Nell Brinkley cartoons

Thanks to the USA Today Pop Candy blog, we just discovered cartoonist Nell Brinkley via the new book The Brinkley Girls: The Best of Nell Brinkley Cartoons 1913-1940. There's a nice slide show on the Fantagraphics Books website but a better price at Amazon.

For some reason, the ad in Nuvo for Ha Ha Tonka's upcoming show at Locals Only (June 27th) caught our attention. Listening to their recently released CD, Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South, we think they sound good. We won't be around this weekend but the show might be worth checking out if you like "foot stompin indie rock".

Summer Recipes... Black Bean and Corn Salad

This is one of our big favorite side dishes in the summer. We've enjoyed it even more this year since we are growing our own cilantro.

Dressing

1/4 cup olive oil

3 Tbsp fresh lime juice (we confess, sometimes we use the bottled stuff)

1 tsp each minced garlic and salt and pepper

3 cups raw or cooked fresh corn kernels
1 can (about 15 oz) black beans, rinsed
3 ripe tomatoes, cut in chunks
1 each green and red bell pepper, chopped
1/3 cup chopped cilantro

1. Dressing: Mix oil, lime juice, garlic, salt and pepper in a 2 1/2 quart serving bowl.
2. Add remaining ingredients; toss gently to mix and coat.

Got what it takes to be The Food Network's Next Food Network Star? There's an open casting call in Chicago on July 12th.

We make no claims about Johnny's Park Inn because we didn't stop in; we just thought it had a cute exterior.

Garfield Park- Indianapolis, IN

The view of the Garfield Park Conservatory from the Sunken Gardens:

Here's an interesting page about the history of the park and the pagoda.

MacAllister Center for the Performing Arts:

Plaque honoring Al Feeney, Mayor of Indianapolis from 1948-1950.

Statue of Henry Ware Lawton:

What is it with the squirrels at Garfield Park? They've got to be the most people friendly squirrels in the city. Several years ago, we had a little one get as close as a squirrel has ever gotten to us as we were sitting on a bench in the Sunken Gardens. The Heidelberger Papers has mentioned that they'll get up close and personal with you and that was the case when we were there over the weekend. Luckily, we had some leftover popcorn from our visit to the Ice House so the squirrels kept us pretty entertained while we fed them.

Garfield Park is just a wonder. It's like Indianapolis' version of New York City's Central Park. The Sunken Gardens are just gorgeous. The pool was buzzing with activity on the hot day as was the infinitely cool pagoda. Several years ago, we went to a performance of Long Day's Journey Into Night at the MacAllister Center for the Performing Arts. Check out the Bard at Garfield Park website- they performed Much Ado About Nothing this past weekend and, in September, will perform Twelfth Night which we might have to go see. It's FREE for goodness' sake. This park seems to have it all.

The Ice House Restaurant- Indianapolis, IN

The heavy front door:

Click the image for a larger picture of the menu:
Pretty stained glass leading into the bar side:





The Giant Chef Salad:

The Giant Breaded Tenderloin:

We love independent restaurants but we don't love the unpredictability of their limited information on the Internet or their quirky hours. We haven't posted about a restaurant in awhile because we've run into a string of bad luck as far as places not being open when we thought that they were. The Ice House was actually our Plan B after finding out that Plan A was not open for Saturday lunch. We were intrigued by it because we had read that it was a former ice storage building that had been converted to a restaurant. We asked our exceptionally nice server about this and she said no, it has always been this restaurant and they just built the front door very heavy to seem like an ice storage building. Still, it was a cool space with high ceilings and unique decor. Once inside the heavy front door is a door on the right, for the family room, and a door straight ahead to go into the bar. The place mat menu showed your basic restaurant/bar food such as sandwiches, ribs, and burgers. Mrs. WYA! was happy to see the "Giant Chef Salad" on the menu and ordered that with turkey as her meat of choice. Mr. WYA! had to tackle the "Giant Breaded Tenderloin". There were several TVs to watch as we waited for our food and sipped our high caliber iced teas. There was also free popcorn to nibble on which was appreciated. You just help yourself to the bowls by the popcorn maker as much as you want. The salad was indeed giant and good with raspberry vinaigrette dressing. The breaded tenderloin was not only the biggest tenderloin in diameter that we ever recall seeing, but also tasty.

We'd never heard of this place before the day we went but we thought it was a nice, casual place.


[sorry the pictures are a little dark- it was pretty dim in there and we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves by using the flash]



2352 S. West St.
Indianapolis, IN 46225
317.788.7075