Supper Club; Italian Style

Whoa whoa whoa!  Didn't I just do the July Supper Club post?!? 

You know it.  We crammed two supper club excursions into one month.  I'm kind of trying to cram an entire year of socializing (and blogging) into the month of July.  Because summer ends this week people!  And then it's back to crazy-Jamie with no life and nothing to blog about. 

Back to Supper Club.  For our second outing of the month we headed to Accurso's Italian Restaurant located at 50th & Main, right off the Plaza. 

We ♥ Supper Club!

We were joined by some Supper Club first-timers; Brooke & Brad.  It seems like our schedules never really match up and it's hard to schedule a dinner together... but I actually think that Brad was just scared to come to Supper Club because he thought I'd make him eat octopus.

Brad & Brooke... and no octopus.

Although there was a seafood pasta special that night which included octopus, I did not even encourage anyone to try it.  I'm not a pusher!  Well, except when it comes to alcohol I guess.  But if you come to Supper Club, you can order whatever you want!  I swear!

Even though there were lots of vegetarian options, I opted for my standard Italian restaurant choice: Eggplant Parmesan.

Eggplant Parm.

In case you've never heard, eggplant parm is like the least healthy thing you can order at an Italian restaurant because it's fried and smothered in cheese.  And it's delicious.  Accurso's eggplant parm was right up there with the best eggplant parm I've ever had.  It was lightly fried and crispy, not soggy.  The pasta was on the side, which I liked, because I wasn't interested in that. 

Drew ordered his standard of Chicken Parmesan.  And he said he liked it.  It's hard to get more description from him.

Yes, it is good.

Brad & Brooke both enjoyed their pasta as well, although Brad was a little bit dissappointed because he thought his was going to be spicy.  And it wasn't.  But there wasn't any octopus in their either.  So that was nice.

Brad stumped the bartender when he ordered a Moscow Mule.  But they figured it out and brought him an acceptable drink.  It was served in the wrong glass, but we aren't picky when it comes to booze.

Mule: Looks refreshing!

One of the best parts of Accurso's is that it is right next door to Glace, my most favorite ice cream spot in all of Kansas City.  We skipped dessert at Accurso's and opted for ice cream instead.  Delish!

I think we all agreed that the Accurso's experience was good.  The food was good, the atmosphere was good, the service was good.  They had a lovely patio with live music, but it was far too hot to think about that.  I don't know that it was the best restaurant ever, but I would definitely recommend it!  We had a lot of fun!

What's your favorite spot for Italian in KC?

You probably won't see anymore two-fers for Supper Club, but I'm determined to continue our year of trying new restaurants, even after the school-year consumes me.  We're already tossing around restaurant ideas for August, so give us a shout if you want to join us!  I promise I won't make you eat octopus!

Supper Club Goes Outside

July's been pretty hot, did ya' know?  Seems like that's all people have been talking about... but for real... it's hot out there.  The 100+ degree weather did not stop our supper club from taking to the streets this month.  We hit up the Crossroads for First Friday and some food truck fun.

Kansas City's food truck "culture" has been blowing up lately and part of that is thanks to The Truck Stop.  The Truck Stop is a parking lot located at 21st & Wyandott where the food trucks can convene when not out on the streets.  It's a great place to find lots of selection in roadie-eats. 

This way to good eats!

Britt & Scott joined us on our excursion out.  I've only been to First Fridays a handful of times, but it's always lots of fun.  There's tons to see and do.  And you really don't have to spend a ton.  Some stuff is even free.

How nice!

Food Truck Mecca.

When we arrived at the Truck Stop, we made our rounds to check out what was available.  They pretty much had it all; Mexican, BBQ, Sandwiches, Greek food, ice cream, hot dogs, and beer!  Some of the drivers even gave out samples.

BBQ Sampling.

Britt & I ended up at Crave KC which offered lots of gourmet sounding tacos. 

Mmmm... beer & tacos!

Showing off our goods.

The menu at Crave didn't feature anything vegetarian, but they were more than happy to sub out the pork in one of their specialty tacos for black beans.  Que Bueno!

Yummy Yummy Tacos.

Drew chose a Grilled Chicken Wrap from a truck called Deco Street Eats.

Nom Nom Nom.

Deco had lots of fun options, including mac & cheese.  I can't imagine they sold many mac & cheeses on that hot night, but maybe!

Street Eats.

After finishing our dinner, we joined a huge line for dessert; Sno-Balls!

Yummy!

