Wednesday: Feast Your Eyes

   On Wednesday the wet weather continued, so Mom stayed indoors while I was at work—and cleaned all the windows, the kitchen, the floors. WOW!!! (Pretty sure I've never cleaned the windows—inside or out—since I had them installed in 2005. Yikes! Extra props to Mom for tackling the biggest job in the house!)
   She worked up an appetite for sure. And so, Wednesday night, we ventured to Oklahoma Joe's. Kelly joined us because, well, I can't imagine Kelly NOT joining for barbecue! OK Joe's wasn't on Fieri's "dives" list, but I'm pretty sure it's the best barbecue out there! We enjoyed a feast of ribs, chicken, burnt ends, BBQ baked beans (which contained almost more meat than the meat did!), seasoned fries, Texas toast, and a pile of pickles. FOOD COMA.
   We came home and watched more Mad Men... getting there...

Tuesday: High & Low Brow

   On Tuesday we hit another restaurant from the "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" show: Grinder's! We both had sandwiches and split another cider: Ace pear; it was nearly as delicious as the Crispin! We then hurried off to the Kauffman Center to catch National Geographic's 2011 Explorer of the Year, Kenny Broad: diver and environmental anthropologist. He studies blue holes in the Bahamas, their fresh water, and the human impact on the environment. The underwater caves are so deep and narrow that he wears up to five specially-designs tanks while diving—and in tight spots, detaches them and pushes them ahead of him. He uses a line to ensure he'll be able to find his way back out. Terrifying, if you ask me! Here's an excerpt from the program: "Exploring submerged caves and blue holes, one mistake can equal death. Kenny and his team must take every precaution to avoid such dangers as stirring up sediments that can wipe out visibility, succumbing to nausea as they pass through a toxic layer of hydrogen sulfide, or getting lost in maze-like passageways with a limited supply of diving gasses. The need to study blue holes is urgent, as they are among the least studied and most threatened habitats on Earth."

   Not to be outdone, just being inside the Kauffman is a show in itself—a true landmark in Kansas City.

Top Chef: Jen Rarey edition

Made a giant pot of Japanese curry for dinner: roasted chicken, sweet potatoes, onions, portobello, carrots & snow peas in delicious, rich curry roux. Ate it for dinner for two days. Aaand it turns out I'm super-allergic... or at least that's what the hives would have me believe. Boo!!! And somehow that inspired me to write poetry. Enjoy.

残念だな〜　(It's too bad, isn't it?)

There once was a sous chef named Jen

Whose cooking was rated a "10".

But this dish turned her red

so she ran for her meds,

And she never made curry again!

Bourdain loves Oklahoma Joe's (who doesn't?!)

Anthony Bourdain named local BBQ joint "Oklahoma Joe's" one of his "13 places to eat before you die". So it was only fitting that I take Kelly there for his birthday...y'know, since he's from Oklahoma and all. Come to think of it, he should change his name to Joe. Oklahoma Joe Kelly BBQ Green! Unfortunately, Kelly's birthday is TODAY, and Oklahoma Joe's is CLOSED on Sundays. So we'll save that for later this week...