Gluttony in Missouri

So last week's diet was quite effective - at least for the first few days, I truly felt like I was losing weight. But then I got sick and had to skip my work outs. Ah well. Anyway, after a week of healthy food posts, I thought I'd follow up today with a post on all the great stuff I ate in Missouri that made me, um, increase in girth. ;)

One of my favorite places to eat in St. Joseph, about an hour north of Kansas City, is Bandana's BBQ. They offer five different BBQ sauces but my favorite is the Sweet & Smoky. Whenever I go to Bandanas I order the combo platter where I get to pick two meats and two sides. Pictured here are the ribs and turkey, plus a baked potato, their famous roasted corn, and two slices of delicious garlic bread. I have to say that they overcooked the corn this time, which was such a shame, because the corn is usually my favorite part of the meal! But the meat is always done very well, and the portions are huge. I typically eat half the platter and save the rest for lunch the next day.

This time in St. Joseph, R. and I also visited the Tap Room, which is a new bar in town. I had ordered a salad there only because I was really craving veggies, but alas, it was not good. However, the thing that I thought was worth mentioning is their 31 different varieties of chicken wings, which all sound superb. We ordered the Thai Peanut and the Curry wings. Deeelicious! I'd love to go back and try some of their other varieties!

In Kansas City, we hung out one afternoon at Tea Drops in the Westport area. Tea Drops is a really neat tea place where they sell a variety of loose leaf teas. I can attest to the quality of their teas as I had previously gotten "Summer Fruits" and "Strawberry Fields" from them (very fruity and tasty herbal teas) and they are some of the best teas I've ever had. And, of course they serve cool tea drinks in their cafe. I got a frozen taro soy bubble tea (which actually doesn't contain any tea) and OH MY. Tastes similar to purple yam ice cream which, as anyone who knows me knows, is my absolute favorite ice cream flavor that is hard to find in the US.

(Coincidentally, the only restaurant in the US where I have been served purple yam ice cream is right across the street from Tea Drops, at Thai Place. I guess I might as well post a picture of the dessert I had there when I visited in January, which consisted of a coconut tower, purple yam ice cream, and baked coconut custard. YA-UM.)

Anyway, here's a picture of the inside of Tea Drops. Sorry for the crappy phone camera picture.

Well, we got hungry after a while and walked around the block to Jerusalem Cafe. I had been there once before, and thought it was the best Mediterranean food I've tasted. This time around was maybe not quite the best I've had, but still, I was satisfied with my meal and so was R. (He loved his, actually.)

We both ordered pretty much the same thing - a "pastry plate" which was basically food stuffed in phyllo dough. I got the vegetable one while R. got the chicken. It came with veggies and rice. It was a huge plate of food actually - the stuffed phyllo pastry itself took two meals to finish. I didn't care for the rice myself (not a fan of basmati rice) but R. liked it so much he ate all of his - and mine.

We capped off the evening with a trip to the Melting Pot in the Plaza neighborhood. In case you didn't know, Melting Pot is a fondue chain. We went there originally to get a drink 'cause we both loooove their Yin & Yang martini, with "Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur, Stoli Vanil vodka and ice cream topped with chocolate shavings." It doesn't even taste at all like alcohol...super delicious and super dangerous!

Then, against our better judgment, we decided to order a chocolate fondue to share. We got the plain dark chocolate one, and it came with, strawberries, bananas, brownies, marshmallows, Oreo covered marshmallows, rice krispie squares, and a slice of cheesecake.

Our trip to Melting Pot alone probably cost us at least 1500 calories...but well worth it. :)