We like a female singer with a strong voice, a la Lucinda Williams or Neko Case. We've never heard of Kristen Ward before but we like what we hear streaming on her My Space page. It looks like her new album, Drive Away, is self released so you can buy it for $10 from her website.

Great tote

Forget the Gucci and Prada, canvas tote bags have become the must have accessory. We love this one because it is not only very cute but also locally affiliated. The wonderful Massachusetts Avenue Merchants Association has created this great tote bag to help curb the use of plastic bags. It's only $10 at these retail outlets and we can't think of a more stylish way to carry home our trinkets from Silver in the City and Global Gifts.

Sex and the City is running away with the poll so far. Alright all of you fans, don't miss the cast on Oprah on Thursday, May 1st.

Road trip...Cleveland

Wow, Cleveland really does rock. While Mr. WYA! was eating Sandwich Machine this past weekend, Mrs. WYA! grabbed a girlfriend and headed to Cleveland for a girls' weekend. From Indianapolis, did you know that you are a short 5 hours away from the center of Cleveland's Little Italy? If you stopped nowhere else, that would make it worth the trip. This trip is easily done in a weekend.

Our first stop in the early afternoon was the house that was used in the filming of the classic movie "A Christmas Story". That's right, it is restored and there are tours Thursdays- Sunday at every 1/2 hour. It is a short tour because it is a small house. You get your tickets across the street, check out the museum next door that houses the few authentic props that they have from the movie, and then meet on the porch of the house for your tour. Your tour guide will talk for a few minutes about the history of the house and then you are welcome to take pictures and wander. This is a must stop for fans of the flick. This is still a working class neighborhood and it is so charming to see people from all over wind their through the unfamiliar neighborhood streets to catch a glimpse of the house.

Next, we headed to an area in Cleveland Heights called Coventry Village. For Indianapolis locals, this is like a Broad Ripple type of area. There are a couple of blocks of shops and restaurants with a Bohemian feel to them. The City Buddha store was huge and full of beaded goodies and gorgeous things for the home. The Big Fun store was, as billed, big fun with toys, memorabilia and basically everything pop culture related.

Our next stop was the previously mentioned Little Italy- that's right, it's not all about pierogies in Cleveland. They have a respectable sized Little Italy with galleries, shops, and, of course, food. Walk along Mayfield Rd. and Murray Hill to take it all in (and to work up an appetite). Always the suckers for old restaurants, we chose Guarino's (celebrating 90 years in business!). We were famished and we landed in the right place to take care of that. Generous portions with bread and delicious house salads are the standard here. We greatly enjoyed the vegetable pasta and the eggplant Parmesan. While we thought we were full when we left, after walking past just a couple of storefronts, we found room for bakery treats at Presti's Bakery (since 1903!). They have huge glass cases full of cookies and desserts and many tables to sit and people watch. The only downside to Little Italy is the lack of parking. You may circle around for awhile trying to find a space, but it will be worth it.

Our next stop was Teavana at the Beachwood Place Mall. If Teavana ever opens in Indianapolis, I couldn't patronize it because I have to give my business to the locals at International Tea and Coffee and Tea's Me. However, I allow myself a visit to Teavana when I am in other cities. They always have lots of samples out to try, beautiful cups and pots to browse at, and a huge variety of tea flavors.

The perfect way to wrap up your weekend trip to Cleveland is at the House of Blues for their Gospel Brunch. It doesn't matter what denomination you are (if any) this is all about food and love. The spread is amazing; pastas, salads, seafood, cheesy grits, mac n cheese, biscuits and gravy, jambalaya, shrimp, omelet station, po'boy sandwich station, danishes, bagels, apple cobbler, cheesecake, bread pudding- it just goes on and on. You get awhile to eat and visit before the live singing starts. The musical acts rotate but we certainly couldn't have asked for a better group than the Prayer Warriors. They did a mix of gospel and contemporary songs and really were inspiring. We left the House of Blues having filled not only our bellies but our spirits as well.

All in all, a great time can be had in Cleveland if you are looking for road trips for the spring and summer.

Sandwich Machine-since 1975

Way before Subway became the craze, little Lawrence Indiana was cranking out tasty sub sandwiches, and with the flair you would expect. At the Sandwich Machine, on Pendleton Pike, you get the freshest ingredients (not the stuff that corporate sends you, like the other places we won't name). Each sandwich comes with (unless you specify otherwise) lettuce, tomato, onion, oil and vinegar. With so much packed on each sandwich, it is essentially like it has its own side salad. This is an eclectic little joint, you can get as strange as you want to (click the menu) and the sides are unbelievable. You can get chips or fries, but why would you when you can get fried mushrooms or tasty little sweet corn nuggets (pictured here).

After Pendleton Pike is completed and the Fort Benjamin Harrison project is done, I would imagine the area will be much different, but I hope that little joints like Sandwich Machine still have a place.

Free Samples of Yogi Tea

We have previously raved about Yogi Tea's Sweet Mexican Chili blend and the dolls over there at Yogi Tea have included that in a free sample mix that you can request here.

We recently visited the Scholar's Inn Bakehouse for breakfast. We appreciated that they had yummy samples out (which they always used to do but we hadn't seen any lately) and, while we liked the maple raisin schmear, we really were hoping that the cheesecake schmear would be available. This is the second time that we have been there hoping to get that and it wasn't on the board as being available that day. The cheesecake schmear is just pure genius, we don't know why they wouldn't have it everyday.

The always interesting Prince will be on The Tonight Show tonight.

Don't miss the Stutz Open House in Downtown Indianapolis

If you are already a fan of this annual event, there is no chance that you will miss it. If you haven't been before we really encourage you to go tonight or Saturday. This is such a great event. We love the Stutz building and its historical and industrial feel. Sometimes, art galleries can feel intimidating, especially if you know that chances are small that you are actually going to buy anything but you like to look. The Stutz building and studios just feel comfortable and we never feel any pressure to purchase. The snacks and libations provided by the artists are so lovely and, the past couple of years, Hoaglin to Go has set up a killer good spread of food near the studio of one of our favorite artists, Laura LaForge. The sun dried tomato pesto torta is heaven. If crowds aren't your thing, go on Saturday. We went on Saturday for the first time last year and were amazed at the difference between the Friday night crowds and the laid back Saturday scene. Enjoy this great event that our city has to offer. Even if you aren't that into art, go for the ambiance and be sure to check out the cool old cars throughout the building.

We are fans of Brugge Brasserie so we were glad to hear that they have leased the second floor of their building and will be expanding in May with additional seating, a larger bar, more beer and wine, and flat screen TVs. We are, however, a little disappointed that their amazing Sacre Fleur Saison is not one of the beers that they will be bottling soon. Sacre bleu!

Of course it wasn't typecasting (wink,wink), but have fun watching Joan Crawford play the demanding star in Torch Song on Friday night, April 25th at 6:15PM on TCM. Robert Osborne very correctly used the words "guilty pleasure" and "kitsch" when he described this fun flick.

Here's a kind of cool website where people submit a childhood photo and a present day re-creation of it.

Spring Deals

Spring is such a motivator. The sun and the warmth really help chase that inertia away. So, you might be spring cleaning and finding that you want some new things for the house. You also are watching your money closely so here is a heads up on a couple of sales.

First, World Market is having its "Friends and Family Days" sale from April 24-27. Not a friend or family member? Just sign up at the bottom of their home page for news and promotions and they will email you a coupon so you can take advantage of the 25% store wide discount (10% off of gourmet food and beverages-excluding beer and wine). You can also stop by the store before the sale and pick up the fliers with the coupon. We love World Market. It is so fun just to browse and feel like you are on a little vacation. Right now, they have so many great items for outdoor entertaining.

Also having a sale is Red Ribbon Antiques in Greenfield. A good antique mall is getting harder and harder to find as everyone enjoys the ease of Ebay. Take a gorgeous spring day and drive to Greenfield to check out Red Ribbon. They have 3 full floors of treasures, are open 10AM-5PM 7 days a week, and have a sale now in progress.

