Happy Father's Day!!

June 19, 2016 by Patricia Farmar

Just a shout out to my Dad and all the great Dad's I know! Hope you are having a fun and relaxing day! It's so great that Father's Day happens during the summer. Who doesn't love a great barbecue or my favorite - a huge bowl of fruit salad!!

During the summer I make this for myself every week and manage to eat it all in record time!

This week I took a work road trip over to St Louis for a meeting. I used to make that drive frequently because Keeley went to college, grad school and worked there for a couple years post school. Consequently I have a few favorite restaurants I was happy to have the opportunity to eat at again.

Homemade turkey and dumpling soup and a chicken strawberry salad with a delicious pretzel roll on day one. As good as I remember!

After the day of meetings my manager treated the team to a Cardinal game at the beautiful Busch Stadium. It's always fun as St Louis loves their Cardinals! The stadium is right downtown so the atmosphere is very energized.

Here's the great team I am fortunate to be a part of:

Unfortunately the temperature was over 100 degrees and that is hot!! So we sought out some AC and decent food and wine at a place just outside the field and watched the first 7 innings there! I swear we watched - tons of big TV's! We headed back to our seats for the last 2 innings. Unfortunately we couldn't bring them any luck for a win but we still enjoyed the time together.

Day Two we wrapped the meeting up by lunch and headed to another of my favorite spots - PI. Wonderful salads and pizza - in fact they have opened a location in Washington DC because it is President Obama's favorite pizza - and he's from Chicago!! There are also 4 locations now in St Louis - we ate at the new downtown spot.

We couldn't decide whether to get thick or thin so we got both!

On our drive back to KC my teammate Traci and I treated ourselves to a quick stop at a wonderful upscale outlet mall in Chesterfield. It's called St Louis Premium outlets and it was great! UGG, Kate Spade, Vera Bradley, Sperry, J Crew, Polo, Michael Kors to name just a few. Worth a trip across the state I believe! Made a work trip a little more fun for sure.

Saturday morning did another good 7 mile run thanks to my running friends and then lots of laughs at the Brookside Panera. What a great way to start a day! On my way home I stopped at a new place on the plaza the girls told me they knew I would love to pick up something for lunch. It's called T. Loft and they now have 3 locations in KC and 1 in Lawrence. It's a Health Cafe so everything there is very healthy and gluten free. Low calorie AND delicious. So I decided to give it a try and I was not disappointed. I had the Kalifornia Cobb Salad and that is not a typo. It had kale, spinach, turkey, avocado, tomatoes, cucumber and blue cheese. They have hot food, salads, egg dishes, fruit and grain bowls and delicious protein balls. I have had the protein balls as often they have a booth of samples post race. So delicious!!!

My next post will be from Bend Oregon!!! I am so excited to return and enjoy the fabulous mountains, Deschutes River, cool laid back town of Bend and spend time with my fabulous college friends! Just thinking about it puts me in a happy peaceful place. And then I will be moving on to Seattle so hoping to get some great pictures posted here and share them with all of you!

Hope you are making every day a great one and saying YES more often!!!

Weekend Fun!!

June 12, 2016 by Patricia Farmar

There is nothing better then a beautiful summer weekend! And we were lucky enough to have one this weekend - especially if you like it hot! I'm not a huge fan of weather in the 90's - but I was busy having fun so didn't really mind.

Kicked off the weekend with Jazz night at the Homesteader Cafe Friday - the music is great and the food and wine reasonable and delicious! I am back on the Running Track so met my group at 7 AM at The Roastery in Brookside and had my best run in quite awhile - 7 miles!! I could not have accomplished it without the support of my friends!! They keep me laughing and the miles fly by!

