Life in the Mind of a Modest Genius

The Team Trivia Experience

My soror Andrea hit me up with a message at work Monday asking about an event the Science Center was having.  It seems every month they sponsor a Sci After Five function where it's Team Trivia.  You can get up a group of up to 9 people to square off against other teams to test your trivia knowledge.  It was short notice, but I was down.  If there was one thing I liked doing, it was making good use of my vat of useless trivia.

Since it was October, their theme for this month was Halloween. That meant folks would be coming in costume.  I was arriving straight from work so no costume for me.  Andrea came up with the idea of wearing our paraphernalia and we could be the team of Green and Gold, but there wasn't enough time for me to go home to get a shirt.  Therefore, both of us just had on our gear from the work day.  If anyone bothered to ask (which they didn't, of course), our costume was supposed to be People with Jobs.

They had a contest for the folks who did bother to show up in costume.  The entrants were a little shabby as they displayed little imagination.  One guy was dressed in all white complete with white make-up and called himself the walk guy from the 'walk/don't walk' sign.  It probably would have worked better if he didn't have long hippy hair and glasses.  I don't recall the walk/don't walk guy looking like that.  The best one there was this gal who was the spitting image of Amelia Earhart and she never even entered the contest.  She missed her chance to win the prize of one whopping ticket to the IMAX.

As far as the triva itself, the categories had me a little worried from the jump.  Two of the ten categories dealt with science.  That was my weakest subject in school.  It turned out it wasn't Andreas's forte either.  We didn't fare so hot on a vast majority of those questions in both of those categories.  We lucked up on some of them, but pretty much bombed them overall.  We learned quickly that when November rolls around, it would be in our best interest to have another individual who excels in that area.

One of the categories was "Horror Movie Villains".  If there was one area where I knew I could nail it, that was it.  Unfortunately, so could everyone else.  The questions were WAY too simple.  They basically just showed slides of the villain WITH the name over the picture and all you had to do was name the movie they came from.  They could have at least made it challenging and asked questions about the horror movie villains origins.

Where they messed up was when the showed the picture of zombies and all it had above it was "Zombies".  That could have been any dozen of movies.  What they were looking was was "28 Days Later".  I argued that the answer should have technically been "Night of the Living Dead".  Since several flicks could have applied anyway, the answer should have been George Romero's classic which started the whole zombie craze.  Not that it would have mattered if we got it right or not though.  By that time we were so far out of the running that it made little difference.

I did find out some interesting things that I can now add to my trivial bank.  Things like a chicken can live 18 months without i's head (Mike the Headless Wonder Chicken).  Or that American's on the average spend $44 for Halloween candy.  Or that our state insect is a ladybug.  I didn't even know there was such a thing as a state insect.  Most of all though, I learned that the next time we do that, it would be most beneficial to have folks with diverse knowledge to better our odds.  Maybe then we wouldn't come in 8th place out of 10 teams.  But at least it wasn't last.

Farmers Market with the Shorties

Last Saturday, I had to cut thru downtown to run some morning errands.  I had forgotten that it wasn't yet late enough for the Farmers Market to be over.  It didn't mean you couldn't drive thru downtown, it just meant that it was a little more difficult.  There are only certain cross streets where cars allowed thru, but that was enough for Elijah to see the huge crowd and the scene.  It was his suggestion we hit it this past Saturday for our latest activity.

I'm going to try something a little different with this post.  Instead of creating another photo album with the pictures from our trip, I'm putting them right in the post itself to comment on them.  Besides, I'm still not so sure folks even look at my photo albums anyway.  This way, you have no choice.  HA!  But seriously, you can click on the small thumbnails of the photos to see the larger versions.

I noticed the set up was exactly the same as it was when I went there a few weeks back.  All of the  vendors were in the exact same spots.  That's why I was surprised that the burrito place, Three Nations Restaurant, wasn't where I remembered it.  It wasn't anywhere to be found.  This place looked to be the closest version to it.  Their breakfast burritos did look extremely good, but they were too big for me.  You can't walk around with that and eat it.  You have to sit down and the only seats available were the curb.  That was a pass for me.