We shared a Dreamsicle; orange slush topped with condensed milk.  Oh my goodness.  So yum!

Very good.

After that we walked around, checked out some art galleries, and did some people-watching.

Body Bags?

We found even more food trucks parked on a nearby street.  The Truck Stop was jam-packed with trucks, and I'm not sure how you get a spot.  But there is lots of over-flow with more varieties of trucks out there!

More trucks... in case you're still hungry.

The Pitch asked us for a pic and had us fill out photo release forms saying we might end up in the magazine!  After he took our picture though, I saw him photographing a gal in jean-shorts, a bikini top, and a blue mohawk.  I bet she beats us out... she seems more their style.  But at least I was able to have him snap a pic with my camera before he found people more interesting.

The crew!

It was early in the night, so the dance party hadn't really started, but there were a few guys break-dancing in the street.  We hung out and watched.

Dancer and mohawk girl.

More street-dancing.

The street wasn't technically closed, so occasionally someone would try to drive through.  Everyone was really polite and moved.  And one of the dancers would even break-dance the car through the crowd.  Just like your own personal escort.

Break-dancing escort.

Okay, before I end this post, I must show my age and talk about all the hipsters.  I get it, you're young, you're weird (do your parents know where you are?!?), but what is up with all the tights and shorts???  I mean, it's over 100 degrees out and every other girl I saw was wearing colorful tights.  Save those suckers for Fall!  It's one thing to suffer for fashion's sake, but that is just dangerous.  And I am old.

Anyways...

If you are looking for something fun to do this Friday, head downtown for First Fridays!  And GO to the Truck Stop!!!  You will find lots of delicious selections all in one spot.  The food is so good, you'll forget that you're sweating straight through your tights! 

The Balls & Chains go to the Lake.

I'm using the term "lake" very loosely here.

Kickball is over for awhile, which means so are our regularly scheduled drinking hang-out sessions with the crew.  We must have missed each other bunches because we decided to plan a trip to Centralia Lake AKA the land of the Bachmans.  It's north-eastern Kansas, almost to the Nebraska border.  Population 512.  No, really.

We made our plans, packed our suits, booze, and boat snacks and were all excited for a weekend on the water.  Imagine our disappointment when we got the call that there was a green algae alert and we weren't allowed to get on the lake.  We were all pretty bummed*.

But we decided to head out anyway.  We were promised a pool, fishing, and lots of fun, despite the lack of a lake.  With this crew, you can't really not have fun.

On Saturday, we immediately headed to the pool.  No use wasting precious UV rays.

Headed to the pool.

Let's just say we were not disappointed.  The pool was worth the drive.  It was maybe the most fab pool ever.

Fab Pool.  For real.

The fellas immediately took to the volleyball net and began what seemed like an endless game.  Seriously, they played all day long. 

Volleyball.  Whoop.

Not that we noticed.  The gals kept ourselves entertained with pool toys, summer shandy, and wedding talk.  Alexis {in the middle} is getting married!!!

The Chains.

After what seemed like (and was) hours of volleyball, a winner was declared.  We're so proud.

Volleyball Champs.

The real highlight of my day (which I didn't get a picture of) was the spiked watermelon.  Tracy brought watermelon soaked in Parrot Bay.  It was amazing.  Forget vodka!  Coconut rum is where it's at!

The Balls & Chains.

Rando pic of us & Bachman.

We weren't the only ones at the pool all day.  Miss Tess joined us, but she had her very own pool. 

Stop it.  How precious is she in her doggie pool???

Obviously I was sad and wished my puppies were at the pool with us.  Something about seeing other people's dogs act socially appropriate makes me wish our dogs could participate in social activities.  But alas, they can't.  They are far too naughty.

Before heading out, the volleyball champs insisted on another picture.  Shoot, we didn't even take this many pics when we won the entire kickball championship. 

Alright, we get it.  You won.

And obvs I had to get a pic of Izzo in his new game-day shirt.  Oh my, who's excited for football?!?

Honey Badger don't care.

Then we headed back to the Bachman's to shower up and prep for dinner.  Some of us kept drinking...

Jake is a booze hound.

After cleaning up we spent some time fishing at the pond.  Well, I didn't fish.  But I watched supportively and admired Mr. Bachman's garden.  I had serious garden envy.

Mr. & Mrs. Bachman made us an incredible dinner topped off with home-made ice cream.  I was in heaven... in Centralia, Kansas.  Who would have thought?