Talk about being in the right place at the right time - right when and where we finished our run we were in perfect position to stop at the No Kid Hungry Bake Sale in Brookside! 30 0f the best bakeries in Kansas City donated their signature items to raise money to feed kids. It was a 2 day event - bake sale on Saturday and brunch on Sunday with the goal of raising $100,000. It was so hard to decide what to put in my bag - everything looked fantastic! I bought carrot cake, brownies, macaroons, caramel bars, and shortbread cookies! So there will be no cheesecake tasting this week!!

Little Lilly in the bottom left picture was adorable. She baked brownies and rice krispee treats and there was no way to resist her plea to make a purchase!!

Saturday night I had some old friends over to The Loft for dinner.......yes I actually cooked again!! And one of the couples brought this delicious cake to celebrate our 25 years of friendship!

Sunday was a special treat - Deidre's beautiful concert! Deidre sings like an angel with a wonderful acapella group called Songflower Chorale - and it was as always wonderful. The theme was Places and Worlds and the director put a fantastic show together. And we always celebrate the concerts by going to Happy Hour at The Tavern in Prairie Village! Why mess with a tradition if it's working? Have I mentioned how much I love Happy Hour?? When your children are grown and gone it's the perfect way to meet up with friends, socialize and have a light dinner for a reasonable cost!!! Almost all good restaurants have it and you get home at a decent time!

People have asked me how I know about everything going on in KC - new restaurants, special events (like the Bake Sale) festivals, appearances, sports etc. Well it's not because I work hard at it - I just signed up for the "This Is KC" email newsletter! A couple of times a week and for sure on Friday I get an email and it's all right there! Worth checking out if you live in KC, and if you don't maybe they have something similar in your area. Definitely keeps me in the know and helps me plan my weekend fun!

On a sad note - a friend of mine passed away this morning. She was one of the nicest sweetest ladies you could ever know, and while I knew she was ill the prognosis was fairly optimistic. Things went downhill very quickly and she passed away abruptly leaving a beautiful family behind - and many friends and neighbors that will miss her greatly. She was younger then I - and a poignant reminder that none of us know what the future holds. If you have things you want to do don't wait. If you have the means and ability to do them then do it. Live your life without regret. Say YES as often as possible.

Make this and every week a great one!

From my dear friend Jane!! Thanks Jane! So true!!

My Neighborhood!

June 05, 2016 by Patricia Farmar

I believe I live in the absolutely coolest neighborhood in Kansas City, and one of the best in the entire country!! So I am feeling a little like Mr. Rogers - and would like for you to take a walk with me around my neighborhood and let me plead my case! We'll start right in my building - and take the elevator up to the roof and check out the views!!

Liberty Memorial, Kauffman Center, Bartle Hall and the Sprint Center in the Power and Light District - pretty impressive!

So now I'm heading down to the end of my block and here are the bikes available on the bike share program. I haven't used them yet but vow that I will this summer. They have locations all over town and you take a bike and ride it and drop it off back here or in another location - sweet!

I live in what is called The Crossroads, and it is the main art gallery district and center for visual arts. There are numerous buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places - including the one I live in! Let's keep walking! Next up - a couple of my favorite restaurants! There are so many awesome unique restaurants, coffee shops and bars in my neighborhood. I'm determined to try as many as possible.

LuLu's Noodles! Just behind it in the yellow building- The J. (Jacobson) A great patio! Cafe Gratitude - delicious vegan food and Pezzettino's Italian Deli.  They make me mad because they're not open on Sunday! — LuLu's Noodles! Just behind it in the yellow building- The J. (Jacobson) A great patio! Cafe Gratitude - delicious vegan food and Pezzettino's Italian Deli. They make me mad because they're not open on Sunday!

Around the corner and up Broadway to the KC Ballet! Love this place - and the professional company is excellent. I take classes here sometimes in their studio division. Not ready to give up my day job yet and go professional - but maybe after a few intensive classes this summer!

The light low building on the left is the National Archives. Bulding to the right is the new Federal Reserve. Tower behind it is the Liberty Memorial.

Coming around the corner we walk right by Union Station. Such a beautiful and historic place. Just celebrated 100 years and it is our still functioning train station, science center, IMAX theater and has special exhibits on an ongoing basis.

