We Eat St. Louis

Of course, our first priorities are always to put on the best performances and educational programs that we can and be gracious taiko ambassadors to all the communities we visit.

















But we do need to eat - and by that, I mean go to Ted Drewe's as many times as we possibly can.















































































The current seasonal flavor is The Great Pumpkin, which is an actual slice of pumpkin pie mashed into vanilla frozen custard and whipped into a concrete.

And we are treated do dinner at Saleem's Lebanese Restaurant by our friends from St. Louis Osuwa Taiko.


















PJ gets a stewy lamb dish with figs.

















This is eggplant with tahini sauce and garlic mashed taters. I think.

The food was yummo. I don't know much about this kind of cuisine, but it was all fabulous.












And there was even a little after-dinner entertainment.



















WARNING: There will be a video posted later, as soon as I can figure out how to do it (yes, I know it's easy, but my camera is not cooperating, possibly because it doesn't approve of the contents of this video).

Why a warning, you ask? Those of you who know Our Boy Alex can probably figure it out.

A bit of history

What:
The old St. Louis Courthouse, located conveniently near our hotel

When:
Built in the early 1800's




Notable fact:
Location of the Dred Scott trials of 1847 and 1850

If you, like me, were napping during your American history classes, read this.





















No, really. Go back and read the stuff on the link.

Seriously.

And now, for something totally different:

Loyal readers will know of my obsession with Cute Overload.

Now, does this not remind you of Totoro?






















And is this the real pikachu? We heard one of these on our Montana hike.





Just wonderin'...

Lap of luxury

Westin Hotel, St. Louis, MO.

Am in the swanky hotel lobby. From here, I can see the St. Louis Cardinals baseball stadium and the arch.




This is across the street.












The rooms are even nicer, with bathrooms that remind me of the Hotel Patee.

So far, we have been to tiny, charming towns (I'm including Billings in this category), which is great, but it's nice to be in an actual city.

And yes, we have been to Ted Drewe's. And we are going back. But under no circumstances are we going to have any St. Louis-style pizza.

On our schedule: 6 concerts, 2 kids' workshops, dinner and workshop with St. Louis Oswua Taiko. And another visit to Ted Drewe's.

We eat our way through Tahlequah

Sam & Ella's Chicken Palace.

It's actually more of a pizza place, since they say that they don't sell a lot of chicken. (Say the name of the restaurant 3x, fast.)







Yurika gets a sundried tomato, green pepper, olive, and mushroom pizza with no cheese, which initially confused the waiter, but it turned out to be a yummy pie.
















These four ordered a large pie. The waiter was sure they wouldn't be able to finish it.

He didn't know who he was dealing with.



Cookson Smokehouse, which is in a log cabin, waaay in the middle of the woods.










I had the pulled pork dinner with onion rings, Texas toast, and spicy beans. The pulled pork was slightly smoky and awesome, and it wasn't drowned in bbq sauce.



Pammy had the frito pie with a salad garnish.

















Next:






















Every dinner comes with endless beans, hush puppies, slaw, and a pickle plate (sour garlic dills and green tomato pickles).





PJ got frog legs.

It does indeed taste like chicken.















And finally, the from comedians who own Sam & Ella's, we have Ernie Coli's Chili & Burrito Emporium:





Burrito likes her burrito.
















Good chili & burrito fixin's. Not authentic at all, but yummy.











Yurika's giant veggie burrito with grilled onions & peppers, both fresh and pickled jalapenos, spinach, rice, beans, cilantro, and pico de gallo.




Remember this?

How times have changed.










We all feel like this:

Tahlequah, Oklahoma...

...capital of the Cherokee Nation.

We happen to arrive in time to see the Keetowah Band (band as in tribe or clan) Celebration, which features, among other things, a dance competition.































































Since we have some time off, we also go to the Cherokee Heritage Center, where we get a taste of traditional Cherokee life.

Robert, our guide, shows us some traditional dances...


















...and how to hunt (I got the rabbit in the neck, which was very satisfying)...


















...and how to play stickball. The original Cherokee version was a war game, so there were basically no rules. You had to get the ball between two goal posts, but you were allowed to whack at people's heads, knees, eyeballs, etc.



The modern version is slightly less violent - you're supposed to hit a wooden fish, perched waaay up on a pole.


















Franco hit the fish, so Robert gave him a certificate. He was only the 5th person to hit a fish this year!




Robert also talked about basic Cherokee laws and customs. Did you know that the Cherokee women were the ones who owned everything? Read all about it here.



The Cherokee alphabet.

In the mid-1800's, the Cherokee had a higher literacy rate than the European settlers.





Robert's wife, Veronica, shows PJ how to spin.











This is Fred, the extremely antisocial museum cat, waiting for us to leave.







And here we are, back in our rooms at Tenkiller Lodge, which is very quaint and in the middle of the woods.

On the road again...

Packing up and moving on...















...to Tahlequah, Oklahoma, the capital of the Cherokee Nation.

Will do my best to find interesting Cherokee snacks.

A Roundup of Rolla Eats

Restaurant #1: Alex's Pizza Place






Pizzas, pastas, and Greek things. Your typical neighborhoody pizza place.

Good sauce. Dough shoulda been proofed just a little longer, though.
























Restaurant #2: Joe & Linda's Tater Patch.




With a name like that, how could we not try it?

Turned out to be a smoke-filled bar. And we were there on poker night.

Beer was $1.50 a pint. And that's nice beer, not Bud or some garbage like that. I've never seen Ish so happy - he looked like he was going to cry.








Wisa got the pork tenderloin sandwich, which was the size of her head.

The menu warned that it was large. She finished it, though. Because she's a pro.

This was better than the other pork tenderloin sammies we had in Iowa.









Britt, the Boy, and I each get the BBQ pork tater, which is an enormous baked potato covered in pulled pork doused in bbq sauce and topped with butter and sour cream.


This is why America is fat.

It was not bad, but the sauce was a little too sweet and commercial-tasting for me.


I fee like this:

RAW-lah, Mi-ZOO-rah

The Most Interesting Thing that happened today:

Britt got hooked on Heroes.

Heh.

We get our dog fix...

...at the Kanoya's in St. Louis.

They are long-time friends of Roy & PJ's, who graciously offered to have us over for Chinese snacks on our way to Rolla, MO.

And we meet their dogs, Matsu...






















...and Taiko.

















Matsu reminds us of a certain shameless black dog we left @ home.


























Thank you, Kanoya family!