Saraga Grocery

We recently visited Saraga grocery for only the second time and were even more impressed this time. Even if it is out of your way on Commercial Drive between 38th St. and Lafayette Road you will want to make a special trip to explore it. As their website says, it is one stop ethnic shopping. We like to roam the rows and just gawk at the produce we've never heard of, the teas, the snacks, and especially the frozen food items. There are so many dumplings here and who doesn't love dumplings? We picked up several goodies and today we will rave about the "red bean buns". These aren't red beans in a dumpling style but rather ensconced in a super tasty bread- oh my! (Steam for 6 minutes and they are ready to go! we use a microwave steamer, some plastic wrap and a microwavable glass dish) They tasted even better than they sounded and, paired with some roasted vegetables, made a perfect meal. We'll review the other goodies that we bought as we make them but there is one other little scrumptious thing we can tell you about that we picked up as an impulse item at the check-out. There were plastic containers with "sesame balls". One had 2 big ones but we chose the one with minis. Not sweet, but oh so good. We could not stop popping them.

Abyssinia Restaurant

We pretty much want to make it mandatory that every resident in Central Indiana, maybe the whole state, patronizes Abyssinia Restaurant on 38th St. We discovered/fell in love with Ethiopian cuisine about a week before Queen of Sheba closed years ago. Thank goodness we quickly found Abyssinia. The west side of 38th St. might not be your usual stomping grounds but this is a destination restaurant. In one of the many strip malls (we always search for the Best Buy sign to know that we are in the right one), it is humbly decorated but that adds to its charm. During our most recent visit there we were greeted, and waited on, by head chef (owner?) Abraha Belachew. Even during visits when we were waited on by someone else, we always were greeted by him as he made sure we liked our food. Liked our food?? Are you kidding? Ethiopian food is a close second to Indian as our favorite ethnic food. And, granted, we haven't been to many Ethiopian restaurants and don't have anyone who home makes it for us, but Abraha's food is divine. Such simple ingredients, such perfect seasoning, and the injera- oh the injera. There is no silverware here, you envelope your food in the porous flat bread instead of stabbing it with a fork. BRILLIANT! As for what to order, the menu has English descriptions of the dishes. We are enamoured with the combos; Abyssinia Combo 1 for the meat eater, Abyssinia Vegetarian Combo 2 or Vegetarian "Taste of Abyssinia" for the vege lover. So, we get a huge round platter covered in injera with mounds of our dishes on our respective sides of the platter. For first timers, this is definitely the way to go to get a taste of many of the dishes. You get a plate of rolled up injera to break off and use as your utensil. The meat lover really likes the Sega Wett (tender lean beef cooked in berbere sauce). Somehow, Abraha does things with vegetables like no one else. The lentils, greens, corn, cabbage are little piles of heaven. Even the meat combo gets some delicious veges. Their menu doesn't seem to be online so click the above images to enlarge.

In short, this place is wonderful. Don't have any qualms about trying it, even if you don't normally venture into the ethnic food arena much. While they have the cute little basket tables mostly they have your usual tables and chairs. Worried that you can't get the hang of using injera? Who's going to notice if some food falls out of if it or if it takes you more bread to wrap your food? Please go because we just couldn't take losing this place.

There are coupons on Abyssinia's website and on Coupons 4 Indy's website.

Bertolli wants to give you free dinner and Netflix movies for a year. You could get all of those classic movies that we've been recommending. Enter here.

Happy Passover!

We like to embrace all differents kinds of cultures, and all different kinds of foods. Today is Passover and we found this article with some different takes on Passover food. It has recipes from Sephardic Jews from along the Mediterranean Sea. We were totally unaware of the Jews of Aleppo and we are drooling after reading the article.

We also heard someone on the radio talking about kugel which is more traditional and sounds a little carb-intensive but quite tantalizing. Looks like we need to get cooking.

