12 Days of Xmas in ’12! Day Eight!

I’m from St. Louis, friends.  And if you have ever followed along here at ohbriggsy, you might be saying to yourself right now something like this: No Shit, Sherlock.  And hey, it’s a highly underrated city.  Now, I’m not talking about Missouri or even Missourah here.  I’m talking about the Lou, as my man Nelly might call it, well him and now everyone else.

So the Lou is where I go for the holidays.  And incidentally, the Christmas song that for me most exemplifies the season is “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” which of course is from the musical Meet Me in St. Louis.  Judy Garland’s character Esther sings it to her little sister Tootie to sooth them both after their father announces his intent to move them from their beloved St. Louis to stupid New York CIty.  And right before the 1904 World’s Fair even! Didn’t their pappy know that ice cream cones were going to be invented at the summbitch? I’ll just leave it to you to imagine a world pre ice cream cones.

This song sums up the feelings I have around the holiday.  At the end of the year we party, hoping that next year our troubles will finally be resolved, somehow.  This kind of attitude gives us an excuse to eat, drink. and be merry now, or to at least stop working so hard, stop working out at the gym for a few days, stop beating ourselves up over things.  We may talk about the past and its holidays nostalgically and yep, probably with some rose tinted glasses.  It’s ok to do that.  We anticipate seeing the loyal people in our lives who will travel the roads and the skies to be with us (or vice versa), often with hours long delays in Denver and terrible subs from Quiznos as their only sustenance (true story!).  We’re hopeful that we’ll be doing whatever it is that makes us feel the holiday again next year, but you never know.  I think this year that feeling is palpable.  That’s the holidays to me, some excess, some nostalgia, some travel, some hope.

Here’s a version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” that I like, by Paper Moon.

And, hey, all you east and west coast bastards, St. Louis is not just flyover country!  St. Louis has had some pretty great stuff and some pretty cool people come out  of it.

Tina Turner!

Jon Hamm!

 

John Goodman!  You know I love him!

Marilyn vos Savant!  Whose smarts you may remember reading about in the back of your parents’ Parade magazine back in the 80s!  Or, hey, maybe you still do!  I don’t judge!

Maya Angelou!

Charles Eames!  You know, the designer of much of the mid-century modern furniture you (read: I) drool over.

Irma Rombauer!  Just a little German housewife from St. Louis who wrote the classic cookbook, The Joy Of Cooking.  Speaking of cookbooks, again I want to remind you that my pal Meg and I are leading a cookbook challenge for 2013!  We pick the books, you cook along with us and tell us what you did.  We’re just hashing out the final details, so stay tuned for more info re how to join and which cookbooks we’re using coming very soon! For more information, check it out here and here!

Julia Child, on The Joy of Cooking: “It is definitely number one on my list…the one book of all cookbooks …that I would have on my shelf if I could have but one.”

Jackie Joyner Kersee!

Three golds, one silver, two bronzes.

Redd Foxx!

Harry Caray!  Not always a Cubs fan!

Ok, that’s really Will Ferrell, but that’s pretty much how Harry is remembered now.

Andy Cohen!  That gay guy who runs Bravo and all of its terrifying housewives!  Sorry about that.

Kate Chopin!  Perhaps you read her in high school and became a feminist?

Miles Davis!

Ok, friends.  That’s it for the civic pride for today. Although there were many others I could have named: Kevin Kline, Nell Carter, TS Eliot, Jenna Fischer and Ellie Kemper and Phyllis Smith all from The Office (random!), Jonathan Franzen, Betty Grable, Jack Wagner, Maxine Waters, Tennessee Williams, and so.  St. Lpuis pride is a common topic for me.  Funny story: On the night I met Double S, on the Lower East side of Manhattan, she asked me where I was from, and I started up with this list.  Yep, I had a lot of these names on the tip of my tongue to impress the ladies.  It worked!  Well, that and my non nonsense order of a simple Budwesier on our first date.  Within the year, we’d be touring the brewery (Hey!  Free samples!) in St. Louis.

OK, get back to having yourself a merry little christmas, pals!

Paper Moon…Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

12 Days of Xmas in ’12! Day Four!

So why do carolers get to go around demanding figgy pudding? Being all aggressive, saying they aren’t going to get off our property until they get some. Sure, they bring good tidings to you. And to your kin. But still. They even demand that we bring the figgy pudding right out to them. N0 saying ” Help yourself” to their asses!

I haven’t had a lolcat pic awhile!

When I was a kid, at my Catholic school there would be a Secret Santa exchange between families in the school.  I found it incredibly exciting and fun, having never done anything like that before.  Now if I had to do that at work or something, I’d be beyond meh about it.  But back then, throughout December, we would be surprised by gifts or cookies miraculously appearing at our door.  Every night I was filled with anticipation.  What would they do?  What would they bring?  Would they knock, and then we’d run to the door to answer and catch them, and all that would be there is a gust of wind from their quick escape?  True story.  Holy crap, good one other family from 80s Secret Santa!   Families would get creative too, leaving gifts in the back yard or in mailboxes.  I was thoroughly impressed.  Of course, there was always the omnipresent fear that, come the end, the family would come over, a’caroling.   We always hoped it wouldn’t be so.  Just drop the cookies and be on your way! Kthxbye! Were we bad people?

