Deli hopping, apple picking, and everything in between

The following image is from one of lectures in my anatomy class, taught by Professor Conroy-Philips :


Why put it up here?  Hmm, I just thought it was really interesting to finally know what the "V-line" muscle is called!  It's not actually a muscle, but a ligament.  How cool is that?  Oh yeah, and of course this guy's abdominal area is nicely toned too, but that's not the point, har har har~  ;)

(image from Google!)

Annnnd, he's so pretty!!  I really like this guy's hair... although it's a little too long on the back.  I think my OMGAH HAIR hair-style is changing a bit, veering towards the current popular, side bang sweep style from Asia @_@  Durr..  YAY!

~*~

Anyhow, enough with the girl squealing~  ;)  And on with the noshing!  ... at the Posh Nosh deli in Clayton :D  When we walked in, (I think it was) the owner was leaning against the counter and quickly greeted us.  The menu is extensive!  So big!  @_@  I was having menu anxiety, and I even looked the menu up before going.  Thank goodness, otherwise I would have probably passed out XD



The deli's decorations give it a "homey" mom-and-pop feel.  One wall is covered with pictures, while the others are disappearing under a sprawl of messages written in by patrons over the years.  The owner commented on the fact that the deli has been here forever, much longer than how long we've been alive!  :P 

Daniel and I both ordered a sandwich and soup, and when we sat down, the owner gave us a sample of their Mediterranean coleslaw.  It was light and not drowning in mayo, very nice :3  But when I want vegetables, I want my vegetables!  Leafy, colorful, and not cold!~

Sample from the nice owner ^^

Daniel got the Roast Beef au jus (French Dip), and I ordered the Bison Reuben.  Bison meat!  I wanted to try it, since I've never tried it before, but the owner also said that many customers choose it because it's leaner than beef and is a healthier option.  :O

We split our sandwiches, as usual with our sandwich custom, and fell upon our platters to eat.  The bison meat is quite hard to bite off and is chewier, but I still liked it :D  And the french dip was *super* flavorful!!  Omgosh, very yummy.  The place butters their bread too, so everything is laced with the heavenly taste of fat, hahaha~  There was a lot of meat in each sandwich, and Daniel said the amount of sauerkraut was overkill.  But he's biased-- doesn't like sour things.  Except kimchi, for some reason, haha! 

Daniel's lobster bisque was a bit too interesting for me; it was a bit sweet and had a fresh strange aftertaste.  He liked it a lot~  My matzo ball soup was homemade, and the little cup of soup held a hugemongous matzo ball!  Matzo balls are little (or huge!) dumplings made from matzah meal and eggs.  They're cooked by boiling and swell up, so no wonder they look bulbous and awkward!  Albeit they're quite delish~  I think sampling one is good, but I wouldn't be able to polish off more than a few in one sitting @_@

Also, one of the workers dropped off a big pail of homemade pickle rounds at our table.  They weren't as sour as usual pickles :)  


Eating at Posh Nosh definitely filled out tummies.  I was in a food coma for the rest of the day, very groggy and dead.  I think the amount of butter on the bread was a bit much for me, since lunch seemed very heavy.  But the flavor was awesome, so I think coming here at least once would be worth it :)  Also, the shop is very popular, and the seating area filled up while we ate~


Posh Nosh
8115 Maryland Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63105

I have been eating stirfry at the Village on campus for the past month or so.  After I swim or run, I'd stop by on for some recovery food before heading towards the metro.  And every time I said I wanted "everything" for the vegetables and "everything" for the spices, the cook always seemed surprised.  Whyyy?  Do I look like I don't eat a lot?  Haha~

Speaking of which, I find it really amusing when I offer people to some of my food and they say they'll try it only if I don't finish.  Durr...  Firstly, that means they *do* want to try it, but they're just trying to be polite (stop being a sissy and just say YES, oh my gawd).  But that just confuzzles me and makes me wonder while I eat, should I eat less than what I am able to eat so I can give them food?  It gives me pressure T_T  Then I conclude that this person just doesn't know me well at all.

Stirfry with everything and everything with noodles and Teriyaki BBQ sauce

You know what else is delicious?  Asian food.  Haha~  Anna, Sean, Josh, Daniel, and I went to CZ's together for a group dinner.  Group dinners seem to be rare cases now :(  Everyone is so busy nowadays~  It was nice seeing everyone though ^^  Annnnd I really like CZ's eggplant and tofu dishes!


Josh working his way through dinner :P

The next day was another round of Chinese food!  This time it was for TSO's 10/10 dinner event.  Lots of people showed up, and it was fun meeting new people.  :)

XY's looking good!~  Making important calls :3

Our three new execs!   ^_^

It took place at Mandarin House

Here's Jessica!

