Mynee's Musings

Manoose

There have been quite a few celebrity deaths lately; David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Fred Travalena and Gale Storm.  I probably should also mention Mickey Carroll, a St. Louis native and life-long resident who played one of the Munchkins in Wizard of Oz.  

I have a funny story to share about Gale Storm and her TV show "My Little Margie."  When I was little, probably around 2, reruns of "My Little Margie" aired on TV.  This show originally ran from 1952 to 1955 and began as a summer replacement for "I Love Lucy" which happens to be one of my all-time favorite shows.  Anyway, whenever "My Little Margie" came on TV, I would jump up and down and shout, "Manoose."  Hee hee hee...I guess I was trying to say My Little Margie.  I would sit for the entire 30 minutes and watch the show.  I'm not sure what a 2 year old would find fascinating about it but, then again, I guess I was a silly kid.

Annie

We saw Annie at The Muny last night.  We've seen it twice before, once in 1999 and again in 2004.  Although it's not my favorite "kid" show (Wizard of Oz holds that distinction) it is cute and I love the songs The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow, Maybe and Hard Knock Life.  Bill and I agree that this was the best production of Annie to date.  The casting of Miss Hannigan, Annie and Daddy Warbucks was perfect.  Daddy Warbucks was played by John Schuck who, for those of you old enough to remember McMillan & Wife, played Sgt. Charles Enright, partner of Commissioner McMillan. 

It was 94 degrees yesterday with a heat index of 101.  Although that is pretty hot, we've definitely been at Muny performers when it's been even hotter.  We had our water mist bottles with the fan and  our little mini fans so that definitely helped.  It would have been miserable without them.  Because it was so hot, we decided not to have a picnic dinner in the park.  We ate dinner at Houlihan's in Chesterfield Mall since it is on the way to the Muny and I figured it wouldn't be too crowded.  After we ate, we stopped by Archiver's which is right across from Houlihan's (wow, I wonder if I had that in mind when I made the suggestion of where to eat...hee hee hee).  I wanted to stay inside as long as possible before sitting in the heat for 3 hours so a quick browse through Archiver's seemed to be the perfect solution. 

There is no Muny performance next week due to the July 4th holiday.  The next performance is Meet Me In St. Louis on July 10.  Stay tuned...

Father's Day

I hope everyone had a nice Father's Day yesterday.  We had a Father's Day BBQ; chicken, potato salad, slaw, tomato salad, lemonade ice cream pie, etc.  Yum.  Here's the card I made for my dad.

Ingredients:

Ink - Dark Chocolate by Papertrey Ink 

Card stock - Dark Chocolate by Papertrey Ink, Certainly Celery, Whisper White and Kraft by @Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper - by Papertrey Ink

Images - Trendy Trees by @Stampin' Up, sentiment by savvystamps.com

Accessories- spiral punch, linen thread and brad by @Stampin' Up, button and ribbon by Papertrey Ink 

It's extremely hot here and will be all week.  Temperatures are expected to be in the high 90's with a heat index of 110.  Yikes. 

Back From Nashville

We drove to Nashville on Thursday specifically to hear some wonderful music.  No, not country music.  Neither one of us likes country, especially the twangy stuff.  We actually went to see a Fleetwood Mac concert.  We left Thursday morning at about 8:00 and arrived in Nashville at 1:30.  Not bad considering we stopped twice for a bathroom break and a soda. 

We stayed at the Marriot Renaissance Hotel.  We checked in and then headed to Big River Grill & Brewing for a light lunch.  We had the asiago artichoke crab dip and crab cakes.  We also had a few brews.  Bill had the nut brown and the pilsner and I had the red ale and the maibock.  We then walked around and checked out the shops.  We headed back to the hotel to relax for an hour or so and then we drove to Blackstone Brewing.  I had the cajun pasta which was wonderful and Bill had the ribs which he said were the best he has had in a long time.  I had the IPA, Bill had the nut brown and then we both had a St. Charles Porter for dessert.  We then drove back to the hotel and walked to Big River again for an Iron Horse Stout which we enjoyed while sitting on their covered outdoor patio.  It was a little warm but there were ceiling fans plus a little bit of a breeze so it was very nice.

