Mynee's Musings

Cinderella

We saw Cinderella at The Fox yesterday.  It’s one of my favorites (yes, I’m still a kid).  I love the story and the music.  This production was, um, different. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it but there were several major changes.  First, the evil stepsisters and stepmother weren’t as evil.  Perhaps they didn’t want to scare the kiddos in the audience or perhaps they wanted to be politically correct and didn’t want to give “steps” a bad name.  Second, the prince didn’t find Cinderella’s glass slipper on the steps of the palace and then go searching for her.  She picked it up and took it with her.  Oh, and there was a whole story about the homeless people in the village.  I won’t say much more as I don’t want to spoil it for anyone but let’s just say, I don’t think there was anything wrong with the original.   

We decided to eat at Bridge since we hadn’t eaten there for a while.  They no longer take reservations so I figured that since we’d be early, we wouldn’t have to wait. It worked out perfectly. We started with the smoked Danish blue cheese with sliced pears, clover honey and focaccia.  Bill had the Civil Life Black lager and I had the Civil Life Rye pale ale.  For dinner, I chose the mac and cheese with roasted poblanos and tomatoes in and IPA cheddar sauce.  It was huge so half of it went home with me for lunch the next day.  Bill had the short ribs which were the special of the evening.  We also had a Santa Fe Black IPA.

Next show is in March; Phantom of the Opera.

 

A Christmas Story

We saw A Christmas Story at The Fox on Saturday.  It is one of my all time favorite movies (Yes Lisa, it’s better than Elf…hee hee hee).  I watch it multiple times on Christmas along with millions of other people and I have it on DVD.  I can’t even count how many times I’ve seen it and I know most of the lines by heart.  The musical was really cute and was very well done.  The only issue I had with it is that Ralphie had dark hair.  I know he’s just a kid but they should have bleached his hair…hee hee hee. 

After the show, we ate dinner at Urban Chestnut in The Grove.  I love the German beer hall feel.  We had a salad and the pomme frittes with romesco and garlic mayo.  We then decided to order the bretzen und obatzda (hot pretzels with a super yummy cheese, mustard and radishes)  Yum!  We tried the spruce beer and oh my goodness, it tasted like a Christmas tree.  In fact, Bill ordered it and the bartender insisted on giving us a sample first. My guess is that it is much too “piney” for some people.  It was good but one was enough. 

I still need to post this year’s Christmas cards but I probably won’t have a chance before Christmas.  Time is just flying by too quickly.  

Motown

We saw Motown at The Fox yesterday.  It was the second show in this year's Broadway Series.  The show is a "jukebox musical" which, according to wikipedia is " a stage or film musical that uses previously released popular songs as its musical score.  Usually the songs have in common a connection with a particular popular musician or group."  Other musicals we've seen that fall into this catagory are "Mama Mia" and "Movin' Out", the latter of which we saw on Broadway back in 2004.  

The musical is based on Berry Gordy's 1994 autobiography called "To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown".  Um, am I the only person who didn't know that Berry Gordy and Diana Ross were and item or together or whatever?  I have never been a fan of Diana Ross.  I think she is a stuck up diva.  There is only one song that she sings that I like and it's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" but I digress.  The show focuses on Barry, Diana, Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson.  Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder (we share the same birthday) also were featured.  Anyway, we really liked the show.

We ate dinner at Dressel's Public House.  We were seated upstairs in "The Pub Above" room which is really cool.  We had never eaten in this room before.  It feels like a small English pub.  We started with the pretzel and rarebit sauce and then I had the grilled cheese and tomato soup which is what I get every time we go there.  It's sooooo good.  Bill had the pan roasted chicken breast.  We each had the Perennial Peace Offering which is a nut brown ale with maple roasted squash, cinnamon and cloves.  Yum!

Next show, A Christmas Story.  I can't wait! 

