Forks & Corks: A Benefit for Harvesters

Last night, a record-setting 2,700 guests sampled delicacies from nearly 60 local restaurants and beverage purveyors who joined Harvesters to fight hunger at their annual fundraiser, Forks & Corks.  We were among the 2,700!

There are a lot of great organizations right here in Kansas City, and Harvesters is one of them.  Since 1979, they've been providing food to the hungry, as the areas only food bank.   I have volunteered with them in the past, sorting donated food or stuffing backpacks for school kids, and thought the Forks & Corks event would be a great way to support them...and try some new food at the same time!

The event started at 6:30pm.  We got our tickets from will-call at about 6:28, and rushed the line to be one of the first 20 or so people in the door.  We were hungry!

   

Not knowing what exactly we were getting ourselves in to, we started grabbing food as quickly as possible.  Bad move.  We kind of looked over the map of vendors and had a semi-game plan before hand, but that all went out the window with all the amazing looking foods right under our noses.

Some of our favorites (in no particular order):

The Drum Room

Gram & Dun

Best Regards Bakery

Zebra Room

Lidia's

Frida's

Andres.  Best desserts ever.

The last thing we tried was a lemon meringue pie from Argosy casino.  It was SO awful that we both rushed to the nearest wine vendor.  Thank goodness for Ed Hardy Sangria.  I was honestly about to gag from the aftertaste of that...  And it was really about one of the only things I had all night that I didn't like.

We didn't take pictures of alot of the foods that we really enjoyed.  But I bet we tried probably 80% of the food vendors there...before we felt like this...

We ate just a little too much...

Atchison, KS

How have I lived so close to Atchison, KS, for so long and never ventured there?

Well, that changed this weekend.  Matt took me for my first visit!

(Sorry for the awful, blurry pictures.  I was a little car sick and most of them were taken while driving...) 

After living in San Antonio and then St. Louis, THIS is where he lived for the middle school through college years.  (Slight downgrade, if you ask me. ;) )  We have been wanting to go there for a "date night" for months now, and since his best friend from high school was in town this weekend, we finally made it happen.

First stop:  the river.  I thought it was going to be really pretty, so I asked to stop and get out for some pictures...

Just a muddy river.  Not bad, though.

Stop #2:  his first and second homes in Atchison.

Next stop:  the Benedictine campus (where he went to college)

(The church at St. Benedict's Abbey on campus)

(new building on campus)

(cool look-out spot at the edge of campus)

We found this (above) in the hallway of one of the dorms.  It's a picture of St. Christopher and St. Matthew that his parents donated in their honor.  Pretty cool. :)

The tour of the whole campus didn't take too long.  I just can't image going to such a small college in a small town, but Matt assures me it was awesome.  And I'm not knocking it -- I'm sure it was!  There is a lot of history there, it's a beautiful area, and the old buildings that have been restored are really cool.  It just blew my mind that you could walk from your dorm room to virtually all of your classes in a couple of minutes...and know almost everyone on campus.  I remember practically running from one end of campus to the other (at K-State) to make it to my next class in 20 minutes -- and not seeing a single person I knew along the way!

After seeing the campus and touring some buildings, we went to meet his best friend from high school, Tyson, who was in town before his big move to Japan.  He just happend to be outside shooting his bow in the yard.  (Who has a bow just for fun??) With a quick lesson, Matt almost hit the bullseye!

Tyson requested that we eat at Mueller's Lockeroom, which supposedly has the best wings...in the world, if you ask them.  Since it is just bar food, we went there for the wings as an appetizer, and decided to go somewhere just a little more nice for dinner. 

I was the only one who hadn't ever had the wings before, so all eyes were on me as I took my first bite.  I'm not a huge wing fan, and I don't have much to compare them to, but I had to agree with them.  They were pretty dang good.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of our hands covered in sauce after we devoured them. :)

Matt, me, Sarah, and Ty - eating wings at Mueller's in Atchison

We did a little bar hopping in Atchison and ended up at Willie's Sports Pub for dinner, which I guess was a step up from Mueller's. ;)  But it wasn't the food that mattered.  We really had a great time getting to catch up with Tyson and Sarah - and we'll hopefully be visiting them in Japan soon!

(And Atchison, KS, is now officially checked off my list.)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My mom turned...29...on Sunday.  And the one thing she loves more than anything is to have "all of her chickens together,"  so that is just what we did.  It took some negotiating, but we all settled on brunch at Granite City, followed by an excurstion to the Overland Park Arboretum (her second favorite thing is looking at flowers).

Grandma loooves her two grand-babies!!



The best birthday present:  EVERYONE TOGETHER!



The weather was questionable that day, but the rain held off until we left the arboretum.  Unfortunately, we are a little early for too many flowers, but I'm pretty sure my mom thoroughly enjoyed the family time regardless!

The one present we agreed to get her was a new phone.  She has had her old razor flip phone for waaay too long.  An upgrade was definitely in order.  I talked her in to the Samsung Brightside since she is stuck with Verizon in Great Bend, but had to leave her right away to come back to work. 

About an hour later, I got a phone call. 

"I have no idea how I got you, but somehow I figured out how to find your number." 

Thinking texting might be easier since it has a full keyboard on it, I sent a text and said, "Have you figured out how to text yet?" 

This is what I got back: "Mmon6om" 

Ha, I'll take that as a no. :)

San Antonio (Sunday)

(in pictures...and a few words, for now)

Woke up to Easter baskets from Mimi...

Ate breakfast, got ready, and went to mass.  Happy Easter!  Chrurch was crowded, but we got there early enough for seats in the back.  Lots of people standing.

Met Matt's uncle down at Mexian market for lunch at Mi Tierra...

Had some fun with Cascarones...

Listened to some live music...during our hour long wait for food...

Restaurant was also a bakery...and decorated to a T...

After lunch,  drove to Starving Artists art show, just off the riverwalk area in the La Villita area...

Didn't find anything too exciting, so we walked to a mall at the Riverwalk to look for Spurs t-shirts.  Cop said it was "two blocks" away.  We either missed a turn, or it was the longest two blocks of my life...

No Spurs gear.  Most of the mall was closed for Easter Sunday.  Headed to Chinese Tea Gardens by the San Antonio zoo.  Park was PACKED with people having bbq's and picnics...

Went back to the house to hang with Mimi and pack-up before heading to the airport...

Got to the airport and ... flight delayed.  Of course.  Why didn't we check that before we left the house?

Now going to miss connection in Dallas, and didn't think we were going to make it home that night...

Finally left San Antonio, and literally ran to our gate in Dallas to see if we could catch the next plane leaving for KC...

Surprise!  It's delayed, too.  And there are 50 people on standby for the flight...

We made it on the flight...

And got home at 1:48am.  Work the next day was not fun...