Yesterday morning, we ate breakfast at our hotel and then drove to the Grand Ole Opry.  As I mentioned, we are not fans of country music but I figured that since we were in Nashville, we had to visit the Grand Ole Opry.  We really enjoyed it.  We learned a lot about the history of the Opry and we were able to go backstage to see the dressing rooms as well as stand on the stage itself.  After the tour, we went to the Opryland Hotel to eat lunch at Cascades, a wonderful seafood restaurant.  We had the crab soup which was absolutely yummy.  I then had the blackened grouper sandwich with a wonderful Cajun roumalade with capers and roasted corn and Bill had the turkey club.  After lunch, we walked around and visited all of the little shops, stopping for ice cream at one point.  After shopping, we drove back to the hotel and relaxed in the hotel bar for about an hour, enjoying a local brew by Yazoo Brewing.  We then headed to Big River Grill & Brewing for dinner.  Since we had eaten a late lunch, we weren't extremely hungry so we ordered the Southwest Egg Rolls and salads; Bill had the Caesar and I had the Cobb...yummy!  I had a red ale and a nut brown and Bill had a nut brown ale.  We then walked to the Sommet Center for the concert.  Yes, it was the same concert that we saw here in St. Louis and then in Kansas City three days later.  My oldest niece said, "That's just silly."  Hee hee hee...yeah, I guess it is silly but it was a great concert and we really enjoyed it.  Afterward, we walked back to Big River for a final Iron Horse Stout.  

We were on the road this morning by about 7:45 am and we arrived home at 1:00 pm.  We had a great time but it's always nice to be back home.

 

42nd Street

The 91st season of the Muny opened last night with 42nd Street.  Yes, we still have our Friday night tickets, however, we traded in our tickets for this weeks performance because we have a previous engagement this Friday.  Anyway, the show was great.  We had seen 42nd Street in 2004 and it immediately became one of my favorites.  The songs are great (We're in the Money, I Only Have Eyes For You and 42nd Street just to name a few).  I loved all of the tap dancing.  Tap dancing always fascinates me.  Just a perfect show to open the season!

It rained heavily most of the day yesterday but it cleared up during the late afternoon and there wasn't a drop of rain during the performance and the temperature was perfect.  We had planned to have a picnic dinner in the park but, since the ground was too wet, we ate at Big Bear Grill instead.

I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of the shows this season.

  

23 Years

OMG.  Has it really been 23 years?  Yes, Bill and I were married 23 years ago today.  That's almost half of my life time ago!  Yikes.

Here's the card I made for him.  Being the avid Captain & Tennille fan that I am, I love the "love will keep us together" sentiment and I use it whenever I can...

 

Ingredients:

Ink - Dark Chocolate by Papertrey Ink 

Card stock - Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy, Kraft and Vintage Cream by Papertrey Ink 

Patterned Paper - by @Stampin' Up    

Images - Itty Bitty Buds by @Stampin' Up, sentiment by Papertrey Ink 

Accessories- buttons by Papertrey Ink, Top Note die and linen thread by @Stampin' Up, ribbon by Michaels

The Muny season opens tomorrow with 42nd Street.  Stay tuned for details...

Not Surprised

The last time we ate at Alandale Brewing was back in January.  You can read my post by clicking here.  You may remember that I mentioned that the food wasn't as good as it normally was, the service was extremely slow and there was only 1 beer on tap.  At that time, I had predicted that they would close their doors within 3 months.  Well, I was right, almost to the day.  Alandale Brewing was bought by Highlands Brewing.  I figured this out when I was researching Highlands Brewing for my blog post yesterday.  They were the only brewery I was not familiar with at the festival, and now I know why. 

So, what is their plan?  The good news is, the Head Brewer is Dave Johnson, who also brews at O'Fallon and Buffalo Brewing.  An interesting fact about Dave is that he graduated from Lindbergh High School in 1980 along with Bill, me and 797 other people...hee hee hee.  I don't remember him but, with a class of 800 people, that's not surprising.  Anyway, their website is still under contruction so there is no information on their new menu or a list of their current brews.  I'm definitely looking forward to visiting soon.

