Mynee's Musings

Anniversary Dinner

My mom and dad hosted a 25th anniversary dinner for us last night.  My mom, dad, Lisa, Randy, the kids, Bill's mom and dad, his brother and sister-in-law and Lois & Ruel (close family friends) were all there.  The dinner was at Napoli 2, a wonderful Italian restaurant in Town & Country.  Here are some pictures:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The cake was from McArthur's Bakery.  It was sugar free with a layer of strawberries in the middle and it was yummy.  Oh, and if you're wondering about the flag, we were married on June 14, Flag Day.  :)

We had a great time and are so blessed to have wonderful family and friends in our lives.  We truly love them and are so happy that they were able to celebrate with us.  

 

Singin' in the Rain

We saw Singin' in the Rain at the Muny on Friday.  Oh my goodness, this is one of my favorite shows; great music and dancing and a very cute story line.  This is the third time we've seen it at The Muny.  I love the scene were Don Lockwood is singing in the rain.  They actually make it rain on stage and he jumps in the puddles and swings on the lamp post just like in the movie.

Since it was so hot on Friday (100 degrees with a heat index of 110), we decided to skip a picnic in the park and we ate at Six Row instead.  When Six Row first opened, they didn't serve food.  I think they started serving food about six months ago or so but this is the first time we have eaten there.  We had the hot pretzels for an appetizer, Bill had the roasted turkey and artichoke panini and I had the bacon mac and cheese and a salad.  It was super yummy.  I actually ate the whole thing and was stuffed afterwards but it was really good.  We each had a Whale with dinner.

This weeks' show is Little Shop of Horrors but we gave our tickets away.  The next show will be on August 5; Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

I actually have a few cards that I will post this week.  :)  Until then...

 

Kid Rock

We saw Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on Saturday.  We've seen Sheryl Crow several times before but this was our first Kid Rock concert and we really enjoyed it.  Although we did see a few kids in the audience, I definitely don't think it's "family' entertainment.  His language is a little, ok a lot, rough but the songs are great.  Here's the set list.

1. American Bad Ass
2. God Bless Saturday
3. You Never Met a **** Quite Like Me
4. Lowlife / Keep Your Hands to Yourself
5. Cocky
6. Slow My Roll
7. Detroit Rider / Cowboy / Lay it on me
8. Care
9. Somebody's Gotta Feel This / Fist of Rage / I Am the Bullgod / Forever / Sugar
10. Sugar
11. Flyin' High
12. Purple Sky
13. *** you one more time / Half your age / ***** Forty
14. So Hott
15. Love The One You're With
16. Picture
17. Instrument Jam / La Grange / Cat Scratch Fever
18. So Hott
19. Bawitdaba

Encore:

1. All Summer Long
2. Only God Knows Why
3. Born Free

Sheryl opened the show and sang the following songs:

1. Our Love Is Fading
2. A Change Would Do You Good
3. Steve McQueen
4. My Favorite Mistake
5. All I Wanna Do
6. If It Makes You Happy
7. Everyday Is A Winding Road
8. Soak Up The Sun
9. Peaceful Feeling
10. I Shall Believe

We ate dinner at Trailhead before the show.  They've added some new items to their menu, one of them being a bacon, lettuce tomato and avacado sandwich which was really tasty.  We each had a red ale and a brown ale.

It was very hot Saturday, 96 degrees with a heat index of 105.  It's been even hotter this week with temps of 100 and I'm sure that Friday night at the Muny will be steamy but we'll survive.  ;)

 

   

Pot Stickers

Mmmmm, pot stickers!  I love pot stickers.  The first time I had ever heard of them was when I was about 12 or 13 and we were at a restaurant called Marco Polo.  I was a pretty picky eater back then though so there was no way I was going to try them but my mom, dad and sister did and they enjoyed them.  The first time I actually tried them was the summer of 1984.  I don't remember what I was wearing (hee hee hee) but I know where I was and who encouraged me to try them.  I was doing volunteer work at the Reagan Bush headquarters here in St. Louis and one of the other volunteers, Maria Sanchez, told me that they were really good and that I should try them.  There was a Chinese restaurant on Delmar and 170 which was close to the headquarters and we would order lunch or dinner from there every few weeks or so.  Once I tried them, I loved them.  Maria then gave me a recipe and I've been making them ever since. 

A few years ago when we were eating dinner at the Culver Pavillion prior to one of the Muny performances, they had pot stickers as one of the appetizers and they were served cold on a bed of Chinese cabbage.  Yum!  A perfect summer meal.  So, guess what we had for dinner tonight...

 

They really aren't very difficult to make.  Here's the recipe...

• 1 pound ground chicken or pork
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 cup chopped water chestnuts
• 3 to 4 TBS low sodium soy sauce
• 1 package of won ton or pot sticker skins
• 1 egg, beaten

Place ground chicken or pork in bowl.  Chop green onions using most of the dark green part and discard the white part or store for future use.  Add ginger, water chestnuts and soy sauce and mix thoroughly.  Place about 1 1/2 tsp of mixture in the middle of a won ton skin.  Brush edges with egg and fold and press edges together.  Steam for approximately 10 to 12 minutes.  Heat 2 to 3 TBS of oil in a skillet and place pot stickers in skillet, flat side down, cooking until dark brown.

