Sticky Toffee Pudding Sunday

Part 3: Sunday

After our late night, KM and I slept in a bit. PM, on the other hand, was responsible and got up to do some of his work. Color me impressed. Once KM and I got up and got moving, we decided to head out for brunch. KM and PM had been looking for a good brunch spot, and I think they've now found it.

MoKaBe's does a great Sunday buffet brunch. I had been several times, but it had been many years, and I hadn't been since their renovation/expansion. With the added space, they have expanded the buffet to add more delicious goodies. KM and PM are vegans, and MoKaBe's menu and brunch buffet includes multiple vegan options, including vegan French toast on request! They both gave the French toast enthusiastic thumbs up. I had the stuffed French toast, filled with cream cheese and candied walnuts and topped with real maple syrup. After stuffing ourselves on juice, coffee (me), tofu scrambles, eggs (me), potatoes, fruit, biscuits and the aforementioned French toast, we headed home.

PM needed to do work, so getting out of the house so he could focus was necessary. KM and I took a long walk. After all that food in our yummy brunch, the long walk was just what we needed. KM and I walked to the Central West End for coffee and lots of talking and catching up. Again, this was the whole point of the weekend for me, to spend quality time with friends I don't get to see nearly often enough. KM and I usually see each other at library conferences, but we're both very busy so we don't have time for anything beyond a quick dinner or to hug each other in passing between meetings. Ultimately we talked until we were hoarse!

When we got back, CC and JH stopped by to share their wedding plans (wedding in September) and catch up on all the happenings in their lives and mine.

The plan for dinner on Sunday was Schlafly Bottleworks. My only request for the weekend was a meal there. Such good food, and they have this dessert called Sticky Toffee Pudding that is just to die for. Bottleworks makes a point to use as many local products as possible, and with a good selection of vegetarian and vegan options like vegetarian meatballs for their pasta and pizzas (wood fired and oh so tasty!). They also have things like yummy Bison burgers (yes, I've had them) and pulled pork sandwiches that are huge and delicious. I've never been disappointed by anything I've eaten there, which is quite the achievement for any restaurant. Schlafly actually has two restaurants, the original Tap Room which has lots of pub-style food, and Bottleworks which is more of a family style atmosphere and a completely different menu. But they serve the Sticky Toffee Pudding at both locations because they're known for it and it's that good. So to honor my request, a bunch of friends gathered at Bottleworks for food and dessert.

I started with a field greens salad (to balance the dessert, otherwise known as the "food negation theory" courtesy of the Amateur Gourmet). The house salad at Bottleworks has this fantastic vanilla vinaigrette and is topped with goat cheese, toasted almonds, and garlic croutons. I asked for a half salad, which is still HUGE, so LC and I split it (see? we share!). The vanilla vinaigrette is just fantastic...I must figure out how to make my own. I followed the delicious salad with the Bottleworks mac and cheese. This is not mac and cheese from a box, this is the real deal. Creamy and cheesy with Monterey Jack, Mozzarella and Provolone cheeses. I paired my delicious dinner with one of their beers, the Winter Extra Special Bitter. I have a weakness for ESBs and bitter beers in general, and Schlafly makes great beer. I'm never disappointed by their brews. I just wish they shipped beyond Missouri and Southern Illinois (they limit to something like a 6 hour radius by truck!).

I saved plenty of room for the dessert, the entire purpose of the trip to Bottleworks, the Sticky Toffee Pudding. This is a British style pudding, a dense cake that is very moist. And rich. I've never been able to eat a serving of it all on my own, it has to be shared. And I don't usually say that with dessert. I'll share just about any meal, but I tend to be protective of my desserts. The pudding is topped with a warm caramel sauce, and served with fresh whipped cream on the side. Whipped cream so well made and creamy that it has been mistaken for a scoop of ice cream. This dessert is a weakness of mine. Just thinking about it makes me drool. It is so tasty. A friend, J, had never had it before. We forced him to try a bite and he was briefly speechless before remarking it "almost" reminded him what sex was like (I almost peed my pants laughing at that one!). But the Sticky Toffee Pudding is THAT good. I promise.

Sticky Toffee Pudding deliciousness
Look at that pool of caramel and mound of whipped cream goodness...

