A few of us drove out to Naperville yesterday for Ben and Kathy's wedding!
It was a beautiful day for a wedding and everything seemed to go so smoothly!
Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Ben Walker! Thanks for inviting us!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Ben and Kathy's Wedding in Naperville, IL
Okay, it's not a real road trip :)
A few of us drove out to Naperville yesterday for Ben and Kathy's wedding!
It was a beautiful day for a wedding and everything seemed to go so smoothly!
Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Ben Walker! Thanks for inviting us!
A few of us drove out to Naperville yesterday for Ben and Kathy's wedding!
It was a beautiful day for a wedding and everything seemed to go so smoothly!
Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Ben Walker! Thanks for inviting us!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Summer Roadtrip #1: St. Louis, MO
Our first official summer roadtrip takes us to St. Louis, Missouri!
The real reason was really to see Radiohead who performed at the Verizon Amphitheater on May 14, 2008. It was only about a 5 hour drive there and we got to St. Louis with enough time to check out Roper's Ribs before the concert.
The ribs there were the saucy kind and was quite good but we prefer the dry rub kind from Smoque in Chicago.
Their pulled pork sandwich was delicious though! They also had snoots which we weren't really sure what they were in the beginning. Once we realized they were pig snouts, we chickened out (but wished we tried it in retrospect).
The evening was a perfect one. The weather was nice and we had awesome seats at the concert. Radiohead was awesome as usual and it was quite the show!
The next day turned out to be gloomy and rainy but we still made the best of it. We went to The Hill which was basically a Little Italy.
Lunch at Cunetto's was decent (excellent homey soup!) and then we went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
We were lucky that the Gardens happened to have the Niki in the Garden exhibit when we went (we first saw a Niki sculpture in Nice, France)! We spent most of the afternoon in pouring rain admiring the colourful Niki sculptures...
Giant mosaic skull - can you see me hiding in it?
Soaked while wandering through the huge Japanese garden.
Drenched, we headed back to the hotel to dry up for dinner at Landry's Seafood in Union Station. Satisfied, we wandered around the downtown area in search of some night shots.
The gleaming Arch at night
The next day, we were rewarded with a beautiful bluebird day and we walked around downtown and explored the Arch. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to take the ride up but we took lots of pictures!
Next, we drove down to Iron Barley, a dive that we saw on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives show on the Food Network. This place prides itself in cooking really quality food in a dive setting.
We had food that you don't normally find in a diner.
Steamed mussels - delicious!
THE BEST schnitzel & spaetzle EVER!!! No words can describe it, you just have to go try it!
Famous hotdog
On our way home, we stopped at the Anheuser-Busch brewery to get a free tour.
It was interesting to see some of the fermentation and packaging processes. They also had some Clydesdale horses for show (they used to use them to distribute the beer).
We got to see inside the bottling assembly line briefly but nothing was running because it was on a Sunday.
The 5 hour drive home wasn't so bad. We even stopped at an all-you-can-eat KFC buffet that we found on the highway. That was just ridiculous end to our trip!
Want to see more pictures?
The real reason was really to see Radiohead who performed at the Verizon Amphitheater on May 14, 2008. It was only about a 5 hour drive there and we got to St. Louis with enough time to check out Roper's Ribs before the concert.
The ribs there were the saucy kind and was quite good but we prefer the dry rub kind from Smoque in Chicago.
Their pulled pork sandwich was delicious though! They also had snoots which we weren't really sure what they were in the beginning. Once we realized they were pig snouts, we chickened out (but wished we tried it in retrospect).
The evening was a perfect one. The weather was nice and we had awesome seats at the concert. Radiohead was awesome as usual and it was quite the show!
The next day turned out to be gloomy and rainy but we still made the best of it. We went to The Hill which was basically a Little Italy.
Lunch at Cunetto's was decent (excellent homey soup!) and then we went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
We were lucky that the Gardens happened to have the Niki in the Garden exhibit when we went (we first saw a Niki sculpture in Nice, France)! We spent most of the afternoon in pouring rain admiring the colourful Niki sculptures...
Giant mosaic skull - can you see me hiding in it?
Soaked while wandering through the huge Japanese garden.