Make time in your weekend to go to Noblesville

Downtown Noblesville is so charming with its square around the courthouse chock full of restaurants and shops. One of our absolute favorite places to browse there, or anywhere, is the Logan Village Mall. It has a great mix of old, new, and handmade merchandise. There are many different vendors, as listed on their website , so if one doesn't strike your fancy another one certainly will. Their cobblestone floor with nooks and crannies everywhere definitely make you feel like you are in a quaint village, although it is an indoor one which might come in handy if it gets rainy this weekend. Aside from the constant charm that they have, this weekend is their Spring Tea Party & Open House. That means sales, door prizes, and refreshments from 10AM- 6PM on Saturday 4/19 and from noon- 5PM on Sunday. We can tell you, from visiting them during their Christmas holiday open house, these people know how to put out a spread. We were amazed at all of the tasty goodies that they had and we assume that they will be just as generous and delicious for the Spring Tea Party.

Enter here to win a trip to the Sex and the City premiere in New York City

Yoga DVD deal

OK, so you want to try yoga but you want to start at home before braving it in public. Or, you are really crunched for time and can't go to a yoga studio or gym and sometimes just have 30 minutes. A couple of years ago, we picked up a VHS yoga tape by Rainbeau Mars at one of those library book sales that the Indianapolis Marion County library periodically has . We loved it but we knew we needed to replace it on DVD. Well, Natural Journeys is wheeling and dealing. They have a 4 DVD set by Rainbeau for only $5.98. Sure, they are just 30 minute DVDs and sure, the shipping and handling was around $10, but that is still a good deal. When you are short on time, it is nice to have a 30 minute option that is still challenging. It looks like Rainbeau is now a spokesperson for Adidas too.

That live show juggernaut Madonna is performing a concert on April 30th at the Roseland Ballroom in New York. It will be webcast on MSN Music (http://music.msn.com/inconcert). See under "coming soon" item #2. It looks like they also have an Amy Winehouse concert from last year that would be interesting.

Delaney's

We first discovered Delaney's (11715 Fox Road Indianapolis Tel 317-823-8910) when we emailed Trapp Candles to see where we could buy their amazing candles locally. The candles were given to us as a gift once and we have had a difficult time finding them ever since http://www.trappcandles.com/. So, Trapp Candles led us to this really adorable store that we don't know if we would have discovered otherwise. It is in an area where you wouldn't necessarily think you'd find cute boutique shopping. It also might be a little out of your way but it is worth the trip. It is a great place for gifts, pretty things for your home, clothes, and those great candles. Leave us a comment if you know anything about them (whether they are locally owned) and check them out to freshen up yourself and/or your home for spring.

TCM is showing 2 great Charlie Chaplin films tomorrow, April 16th, that should not be missed. Don't worry, if you aren't into silent films, these are 2 of his great talkies. Set your recording device for 6:45AM for The Great Dictator and 9:00AM for Monsieur Verdoux. We love watching Charlie and Jack Oakie try to one up each other while playing the equivalents of Hitler and Mussolini in The Great Dictator. Monsieur Verdoux is a black comedy about a real ladykiller. http://www.tcm.com/index.jsp

France makes it illegal to "publicly incite extreme thinness" http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-france-anorexia,0,5488254.story

Haven Kimmel

Any fan of good writing should read Haven Kimmel's work but certainly every Hoosier should. I just finished reading The Used World which I picked up at Big Hat Books in Broad Ripple. http://bighat.booksense.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp) Maybe it is just because she is an Indiana native and so am I, but she writes with such a descriptive sense of place and people. I've seen these places that she is talking about and I know exactly the characters who she describes. This particular book is fiction and the "Used World" is an antique store in a small Indiana town. The story revolves around 3 ladies, Hazel, who owns the store, and Claudia and Rebekah who work there. It is one of those books that gets you involved in one storyline, leaves you wanting more as it starts in with another, and you get completely engrossed in that one as it goes back in time and back and forth with each character. I have read all of her books (except the children's books) and, even if they are slow to start, they are always fascinating and I am always sorry to leave the characters at the end. This one was certainly no exception. Lucky for us, from her website (http://www.havenkimmel.com/), it looks like she has another book coming out in August.

