Kansas City, Part II

When we discovered that the BBQ Festival was, well, not what we expected it to be, we fell into a bout of unabashed belly laughing at the folly of it all, before picking ourselves up and making an alternate plan for the weekend.  After all, Kansas City is famous for its BBQ, whether it be at a festival or one of its numerous yummy restaurants.

See? We're okay. Plus I don't want people to think that I was bashing the BBQ Festival too much--sarcasm if one of my favorite yet misleading tools of humor.

We took a jaunt around the competitors' lots, just to give it the good ol' college try before we "bagged this joint" (a phrase used way more often by my team members than I would have ever expected).

 

 I know, it's fascinating.

 This is one impressive smoker.

Then randomly, we saw a parrot.

Yeah I don't know.

First up, we hauled ass to the original Arthur Bryant's the original.  We first heard of this place from the writings of Calvin Trillin, a midwest native (who happens to be very charming and funny--I recommend The Tummy Trilogy).  Since then, I think AB's has been on the Food Network about 1,000 times.  Has the overexposure ruined the food? Cheesed up the atmosphere? I'm happy to say that AB's totally hit the spot and satisfied our stymied BBQ craving.

First, as with any good BBQ, you have to stand in line.  It was a Friday afternoon, so I can't imagine what the crowd is like on the weekends. AB's had a simple diner/cafeteria no-nonsense style that was appealing--it's about the food, y'all.

 That man is so hungry he's gnawing on his fingers.

Behold, the meat place (and my face).

From left to right, we have sliced brisket, pulled pork, and burnt ends.  Burnt ends are the crispy end parts of whatever it's been bbq'd, in this case I think it was the end of the brisket. TASTY.  AB's offered a variety of sauces, including their original, spicy (when I say spicy I mean spices like cinnamon and clove, and not so much chili, altho there was as little more of that as well), and ooh gosh something else.  They all tended to be on the sweeter rather than vinegar-y side, making an order of coleslaw a happy necessity.  The sauce is mostly for the brisket, because the pulled pork and burnt ends were already thoroughly sauced (though no one would ding you for saucing them up even more).

Afterwards, we wandered around some neighborhoods, the highlight of which was most definitely Murray's Ice Cream in the Westport area.  Their menu contains a veritable gamut of ice cream treats, from your sundaes to sodas to shakes to egg creams to...anyway it was a really cute shop and the ice cream was tasty. I had a root beer float.

Friday night, we decided to gussy it up a bit and go to the oddly manufactured-looking but pleasant Country Club Plaza area to eat at Fiorella Jack Stack BBQ.  Fiorella is definitely a kind of dressed up, yuppified setting--kind of like a Cheesecake Factory for BBQ.  I'm not complaining. It's good to have some variety in settings.

Waiting for our table, I started with a lemon martini--strong and not too sweet.

Oh heavens they had some super delectable onion rings. Like, amazing.  Such crispy and perfectly seasoned batter around mammoth onion slices.  I think there was crack in this (or MSG).  You must order these.

We ordered a short stack of ribs. They were tender and meaty--I enjoyed them, although my brother in law noted that they were a bit heave on the smoke flavor.  Still, I wouldn't kick them off the plate.

We also ordered some of their burnt ends, to compare to AB's, of course.  These were definitely bigger chunks, with less sauce.  Because of their size, they had more of that crispy part, which I enjoyed.  But also because of their size, they were a tad bit tougher than those at AB's.  Then again, I like that they weren't as sauced as AB's. It's a toss-up.

Fiorella's also serves a grand prime rib--which is a seriously wonderfully fatty hunka meat.  It's definitely pricey, though, so don't feel obligated to try since there are plenty of other tasty options.

We saw that almost every table had ordered a baked potato. I wish I had taken a picture with my head next to it, because you would see that they are the same size.  The potato was fluffy and perfectly cooked, and really can you go that wrong with bacon and cheese on top? Didn't think so.  They also seasoned the potato skin with their house blend spice--it was tasty, but a bit too heavily applied (note: for those of you against MSG, the spice blend has it, but I also think many BBQ sauces have some MSG in it...I'm not that concerned).