I made them with pork for years.  About 5 or 6 years ago, I started making them with chicken and I actually prefer them this way.  I think they are much less greasy and I would assume that they're healthier too.  When serving cold, place pot stickers on a bed of napa or Chinese cabbage, pour a small amount of tamari and rice wine vinegar over the pot stickers and sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top.

 
For the cold pot stickers, I do not fry them.  I make them the night before and then place them in the fridge after steaming.  I have a Rival steamer/rice cooker and I use 2/3 cups water and steam until water evaporates which is approximately 10 minutes or so.  You can also use a stove top steamer basket.  As for the edge crimping, I have a pot sticker crimper...

 
You can also just fold the edges together and press them with your fingers although this nifty little gadget is much quicker and it makes for a tighter seal.  I don't remember where I bought it but I'm sure that it can be found at various kitchen stores.

Since there is no Muny performance tomorrow, we're going to eat at The Melting Pot.  We haven't been there for about 2 or 3 years so I'm looking forward to it.

 

We've Got Valances

Finally!  Yes, I know that the kitchen has been finished for almost 7 months but it has taken me this long to decide on window treatments!  I had found a cool website called Fabric Workroom.  They have a lot of different styles of valances and over 2,000 fabrics.  I had ordered quite a few samples and I liked one fabric in particular so I then tried to decide on a valance style.  There were several that I liked but once I priced the valances along with matching placemats and napkins, it came to over $1,800.  I really didn't want to spend that much money for valances so I started looking online for non-custom valances.  I didn't find any that I liked so I began considering ordering from Fabric Workroom again.  Ugh, I went back and forth for over 6 months.  I didn't want to have to change the curtain rods so I specifically looked for valances with a 3" rod pocket and I finally found some online at Penny's.  Here they are...

 

 

 
 

The color is celadon which I would describe as a silver green.  They match some of the glass tiles in the backsplash and I'm really happy with my choice.  We did have to lower the two curtain rods over the windows next to the door but that only took a few minutes and now the windows look great!  I had to order 5 valances since the large window needed two, but they were only $30 each.  I found placemats at Kohls and they were only $30 for 6 so that's a total of $180.  I saved $1,620.  Yeah for me!  :) 

Back to Fabric Workroom...I'm now considering ordering a new valance for our TV room.  Since I only need one instead of four, it shouldn't be too expensive.  I might even order one for the master bath once we have it remodeled.  That probably won't be until next year at the earliest though.      

Now the only thing left to buy for the kitchen is a new fridge but we're going to wait until after vacation to do that.  I want a stainless, counter depth fridge with the freezer on the bottom and no ice or water in the door.  Hopefully there is one out there somewhere and it won't take us months to find it...hee hee hee.

 

 

The Little Mermaid

We saw The Little Mermaid last night at The Muny.  Believe it or not, I have never seen the movie.  Gasp!  All I knew was that it was about a red-headed mermaid named Ariel.  Anyway, it was a very cute show and we both really enjoyed it. 

Since this was the "kid show", needless to say there were quite a few little ones in the audience.  Here were some conversations I overhead:

• Mom - OK, let's go potty
• Kid - But I don't have to go
• Mom - Well, we're going to go anyway 
• Kid - Why?
• Mom - Because that's the rule

This was just a few of the things that the little boy sitting next to me said

• I'm thirsty, I want a soda
• Hey, I dropped my soda
• I'm hungry, I want a hot dog
• Is it half-time yet?

Oh my.  I think the little boy was more interested in eating, drinking and talking than he was in seeing the show.  They left at intermission.  :)

We decided to eat dinner at Bottleworks even though the weather was perfect for a picnic.  It had rained heavily on Thursday evening though so we figured that the ground would still be too wet.  Anyway, we each had a Citrus Wit and then Bill had a Kolsch and I had a Dry Hopped IPA.  For dinner, we started with the hummus and then I had the chipotle black bean burger (yummo) and Bill had the brat burger.

There is no Muny next Friday since The Little Meraid is an extended run show.  The next show will be Singing in the Rain, one of my favorites! 

Happy Saturday!

Kiss Me, Kate

We saw Kiss Me Kate at The Muny on Friday.  This was the first time we had seen it and the only thing we knew about it was that it is a play within a play.  It's about a group of actors and actresses who are performing Taming of the Shrew.  It was cute and we enjoyed it although Bill made the comment about not liking shows with "men in tites"...hee hee hee.  He first made this comment in 2009 regarding Camelot.

Conrad John Schuck (aka John Schuck) played Gunman 1.  We saw him at the Muny in Annie in 2009.  I remember him not only from McMillan and Wife but also from St. Elsewhere when he played the part of a neighbor of Jack Morrison.  I love that show and really wish they would release all 5 seasons on DVD but I digress!  

It was too hot for a picnic so we ate dinner at Blueberry Hill instead.  We then checked out a few of the shops in The Loop and I found the cutest pair of earrings at Phoenix Rising.  Here's a picture...

 

I mentioned that it was hot but I mean it was really hot.  It was 98 degrees with a heat index of 105 with very little breeze.  One of the ushers actually almost passed out.  We survived though.  :)

This Friday is Little Mermaid.  If the weatherman is right, it's only supposed to be about 87 degrees so we're planning to enjoy a picnic before the show.

I hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend.