Sunday Adventure (and so long Sweet Heartland)

Last Saturday night while watching The Grisly Hand at Knuckleheads (on the menu: Rolling Rock and jalapeno poppers) my friend Angie suggested an adventure the following day. What better plan for a hot, lazy Sunday than an equally lazy adventure?

We started with brunch at Westport Cafe with Sabine and her family. Then it was out to the country! We drove under heartbreakingly blue skies to the little town of Weston, MO. There, we visited some shops and had a blissfully cool bottle of white wine under the arbor at Pirtle Winery.

A really wonderful pottery shop in Weston

On day when it's 106 degrees, an icy bottle of wine is just the thing

The courtyard at Pirtle Winery

On our way to Weston, we noticed signs pointing to Smithville, MO, a tiny town that has a secret: it's home to Justus Drugstore, a deservedly well-known farm-to-table restaurant. We decided to stop in at the bar for drinks and snacks.

A gin fizz and a herbed lemonade cocktail (and a taste of the housemade vermouth)

The bar at Justus Drugstore

It was really a perfect day. And a perfect end to my time in the Midwest. Matt is on his was home from Afghanistan as I write this and we are moving (hopefully for the last time in the foreseeable future) to....Washington DC! I've been lucky enough to have spent this weekend here, seeing friends and finding a place to live and I'm in love. I couldn't be more excited to return to the east coast and live in this gorgeous city. 

So  (after 5 years here!) this is goodbye to the Midwest and so long to Sweet Heartland. 

It's been lovely- thank you for following me on my adventures in the heartland. 

love, 

e

Sweet Visit: Cleveland

Summer is the best time to be in Cleveland and this past weekend I got to visit with some of my favorite people. Since my friends there are just as fanatical as I am about food, my trip was mostly about what what to eat and when. Dinner at home with Kobe burgers from  Mr. Brisket (an old school butcher in University Heights), Saturday brunch at Fire, strawberry and white chocolate sorbet at Churned, and Sunday brunch  on the lovely patio at SOHO Kitchen + Bar...we ate and drank very well. 

Churned

Breakfast michelada, SOHO Kitchen + Bar

The best part of my weekend was, I believe, one of the nicest things to do during a Cleveland summer. We picnicked and drank wine lounging on the lawn at Blossom, the summer home of the inimitable Cleveland Orchestra. We heard Emanuel Ax play Mozart and Chopin while working our way through a picnic of sandwiches from Murray Hill Market, dessert from A Cookie and a Cupcake, and two bottles of cheap wine. The music (accompanied by singing birds and later, crickets) was blissful.

picnicking

accessories

dessert

We ended the night with cocktails, french fries, and a cheese plate on the patio at L'Albatros, my favorite in Cleveland. Perfect.

July 4

July 4th and Thanksgiving are my two favorite holidays. Not much a build-up, no pressure to find the perfect gift, they are what a holiday should be- all about being with friends and family, eating, and drinking. My best July 4th's have been in the midwest and this one was no different.

I was lucky to be invited to Lake Lotawana, a little community outside Kansas City where a huge July 4th party is held every year. Angie and I floated in the lake, and I ate my weight in suckling pig the way it should be eaten- between slices of sweet Wonder Bread.

My host at Lake Lotawana with his family's annual suckling pig

Cooking frog's legs

Devouring crawfish

They were straight from the lake!

Elvis and the band