My first time in New Orleans was a whirlwind trip for work. I arrived late on Sunday and left late on Tuesday. I spent most of my time there in a convention center. In my bit of free time, I had dinner at Tableau in the French Quarter, beignets at Cafe du Monde and strolled down Bourbon Street. What a tease to be on Bourbon Street when 8 months pregnant. I wanted to join the crowds bar hopping, but instead just enjoyed watching them be enjoy the night and be a bit (or a lot) ridiculous. I would love to go back with Lucas (and the baby) to get to the know city a lot more, really experience the culture, take in some amazing jazz and of course, eat more!
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If you live in Des Moines - or even central Iowa - you're familiar with the legend that is Jethro's BBQ. For those living under a rock, it's a local joint with wonderful food that has grown from one restaurant to six in recent years. They've even been featured on cable news shows. The newest locale opened in West Des Moines, blocks from my house, at the end of 2014. The once vacant Hooters building and bare parking lot are now brightly lit with welcoming signs and vehicles parked every which way.
I met a few girlfriends at Jethro's BBQ 'n Bacon Bacon (which promises to serve breakfast all day) to catch up and check the place off my To Eat At list. Walking in, it reminded me a lot of the Waukee location known as Jethro's BBQ 'n Jambalaya. The space is set up similarly and the decor is pretty spot on (from my recollection). The menu is pretty different from the other five. Breakfast is the star here with lots of great options not available at the other restaurants. It was a tough choice: omelet or pancakes, egg benedict or breakfast quesadilla? My two friends went with a tater tot skillet while I had my eye - and stomach - on the French toast with hash browns and bacon. It was delicious. You don't need syrup for the French toast because they put on their own vanilla cinnamon butter - yum! By the time I took a second to breathe and remembered to snap a photo of my meal, I'd already eaten two pieces of French toast. I polished my plate no problem. If you love breakfast, this is the place for you! After gorging on delicious American food for Thanksgiving, just two days later it was time to give thanks for amazing Mexican food. I was visiting my brother-in-law and his fiancé in an exotic place called Maryville, Mo when we stopped for lunch at a little place called La Bonita. As college students at Northwest Missouri State, it's safe to say they'd eaten at La Bonita a few times.
I ordered none other than the Burrito La Bonita with chicken, rice, refried beans and queso. The burrito was very affordable - $7.00 - compared to a side of queso at $3.75. Although the queso was really good, not sure it was worth half the burrito. The other seven people I was with thoroughly enjoyed their meals as well. The chips and salsa were nothing special and, unfortunately, being five months pregnant I was unable to try a margarita. I like to think it would have been delicious. Working in the East Village has its perks. One of them is the close proximity to so many great restaurants. A co-worker and I had a lunch date at Mad Meatball on Friday. It was a two-block walk, which was doable on a brisk November day.
The inside is pretty chill. Booths are placed around the outside of the room with high tables in the middle and a decent size bar. The floor looks like an original brick road and nostalgic beer signs hang on the walls. The whole restaurant maybe sits 75. There was a good crowd for a Friday at noon. The menu is small, which is not a bad thing. I don't know why some places feel the need to offer 1,000 dishes. They offer several starters, salads, sandwiches and pizzas. The waitress recommended the grinder, meatball sandwich and chicken parm sandwich. I foolishly did not pick one of those but went with the Italian beef while my date ordered a personal pizza. My beef was dry and the au jus lacked any type of flavor. The hoagie is something I could have purchased at Aldi, and the crinkle cut fries were most likely from a frozen bag. Needless to say, I was underwhelmed. My date's pizza had a very thin crust, seemed pretty standard and would not have filled me up. It's not often I give a less than favorable review, and I don't like doing it, but I have to. It's hard - and a little unfair - to judge an entire restaurant based on one dish. I would like to go back at some point to try another dish, but I'm in no rush. One of the great things about Des Moines is that we have plenty of restaurants to check out. My goal is to eat at every place in the metro. While I'm not sure that will ever happen, a girl can sure try. Another place to check off the list is the new Saints Pub + Patio by Jordan Creek Town Center. This is the third Saints in the metro and is in the old Mavericks/Maddy's Again location. I had not heard of this third pub until a friend recently mentioned it to me. Turns out, it just opened in July.
