Christmas is four days away, and I’m curled up in my pajamas with several inches of show outside. My best friend and I are spending this snowy December day experimenting with vegan cookie recipes at her parent’s home in the Chicago suburbs.

"Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar" Cookbook, photo by smalltowngirl

Our cookbook [...]]]>

photo by smalltowngirl

Christmas is four days away, and I’m curled up in my pajamas with several inches of show outside. My best friend and I are spending this snowy December day experimenting with vegan cookie recipes at her parent’s home in the Chicago suburbs.

"Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar" Cookbook, photo by smalltowngirl

Our cookbook of choice today is “Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar,” and the first recipe we’re trying is for Peanut Apple Pretzel Drops. Peanut Apple Pretzel Drops include, among other things, dehydrated apple slices, crushed pretzels, crushed peanuts, flaxseed, and cinnamon.

Apples and Pretzels, photo by smalltowngirl

Neither of us are accustomed to cooking in her mom’s oven, so our first batch turned out a little bit crispy on the bottom.

Oops.

Crispy, photo by smalltowngirl

We were able to salvage the top half of each cookie in the first batch, and the second batch turned out well.

Road trips to Chicago to see friends is one of the many things that I’m beginning to see as an advantage to life in the Midwest. Our day together involved Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies and Cranberry Walnut Thumbprints, too. You’ll have to wait until tomorrow to hear about those though. Happy Holidays!

For months, friends have encouraged me to visit Washington, Missouri. Many of those friends have also recommended eating a slice of pie at Cowan’s.  I should listen to the advice of friends more often.

First of all, Cowan’s has a groovy florescent pie for a sign outside. Where else in small town [...]]]>

Homemade Pie, photo by smalltowngirl

For months, friends have encouraged me to visit Washington, Missouri. Many of those friends have also recommended eating a slice of pie at Cowan’s.  I should listen to the advice of friends more often.

First of all, Cowan’s has a groovy florescent pie for a sign outside. Where else in small town Missouri can you find a light-up pie?

Pie in the Sky, photo by smalltowngirl

Second of all, Cowan’s is super-comfortable and low-key on the inside. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the restaurant is small and informal.

Cowan's, photo by smalltowngirl

Most importantly though, this place has some killer pie.

Mmmm, photo by smalltowngirl's mom

The next time you’re in Washington, Missouri, do yourself a favor and go to Cowan’s for a slice of pie. Actually, buy two slices and bring me one on your way home. Cowan’s gets a big, fat smalltowngirl stamp of approval.

Coffee and Pie, photo by smalltowngirl

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Cowan’s Restaurant is located at 114 Elm Street in downtown Washington, Missouri. To learn more about Cowan’s, check out their website.

I don’t even like candy corn, but I liked this candy corn. I took these cupcakes to work with me, and they were gone almost immediately.

Behold, the tastiest corny creation this side [...]]]> MilliGCornilicious is at it again, this time bringing the corny to the kitchen via spice cupcakes with traditional white icing and pumpkin spice candy corn.

I don’t even like candy corn, but I liked this candy corn. I took these cupcakes to work with me, and they were gone almost immediately.

Behold, the tastiest corny creation this side of the Mississippi so far in November:

Candy Corn Cupcakes, baked and photographed by smalltowngirl

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More Corniness from MilliGFunkyCorn:

My Corn on the Cob Makes the News

Me, Contemplating Corn

Corn at the Apple Butter Festival

Kaldi’s is one of two coffee companies in St. Louis that I’m aware of that roasts its own beans (Northwest [...]]]> Friends and colleagues of mine know that I’m a coffee drinker, and several of them have recommended Kaldi’s Coffee to me  since I moved back to Missouri. On Friday, I gave it a shot (har, har, har…)

Kaldi’s is one of two coffee companies in St. Louis that I’m aware of that roasts its own beans (Northwest Coffee is the other). Kaldi’s also has delictable sweet treats and lots of vegetarian food options for full meals.

I ordered a black bean burrito and cozied into a table near a window, ready to upload and edit the 200+ photos I’d taken at work that morning in Shaw Park. When the barista called my name to give me my burrito, this is it said:

My Name is Not Alyssa, photo by smalltowngirl

For those of you who know me only as smalltowngirl or @milligfunk, I’ll fill you in on a secret; my name is not Alyssa.

That said, the coffee, the burrito and the cookie I got for desert (a giant one with chocolate chunks) were all good, and I really liked the no-wireless-internet, authentic-coffee-shop feel of Kaldi’s.

Kudos to local, independent businesses, even if they decorate their burritos with the wrong name.

