I’ve been slacking lately on the blogging front. After a long day of work, the last thing I want to do is sit in front of another computer screen. But today is Saturday, so there is no excuse.
Some of the highlights of the past few weeks:
We’ve had a spell of mild weather recently, which meant some very nice weekend days. Kevin and I drove down to Hermann about 2 Saturdays ago – we took a tour of Deutschheim (historical German settlement), indulged in lunch at the Hermann Wursthaus (gorgonzola & granny smith apple bratwurst – amazing), and finished off our afternoon with wine tasting & a short tour at Hermannhof. Hermannhof is conveniently owned by the Dierberg family, which means that I can purchase a bottle of their wine at my local grocery store.
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Later that evening, we watched a beautiful game of basketball. Unfortunately, it’s hard to be a Mizzou basketball fan this year… I am not wasting my money on any games. But luckily, Iowa State (Kevin’s alma mater) is having a great season, and there’s a local alumni club that hosts watch parties for all of the games. I donned one of my few red shirts and we happily rooted on Iowa State to victory… and oh yeah, this particular game was against the school with a fake mascot, that I hate more than any team ever. (Kansas, in case you were wondering.)
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Other items of note…
Last weekend, we had another lovely mild Saturday, which we spent meandering around Forest Park and the surrounding area. We started off the morning at the History Museum – they have the Louisiana Purchase on display right now. It’s on loan from the National Archives in DC, where it is normally locked up and not out on display! As a native St. Louisan, it was really interesting to learn about the heavy French influence in the past, and that we actually were part of Spain for a bit until the Louisiana Purchase took effect. I guess it’s been a long time since I took AP US History. We also saw a German utopia exhibit, which was a bit disjointed and minimalistic, but interesting nonetheless.
Lately, we’ve become fans of neighborhoods like Dogtown and Lafayette Square, where parking costs are nonexistent and restaurant prices are cheaper than the Central West End. We revisited a favorite of ours for lunch (Seamus McDaniel’s), and afterwards, headed back to Forest Park for yet another trip to the zoo.
I absolutely love going to the zoo. We went to the zoo so many times when I was growing up (it’s 20 minutes from my parents’ house), which gave me such a love of animals. Now that I live 2 miles from the zoo, I visit a lot. As in, I have been to the zoo at least five times in the last two months. Visiting during the winter months is even better, since there are no school groups and very few people. This trip wasn’t too different from the others – watched the sifakas jump around for 10-15 minutes, stared at the penguins standing outside, smiled at the tiger taking a snooze (obviously dreaming of eating a Jayhawk) – except for the two recent babies born at the zoo: a colubus monkey and an orangutan. So adorable.
Last Sunday, I joined Angela and Janelle for brunch at Cyrano’s. Normally, we just go there for birthday desserts (the caramel bread pudding is divine), but we tried out actual food. I chose the eggs florentine (yum!) with a mimosa – I decided the splurge was worth it, since I normally don’t buy English muffins. (Like sourdough bread, reduced fat cheez-its, and bagels, they are a big weakness of mine, which means that I can’t keep them at my apartment.)
I’ve been cooking and baking a lot lately. Last weekend, I made calzones, pretzels, and the most delicious baked potato soup. Cooking is the only good part of cold weather.
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This past week was fairly quiet outside of work. Work has been incredibly busy lately (something big is due next month), and I’m slated to transition to a new program this spring/summer, which I’m anxiously awaiting.
Kevin is traveling this week, so we celebrated his birthday a bit early last night. Look for some more about that in a post tomorrow, on his actual birthday.
Until then –
Kate