Reviews

The Best Thing I’ve Ever Eaten

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It’s no secret that our family loves going to Seamus McDaniel’s for dinner (or lunch, as the case may be). Ryan and I first started eating there when we first moved to the Dogtown neighborhood of St. Louis almost 14 years ago, and lived just down the street, and we’ve continued to enjoy stopping by for a meal, even after we’ve moved a bit farther away than an evening stroll.

I truly believe Seamus makes the best burger/cheeseburger I’ve ever had, anywhere. And my order has remained pretty much the same–cheeseburger with provel, onions (raw), and tomatoes. Over the years, I’ve ordered said burger less and less cooked, until I reached the very edge of the burger spectrum, with a gloriously rare sandwich.

We stopped at Seamus today after a fun field trip to the LC-MS International Center (details to follow), and I had the best burger I’ve ever had there (which is saying a lot, since they’re always excellent):

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It was amazing. Not just the best burger I’ve ever had anywhere, but the best thing I’ve ever eaten. Turkey also thought he had the best burger he’s ever ordered, as did Ryan, so whoever was manning the grill today was really on his or her game. We also realized that we have now gone to eat at Seamus on February 26 two years in a row, which was totally accidental, and also kind of funny. At this point, I think we just may have to make it a new family tradition…until the 26th falls on a Sunday, because that’s the one day of the week Seamus is closed!

Tasty Tuesday–Beast Craft BBQ

I’ll be totally honest…a few months ago, when we saw the new sign for Beast Craft BBQ, I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t sure what “craft BBQ” was, but I knew it sounded hipster-y and pretentious, which is totally not us, so I figured we’d never darken their doorstep.

Shortly after Beast opened, however, we were checking out their menu online, and two things caught my attention. First of all, burnt ends. A popular menu item just across Missouri in Kansas City, burnt ends are surprisingly hard to find around here, which is very disappointing, because once you’ve had them, you know just how delicious they are! That alone probably would have convinced me that we needed to at least try the place, but then there was the icing on the cake…brussels sprouts fried with pork belly. Now, I (strangely) love brussels sprouts anyway, but his combination really intrigued me.

So, we broke down and tried it. I got the burnt ends and tortillas with a double side of brussels sprouts. And it was all amazing! When I’m wrong, I say I’m wrong…nothing hipster-y or pretentious about the food at all! I seriously have no need to ever try anything else from Beast, although I’m sure Ryan will eventually. And even though we can’t afford to eat there often, I check the menu every day anyway (it changes daily), just to see if there are burnt ends available!

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Aside from the delicious food, I’m also impressed with Beast’s commitment to fresh, local food. They don’t use freezers or microwaves, so they have what’s available from their suppliers until it runs out. They even offer local beverages, from coffee and tea (Kaldi’s) to beer and soft drinks (Excel Bottling), and suggest pairings to go with their menu items.

If you’re looking to try a delicious new BBQ place, I highly recommend giving Beast a try…just make sure you check the menu and go early in the day if there’s a particular menu item you want…there’s nothing worse than planning on getting a plate of burnt ends, only to find that they’re sold out!

The Three Sixty Rooftop Bar

Last night, Ryan and I went out for a rare date night, and we went somewhere fancy…the Three Sixty rooftop bar at the Hilton by the ballpark. It was a little cold and windy for the outdoor bar, but we still spent a little time out there, just to see the sights.

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The inside is also beautiful, and the city views are never far away!

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I’d like to go back in the spring or summer, so we can enjoy the outdoor area more, and so we can be there while it’s still light out, and get a totally different perspective of the city!

Tasty Tuesday–Eckert’s Country Restaurant

Even though we’ve lived in Belleville for eight years now, we hadn’t been to eat at Eckert’s Country Restaurant since I was pregnant with Turkey 12 years ago, and we happened to visit the farm to pick apples. We figured that the time was right to go back, especially since Eckert’s has been chosen as a finalist in US Foods “Family Friendly Restaurant” contest. Much has changed at the restaurant (and country store), since then, especially the building itself!

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The decor is exactly what you’d expect at a country restaurant…very homey. The pails of crayons on the tables (along with paper table”cloths” perfect for a little pre-dinner art), were very popular with the children…and perhaps with their mother, as well!