Are people still caroling out there, or did it stop and then reemerge as of late? A few years back, one of our more enthusiastic neighbors wanted to carol around the neighborhood. Either we missed it or it didn’t happen, memory fails, but needless to say I was tempted.  Why not?  I actually like Christmas music!  But do I want to annoy others and have them awkwardly stand there as I sing, not knowing what to do with their hands?  Probably not.

Is there ironic caroling? Well, if you’re in NYC and you want to order carolers at your next soiree, you can choose “Hipster Carolers.” Yep, you did it again, New York!

That’s them, on the upper left hand corner. Can’t you tell from their Converse All Stars, stripes, and the wacky hat on the fat guy in the back? The other ones are, clockwise, Victorian carolers, “USO Style Trio,” and Evening Quartet. You can tell it’s evening cuz the fellas have their ties loosened and the ladies have slipped into something a bit more comfortable.

Speaking of hipster carolers, you have got to watch this.  I LOL-ed.  Repeatedly.

Today’s Xmas song of the day made me think about caroling.  Duh.  Why, cuz it’s the song I usually use to pretend that I’m caroling for friends and loved ones.  High-larious, right?  Here are Renee & Jeremy with “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

This song is from their Christmas Album, Sunny Christmas.

So I just read that Renee & Jeremy are an “indie children’s music duo.”  Wow, so that’s a thing?  I was always just banking on having any little ohbriggsy’s listen to They Might Be Giants kids songs only.

For today’s update, like a caroler engaging in a marathon session of caroling, I ate my way around the city and the country this year like an eating machine.  Check me out!

I went to Portland in March!  I had this awesome breakfast at Ken’s Artisan Bakery.

I ate a sandwich at Kenny & Zukes.  It was delicious.

Double S and I ate chaat from this food cart.

In May, we went to NYC.  I visited my old nabe.

I had amazing kimchi jjigae at Natural Tofu House in Queens.

This was the hottest substance on earth.

I ate Peruvian food in Park Slope.  Love those sauces.

We ate pizza, of course.

We stumbled into bars in Soho and drank white wine in the afternoon.

In June, we went to Chicago.  I made my long awaited sojourn to Rick Bayless’s restaurants.  We started at XOCO, whilst we waited two hours to be seated at Frontera Grill.  The salsa was amazeballs and the canned local midwestern beer didn’t disappoint.

Once we finally got our seat at Frontera Grill, we had some awesome dishes.  Like this tuna ceviche with mangos and fresh chips.

We also ate this mole.

We ate Korean BBQ late one night, as it is meant to be eaten.  Real, honest to goodness Korean BBQ cooked on charcoal.  It was incredible.

Then I went to St. Louis.  My uncle fried this fish in his tricked out turkey fryer gas grill thing.  Seriously, best fried fish ever.

Then I went to the Lake of the Ozarks with my parents.  For non St. Louis area residents, this is kind of a thing.  We ate at Stewart’s.  I got a novelty shirt that lauds the fact that they have the Biggest Buns at the Lake.  It’s about their ginormous cinnamon buns, of course!Hardy har har!

My mom’s holding the leftover bun!

Then on my flight back to Seattle, we spotted Anne Burrell at O’Hare.

You can tell by the way she is clutching her phone that she was super psyched for this moment.

Later in the summer, we roadtripped to Yosemite National Park.  In southern Oregon, we had these fried pickles.

And Umpqua ice cream at a popular little roadside stand.

We hit up the Rogue Creamery on our way south.  So good.

In San Francisco, we went to Swan Oyster Depot.  My man David Chang called it the best restaurant in the US.  We had these oysters.

And this Italian style sashimi.  So effing good!

This sign was in the restroom.

We also went to Incanto, the restaurant of Top Chef Masters winner Chris Cosentino.  We had this tomato risotto that was unlike anything I had ever tasted.  It was like eating the essence of everything that a tomato can and should be, at the height of the summer  The pesto was made from blanched leaves from the tomato plant.  I gotta try to make it this summer.

I also had the best Italian sandwich I’ve had in quite some time.  At Molinari’s.

We went to Arizmendi for baked goods.  I love that place!

I also continued my quest to eat XLBs (aka soupy dumplings) in every city I go to.

Back in Seattle, I continued to eat.  I took my parents to the market.  Cliched, yes.  But fun!

Double S and I also went to An Incredible Feast.  Boy howdy was that amazing!  La Boucherie’s pork dish was my favorite.

And I finally visited one of Tom Douglas’s restaurants.  I was a newbie to his empire here.  We went to Serious Pie.

And I finally had the coconut pie.  Holy crap.  Best dessert ever?  Maybe.

Mmm, coconut pie and beer…

Alright, a look at what I ate this year and a Christmas song?  Pretty sweet!

Renee & Jeremy…We Wish You A Merry Christmas