Murray: Red Robin

Teaching at two different colleges, as I have been doing this past semester, leads to a bit of incongruity as far as calendars are concerned, in large part because no two college calendars are exactly the same when it comes to semester start and end dates. One college's classes ended two weeks ago; the ended this past week. (Then there are the associated Reading Days, and Finals Weeks, after which grades get submitted, so the "end of the semester" can actually be a week or so after the last class has actually taken place.)


In any case, to celebrate the end of the school year, and to celebrate my first year of "real teaching" work in Utah that wasn't subbing (I've been living in Utah just under two years, and all last year my job consisted of subbing in the local school district), my husband and I splurged and went to Red Robin. (Money being tight, as it is for so many folks right now, and with our first wedding anniversary only about two weeks away, we didn't want to spring for something very expensive, yet I felt that something a wee bit more celebratory than In-and-Out was called for - not that we dislike In-and-Out by any means.)

We started with the Towering Onion Rings (which my husband mostly devoured by himself):

I then moved on to the French Onion soup:

I also had Patty Melt (topped with sautéed onions, Thousand Island dressing, and American cheese), which I have to admit I only ate half of, since I was stuffed by this point: 

Salt Lake City: Cedars of Lebanon

Because of the Easter holiday, my parents are visiting my husband and I this week. It's beautiful here this time of year: The weather is becoming warm and springy, and the flowers and trees are blooming. My husband is being confirmed at our parish at the Easter Vigil Mass, so my parents thought they'd take the trip out to visit us. They've never been to Utah before, and it's also the first time they've visited us since we've gotten married last May. We took advantage of their visiting us to show them to Temple Square and to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, whose rehearsals are open to the public. Beforehand, though, we had dinner at Cedars of Lebanon, which I highly recommend. 


We started with baba ghanouj, a puree of toasted eggplant mixed with lemon juice, garlic, tahini, and olive oil):

We also tried itch (pronounced EEtch), an Armenian speciality made from bulgur wheat, tomatoes, and lemon juice:

I tried the lamb tagine:

And for dessert, chocolate cake:

St. Louis: Tigín Irish Pub

Well, tonight was going to be BBQ night. I had planned and plotted and developed a hankering like you couldn't possibly believe. Only I tired and worn out and didn't really want to have to deal with busses or walking or finding the location that I had read was "easy to miss."

Instead, on my way home from going up the Arch, and then going to Mass at the oldest Catholic church west of the Mississippi, I stopped by Tigín Irish Pub, and I have to say that I'm really glad I did. Never-you-mind that I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and I could have eaten a horse; their grub was good.

I started with a spinach salad, which came with bacon crumbles, marinated tomato, cheddar cheese, a hard boiled egg, and blue cheese dressing:

The main course was a pulled lamb sandwich, topped with melted cheese, on a toasted baguette, and served with au jus for dippin':

Now this, my friends, is brown bread ice cream. That may sound terrible to you, but I remember the brown bread my (pardon the cliche) off-the-boat Irish grandmother used to make, and I had to try this blend of vanilla ice cream and caramelized brown bread with whipped cream and caramel sauce. Oh. Em. Gee.

St. Louis: JF Sanfilippos

After the rather late lunch I had today, I wanted something light for dinner tonight. In my research, I discovered Ranoush, a Syrian restaurant in the Loop; unfortunately, it required my taking the light rail, which was not a problem. The problem occurred when I reached my stop: The heavens opened and it proceeded to rain heavily until I gave up, turned around, and headed back to my hotel. Next door to my hotel, fortunately, was an Italian restaurant, which wasn't quite what I was in the mood for, but one does have to eat.


I started out with a tomato salad (and I splurged by getting the anchovies):

I also had the Linguini alla Creme di Mare (fresh scallops, shrimp, clams, and mushrooms in a cream sauce):

St. Louis: The Over/Under Bar and Grill

One of the kinda sad things about going to a convention alone is that one tends to eat most or all of one's meals alone. I don't mind this too much, generally speaking, as something that doesn't happen regularly. There are people I know in attendance, but they all know quite a few other folks and I've been pushed by the wayside. I'm not minding too terribly much, though, while it means I can choose where to go for my meals - and when - but sometimes one will meet another conference goer who's by herself.

Like I did during lunch earlier today. Yesterday I'd remembered passing by the Over/Under Bar and Grill, so I made a mental note and wandered in for lunch, where I was soon seated at the bar. Almost immediately I got chatted up by another woman who was in town for the same conference. We didn't exchange contact information at the end of lunch, but it was nice to have someone to chat with for a little while.

And in the meantime, I enjoyed a rather nice lunch of battered Icelandic cod served with waffle fries and house-made tartar sauce:

St. Louis: Mango

I'm in St. Louis for a teachers' convention, and because I'm a giant food-loving dork, I research the hell out of possible places to eat. (Hey, a girl's still gotta eat, even if she leaves her husband 1,500 miles away.) 

I'd heard that St. Louis, she has the barbeque, so I went looking for potential BBQ places. Sadly, there is only one within easy access to my hotel, and while I'd planned to go there this afternoon, but I couldn't quite muster the energy to go exploring after a day of travel and getting marginally lost between conference sites. My BBQ excursion might have to wait until Saturday. I failed at my secondary attempt at finding dinner a local Irish pub, when I couldn't get anyone to seat me. 

Fortunately, around the corner was Mango, a restaurant that features Peruvian cuisine. I started with a cup of Aguadito de Pollo (chicken soup with vegetables, Peruvian spices, and citrus herb broth):

I moved on to Aji de Gallina (shredded chicken in creamy aji amaraillo, parmesan cheese, and walnut sauce, served over baby Yukon gold potatoes):

Furthermore, they were running a FourSquare special whereby upon every checkin, one gets a free sangria, so I took advantage:

St. Joseph the Worker: Corned Beef & Cabbage

Normally, in our parish, we have three Masses on the weekend, including a 5:30 p.m. Mass on Saturday - the Mass my husband and I normally attend. Although yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, which you were aware of if you weren't living under a rock, for no reason we could determine, a special St. Patrick's Day Mass was held late this afternoon, followed by a corned beef and cabbage dinner. We had some guests from Ireland - teenagers from Co. Tipperary (whence our priest hails), visiting for the week; they provided music during both Mass and after dinner.

 And of course, there was corned beef and cabbage.

We even got an Angry Birds cupcake for dessert.