Mynee's Musings

Mango

We ate dinner at Mango on Friday.  It's a Puruvian restaurant 1 block off of Washington in the old Mosaic location.  We ate there for the first time in August during Downtown Restaurant Week and we really enjoyed it so we decided to visit again.

Instead of bread, they bring plantain chips and a green dipping sauce to start.  The sauce is really good and it turns out that it's cilantro, lemon, garlic and oil I believe.  What's funny is neither one of us is fond of cilantro (Bill hates it actually) but we like the sauce.  Anyway, we started with the Yuca fries which were very good.   Bill had lomo saltado which is sirloin steak strips stir-fried with sweet onions, tomatoes, garlic & Peruvian peppers, served with white rice & garnished with steak fries.  Bill had the same entree the last time and he really enjoyed it.  I had the tallarin verde which is spaghetti tossed in creamy basil, walnut & spinach pesto sauce.  I love pesto.  I mean I really love pesto.  I could just sit and eat a bowl of pesto...hee hee hee.  It was very good.  You can add chicken, beef or shrimp to it but I just wanted it plain.  Yum.  The last time I had the aji de gallina which is shredded chicken breast in creamy aji amarillo, Parmesan cheese & walnut sauce. Served over baby Yukon potatoes with white rice.  That was also super yummy.  There are still several more entrees that I want to try so I know we'll be visiting again soon.

After dinner, we stopped by Six Row to try their new brown ale.  Their 2nd anniversary is this weekend and I'm sure we'll visit them again.  :) 

OK, my Hawaii post is just about ready.  I'm hoping to finish it and post it by the end of the week.  Check back soon!

Fading Flowers

I spent a few hours on Sunday morning dumping most the flower pots and getting them ready to put away for the season.  I hate doing that because it means that summer is officially over.  Well, I guess it's been over since September 21 or so but now the patio is bare and it seems like winter. 

These flowers apparently don't know what time of year it is because they're still blooming as much as they did during the summer...

These flowers aren't blooming quite as much but they're still pretty...

I'm definitely going to buy these again next year.  They bloomed continually from spring to fall.  I don't remember what they're called but I'm sure I'll be able to find them again in the spring.

A few of the roses are still blooming...

This is the picture I took of our trees next to the patio on October 30...

Here are the same trees on Sunday, one week later...

Now they only have about 20 leaves left because it was so windy yesterday.  It turned cold and actually was near freezing last night and it's supposed to be the same tonight.  I'm sure that any of the flowers that were still blooming will be frost bitten and dead by this weekend.  So sad.

It's five long months until I can plant flowers again.  I wish we could just go from fall to spring and just skip right over winter!   

Billy Elliot

We saw Billy Elliot at the Fox Theater on Saturday.  It was actually the last show of the 2010-2011 season and was originally scheduled for August but was moved to November due to a scheduling conflict.  The show is about a young boy in England in 1984 during the miner's strike.  He takes boxing lessons but hates it and he ends up taking ballet instead.  There are 4 boys who play Billy, rotating performances each day, presumably due to child labor laws.  The actor who played Billy in this performance, Kylend Hetherington, was great.  The dancing was incredible, especially the tap numbers.  I love tap dancing.  For some reason, it just fascinates me.

After the show, we ate dinner at Rosalita's Cantina, a mexican restaurant on Washington.  We've eaten there once before and we liked it so we decided to try it again.  We started with the empanadas and then I had the cheese enchiladas and Bill had the carne asada quesadilla.  Yum.  After dinner, we headed to Urban Chestnut for a few beers; Me - Hop Switch 3 and the Urban Blacktop; Bill - Urban Blacktop and the Pilgrim 7.

I worked on Christmas cards Friday and Saturday night and I'm almost finished with them.  I'm hoping to get all of the shopping done by the end of November and then I can start planning what Christmas cookies I'm going to make.  Oh yeah, somewhere in between, Bill will be getting up on the roof to put up the lights.  I'll be sure to post a picture...hee hee hee.

11 in 11

Woohoo!  The Cardinals did it.  They are the 2011 World Champions beating the Rangers is 7 games in an amazing series.  In game 6, the Cards were down to their last strike twice and they battled back to win 10 to 9 in the 11th which set the stage for game 7.  The Cards won 6 to 2 to secure their 11th World Championship title! 

Originally I was going to go to game 7 with my sister, Lisa, on Thursday.  She had been able to buy tickets and my brother-in-law, Randy, was going to be out of town.  When the game was rained out on Wednesday, that meant game 7 would be played on Friday and since Randy was back in town, I didn't go to the game so I wasn't IN Busch Stadium but I was AT Busch Stadium.  Bill & I decided to brave the crowds...

Holy cow!  Look at the crowd.  As soon as they opened the gates, we went inside to watch the ceremony.  I snapped this picture after we entered the stadium. 

We were lucky enough to secure tickets for the celebration at Busch Stadium on Sunday, October 30...

The Cardinals victory was sweet but it was followed by some sadness;  Tony LaRussa retired on Monday, Albert Pujols became a free agent on Wednesday and pitching great, Bob Forsch, died yesterday.  Tony's announcement took me by surprise at first but after I thought about it, it does make sense and I wish him all the best.  Albert becoming a free agent wasn't a surprise since he and the Cardinals hadn't come to an agreement during the Spring.  I'm still hoping that they are able to work out a deal so that Albert can remain a Cardinals.  Bob Forsch's death definitely took me by surprise.  He had thrown out the first pitch for game 7...

 

 Finally, I have to mention Rally Squirrel...

 

He brought the Cards good luck in their quest for the Championship!  I will forever break for squirrels...hee hee hee.

Congrats to the Cards on a great season and a sweet victory!