Merry Christmas!

We enjoyed a long holiday weekend in Ames, celebrating Christmas and two more very special birthdays with the Pollmann family! Gene turned 75 on the 23rd and Lukas turned 2 on the 24th! The youngest birthday boy wasn't feeling well on his birthday but made a fast recovery and was able to join in all of the festivities on Christmas day!

Any early visit by SC

No, not Santa Claus--Sean Curtis! Heidi's cousin Sean stopped in Kansas City to break up his drive from Arkansas to Minnesota for Christmas. It had been a busy week so we all enjoyed a relaxing dinner of famous Kansas City barbeque at Oklahoma Joe's. Joe's is our favorite--they have the best fries around, and everything else is excellent, too.

Elves at Work

I spent the better part of the past two weekends doing my holiday baking. I made over 47 dozen cookies including iced sugar cookies, gingerbread snowflakes, gumdrop jewels, spritz cookies and chocolate peppermint cookies. I also made dog cookies for Vokey and her friends. Between batches I also managed to make chex mix while Mike was in charge of toffee!

We share the cookies with neighbors, friends and family. Here are the cookies laid out ready for packaging and delivery!

Sloppy Joe

I was responsible for ordering lunch for an office event today. A friend recently started Sloppy J's--a "neat" sloppy joe lunch spot so I thought we'd try it out! Tim offers a "neat" sloppy joe, a side of either potatoe salad, baked beans or chips, a pickle spear and brownie--for a very resonable $5!

For those of you in KC, keep him in mind for your next event!

Guilty Pleasure

By now you are probably catching onto the fact that Foodies in KC is not just an update on our lives, but also on food. As most of you know, Mike and I love to cook but once in awhile we take a break and enjoy what others are cooking. We don't eat out often, and when we do, we try to visit local establishments and enjoy "slow food". Once in awhile, though, we enjoy a guilty pleasure! I was excited to see that Pei Wei had arrived in Kansas City! Pei Wei is PF Chang's 'casual bistro' concept which started in Phoenix. Ours is located in Overland Park, so it isn't exactly close to home but I was out that way last night and picked up some delicious honey seared shrimp to go!

It was as good as I remember, but the book Mike and I are both currently reading, 'The Omnivore's Dilemma', has me wondering if it was really the best choice! The book attempts to answer the question of "what's for dinner" and is an interesting (and somewhat disturbing) study of the food chain.

Pizza 51

We took our friend Doug out to dinner at Pizza 51 for his birthday. Pizza 51, one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants is owned by our neighbors Jason and Shannon Pryor.

Half way through our canadian bacon, pineapple and mushroom pie, we noticed the flashing lights of the fire alarm at the UMKC residence hall across the street. All told, 4 fire trucks (including 2 ladder trucks), the fire chief, another KCFD van, and a police car came. It didn't appear to be a fire so we're wondering if there was a gas leak or something similar.

Friday Food Critic

Yesterday some co-workers and I tried Cheeseheads, a fairly new grilled cheese restaurant in downtown KC. I tried the classic grilled cheese (served on texas toast) with a side of the tomato basil soup. Others tried the KC BBQ Beef Grilled Cheese, Grilled Cheese Club with Turkey, the Chicago Dog Grilled Cheese (David wasn't sure about the neon green relish) and the beanless beef and beer chili. It was good but I haven't added it to my list of favorites (too much cheese on the sandwiches), although the soup was very good. Next we'll try 'You Say Tomato'.

Special Delivery!

Vokey was excited to receive her first Christmas card of the season! Yesterday she received an edible Christmas card (natural rawhide and non toxic ink!) from her 'Tennessee Grandparents'! It was hard for her to pick up the flat card when we put it on the floor, but once she got ahold of it, she wasn't letting go until it was all gone!! To send an edible card of your own, click here.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

After a few days of snow, it's beginning to feel like Christmas time in Kansas City! Saturday we got to visit with the man in red at a holiday open house hosted by our friends Dustin and Angela Schafer. Angela's dad, Tony (aka 'The Italian Santa') was on hand to collect letters which he promised to deliver to the north pole on his way home to Salina!

First Friday

Seeing as this is 'Foodies in KC', and our friends and family seem to love to hear what we're eating, we thought it was time for an update.

Friday night we went to the Kansas City Artists Coalition for the opening reception of 30+, an exhibit which includes work by our friend, Curtis Simmons. Afterwards, we enjoyed dinner at 1924 Main. They feature a fixed prie menu. Mike had the steak tartar with salsa verte, grilled swordfish and a trio of ice creams while I enjoyed granny smith apple ravioli, strip steak with gorgonzola potatoes and the chocolate pecan tart. On our way home, we visited some galleries open for First Friday.