After some tearful goodbyes, we left Bottleworks. My flight left at 7:20 on Monday morning, meaning I had to be up at the horrific hour of 4:30am. So KM and I didn't stay up too late chatting in the interest of getting some sleep. It was a fantastic visit. Everything I wanted it to be and more. I ate lots of really delicious food, and spent the entire time being with friends that I love dearly.

To all my friends in St. Louis: lots of love and hugs and I miss you all!

Slow Saturday

Part 2: Saturday

LC and I decided to take it easy on Saturday. We slept in (again). We had a leisurely morning. There were a couple of things "scheduled" later in the day, but nothing pressing. So we had a late breakfast (LC enjoyed her Shangri-La Diner leftovers!). We bummed around the house for a bit, hanging out and talking and giving the cats some love. Eventually we got ourselves moving. After a snack on Jilly's Bee Sting cupcake to fortify ourselves (yummy!), we ventured into the world.

LC needed to stop by and feed her mom's cats, and we decided to go wander around the mall near there. Now, this is not a typical activity for either one of us. I, however, was on the lookout for a new scarf. I have one, but it's a thick knit and just not useful for anything other than really cold days. So we had a plan: wander and look for a scarf, which LC wanted to get me for my birthday (we're all about the practical gifts). Lo and behold we were successful! I am now the proud owner of a beautiful scarf woven from fibers made from bamboo. And it's a gorgeous burgundy color. So thank you LC for my beautiful and soft scarf birthday gift!

My visit happened to correspond with the St. Louis LGBTQ Film Festival. Saturday afternoon was a panel on marginalized groups in LGBT films, specifically bisexuals, people of color, and trans people. There are lots of gay and lesbian films out there, but much less representation for the marginalized and smaller groups within the LGBTQ community. LC and I knew several of the panelists, as well as the awesome woman organizing it, so we decided to go and support them. It was a wonderful discussion, and the only thing that cut it short was the imposed time limit.

After the panel, we met up with a group of people at MoKaBe's Coffeehouse for the monthly BASL social. MoKaBe's is this great place with excellent coffee, desserts and a wide selection of very tasty food. It has about equal options for both vegetarian/vegans and omnivores alike. KM met up with us there, having just gotten back into town that afternoon. I had a delicious Greek salad (after all the cupcakes I felt the need for greens), and sneaked a few of LC's fries from her plate. LC and I have an "open plate" policy when we go out, unless it's dessert, sampling from each other's plate is more than welcome. It works well for us.

After a few hours of good conversation with friends old and new over coffee and tasty food, LC and I headed back to her place to pick up my stuff so I could "move" to KM's for the rest of the weekend. Lucky for me, I had two friends more than willing to have me impose myself on them for a few nights, so I split it up to share the wealth.

KM arranged to have several friends (and former colleagues) over for some snacks and beer to hang out and visit for the rest of the evening. PM (KM's partner) procrastinated on his work and decided to join us (how could he resist snacks and beer and good company?). It was so nice to just sit and chat with everyone. I hadn't seen MK, CP or SP since Oct. 2007! Needless to say, we stayed up way too late catching up on all the news and gossip and the chaos happening at my former place of work. They recently underwent some major organizational and leadership changes, and the transition has not exactly been smooth. [I made the right decision to leave when I did!] Eventually KM just couldn't sit upright any longer and stretched out on the floor, and we all decided that maybe sleep would be a good plan.

Friday full of cupcakes

My mini-vacation was all about two things this past weekend: friends and food. We didn't really "do" anything besides spend lots of time together and eat lots of good food. Which is exactly what I needed and wanted the weekend to be. It was so nice to see people and just visit with no pressure, no schedule, no plan. Anyway, onto the food reports!

Part 1: Friday

So I arrived in St. Louis, MO on Thursday night, after a long day of travel. LC met me at the airport, and we picked up food on the way back to her place. Needless to say, my friend LC and I didn't do much besides stay up way way too late talking!

Friday was all about the cupcakes. Seriously. We slept in a bit to make up for the late night before heading out to meet up with MM for a yummy Indian lunch buffet at House of India. I've been to their buffet before, and it's awesome. LC is a vegetarian, so we always go places that have lots of options for vegetarians and omnivores alike. House of India never disappoints. The food is consistently good, and they keep the buffet well stocked. I love buffets like this because you get to sample a little bit of everything. Usually I end up stuffing myself silly. But I resisted this time, because I knew what was coming for dessert: cupcakes.