Debra and Ryan (who came back to the US for a week or so!!) :D

Teddy and his friends~  Hehe, they all have happy smiles... except that smirk of Teddy's XD

Hehe, it's a junior (crap, forgot name again, sorry! =_=), sophomore (Justin), and senior (David) :D

Alex and Soomin :3

Chenghung and his friends~

Simon and ahhh.. I forgot her name T_T

Irene and Tiffany!  They kind of look alike :O

Looking studly you two :P

And now, for the food.

Duck, duck, goose, uhh duck!

Three cup chicken (sooo juicy and flavorful!)

Beef with onions

Pork belly with buns (super moist and flavorful)

Green beans (one of my favorites of the evening)

Stirfried rice noodles

And Josh is dissecting a cadaver!

Haha, steamed fish (yum :D)

I wasn't really too concentrated on the food (darn...) because  I was talking to a friend at our table.  We talked the ENTIRE time, it was crazy!  I don't even know how much food I ate, just kept chewing, swallowing, talking, repeating XD  So I can only say that everything was pretty good, except the noodles, which I am biased against (no stick rice noodles for me!)~

~*~

I walk to voice lesson classes off campus, and when the weather is nice, it's quite an enjoyable and peaceful twenty five minute walk from the art school.  ^^  I get to meet a few new friends along the way too:

Aroo?

Sorry, I have to leave you :(

Pretty leaves!

Whooooooa...  You can't find things like this in Houston!

Christmas colors on the leaves :P

~*~

It was another lunch outing, and this time it was to Protzel's Delicatessen (also in Clayton!).  The deli is located right next to Chill frozen yogurt (very important landmark, ya'll!), and when we stepped in, it felt like we entered a time period a few decades back.  Really interesting-- there are all sorts of Jewish and a few Asian items for sale (Pocky!), a bunch of sodas and drinks to choose from, and salami cylinders hanging around.  

I think the workers may be part of the same family (no idea), but the younger ones were definitely nicer.  There was one lady who wasn't mean, but her take-no-nonsense attitude definitely stood out :P

There were quite a lot of people stopping by to grab lunch to go.  Quite a few were business men!  




Haven't seen these in forever!

Ahh, chocolate covered cupcakes.  I heard these were amazing!

Lox and Cream Cheese bagel

Reuben and a beef knish

Daniel ordered the lox, which doesn't look like lunch food for me-- too simple: I feel like it would just taste like cream cheese on a bagel!  I ordered the reuben (see a pattern?  haha~) and a knish, just because I didn't know what it was.  They're Eastern European or Jewish snacks, meat or vegetarian fillings wrapped in dough and baked, grilled or fried.  I think these were fried!  But instead of being crispy, the dough was delightfully soft.  The meat mixture surprised me.  It tasted familiar... like something I would have in dimsum or something!  It was yum yum :D  We split the knish in halves, and Daniel took a bite, said it was good, and then didn't touch the rest of it.  Haha!  So maybe I just have weird taste ;)

Jewish rye bread-- tastier, but I think marble rye is prettier!

Meat mix of the knish

I thought lunch was delicious and was quite satisfied.  The knish put me over the top, so I was groggily fighting to stay awake in class afterwards, haha ^^''  Protzel's definitely has a lot to offer, from soups to sandwiches, bakery treats to old-fashioned candy.  Check it out if you're near Chill! :)


Protzel's Delicatessen
7608 Wydown Boulevard
St. Louis, MO 63105

~*~

In the car, vroom vroom!

In a wagon, vroom vroom?

Where are we?!!

Haha, okay I'll let you free of the suspense and all that ;)  I wanted to go see what an apple orchard looked like, so we went to one of the Eckert's family farms in Illinois.  It's wayyy past summer and apple picking season, but when in Texas will I be able to see apple trees?!~  Daniel's been apple picking before, so he lodged himself into the driver's seat with a "ho-hum" when I forcefully dragged him there to take me last Friday.  :D  hehehe~

Which ended up being quite an adventure!  Daniel's phone died, and with me not having a smartphone, we I was freaking out that we'd be lost.  We missed a turn due to construction, and it took an extra half hour to get back!  Since when were highways so not convenient?  Too used to Houston highways and the easy U-turns at each exit I guess ;)

The nice farmer man drove a tractor to the orchard nearby, and the weather was slightly breezy and enough to give me a chill.  I was actually quite giddy on a tractor (inner cowgirl / Texan-ness??) and watching the trees go by.  I think having a change of scenery is really nice once in a while ^^  When we stopped at the orchards, the sight was kind of sad:


It was like walking into an apple genocide D:  All the apples had fallen from the branches and slowly rotted away on the ground.  Ooh, not my happy idea of beautiful bright apples that I see at the groceries~  But I guess that's what happens as part of nature; each year apples will come from blossoms, and each year many apples won't make it to the market and instead meet their demise while nestled close to the earth.  Ahh, apples!  Stay strong and brave!!  