This guy was conspicuously absent on my last visit to the Market.  I'm certain I would have remembered him on top of his soap box shouting out his version of the Gospel to all of us Market-goers who were walking by.  I know the place was all about diversity,but that particular guy just seemed out of place.  And it wasn't just him.  It turns out he was tag teaming with some other guy who had the same shirt on but the red version.  When one was talking, the other would sit there intently listening to the other.  So it pretty much seemed like they were their own audience.

Everyone and their mom seemed to be bringing their dogs out to this weekly Saturday morning event.  That's why I didn't have a problem with Mariah bringing that little dog she just got (although the dog apparently needs more practice at walking on a leash).  These two were the spitting image of Makea's dog Maddie.  G saw them and immediately pointed out that they were Maddie's family.  Of course now it dawns on me that you all have no idea how accurate that is since I've never shown a pic of Maddie out here.  Well trust me, she looks like both of these dogs.

How did I miss this the last time I went down there?  There were so many vendors that were working the kettle corn angle that I overlooked the gourmet popcorn.  It was Elijah and Mariah that noticed it.  Mariah wanted some kettle corn and went to this vendor.  That's when Elijah saw all the signs and wanted to try the carmel apple popcorn.  I LOVE carmel apple popcorn!  I can just never find it in stores anywhere.  I would come to Farmers Market EVERY Saturday just for that.  As matter of fact, I should have stocked up and gotten bigger bags from them so they could last longer.

There were more than a fair share of performers down there as usual and they were were all interesting in their own unique way.  One corner had a group on the kettle drums complete with their own choreography.  One corner was some guy in his late 30s on the acoustic guitar singing songs which he needed a cheat sheet for the words.  One was a band of borderline senior citizen folks singing folk songs with their lead singer confined to a wheelchair.  Then there was this guy singing his own version of Journey's cut "Don't Stop Believin".  It led me to believe that no one should be allowed to even THINK about covering that song if they don't have Steve Perry type chops.

Our visit there couldn't last too long.  The combination of the heat and boredom eventually got to be too much.  Apparently, I'm the only one who really enjoys the people watching aspect.  Once the temperature continued to escalate and quickly get into the 90s, the shorties had had enough.  Especially G.  You could see him working up a sweat as his frustration started to set in.  It didn't matter to him what the Market had to offer at that point.  He was ready to get out of the heat to do something that would keep him more stimulated.  I couldn't blame any of them.  The Farmer's Market is a good experience for about an hour tops and by then you've definitely had your fill.

Incredible Pizza

There are few things that annoy me more than watching a tv show and seeing a commercial for a place that I want to go to but they don't have it here in Des Moines.  Oh, who am I kidding?  There are several things that annoy me more than that, but it is aggravating nonetheless.  Like how they occasionally tease us with the Dave and Busters spots.  I don't care that it is on a national station.  You don't be playing with my emotions like that.  It's about principalities!

Well somebody somewhere must have gotten tired of not having a Dave and Busters here too because they did something about it.  Almost.  Unfortunately, we didn't get our own Dave and Busters.  What we got instead was its distant cousin twice-removed.  Incredible Pizza is the Des Moines version of the famous food and game place.  It's so new to our fair city (having opened just a few weeks ago) that it wasn't even on my GPS yet.

 I didn't even realize we had something like it until Auntie Ann brought up the idea.  Apparently I wasn't the only one either because other Des Moines friends had never heard of it when I mentioned it.  Its location is the spot where the Albertsons used to be back when that grocery store chain made a brief appearance in the city.  It was big enough to house go-karts, miniature golf, a mini-bowling alley, bumper cars, several video games, buffet and four-themed dining rooms. 

I figured the buffet would just be pretty average since food didn't seem to be what they were accentuating.  The name of the place actually held up though.  Their pizza really was incredible!  The reason probably being that it tasted EXACTLY like Happy Joe's Pizza.  That's always been one of my favorite styles of pizza so I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that.  I could eat Happy Joe's pizza all day.  I know full well I shouldn't, but I'm just saying I could.

The theme of their different dining rooms were all centered around the 50s and 60s.  No clue why because nothing in the game room shared the same motif.  There was one room called the Gymnasium where it had big screen tvs playing the different ESPN channels.  The Drive-in room was entirely dark with a huge screen playing "The Absent Minded Professor".  The Diner was decorated with the classic red leather booths that dominated that era.  Then the Living Room had an old style tv playing a classic black and white episode of "Bewitched". 

