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St. Louis Cellars

March 11, 2010 in Eating and Drinking, Missouri, St. Louis County, MO | No comments

Wines, photo by MilliGFunk

Angela Ortmann of @StLWineGirl was kind enough to take me as her guest to a St. Louis Cellars Wine Club event in February, and I had a great time.

photo by MilliGFunk

St. Louis Cellars only carries wines that are $20 or less per bottle, and they have some really fun labels in stock. Some of my favorites were a line of wines that had rock & roll labels (Pink Floyd, etc.). As I looked at the rock & roll labels, I couldn’t help but think of the friends those bottles would make good gifts for.

The label in the next picture made me think of the beef I had a year or so ago with Metro Mix St. Louis for listing a prime rib buffet as an “event” in St. Louis. If my dad were a wine drinker, this bottle would be for him:

Beef, photo by MilliGFunk

I think my brother – with his penchant for monster movies and old school science fiction – would really appreciate the Big Red Monster label:

Big Red Monster, photo by MilliGFunk

The St. Louis Cellars folks are super nice, and are a great resource if you need help choosing a wine to pair with a specific meal or to give as a gift. The Cellars carries a variety of cheeses, wine accessories, and foods as well, so the next time you’re in Maplewood, I really do suggest stopping in. St. Louis Cellars takes some of the snobbery out of wines, and for that, this small town girl offers her accolades.

St. Louis Cellars is located at 2640 Big Bend Boulevard in Maplewood, Missouri. Hours of operation are Monday-Thursday 10:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 10:30 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Visit St. Louis Cellars online. Follow St. Louis Cellars on twitter.

St. Louis Wine Girl Angela Ortmann offers fantastic courses and tastings that make wine approachable for everyone. I highly recommend trying one of her tastings, offered at various venues in and around St. Louis. Visit Angela online. Follow Angela on twitter.

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Note:  All photos were taken with my Blackberry Storm, rather than my usual Fuji Finepix DSLR, and some clarity is lacking as a result.

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More posts on Maplewood, Missouri:

Maplewood Arts Walk

Maplewood Arts Walk I: Joining a Dance Troup

Maplewood, Missouri

St. Louis Area WiFi Hotspots

Foundation Grounds Coffee

St. Louis and Social Media

NYC Food Lover Lost in SEMO

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Washington State Park: Petroglyphs

March 10, 2010 in Missouri, Missouri State Parks, Washington County, MO | 1 comment

Small town Missouri simply doesn’t stop surprising me. On a recent visit to Washington State Park in DeSoto, Missouri, I learned that Missouri is home to 500-2,000-year-old petroglyphs created by Native Americans. Washington State Park is one of only two parks in Missouri that holds such carvings. The Missouri State Parks website says that the carvings were likely created at around 1,000 A.D.

I’m no expert on rock carvings or Native American history, so my perspective on these petroglyphs is 100% laymen; these things are rockin’. (I’m so clever, hehe). According to mostateparks.org, Washington State Park is home to the largest group of petroglyphs in Missouri, and helped earn the park a place on the National Register of Historic Places.

I’m accustomed to Missouri’s State Parks having good trails, nice fishing areas, and even camp sites. I truly had no idea that any of our parks had petroglyphs, and I drive past Washington State Park as often as two or three times per week.

If you’re interested in learning more about Missouri State Parks and the petroglyhps in Washington State Park, I recommend taking a look at the Missouri State Parks homepage.

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A Good Day for smalltowngirlsguide.com

March 10, 2010 in Appreciating Friends and Family, Having Fun, Missouri, St. Charles County, MO | 2 comments

Last Friday was a good day for my site:

1. The St. Charles Community website offered a nice lead-in to my post on Picasso’s Coffee House in St. Charles.

2. The Cuba Mural Project blog wrote an post about me, linking to my post on the Cuba, MO Race to the Rocker, a 4-mile road race culminating at the world’s largest rocking chair.

3. My wonderful mom created this card for me, directing many, many readers from her successful paper crafting blog to smalltowngirlsguide.com.

Thank you St. Charles Community, Cuba Mural Project, and MommaG for making Friday a very good day for smalltowngirlsguide!

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St. Louis Cardinals and Jack in the Box

March 8, 2010 in Having Fun, Missouri, St. Charles County, MO | 1 comment

Happy Spring Training, St. Louis Cardinals Fans. This picture, taken at a Jack in the Box in Weldon Spring, Missouri, is for you:

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Good Place for a Cell Phone Tower

March 6, 2010 in Having Fun, Washington County, MO | 2 comments

Tires screeching, I pulled a U-ey on State Highway C in Belgrade, Missouri this afternoon to get a photo of this sign.

Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but it’s not far from the truth. When I saw this sign, I immediately found a driveway in which to turn around.

This small town landowner knows how to make light of life in rural Missouri…

Good Place, photo by MilliGFunk

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Picasso’s Coffee House in Old St. Charles, Missouri

March 5, 2010 in Eating and Drinking, St. Charles County, MO | 1 comment

Picasso's Coffee House, photo by MilliGFunk

Work required me to travel to St. Charles yesterday, so I took advantage of the opportunity to have a quick cup of coffee in Historic Downtown St. Charles with my friend Elizabeth (@ekcutshall) and two of her three kiddos.

I went to college in a very old Louisiana river town, so I’m no stranger to rod iron railings and brick streets along a river. My college town’s historic district was three blocks long, though, while St. Charles’ brick streets continue for blocks and blocks, with beautiful buildings lining both sides of the street. Most of the buildings appeared to house shops, bars and restaurants, so I assume that an entire day could be spent window shopping and dining in Old St. Charles.

Apparently the Katy Trail –  a 300 mile bicycle path – runs through Old St. Charles, too, so a long bike ride, shopping and eating great food undoubtedly lies in my not-too-distant future.

Elizabeth and I met at Picasso’s Coffee House, St. Charles’ expert on the ‘art of coffee’,  on North Main Street. They exclusively serve coffee roasted in the St. Louis area, their breakfast menu is catered from LaBonne Bouchee Bakery, and they offer a full lunch menu from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.  In the evenings, Picasso’s serves wines, beers, and its famous Masterpiece Martini. The cafe itself is clean but creative, artsy but warm.

I may be forgetting to mention the most important part about Picasso’s: it’s coffee. I ordered my usual skim latte, and I was impressed. The temperature was just right, the coffee was smooth, and the milk had great flavor.

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Picasso’s Coffee House is located at 101 North Main Street in Historic St. Charles, Missouri. To read more about St. Louis-area coffee shops, check out my October 2009 post on wifi and coffee in The ‘Lou. To learn more about Picasso’s, visit their website.

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Small Town Girl’s 1 Year Anniversary

March 2, 2010 in Having Faith, Missouri, NYC | 5 comments

Today was my remarkably unremarkable one-year anniversary in my small town Missouri job. Coincidentally, I’m wearing the same Columbia fleece tonight that I’m wearing in this post, written the day I moved from Brooklyn, New York back to rural Missouri last February.

In my first year back in my home state, I’ve learned…

1. That the first year is only the beginning. I came here hoping for new and great professional and personal challenges. Boy oh boy, have I met them. And as the first year ends, I’m not over the hump yet…I know that year #2 is going to teach me, mold me, and refine me even more. Bring it on, second year…I’m ready for you.

2. That you can’t romanticize the past. (See my letter to New York.)

3. That my family is rockin’. I seriously can’t imagine having parents who are any more supportive, loving and understanding than mine are.

4. That the midwest does not, contrary to popular NYC opinion, make you fat.

5. That country music ain’t so bad.

6. That a big city, overly-educated woman can learn a helluva lot from a small town, life-educated man.

7. That small town Missouri has a lot going for it. A year into this blog, I’m doing anything but running out of fodder to write about. For each new post I publish, I have ideas for several more. And my readers and twitter friends are constantly making great suggestions for places I’ve not seen or heard about yet.

8. That persistence pays off – a year ago I hoped to someday be published, so I started writing and doing photography for smalltowngirlsguide.com. Now I’m writing and doing photography regularly for two magazines, and seeing opportunities arise to either guest blog or be the subject of other people’s blogs.

9. That the great social media experiment worked – I wondered if I could use SM to minimize the geographic space between me and my friends/colleagues in other cities. Social media can’t replace real-life interactions, but it can certainly help to maintain relationships at a distance.

10. That my marketing and social media ideas for nonprofits work. A year into the first NPO job where I’ve had significant responsibility, decision-making power, and strategic influence, I’m seeing real, tangible results.

For better or for worse, it’s been one hell of a year.

To anyone who’s venturing out into a new endeavor,  making a life change, or seeking the courage to try a new path, consider yourself encouraged. My first year in Missouri has brought every challenge and opportunity I had hoped that it would…and more. Much, much more. But the first year is only the beginning.

Take chances. Make the harder decision. Challenge yourself. It’ll be worth it, I promise.

