Venice Cafe: The City Museum in Bar form

After dinner on Saturday night, Terry and I decided before we went back home that we would stop off somewhere downtown to hang out for a bit.  When Scott was here visiting over the summer, he had mentioned a place called The Venice Cafe in Soulard, and while Emily was here in November, I remember we drove by it, so I had a vague idea of where it was (we didn't have the GPS with us at the time...UGH!).  Low and behold though, we found our way there, and let me tell you.....it was ridiculous! 

VERY eclectic.  Our best description is that it felt like you were standing inside of a kaleidoscope everywhere we went. 

 

 The Bathroom....I know, odd and a bit gross I took a picture of the bathroom....but I mean come on, look at this place! There was a whole other side section inside, which is where I was standing for the picture.

A side seating area a bit away from all the music. 

It was like this in every nook and cranny in the whole place.  Felt just like The City Museum. 

The band, Fresh Heir, was amazing.  The drummer was the lead vocalist, and the band also had trumpet, saxaphone, bass, and guitar players. 

The basement was to the bathrooms.....and the large Terrarium and coy fish pond.

Any upcoming visitors....we will be re-visiting here when you come. :-) 

February: Meet Deloris (Cali Mom) Stamps

I thought February would be a great month to get to know Deloris.  Terry has had her all his life, and I have been fortunate to have her in mine for the past 4 and a half years.  She has a very special place in my heart for raising her baby boy into the man I love so much today.  You've heard about Deloris a few times here and here, but I thought she needed a little more attention. :-)

Stats
Places we've been together: Fresno, Ca; Oxnard, Ca; Austin, Tx; Branson, Mo

Best thing about Deloris: She cares so much about her family

Funniest thing about Deloris:  When I read her emails, she is one of the very few people that as I'm reading, I feel like I am actually hearing her speak, I hear her voice and her inflictions in her writing, it always makes me laugh

Worst thing about her: She lives so far away (I see a growing trend on what the answer to this question will be every month)
I could ramble for quite a while of all the wonderful qualities of Dee-Dee (as Grandpa calls her), but I'll let her take it from here.
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I met Lindsey in July of 2007 at a bar-b-que when Terry brought her to CA. She was pretty and nice, (you don’t always get both in the same package), she gave us all hugs like she’d known us forever and was so friendly with everyone [oh yes, I noticed the southern accent, it’s still hard to believe she isn’t from a southern state] (I have heard this comment a lot, but I just still don't "hear" it). During the evening she spent a lot of time talking with me, as usual I chatted way too much (Mom loves herself some chatting....and I am always all ears). Of course she said lots of good things about Terry but who wouldn’t; although I am his mother and he’s youngest so I could be biased.  She was extra kind to my dad (Grandpa is strong-willed and sassy so he was just my kind of man!); I have since found she does that with all elderly folk. Lol, like I’m not in the older category yet. When we were getting ready to leave Lindsey made a point of walking with me to get Terrance [grandson] out of the pool. She wanted to let me know she really liked Terry and that she cared for him.  I hope Lindsey doesn’t mind me sharing but it was a special moment for me. She said it with such sincerity. I think I loved her from that moment. On the way home Grandpa, Ken (Terry's Dad...she hasn't mentioned him yet), and I all agreed she was great. Grandpa was especially impressed, the reason I say that is because he usually doesn’t say too much on things like that. She took pictures, of course at the time I didn’t realize that Lindsey is never without her camera (Me? Take pictures?? She MUST have had me confused with someone else...:-)~ ).  After they got back to Maryland she sent pictures to us and to Grandpa, and wrote him a letter. In fact she communicated with us so much that Terry commented about it, he wasn’t sure that was such a good idea. But it didn’t stop us.

(from L to R: Mike, Shannon, Deloris, Grandpa, Terry, Ken)

Lindsey and I have a lot in common which to me is another reason she’s the one (The one, Mom? Whatsoever could you be referring to?!). Our birthdays are in Oct., we’re both left handed, we get excited over little things such as seeing fruit on trees for the first time, and we like baking cookies together. There was something else but I really could use a new memory chip in my brain (we like puzzles, we both read a lot, and we both love and always miss the ocean). And…we both LOVE Terry. Not the same way of course, but that’s irrelevant.

(Family Portrait Oct. 2010)

 
Each time we’ve all been together I love her more. Terry said once if they ever broke up he was in big trouble because his family would all take Lindsey’s side. He’s right. I just wish I could call her my daughter-in-law for real. Then I could say I have the 2 best daughters-in-law in the country. That reminds me I wandered away from the subject of y’all getting to know more about me – other than I talk too much.

My husband Ken and I have been married 42 years as of this past Dec. 28th (They celebrated their 40th anniversary in Texas with us, it was a very special day).

 (Austin 2008 on their 40th anniversary)

We have 3 grown children, Diane, Michael, and Terry.

