New Thing #75 - Food Truck Friday

Food trucks have been gaining more and more momentum over the past few years, even garnering their own show on Food Network. While they've been a staple on the east and west coasts, they're relatively new to the St. Louis area, or maybe to any area in St. Louis that I go. Last year, Sauce Magazine, a local restaurant guide/magazine started Food Truck Fridays in Tower Grove Park. On the second Friday of every month, a dozen or so of the area's finest food trucks would line up in the southwest corner to sell their wares for a mass of hungry people. There was not one single time that I was able to go last year. I was always either out of town or had other plans.

I was bound and determined to go this year, and fortunately, I was free for the first one. My friend Brenda was also miraculously free, and since I have Friday afternoons off, and she has every other Friday off, we could get there early for a parking spot and try to beat the crazy rush.

Even though it didn't start until 5:00, we headed to the park around 4:30 to get a parking spot and just enjoy the park on a gorgeous Friday night. The weather was perfect, and the smells coming from the trucks were amazing. If you overlooked the diesel smell, that is.

18 trucks lined the street, selling everything from Mexican hot dogs to sushi, sausages, Italian delicacies and cupcakes. Some were already serving, but others were still firing up their grills. We took the time to look at the menus on each truck to determine which truck we'd be eating from.

Le Food Truck - From L'Ecole Culinaire (a local culinary school) featuring gourmet foods like duck confit quesadillas.

Holy Crepe! - Sweet and savory crepes.

Hot Aztec - Mexican food including bacon wrapped hot dogs. Yum! (Although said hot dogs are also covered in mayo, mustard, and ketchup. Blech!)

Summer Truck - lots of organic food and vegetarian dishes. They did have a pork slider that sounded intriguing though.

Sarah's Cake Shop - 'nuff said

Guerrilla Street Food - Grilled food with Asian influences, including Filipino beef kabobs.

Banh Mi - Asian of some sort.

Go Gyro Go - Greek gyros

Lulu's Eatery - Local and organic, farm fresh foods

Schlafly Beer Truck!

Shell's Coastal Cuisine - Self-proclaimed "Floribbean" food including fish, tacos and cubans.

2 Girls 4 Wheels - Pulled pork, grilled cheese, chili and other American favorites.

Chop Shop - Sushi (no thank you)

The Sweet Divine - Cupcakes and Whoopie Pies

Seoul Taco - Asian inspired tacos

Zia's - St. Louis/Italian favorites!

Falafelwich Wagon - The only one not making fresh food, but they still had a long line.

The Sausage Syndicate - German sausages AND snazzy dressers

Whew, we finally made it to the end, and now we had to decide what we were actually going to eat. I immediately knew I wanted a cupcake or dessert of some kind, but I figured I should probably get an entree to start off with. I was torn between Guerrilla Street Food and Hot Aztec. The thought of a hot dog wrapped in bacon and covered in cheese sounded heavenly, but I didn't want to be that annoying person that asks for half of the toppings be left off.

Brenda knew what she wanted, so she headed over to Seoul Taco to get a bulgogi steak and a spicy pork taco. 

I hopped in line at Guerrilla Street Food for their Chicken Adobo - tender chicken braised in soy sauce, garlic, vinegar, peppercorns and bay leaves, served over rice.

Best. Choice. Ever.

Chicken Adobo and a Schlafly beer. Perfect Friday night.

Brenda's tacos.

I was incredibly impressed with my chicken dish, and I think I scraped the paper bowl clean. Brenda was equally impressed with her tacos, but thought they weren't quite enough food for the money. She opted to try the sweet potato fries from Lulu's, but since they were essentially just soggy strings of sweet potatoes, she was unimpressed. Bummer. Hopefully dessert would be better.

Stay away from these. 

 For dessert, the first stop was the Sweet Divine. Look at their adorable menu!

I wasn't sold on any of the cupcakes (one was made with dill pickles...SICK!), so I got the banana whoopie pie - two banana cookies filled with cream. 

The cookies tasted EXACTLY like my grandma's banana cookies that I make all the time. I mean, exactly. Should I see if they stole the recipe?! ;-) I wasn't a fan of the icing/cream in between though. Too sweet.

Of course, that didn't stop me from eating the whole damn thing. No judgement!

Next stop, Sarah's Cake Shop. I got a zucchini cupcake for later, and Brenda bought a salted caramel cupcake with a Twix brownie for later.

Zucchini cupcake.

Brenda's spoils.