Nice farmer man on a tractor :3

The farmer man left us in the orchards to walk around while he went to get more gas for the tractor.  Excellennnnnnt, less chance he'll see me just taking pictures of everything!  ;)  


Really pretty, right?  The air was crisp and cool, and a big breath of it just made me relaxed and happy :)  Daniel became my makeshift storage, holding my camera case, lenses, and purse.  Haha!  ^^''  I wonder what this place looks like during the summer, although I won't have the chance to see it then...

I wonder if they found any apples?

We hopped on the tractor to go back, and the mom and daughter with us said they found five apples (quite a feat, if I do say so myself!).  The farmer man said most of the apples that have been picked were placed in the store area.  Store area, you ask?  Yes!  There's a grocery store full of FOOOOOD-- fruit, produce, and baked goods from the farm.  Oh my gosh, super excited to go inside and look around :3

*Squeeeal!*  Look, so kyuuuuuute!~ 

I like how two apples took up half of that tiny cart.  If I used that cart to go shopping, I wouldn't be able to fit in half of my weekly supply of apples...  To give you a feel of how much that would be, my apples usually cost anywhere from $12 to $20 a week ^^b  It's my main cost of groceries, haha!

Daniel and I stood at the bakery case and continued to drool for about ten minutes before deciding what to buy.  The muffins were sooo tempting and delish-looking!  They had peach muffins (which I have never seen before) as well as sugar-free varieties for those non-sugar lovers (I don't understand that :P).


We finally bought two muffins:  Chocolate Chocolate muffin (extra chocolatey!) and a Banana Nut.  We joked that we went to an apple orchard and came back with muffins, or interestingly-flavored apples, however you look at it :P

The muffins were both amazingly yummy the next morning!  The chocolate chocolate was encased with this sugar glaze, so the inside was crazy moist and super chocolate-y!!  And the banana nut tasted like banana bread, and although it wasn't as moist as the chocolate muffin, it still made my morning awesome :3

After our little adventure across the border, we headed back to Missouri for dinner.  And the week's dinner was set at Eleven Eleven Mississippi in downtown!~

When we walked in, we both went, "Whoa."  The atmosphere is definitely classy, and the room was graced with dim lighting and red accents.  The host led us to our table, and Craig (our waiter) was extremely nice and friendly.  Once he walked away to let us look at the menu, Daniel and I both made a look at one another and agreed that we felt out of place-- the dining patrons were all older and more elegant, and we were obviously two of the most immature kids around campus XD

Daniel started dinner off with the butternut squash soup, which came in a large plate (plate... soup? haha).  I sampled a sip and really enjoyed it.  The soup was rich and warm, just right after running around in the cold outside, and it tasted a bit sweet, but more savory.  Yummy!~  I asked Craig what the swirl decorating the soup was made of, and he said it was a molasses mixture :D



11-11 Mississippi bread

Feast with your eyes ;)

The bread isn't the usual crusty loaf sliced into pieces (although those are quite yummy too!).  Instead, this one had a soft, somewhat sticky and sweet crust, and the interior.  Very unique~

Our main courses came relatively quickly... oooh yeah!  I forgot to mention that the kitchen is an open kitchen on the second floor!  Yes, there is a second floor, but you can see the second floor from the entrance, so it's a very spacious restaurant.  And I wanted to take pictures of the open kitchen, but that would distract the chefs ._.''

For the guy, beef, of course.

Grilled beef tenderloin medallions

The pieces of beef rested on garlic mashed potatoes (called "red bliss mashed potatoes," which earned an "Oooooooh" from both of us) and a bit of Swiss chard.  Daniel ordered the dish to be cooked "medium," and there was still a bit of pink to the meat.  It was flavorful, and I super liked the mashed potatoes!

Mine!  Can you guess what it is?

Probably not.  Why so?  I ordered something I've never tried before-- rabbit.  Before you try hunting me down and ranting about how I killed a cute animal, I will defend myself by saying that I also think cows and piggies are cute too D:  AND FISH.  THEY ARE SO CUTE.  Haha, just kidding about that last one, but yes, I do eat meat.  ^_^''


Marsala braised rabbit hindquarter with gnocchi

Wow!  I am *so* glad I ordered the rabbit on gnocchi!  Both of us tried the rabbit, and Daniel said it "tasted like chicken."  I gave him an ominous look, and then he decided it tasted more like turkey XD  Haha!  One bite gave me the image of a strange thing in my head, so I took another bite, but I still thought of the same thing.  The verdict?  Rabbit tastes like a mix between a turkey and tuna fish.  ._.  Hahahaha!  Yes, I said tuna fish.  The texture is quite similar to chicken, but I really do think the meat tasted like tuna fish and turkey ^_^ I liked it!