We did an okay job eating everything, although it seems we were better at making a big ol' mess.

On Saturday, we headed to Oklahoma Joe's  for lunch.  OJ's is attached to a gas station convenience store, although it's about 3 times the size of the store portion.   The line was all the way out the door, and we waited for about 30 minutes before ordering.  And it was totally worth it.  I think OJ's was my favorite BBQ place of all that we tried.

Happy campers

Here we have the ribs and burnt ends.  Hands down the best ribs.  Tender and tasty, but was not overpowered by smokiness like the ribs at Fiorella's.  They had a thin coating of sauce, but not too much.  The burnt ends here were also my favorite (although not everyone agreed--AB's was the biggest competition).  The bits were a bit bigger than at AB's, but still tender, and more importantly there were only lightly sauced.

We also had the pulled pork sandwich and onion rings.  This pulled pork sandwich was redolent of porkiness.  I know it sounds silly to say that the pork tasted like pork, but whatever they did really enhanced the flavor of pork to the point where you wanted to bury your face in it.  The onion rings were quite good as well, although Fiorella's had a crisper, cleaner crust and a fun presentation.

Saturday night, our last night there, we decided to  change it up a bit and go to Lidia's.  I know this seems like an odd choice, but after all that BBQ we thought a respite would be nice.  And wine. We wanted wine.

Before heading to the restaurant, we went to the rotating rooftop bar at our hotel.  $8 cocktails, and it wasn't even happy hour!! The scenery was nice, but the rotation made me kinda woozy. I'm weak.

Lidia's Kansas City is in a big honkin' building with soaring ceilings.  Open and airy but still cozy feeling because of the lighting and colors.  I tried to take a pic of the cool chandelier that they have, but it looks more like a grouping of tadpoles or something.

I won't go too much into detail.  They brought out an olive and artichoke tapenade/dip thing with yummy, pillowy focaccia to start.  We also ordered the pasta trio, which came with pasta bolognese, swiss chard ravioli, and I can't remember the other one.  We also ordered gnocchi with a rabbit ragu.  And a mushroom soup that nobody ate.

Overall, the food was fine--I would more recommend this place if someone is looking for a nice, but not too formal, night out in a comfortably refined setting with decent food.

To sum up:
AB's--homey local feel with good pulled pork and burnt ends, especially if you are a fan of BBQ sauce.  I can live without the brisket (although it was tender, just not that flavorful).

Murray's Ice Cream--such a cute shop with lots of tasty concoctions.  I kinda wanted to go a second time while we were there.

Fiorella's--for a nicer BBQ dining experience.  Don't miss the onion rings.  The ribs are pretty good and the grand prime rib is tasty, though pricey.

OK Joe's--oh so good. Loved everything we ordered--pulled pork sandwich, burnt ends, ribs, and onion rings.

Lidia's--okay food, pleasant setting good for a more upscale night out without going overboard.

And there you have it. I think we more than redeemed the trip after the festival fiasco.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and those $8 cocktails.

Halloween Ideas

As the years have crept on, I find myself feeling more and more strongly in the holiday spirit.  To me, the holiday season starts with Halloween and ends with New Year's.  And revives a little for Valentine's Day, but not so much.  As an aside, I once worked with someone who didn't approve of Halloween because the holiday celebrated evil spirits, which are the opposite of the Lord. Okay then. I'm not one to debate.

Anyway, so before I started living with Kevin, I did a thing here and there to "deck out" my place for Halloween. Which primarily consisted of making a sign (using the back of a folder flap) with a black Sharpie and glitter stickers purchased at the nearby party store, and taping it up to my front door. I have to admit, it was kind of cute. I think I saved it somewhere as a memento of...me celebrating Halloween by myself, but I can't find it.  Now that I mention it, I think I saved the sign because I was emotionally attached.  I had actually made something with my bare hands, and it demonstrated that I was "settling in"--decorating, of all things.  In some small way I felt that it marked the independent life that I had carved out for myself.  The rather childish Halloween sign kind of represented some measure of adulthood--like I was beyond the point of just scraping by and moving from place to place.  I had a "home" to decorate, by golly. With an 8.5 x 11 sign.

