Food glorious, food. I've stumbled into something fabulous.
Every week (or two) there's a dinner served at one of two stupendous St. Louis eateries-- The Scottish Arms and The Shaved Duck. The dinners each have a theme. So far I've been lucky enough to attend three-- The British Empire, All the Trimmings and tonight, Mint. I've been fortunate to have ducked Foot and Face and Organ Meats... but I'll bet even that was phenomenal. And really my fear and reluctance is more talk than anything-- I did have the haggis at the Arms the first time I was there.
Tonight we were served several dishes, each containing mint.
Pappardelle with mint pesto
Mashed Parsnips with Mint
Pork with Mustard Mint Sauce
Spinach Salad with Mint and Duck Fat Dressing
Braised Rabbit with Mint and Vegetables
Chicken Curry with Mint
Chocolate Truffles filled with Mint and some kind of nut
Carrot french fries with mint mayonnaise
I think that might just about cover it. As usual, it was phenomenal. I may take pictures of the meal next week. It's a traditional French Christmas complete with a roast goose. The week after that? Lamb. Oh baby.
Additionally! Agave!
Jim and I went out to a wonderful dinner at Agave on Manchester this weekend. It's safe to say that it was there that I experienced the best Margarita I've ever had. El Mayor Blanco tequila, Gran Gala, Cointreau, fresh lime juice and agave nectar. My god. I also had the snapper with tomatillos and roasted chiles. It was quite phenomenal. It was pricey, but you pay for presentation and atmosphere. Go for the margaritas if nothing else. You will NOT be disappointed. They do a tamarind margarita as well that was pretty stellar.
Toodooloo for now!
Three months in brief, details to come:
2. Bicycling to school? To damn dark and as a result, dangerous. No longer bicycling to school.
3. New apartment downtown!
Some have argued that I've been criminally negligent about this blog. Rather than post tasty little stories about the day to day experiences, my negligence has relegated my blogs to sweeping updates over many months which must, then, omit any interesting little details.
Schoolio
I'm not going to carry on about school very long, other than the fact that the kids are amusing, my job is interesting, my co-teacher rules and the other co-workers are all an incredible nice bunch. I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon this position. If I thought I could get away with it, I'd post the entertaining bits from my students papers that I've been stockpiling. Tara (co-teacher) and I shared many a laugh over the gross leaps and assumptions the students made in their papers. Sadly, though, I don't think I could get away with it.
Bike Abandonment
It goes without saying that I had a hard time hitting the saddle again after that crash. There were a couple things that happened that led to the decision to quit commuting by bike. I will only really dwell on the major issue, darkness. When I first started to commute, I would begin my route in darkness in south Saint Louis. Thankfully there were street lights wherever I needed them and they guided me safely until the sun came up around 6 am. I did not, however, take into consideration the gradual shortening of the days and I soon found myself navigating streets without street lights in total darkness. Wydown was manageable, save dodging the packs of stay-at-home wives that jog down the street toward Forest Park. Ladue Road however was terrifying. Even in the light, Ladue had its share of problems. The "pedestrian and bike only" shoulder that is reserved was commonly littered with sticks and pebbles, dangerous to anybody riding a roadbike. The solution was to then ride the white stripe, which I did knowing that morning commuters could see me in the wan light. Once it got dark though, I was doomed. I went out and spent an unacceptable amount of money on a super bright headlight and tail light only to give into my anxieties about riding in the morning. In short, I gave it up.
Fear not, however! I am now carpooling to school, effectively elimating one car from the highways each morning. Why don't more people do it? It's lovely.
The New, Not-So-Humble Abode
Interestingly enough, the new apartment has many fishbowl like qualities. Not as many as Glass House once had, but I do have a set of four 8 foot tall windows. The view from within? A derelict building. The massive kitchen makes up for that though.
Anyway, I'll write more later and I'll try to get some pictures up. Business calls!
The joys, terrors and frustrations of bicycle commuting
Posted by Larissa Labels: agony, bikes, injury, St. LouisSo my friends, I've been commuting to work for two weeks now. Not every day mind you and that has to do with some of the more frustrating moments. I ride 12 miles to school at 5:30 AM and 12 miles home whenever I finish up there. Aside from the woes of it all, riding to school in the morning is joy. There are no cars on the road, I can move swiftly through empty intersections and arrive at school within one hour. The ride home is admittedly hairier, requiring maneuvers through shoulderless streets in a one mile stretch at rush hour. Cars typically heed me, mostly because I have a fluorescent yellow jacket, a bright orange messenger bag and two blinky LED lights tail and front. They do their best to accommodate me in narrow conditions.
The woes!
1. Getting a flat tire at 5:50 in the morning 5 miles from home with no cell phone, patch kit, pump or spare. That was a treat.
2. Purchasing new tires and tubes the next day only to have some kind of pinch flat during the school day. The new tires are snazzy puncture resistant ones that are an upgrade from my Bontrager Race x-Lites that just aren't built for the stresses of city streets.
3. Taking my new, shiny, unused tires home after changing said flat and completely slipping as I corner at 10 mph or so onto the next street.
4. The effects of a good bike crash! I missed the first two days of classes, spent one of them in the ER getting cat scanned, x-rayed, urine sampled and pregnancy tested. All manner of tests. Only for the doctor to go... "Yep, you've got a big bruise on your hip, a wrist sprain etc. Here's a script for some fancy drugs, off you go!" (I didn't even see the doc actually, he just wrote me some nice paperwork.) My boss made me stay home the next day and rest and I relaxed all weekend, my muscles recovering from the trauma gradually.
