Sunday: Before the Rain

   Mom worked outside, while I worked inside (cleaning out & rearranging closets, and making a heaping donation pile). Then I ran to Home Depot for a bunch of odd and ends, including a new hose for the deck reel, and a load of mulch to help Mom finish the job. When all was said and done, she did a really amazing job, and I'm so thankful to have yard work crossed off my list!

Taylor, as always, enjoyed the extra company

   Mary Jane stopped by for a while with her new Shiba puppy, Kit. He and Aki and Taylor romped around the yard together—as if they were all goofy puppies.

   We worked up quite an appetite! Fortunately, Mom had brought a list of restaurants from one of her favorite shows, "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" by Guy Fieri on the Food Network. We went to Swagger for dinner. It is a hole-in-the-wall bar on Wornall in Kansas City, MO. (And never mind that a person was stabbed just a block from there, two days later.) The ambiance was about what you'd expect for a little bar in KCMO, but the food was fantastic!

A little bit of Maine and Alaska, right here in KC!

Mom had a pulled pork sandwich and a Boulevard wheat:

   I tried the Suribachi burger and a Crispin cider. (Suribachi is a tempura-battered hamburger with pepper jack cheese and Sriarcha sauce—I had them hold the mustard and creamy wasabi coleslaw. It was AWESOME!). But then, what part of "Japanesey deep-fried hamburger" DOESN'T sound good?!

   We were in a food coma by the time we arrived at home (but fortunately THIS didn't happen!), and the dogs never fail to join in for a lazy evening of TV watching (Mad Men seasons 1 & 2!) on the couch:

Astaria means Business

   We had a little time between our afternoon meetings and dinner, so we headed back to Sofitel to catch up on a little work and relax a bit. Rob and I had a great conversation about work & our philosophy about it, as well as our thoughts as to where our company was headed; about the difference between living to work, and working to live; and about relationships (I happen to be reading a very interesting book, "Extraordinary Relationships".) Trips like this are as good an opportunity to get to know your fellow employees as they are to build external partnerships. There's nothing like traveling together and having new experiences to help you bond.

I could get used to working like this. Sitting in a sunshiny, swanky hotel lobby in California, with a platter of olives and wasabi peas, and a glass of wine. And with Rob, who looks suspiciously like Don Draper here.

 

   Great meetings today. I have renewed energy and excitement already. Our very generous (and supremely fun) hosts chose Astaria for our business dinner: California comfort food. It didn't sound like it would be off the "adventurous" Richter scale, but it did sound very good. And speaking of the Richter scale, apparently I slept through a 4.3 earthquake that occurred early this morning. Guess the day of travel & hiking wore me out more than I realized! (A 4.3 is described as a light earthquake: "Noticeable shaking of indoor items, rattling noises. Significant damage unlikely.")

   Back to dinner, we were in for a treat. Heaping piles of calamari, fried onions and tiny lil' (whole) octopi, chicken spring rolls with cabbage, carrots, and very spicy/sweet plum sauce; skirt steak balsamico with garlic potatoes, green beans, carrots & asparagus; homemade Ho-Hos, and "triple play" baked Alaska. While I wouldn't call it "adventurous", it was quite delicious. Stick a fork in me, I'm done! (And P.S. I haven't been able to work out since January 31, the day before my surgery, and I HAVE TO STOP eating like this until I get back into it!!!)

   The real adventure turned out to be finding the restroom, which involved walking through what looked like a fire door and traveling through a deserted lobby in the next building, into a large, art-deco-style ballroom with this great sign:

 

   And on the way home, this additional treat:  a stunning mural on the side of a Bank of America in San Mateo. Wish we could have stopped to get a better look; it was certainly spectacular! Reminded me of Mary Blair's designs for It's a Small World, due to the color and design. Wow!!! (Photos from link above; it was dark when we drove by.)

mmm... fish dinner...

