Fantasy 4th of July Weekend

My weekend, in a few adjectives:

Fun.

Indulgent.

Sweaty.

Magical.

Creative.

Delicious.

Extraordinary.

   I had an amazingly awesome Fourth of July weekend: charcuterie, wine, cheese and tapas at Extra Virgin. Fireworks on the lawn of Liberty Memorial. A heaping helping of Oklahoma Joe's BBQ. An afternoon at the Nelson-Atkins Museum. Dinner at Justus Drugstore and a chat with the chef. I slept in every day. Watched the first seven stunning episodes of Mad Men (finally!), as well as the unapologetically sweet, wonderful and sentimental Cinema Paradiso. Walked at Shawnee Mission Park with the pups (despite the intense heat and humidity). Co-created two delicious homemade amoeba-shaped pizzas and drank too much good wine.

   All in all, it was a fantasy weekend with someone very cool, so I guess I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was when I woke up this morning feeling melancholy that it was coming to an end. But I guess I have to return to reality: the cold slap in the face of a lawn to be mowed, house cleaning and a pile of laundry, and a 5:45 am wake up call for work tomorrow.   Can't wait 'til the next time...

   Top that off with Kristin getting engaged yesterday, and an impending visit to see Kelley and her sure-to-be enormous belly in LA, as well as the chance to represent my work at the Gallery 1988. Life is awesome.

Happy.

Sparkly.

Adorable.

Dave in KC: the whirlwind tour!

   My ol' college buddy, Dave, drove all the way from Los Angeles just to see me... JUST KIDDING! He's actually moving from SoCal back to Ohio to go to grad school and figured he's stop for a night 'cause I'm right on the way. But it turned out he liked Kansas City so much that he decided to hang out for a bit. As in a week. Yay! I don't get too many visitors out here, and I love to show people why I love it here so much.
   I started the whirlwind tour with a trip to beautiful Loose Park, which was alive with budding magnolias, redbuds and more. I enjoy it every time I visit. (However, the grass was getting tall and proved to be treacherous... more on that in another post!) We walked Aki and Taylor all around, and when we got hungry we headed to...

   Blanc Burger on the Plaza! It's one of my favorites, and everyone I've taken there has loved it too. We drove around the Plaza, the Nelson, and Hyde Park. And when we were finally a little hungry again we stopped at...

   Glace´ artisan ice cream! I had salted pretzel, with goat cheese with honey. Dave had salted pretzel, with root beer.

   Dave met me at Hallmark for lunch on Tuesday and I showed him the Crown Room (that's him, posing as a column):

   We started the tour on the 9th floor with the Creative Library and the Art Materials Center. Then we worked our way from 9 back down to the lobby, stopping to see all the noteworthy pieces of artwork along the way, including my favorite Mucha poster on the 8th floor. Sometimes we take for granted that we basically work inside a giant art museum, with great works everywhere. Having someone visit for the first time gives you great perspective!

On Wednesday I took the day off and we spent it hiking in Weston:

   Then had drinks and black-and-tan beer-battered onion rings for a snack at O'Malley's:

   Then we visited the home of Jill, a coworker, to evaluate her home as a potential Shiba adopter. She and her husband have a big, beautiful three-year-old German Shepherd who needs a buddy. And then, since we just so happened to be in the Northland anyway, we had a fantastic dinner at Kato. Check out this palette of unearthly delights:

   I had to work on Thursday, so Dave was on his own. (I also had come down with laryngitis, so everyone I worked with got a little peace & quiet for a change!) Dave spent the day at the Thomas Hart Benton house/museum. That night we met up at Crown Center and went to eat at Oklahoma Joe's (hey, if Anthony Bourdain considers it one of the 13 places to eat before you die, how could I let Dave miss it?!) We went to the original location in the gas station on 47th & Mission, and it was packed as always:

But the full slab of ribs was worth waiting for!

Well, they WERE, until Dave hogged them all:

   So then we went & walked off the BBQ in downtown KC. The Liberty Memorial looks really cool at night, and offers a great view of the whole cityscape.

