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Sunday, September 27, 2009

How I Spent a Saturday in God's Country (Kansas)

Today is going to be a big day on the grill for me, another Lamb Chop recipe, several grilled vegetables (eggplant, portobello mushrooms, and a new dessert, Chipotle Creme Brulle)!

But yesterday was a great day...no grilling, but a great day non-the-less...

Started with inviting out neighbors over for breakfast, Jim and Herme, the MRS and myself were going to head out, and we had a perfect day for it... Temps in the low 70's, no humidity and scattered clouds just enough to look pretty.

Since this is a food blog, let's talk just a little food... I had some of the bacon wrapped sausage wrapped around stuffed peppers that you are probably sick of hearing about. If not, Click HERE for how I made em the day before.
Nothing is plain around here...Take those silly little pancake shappers, or large metal cookie cutters and put a slices of the sausage in the center, carefully pour pancake batter around the edges making sure they get in all the hidden spaces (and be sure to spray them VERY well with a spray canola oil so they don't stick.

Flip em over carefully and let the ooohs and ahhhs start, Pouring a little maple syrup on the sausages taste fabulous!
Then we were off to the PLAZA ART FAIR. The plaza is a local outdoor shopping mall with lots of yuppie overpriced restaurants, beautiful setting and yuppie shops. Once a year, they close the streets down and invite artists from around the country to pay a huge fee and sell their wares. Very expensive, or very cheap if you just want to walk, look and enjoy... Guess which category I feel into.

Kansas City is known for Jazz, and the good folks that organize this event add a stage for a little walking around background music.


Art is in the eye of the beholder, but a string of hand carved, hand painted chili peppers is art to me!
Jim and Herme are drinkers, dog lovers (they have two), and lovers of art that features dogs drinking... It's art to them!
This was very popular, wire mesh dancers, hung in a mobile with that pretty blue sky Kansas is so well known for (Wizard of Oz and that whole tornado nonsense really set the states' image back, this is how Kansas looks almost 5 or 6 days a year, why we get a bad weather rep, I'll never know).
Kitchen utensils are art to us foodies as they are, but if you have a certain creative eye, they become art to everyone else (love the forks for feet)...

Music lover and closeted head-banger Jim liked the heavy metal guitar playing statue...

I personally liked this image of metal monsters invading your garden and stealing your garden gnomes. I would have loved to add this to my Deck landscaping, but was too cheap.

It's a little hard to tell from this angle, but these are mostly mouth bodies, bulging eyeballs and legs and toes made from spikes

We walked around for a couple hours,

We enjoyed the architecture (YES, Kansas has Architecture),

We walked some more...

We enjoyed the setting...

Jim and Herme offered to spring for drinks at the yuppie bar... That beauty with the orange slice was mine, something called a Bocce Ball that I LOVED. I browbeat the bartender into giving me the recipe...

2 parts Orange Juice
added to 1 part amaretto liqueur
shaken to chill and garnish with the orange
and just a splash of pineapple juice

IT WAS TERRIFIC!

'We were lucky enough to get seats on the balcony over looking the street, great for people watching, and art discussions while enjoying our afternoon cocktail...

Felt very classy (burb)

Then the waiter announced half priced appetizers (did I mention how cheap I am), and our friends demanded we order a few to split... Their treat...whoo whoo.

these little Bruschettas with fresh mozzarella and some really good balsamic vinegar were perfect...

And then we ordered our car and chauffeur to take us back to the Cul de Sac...

All in all, just a typical day in Kansas... Don't you wish you lived in Kansas???

18 comments:

  1. It sounds like a wonderful day to me! It sounds like everyone had a fabulous time.

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  2. Neat place, neat people, and looked like a great time! A lot of folks don't know about K.C museums or the WWI Memorial there.. Everybody goes for the BB-Q, as well they should!

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  3. Looks like a fabulous day! I'll have to add Kansas to my list of places to see ;)

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  4. Glad you had a good time! Those pancake things look awesome. Heh.

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  5. What a great day out! I loved the picture of the heavy metal guitar & your closeted headbanger friend - and his horns!

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  6. LOL about the weather. And, believe me, I've had my fill of OZ comments over the years. I'm a Kansas City fan, love the clubs, love the Plaza and am a closet Chiefs/Royals fan. I can't say that outloud in Denver or I'd be blungeoned.....in public.

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  7. TeeHee...too funny! Looks like a fabulous day, though!! And those pancakes. Rock. (ps...email me w/ info if ya'd still like me to contribute a little sump'in)

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  8. Thanks for visiting my site. The photography credit goes to my husband.

    I am a Kansas City native. Your pictures of the Plaza art fair and Brio's make me miss KC even more!!

    Love the pancakes with the sausage - how fun is that!

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  9. What a fun looking day! Alexis and I are planning our next "36 hour vacation". Southern Living had a bit about a restored steam boat moored as a hotel in Chattanooga and it's sounding fun!

    Glad you guys had a ball!

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  10. Looks like you had a great time! I'm cheap too, so half-price appetizers are right up my alley!

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  11. Sounds like a great time. Wish I could click my red heels and visit;)

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  12. Looks like ya'll really had a blast, cher! What a beautiful Art Fair and I love the sound and look of that Bocce Ball. Yum! Thanks for the recipe! Cheers!

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  13. Looks like you had a great time; the weather has been perfect the last couple of weeks, great for enjoying the plaza, or anyplace else for that matter!
    Love those pancakes!

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  14. what a fun day, i love the appetizers!

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  15. Thank you for the lovely tour! I wish I was in Kansas right this moment!

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  16. Your pancakes are a HOOT! We do love our pancakes here so those really caught my eye, grins.

    Looks as if you had a truly fun-tastic day!

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  17. The Plaza is in Kansas City, Missouri, and everybody living in and around the Plaza would take great offense at the constant references to Kansas.

    There is nothing Kansasy about the Plaza. The Plaza and the ameneities around it are a part of our regional character which includes, more mainly, especially from history, Missourio influences.

    How long have you lived here?

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  18. Missouri not Missourio, lol, although we have a surprisingly strong Italian community.

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