Vacation Pictures of Omaha Part Deux

While in Omaha I also visited the Old Market. It's kind of like an expanded version of Des Moines East Village. I really enjoyed the Soul Desires Bookstore, the french bakery, and the art gallery that featured Eva Aeppli's scultures (made from sewed silk and then bronzed). It was a lovely place to spend the whole day.

Happy Birthday!

Yes, I am another year older as of last Wednesday.  My sister made me the pillow pictured to the left.  It's pretty cute and matches my couch too!  The button in the middle of it has a chandelier on it.  I also got a really nice neckless from my parents.

I got some freebees for my birthday as well.  If you sign up for the STAR 102.5's e-mail newsletter, you get a free lunch at Splash and a box of chocolates from Chocolate Storybook.  And if you get Sephora's Beauty Insider e-mails, you get a free lip gloss trio.

Vacation Pictures of Omaha

For this year's vacation I went to Omaha, NE.  Above is the pedestrian bridge that connects Iowa to Nebraska.  I didn't actually walk it myself (heights!) but I had fun talking lot of pictures of it.

This is the sign outside of Joe Tess Place a.k.a home of the best fish sandwich EVER! My dad use to take me here all the time when I was little and for sentimental reasons it was probably the part of my trip I was most looking forward to. Joe Tess Place was also on an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network. Below are the before and after pictures (see it's a sandwich because there is a slice of bread at the bottom).













Omaha was pretty packed because of the college games (silly jocks) but we still made it to the zoo. We just made sure to go between games since the zoo is right next to the stadium. Omaha has one of the best zoos. I ended up taking a lot of "wild life" photos.

Foodies and Greeks

Saturday, I was such a foodie!  The Top Chef Tour Bus was in town at the Downtown Farmers Market.  This year Richard (season 4) and Jamie (season 5) came to Des Moines.  They autographed my cookbook right next to Dale and CJ's signatures (which I got last year).  Richard made ribs and Jamie made strawberry gazpacho.  In between shows, they had a Top Chef spin-the-wheel game you could play and if you got your answer right you won a prize.  I got a Top Chef slinky, key chain, fake tattoo, and mints.

The Farmer's Market was enjoyable as always.  I got a new book called Simply in Season by Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman- West that I recommend to anyone that likes to frequent the farmer's markets.  It tells you what is in season and provides seasonal recipes.  Joining Buy Fresh, Buy Local is also a good way to keep up to date on what's in season and local product news.  Here's their link http://www.drake.edu/news/dbletter/buyfreshbuylocal/

Later I checked out the 2009 Greek Food Fair.  This annual event is a great way to try different Greek dishes such as souvlakia (shish kabob), spanakopita, keftedes, orzo, and baklava.  The baklava sells out fast so make sure you get their early if you're a fan of the pastry.  If you missed the Greek Food Fair but I've now made you hungry, check out Mythos Grill at 7450 Bridgewood Blvd in West Des Moines across from Costco near the Jordan Creek Mall. 

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