Incredible Pizza's best attraction was the go-karts.  They should be for how much they cost to ride.  It was rather impressive that they had two different speeds so kids of all ages could enjoy them.  It also gave me a chance to compete against Elijah in something different for a change.  I almost felt a little bad for him when I ended up beating him after he talked all that trash.  Not near as bad as he probably felt when he ran the slower race with G and ended up losing to him too.  That was the best part.  Watching this little boy who could barely reach the pedals operating that go-kart like a champ!

The entire visit was a little pricey for four people.  They have a rule that everyone is required to buy a buffet when you enter whether you intend or eating or not.  So that was four buffets racked up.  Then there was the cost for the game card for four people.  Luckily, we went on a night where they match whatever you put on the card.  I put down $25 so that we could get $50 worth of games.  Would you believe the four of us went thru that in a little over an hour??

The cost was worth it though.  It was something different that we hadn't done before and everyone had a great time.  In addition, guess what I was able to do as a result?  It just happens to be another phenomenal photo album.  Check it out as Incredible Pizza.  This time there are captions for several of them so that you can get a better gist of what all went down.  It will almost make you feel like you were right there with us!

Things to Be Grateful For

Free Entertainment

A while ago I had put some feelers out there to my social networking friends trying to find some things to do in Des Moines that were "inexpensive".  I wanted to make sure that the shorties weren't up in the house bored all day long so needed to do something that would keep them stimulated while still within my very limited budget.  Something more than just the park.  The usual free suspects did come to mind, but I was searching to see if there was more that I may have missed.

I already talked about our trip to the Capitol Building late last week.  Even at the time, I knew the excursion wouldn't last long so thought about squeezing in another trip to another location the same day. Then I realized it would be better if I stretched it out a bit.  So the visit to the Historical Museum downtown got pushed off until earlier this week.  Another sad thing to admit, but it was the first time I had been there to see the exhibits since it moved to that new location years ago.

Unlike the Capitol, there were no free tours for the Historical Museum.  At least I don't think so.  You would have thought if there was, the ladies at the Information desk right inside the door would have mentioned it when we first walked in.  They were instead more concerned with making sure I completed a little form providing my name and address (which I of course fabricated to prevent junk mail).

The first thing that Elijah noted right off the bat was the museum's prize exhibit.  It was a life-size woolly mammoth skeleton that sat just to the left inside the entrance.  The future archaeologist was quick to point out that it was fake.  He rationalized that it had too glossy of a finish to be real.  That and the fact that if it was real, it would have a hollow sound to it.  Keep in mind that it was roped off so that you couldn't get close enough to touch it anyway.  They even had a photographic journal as part of the display indicating how it came from its resting site to the museum.  None of that convinced Elijah that it was authentic.

I was rather intrigued by the African American portion of the museum. It consisted of one full glass case of artifacts.  And half of that glass case was dedicated to the racial stereotypes that were perpetuated thru the years.  That was fun explaining to G why the words on the literature were purposely spelled wrong and why the images of us looked so ridiculous.  Don't get me wrong...we were represented in other parts of the museum where necessary.  A Simon Estes picture there...a George Washington Carver mention here.  It all still paled in comparison to all the acknowledgments that Native Americans had throughout the museum.

My favorite part of all museums has always been the 4-D exhibits.  Ours didn't seem to have enough of those.  There were too many rooms where the entire display was nothing more than fancy pictures with descriptions underneath them.  That's all fine and good, but I want to see more things like the airplanes, the cars, the dinosaur skeletal remains and stuffed animals.  Especially the stuffed animals.  Seeing G trying to coolly act like he wasn't afraid of those when he really was was priceless.

I managed to get a photo album from the event.  You'll have to forgive the fact that Mariah isn't in any of the pics.  She didn't get a chance to do her hair the way she liked it before we left the house so she refused to be photographed.   Instead, you can see Elijah and G as they enjoyed the different facets of the Historical Museum in the aptly named Historical Museum Visit.  There's not much to it, but I did still interject more personal thoughts with some of the captions.  The best apart about it, you can get your own free entertainment from it while viewing it.  Enjoy!