Lucas and I hung out there on Saturday to watch some football. He ordered the pretzel bacon burger and I got the French dip with seasoned waffle fries. Both meals were awesome. The French dip had a great flavor and the au jus was a perfect complement. The pretzel bun added a little something extra to a juicy burger and crispy bacon. I believe the menu is the same at the other two pubs as well. It's a nice, open set up with lots of pub tables and TVs. The staff was very accommodating to put our game on a couple screens while the Iowa game took up almost all the other TVs. It also wasn't packed, which meant we didn't have to rush out of there. All in all, we're looking forward to going back. It’s not often my immediate family comes to visit me in Des Moines since they live in the Chicago suburbs. The drive usually takes five hours, but with a two-year-old and four-month-old, it’s more like six. Alas! We found a weekend my parents, sister, niece, nephew and brother could come. My poor brother-in-law was the only one unable to make the trip. This was also the first time my sister and brother would see our house and the first time we were having a family weekend/sleepover. Since they don’t come here often, I wanted to make the most of their time. Nothing was planned for Friday night as they didn’t reach my home until 10:30pm. My husband and I gave them a tour of our new house, offered them a beer and hung out for a while. Farmers Market Fail While I want my guests to have a good time, waking them up at 8:00am to start checking off the events on the itinerary is not showing them a good time. The number one item on Saturday was to hit up the Downtown Farmers Market. Our home suburb doesn’t have anything like this. The ease and accessibility of many events in Des Moines is one thing I constantly brag about to Chicagoans. You see, many suburbanites have to rely on Chicago to provide entertainment. That means you have to pack up the kids, pay a ton for parking and make a day of it. Not in Des Moines. You can pop down, park, shop and leave in as little as an hour. By the time everyone woke up and got somewhat motivated to leave the house, it was pushing 11:15am. At that point, we scratched it from the To Do List. Maybe next time… Oktoberfest Fun My family may have missed the Oktoberfest celebration on Court Avenue by a week, but they didn’t miss the celebration at Colby Park in Windsor Heights. The much tamer, kids-oriented Oktoberfest was perfect for my two-year-old niece. Inflatable slides, bounce houses, face painting, pumpkin carving, train rides, balloon making, hot dogs and brats, kettle corn, hot chocolate, beer and live music were available for guests. Admission was free but some of the activities cost a buck or two. The only negative to the event was the chilly 50 degree temps and gusting winds. I don’t think any of the kids minded, but I was bundled up in a coat, hat and gloves. Still, we were there for nearly four hours! Noah’s Ark Success After warming up on my couch and maybe slipping in a small cat nap, we were ready for the next item on the agenda: dinner. I suggested a few restaurants to my family like Noah’s Ark, Flying Mango and Django. Choosing between the three wasn’t too hard for them; they were feeling Italian. Noah’s Ark has been on my Places to Eat At List for three-plus years. I was pumped to be going there for the first time. It’s a quaint brick building on Ingersoll – you’d pass it if you didn’t know it was there. We arrived at 7:00pm on a Saturday night. The place was pretty packed. Fortunately, we got a table within about 10 minutes. Holy moly – that’s one heck of a big menu! So many choices and only so much room in my belly. Instead of a basket of bread, they serve you love knots, which are delicious buttery biscuits. My two-year-old niece managed to eat three of them. Between the six adults, we ordered the onion rings, calamari, Joe Bayou margarita pizza, three prime rib specials, steak sandwich, halibut and fettuccine. The food came out a little slowly, but since we had so much of it that was just fine. The steaks were extremely well flavored and the fettuccine alfredo was super creamy. The pizza wasn’t as tremendous as I’d heard, but still very good. The halibut had a great taste, but was a little dry for my parents’ liking. Overall, we were stuffed and satisfied. I’d definitely recommend eating here and look forward to going back. Family Night In
I asked the adults what they wanted to do at night. Options included a Buccaneers hockey game (where my hubby and I met), seeing Chris Tucker at the Funny Bone, Blue Moon piano bar, Up Down video arcade bar or the new Ingersoll Tap. My sister decided not to leave the kiddos behind so we all headed back to my house to spend a family night in. We cozied up on our sectional to look at old family picture albums and had college football playing in the background. We passed around my four-month-old nephew and were entertained by my niece. We had great conversation that is better done in person than over the phone. They left early on Sunday leaving more on the To Do List for next time. Because there will be a next time. It's a good thing I like football. I married into a football fanatic family. My brother-in-law was a national champion football player at Northwest Missouri State. When I met him, he was a graduate assistant coach for Northwest. I was able to catch one game to see him in action on the sidelines. Last year, Lucas and I made the trek up to Menomonie, Wisc. to watch him coach the Wisconsin Stout Blue Devils - his first "real" job. It was November, rainy, cold and crappy. I spent half the game in the bathroom using the hand dryer to stay warm. This year, he made the move to Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs. The program has been in existence for less than a decade - and they are already national champions in the NJCAA. The temperature was pushing 90 degrees, not a cloud in the sky and I over dressed. I spent half the game standing in the shade next to the concession stand where there was a strong breeze.