As a side note, a visit to the Big Hat Books website informed me that David Sedaris is coming there on June 10th at 6:30PM. That is big news for all of you Sedaris fans. When I was there for the Haven Kimmel reading/signing I was part of the overflow who couldn't even get past the doorway. However, it looks like Big Hat is going to have a tent outside and, if you pre-purchase your book, you will receive a ticket for a pre-assigned seat. Details are here: http://bighat.booksense.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp?s=regionalcatalog

Yoga Journal is offering a free digital version of their May issue. http://www.zinio.com/express3?issue=252269429&sp_mid=1549181&sp_id=MTE1NTE0MTg1OTAS1&c_id=&

Die! Mommie! Die! at TOTS

In short, Go! Indianapolis-ites! Go! We went to Theatre on the Square this past weekend to check out Charles Busch's play Die! Mommie! Die! This attracted our attention because we had heard the raves about the New York production of this show last autumn. It was doing big business while the other shows were dark because of the strike. So, when we saw that it was being presented in our own backyard, we excitedly headed to TOTS on Mass Ave. This was only the second time that we had ever been to TOTS. If you have not seen a production there, here is the scoop. It is intimate. There are only about 5 rows with a wide center section and smaller left and right sections. All seats are good which is why all seats cost the same amount. The box office opens an hour before showtime and we got there about 1/2 an hour before showtime and were able to get tickets. The location is a convenient reason to patronize nearby Aesop's Tables, the Rathskeller, SI, MacNiven's, or any of the other tasty Massachusetts Avenue eateries. The show is a riot, especially if you are a sucker for campy Hollywood stuff, which we are. We aren't theatre critics but we can tell you that we laughed out loud (which we rarely do at plays or movies). Check out TOTS' website for a plot synopsis http://www.tots.org/index.php?id=season but, be warned, it does have spoilers and might tell you more than you want to know. In short, Brent Marty as superstar Angela Arden is a riot, there is a simulated LSD trip, an unbelievable suppository and it all comes in under 2 hours even with a 15 minutes intermission. What a bargain for $25. You only have this coming weekend up, and April 25th and 26th catch it.

We also found out that next season TOTS will be presenting Evil Dead: The Musical. We went to see this in New York City in 2006 so we can't wait to check out the local version.

Foodies' delight

Here's a shout out to a couple of local bloggers and an interesting food site to visit.

First, you probably are already familiar with the popular Feed Me/Drink Me blog but, if not, check it out: http://www.feedmedrinkme.blogspot.com/ It is extremely informative and we were bummed to read that the Whole Foods for Indianapolis continues to be delayed.

As far as healthy food options go (and some weight loss inspiration) check out http://indysbiggestloser.blogspot.com/ 32 pounds lost so far- NICE!

Finally, there is this website, http://www.wherethelocalseat.com/. You might want to check out the Indianapolis listings or, if you have a trip coming up, do some research on other cities. Indy has 5 pages of listings and it is hard to argue with any of them. Does SI (Scholar's Inn) really have the best brunch? We haven't checked it out in its new incarnation. Leave us a comment and let us know where you think the best Central Indiana brunch is.

Here's a link to one of those fun internet time wasters. If you are a fan of Showtime's The Tudors, you will especially like this one. Just upload your photo and you can have your own "royal portrait". http://thetudorsportrait.com/

It's Friday- Pizza Night!

That doesn't mean that you have to abandon your healthy eating plan that you have diligently followed all week. We love the Tabula Rasa whole grain pizza crust from Trader Joe's. You can tell that it is high in fiber because it fills you up so you aren't inclined to eat as much. We like to do a take on a traditional pizza with the wonderfully tasty Hormel turkey pepperoni slices that we find at Meijer. With those, some onions, green peppers, cheese and sauce (which is as easy as a 12oz can of tomato sauce,black pepper, italian seasoning to taste, and a dash of salt), you still feel like you are getting a treat even with the healthier choices. Of course, we occasionally mix it up and make a spinach/feta or a chicken pesto pizza but the traditional is our favorite.