It was a fantastic night for eating and people watching in the park. The weather was great, the food was equally delicious, and we were able to get our food before the lines were too long. If you live in St. Louis, I highly recommend this outing. Just get there early or you'll be in line for awhile.

New Thing #74 - Reflexology aka A Good 'Ol Foot Rub

Today I went to my first reflexology session courtesy of Groupon (or a fancy word for a foot rub). What's better than a glorified foot rub, you ask? Rainbows and unicorns, maybe, but that's about it.

I enjoy a good massage just like everyone else, but my feet are usually at the end of a full-body massage, so they don't really get as much attention as I'd like sometimes. Years of wearing heels, along with weekly torture in my salsa shoes, have left me with occasional foot cramps and the beginnings of plantar fasciitis. Joy.

So imagine my delight when a Groupon for a 60-minute reflexology session came up. A whole hour devoted to my tuckered out tootsies. I was so flipping excited. From the website: "Reflexology, a gentle, effective therapy relieves tension and clears blockages by stimulating the 7,200 sensory receptors in the nerve endings of the feet. Properly administered, it can provide relief for many health problems in a natural, non-invasive way." I don't really have any health problems I'm trying to fix, but I still wanted to give it a try.

I called to make my appointment, and was immediately greeted by the answering machine. I left my message, and then promptly forgot about it. Days went by and I realized no one had ever called me back. I dialed the number again, and instead of an answering machine, I heard the familiar 3 notes indicating a number no longer in service. I panicked, then got kind of ticked off that I had purchased a Groupon for a company that went out of business. I tried again, and realized I must have dialed the wrong number the first time, because this time it went through just fine. But, I did get the answering machine again. However, the lack of a response, the failed dialing attempt and the fact that I was getting the machine again, did not put me in a good mood. So, I don't think my second message was all that jovial.

I did finally receive a response back, the lady apologized for taking so long, and now we're the best of friends. Not really, but at least she made amends. My appointment was scheduled for a Friday afternoon after I got off work, and it couldn't come soon enough.

Well, that day arrived today, and I plugged the address into my GPS and drove the short 7 minute drive to my destination. As I got closer, I realized I was driving through a suburban neighborhood. I thought that this is kind of a weird place for an office. Until I passed my destination, only to realize that it was indeed a house I was looking for.

Uh, I don't know about this. Nothing on the website said "Hey, I practice out of my house. Don't worry, it's cool. I'm not weird or anything." As I pulled up in front of the house, I double checked the website for the address (thank God for smart phones), when a lady poked her head out of the house and told me it was okay to park in the driveway. Um, ok. What am I getting myself into?

I walked in to said lady's living room, and she was dressed in athletic shorts and a tank top. She introduced herself as Elaine, and pointedly remarked about how it's nice to finally meet me. I could read the subtext a mile away, lady. You're not happy with my snarky message. I get it. But taking over a week to get back to someone is not good business.

I'm feeling a bit uneasy at this point, because I have no idea what to expect. She apologized for her attire, saying she's usually more professional, but, she had just finished yoga before I got there. Well, it's not like I called to say I was dropping by. I've had this appointment set for awhile now. She knew I was going to be there! Whatever, I could care less what she was wearing. As long as it wasn't a robe or a dress made out of human skin, I'm good.

She asked me why I was looking into reflexology, and I didn't have the courage to tell her that I was mainly doing it for the blog, and that I really don't know what reflexology is. I just wanted a foot massage. So, I fudged my answer a bit and said that I have bad feet from salsa dancing, and I was just looking for a little relief. Which, in all honesty, is true. Not the whole truth, but whatever. She asked if I have pain along the backside of my lower calf, and I said no, mainly on the balls of my feet. She shook her head and said that I have bad shoes. "Well, they're salsa shoes, they're not exactly supportive", I replied. She rolled her eyes and still said "They're not good shoes. Get new ones." or something along those lines.

I didn't feel like arguing, so I just let it go while she walked me into her massage room. It was just a small room to the side of her living room that could easily have been a sitting room or an office. In the middle was the massage table, but there were no doors, just curtains to block out the rest of the house. Fortunately, this was just a foot massage, so there would be no de-clothing, but still. Interesting set up.

I lay down on my back with a travel-type u-shaped pillow around my neck and head. She wrapped me in a blanket, washed my feet off and got to work. All the while, she was rattling on about feet and dancing and I don't know what else. If she expected me to fall asleep, like she said I probably would, chatting my ear off was not really going to help. An eye mask followed, along with some aromatherapy and interesting mood music. She told me the music was the result of a doctor playing different sounds for people, and recording the effects on their brain. I think the "music" I was listening to was the result of all of the soothing sounds he played. Ooookkaaaaay.