Maybe the next game will be overcast and 70. I can only hope... My husband Lucas and I don’t go out to eat that often. Sushi is usually our go-to date night, but last Friday we were feeling pizza. While we have a favorite pizza shop in town, we were in the mood to try something new. A quick search on Urbanspoon led us to NYC Pizza Café in West Des Moines.
I had never heard of NYC Pizza Café and can’t recall any of my friends every talking about it. Located in one of the many strip malls on Mills Civic, I didn’t know what to expect. A strip mall doesn’t seem very New Yorky, but I didn’t want to judge the book by its cover. Our last few dining experiences with pizza did not go so well so I was ready for a change of pace. NYC Pizza Café is a small, modern restaurant. A few booths and pub tables fill the floor with an additional 10 seats at the bar. I’d guess 50 diners could comfortably fit there at the same time. The menu is plastered on the wall for easy reading – although choosing just one item is anything but easy. You order at the counter and take a seat. You can continue your conversation or get lost in the game on one of the two big screens. Our pizza was out in a quick 10-15 minutes. The pizza was delicious. We ordered a large supreme pizza, which came with eight over-sized slices – perfect for folding in half. The crust was super thin and wonderfully crunchy. The cheese had just enough grease for flavor but not enough to see my own reflection. The toppings were large chunks of sausage, mushroom, green peppers and bacon. Mmmm… bacon. The menu also includes sandwiches, salads, pastas, desserts and even gluten free pizzas. They have great lunch specials, which if I worked on that side of town, I’d try to cash in on. If the sandwiches are just as tasty as the pizzas, I’d say the café’s tagline is right on: “Great pizza, great sandwiches and good times.” Oh, Class of 2004. It's been 10 years since many of us have been together, and it will be another 10 years until we are. The turnout for our 10 year reunion was pretty low. I'd gander an estimate of 50 in attendance, and that includes spouses and significant others. That would be an awesome turnout if our class was 100 people, but I graduated with nearly 700. I did not know all 700 people, so I was pleasantly surprised when I actually remembered everyone's face who was there. Names were a bit more tricky. It was nice to catch up with people I'm not connected with on social media. It was even nicer to hang out with two of my favorite ladies who happened to help plan the reunion.
I'm not sure why attendance was so low. Maybe because many people are connected on Facebook. Maybe because many people still hang out with their high school friends and didn't care to see other non-friends. Maybe people hated high school and never want to think about it again. Maybe it was a bad weekend. Maybe people didn't think they made enough of themselves to go back. Maybe people thought they were too cool. Who knows. Maybe we'll have a 20 year reunion - maybe not. Best wishes to my fellow classmates for the next 10 years and beyond! Lucas and I don't usually work out together. He goes to his gym; I do to mine. We like to bike together, but that requires a good chunk of time. It was a nice evening after work, and we weren't feeling super energetic. Instead of hopping on our bikes, we went for a stroll around our neighborhood. We're in a very residential area that was not built on a perfect grid. We wandered up this street and over to that one and before we knew it we stumbled upon Pearson Park. Tucked away, I had no idea it existed. It's set back off the street beyond a little walking bridge. There's a great covered shelter with two nice, newer looking playgrounds, a basketball court and a path around the area. While I have no current need for a park, I anticipate needing one eventually.
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