Dirty Dancing

The Broadway Series at The Fox opened last week with Dirty Dancing.  We have tickets again this year and lineup looks great.  Our first show was yesterday and it was Dirty Dancing.  We haven't seen the movie for about 25 years and I only watched it once.  I was never really a Patrick Swayze fan and I only liked Jennifer Gray in Ferris Bueller so the movie was never one of my favorites.  The musical, however, was great.  I guess there were a lot of Dirty Dancing fans there because for the final number, Time of My Life, people went crazy.  Well, not literally but some were rocking out...hee hee hee.  Nobody puts Baby in a corner. 

Since the weather was so gorgeous, we decided to go to Urban Chestnut Brewing and eat in their beer garden.  We had the charcuterie and artisanal cheese board as well as the veggie platter which consisted of veggies, hummus, olive tapenade, tzatziki and pita bread.  Yum!  Oh yeah, we had a few brews too. :)

Oh, I'm STILL working on my Fleetwood Mac blog post.  I'll finish it soon.  

St. Louis Tourists 2014

We took two vacation days last week and spent the time being  St. Louis “tourists”.  We had spent a “tourist day” back in early November 2012 (click here to read the post) and it was a lot of fun.  This time, it all started because we had tickets for the Phillip Phillips concert on 6/12 so we were going to take a vacation day the day after the concert and then I suggested we also take a vacation day the day of the concert.  Great idea!  So, here’s a glimpse into our activities:

Thursday – We started the day with a late breakfast at Sunny Street Café.  It’s a restaurant within walking distance of our house (we drove, ha).  It’s usually so crowded on the weekends so I figured that a Thursday morning would be less crowded and it was.  The weather was nice so we were able to eat outside on their patio.  I had the chorizo breakfast tacos (yum) and Bill had an omelet.  We then stopped to get an estimate on my car (door dings, details to follow in another post) before heading to the St. Louis Science Center.  We spent a few hours checking out all of the exhibits before seeing D-Day, Normandy 1944 in the Omnimax Theater in the Science Center.  Wow, it was a very good movie.  I had forgotten how large the Omnimax screen is and there were times it actually felt like I was flying.  I had to close my eyes a few times as I didn’t want to get airsick.  We then headed to Ballpark Village to eat an early dinner at Budweiser Brew House.  We had eaten there once before right after it opened and it was packed but were able to sit at the bar.  This time, since we arrived around 4:00, we were able to get a table.  We started with the loaded baked potato fries and they were soooo good.  It was enough for 4 people so, needless to say, we didn’t finish them.  I then had the bacon and blue cheese burger (and it was huge) and Bill had the chicken bacon ranch sandwich.  Since it was still early, we decided to stop by Urban Chestnut and sit in the biergarten before the concert to enjoy a brew.  It’s right down the street from The Fox where Phillip Phillips was playing so it worked out perfectly.  We had to move inside after a little while though because it started raining.  We arrived at the Fox at about 7:40 and someone was already signing.  I don’t know who it was and, from the little I heard, I wasn’t impressed.  Phillip went on stage at about 8:10.  Here’s the setlist:

1. Man on the Moon
2. Get up Get Down
3. Lead On
4. Gone 
5.  Trigger
6. Where We Came From
7. Raging Fire
8. Thicket
9. Digging in the Dirt
10. Drive Me
11. Let's Get it On
12. Home 

 Here are a few pictures...

 

 

It was a great concert!  He is one of my favorite singers.  OAR went on after Phillip but we have no idea who they are and we really weren’t interested in seeing them so we left after Phillip finished and were home by 10:15pm. 

Friday – We ate breakfast at The Original Pancake House in Chesterfield valley.  We had eaten there once before, last time we were "tourists" in fact, and I had ordered the bacon pancakes with a side of bacon…hee hee hee, you can never have too much bacon!  This time, I noticed that they have swedish pancakes with lingonberries!  I love lingonberries.  I eat swedish pancakes with lingonberries when we go to Ann Sather in Chicago.  These are just as yummy and now I don't have to go all the way to Chicago for my lingonberry fix!  Bill had the Georgia Pecan pancakes which is what he had last time so he must really like them. :)  The next stop was the Missouri Botanical Garden where we spent over 3 hours looking at all of the beautiful flowers, plants and trees.  Here are just a few of the pictures I took...