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The Blue Owl (Kimmswick, Missouri)

February 28, 2010 in Eating and Drinking, Missouri, Small Missouri Towns, mo | 1 comment

I was a lot more excited to write about The Blue Owl before I became violently ill last week with a stomach bug that made it impossible to sit up at a computer, much less write about food. Seven days later, and finally feeling well again, I’m here to tell you about Kimmswick, Missouri’s infamous restaurant and bakery.

The Blue Owl, photo by milligfunk

The town of Kimmswick is one hundred and one years old. It’s a well-restored and historic Mississippi River town that’s created a brand for itself in the St. Louis Area.

Especially during the holidays, there’s no small town in the St. Louis area that’s established itself as a holiday crafts and shopping destination quite the way Kimmswick has.

Famous for its gooey butter cookies, sky-high pies, homemade apple butter, white chili and its waitresses in their ruffled blue aprons, the Blue Owl is a requisite meal stop for visitors to Kimmswick.

Food for Five, photo by milligfunk

Last Saturday I had lunch there for the first time, and I wasn’t disappointed. Nor were the four people dining with me. Our meal choices ranged from chicken salad croissantwiches to tropical salads, and each of us was pleased with our food.

Desserts, photo by milligfunk

Our waitress, who’s name I’ve forgotten, was nothing short of a menu-reciting artist. She named the dozens of cakes and pies on the menu in a fashion not unlike that of a fast-talking auctioneer. When she was finished naming The Blue Owl’s desserts, the five of us sat dumbfounded. How to decide??

Between all of us, we could only name two of the desserts she’d listed, so we walked to The Blue Owl’s bakery to weigh our options. We chose red velvet cake, turtle cheesecake, death by chocolate and Snickers pie, and not one of us was disappointed.

The next time you’re near Kimmswick, this small town girl suggests you stop into The Blue Owl for a bowl of white chili and a piece of cake or pie. Or maybe you should start with the pie. Just a thought.

The Blue Owl is located in Historic Kimmswick, Missouri at the corner of Mill and 2nd Streets, and can be found online at www.theblueowl.com.

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More posts on Kimmswick, MO:

Bacon Rinds

The Best 12 Inches in the Midwest

Please, Feed the Animals

Apple Butter Festival Train

The Perfect Gift

Kimmswick Apple Butter Festival

Baetje Farms

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Race to the Rocker – Cuba, Missouri

February 20, 2010 in Crawford County, Missouri | 3 comments

This is amazing:

Cuba, Missouri, home of the largest rocking chair in the world (which I blogged about last summer), has a 4-mile road race that ends at the giant rocking chair. The race will be held on March 27th, 2010.

@meghoulihan @jenn_if_er and @soleilune have been my inspiration lately as I’ve started training for my first half marathon. I ran four miles for the first time last Monday, and I ran five for the first time last night.

I see LOTS of road races in St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, but most of the small town, MO races are 1-mile fun runs or 5Ks. The Race to the Rocker is so totally up my ally…

I mean seriously – It’s a road race in a small central Missouri town that ends at a 40-foot rocking chair. It doesn’t get much better than that. So am I gonna run it? Absolutely.

Race to the Rocker, here I come.

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To see my Summer 2009 post on the World’s Largest Rocking Chair, click here.

For more information on Race to the Rocker, click here.

To download a Race to the Rocker registration form, click here.

Are you interested in running the Race to the Rocker? Let me know so that we can meet before or after the race!

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Recap: Casa Gallardo Tweet-Up

February 19, 2010 in Having Fun, Missouri, St. Louis, St. Louis County, MO, Tweet-Ups | 2 comments

Photo credit: Dave Mills (@versadave)

Since I live and work so far from St. Louis, I try to organize tweet-ups when I know I’ll be in or near the city and will have free time after work. Friday, February 12th was one of those days. Since everal St. Louis-area tweeps live in West County St. Louis or in St. Charles County, and many of us also work in or near West County, the 2/12 tweet-up was held at Casa Gallardo in Westport Plaza.

Check out Todd Jordan’s recap post here, and you can see @versadave’s tweet-up photos here.

Today’s #FollowFriday blog is for the folks who came out to Casa for last Friday’s tweet-up: @tojosan @nanna_j @versadave @sgthotpants @donhead @stlconciergeguy @jeffreystrauss, @jeffreystrauss’s wife, and @versadave’s two adorable kiddos. You all made this Small Town Girl’s Friday night a lot of fun!

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