   I took another day off on Friday, and we spent hours and hours enjoying the Nelson-Atkins Museum. Anyone who reads my blog knows that I think it's the jewel of Kansas City, and it's always fun to experience it with first-timers. (More photos in an upcoming post!) We ate lunch in Rozzelle Court (I am still dreaming of the Kalamata olives in my grilled Canadian salmon salad!)
   After an extensive day at the museum, we headed downtown to Extra Virgin to indulge in drinks and some of the best tapas in KC. Michael Smith himself was in the kitchen, so the Lebanese hummus, plum-glazed pork belly, grilled tiger shrimp in tomatillo sauce, and wood-fired hanger steak tasted especially good!
   And to make the day totally off the hook, we walked down to Manifesto for some fancy cocktails in the hippest place in town. It was a great toast to a whirlwind week in Kansas City, in which Dave was the tourist and I got to feel like one again.

   Here's hoping that Dave comes out to visit again soon. We hadn't seen each other in probably eight years, but it was just like old times again. And besides, Aki and Taylor are lonely sleeping on the couch without him!

St. Patrick's Day, Westport Style

   This morning Taylor and I headed to Westport for the 33rd annual race (our first in this one), shortly after stealthily sneaking out of the house so as not to upset Aki. I would have loved to run with both dogs, but knew this was going to be a large crowd, with people in goofy costumes and an emcee and music on loudspeakers, etc. and Aki doesn't love to be in that environment. Tay does. So I gave her a chew treat & we tiptoed out. I believe this is the first time the dogs have been separated since I adopted Tay almost 3 years ago!

   At the event I met up with Carrie and Roscoe (her friend's doberman), Elizabeth, Lauren, Rachel, John, Danielle, Abby. Carrie had gone to Party City to buy shamrock necklaces, green visors, and glitter body tattoos for everyone! We did our best to keep warm, since it was in the low 40s and windy, but sunny. A perfect day for running! We started the race together but quickly broke up in the crowd.
   Tay was on such an adrenaline rush that he literally dragged me for about the first mile and a half. He was pulling and lurching forward while I was running at top speed and desperately trying to hold him back. I knew he'd run out of steam! And he did, right around Mile 2. No matter—he was a trooper and finished the race strong. Throughout the run, he got a lot of smiles from fellow races and from spectators. A couple of runners even talked to me DURING the race, inquiring about his breed. I love it when active people are interested in Shibas because they really can be very athletic... just ask my guys!
   We finished the 4.42 mile race (not the 4 they promised!) in 38:15, #1240 overall. Slow, yes, but we were there to have fun, and now I have a time to beat next year. Tay was just happy to get his own bottle of water and to meet more of his adoring fans after the race (including a tiny toddler girl who SQUEALED when she saw him and hugged him and laughed when he licked her face and hands), while I enjoyed my banana and choco milk. This race was so fun, with the crazy costumes and friendly runners. I'd definitely do it again!

   When we got home, Taylor enjoyed a victory tummy-scratch:

   I treated my tummy to something even better... Oklahoma Joe's!

Happy Birthday, Dear Aki

    My little Aki is 4 years old today. We didn't do much to celebrate yet, as I had an event with the AMA at the Roasterie after work. They told us all about the partnerships between several Kansas City businesses and let us sample some of their food: Roasterie coffee and coffee ice cream, Oklahoma Joe's BBQ pork, sausage, and Cowtown BBQ sauce; Original Juan's chips, salsas and BBQ sauces, Andre's caramel-espresso chocolates and 75th Street Brewery beer. (Blanc Burger was there too, but inexplicably had nothing to sample—boo!) Danielle went with me, and we saw Jerrod there, and had a fun time snacking and listening to reps of each business talk about their process and their products. They really are innovative, and KC is a hidden gem in the culinary world as far as I'm concerned. We have some incredible restaurants here that rival anything I've had on my U.S. travels (OK, except for Nobu).

   So, I'll make it up to Aki by taking her to the dog park this weekend, after I've sent little Koko off to his new home (hopefully!) She deserves a party after being an awesome puppy raiser this week!

Oklahoma Joe's II, electric boogaloo

So we made it over there last night & had a fantastic dinner in honor of Kelly's birthday.* It was perfect: no line, no waiting, the food came out right away & was super-delicious...couldn't have planned it better.

*The ribs in the image above are not to scale.

(The actual ribs were much larger.)