Dinner was followed by more drinks and good times around the fire-pit.  I love hanging out with Drew's college friends!  They end up telling hilarious stories... most of which I've heard before, but they still make me laugh.  I think that several cans of worms were opened around that fire-pit.  I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. 

Chris & Alexis... They're getting married!!!

Mandy & Izzo.  The fire must have been bright... he needed shades.

Tracy & Jamie; responsible for over-consumption of watermelon.

What a fun weekend!  I really can't get enough of these folks... and I can't wait for kickball to start (soon!) so that we have an excuse to hang out every week!

Thanks to the Bachmans for showing us a fabulous time!!!

*Psssht.  Not me.  This germ-a-phobe doesn't need an official alert to know that lakes are nasty, filthy, and full of yuck.

Vegan Taco Night

Happy Monday ya'll!  I have an amazing taco-filling recipe for you today, as well as lots of tales of kitchen fails.  Cooking (especially vegan cooking) is a learning process... one that I'm obviously still going through.

Last week Jana and DeAnna came over for dinner and I was excited to use one of my vegan cookbooks to put together a fun meal.  I chose a Mexican theme because for some reason I think Mexican food always sounds delicious when it's this hot.  Maybe I just think margaritas sound delicious when it's this hot.

All of my dinner recipes came from Veganomicon, which I could just sit and read for hours.  This is actually the first time I've prepared anything though.  For the taco filling, I prepared their recipe for Black Beans in Chipotle Adobo Sauce.  It was a very easy recipe... if you actually followed the recipe.

I skimmed through and only after I'd added an entire chopped onion to my saucepan with all of my black beans and water did I read the line that said "Remove the onion before serving."  What???  How am I supposed to remove an entire chopped onion from a pan of beans??? 

Oh.  I wasn't supposed to chop the onion.  My bad.

So I ended up rushing to Hen House for more black beans and another onion.  One which I would not chop.  The thing is... Hen House has the dumbest set up in the entire world of grocery stores.  I hate going there because it doesn't make sense!!!  I searched all over that GD store and finally found the black beans... and they weren't even the kind I like.  I do not like you Hen House. 

Anyways... despite the set back, I was able to serve up some tasty black bean tacos with a side of Mexican Millet.  Fun fact:  millet is a grain that is often used for bird seed.  But people like it too.

Black Bean Tacos & Meximillet.

Our fiesta dinner also included home-made salsa and white sangria.  Que yum!

Ole!

That's a vegan with a happy plate.

How do you say "nom nom nom" in Spanish?

However successful dinner was, dessert was the opposite.  The authors of Veganomicon also have a sweet little book called Vegan Pie in the Sky which is loaded with yummy looking recipes and encouraging words about how easy vegan baking is. 

The book is a liar.

Vegan pie slop.

I went for the key lime pie because earlier this year I tried out a non-vegan key lime pie on these ladies because I wanted to test it out for class.  I figured I owed them a vegan version. 

Vegan Pie Essentials.

Traditional key lime pie is made using gelatin AKA pig cartilage.  Not very vegan friendly.  Vegan pie subs in agar-agar powder, which is made from seaweed and {supposedly} has similar gelling properties. 

You have to go to an Asian market to purchase it.  Let's all take a minute to visualize how much fun Drew had when I dragged him into the Asian market.
 

Gel-icious.

So, I don't really know where I went wrong, but the pie did not set up.  Like, it was straight key-lime soup.  Jana was super sweet and told me to call it deconstructed key lime pie.  So I will.

Deconstructed pie.  I totally did this on purpose.

The girls were also nice enough to eat the pie soup in bowls with spoons.  D even said that if it had worked it might be the best key lime pie she'd ever had.  The smirk on her face makes me think she's lying.

No really... it's good!  I swear!

Mmm... soup!

Well... besides the pie soup, I'd like to think the night was successful.  It's pretty hard to screw up a night with the three of us and a pitcher of sangria!

If you're looking for a yummy alternative to the stand-by ground beef taco filling, give these black beans a try.  Just make sure you read the whole recipe or you may end up ripping your hair out at Hen House.  FYI: they keep their black beans on the bottom shelf of the Mexican section, away from all the other beans.  Makes perfect sense.