That's my building off to the left in the top picture - Western Auto!!!

Right across the street is the Liberty Memorial and National World War I Museum and Memorial. If you are interested in the history of the war this is worth a trip alone to KC. Extremely well done and very interesting. Your ticket to the museum includes a trip to the top of the tower - what a view!!!

Views from the front overlooking Union Station and the entrance on the opposite side.

Now I think I will head a little east and walk by my most favorite coffee shop. It's called The Filling Station and you guessed it - housed in an old gas station! Great coffee and food and a wonderful outdoor patio. Plus a cool sculpture on the lawn!

Sorry Keeley - I love Starbucks but this place is just a little cooler!

Now heading back home I pass Children's Mercy Hospital - one of the best children's hospitals in the country. It's actually huge so this picture doesn't come close to showing you the size of it. A few celebrities do a huge fundraiser every year and raise millions of dollars to support it. They are local guys - Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Eric Stonestreet and Rob Riggles and they bring in tons of BIG name friends and host the Big Slick Celebrity Weekend. It's in 2 weeks so keep your eyes open for FAMOUS PEOPLE!!!

One more quick stop at Crown Center before heading home. Crown Center is home to the corporate headquarters of Hallmark, Crown Center indoor shopping mall, and lots of good restaurants along with Sea Life Aquarium and Lego Land.

The white tent covers an ice skating rink in the colder months.

So that's just some of the great places in my neighborhood! There are also lots of great weekend events that happen here - like First Friday's. The First Friday of every month is a big night - and it just happened this past Friday for June. All the art galleries are open along with lots of pop-up galleries in the various warehouses and store fronts. The restaurants and bars have lots of specials and there are street vendors and entertainers - especially in the warmer weather. This past Friday was huge because the weather was great and it was also Food Truck Friday. In the old KC Star parking lot there were at least 20 food trucks - and all the food looked great!!

The view from my roof with my friends Joe and Cynthia. They came for a pre-drink and trip to the roof prior to our heading out to First Friday!

The theme for this First Friday was Car Art. Check out these vehicles!

Dumb and Dumber! Back to the Future! There were lots of cars all over the area - vintage and others beautifully painted. And then some art work in the galleries I thought was interesting.

Food Trucks! So hard to decide. We ended up at KC Crave and got the Asian Fusion Chicken Taco's. They were fantastic! They had a Cream Brûlée truck! Next time going to try that. Why can't every Friday be Food Truck Friday!

Yes there is a bite out of one of my Taco's!!! I couldn't wait!

Saturday morning was another great event in my neighborhood - The Hospital Hill Half Marathon! It's been run for over 40 years and is considered to be one of the toughest halfs in the country. Consequently runners come from all over for the challenge. It starts right in front of my building so while I wasn't running it this year I was up early to wave to my friends as they ran by! And to host a post-race brunch!

Now don't you wish you were my neighbor???

Since this is technically a travel blog - a BIG shout out to my son Tom who is in Buenos Aires Argentina for 2 weeks for work! I'm so excited for him and hoping to convince him (or bribe him) to be a guest blogger when he returns and share some thoughts and pictures of his time there.

Last but not least - a new Cheesecake tasted!!! And this is a good one!!! Hershey's Chocolate Bar Cheesecake - I rate it a 4!!!! Two delicious chocolate cake layers with a cheesecake layer in the middle with chunks of chocolate topped with a rich chocolate frosting and chocolate chips - Yumm!!

My friend Gary sent this to me and said it reminded him of me - thanks Gary!!! I love it so thought I would share the thought! Hope you make it a Good Day too!

Action Packed Weekend!