Then Kevin moved in, and my decorating urge sped up (of course take that with a grain of salt, because moving really fast for me is probably napping for you).  I think it's because I have someone at home with whom to celebrate.  Of course I could decorate the place for me and just me, but holidays are nice when they are shared, right? It's like eating a meal--of course you can go out to a restaurant by yourself and have a lovely experience, but it's also wonderful when you get to share it, you know?  Not all the time, and not for all people, but those are my thoughts.

I keep tangenting.

So I've been slowly but surely picking up Halloween decor here and there.  I'm never going to be the type to go completely balls-out, because I just don't have that much energy, desire to spend that much money on Halloween decor, and most importantly, anywhere to store the decorations when the holiday is over.  The last bit is a key consideration.

Over the past few weeks, I've looked at a lot of stuff. A lotta lotta stuff.  But I can't buy everything I want (cruel, cruel world).  In making strategic decisions, I've had to let some things go.  They're totally cool, though, so I want to share them in case anyone else out there needs some Halloween decorating ideas.  I'll follow up with a post later on about the things I did purchase, but for now...

rubyrockwell on Etsy, $15

Ah mah gah these cupcake picks are so freakin' cute.  I am still on the fence on this one. Do I *need* it? Um, something is pulling at my heart and saying yes. But I will resist for now (edit: by the time I posted this, I've been convo-ing with the seller for a custom order). While I decided not to purchase them for the moment, that didn't stop me from delving into the world of Halloween cupcake decorating ideas. 

 AGDesigns2009, $9 for set of 12 

Teeheehee these are cute too.  Or perhaps you want something directly on the cupcake that will be edible, like a confectioner's sugar pattern!

Williams Sonoma, $9.95

But it's not only the top of the cupcake that can be decorated, right? Why yes, how about a cupcake liner? 

Amazon, $13 for12 liners

So fun.  Although maybe you'd like to forego the whole DIY aspect and just order some ready made Halloween sweets. In which case...

Williams Sonoma, $29.95

Oooh my gosh I just wanna pick em up and squeeze em before I pop em in my mouth and chomp em and their little faces.

Naturally, Halloween decor is not all about the food (what? what??).  I've been putting knickknacks here and there, but wanted something with more oomph, to really make the apartment seem more "Halloween-y" without buying large 3D figures (because of aforesaid storage issues).  So for a while, I was totally into the idea of vinyl wall decals...

 wordybirdstudios on Etsy, $19.95

FirstStepPhoto on Etsy, $20

...until I read about the "easy" removal process, which requires a heat source, squeegee or razor, and alcohol.  I didn't trust myself to do this safely without damaging my walls, although I'm sure plenty of people have had success.  Plus I have flat painted walls, which are apparently the worst for vinyl decals. Sadly I had to let this go. It would have looked REALLY REALLY cool. Minimal work/cost for maximum impact.  Le sigh. 

Let's move onto the tabletop, shall we? Perhaps a spooky table runner to set the mood?

HearthSong, $24.98

I like the bright orange and rhinestones.  I should point out, and you may have just noticed this, but I don't mind a bit (or hunk) of cheese and kitsch when it comes to Halloween decorating.  I kind of embrace it.

But perhaps you would prefer something more subtle, still in the cutesy vein...

Crate and Barrel, $3.95

Or, for something a little more grown-up but still spooky...

demetriaco on Etsy, $26 for..2? I think?

I love these, except that they're $13 each and we don't have a lot of storage space for fragile items.  Things get "stored" in our apartment by unceremoniously shoving them into boxes, corners and drawers. 

Now here come the knickknacks. Etsy has a ton of jack o lanterns made from gourds, many of which can be used as candy bowls.

 pinchmeboutique on Etsy, $30

What, not scary enough? Okay maybe you'll like this one better...

 KaoriKreations on Etsy, $33

Heehee so ferocious.