She could have just played some Enya, and I would have been fine. Worked like magic in college when I needed to take a nap.

She started with my left foot, lightly pressing different areas, and explaining that every part of the body is reflected in the feet. Hence, the name reflexology. She jabbed the end of my big toe and said "that's your pituitary gland."

Cool. Can you stop stabbing it now?

The next half hour was a mixture of torture and awesomeness. She explained that your feet can have blockages of energy and they need to be cleared. It seemed like my feet had similar "knots" like my shoulders do when I get massages there. She spent a lot of time on either side of my heel, below the ankle. That's where she inflicted the most pain. One side was connected to my hip flexor and the other my pelvis. She said that due to all of my dancing, it makes sense that that is where blockages would occur. Sounds logical enough.

Plus, my plantar muscle - where the arch of the foot is - was also incredibly tight. "That's because of high heels." I felt like she was scolding me. I imagine if I could see her, she would have been rolling her eyes by now. Fine, lady, I'll wear orthopedic granny shoes for the rest of my life. Will that make you happy?!

She didn't leave a centimeter of my foot untouched. The toes, in between the toes, the ball, the heel, the top, the arch, the ankle, the lower calf/achilles tendon, you name it, she worked her magic. I may have been skeptical when I walked in, but this lady knew her stuff. And she used enough pressure that she didn't tickle my feet. That would have been awful.

I tended to tense up a lot though. You would too, if someone was repeatedly jabbing your foot. I don't know how many times she told me take deep breaths to work though the soreness. She kept telling me to relax and stop flexing my butt muscles. I didn't even realize I was so wound up. Nor did I realize she could tell I was flexing my butt. Interesting. There was no way in hell I was going to be able to fall asleep if I had to constantly force myself to relax and breathe deeply. Not to mention that I was getting a bit warm wrapped up in that damn blanket.

Eventually she moved on to my right foot, and I have to say that my left foot felt good. I couldn't really tell an immediate difference while I was lying on the table, but it felt lighter somehow. It's difficult to explain, but it didn't hurt. There was no residual soreness from all of her massaging, and even though I didn't have "pain" walking in there, I felt like any underlying tension was gone. When she finished a half hour later with the right foot, I felt the same way. Like I had new feet or something.

She finished in exactly an hour, as promised, and I struggled to shake my lethargic limbs back into alertness. Her website had mentioned that a good reflexology massage can feel the same as getting a full-body massage. I didn't think that was possible, until I tried to sit up from the table, and I was light-headed and sleepy, like I always am after a full-body massage.

Once I was finally revived, I thanked her for her help, and asked what I could do to stop the plantar fasciitis from getting any worse. My mom has it, and I knew that it wouldn't be long before I was in the same kind of pain she's in. She left the room for a minute, and came back with a golf ball. "Here, this is the easiest, most effective way to help with that. Take the golf ball and roll it under your feet and between the toes on a regular basis."

"Oh, and it sounds weird, but you can also walk backwards from time to time."

I think I'll stick with the golf ball thing. My boss might look at me weird if I'm walking backwards around the office.

If you have problems with your feet, or really anything, try reflexology. It's more effective than I thought it would be! And don't be freaked out if it's in someone's house. You never know what you might miss out on.

New Thing #73 - Pop, Lock & Dam It

A few weeks ago, my niece Charlee was in town for her annual birthday weekend with her *favorite aunt (*may or may not be true). As this is her 4th year doing this, I was starting to run out of ideas that a pre-teen would enjoy. I was hoping for at least another year or two before I had to start recycling adventures. Well, in between go-karting, shopping, laser tag, mini golf and froyo, we had time to visit the Melvin Price Lock and Dam in Alton, IL.

This has been on my bucket list for awhile, but I honestly kept forgetting about it. In talking with a few friends and my sister, it was decided that this could be a fun, and educational, way to spend a steamy Saturday afternoon. I've gotten in the habit of not telling my nieces what I have planned, because the surprise is part of the fun. She tried to guess, but seeing as how she's probably never heard of a lock and dam, she really wasn't going to be guessing any time soon. Plus, she wrinkled her nose and rolled her eyes when I told her it would be educational. She didn't seem too thrilled at the prospect of "learning" something while she was on vacation.