The Capitol Trip

The last time I had been to our state Capitol Building had to have been in elementary school some time.  Here I have lived in different parts of Iowa for 30-some years and that was my only trip there.  I had never had a desire to make another visit.  That was until recently when I was searching for some free activities for the shorties and it happened to cross my mind again.

I probably could have called ahead to find out a little bit more information regarding tours.  That would have made too much sense though.  Instead, I lucked up and happened to have good timing.  We got there just minutes before the latest tour was about to begin.  Judging on the brevity of the tour I'm guessing that wasn't hard to do.  It wasn't like there was a lot of building to see, but still.

Our tour guide Jane gave it her best shot to be engaging.  As she fed us the history of various things about the Capitol, she would interject a joke here and there.  At least I'm pretty sure they were meant to be jokes.  They came across very contrived and canned.  I guess that should be expected since she had probably given that same tour hundreds of times already.

We could have done without all of the detailed info on the fire that took place in the Capitol dozens of years ago.  It was nice to know that a fire destroyed some crucial parts that had to be rebuilt and whatnot; however, did we really need the intricate information behind how they put it out and the name of the person who discovered it?

I did find other things about the Capitol pretty fascinating...

• The woodcarving on the front of the bench of the Iowa Supreme Court was carved by the same man in two different sections 40 years apart.  He did one section at the age of 20 and was tracked down to do the second section 40 years later when the number of justices necessitated the bench be expanded
• The ceramic art piece on the second floor has some settler dude whose feet appear to point in your direction no matter what side of him you are on
• The current governor can choose whatever art work he wants to put in his office and current Gov. Chet Culver has a George Washington Carver ISU joint on his wall (of course, he also had a famous person from the University of Iowa, so it wasn't like he was partial to ISU)
• Iowa was so concerned about the Civil War possibly splitting the country into three different nations that they sent 11% of their population to help fight for the North.  Some of them as young as 10-years-old

The best part was being able to go up to what was called the Whispering Gallery.  It is the highest part in the Capitol building just a few dozen feet from the top of the gold dome.  It requires taking 92 steps to get up there; a trek that had all of our legs burning from the workout aftewards.  I thought for sure G wouldn't want to do it since it was so narrow and so high up but he was all game.  Didn't even think twice about it.  However, once we got there, he refused to look down.  He continued to tell me how he wasn't scared of heights as he hugged the wall the entire time we were up there.

The trip warranted the newest photo album entry.  You can check it out as "The Capitol Building".  It also happens to be the first photo album since Elijah and Mariah's current visit.  Now that some of the drama of the weekend is behind us, there will be more photo albums to come during the remaining three weeks of their visit.  For now, you can enjoy the Capitol Building photos and corresponding descriptions.

The Des Moines Art Festival 2009

It really was quite a busy weekend.  Contrary to popular belief, I actually did do more than just sit at home and go off on the 2009 BET Awards Show.  It just so happened that that was how I wound down the weekend.  Prior to that, I was running around all day Saturday and Sunday doing various things with one of those being the art show downtown.

This was the first time I went to this in a few years.  I probably would have skipped this year too, but I received an e-mail that one of our frat brother's brother Clifton Henri was going to be one of the artists down there.  That created somewhat of a vested interest so I decided to go check it out.  That was the closest I would get to someone I know being involved with the festival.  It just reminded me that Teandra needs to start networking and get involved with it to get her some exposure.

I had forgotten the range of artists that the annual art festival attracts.  Everything from paintings, to photographs (which is what Clifton had) to sculptures.  I was hoping they would have the performing artist that I saw the last time I was down there.  The one that did rapid painting on a large canvas and created a picture right in front of your eyes.  Unless I missed it, there was nothing like that this time around.

There were some interesting exhibits that did catch my attention.  Or in some cases, the boys'  attention.  Right after I had just finished marveling over a metallic sculpture of some life-size palm trees, they pointed out the object right next to it:

"Look, Dad!" G proclaimed, "It's the Allspark!"

Some guy had done a rather large sculpture of a cube and all of the sides were made to be large puzzle pieces.  Rather ordinary looking in the bigger scheme of things.  However, it did have a very distant resemblance to that famous object from the original "Transformers" movie.  It would have been moreso had it been gold instead of metallic black.  Still, it was enough of a match for the boys to take notice.