Drenched, we headed back to the hotel to dry up for dinner at Landry's Seafood in Union Station. Satisfied, we wandered around the downtown area in search of some night shots.
The gleaming Arch at night
The next day, we were rewarded with a beautiful bluebird day and we walked around downtown and explored the Arch. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to take the ride up but we took lots of pictures!
Next, we drove down to Iron Barley, a dive that we saw on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives show on the Food Network. This place prides itself in cooking really quality food in a dive setting.
We had food that you don't normally find in a diner.
Steamed mussels - delicious!
THE BEST schnitzel & spaetzle EVER!!! No words can describe it, you just have to go try it!
Famous hotdog
On our way home, we stopped at the Anheuser-Busch brewery to get a free tour.
It was interesting to see some of the fermentation and packaging processes. They also had some Clydesdale horses for show (they used to use them to distribute the beer).
We got to see inside the bottling assembly line briefly but nothing was running because it was on a Sunday.
The 5 hour drive home wasn't so bad. We even stopped at an all-you-can-eat KFC buffet that we found on the highway. That was just ridiculous end to our trip!
Want to see more pictures?
Friday, May 16, 2008
Radiohead - May 14 in St Louis
What better reason to go for a post exam roadtrip than to see Radiohead? This was particularly exciting as it was JJ's first time seeing Radiohead!
After filling our bellies with Roper's Ribs and fighting through horrible traffic, we managed to make it to our 11th row seats
at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Maryland Heights just 10 minutes before Radiohead came on. Thom walked onto a stage with Tibetan flags and began crooning All I Need. Eerily beautiful although I must admit that he does look older and his voice used to be more strong and powerful.
Those tube light things were really cool. Here the entire stage is lit up in blue:
The 2.5 hour set was amazing filled with lots of old favourites and the entire In Rainbows album. What an awesome show! I'm glad we drove all the way to see Radiohead this close. They never fail to deliver.
Here is the complete setlist from the show:
01. All I Need
02. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
03. Airbag
04. 15 Step
05. Nude
06. Kid A
07. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
08. The Gloaming
09. You And Whose Army?
10. Idioteque
11. Faust Arp
12. Videotape
13. Everything In Its Right Place
14. Reckoner
15. Optimistic
16. Bangers and Mash
17. Bodysnatchers
Encore 1:
18. Exit Music (For A Film)
19. Myxomatosis
20. My Iron Lung
21. There There
22. Fake Plastic Trees
Encore 2:
23. Pyramid Song
24. House of Cards
25. Paranoid Android
More photos for your enjoyment!
After filling our bellies with Roper's Ribs and fighting through horrible traffic, we managed to make it to our 11th row seats
at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Maryland Heights just 10 minutes before Radiohead came on. Thom walked onto a stage with Tibetan flags and began crooning All I Need. Eerily beautiful although I must admit that he does look older and his voice used to be more strong and powerful.
Those tube light things were really cool. Here the entire stage is lit up in blue:
The 2.5 hour set was amazing filled with lots of old favourites and the entire In Rainbows album. What an awesome show! I'm glad we drove all the way to see Radiohead this close. They never fail to deliver.
Here is the complete setlist from the show:
01. All I Need
02. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
03. Airbag
04. 15 Step
05. Nude
06. Kid A
07. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
08. The Gloaming
09. You And Whose Army?
10. Idioteque
11. Faust Arp
12. Videotape
13. Everything In Its Right Place
14. Reckoner
15. Optimistic
16. Bangers and Mash
17. Bodysnatchers
Encore 1:
18. Exit Music (For A Film)
19. Myxomatosis
20. My Iron Lung
21. There There
22. Fake Plastic Trees
Encore 2:
23. Pyramid Song
24. House of Cards
25. Paranoid Android
More photos for your enjoyment!
 |
| Radiohead in St Louis |
Monday, May 12, 2008
Back to cooking!!
Now that my exam is over, we can get back to cooking! While I was studying for my exam, JJ successfully made a beautiful and delicious Shepherd's Pie...
... as well as Mahi Mahi with mango salsa with homemade garlic bread!
As soon as I was done, I took a crack at some Indian-spiced chicken with aloo ghobi.