 (Can't help laughing at Ken and his hair!  Family portrait circa ~1976? Terry is the little one on Deloris' lap)

 
We have two grandson’s; Terrance is Diane’s, who is age 16 (awful age). Jeffrey is Michael’s and he is age 11 (almost to the awful years).

 
We have one daughter-in-law, Shannon, who is Mike’s wife. Diane, Shannon, and Lindsey are alike in so many ways. You know…beautiful, kind, caring, giving, and they are so gentle and kind to Grandpa that it makes me feel guilty sometimes. Let me mention one more time it would be nice if Terry would give me another one (Was this "the one" you were talking about earlier...I didn't quite catch your meaning the first time :-)  ). That’s an idea….maybe he could ask or even marry her on Mother’s Day, yes that would make a great gift. But I’m not rushing him...that never works out.
I retired from the Clovis school system after over 27 years. No not as a teacher, not enough patience or parent tolerance. (She was a Librarian....well Librarian Technician, is that the same thing?) My favorite things; my children all of them, the ocean from the beach, reading, too many detective shows on tv, working in the yard, knitting, playing card or board games, pizza, diet coke, dove chocolate and wine[mostly white, but have just discovered white merlot].

 (Branson, Mo 2010)

Guess it’s time to quit. Lindsey didn’t ask for a novel length blog.


Happy Valentine’s to everyone,

Deloris,
california mom

Sara Bareilles - Yellow

I don't post music on here very often, just because there are so many different music genres people like, but I am can't not (I know...double negative....my bad) post this.  So simple and just so magical.  This is on repeat for me today. 

Clayton Restaurant Week(end)

This weekend was Clayton (small suburb in St Louis) Restaurant week, and we took full advantage of the 3-course pre fixe meals for $25 by going out Friday night as well as Saturday night too :-).  These restaurants are ones that we would typically not frequent as their menus are quite pricey, but restaurant week is the perfect excuse!! 
Friday night, Terry drove over to the city after work and we had dinner at Ruths Chris Steakhouse.  One word:  Breathtaking.  We got different appetizers, and go figure we ended up liking the other persons more than our own (I ordered the Louisiana Seafood Gumbo....it was a little too acidic for me, and he ordered the Steakhouse Salad.....he mis-read the choice and thought it was going to come out with steak on it.. HA) so we traded.  Ahhh the love.  For dinner, we both ordered the 6 oz. filet, he got garlic mashed potatoes while I got creamed spinach for a side dish...YUM!. Then dessert (we were stuffed at this point) was raspberry sorbet and a Chocolate cup filled with fresh berries and cream.  We had a bottle of Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon to accompany the meal, and even though we took half the bottle home with us, it was the perfect wine for a perfect meal.  We proceeded to drive home and go right to sleep with a food coma.  So delicious!

(I still laugh at this)

Saturday, we met up with Irma and Steve, who also work at Wash U., just in different departments than me.  We started the evening at Irma's with wine, shrimp cocktail, and cheese and crackers.  She opened a bottle of 1999 Navarro Zinfandel that she has been holding on to for forever but was starting to get worried it was past it's life-span.  It hadn't gone bad, but it was definitely at the end of it's life.  One of the sommeliers in Napa showed us a trick that if you helf a poured glass up to the light at a 45 degree angle, at the top of the wine, as it ages it starts to turn brown (oxidization), and when we did that with this wine, there was a distinct brown ring.  It tasted fine, it was definitely not a blow-your-mind 12-year old wine (I mean that in the least-snootiest way possible), but it was drinkable.  Terry enjoyed it a lot. 

We then headed off to a restaurant called Remy's Kitchen and Wine Bar.  The cool thing about the restaurant was that we could bring our own wine, and then we just had to pay a small corking fee for them to open the bottle, so we brought a bottle from Dutch Henry, which was from our trip to Napa two years ago.  It was phenomenal.  Terry tasted Rootbeer, but I got mostly raspberry and soil (earthy body to the wine). 

For appetizers, I got flash fried seafood (calamari, scallops, and shrimp), and Terry ordered stuffed grapevine leaves with lamb and rice.  I liked mine, but with his again, the acidity was getting to me. For main courses, I ordered the Grilled Canadian Salmon with soy, honey glaze, and ginger scallion aioli while Terry ordered the Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Triple Bleu cheese butter and Cabernet reduction.  It's so silly to say, but the green scallions are really what tied my dish together and made it perfect. Terry's first steak came out over-cooked, but the second was mouth-watering for him.    

 The absolute best part of the meal though was dessert.....and that is a huge statement because dessert usually never wins out for favorite plate.  It was this little bit of heaven.  Chocolate Napolean.  Cocoa phyllo crisps layered with chocolate mousse and served with espresso creme Anglaise.  Sinful.  I'm already trying to figure out when we can get back there for this little bit of heaven.

Fun times!

99% of you won't get this...but this is my life right now

The fact that so much of this song is my work life right now is sad to realize.  A little nerdy scientist Friday humor.