It never dawned on me that some of the artists may be sensitive to having pictures taken of their work.  On the one hand, I could see it because they think you're trying to infringe on their creativity.  On the other hand, shouldn't they have enough faith in their own abilities to realize that no one could do their work as good as them?  That's why when this one cat told me I couldn't take a picture of his little tiny figurine sculptures, I was a little put back.  I complied with his request though.  Until he turned his head and I snapped a picture anyway.  Not of the sculpture of his that I wanted, but still good enough for me to be spiteful.

A local news station had interviewed one of the organizers that morning.  The organizer pointed out that this type of show was good because the prices would end up being more reasonable than those you would see in a gallery.  Apparently, someone forgot to tell the artists that.  They had some crackhead prices for some of those pieces.  $14,500 for a moving sculpture?!  They do realize they were in downtown Des Moines, right?

We were there two hours when the weather started switching up on us.  It went from unbearably hot, to nice and windy to a drizzle.  All in the span of  less than half an hour.  You have to love this Iowa weather!  That timeframe was still enough for me to get some pictures of my favorite moments.  You can catch them all in the new photo album Des Moines Art Festival 2009.  Make sure to read the captions too as there are some stories associated with a few of them.  I could have included them here, but didn't want to make this post any longer than it already was.

Juneteenth

I had almost forgotten Juneteenth was going on this past weekend.  Just like I nearly forgot to do the entry about it.  I just happened to be perusing the FB updates Saturday morning and came across a local friend mentioning he would be going there in a couple of hours.  Just the free entertainment I was looking for.  And since I wouldn't be working one of the volunteer booths, I could get there late enough in the afternoon so that the heat would have subsided a bit.

Before you ask, yes, our Juneteenth was held on the 20th.  Which technically means we missed the entire "teen" part of the month that is meant to coincide with the celebration.  Although you could look at it as though it was keeping in spirit with the holiday.  Afterall, this was a holiday that was created based on the fact that news was discovered late. 

The moment I got there, I realized how uneventful the day was going to be.  There is never anything to do at Juneteenth but walk around and eat.  I suppose you could also take time to listen to the performances they have, but it was entirely TOO hot to stand (no chairs available) in front of the the main stage where there was no shade whatsoever to listen to whomever was up there.  As hot as it was when I arrived, I can just imagine how it was for those folks that had been there since the beginning.

Some quick observations from the day...

• It has now become obvious to me that Juneteenth is really just a big neighborhood party.  Because of the park in which it's held, hoodrats and wannabe playas from all across the city came out in throngs.  I could have sat there all day and taken pictures of some of the most questionable outfits you can possibly imagine.
• I would have hated to have been Qwest's mascot that day.  He/she HAD to be burning up in that hot dog costume.  Still, they probably should have made sure the outfit was complete from head to toe.  Dude just didn't look right in a dog costume with some K-Mart kicks.
• I think I'm in the clear with sorors now.  Andrea accosted me soon as I got there and gave me an earful about not making it to their White Party that was the same day as our frat meeting and bowling outing.  So I guess I'm going to thee Black Party in October as amends.
• Principhell was noticeably absent from all of the major organizations that were there with booths.  They really must be tight on money.  Especially since it only cost about $20 to rent one of the tables at Juneteenth

Check out the latest addition to the sidebar, appropriately named Juneteenth 2009.  It's not much of a photo album compared to some of my others, but it's better than nothing.  Maybe next time, I'll sit back and do nothing but take pictures of all the comedy around me.  That alone could have used up a memory card or two.

Let's Bowl, Let's Bowl, Let's...Rock and Roll!

Hey, come on..let's get the show on the road!

Wow that reads SO much cornier than it already sounds.  Can't help it though.  As I've mentioned before, whenever someone even remotely mentions bowling, that song from "Grease 2" inevitably starts running thru my head.  The entire song.  The entire production number from the movie even.  I swear Adrian Zmed is going to go screaming down the middle of the lane any moment now....

Okay...now that I have officially gotten a little sidetracked.  Let me get back to the point of why this post even came to be...