We even managed to pull off some great cocktail shrimp with an excellent cocktail sauce (courtesy of an Alton Brown recipe)!
Yum :)
... as well as Mahi Mahi with mango salsa with homemade garlic bread!
As soon as I was done, I took a crack at some Indian-spiced chicken with aloo ghobi.
We even managed to pull off some great cocktail shrimp with an excellent cocktail sauce (courtesy of an Alton Brown recipe)!
Yum :)
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Devil's Head, Wisconsin
On February 15, we took our first road trip in our new car! We headed up north to Devil's Head ski resort in Wisconsin for two days. In the Midwest, there aren't too many places to go riding because of how flat it is so we were pretty excited!
Wisconsin welcomes us...
The Friday night riding was pretty good as the snow was powdery and it wasn't crowded at all. It was a good night for us to get a little familiar with the place.
The place was complete with a nice camp fire!
I made some progress on this trip. I managed to tackle the black diamonds at this resort (though they're really more like Colorado blue runs). The only run we left out was the double black which had moguls.
Our car is awesome. It fit both our snowboards comfortably with room for some duffels too!
What a successful roadtrip. We even cracked 1000 miles on the way home!
Wisconsin welcomes us...
The Friday night riding was pretty good as the snow was powdery and it wasn't crowded at all. It was a good night for us to get a little familiar with the place.
The place was complete with a nice camp fire!
I made some progress on this trip. I managed to tackle the black diamonds at this resort (though they're really more like Colorado blue runs). The only run we left out was the double black which had moguls.
Our car is awesome. It fit both our snowboards comfortably with room for some duffels too!
What a successful roadtrip. We even cracked 1000 miles on the way home!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Calypso Cafe
On a "Check, Please!" episode, they recommended a Caribbean place in Hyde Park. On a very cold Sunday night, JJ and I decided to go check it out.
We both got to reminisce beef patties from our high school days... these were delicious!
Unfortunately for us, the TV show really increased the restaurant's business for the weekend: they were out of tilapia, guacamole, conch fritters, plaintains, Calypso-ritas... it was getting a little ridiculous. So we made the best of a very limited menu selection and went with some jerk chicken wings and the jerk chicken dinner.
That dinner is probably one of the best values in the city. You get so many sides with the dinner that are all very tasty and filling. The jerk chicken was also excellent!
For dessert, we went with a key-lime pie. It was not lime green nor custard-y but more like a cheesecake consistency. We both loved it.
The limited menu left us wanting more so we can't wait to go back!
We both got to reminisce beef patties from our high school days... these were delicious!
Unfortunately for us, the TV show really increased the restaurant's business for the weekend: they were out of tilapia, guacamole, conch fritters, plaintains, Calypso-ritas... it was getting a little ridiculous. So we made the best of a very limited menu selection and went with some jerk chicken wings and the jerk chicken dinner.
That dinner is probably one of the best values in the city. You get so many sides with the dinner that are all very tasty and filling. The jerk chicken was also excellent!
For dessert, we went with a key-lime pie. It was not lime green nor custard-y but more like a cheesecake consistency. We both loved it.
The limited menu left us wanting more so we can't wait to go back!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wisconsin
Finally! Our mini first road trip!
We've been craving some snowboarding action and so we decided to take a 2 hour road trip to check out a hill in Wisconsin. We went to a ski area called Alpine Valley on a Saturday.
Sure enough, it's a real dinky hill. I'm not sure it even looks like a hill from this picture.
We got there around 5pm so we were able to do a 2 hour session of night riding. Unfortunately, this place was crowded and the people are out of control! They just speed down the hill without any control. One guy even ran over my board! I would not recommend this place, especially on the weekend. Good thing it was just barely enough to satisfy our fix.
We've been craving some snowboarding action and so we decided to take a 2 hour road trip to check out a hill in Wisconsin. We went to a ski area called Alpine Valley on a Saturday.
Sure enough, it's a real dinky hill. I'm not sure it even looks like a hill from this picture.
We got there around 5pm so we were able to do a 2 hour session of night riding. Unfortunately, this place was crowded and the people are out of control! They just speed down the hill without any control. One guy even ran over my board! I would not recommend this place, especially on the weekend. Good thing it was just barely enough to satisfy our fix.
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