        

St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival

We went to the 3rd annual St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival yesterday.  We've attended the festival every year and it's always been great.  I would say that this year was the best yet.  The tents were bigger, there were more tables, the beer was great and the weather was perfect. 

There were 11 breweries in attendance this year:  Anheuser Busch, Amalgamated Brewing, Augusta Brewing, Buffalo Brewing, Highland Brewery, Mattingly Brewing, Morgan Street Brewery, O'Fallon Brewery, Schlafly, Square One and Trailhead.  My goal was to try at least one beer from each of the breweries, and I reached my goal.  Keep in mind, these were 3 ounce pours, not 12 ounce bottles...hee hee hee.  Here is a list of the beers I sampled:

1. English IPA - Schlafly
2. Brown Porter- Anheuser Busch
3. Rye IPA - Buffalo Brewing
4. California Common - Morgan Street
5. American Red Lager - Morgan Street
6. Dortfunder Export - Schlafly
7. Dry Stout (Festival Homebrew) - O'Fallon Brewery
8. American IPA - Augusta Brewing
9. Rasperberry Hefeweizen - Schlafly
10. Rye APA - Highland Brewery
11. Oktoberfest - Amalgamated Brewing
12. Blackberry Hefeweizen - Highland Brewery
13. Belgian Style Witbier - Mattingly Brewing
14. American Pale Ale - Trailhead
15. American Red Ale - Square One

Here are the beers that Bill sampled:

1. Robust Porter - Mattingly Brewing
2. Dry Stout (Festival Homebrew) - Anheuser Busch
3. Rye IPA - Buffalo Brewing
4. Roggen - Buffalo Brewing
5. Schwarzbier - Schlafly
6. Honey Beer - Morgan Street
7. American Wheat Beer - O'Fallon Brewery
8. Peach Beer - O'Fallon Brewery
9. Dry Stout (Festival Homebrew) - Schlafly
10. English Barleywine - Schlafly
11. Belgian Tripel - Augusta Brewing
12. Traditional Bock - Schlafly
13. Imperial Stout - Schlafly

Bill and I would take a sip of each others beer so that we could have a taste of as many beers as possible and still be able to walk to the car! 

Now for some comments on a few of the brews.  I had never tried Schlafly's raspberry hefe before.  I love raspberries but I have an aversion to fruit in my beer...hee hee hee.  I decided to go ahead and give it a try and I was actually surprised.  It wasn't as sweet and fruity as I thought it would be.  It's not one of my favorites, however, I wouldn't mind having one every now and then.  The only beer that neither one of us liked was the English Barleywine (sorry Tom Schlafly).  This was one of the few styles I had never tried before.  I knew that it was higher in alcohol and much sweeter than other styles but I wasn't prepared for how sweet it really was.  We each had a few sips and then dumped the rest.

I'm looking forward to the 4th annual festival in 2010.  Cheers!  

Oh my dang, he's The Mang

Albert Pujols, that is.  We went to the Cards/Reds games last night and the Cards won 3 to 1 thanks to great pitching by Chris Carpenter and a 2 run homer and an RBI double by Albert. 

Now for the title of this post.  Albert Pujols is affectionately known as The Mang.  As you probably know, Stan Musial was known as The Man and this is a variation which incorporates Albert's accent.  Too cute!  Anyway, the Oh My Dang comes from my niece, Amanda.  It's her current phrase and when she says it, it just cracks me up.  When Albert hit the home run last night, I said, "Oh my dang, he's The Mang."  I decided that would be a great title for a blog post.

We're going to the St. Louis Heritage Brewer's Festival tomorrow.  Be sure to check back here for the details.

Flowers & Tomatoes

Well, I planted my tomato plant tonight.  I'm hoping that the squirrels and rabbits leave it alone.  I planted it in a big pot rather than in the ground so hopefully the furry little critters won't even notice it.  I also had a few more flowers that I wanted to plant in pots and I finally got that done tonight too.  I was going to take a few pictures but I then realized that both of my camera batteries were dead so they're currently charging.  I'll be sure to post a few pictures soon.