Literally within the same little strip on Delmar is Jilly's Cupcake Bar. It's still fairly new, opening sometime in the last year and a half. So after lunch, we walked about 20 feet for dessert.

OMG. Cupcake heaven. Y'all know my love of cupcakes. I've blogged about how they are individual little packages of delicious perfection. Cupcakes are serious business. Serious. Business. I've sampled cupcakes from all over the place. Jilly's definitely makes the top three. No question.

You could smell the sweetness of baked goods wafting through the door before you even opened it. Inside, we were greeted to a case containing a plethora of delicious options, each one beautifully decorated and distinctive. No cookie-cutter cupcakes here. And in the center was a GIANT cupcake. The display alone was intense. The hard part came when we had to choose. MM, LC and I each decided to select a different flavor, and then share. This sharing thing is not easy when it comes to desserts (thanks, Mom), but in the interest of sampling as many of the delicious options as possible in the limited amount of time I had, I agreed to share. We selected two of their seasonal cupcakes and one of their regular flavors. MM chose the Irish Hopper made with chocolate cake filled with Andes' mint cream, LC chose the Bailey's made with chocolate cake and filled with a Bailey's dosed pastry cream, and I opted for the Chocolate Thunder, a veritable chocoholics wet dream with devil's food cake topped with chocolate butter cream and filled with chocolate ganache. Yes, all three were chocolate, but seriously, is chocolate ever a bad thing? All three were moist and rich and yummy. The Chocolate Thunder was almost too much it was so dense with rich chocolate flavor.

Cupcakes!

The verdict? I highly recommended Jilly's!

Once we had demolished the three chocolate cupcakes (OK, we did take about 1/4 of each one home), LC and I decided we needed to take a few more with us for later. We decided to branch out and get four, two chocolate and two vanilla. We enjoyed the Irish Hopper and the Bailey's so much, we decided we needed to get those again. In addition we decided to try the Bee Sting (vanilla cake filled with lemon and honey curd and a lemon cream cheese icing) and the Missy-licious (vanilla cake filled with vanilla cream and buttercream icing). The Missy-licious was tasty, but definitely all vanilla.

And holy moley. The Bee Sting was fantastic. LC and I split that one for a snack on Saturday. The combination of the lemon with the honey and vanilla made it super moist and the lemon kept it from being overly sweet. I could have eaten more than one of those. It was refreshing and the flavors blended beautifully. Mmm.

After the buffet lunch and all that sugar, we made a quick stop by LC's partner's embroidery/silk-screen shop. MT proudly showed off the new place, and drooled over the two cupcakes we brought him. By that point, LC and I decided we needed a nap. So we headed back to the house for some snuggle time with the cats.

After a nice rest, we woke up hungry. Next up: dinner at Shangri-La Diner, an all vegetarian/vegan diner. LC and MT go there frequently, so the owner Patrice knows them by name. She's a talker, and is as eccentric and fun as her place. I had been warned to save room for dessert as Patrice makes this amazing cupcake (the theme of the day!).

I opted for the Decadent Grilled Cheese. Six kinds of cheese all baked up and melty on whole wheat bread, served with a small bowl of freshly made homemade tomato soup. The soup tasted of tomatoes and had lots of garlic. And the cheese...mmm...melty and yummy. LC went for one of the breakfast options, the St. Louis Slinger: eggs and potatoes and cheese and vegan chili. Usually MT eats the other half, but this time LC was able to take it home and eat the leftovers. The leftovers verdict? Just as delicious the second time!

Then dessert: the Hostess with the Mostess cupcake. It's a homemade version of a Hostess chocolate cupcake only twice as big! Moist chocolate, yummy buttercream filling, and a delicious chocolate ganache icing. We ate a good chunk of it, but decided to be nice and take a good chunk of it home to MT.

A Hostess cupcake on steroids! Look at the sheen on that ganache.

After dinner we headed out to one of my favorite St. Louis bars: Absolutli Goosed. It's a martini bar with a 15 page menu that changes regularly! It was really an opportunity for LC and I to talk and catch up on all the stuff going on in our lives. And vent about how boys are dumb and some like to live with their heads up their butts. You know, "girl talk"! Over good martinis. In an awesome friendly environment. I love the variety of olives they have, my favorite being the chipotle stuffed ones. They add a nice after bite to the martini.

The day was filled with all good stuff: good food, good dessert, good drinks and lots of good talk with amazing friends. And awesome day. And I still had two more days of mini-vacation left!