Hittin' the Bottle

   I've been parked on the family room sofa ALL DAY trying to finish the Art Unleashed t-shirts. And around 11 pm, fading fast, ready to go to sleep but trying to power through. Then I heard rustling upstairs and went to investigate. I found a smug Mr. Taylor and a few remaining scraps of paper and foil from a brand new pack of gum.
   I knew this could be very bad, and confirmed that the gum contains Xylitol, which is poisonous to dogs (miraculously, the ingredients were one shred of packaging that he didn't eat, so I knew for sure). A call to the very helpful Erica at Mission Med Vet told me I needed to administer 1 T of Hydrogen Peroxide, and wait. And thus begins Vomit Watch 2011. My boy needs to throw it all up to avoid being rushed to the vet. Nothing's happening yet.
   We're outside, and thunderstorms are imminent. I need to finish these t-shirt designs. I need to get to work early to finish preparations for my business trip. I need to know my boy will be okay before I go. I need a break here... :(

    This $1.37 pack of gum has already cost me an additional $150 and I'll rack up more today. Sigh. But if my boy's okay, that's all I could ask for. I can make more money, but this bratty dog is definitely one of a kind.

I've been tricked!

   Tonight after my swim lesson I stopped at the store, then came home to assemble a nice plate of food. I headed out on the deck to sit and enjoy a glass of wine. The dogs joined me outside. The sun was setting and it was a little cooler, and actually quite pleasant. (Any lingering unpleasantries would soon be erased by wine.)

   I sipped and enjoyed some cheeses and crackers. Aki ran up to me and dropped the wiffle ball at my feet. I flung it toward the far corner of the yard. (A little crab on the next cracker...)

   Aki hurried back excitedly with the ball and tossed it at me. I threw it again, as hard as I could. She flew after it. She looked so happy. (Another sip of wine. Some cheese? A slice of salami? Don't mind if I do...) She scooped it up and raced back to me.

   This time I stood and walked down the couple of steps, and really put some heat on it. Aki was really enjoying herself!

   And apparently so was Taylor. As I turned to head back up the steps I saw him in my chair, polishing off the last of the good stuff, leaving only a spread of blank crackers on the plate. I'd been had.

   It seemed so perfectly orchestrated that I almost think they planned it out in advance, like a couple of wolves. Or velociraptors. Who says dogs are dumb?

Justus Drugstore

Photo from The Pitch

   An experience this memorable deserves its own post. At Justus Drugstore in Smithville, I was treated to an appetizer of spring asparagus, lightly breaded with a side of morels and brown butter green garlic sauce; a salad featuring a crostini topped with goat cheese and fresh strawberries and wrapped in bacon; Berkshire pork two ways (a grilled ribeye, and a tender sausage... that pork ribeye changed my life!); a lavender lady cocktail to drink; and carrot cake beignets with cream cheese icing and maple cream for dessert. 

   And it wasn't just the food: the restaurant itself was special, from the handmade wooden tables to the colors to the open kitchen. (One surprise was that aside from the large apothecary jars on the bar, there weren't any reminders that this building used to be a family drugstore.) Owner Jonathan Justus himself, a warm and humble man, talked with us from the kitchen and explained his thinking, his inspiration, and his process. He knew what we had ordered and even returned to our table after the main course to see how we liked it. There was a definite subtlety to his cooking that made every flavor stand out and yet be in perfect harmony with everything on the plates.
   Impeccable service, incredible attention to detail, and masterful cooking. Well worth the drive to Smithville, which is not nearly as far as I thought. My knees are still buckled from all aspects of the experience.

Descriptions from the restaurant's menu:
• Spring Asparagus  lightly breaded asparagus, morel, chive, sorrel, brown butter green garlic sauce
• Goat Cheese Salad  wild berry jam stuffed, house cured Berkshire bacon wrapped, local goat cheese , crostini, shallot white wine vinaigrette, mixed greens, strawberry
• Newman Farm Berkshire Pork 2 Ways #13  grilled pork rib eye, winter spice pork shoulder sausage, house made dry vermouth/ foraged Autumn Berry sauce, risotto style barley, chestnut, white wine shallot white chard
• I don't recall exactly what was in my drink, the lavender lady, but it was citrusy and refreshing, and unusual because the bartender didn't overdo it on the alcohol. Seems like most bars load up the drinks because alchohol = value, but this was perfect because you could appreciate the taste and still keep all of your faculties intact!

And Ben was kind enough to let me try his dishes too:
• Maytag Blue Cheese: maple/Port vinaigrette, pear, blue cheese/black pepper ice-cream, arugula, Missouri black walnut tuile
• Freshwater Striper Bass ginger/star anise oil poached hybrid striper bass filet, potato saffron sauce,  fennel, wild mushroom,  black eyed pea fritter, curly endive, leek vinaigrette
• Chocolate Mint Decadence: chocolate ganache, milk chocolate, champagne mousse, chocolate/rose hip ice cream, mint milk, malted Chantilly