May 22, 2016 by Patricia Farmar

After a very rainy week we lucked out and have had a spectacularly beautiful weekend! The forecast is for another rainy week but if that's the case I will appreciate the nice weekend even more. I started Saturday morning running a 5K with Girls On The Run. Such a wonderful organization that hopefully is in your area as well. It is targeted to girls in elementary school grades 3 through 6, and organized by schools. They recruit volunteers to meet with the girls after school a few days a week and use running to teach great life lessons that improve self esteem and a feeling of accomplishment. Many of the schools are in the inner city where these skills are not always as available. My friend Laura coached the girls at her school and needed a few more people to help out at the big 5K event that the girls work toward all year. It's good to have each girl paired with someone to help them focus on finishing the race. I had a great time out at Arrowhead Stadium where the Chiefs play! Her "team" had made matching tutu's and hair ribbons and they were so excited to be a part of the BIG event. Seeing their smiling faces as they crossed the line and got their medals was awesome! I was thrilled to share in their joy.

My running buddy Kaylin! She did awesome!! Such a sweet girl.

Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of attending the Broadway musical Ragtime at the beautiful Kauffman Center. I have the same thought ever time I'm there - we are so fortunate to have that spectacular venue!! It was a good story and the music and singing was great - but a much more serious story then I had anticipated. It is set in the early 1900's and follows 3 very different family stories that all end up interacting. Definitely worth seeing.

Jim was a good sport to attend with me. He could have been playing golf!!

Then we were off for our dinner reservations at a new place in East Brookside that I have heard wonderful things about - but have been unable to get a reservation at because of calling too late. So this time I planned ahead and called at least 3 weeks ago and got us a table! It was worth the wait!! We both loved it! It's called Plate and is on Oak just north of 63rd St. In Brookside. A very cool modern atmosphere in a building that is over 100 years old - and looks like the Spanish architecture similar to the style of the Plaza. It's touted as Italian Modern cuisine but I would just call it delicious!!

It has a very cool bar area but it was crowded so I didn't get a photo. We got there early and it filled up fast!!

We started with an appetizer that was cannelloni bean purée with olives and rosemary cheese bread. Course #2 was a chicken ravioli we shared. For the main course I had a fantastic grilled salmon over cauliflower purée and asparagus - and Jim loved his pork tenderloin over risotto and new potatoes. I think there was spinach on top as well - so covering all the food groups. For dessert we shared a bit of heaven - a light caramel parfait with chocolate crumbs and whipped cream. A nice bottle of Pinot Grigio and we were happy!

If you are in the Brookside area the east end has some new cool places. In addition to Plate there is a wonderful bakery called Heirloom. Also running between Heirloom and Plate there are a couple of unique interesting shops. I just love seeing the revitalization of Kansas City proper!

Today - Sunday - I am volunteering at my favorite KC museum the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, so thought I would post one of my favorite paintings. Over the years this one has grown on me - I just love the colors and the activity. It is by Willem de Kooning who was born in the Netherlands. The title is Woman IV and was painted in 1952-53. As you would guess it is one of a series and I have only seen this one in person - but would like to go on a quest to see them all!

The debate is - is she smiling or grimacing??

Something new I have discovered this week and thought worth passing on is a website called Highbrow. I love learning about things - almost anything really - so this site is perfect for that! You sign up for the daily email service which is totally free, and choose a topic you are interested in learning more about. They send you an email every day for 10 days on that topic. They say learn more in just 5 minutes a day but it really only takes about a minute to read the email. Today was Day 5 for me and I selected The Impressionists as my first course. So while I have my morning beverage I am learning a little something new that I find interesting! Here is the website link if you want to check it out. Www.gohighbrow.com

And now for the Cheesecake Taste of the Week! It's getting harder and harder to pick something that is not too over the top - I wanted to just get another slice of Key Lime but I resisted. I took on this challenge and I intend to see it through! So I picked the Lemon Raspberry Cream Cheesecake!!

Kind of in the same family as Key Lime - I feel like a cheater!

