another Friday night: The Star Bar at Pachamama's

Leilani and I met for Friday night drinks again, and this time Andy joined us. We headed to the Star Bar at Pachamama's in downtown Lawrence. While the restaurant has $32 plates, their bar bites are more reasonable, but still unique and high quality. We noshed on a thin crust pizza and... 

  • CRISPY CRAB ROLL
    Gathered Greens, Toasted Almonds, Sweet Chile Aioli.
  • POMMES FRITES (BEST FRENCH FRIES EVER)
    Truffle Fondue, Dijonaise, Red Pepper Ketchup.








...And enjoyed cocktails. When ordering from their cocktail menu, I asked the waitress to describe two of the drinks I had in mind in order to help me choose. When I still wasn't sure, I just said "what's prettier?" I opted for the drink with the edible flower as mine was supposed to come with a flower in it, but the waitress came out flowerless and very apologetic.

As soon as everything arrived, Andy waited very patiently while Leilani and I took photos of everything. The waitress came back to refill waters and remarked at how much she loved our "geeking out" as she called it. As you can see, this place as THE best lights and I'm looking forward to returning with more willing models. All in all a very fun Friday night!
[photo credit of me: Leilani Thornton Tuttle]






BreAdventure: Mission Accomplished.

Today I ate one of the best sandwiches I've ever eaten, and certainly the best I've ever made myself!
It's up there with the amazing Jimmy John's Beach Club, and the incredible Acapulco Turkey (garlic aioli, avocado, turkey, and cheese) at Kathy's Kitchen of Ipswich. I was trying to replicate Mirth's wonderful egg sandwich: egg and cheese on some kind of great bread with bacon, spinach, and roasted red pepper cream cheese. When I couldn't find that cream cheese at the store, I subbed in sundried tomato and basil cream cheese and real roasted red peppers, which in the end took mine up a notch from Mirth's! Its on Wheatfield's Roasted Garlic and Herb bread, grilled up; finally found a winner there! The best part, at least from a photographer's point of view, is all the colors!

Cinco de Mayo Tour

Cinco de Mayo carries a special meaning for me and is an anniversary of something that symbolizes freedom to me, which is my most dearly held ideal. So I always like to go out and celebrate on that day, and it so its fun that it happens on a day already filled with festivity. This year, Andrew and I made plans with some friends for drinks after dinner, but we both still felt the need for a Mexican (-American) dinner and so we headed out to Casa Agave, here in Lawrence, which is pretty much always a good idea. Mexican is hit or miss in Lawrence, as you might imagine it would be in Kansas, especially for someone who lived in New Mexico and has worked in Tex-Mex restaurants. Casa Agave, whether authentic or not, always hits the spot. And at least its owners and staff are Latin American, not just the dishwashers like at other Mexican restaurants.

It was there that I met Fernando and Robin, two friends out celebrating, who I eventually worked up the courage to ask if they'd be my Strangers for the Strangers Project. Fernando had a ton of character, potentially due to the fishbowl margarita he was imbibing, but I have a feeling he's just that kinda guy! Flirting with the ladies and singing Ricky Martin, he caught my eye right off the bat. As it turns out, Robin owns a landscaping company that just may be in need of some photography services to do their landscaping jobs justice on their website!

We followed this dinner up with drink specials with friends at Marisco's. I always love the lighting there for my drink photos, and the ice, salt, and margarita glasses did not disappoint in the bokeh department!



BreAdventure gone bad.


What began as an intent to cook, and coined a "BreAdventure!," resulted in the wiser choice to eat out. I had cravings for both Milton's French Toast and Mirth's egg sandwich, so I thought I could duplicate both at home with the help of the right bread. So we set out for Wheatfields Bakery but found ourselves at Mirth, which was definitely the best choice, as evidenced by the shots below. A wonderful honey hazelnut latte, and sharing of their french toast and their egg sandwich, complete with amazing bacon, awesomely done potatoes, and fresh fruit was only made most perfect thanks to some wonderful company. And there's no way I could have duplicated that egg sandwich without that roasted red pepper cream cheese! That's the mission now!



We still hit up Wheatfields on the way home, agonizing over a bread purchase decision. A pleasant surprise was that they have bagels on Sundays, but upon arriving home, I found myself biting into a completely unacceptable bagel. Oh New Jersey, how I do miss you at these times! Maybe someday I'll find SOMEthing I like at Wheatfields; have yet to, despite everyone raving about the place.














presets used: sonny details, B&W film grain

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