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]

Moments 09 19 :: Week 03

Pretty much everything exciting this week was food! Brian and I had been hearing about Il Ritrovo for YEARS. Every time we thought about going, it was closed (Sundays and weekdays after 2pm). Last Saturday was beautiful, so we hopped on the motorcycle and headed to Sheboygan.


Um, yeah. This was the Prosciutto Crudo e Ruchetta. It’s a certified Vera Pizza Napoletana pizzeria, which is a movement to promote and protect the style and tradition of pizza making found in Naples. It was amazing. Just saying.


We had to keep the pizza intake at a minimum, because that night, we finally got out to celebrate our 20th anniversary. Decided to treat ourselves to special dinner at Sanford, which has been around since 1989 but we've never ever been too. It was fantastic. We haven't had a dinner like it in awhile, that's for sure.


I wish I took a photo of the menu! First up, was smoked elk with plums and pine nuts and birch sorbet. Mind blown. (The next photo is actually from dessert. Cute.)


I had an heirloom tomato salad, and Brian had a watercress gazpacho, which was out of this world.


Our entrees were seared scallops with beets and greens for me, and rabbit, which was a rabbit sausage wrapped in rabbit, for Brian.


The finale. I had the Italian plum tart with malt ice cream, and Brian had a strawberry rhubarb phyllo with pistachio ice cream. We also had a brandy that was infused with blackberry. Needless to say, we were both very, very happy. Here's to us!

Birthday Celebration Day

I think it's safe to say that H had a great birthday. Overall, it was very low key. We are at the tail end of our spring break so most of his friends are gone, and Easter is tomorrow and we are hosting, so we were getting ready for that. But, he got to pick out where he wanted to go for dinner, which is always a treat. We went to Tochi -- it was amazing. We all had different dishes, and all were fantastic. Since a cake is happening tomorrow, we realized we didn't have any dessert for him to celebrate, so Brian came up with a great idea of having dessert at H's favorite restaurant of all time -- Lake Park Bistro. We sat at the bar, ordered three different desserts, and even got surprise flourless chocolate cake from the restaurant. He was in heaven and it was absolutely perfect.

Dinner with Friends

During the auction at the last Player golf outing, we bought a dinner at the kitchen table at Lake Park Bistro with Bill & Lora. The great thing was, it gave us something to look forward to all year! Last night we had our dinner, and sure did not hold back. We enjoyed Tartare de Boeuf, Torchon de Foie Gras, Oeuf Mollet avec Champignons (my favorite!), Frites, Filet Mignon au Poivre (Bill), Canard Deux Facon (duck, Brian), Sole Meuniere (split by Lora and me), and Desserts. Specifically, Creme Brulee, Flan d' agrumees (panna cotta), and Mousse au Chocolat. Delicious! Such a treat, and such a great night.

Y + G // Day 3

We hit the road early this morning to take Greg & Yvonne back to Chicago (boo....) and see the Bowie exhibit at the MCA (yay....). We could not wait to see it, and it did not disappoint. What a brilliant man! The exhibit took a couple hours, so afterwards, we were starving again. Imagine! Y+G are staying with their friend Bill, who lives the Fulton Market district in an über-cool loft. The boys thought it was one of the most incredible places they have ever seen, and it was. Bill has impeccable taste, and it was wow. Afterwards, we went to la Sirena for a delicious lunch, and Bill joined us, which was such a treat. It was the perfect ending to our day in Chicago and our time with Greg & Yvonne. Such incredible people to be surrounded by. I for one, totally miss them already.

Y + G // Day 1

It's been three years since I last saw Yvonne and Greg. They are two of my favorites ever, so how in the world could this be? Brian's been lucky enough to travel to LA for work and see them. But is seriously been three years for me. That's crazy talk. They are spending Christmas and New Year's in Chicago, and we were so excited when they proposed spending a couple days in Wisconsin with us over the break. They took the train up on Sunday. We started their Milwaukee adventure at the St. Paul Fish Company for oysters, then went to Wolf Peach, where we had an amazing dinner. Final stop -- our house. Where we at a ton of chocolate ... and may have overindulged on several bottles of wine and stayed up too late. It was worth it. What a blast.

Annual Dinner

Last night was our 7th annual holiday dinner with Ali/Scott and Shelly/Andrew. It is one of only a couple times a year we actually manage to get together, so it's really something we look forward to. Last year, Andrew was sick so we had a replacement couple (Terri/John) stand in for the evening. We had changed our venue to the festive 5 O'Clock Steakhouse, so this was the first time Shelly & Andrew had been there. It's perfect, and as always, we had a great time. Love getting to hang out with these people. (Family photo from our very first holiday dinner, back in 2008).

Celebrating Melissa

Over the years, we've shared many milestones and memories with our friends. The mastermind behind most of these special times is our friend Melissa. Finally, it was her turn to celebrate -- a 40th birthday. Melissa is not one to turn down a good time, but she does come with some stipulations. She hates surprises, so wanted to know when the celebration would be happening. She wanted to keep it small. And she didn't want anyone to feel burdened. Now, the big question was, what in the world could we do? Leif recruited Amy and Penny to help, and together, they ended up with an absolutely brilliant plan.

The day started at Amy & Graham's, with appetizers and a signature cocktail -- which I was responsible for. I have to say, the Rosemary Old Fashioned's turned out delicious. Melissa still had no idea what was going on, and just as she was getting comfortable, Leif blindfolded her and lead her outside (they only tripped twice) where we all met up with her by our ride for the night -- a ridiculous and awesome (ridiculously awesome?) Hummer Limo. I can only imagine what was going on her mind at that point....

 We loaded our Hummer, and off we went -- lights flashing and music pumping. Our first stop -- Kai Zan. They even opened a little early for us, which was behind incredible. Chris & Penny chose this restaurant and set the bar high with incredible eats and an extremely touching toast to our guest of honor. The course we had there was an Oyster Shooter with Quail Egg, Bride of the Fox Sake, and Shaved Ice with Yuzu. After 30 minutes, it was time to load back up in the limo and go to our next destination -- Irazu. Brian and I picked this restaurant. (Are you getting the theme of the evening here?). While nothing fancy, it is one of our favorites. We were definitely regulars there during our Chicago years. The dishes selected were Patacones, Costa Rican Sandwiches, Pepito Sandwiches. The next stop of the evening -- Joong Boo Market. Melissa is a huge fan of the humble dumping, and this corner shop was completely fitting. At only $2 a piece (and so, so filling), we each had a choice of Spicy Kimchee, Pork or Red Bean. Our forth stop was The Pork Shoppe, where we had Pork Belly Pastrami Sandwich, Fries, and Pickles. And PBRs... Delicious! Next on our journey, was Cafe Versailles. Amy & Graham picked this destination, where they let Melissa make some authentic French crepes. We enjoyed some espresso and an assortment of savory and sweet crepes: Banana & Nutella; Kiwi, Honey & Pistachio; Chicken & Caramelized Onion; Tomato, Olive, Egg & Cheese. Ooo la la! I've got to be honest -- we can all hold our own when it comes to eating, but at this point, we were all feeling a bit glutinous. We swung by Herma's Kitchen and picked up some samosas (which we were able to enjoy the next morning), then headed down Lake Shore Drive in our limo while listening to Chicago before ending back at Amy & Graham's. There, we got to enjoy some dessert and continue celebrating.

Seriously, it was one of these nights that you have to ask yourself over and over again if it really even happened! It was absolutely perfect. Happy 40th Birthday, Melissa!

P.S. Melissa has a way with words, and has great documentation of the evening over on her blog. Check it!