthday the day before) to join us for dessert. Yum.

Meanwhile, Hudson and his crew made their way back to St. Louis. First, a stop in Atlanta for a day. One of the roommates, Sam, is from there. Sounds like they had a great day getting shown around. They even went to an Atlanta soccer game.

Van's favorite place to be when anyone is cooking.

A really good smoothie bowl breakfast for me (the guys ate corned beef and hash). Not something I usually eat, but this was delicious. 

If you know me at all, you know this just made my day. A bunch of little deer frolicking in a yard during our walk. The front one was a little adventurous, and actually started coming over to me and dogs. 

It's always National Puppy Day in our house. Just look at those two. The sweetest.

Quick photo as I was getting ready to go to sleep. Almost forgot to show off my new hair cut. After all, it won't look like this again. Yes, that is a Van Duke right next me. Such a snuggler.

Moments 03 23 :: Week 03

A perfect Saturday night. 

Celebrating Mack's 18th birthday.

Such a fun afternoon.

I love it random rainbows pop up. 

Hudson and his roommates spent their spring break this past week in Florida at Nina & Papa's. 

Papa had to come to Wisconsin for business (so yes, Nina was at their place with the boys a few days -- and I'm pretty sure she totally spoiled them). We were supposed to see each other last time he was in town, but weather got in the way. Thankfully, this time it worked out. Even Cole got to join us thanks to soccer being cancelled.