I kind of have a thing for skulls and gothy-looking cartoon characters.  But not totally realistic skulls covered in decaying bodily goo--I'm talking more artistic representations of skulls, I guess.  Probably stems from loving the art in Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, and Coraline, and being fascinated by, although not knowing that much about, Dia de los Muertos.

Currently I'm loving on this little lady... 

 ArtByLupeFlores on Etsy, $60

But alas, we are not meant to be together. I'll just write her letters or something.  It's a piece by Lupe Flores, whose shop I have visited *multiple* times since I first discovered it.  She has just the right combo of creepy, playful, beautiful, and haunting.  I adore her Day of the Dead skulls, like the one below.  It's gorgeous.

ArtbyLupeFlores on Etsy, $39.99

Having taken off on my skull kick, particularly a Day of the Dead kick, I found a few more items.

lizmiera on Etsy, $15

Or how about these? Aren't they adorable?

 thebeehivery on Etsy, $25

Now, I know I just said that I don't go for the realistic looking skulls, but after all this dabbling with skull purchases, I couldn't help but ponder this one as a possible addition to our decor...

SofiLayn on Etsy, $16

Kevin negged the idea, saying it was a bit too real for comfort.  I tend to agree, although I remain fascinated by its glossiness and frozen grin. 

You might think that considering my love for Halloween, that I'm one of those people who spend weeks thinking up of and crafting the perfect costume.  Sadly, that is where I fall far short. I don't like dressing up in costume.  I think I'd enjoy it more if I were willing/capable to make my own costumes, but I'm so not.

Still, to give a little nod to Halloween in my personal attire, perhaps a pair of Jack Skellingtons?

Carneen on Etsy, $7.99

Speaking of Jack, did I mention that I'm now looking ahead to Christmas and kinda want this overpriced ornament?

Amazon, $37.99 (no thank you)

Or just his skull? It's really his skull that's so lovely.

Amazon, $21 (still not worth it)

Sigh--all full of the Halloween spirit now.  Can't wait to show you the pugs' costumes when the time comes. 

"Chickpeas Cooked in a Moghlai-Style"

I put the title in quotes because that's the name of the recipe from the cookbook World Ve$*%&(# by Madhur Jaffrey.  Okay, okay, the title is World Vegetarian, I just felt really weird admitting that I had a cookbook with the word "vegetarian" in the title. But since we have been cooking so much veggie food lately, I figured I'd treat myself to a veggie cookbook.  Because, did I tell you, that this whole thought process conveniently coincided with a little spending spree of mine? Yipee.


Jaffrey uses dried beans for all her recipes and has instructions on soaking and cooking them, but I'm lazy and wanted to cook this in one night, so soaking overnight and cooking chickpeas for an additional 2 hours was just not in my future. I know it's more expensive to buy canned beans, but I kinda don't give a shit.


Recipe adapted from Madhur Jeffrey in aforesaid and now unmentionable book 

• four 14 oz cans of garbanzo beans/chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 5 TBS peanut, canola or safflower oil (basically something that can stand high heat)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 small cinnamon sticks
• 6 cardamom (the recipe calls for cardamom pods, but they didn't have that in the grocery store and hell, I was happy that they even had whole cardamom--by the way if I am talking about cardamom completely incorrectly, please keep it to yourself. I have no desire to learn.)
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• one 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 TBS ground cumin
• 1 1/2 TBS ground coriander
• 7 to 8 oz plain yogurt (full fat)
• 1 plum tomato, finely chopped (it will basically be a mushy mess, which is fine because the recipe called for 5 TBS tomato puree and I wasn't bringing out the food processor for 5 TBS)
• 2 tsp tomato paste (optional--I wanted to up the color and tomato flavor)
• plenty of salt to taste (it will probably take more salt than you think--the original recipe calls for 2.5 tsp, which is quite a lot)
• 1 TBS garam masala
• 1 TBS toasted cumin seeds (put them in a skillet and heat on stove over medium heat for just a minute or two--this stuff toasts really fast.  If you don't have whole cumin seeds, just up the previous ground cumin by a few tsp)
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest (original recipe calls for amchoor powder, which I don't have, and somehow I got it in my head that amchoor powder adds tang to a dish, so I substituted lemon zest.  I know, makes total sense)
• pinch of cayenne, or to taste
• 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro

Serves 8.