Black Beans in Chipotle Adobo Sauce

Ingredients for the beans:

• 2 (15 oz.) cans black beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cups cold water
• 1 large onion, peeled & halved {DO NOT CHOP}
• Salt & Pepper

Ingredients for the sauce:

• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo, minced
• 2 Tablespoons adobo sauce from the chipotles

Method:

1. Combine the beans, onion {DO NOT CHOP}, bay leaf, and water in a large sauce pan.  Bring to a boil for 1 minute. 
2. Lower heat to medium and simmer, uncovered for 40 minutes.
3. Remove the onion and bay leaf before serving.
4. Prepare the sauce while the beans are cooking.  In a skillet over medium heat, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil about 10 minutes.  Stir in the chipotles and adobo sauce and cook for 30 seconds.
5. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Empty the sauce into a food processor bowl* and briefly pulse until a chunky sauce forms.
6. Mix sauce into beans and serve with taco shells and all the fixin's.  Enjoy!

Happy {meatless} Monday!

*How did I ever survive without a food processor?!?

The Old Ball & Chain

A few months ago some of Drew's college friends started talking about putting together a kickball team.  Even though I suck at team sports, I thought it would be an awesome way to drink beer and spend time with friends.  So we signed up... with the stipulation that we absolutely must play in the recreational league.  And lucky for us no one wanted to play in the competitive league.  Scary.

After some deliberation, the team name was decided on and the Balls & Chains were formed.  We've spent almost every Thursday evening since April at Penn Valley Park in downtown KC kicking balls and taking names.

The Chains... and Whitney on 1st base.

Playing kickball is fun... you can drink beer the whole time.  The hard core people kick and field with their beer in hand.  We played a team who had a pitcher with a broken arm who insisted on pitching while drinking a beer and smoking a cigar.  Picture that for a minute if you will.

I, on the other hand, only drink on the sidelines.  I am not coordinated or fast-thinking enough to be able to drink and react to a big red ball flying at me.

Drew.

Sideline drinking.

When drinking, you get to use koozies.  I never use koozies.  Weird, right?  Well, turns out the only koozie I own says, "Final fling before the ring!"  But it's pink, so I totally use it.  Now every game is my own personal bachelorette party.

The ol' ball and chain.

Every game has some kind of drama or hilarity to it.  Lots of times it's Jeff who provides this hilarity.  Like the first game when he thought he hit a home run out of the park and took off on a slow trot around the bases, fist pumping and cheering.  When he was about half way around one of the refs said, "Someone should really tell him that was a foul ball."  Ha!

And then there was the time he kicked the ball with all his strength, and it went foul... right into the other team... into a girl's back... and knocked her clear over... on top of another girl... it was like dominoes. 

Big Red Balls are Dangerous.

Jeff didn't really know what to do, so he walked over to apologize. 

Oops.  Sorry!

And as if that wasn't funny enough, he had to go back and kick again.  And what do you think happened then?  He went in for the strong kick, determined to kick it out of the park this time... and he whiffed it.  I thought our team might die laughing.

Totally missed the ball.

We won some games.  We lost some games.  But all the while we had lots of fun.  Then came the playoffs.

Our backdrop.

Remember the last week of June?  It was similar to this week... holy hotness.  The night of the playoffs it was 105 degrees out.  We were scheduled to play our first game at 6:00.  If we won we'd move on to the semifinals at 8:00 and then the finals at 9:00. 

I think all of us gals were anticipating a loss at 6:00 followed by a nice dinner out.  Unfortunately the other team didn't have enough players show and we won by default.  So we took our ball-kicking butts out of the heat and headed to Tower Tavern for dinner and drinks while we waited for our 8:00 game.

We were all amazed that we'd somehow made it to the semi-finals.  Especially since we hadn't played in a single playoff game.  But whatevs.  We came to play.

Get that ball Drew!

We call Bachman "Big Boot".  You can kinda see why.

Joe's our MVP.  For real.  He's in charge of home runs and covering me in the outfield.

Just standing around.

Somehow we won the semifinal game.  WTF?  So we moved on to the championship game.  Go Balls & Chains! 

The team we were up against just happened to be the same team that Jeff had attempted to take out their players with his crazy foul ball.  They came to the game with a tub of champagne... apparently to celebrate their anticipated win.  Ummm... haven't you ever heard that you shouldn't count your chickens before they hatch pop your cork before you win?

Somehow the Balls & Chains pulled off the big upset and won the championship!!!! 

We are the champions!!!

So, maybe it turns out that we aren't that bad... just I'm that bad.  And if we can win despite the fact that one of our players {me} never even scored a run, maybe we are champion* material!

Winners!!!

And if you're wondering, no the other team did not offer us their champagne after the game.  I think they were still mad about the violence we exhibited toward them earlier in the season.

I love love love our team!  I absolutely cannot wait for the fall season to start so we can kick some big red balls!!!

*Of the recreational league.