There are several different dining rooms. We were in the back room, which is equipped with long tables perfect for a large family. I especially loved the sliding barn doors!

The menu at Eckert’s is seasonal, which I think is fantastic. Right now, they’re in the process of switching over to their fall menu. The thing you notice right away on the menu, however, is their famous fried chicken.

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The one thing both Ryan and I remembered from our last meal at Eckert’s was the biscuits and apple butter. We weren’t disappointed…they were as delicious as we remembered!

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The main course also did not disappoint. I ordered the fried chicken, because I figured I might as well get their speciality. It was among the best fried chicken I’ve ever had, and the side dishes were also excellent (who can complain about mashed potatoes and green beans made with bacon?).

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Everybody else enjoyed their various meals, as well, and it was decided unanimously that we’ll be going back, hopefully sometime soon. More than one child mentioned this as a potential birthday dinner location!

And just in case you didn’t order dessert after dinner ( I hear the pie is excellent!), and you’re visiting Eckert’s between April and October, you can walk next door and get some delicious frozen custard!

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Eckert’s was already one of our family’s favorite places, and truly a place where we’ve made lots of memories. It’s nice to know we can add “favorite restaurant” to our list of things we love about Eckert’s!

Tasty Tuesday–The London Tea Room

Yesterday, I went with some friends for lunch (and tea!) at The London Tea Room in St. Louis’ Tower Grove South neighborhood.

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I love the building in which the tea room is located, and the decor is perfect! (I also loved the music they were playing…very Rat Pack.)

I even got to peek in the Hyde Park Room, which is reserved for group gatherings…it’s very pretty!

We tried three varieties of tea: Lavender Earl Grey, Naughty Vicar (love the name!), and Duke and Duchess (which was created for the wedding of William and Kate). They were all delicious, and they looked so pretty on the table!

The food looked so wonderful in the cases, it was hard to choose. I finally settled on the Cornish pasty (delicious!), and the Queen Victoria cake (also delicious!). The staff was very friendly and helpful, and took time to explain what the different treats were.

Now that I’ve been there and know what it’s like, I’m looking forward to going back someday for a full afternoon tea!

Mother-Daughter Sushi Lunch

I promised Bunny that I would take her out for sushi sometime this summer, so today we went to Wasabi Sushi Bar.

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It was the first time either of us had been there…the decor was very nice.

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Bunny loved the tiny soy sauce dishes.

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Bunny told me she didn’t want to eat any raw fish, which was fine with me…she got a vegetable roll, I got a Central Avenue roll with salmon, and I also got us a California roll to share, since the fish in that was cooked. The sushi boat was a big surprise to Bunny! She was very happy with the vegetable roll and the California roll, and she even tried a piece of my Central Avenue roll…she was so proud of herself for trying raw fish (and she even seemed to like it!)!

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Sushi is really very pretty:

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We even splurged, and each got a green tea cheesecake pop for dessert…yum!

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What a fun way to spend an afternoon with my oldest daughter!

The Flying Saucer

Last night, before going to the baseball game, we went to the Flying Saucer for dinner. I’d never been there before, and the food (and beer!) was really good!

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I tried a flight of German beers, all of which were new to me, by brewer or variety (or both!). I liked them all, but the kölsch was my favorite.

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I ordered something off the appetizer menu for my dinner: the Hungry Farmer. You can choose either three or five selections of meat and cheese–I went with three. I had black pepper salami, brie, and cotswold…it was delicious! It also came with a selection of crackers, apple slices, tapenade, mustard, and almonds, which I wasn’t expecting, but complemented the meal perfectly. The menu offered a beer pairing suggestion for each selection, but since I already had my beer flight, I didn’t need to try any of those…maybe another time.

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It was the perfect place to eat before a game. It’s literally within a stone’s throw from the stadium, and the types of food offered are just what you want to eat on a game day. We got there before it got too crowded, which I prefer, but it was nice to see that most of the customers there were in their Cardinal red just like we were. I would definitely like to go back and try something new!

Book Review–“Praise God with Banners”

I just realized that I’ve referred to this wonderful resource many times, but never actually reviewed it! Since this book has been so helpful to us, I thought others might like to know about it, as well.