And the gnocchi.... ahh, don't get me started!  Gnocchi is also something I've never tried before, and this gnocchi had a cheese filling inside.  My first bite of gnocchi, and the thing just melted in my mouth @o@  So amazing!~  Is all gnocchi like this?  What have I been missing my whole life / why do I hate on bite-sized pastas?  (I will always choose fettuccine or linguine over penne and bowtie pastas :P)  The butternut squash pieces gave a lot of flavor too, very similar to the soup, and the cream brought everything together to make each bite heavenly bliss.  In a word, dinner made me very, very happy.  Trying new foods AND finding out that they are suuuuuper delish!

I enjoyed my dish more, and Daniel liked his better-- that means we were really good at choosing from the menu this time!  I usually have the better-tasting dish, mwahaha >:3  But.. that's probably because I research the menu before we go =_=''  I ate one of the leg pieces and got the other piece in a box to take home.

The restaurant had a great atmosphere, the waiter and host were friendly and warm, and the food was superb.  There wasn't a single thing I didn't like about Eleven Eleven, not even the fact that we were the only "younglings" there.  I thought the host could have been our age, but Daniel insisted he was around 25 years or so!  Anyways, Eleven Eleven Mississippi is well worth the drive from school, so check it out ya'll!  :)


Eleven Eleven Mississippi
1111 Mississippi Ave
Saint LouisMO 63104


Are you curious what happened with that leftover rabbit?  I ate it with Asian food the next night for dinner :P Korean noodles and stirfried (and drowned in soysauce, haha~) veggies.  Om nom nom!~  Also, although I've never seen rabbit served at Asian restaurants, I've seen frozen rabbits in the Asian grocery store before...  Any one know why it's hard to find at restaurants? :O


~*~

Are you tired of reading about food?  Okay, I'll give you a break and take you to a hotel, kay?  :)  I went to an interview the past weekend, and I ended up staying at a hotel.  I arrived at the hotel before noon, and when I walked into my room, I was floored!  Or maybe bed-ed, since my first instinct was to go jump on the bed and hop around on it.


The bed was a king-sized bed!  O_O  I have never slept on a king sized bed, and my first question was, "Which direction should I sleep- vertically or horizontally?!"  Haha XD  

There was a kitchen area with a full-sized refrigerator with a freezer, a sink, a cabinet stocked with plates, bowls, cups, pots, pans, and even collanders!  The drawers with silverware, measuring spoons, and pretty much everything @_@  There was a stove too.  Yes... there was a glass stovetop in my hotel room...  It was like I was going to stay for a week or so!  But in reality, it was only a night, darn.  :P

Booyah.  I feel like an important business man with all my awesome gadgets XD

And they provided me with 6 pillows... and I don't even use pillows when I sleep, haha!

To show you the size of king sized bed ;)

Also, a couch for my imaginary friends :D

I was adamant at utilizing everything in the room (haha~), so when I was sleepy, I headed towards the couch with an extra blanket from the closet and took a mini-nap after I called my parents.  And the sofa was able to convert into a sofa bed, but I didn't think I would need a sofa bed :P

My tummy growled, and it was time for lunch.  I walked to the little grocery area in the lobby and bought an M&M ice cream sandwich for lunch and a frozen meal for dinner (which I placed in the freezer in the room). Also, there are NO water fountains in the hotel D:  I ended up buying eight water bottles total during my stay, haha!


Oh yeah, here's the closet :)

And now here is my healthy lunch :D

Dude, I haven't had one of these in AGES..  @___@  They are soo good-- cookies and ice cream in each bite!  The cookie doesn't "melt" as much as the classic bar-shaped chocolate ice cream sandwiches, but they do melt a bit, so I ate it kind of quickly.

And I need something salty too!  So pretzels from the flight over sufficed:

Don't you like looking at my mundane pictures?! :D:D:D

After lunch, I crawled into bed and took a nap *heart*.  Ooooh naps, how I miss thee~  After waking up at 3pm, I groggily started studying for my tests the coming week.  


When my head felt like flying away from my body, it was dinner time!  Dinner was a Lean Cuisine and a Chef Boyardee mini-ravioli cup XD  I took a shower and probably annoyed the neighbors by practicing my songs for my voice lessons for more than half an hour ^^''  Then once my hair dried, it was bedtime... at 10:30pm!  YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!  Too bad bedtime every night can't be that early :P


Good night!~  ^__^


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