Marvel Updates-Secret Invasion- Iron Man

The Secret Invasion is ON. In this 8 issue mini-series, the Skrulls (identity stealing aliens) have replaced many characters in the Marvel Universe..with disastrous results. Brian Bendis, the writer, promises that this mini will shake the Marvel Universe to its core. The only character Bendis promised is "hands off" is Captain America (after his tragic death, it would be a cheat to say the dead hero was an alien in disguise). Issue #1, which was released last week, found our heroes at the site of a Skrull crash, which contained...our heroes. Are the crash survivors Skrulls waiting to take over? Or are the characters we have been following all along enemy invaders waiting for the signal to reveal themselves. 7 more issues people, all questions should be answered. I can't wait.

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In early May, Iron Man hits the big screen. The early previews of this Jon Favreau directed film look great, and the choice of Robert Downey Jr. to play Tony Stark is inspired. Iron Man has been one of those Marvel characters that was almost too human. He has lost friends to heroin addiction, and constantly faces the challenges of his own alcoholism. This should be one of those summer, mindless, let's have fun for 90 minutes, films. If you catch it, let me know what you think

Earth Harp at IMA

In case you missed Anne's comment under the pachyderm post, the IMA has what looks like an interesting and FREE concert on Friday the 11th at 8PM in the Pulliam Great Hall (which is that space as soon as you go up the escalator from the main floor). The Earth harp "spans the length of the performance venue". That sounds very cool- thanks for the heads up Anne. http://www.imamuseum.org/calendar/earthharp

La Bamba- Broadripple

I know, they are famous for the "Burrito as big as your head", and for good reason, it's huge. But, stray off the beaten path for me and try their Torta, a Mexican sandwich, served on what seems to be a fry bread of some sort, the sandwich looks large, but goes down easily. Your choice of meats (beef, chicken, pork, chorizo) and toppings. The meal is like the neighborhood dog that looks tough, but is really a softie. Topped with tomatoes, onion, lettuce, cheese and sour cream, with the hot sauce on the side, it is a perfect pick me up for the long Monon walks.

Grab a tamale while you are there. It is hard, really hard, to find a good tamale in this town, but they have them. Served in the corn husk it was cooked in, their tamales have this air of perfection to them. Easy on the wallet, they eyes and the stomach, the tamales are a "must have" item.

http://www.labambaburritos.com/default.asp

If you are trying to minimize meat, La Bamba was a wonderful selection of tasty vegetarian items too. Burritos, Torta and Tacos can all be prepared meatless, and from what I understand, the vegetarian nachos are to die for.

Pachyderm paintings

In case you missed the spot on Good Morning America last week, here is a link to elephants in Thailand that paint, http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=ELEPHANT&c=av. The ones that we found most impressive were the paintings of elephants! Evidently, elephants have the ability to recognize their own image. Wow! We thought that we would like to own one of the elephant as painted by elephant pieces and found this website, http://www.elephantart.com/catalog/splash.php We like Hong's work but it appears to be sold out right now. We also learned that they are doing this closer to home at the Milwaukee zoo: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-04-07-animal-artists_N.htm?POE=click-refer

In case you fell in love with that new Counting Crows CD, www.indy.com is giving away a pair of tickets to their Verizon Wireless show with Maroon 5 everyday from now until April 11th. Scroll to the bottom of the Indy.com homepage to enter.

Fellow blogger Kirsten hipped us to a good dish to try at the Brewpub next time. Check out her blog at http://middlewestmeals.blogspot.com/. She wrote about old timey cookbooks which prompted us to pull our favorite one off of the shelf, 101 Ways to a Man's Heart. If the Mince Meat Cookies on page 7 won't keep him, nothing will!

Road Trip... Louisville!

Just a short 2 hour drive south on Saturday and we were visiting our friendly neighbors the Louisville-ians. While it was a fairly surgical trip to attend the previously mentioned Rolf Gates yoga workshop, we managed to find some goodies on the one road that we visited, Shelbyville Rd. in the St. Mathews suburb of the city. This is where Betsy's Hot Yoga Louisville studio is located. One of us went to the workshop while the other roamed the area. Here is the lowdown on both.