I took over 100 pictures with my camera and phone so obviously there are so many I didn't post but these were some of my favorites.  Last time we were at the Botanical Garden, apparently we didn't walk far enough because look what I found...

Here's another view...

Oh my goodness, isn't it cute?  It's the Cleveland Avenue Gatehouse.  It was built in 1895 as the residence for the groundskeeper of the mausoleum grounds and surrounding gardens.  I love it!  I bet the inside is pretty too.

When we left the Botanical Garden, we went to the St. Louis Art Museum to see the Impressionist France exhibit.  Photos weren't allowed so I have none to share from the exhibit but here is a Monet that is in the museum...

I found this at the museum gift shop and knew that it would look so cute in our yard..

After spending a few hours at the museum, we then headed to Riverbend Restaurant & Bar which is in South Souldard on Utah Street in the shadow of the Big Brewery (aka Anheuser Busch).  Bill had seen it mentioned on Twitter (I still don't understand Twitter) and when I saw that they have crab claws on the menu, I knew we had to pay a visit.  It's not big or fancy but oh my, it's eally good.  We each ordered the crab claws and I had a salad while Bill had a cup of gumbo and the dirty rice.  I ate every single bite of the crab claws and was so happy!  It's not easy to find crab claws here in St. Louis.  I first tried them back in 2010 when we were in Florida (click here to see the Florida post).  I can now visit Riverbend when I need crab claws!

Because we hadn't already done enough (wink), we drove to Civil Life Brewing after dinner.  They've been open for a few years but this was our first visit.  We've tried a lot of their brews at various restaurants but it was nice to actually visit the brewery.  We both had a glass of the hoppy wheat and we bought a growler of the Rye Pale Ale to bring home.  

Saturday - Not a tourist day but I didn't want to skip from Friday to Sunday...hee hee hee.  My mom and dad came over for dinner for Father's Day (see previous post).  I made potstickers and stir fy and mom made berry crumble for dessert.  We had a great time and Greta seemed to enjoy it too.  :)

Sunday - We went to the Cardinals/Nationals game for our last day as tourists.  Actually, we had tickets for the game before the vacation days were even planned.  It was Jack Buck Bobblehead day so we each got a bobblehead and one will go live at my mom and dad's house in my mom's bobblehead collection...hee hee hee.  

You can text your name and where you're from and the Cardinals may show it on the video board.  We've done this several times and this is the second time they've posted it (click on the photo for a closer view)...

We were from Maui both times!  I wish.  Anyway, the Cards beat the Nationals 5 to 2, sweeping the series!  It was a great end to fun long weekend.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

We saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on Saturday, the last show in this year's Broadway Series.  We've seen it four times at the Muny and as Bill remarked, this is the first time we've seen it inside...hee hee hee.  Ace Young  played Joseph and his wife, Diana Degarmo played the "narrator."  They are both American Idol alumni; she finished number two in season 3 and he finished seventh in season 5.  They both did a great job although I still think he smiles too much, ha!  

After the show, we ate at Sanctuaria which is our favorite tapas restaurant.  We saw our goofball neighbors there but they ignored us as usual.  Since the weather was perfect, we then had a brew in the biergarten at Urban Chestnut.

Now that the Fox season has ended, the Muny season starts in just about a month.  Stay tuned...

 

Once

We saw Once at The Fox on Saturday.  Oh my gosh, it was great!  We even bought the sound track which includes such songs as “Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy”, “Abandoned in Bandon” and probably the most well-known song from the show, “Falling Slowly”.  Anyway, it takes place in Dublin and is the "story of a Guy who gave up on his music—and his love—and the Girl who inspired him to dream again."  They never say their names, they're just "guy" and "girl"...ha!  