I had a scheduled frat meeting this past Saturday night.  That was already a big plus as it meant more time fellowshipping with the bros.  Not to mention that it was at Phil's house and his wife Tracy can cook like it's nobody's business.  However, I found out about the added bonus of the bowling outing once I got there.  I suppose if I would have paid closer attention to the e-mails that were sent out, I would have seen that the plan was for us to meet at Plaza Lanes afterwards for a couple of games.  Instead, it came as a pleasant surprise to me by finding out at the meeting.

Bowling and me go WAY back.  I was first introduced to it from my days in Kansas City as a young'un.  Probably just around the junior high school age.  Whenever we would go down there to visit on the weekend, Dad, Uncle Johnny and Lionel Keith would  end up making plans to hit the bowling alley one evening.  Earl and I could always go to watch if we wanted to, but we weren't allowed to bowl.  Mainly because we weren't near as good as the three of them.  We definitely weren't near as competitive as them either.  Yet.

Once I got a little older, we were finally able to start bowling with the men.  Not actually WITH them per se.  We had her own lane and were able to bowl there.  I was able to pick up a thing or two from all the repeated viewings.  I had the form down cold.  The only thing I couldn't get was the vicious hook.  But I had a little strength so I could throw the ball fast enough straight that I was able to get some pretty decent games.  Decent for me being a high around 155.

Fast forward to the present.  So it had been a LONG while since I last bowled coming into Saturday night.  So long that I can't even remember the last time.  I joked with the bros that it was just like riding a bike though.  I was confident that the old form would come back to me after a couple of balls or two.  I tried not to even be concerned with the fact that a couple of the fellas brought their own shoes and bowling balls.  When they come strapped like that, you KNOW you have some real bowlers. 

I wasn't doing too bad afterall.  Especially after having not done it in so long.  We had two lanes with six of us on each lane.  I tried to focus my concentration on my lane and being the the leading scorer there.  I was using anyone else's good score as motivation to do better.  Sure enough, the form came back to me after just a few frames and the strikes and spares started coming.  Now when I say they started coming, I mean to the tune of a whopping high score of 116.  Hey...at least I broke 100.  That was better than 4 of the 5 bros on my lane.

Just when I started to hit my stride, the bowling alley threw a curve.  10pm must have been the start of their disco bowling nite.  They turned off nearly all the lights in the alley and had neon lights running the gutters with disco lights shining about.  It was harder for me to stay focused and concentrate on the arrows of where I was supposed to be aiming the ball on my follow through.  Apparently it wasn't as distracting as I thought because I finished the second game even better with an astounding 121.

I had forgotten what a legitimate workout bowling can be.  It's some pretty decent exercise when you're doing it properly.  You have to figure you're carrying that semi-heavy ball so there's a little bit of your lifting.  Then you have to stroll up to your release so there's a little cardio.  Then you shot-put that puppy and if you're throwing missiles like me (18 mph, according to the scorebard that also measured the speed of each ball thrown), you're putting more work in on your shoulders. 

I was even a little sore afterwards.  Enough so that when 11pm came around, that was all she wrote for me.  Between that, the frat meeting and the Downtown Farmer's Market, I was spent.  Not too shabby of a Saturday.

Downtown Farmer's Market

So I'm surfing the FB updates and come across one that has a picture of a couple of FB friends holding up a taco that looks INCREDIBLE.  It was obvious from the setting that it wasn't at a restaurant.  It was at some festival of sorts.  One IM later and I come to find out that it was purchased at the Downtown Farmer's Market.  Really?!  Well I hadn't been there in years so that provided some extra inspiration for me to visit again.

It had probably been well over five years since I had last been to the Farmer's Market.  Back then, it was all about the produce.  The vendors would set up shop to sell fruit and vegetables (not really a whole lot of fruit) fresh from their gardens and/or fields.  Usually better than the kind you get in stores.  There would be the occasional different item like kettle korn, but nothing too much out of the ordinary.  That is clearly not the case anymore.

 

What immediately surprised me when I arrived there Saturday was how large it has grown.  I remember it being a couple of city blocks at best.  Not even taking up all of Court Avenue.  Now it spans a little over four city blocks with some additional side streets.  You could get a nice little workout just walking the entire thing a couple of times.

 

Not only that, it has gotten much more diverse.  What used to be a Farmer's Market more closely resembled an International Food Fair.  All types of restaurants and/or international vendor had set up shop down there to sell their specialty.  In fact, the taco (which turns out wasn't a taco at all, but a burrito) that I was looking for came from one such place.  The little spot was called Three Nations Restaurant.  I probably should have picked up one of their menus so I could have found their actual location.  Judging from the taste of that burrito, I will definitely be stopping by their spot.