This was my first workshop with Rolf Gates. He was recommended by one of my favorite Indianapolis yoga teachers, Gina at Invoke. I am currently reading his terrific book Meditations from the Mat (which you can check out on our Amazon link to the left). It was a three hour workshop and I wasn't sure what all to expect. I was up for a 3 hour asana class if that was what it was going to be. However, he spoke for the first hour which was nice. He just talked about trying to live following the natural flow of life, rising above your conditioning, re-wiring yourself so things that push your buttons don't bother you anymore. Nothing at all too out there and no forced personal sharing. Then, we had a lovely 2 hour yoga class. I highly recommend periodically checking his website to see if he is coming near you. http://www.rolfgates.com/

And I was en route to the thing that makes Louisville famous, no not Makers Mark, southern cooking. It's amazing that in two short hours, the entire landscape changes. It gets warmer, hillier, people have that southern charm (and accent) and the food gets a whole lot more country. That took me to Mark's Feed Store, an excellent, low key barbeque joint, where they greet you like a friend and treat you like a friend. It was busy at the peak of lunch, but I was seated rapidly. Plenty of people watching here, from the country folk, the students, the suit people, all gathered to take in the magnificence of the food and atmosphere. With the country music playing in the background, my waitress seemed like she couldn't wait to attend to me. I ordered a tea (which, of course, came sweet), and it was on the table, in a huge oversized plastic glass, before I knew it. I was ready to order, so I got the pork barbeque sandwich and a cup of their burgoo. For $7.49, I got the tastiest cup of burgoo ever (Burgoo is to the South, what Chili is to the Southwest) It had large chunks of pork, generous vegetables in a stew like broth that felt like a huge caress from the one you love, when you needed it the most. I inhaled the steam coming off the burgoo, so I could get everything possible out of this cup. The sandwich, served on a bun, had plenty of their slow cooked pork. It was sauced lightly, with Mark's Original (the less hot sauce), but not to worry, Mark's Original and Red sauce (the hotter one) were right on the table. My only regret in going to Mark's is that I was not born with two stomachs, I would have loved to tried their buttermilk pie, but not this trip. As I paid my server, she asked "You want your tea to-go?", almost as if it was a rhetorical question. She brought a large to-go cup, and I was good for the day. The question isn't "Will I go back to Mark's?", the question is "How often?"http://www.marksfeedstore.com/

Broad Ripple Brewpub

We never made a bee line for the Broad Ripple Brewpub because we just assumed that it was typical bar food. Then, we heard that they had vegetarian dishes and knew that they must be a little more innovative than we thought. So, on a recent brisk day, we headed to the Brewpub that we had passed so many times while walking the Monon Trail. We mention that it was brisk because you will want to be seated far from the door if the weather is inclement. The front door opens a lot, many of the comings and goings are due to smokers heading outside between brews. Aside from being cold, the interior of the place was very inviting. The dark wood was comforting and you can tell that one of the owners is from England and not just a poser trying to imagine what an English pub should look like. We tried the soft pretzels to start since those are something we don't usually see offered as an appetizer. We got 2 with mustard and they were soft and salty and just as they should be. Among the many vegetarian options was Shepherd's Pie so we tried that. The Shepherd's Pie came in a crock and was topped with mashed potatoes. We would have been satisfied if it was just all chunks of veges but the Morningstar Farms-like vege crumbles were fine. On the more carnivorous end of the spectrum, we also ordered the bangers and mash. They couldn't have been tastier and were accompanied by mashed potatoes and peas. All and all, a very pleasant meal- now we know.http://www.broadripplebrewpub.com/

As you might have noticed in the comments under the last "Set your VCR, DVR" post, there is a very cool looking social networking site out there for classic movie fans. Check it out at http://goldenageofhollywood.ning.com/

