Tag: barbecue

Baseball, BBQ, and Blog Day #3 “Play Ball!” June 5, 2022

by reissmd, posted in Kansas City

If my papa was still living, today would have been his 108th birthday.  He died back in 1989 at the age of 75 and I am convinced that he died because he hated baseball and couldn’t bear the thought of watching another game.  I, on the other hand, love baseball.  As a kid, I used to listen to the Dodger games and calculate batting averages per at-bat. I still remember listening to Vince Scully describe the action in 1960 when Norm Larker was battling Dick Groat for the NL batting title.  If you have heard of Norm Larker I would be shocked.  Larker had modest success in MLB but one thing of note is that he was the Houston Colt 45’s first 1st baseman.  The Colt 45’s became the Astros and they are part of the reason that we are in KC.  We saw the Astros play the Royals today thanks to the kindness of my friend and REISSTRAVELBLOG follower Jeremiah who works with the team.  

But before baseball, there is always time to eat. We are staying at the The Raphael Hotel, Autograph Collection (at the recommendation of Jeremiah).  This is a lovely Marriott with a storied history and we could not be happier with the accommodations,  The place is old but our room is spacious and the staff has been doting on us since arrival.  This morning we had breakfast at the hotel (which was included in our stay) and it was superb.  I had the Norwegian Benedict and Patrice had the French Toast. Both selections were excellent and the service was also A-1. 

Norwegian Eggs Benedict
French Toast

After a brief rest, we were off to see the Astros vs the Royals.  For some reason, Google took us on some small roads instead of the freeway.   There was very little traffic and the countryside was gorgeous.  We were fortunate there were few cars because at one point we saw a sign that said single-lane highway ahead.  And indeed the two lanes of traffic became one.  Lucky for us no one was coming in the other direction.

One Lane Ahead
They weren’t kidding. Sorry about the focus, I wanted to get out of there ASAP!

We arrived safely at Kauffman Stadium (named after the now deceased owner of the Royals) which I was told is the only stadium in the MLB that is named after an individual.  Are you telling me that Oracle, Petco, Citi, and Safeco are not people?  I was just informed that Seattle no longer calls their stadium Safeco.  I guess Safeco got married and changed her name to T-Mobile. 

Kauffman Stadium and the staff were great.  We were politely directed where to go and even got a ride on a golf cart from the parking area to the stadium office where we were to pick up our tickets (no mistaking this place for Dodger Stadium).  I had to show my ID to get the tickets (are you telling me that my blog has not made my face a household icon in Kansas City?).   We then proceeded to the gate. After handing my ticket to the young lady I lamented that my pockets were full of junk and she escorted us past the security monitors saying, “You are a friend of the players, you can go right in”.  Wow, I don’t get treated that well at my own office. 

The game was great.  Astro slugger, Yordan (that has been difficult to type because my computer keeps on changing it to Jordan) Alvarez had a single, triple, and a home run, leading the Astros to victory.  I was hoping he would get one more at-bat and get a double to hit for the cycle.  He did come up but unfortunately, he got hit by the pitch.  That pitch would have killed me but he didn’t seem to notice it.  Jeremiah confirmed that Alvarez was fine but they did have to check the ball for damages.  It was a great game and I really loved it. Patrice loved it too.

Patrice enjoying baseball by reading her book.

After the game, we of course had to have dinner.  Hmmm, how about some barbecue?  We dined at Gates Bar-B-Q [1325 Emanuel Cleaver II Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64110].  It was good but did not compare to Jack Stack from last night.  

Gate’s ribs. Good, not great. The beans (not shown) were very good.
Burnt Ends sandwich which was recommended by another customer in line. It was very good. As were the peach pie and yam pie (not shown).

All this eating is really wearing me out.  I need to rest.  See you tomorrow.

Hey, Patrice, want to go get some ice cream?

Memphis in May BBQ Festival 2019 Day #4 “Heading Home?” May 19, 2019

by reissmd, posted in Memphis, Uncategorized

When I last left you we had just received an email from American Airlines that our flight home had been canceled. We called immediately and then waited 40 minutes for a call back. When we finally connected our options were to return home on Monday or leave immediately for a flight to Dallas, spend the night at DFW, and take our scheduled flight home in the morning. Suddenly being retired seemed more attractive. But I am not retired and I’m scheduled to see a lot of patients on Monday so we packed quickly and asked the front desk to call a cab.

We gave goodbye hugs and kisses to our babies (much too short in the case of Erica who is returning from Memphis to Madrid). Then we hustled downstairs. We told the doorman we were expecting a cab and he said that taxis rarely make it to the hotel. He asked if we ever heard of Uber or Lyft. I guess overeating on BBQ and not shaving for a couple days makes me look like I come from the Ozarks.

Patrice called for a Lyft and was informed that Daniela and her silver Prius would be arriving in 5 minutes. Twenty minutes later and after 3 phone calls Patrice and I hustled around the corner in a pouring rain to meet up with our driver. By the way, the taxi never showed up.

According to Google maps we would arrive at Memphis Airport as our flight was boarding. When we got to the airport there was only one agent and she sounded as if she was trying to solve a difficult problem. Luckily a supervisor came to deal with the problem traveler but unfortunately we were too late to check our bags and had to take them to the gate. This meant I had to sacrifice a bottle of water that I was hoping to help quench my thirst when we arrived in Dallas (BBQ can make a person very thirsty). We were the only passengers at security and they discovered that Patrice had a jar of BBQ sauce (a gift from one of the BBQ teams) and said she had to give it up. TSA took a jar of BBQ sauce from a grandma heading home to Los Angeles. Is this part of the master plan to Make America Great Again?

Since TSA was busy interrogating Patrice I told her I’d run ahead to make sure the plane didn’t leave without us. I wasn’t completely sure which way to go but two kind airport employees assured me I was headed in the right direction. When our gate finally came into focus I saw the ramp agent closing the boarding door. I yelled out “Wait!” He turned his head, looked at me, and calmly said, “Take your time, the plane isn’t here yet”. The plane isn’t here yet? Then where are all the passengers? “This is it”, he replied directing my gaze to 3 other people waiting to board.

Gate agent and the 3 passengers in front of us (hard to see the passengers)

Part of my head and all the empty seats behind us.

While waiting for the flight to take off I made arrangements for a hotel near DFW while Patrice (and later I) received this message from the American Airlines app.

Needless to say this got us concerned. Upon arrival to DFW we were exhausted and found a cab to take us to the hotel. We called American Airlines from the cab and received a recorded message saying we would get a call back in MORE THAN TWO HOURS. We decided to get some sleep and deal with this in the morning.

The next day we got an early start and headed to DFW. There we found loads of people trying to check in. Luckily we checked in online and only needed to get boarding passes and luggage tags. While I waited on line, Patrice went to an automated kiosk and successfully got what we needed and we were on our way to the plane. Then we saw this:

Fortunately we have TSA Precheck (my renewal finally arrived, after two months, just prior to our trip to Australia).

The flight home was a little delayed but we arrived relatively close to the scheduled arrival time. We then went to baggage claim only to find out, after waiting about 45 minutes, that our baggage was put on a later flight. Apparently they have had so many cancelled flights they couldn’t fit all the bags onto this one. I wasn’t happy about that but I could understand. What I didn’t understand was why weren’t we told that immediately? I didn’t need to wait for that long only to learn I needed to come back later tonight to pick up my luggage. Don’t these people realize I’m a busy man? Don’t they realize I have things to do? Don’t they realize that ON WEDNESDAY WE LEAVE FOR AFRICA?