Yeah, no SHIT that's a lot of ingredients.  

Heat oil in large pot over medium high heat.  Place in bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, and cardamom.

Stir for about 30 seconds and then add the onion.

Stir the onion until brown around the edges, anywhere from 8-12 minutes. Just keep an eye out.  The below isn't the best picture, but after getting impatient at the 8 minute mark that the suckers weren't browning, I turned up the heat, illogically became less watchful, and my onions were a little more than browned around the edges.

Moving on.  Add in the ginger and garlic.

Stir for about 1 minute, then add the cumin and coriander.  Stir for just a few seconds.

Then add the yogurt, 1 TBS at a time.  Add the next TBS after each TBS is well incorporated.  The original recipe called for 1/2 cup yogurt--I used almost double that amount because yogurt usually comes in 6 to 8 oz containers.  So mine may look a little more...cottage cheese-y.

I know, appetizing, eh? Well hold on, it gets better. And your kitchen will be smelling amazing by this point.


Add in tomato and tomato paste, if using (the paste is not pictured below).  Cook for about 2 minutes.

Now add the chickpeas, salt, garam masala, lemon zest, cumin seeds, and cayenne.  Add enough water (probably a bit more than 2 cups) to barely cover the chickpeas.

Bring to boil, and then lower heat and simmer.  The original recipe says to simmer for about 15 minutes, but I would simmer it for much, much more (this may be because I didn't have bean soaking liquid to thicken everything).  I probably simmered for about 1 hour, every once in a while adding in a little more water.  But you don't have to do it for that long--30 minutes should evaporate enough water and get it to a nice stew-y consistency.

Stir in cilantro, reserving some to top with at the end.  Serve chickpeas over rice.

Ta-da!  I gotta admit, though, something was missing.  It wasn't quite soupy/saucy enough, and there was something definitely missing.  A something which makes this chickpea dish at our nearby Indian restaurant sooo good and savory.  I might try this again, but after some further research into what I'm missing.  If anyone has suggestions, please let me know.

Kansas City, Part I

Kevin and I went to Kansas City (the one in Missouri) this past weekend to meet up with my sister and her husband, and to go to the American Royal BBQ Festival! It's the largest BBQ festival in the nation, if not the world! At least 60,000 to 70,000 people attend, with hundreds of competitors entering their delectable BBQ for judging! Woohoo!


So tell me what you think when I say that.


I'm guessing that you thought we went to Kansas City with the intention of spending 8-10 hours each day at the festival, pigging out on BBQ until we burst.  You would be right.


And if you thought that the above was indeed what was offered by the festival and what we experienced, you would be wrong. So so so so wrong. But not as wrong as we were. And when I say "we," I mean the people who flew from different ends of the country to experience the purported BBQ nirvana.


Sons of bitches.


We head out bright and early to the convention center where the festival is being held.  We get charged $20 for parking. No matter, we get a prime spot and are clearly ahead of the game to eat all that delicious BBQ.  The only BBQ we see is that which people are only starting to cook, in hundreds and hundreds of little lots--like the biggest tailgate party ever.  There are lawn chairs, tables, chairs, decorations, signs, etc. in each little "lot".  *However*, I am a bit confused why those smokers are only just starting. After all, isn't BBQ all about "low and slow"?  How are they going to feed us? It's 10am, and we want BBQ!


After wandering around for a bit, we think we are getting warmer by walking into a large dome-like building called the BBQ Expo.  I have no concept of space measurements, but to me it looked like about 2 acres, under a dome, with about 7 stands of vendors.  No BBQ to be bought.  But there are people hawking their bottled BBQ sauces, as well as a broad range of memory foam mattresses  Not to be deterred, my sister starts asking random people where the food is (I refuse to ask because it was becoming apparent that something was amiss. Very amiss.).  They respond to her with a confused look, think for a few seconds, and take about 10 minutes to answer her, the reason for which becomes clear later on (hint, it's because there was no answer to the question that wouldn't have made us feel like complete and total idiots).