This American Life

We became fans of This American Life with Ira Glass when we had Showtime. If you aren't familiar with it, it is a radio show from Chicago Public Radio and then Showtime started airing their TV version of the show. The topics are wide ranging and highlight the vast diversity of this country and its people. It is often enlightening, touching, and funny. The radio show is carried locally on WFYI 90.1 but it is on at 11Pm on Saturdays so you might want to check out the podcasts. http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Podcast.aspx Anyway, it is coming to the big screen and tickets go on sale today. It is for one night only and is live via satellite from New York on May 1st at 8PM. You can even submit questions to Ira and he might answer them that night. In the Indianapolis area, it is at the Galaxy 14 Theatre on E. 96th St. and at the Showplace with IMAX on South Meridian. http://www.fathomevents.com/details.aspx?eventid=716&utm_source=TAL&utm_medium=TAL_email&utm_campaign=This_American_Life_Live

Counting Crows- Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

The Counting Crows is one of those few groups who's CD we will buy, in its entirety, without having heard any of the songs first. We love that they are still around and they feel like the comfy sweatshirt that you always grab to put on even though you have newer ones. Anyway, we were so grateful last week when their new CD, Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, was released. Thankfully, after waiting so long for a CD of new stuff from them, it is good. The Saturday Nights portion refers to the first 6 songs that are more rousing, particularly 1492. Sunday Mornings refers to the more mellow last 8 songs. Washington Square is just one of those gorgeous melodies that we could just keep on a loop for a long while. Yea, there is a reason that we always reach for that old sweatshirt.

Indianapolis Art Museum Swag

That's right, the IMA is giving away swag if you can come up with a clever t-shirt for their blog:
http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/2008/04/01/free-swag/

They also very kindly put the previously mentioned Hello Kitty lecture by Ken Belson on their website in case you missed it. The video runs a little over 30 minutes (in case you are wondering if you have to time watch it before your boss walks by- although it could be considered business research). http://www.imamuseum.org/connect/videos/hellokitty

Thanks IMA!

Free Comic Book Day Contest

There is still a little over a month until Free Comic Book Day and we will remind you when it gets closer to that day on May 3rd http://www.freecomicbookday.com/. However, the folks at Free Comic Book Day are having a You Tube contest in which you make a mini commercial declaring your love of comics, superheroes, or Free Comic Book Day itself. You could win a $250 gift certificate to your favorite comic book store. http://www.youtube.com/user/FCBD08

Classic movie alert- set your VCR or DVR

Our dismay over the fact that Three Stooges and The Marx Brothers did dismally in last week's movie fools poll only encourages us to continue to blog alerts when some of our favorite movies are airing on TCM (http://www.tcm.com/). We are big fans of old movies. Hey, you probably already have the channel on your cable system, you might as well get your money's worth from it. If you don't have TCM, Netflix seems to have every movie ever made. (http://www.netflix.com/). Or, if you want to buy one of these movies, check out our Amazon search in the left column.

On Wednesday, April 2nd, To Be of Not to Be is on at 10:00AM. This is a great combination of humor and drama with the sparkling Ft. Wayne native Carole Lombard and the very funny Jack Benny. Jack Benny often made fun of his own movie career but he is quite effective in this one as an actor working with the Polish underground as the Nazi Party occupies their country. Yes, Mel Brooks did remake this in 1983 but no, that does not mean you don't need to see the original directed by legendary Ernst Lubitsch. "So, they call me Concentration Camp Ehrhardt, eh?"

On Saturday, you really can't go wrong parking in front of TCM all day because they are celebrating Bette Davis' 100th birthday. We particularly bring to your attention The Petrified Forest at 07:30AM. You may have heard that Johnny Depp has been in Indiana filming his new movie about John Dillinger. Well, actors have been inspired by this gangster for quite a long time and, in this 1936 movie, none other than Humphrey Bogart takes his turn at it. He isn't playing Dillinger per se, but his Duke Mantee character was inspired by him. This was originally a play and you can tell because pretty much all of the movie takes place in a diner but the portrayals of the characters are so riveting that you don't even miss location changes. If you want to continue the Bette Davis-athon later in the day, Now, Voyager, All About Eve, and Dark Victory are 3 Bette Davis movies that we can watch over and over. (Dark Victory has more Bogey as an unlikely Irish stable worker).