Baylee Jo’s BBQ & Grill is quite possibly some of the best food I’ve had since moving home. I had a bbq pork sandwich and curly fries. I expected the sandwich to be pulled pork, but it wasn’t. It was sliced pork, and it was really, really good.

smalltowngirl w/mountain lion decor, photo by smalltowngirl's friend

Baylee Jo’s BBQ & Grill is quite possibly some of the best food I’ve had since moving home. I had a bbq pork sandwich and curly fries. I expected the sandwich to be pulled pork, but it wasn’t. It was sliced pork, and it was really, really good.

Baylee Jo's BBQ, photo by smalltowngirl

My friends got BBQ beef, baked pototos, stuffed jalapenos, and hamburgers. Everyone raved about the food. After a long day of swimming and playing at Johnson Shut-Ins, ice cream was a non-negotiable, so we all enjoyed soft serve twist cones, as well.

My favorite part of Baylee Jo’s though was the mountain lion pelt, though the giant bottle of Heinz ketchup was almost as amusing. Some days I’m reminded very blatently that I’m not in New York City anymore. And you know what? Some days I’m totally okay with that.

Beauty in the BBQ Sign, photo by smalltowngirl

Baylee Jo’s BBQ & Grill is located in Arcadia Valley, MO on State Hwy 21. For more on Baylee Jo’s, check out their website: http://www.bayleejosbbq.com/

Missouri’s spring showers have been a welcome home, of sorts, after ten years away, missing the storms that Missouri is [...]]]> One of my favorite things in the whole world is a good thunderstorm, and since I’ve been back in Missouri, there has been no shortage of good ones. Nearly every day, storms have blown through our area.

Missouri’s spring showers have been a welcome home, of sorts, after ten years away, missing the storms that Missouri is well-known for.

Another kind of shower came up this weekend, as a close family friend and her husband (also a long time friend of mine) prepare for the birth of their first baby, due July 20th. My mom and I threw the mom-to-be a baby shower on Saturday for them.

My mom made every invitation and every party favor by hand from scratch, matching everything to the baby’s brown and blue nursery decorations. I followed suit with chocolate fudge mini cupcakes with blue mint icing topped with miniature chocolate chips.

Chocolate Fudge Mini Cupcakes with Blue Mint Icing and Mini Chocolate Chips, cupcakes and photos by smalltowngirl

Whether it’s rain showers or baby showers, seems Missouri has welcomed me back with much adue. I felt really good about being home again after all these years to be present for these special days in the lives of my friends. Now if we can just do something about these rain showers…

When the ex-boy called to see if I wanted to get together one last time before my move, it seemed like a good opportunity to check out Almondine.

(@andrearosen gets a mini-credit for unintentionally inspiring this trip with [...]]]> Almondine

Among Brooklyn’s most well-known eateries is Almondine, a patisserie in DUMBO known for it’s baguettes and pastries.

When the ex-boy called to see if I wanted to get together one last time before my move, it seemed like a good opportunity to check out Almondine.

(@andrearosen gets a mini-credit for unintentionally inspiring this trip with a tweet this morning about Almondine’s stuffed pretzels.)

The food was tasty. I had tomato and spinach soup, a grilled vegetable sandwich, and some sort of blue cheese that tasted great broken up into my mixed greens salad.

For desert, Jeff and I split a coffee and a fruit eclair that vaguely resembled a footlong sub, only in miniature and with fruit, not deli meat. As good as the real food was, the eclair kind of made me wish we’d just skipped lunch and gone straight for sharing deserts.

I can now cross Almondine off my NYC to-do, to-see, to-eat list. While I don’t think that St. Louis is without good bakeries, I would guess that this one is a notch above, so the final score on Almondine:

NY = 1; MO = 0.

Empty coffee cups at Almondine
Photo by smalltowngirl

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On the bright side, my ex doesn’t live in Missouri, so I won’t have to make decisions about whether to see him once I’m gone. Every time I see him it gets a little easier, but it’s still awfully hard. On the ex-boy front, the score is:

NY = 0; MO = 1

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As an addendum to the “I like your boots” story, I owe MO an apology for under-estimating its supply of cobblers.

My mother kindly informed me that my hometown has a large shoe repair and boot shop now. I no longer feel pressured to have my boots fixed before I leave town.

Thanks, Mom!
NY = 1; MO = 1

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And, finally, I’ve been assuming that MO would get the cow credit over NYC. How wrong I was.

This photo, taken on our walk back from DUMBO today, is evidence that this midwest ain’t the only cow country ’round these parts. Where cows, go, I’m sure rural MO will have more real ones, but I have to give NYC a point for trying…

NY = 1; MO = 1smalltowngirl with cow
Brooklyn, NY
Photo by the ex-boy