We head out to the lot where purported food for sale is.  Finally! There's BBQ for sale! Granted it's from a suspiciously garishly stand that is pretty much on its lonesome (the funnel cake and Red Bull stands definitively do not count), but we sample the wares anyway.  


BTW, there is also a very cruel and teasing stand clearly labeled "FULL BAR" that was, sadly, completely and heartbreakingly devoid of any human presence and more importantly, of any alcohol.  There is, however, another stand temptingly offering up curly cue fries.


Let me show you what we eat--at that point, you know, just a snack to stave off hunger before the big pig-out which is surely, in our delusional minds, to come.  Note: When viewing the following photos, please take the adage that looks can be deceiving very seriously. Like, dead seriously.

Ribs. Tasty-looking, right? HA!

Now, I will admit that at the time, I am willing to call this "good" because I am a Yankee gooberbutt and wouldn't know good BBQ from gnawing on my belly button lint.  I will say that it was still the most edible of the wares that we tried.  In hindmemory, my eyes have been opened and I realize that this was heavily coated in something that tasted awfully like a mass-produced "BBQ Seasoning" in a plastic jar that contained lots of MSG (which actually I don't have a huge problem with) and had been sitting in a kitchen pantry for a year or two (this part I did have a problem with). Plus they were hecka dry.  Regardless, like I said, at the time I didn't know any better and I was hungry like a fox.

Pulled pork sandwich

Looking at this kinda makes me want to cry.  All of us are a little dazed and confused, thinking--are we just dumb? Is this supposed to be good? Because this kinda resembles, in both appearance and taste, shoelaces that have been chewed by generations of pugs, and then half-heartedly dragged through some BBQ sauce.

Lastly, there are the curly cue fries. Oh FOR SURE fried potatoes will save the day.

Besides the size and shape, there is nothing impressive about these fries.  Well, I guess they are impressively bad.  Anemic, greasy, flaccid--the opposite of what fries should be.  

We venture to the information booth to ask the whereabouts of the real food.  Surely it is lurking somewhere.  In a very nice and roundabout way, the lady pretty much says that we are already looking at it.  Then she tries to tout the petting zoo. Sweet.

Not giving up entirely, my brother in law makes an expedition to a second information booth where, after a roundabout exchange (which happens when there is a complete and total misunderstanding), the woman nicely asks my bro in law, "What exactly are you looking for?" To which my brother in law makes the now clearly embarrassing confession that "We were looking to try lots of different barbeque."

To which the nice, but probably pitying woman replies, "You know, we get many people coming here with that misconception."

Oh REALLY? Well, do they come all the way out from California and New York? Do you resist the urge to sell bumper stickers saying "SUCKERS" that people in the know can slap on our foreheads?  Do people stand around and take bets as to how long it will take the idiot tourists to realize that "BBQ Festival" is code for "No food for you!"?

The truth is that unless you plan on *entering* the American Royal BBQ competition, there's no point in going.  Unless you really want to test out Tempurpedic mattresses and sample caramel-chili sauce in rapid succession (for all ye out there who do, get ye to the BBQ Expo).  The festival is actually a big ass party for the competitors, their friends and family, to barbeque and party all night.

Thanks a fucking lot, American Royal.

So, did this ruin our trip? Did we tuck tail and head home to our respective coasts? I think not! I'll let you know whether we were able to redeem ourselves in future posts.

A Weary Head

The pugs sure do have a penchant for resting their chin on any available surface when they want to nap.  On a couch pillow, a toy, a human knee, and most conveniently, the computer keyboard. You know what I'm talking about.

The other day, Bunni was positively desperate about the chin thing.

She's sitting in her favorite leather chair that her dad bought *just* for her (not), and extending her neck so she can rest her chin on the arm of the couch nearby.

It's like her neck is performing a tightrope walk.

Man, she's really planted herself there, huh?

Oops, one too many pics, I guess.