Praise God with Banners

As the name suggests, this is part of the Praise God with… series that CPH publishes (other titles include another family favorite, Paper Plates, as well as Paper Cups, Paper Bags, Shapes, and Puppets). The books are meant for classroom or church use (but are also great for home use!), and are reproducible. All of the patterns are meant to be used on a 9×12 piece of felt or construction paper, to create a personal-sized banner, but are easily enlarged for full-sized banners suitable for classrooms.

The majority of the book is dedicated to banners for the church year, but there are a few ideas for Bible banners, as well. Each banner has a basic design, with suggestions for colors of paper or felt for each piece, and also has additional ideas for extra embellishments, from gemstones and sequins to glitter and yarn. There are also suggestions for phrases and Bible verses appropriate to each banner. The back of the book has a full alphabet and numbers that you can reproduce as templates for whatever words you choose to put on the banner…I used these for some of our banners, and printed off my own fonts for others. There is also a brief “Lesson Connection” for each banner.

This is one of the most useful books we have in our homeschool library. We were able to create a full church year’s worth of banners from the designs, and may make a few more specific ones in the future. Some of the banners we made are almost identical to the plans in the book, while others were created using the book as a jumping off point, and then coming up with our own additions. I used some of the phrase suggestions, and came up with some of my own using words from hymns and other Bible verses for some banners. I also combined and/or repurposed some of the suggestions to make exactly what we wanted for some portions of the church year.

I highly recommend this book to teachers and parents. I’d like to think that even if we weren’t homeschoolers, we’d still have made church year banners for our playroom, to make a solid connection between church and home.

Early Anniversary

Last night, Ryan and I went out a couple of days early for our anniversary dinner. He made me choose the restaurant. I wanted to go somewhere new (to me), and fancy-ish, so I picked Maggiano’s.

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It fit the bill. We had a candle on our table, there were cloth napkins, and the maitre de was even wearing a jacket and tie! Definitely fancy-ish!

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The restaurant was also very pretty:

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We shared an appetizer of bruschetta, which I maddeningly forgot to take a picture of, but you’ll have to trust me when I say it was as beautiful as it was delicious. For dinner, I got the salmon oscar (which was the real reason I chose this restaurant, once I saw it on the menu). It was amazing!

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And for dessert, we shared a dessert sampler platter, which had creme brulee, an apple crostada, New York style cheesecake with fresh strawberries, chocolate zuccotto cake, and, my personal favorite, tiramisu! We ended up bringing quite a bit of it home…even when the desserts are so tiny, that’s a lot of sweets!

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It was a great way to celebrate our 12th anniversary!

Book Review–“Dressing the Queen”

I mentioned Dressing the Queen: The Jubilee Wardrobe by Angela Kelly a while back, and I’m finally getting around to reviewing it. In short, if you’re a fan of fashion, or Queen Elizabeth II, or history, you’ll love this book!

It’s filled with beautiful pictures of fabrics:

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And jewelry:

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And pictures that show the amazing detail that goes into every aspect of the Queen’s wardrobe:

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There are also sketches created by Angela Kelly:

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And some photos that can only be described as whimsical:

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One of my favorite parts of the book is a picture of the Queen in what can only be described as a “casual” pose…as casual as you can be when you’re Queen, anyway!

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Pictures aside, this book is full of information. You’ll learn what kind of fabrics are used, and during which season, and where the fabrics come from. Some of them are quite old! You’ll learn what the team of dressers actually does, and how they keep track of what the Queen has worn in the past.

There are also sections on hats and accessories, which are fascinating. And the care of the Queen’s wardrobe is also discussed, as is packing it up for a trip, big or small. No book about the Queen’s wardrobe would be complete with a section on her jewelry, and there is a nice representation of the different gemstones she favors in photographs. I was very interested to learn how the jewelry is presented to the Queen every day!

A big section of the book is naturally dedicated to the Diamond Jubilee wardrobe, as the subtitle suggests. Of course, the famous three outfits of the Jubilee weekend are shown, but so are less-known outfits, like the ones worn to the Royal Windsor Horse Show, the Sovereign’s Lunch, and the Royal Ascot. And the Queen’s “Bond Girl” dress from the Opening Ceremonies of the London Olympics is discussed in great detail!

Dressing the Queen is both beautiful and informative. It is practically unheard of for a member of the Queen’s staff to be given permission to write a book about his or her job, which makes this a very special, unique item, with a very unusual perspective. I highly recommend it!