windmills on the plains
I will not rest until I glorify every Midwestern state that I can. And not to leave any states out, I will not rest until I glorify every state–there. A quick weekend trip, organized around a wedding, to the Kansas City area and central Kansas resulted in an amazing few days of friends, family, scenery, and food.
After landing in KC, Chelsea and I rented a car and headed into the center of the Sunflower state to visit her mom and grandpa. The air was thick and hot, and the countryside was vibrant and technicolor green. I needed a physical and mental break from the grind; as soon as we hit the road I cleared my head and opened it to all that was around me, which to the closed mind might not seem like much.
The rolling Flint Hills near Topeka got me thinking about the Wild West, Native Americans, and cattle drives. The best beef cattle still come from herds that graze these lands. Giant, space-age windmills dotted the landscape like ominous UFOs and sparked the idealistic side of my brain.
The landscape turned considerably more flat as we headed west, but the purple, yellow, and green swaths of wildflowers and prairie grasses made it the stuff of a masterpiece painting. This sight was particularly evident near the Cheyenne Bottoms wetlands, the country’s largest inland marsh, near Great Bend. I’d love to drive back later in the summer to see the giant fields of sunflowers.
Cheyenne Bottoms
Chelsea’s mom’s garden and her grandpa’s horseradish patch were growing by leaps and bounds. Chickens were warbling and putting out some of the prettiest eggs I have ever seen. Grandpa told stories about the old days as we cleaned horseradish and swatted mosquitos on his front porch.
digging horseradish
araucana chicken eggs
Grandpa
We headed back to “the city” to visit Chelsea’s hospitable aunt and uncle Chris and Miles, and to reconnect with an old childhood friend of mine over some KC-style barbecue at Gates, a KC institution that is pretty inspirational in the barbecue department.
Jason and Art
In the name of research we would eat barbecue not once, not twice, but three times on the trip: once at Gates, once in a Walmart parking lot, and once at the wedding. (After we returned to Chicago, we ate the leftover Gates ‘cue with whole-grain bread and grandpa’s horseradish, accompanied by lightly steamed green beans from Mom’s garden with a squeeze of lemon, cracked pepper, olive oil, and a sprinkling of truffle salt.)
Eating ‘cue:
1.
Gates
2.
Walmart parking lot
3.
the wedding
4.
the leftovers
The morning before the big wedding, Chris took us to the KC City Market, a year-round, indoor-outdoor farmer’s and ethnic market in downtown KC. I’ll be talking about this one for a long time. This market should serve as a model for any other city that is thinking about establishing one of its own. It reminded me of the new Ferry Plaza Farmer’s market in San Francisco but with a very Midwestern feel. The energy coming from the people there was contagious, and the excitement created by the market itself was overwhelming.
KC City Market
Finally, we headed to Chelsea’s cousin’s wedding, an hour and a half outside of KC at a big lake in the country. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding that managed to miss the rain when it needed to; we, on the other hand, missed a series of tornadoes that occurred around the same time back in Great Bend. The family made the appetizers, Chelsea’s aunt Mary Jane made the cake, and the barbecue was catered by Wyandot BBQ out of KC. It was nice to end our getaway by seeing so many happy people. Check out all the photos of the trip here. Thanks again, Chel, for coming into my life and inspiring me with this side of yours.
“Cheyenne Bottoms” used to be my stripper name.
Let me guess, “Cheyenne” was the name of the street you grew up on and “Bottoms” was the name of your first dog? You crazy! When the hell are we going to get together? And I won’t expect you to do a dollar dance (nor would I be looking forward to such an event).
I eagerly await your glorification (and accompanying visit) of Minnesota. Though I wouldn’t recommend eating in the Walmart parking lot in Saint Paul. You’re liable to catch some cigarette butts in your food. Now THAT’S foraging…
So you made the big move to Minn/St. Paul! Congratulations!
Chelsea and I will most definitely come and visit you. Haven’t been out that way in a long time. Road trip!
I came across your urban foraging post from last summer….Juneberries are ripe in Chicagoland RIGHT NOW! Get out and get them before the birds do! To ID, the berries will be a bit bigger than those chokecherries you had last summer, but look like blueberries. I’ve already made two batches of muffins, put enough in the freezer for two pies for thanksgiving, and have about 22 cups worth to clean….AND still have 3-10 trees I haven’t picked yet (not sure how much my wife will let me bring home).
Thanks for the heads up Dennis! Sounds like you’ve been busy. I love the idea of putting some pies up for Thanksgiving. I think it’s a bit of an adrenaline rush to scramble and try to take full advantage of this fruit while it’s around.
Go get ‘em! Lookout for a simple recipe that I put together last night with a handful of berries.
Take care.
Art.
I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for it, and if you know a homebrew winemaker in the west burbs that want’s to try making some berry wine, I’ll provide the berries for a few bottles.
@Dennis,
I fancy myself to be an amateur homebrew aficionado with my own kit and I’m from the west burbs (ex ‘urbs–west of Sugar Grove) but, close enough to the Home Brew store in Geneva to pick up supplies for a batch of wine.
But if you’d like to get them to an expert I’ll keep my eyes peeled for one. Otherwise, I’d give it a go and we could share the result!
Fantastic! Let me know how much you need, and I’ll have the berries by friday. and can meet b/w sugar grove and naperville. I keep seeing the same 3 recipes online, but it’s all greek to me.
Great! I’ll email you to hammer out the details.
I came here circuitously after finding your recipe for Kale Chips on AT:thekitchn : )
Just wanted to say it’s nice to see someone promoting Kansas (for a change!). I moved there from San Francisco temporarily to be with my SO while he finished his PhD research at K-State. We’ve since moved on, but I developed a huge warm spot in my heart for Kansas, and try to convince everyone who asks about it that it really is a place worth getting to know. I will never forget driving out to the Konza Prairie to watch a huge lightening and thunderstorm play itself out over the prairie. Nor will I forget the tornado and ice storm we went through!
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