I really like the cheesecakes with the cake layer at the bottom I have discovered. This has a lemon cake layer on the bottom topped by a lemon cheesecake. Then a layer of lady fingers topped by a lemon mousse drizzled with a raspberry purée. I like all things lemon so I rate this a 3! Delicious but not quite a 4. But enjoyed every bite!! I think my next piece must be in the chocolate family.

Have a great week!

Potpourri!!!

May 15, 2016 by Patricia Farmar

This post is a potpourri of new and fun things I have done since my return from Europe. Maybe not quite as BIG as what I did there but still worth writing and reading about I think!

First up - the next slice of Cheesecake - or in the case of this piece - a slice of heaven!! I rate this flavor a 4!!! Key Lime Cheesecake! But a disclaimer - I love Key Lime anything!

Tastes exactly like a great Key Lime pie only the texture of cheesecake! YUMM!!!

Just a side note - if you are craving Key Lime and want a lower calorie option the Chobani Key Lime Greek yogurt flip is delicious - and only 200 calories!! Key Lime low-fat yogurt with graham crackers and white chocolate chips. I always keep a few in my frig - 3 to be exact!

My sweet daughter Keeley flew in from Seattle to spend Mother's Day weekend with me - YIPPEE! We had a blast! It was a BIG weekend in KC - the opening of the streetcar! So first on our list for Saturday morning was a walk to the River Market and a ride home on the streetcar. And like many things in KC - the streetcar is free - at least for the first year.

Kansas Citians riding public transportation here for the first time! It brought a lot of people down for the opening complete with 2 days of fun events and fireworks!

Keeley and her husband Matt like many young adults are very into craft beer so there is a new place in my neighborhood called Ruins Pub I thought she would like. It is a take-off on the Ruins Bars in Budapest so also serves Hungrian food. What is really unique about Ruins is that they have 52 beers on tap - 40 of which are self pour. You get what looks like a credit card when you enter and use that card on each self tap to pour your own beer by the ounce. Pretty cool! So that's where we went after lunch at one of our favorite spots - The Mixx and a little retail therapy on the Country Club Plaza.

I don't really like beer so discovered if you order wine in a beer bar they have a small selection but pour as if it was a beer!! So I had a huge glass of Pinot Grigio!

Sunday was Mother's Day so we went to one of my favorite places for lunch - Spin Pizza! Great salads and wonderful Neapolitan pizza! Then we stopped at The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. It's a smaller museum so I like to stop frequently as the main exhibit changes often. The current exhibit is called "A Whisper of Where it Came From." It is comprised of 6 artists who integrate ceramics into their broader mixed-media art practices. I will be honest and say it wasn't my favorite but still interesting and worth seeing.

Keeley pointing to a ceramic piece that reminded us of the pinch pots every child makes in elementary school.

Well it was Happy Hour time so we made our way to another great beer bar in town called Bier Station located in the Waldo neighborhood on Gregory and Wornall. It is listed in the top 100 best American Beer Bars so why not check it out??!! Keeley tried some beers and I of course asked for wine confirming my finding from the previous day - they pour wine like beer in a beer bar. And since it was Mother's Day they gave it to me free - nice people! Keeley had some great discussions with the bar tender about beer and I was impressed with her extensive knowledge.

Coming back from my trip to Europe it was so nice to have the weekend with Keeley to look forward to and we had a wonderful mother/daughter visit.

In other good news Matt starts his new job tomorrow! He finished his service in the military (army) on May 1st so has been looking for a position in the private sector. Thanks for your bravery and service Matt! I wanted to share where he is working because you might have a need and want to check it out. It's a company called Offer Up - and is kind of a newer possibly better competitor to Craig's List. Basically you download the FREE Ap and if you have stuff to sell you can just take a picture of it on your phone and upload to the Ap. They are based in Seattle and doing great so I am excited for him. And I have stuff I want to get rid of so I've already downloaded the Ap. Good bye stuff and hello $$$$! Thinking I should sell ALL my stuff and go back to Europe!!

The Best is Yet to BE!!! Hope your week has been great!