5. Today another rear tire flat that happened *during* the school day. I'm starting to wonder if trouble is afoot and if I shouldn't park my bike elsewhere. Literally I took my bike over to a coworker who also rides to repair my crooked handlebars with an allen wrench, put it back and then an hour later the rear tire is flat! What? Suspicion! I will have to stash my bike somewhere more secret I think, my god. I was near crazed with frustration, yelling like a mad woman.
Needless to say I'll be going to the bike shop to do some sleuthwork with them tonight. Figure out if some little bastard is popping my tire because "it's fun" or whether I'm just getting pinch flats or something... during the school day. (Which makes no sense whatsoever)
For now, I am determined to keep riding. It's keeping me in good shape and it's fun for the most part. There's a lot of joy in feeling the breeze on my face and the strain of my muscles before and after a work day.
Toodles for now.
I have arrived! In this great land of beer, giant rivers, conservative minded folk, unnecessarily large arches and uh... thunderstorms? Truthfully, I've been here for a week and a half and I've been handily avoiding posting a blog, much to my mother's chagrin. She decreed that I should write a new one yesterday (I believe anyway... all the days blend together when you essentially have nothing to do). I'm not quite settled in because my motivation to settle in declined exponentially after the first week. It's also a function of my lack of storage units. Lots of closets and space, not nearly enough shelving!
Anyway, this might be more interesting if I were equipped with a Star Trek tricorder. I could tell you about the air quality schematics, local carbon density and whether it can sustain a New Englander like myself. Alas, I must rely on more primitive methods like trying stuff first hand.
I will organize this all for your benefit! You can thank me later
The Crib/Pad/Homestead/Base of Operations/Lair
My roommate, Dana, is an interior designer so naturally it is impeccably decorated. I imagine that one day if I own it will be a chaos of color and flea market finds and hardly as sophisticated as this. 
I like the kitchen. I hesitate to call the stove "vintage" but it looks vintage to me. It's probably from the 80s or something. I like that it's gas though. Electric stoves can eat my human waste products. Also I have several basil plants growing in the kitchen window that isn't pictured as well as a thyme plant. I've been line drying my clothes, out of conservation as much as necessity (we don't have a dryer) and stepping around the minefield of the house dog's doo in the back yard. We should totally look into a pet poop composter for his crap!
Sightseeing with Reesh
I will post pictures of the Mushroom Kingdom, which is my new, fond name for the back yard. I woke up yesterday morning and was delighted to find a veritable trail of large white mushrooms growing in the back yard. It's like they found the fungal version of the Northwest Passage and are all jumping on the bandwagon. I'm an odd person and I like mushrooms (and not just in my Marsala). Also, please note the attack against the kingdom by the fearsome monster Berrin.
So that wasn't really sight seeing, and maybe I'm not very good at compartmentalizing my blog. Let's try again.
Sightseeing with Reesh!
Saint Louis is a city unlike any I've ever visited. Quick observations:
- It's a driving city-- public transit is much more limited, everything is spread out and linked by more than a few major highways. Even taxis are expensive and less common.
- People routinely ask each other what high school you went to. I was told about this phenomenon and joked about being asked that question before I ever experienced it first hand. Sure enough, it's the first test you'll need to pass if you're a native Saint Louisan out and about.
- Nobody stops for four-way stop signs. Rolling stops all around. In fact I was told I'd be rear-ended if I stopped fully. I haven't been rear-ended yet, but maybe people cut me a break because I still have my NY plates?
- The Cardinals and Budlight are king. Don't mess with them.
- Don't ask about where you can find organic food, odds are if it's not Whole Foods or Trader Joe's you won't find it.
- All the museums are free! Weeeee! I've already been to the zoo... for free.
- Saint Louisans are otherwise pretty good, polite drivers. I have seen very little auto-aggression so far.
Anyway, in spite of the love for Anheuser-Busch and that sadness over its recent sale to InBev, there are a lot of really, really good beer stores. People like beer here! Yay! Just a mile up the road is a great beer/wine store cleverly disguised as a deli. Haha, Deli, I'm on to you. They make good pastrami sandwiches, but I like being overwhelmed by uncommon beer brands. There's a bar I've been to twice now that only sells beer in cans. It's been around long enough that it's actually called the "Tin Can" but tonight I went and sampled some of Milwaukees finest libations. I think there will be a forthcoming blog entry about that actually.St. Louis Folk
I could really use a copy editor here, because I'm almost certain that I'm not organizing this blog well. An observation: there are definitely men here that have a distinct "midwestern" look to them. Not all men, but definitely some. I'm not talking about clothes or attitudes, I'm talking about their faces. I can't define what it is that makes them look "Midwestern". All I know is that we don't have guys that look like that in the Northeast and that I know them when I see them. Maybe I'll steal a picture some time of said "Midwestern-faced man"? If I ever snag one, I will know without a shadow of a doubt that this man is from the Midwest and he's not lying to me about it.
The people are *really* friendly. Even when they're ultra conservative and cannot possibly find a way to agree with me! However, Dana mentioned that a lot of guys who are from Saint Louis are often pretty miserable. This is because they've lived here their whole lives, have had the same group of friends their entire lives and secretly yearn for a change but stay right here. Thus they become embittered and angry men. I would argue that they become unnecessarily staunch about their conservative values. The dating scene is probably a minefield of self-righteous Republicans. I gotta watch out for those. We'd bicker til we're finished.
Anyway, I suppose this is enough for now. This is MY decree, take that, Mom. I will regale you with my beer observation tomorrow, maybe even at dawn's first light if you're lucky.
Cheerios!