The funny thing about the food vendors is there was a special sign put up that was almost like a warning of sorts.  It said "NOTICE (really just a politically correct way to say "warning"):  for your safety please know the food vendor in the parking lot is not associated with the Downtown Farmer's Market."  It's like they were covering their butts in case anyone got sick from their food.  Didn't make any difference to me.  That burrito was looking WAY too good for me to not take a chance. 

What I don't remember was everything being so pricey.  I'm not talking about the organic stuff.  I didn't even bother looking at those.  I know from experience that organic food in stores is expensive so I could imagine what it was like downtown.  Things like a mini-watermelon for $8?!  Even the asparagus that I love so much was twice as much there then what I pay for it at Hy-Vee.  I realize you're supposed to realize that you're paying a little extra since this is genuinely fresh food and all, but come on now.

The one thing that was still consistent about the Farmer's Market.  The street performers.  There were naturally more around given that they now had more square footage available to them.  I was a little surprised by how that was the one aspect that wasn't quite that diverse.  The only ones down there were musicians and they all seemed to be of the same mold:  that 40+year-old white guys singing cover songs.  Nothing wrong with that though.  Especially when I heard one of them belting out Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline".  Had me having "Beautiful Girls" flashbacks.  Although truthfully, I'm pretty sure I will always prefer the abbreviated movie version.

I will undoubtedly make a return trip to the Downtown Farmer's Market before the summer is out.  Maybe next time I will even get there at a more reasonable time.  11:15 may have been pushing it when it's over at noon.  I just wanted to make sure it was close enough to lunch time to fully enjoy that burrito. Plus, judging from the size of that enormous crowd that was there, earlier arrival would probably be more beneficial.  Maybe I can even get in on some free samples to circumvent the crackhead prices they charge.

 

Prairie Meadows Breakfast Buffet

Gambling has never been my cup of tea.  That's definitely for the best though.  Given the fact that I like to do things to the extreme, it would not have been a good mix.  I'm sure there would have been some big payoff days; however, with my luck, they would have been few and far between.  That's why I can count on one hand how many times I have ever been to Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino which is just a few minutes away from my house.

It never dawned on me that Prairie Meadows might have a decent buffet or two.  It's the other thing that many casinos are known for, but I hadn't thought of trying any of the buffets there.  Probably because I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the "inexpensive" buffets from my Vegas  experience.  It turned me off towards giving casino buffets any chance.

Cousin Danielle was kind enough to hip me to the fact that Prairie Meadows' breakfast buffet was pretty incredible.  I would have thought it would have been impossible for any meal to live up to the description she put forth.  However, it came pretty close.  A variety of items consisting of several different types of sausage, scrambled eggs, french toast, waffles, made-to-order-omelets, hash browns and fresh fruit.  That was just to name a few of the delicacies they had available for $7.95.

It's not that there was anything special about the food in their breakfast bar.  For the most part, it all tasted like your standard morning meals that are mass-prepared at any restaurant.  A few things did stand out though and the french toast was one.  I thought for certain it would be dry and small like most places.  They actually had moist slices that were the legitimate Texas toast size.  They should have put out bigger portions at a time though.  Soon as they put out one bin that only held a dozen or so half slices, it was gone in seconds. 

What I liked best about the buffet was the ice cream.  Yes, you heard me right.  Ice cream for breakfast.  For some reason, the all-you-can-eat places are renown for having the ice cream machines that churn out the textured ice cream.  Not that soft serve junk that the Dairy Queens and the likes have.  It's the ice cream that has that homemade taste to it.  I could have made a meal off that alone.

Needless to say, I will definitely be making return trips to Prairie Meadows on the weekend to hit up this legendary buffet.  Not a bad deal at all for a measly $7.95.  Plus, Danielle and the fam even treated me for an early birthday present so that enhanced the dining experience even more.  In return, I spared them the hassle of photographing everyone for another blog photo op.  Not that everyone didn't look phenomenal as always.  I just didn't want it to seem like the only times I was was getting pics of the fam is when we're eating.