I told her to blame her mother. :)

The dam gave tours 3 times a day, but I skipped the earliest one, thinking Charlee wouldn't enjoy getting up at the crack of dawn. We took our time leaving the house, and I set out for the 45 or so minute drive. I plugged the address into my phone, seeing as how the only place in Alton I've been is Fast Eddie's. (Look it up. It's a pretty fun place. But, not a place for a 12 year old!)

The closer we got, I had Charlee help me with the navigation, and I totally missed my turn. In my defense, it snuck up on us and was more like a little side road than an actual exit off the highway. I turned around and headed back and eventually found our way down this windy little road. Only to come out in a large parking lot overlooking the river.

"Is that the dam?" Charlee was pointing at a little raised overlook spot two stories off the ground.

Hmmm, this wasn't right. This was obviously not the dam, but I had followed the directions on my GPS. Well, clearly we weren't in the right spot, but I figured we could at least take advantage of the photo ops while we were here. I'd figure out the correct location after we were done.

View of the Clark Bridge across the Mississippi. The Lock & Dam is further south of that.

A view of Alton, IL.

Showing just how excited she is to be standing on this lookout point. (For as adventurous as this girl is, I was shockingly surprised at how scared of heights she was. And we weren't even that high off the ground.)

Charlee's inner thermometer kicked in and she started commenting on how bloody hot it was. (My word, not hers. Geez, she's only 12.) We took some photos up on the overlook and then we hopped back into the A/C to find better directions. I finally found them buried at the bottom of their web page. We weren't far, so it was just a quick drive down the river.

Once we figured out the correct address, it was much more obvious when we came up to the dam. Unfortunately, since I was driving, I didn't think to get a photo of the dam as we drove up to it.

Damn.

Heh heh. See what I did there.

We were quite a bit early for the next tour, but I knew there was an air conditioned museum inside that was free of charge. Charlee couldn't get in there fast enough. They had lots of interactive displays educating us about how a lock and dam works, how to conserve water, how to drive a barge, how and when this lock and dam were built, the effects of flooding (i.e. of the Flood of '93), the Mississippi River Valley influences from the past, and on and on. 

Since I was in aunt mode, I wasn't really thinking about taking photos for the blog. I was more interested in making sure Charlee was having a good time, and that she wasn't touching something she wasn't supposed to. The answers were yes and no, respectively. So, forgive me for the lack of visual content.

But hey, it's free, so check it out yourself! :)

Instruments inside the barge driving simulator.

Attempting to drive a simulated barge. I don't think she was prepared for how slow they go. (Since she had been go-karting less than 24 hours prior, I think she thought it might be more like that.)

More barge toys.

Eventually, she did get bored with the museum, but not after making sure she saw everything. Since it was lunch time, we headed down the road a bit to some picnic tables and enjoyed a nice lunch in the shade. We had a pretty good time watching the ducks swimming in the water, the geese honking their displeasure at any number of things and a few river otters frolicking in the shallow end. Despite the heat, it was relatively cool out of the sun's rays, so we were able to enjoy some quality aunt/niece time while Charlee chowed down on Sun Chips.

Where does that girl get her metabolism?!

We still had more time to kill, and since there was a spider who seemed to follow our every movements, we decided to leave and drive through downtown Alton until it was time for the tour. Unfortunately, that took all of 12 minutes. There's not really much to do in Alton.

We made it back in time for our tour, and the guide looked maybe 5 years older than Charlee and like this might only be his 3rd day on the job. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. There were only 5 of us on his tour. He may not really do this sort of thing all the time.

Since this was about 3-4 weeks ago, I honestly can't remember everything he said. Which bums me out because I'm usually so detail-oriented with my notes. But, I'll just let the pictures do the talking. 

The smaller lock.

The larger lock.

Charlee thought the water looked good enough to jump in to, until she saw this pic...

and this. At least most of that was tree debris, and not as much trash.

I do remember him saying that if a boat crashes into any part of the dam, it can sometimes take up to 9 months to repair the damage, causing a major back up of traffic along the river. Those circle things in the middle are supposed to help with accidental damage somehow.

When did this girl grow up? And when could she start wearing my tank tops?!

It was a bit hot up on the top area, but Charlee was a trooper and listened to what the guide had to say. I'm not 100% sure if she enjoyed it, but it was a nice deviation from some of the other things we've done. I enjoyed my day and the rest of my weekend with Charlee, and these weekends with my nieces are some of the best weekends I have.