After the show, we ate at a new restaurant called Juniper near The Fox.  The cuisine is southern and, according to their website, they are a "Southern Table & Bar."  I started with the pimento cheese, bacon and brussel srpout jam which I loved and Bill had the cracklins which he said were great .  I’ll take his word for it  as I don’t eat cracklins, pork rinds, chicirones or whatever fancy name they give them.  Ha!  We both then had the cauliflower gratin for our “salad” course and then Bill had the chicken and waffles and I had the shrimp and grits.  We thoroughly enjoyed it and were stuffed by the time we were finished.

The weather was nice so we decided to stop by Urban Chestnut for an after dinner brew in their biergarten.  I should have brought a jacket because it turned out to be a little chilly so we moved inside.  The season is still young so I’m sure we’ll have many more chances to sit in their biergarten. 

The last show of the season is next; Joseph and the Amaznig Technicolor Dreamcoat.  It’s one of our favorites.

We Will Rock You

We saw We Will Rock you at The Fox yesterday.  It's a musical based on the music of Queen and I think there were only about 3 songs that we didn't know.  We both wonder why we don't have any Queen CD's since we like their music.  We'll have to rectify that soon.  :)  

The two main characters are Galileo Figero and Scaramouche...bwahahaha.  I didn't catch on to Galileo's name immediately but when I did, magnifico.  Anyway, Ruby Lewis played Scaramouche.  I especially loved when she sang “Somebody to Love”.  Brian Justin Crum played Galileo who has long-lost rock lyrics in his head.  Too funny.     

After the show we ate dinner at Bottleworks.  We had Hummus, pesto ravioli (me) and bison burger (Bill).  As for the brews we had the hop trial - Neomexicanus (U.S. cultivar, not widely grown and one of the first native US hops to make it into commercial use. Earthy, slightly spicy and notes of pear)  and a coffee stout.  Yummy!  

Next Fox show in 3 weeks.  

Elf

We saw Elf at the Fox Theater yesterday.  It was really cute.  I've only seen the movie twice but I know a lot of the lines (thanks to my sister)...candy, candy canes, candy corn and syrup or another one of my favorites, you smell like beef and cheese...hee hee hee.  Anyway, it was a packed house, a lot of kids and family.  Everyone seemed to really enjoy it including us!  After the show, we ate dinner at Schlafly Bottleworks.  Bill had the brat burger and I had the pesto ravioli.  Super yummy!  Oh, and we had a beer or two also, of course.  :)

I baked 3 batches of cookies today and I have one more to bake tomorrow evening.  I only have 3 more gifts to wrap and then everything else is done. The bathroom guy will be here for half a day on Tuesday.  I'll be sure to provide and update.  ;)

 

Sister Act

We saw Sister Act at the Fox Theater yesterday and oh my goodness, it was hilarious.  As mentioned on the Fox website, "Sister Act tells the story of Deloris Van Cartier, a wannabe diva whose life takes a surprising turn when she witnesses a crime and the cops hide her in the last place anyone would think to look—a convent! Under the suspicious watch of Mother Superior, Deloris helps her fellow sisters find their voices as she unexpectedly rediscovers her own."   Anyone who enjoyed the movie would thoroughly enjoy the musical.  It was hard not to think of Whoopi Goldberg, Kathy Najimy and Mary Wickes. The actresses who played the parts in the musical were pretty close to the original characters.  All in all, it was really cute and I would definitely see it again.      

After the show, we ate dinner at Morgan Street Brewery.  The Grizzly Bear beer was really good as was the BBQ, gorgonzola ravioli (me) and hamburger (Bill).  Oh, and don't forget the coniques which are little fried mashed potato balls.  YUM!

Check back tomorrow for a bathroom remodel update.