It was a brief visit to my erstwhile stomping grounds - the
justification being a scholarship competition and some extra
United miles. In order to adjust schedules, I had a night
at the Marriott Quincy, which was fairly nice - a hard
uphill slog from the MBTA (later I discovered that there's a
free shuttle, about which the Website is silent); next night
staying over with a friend who teaches at the conservatory.
She'd arranged quartets, of which it was a pleasure to hack
through 76/6 and the second Brahms after having had limited
music, aside from the song that comes naturally in my heart,
for quite a while. Then downtown to judge our High School
Achievement Awards final, whose winners were Jee Jae Ahn,
piano, Lisa Barone, mezzo, and Chi Wei Lo, piano. Look for
the first of these to make a splash (possibly the two others
as well).

And so straight to the airport, which I reached quite late
owing to a fire at Downtown Crossing that shut the subway
lines (Boston has had some bad utility luck lately). Instead
of the rocking chairs in the quiet area between B and C, I
tried sitting upright and pretending I was on a plane.
Slept quite well in this configuration. But no way was I
going to miss out on the first flight out of town, free
wi-fi or no. So I passed up some nice seats on the 0855
for coach on the first flight.

UA7691 BOS ORD 0600 0742 E70 1A
was UA 881 BOS ORD 0855 1047 752
and 7501 ORD MCI 1215 1343 E70

I inquired casually about getting upgraded on this one but
had no high hopes, as the flight had been showing F0 for a
couple days. But the friendly agent gave me 1A in a jiffy,
and I seem to recall one seat up front going begging, so
much for F0.

Why a regional on the quintessential mainline route I can't
speculate, but at least it was a good regional.

Friendly male FA of about my age was attentive and nice
even to the coach pax.

UA 705 ORD MCI 0840 1008 320 6B Ch9^

Though this flight was F1, I didn't bother pursuing that,
instead leaving the space for a 1P or something. I was going
to sleep, anyway. Instead of hanging around vulching, I
spent the time typing in the menu at the B18 RCC. To wit:

Drink coupons are accepted for alcoholic
beverages and bottled water. Beverages
valued at up to $6 require one drink
coupon. Additional drink coupons are
required for beverages at higher values.

Beer selections

Domestic bottles $5
Miller Lite
Miller Genuine Draft
Sam Adams Boston Lager
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
Blue Moon Belgium White
Leinenkugel seasonal rotation

Import bottles $6
Amstel Lite
Corona Extra
Heineken
Stella Artois
Guinness

Draft beer selections
Regular 12 oz
Large 20 oz

Regular Domestic $5
Regular Import $6
Large Domestic 7.50
Large Import $7.50

House & sparkling wines
Wine $6 Champagne [sic] $7.50
Concannon Chardonnay 2007
Concannon Merlot 2007
Mionetto Prosecco NV

Premium wines
whites $10
Helfrich Pinot Gris 2007
Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc 2008
Franciscan Chardonnay 2008

Reds $10
Forefront by Pine Ridge Pinot Noir 2008
Tierra Secreta Malbec 2008
Chateau Bonnet Rouge 2005
Joel Gott 815 Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

Champagne $12
Perrier Jouet Grand Brut NV

Spirits (a quite large selection ranging from
the likes of Jim Beam White at $6 to Glenlivet
and Sapphire at $9)

Reserve spirits
No drink coupons accepted for purchase of Reserve Spirits

Bourbon/Whiskey
Booker's $18
Blanton's $18

Blended Canadian Whiskey
Crown Royal Special Reserve $15

Irish Whiskey
Jameson 18 $22

Scotch
Johnnie Walker Blue $30
Macallan 18 $30

Brandy & Cognac
Remy Martin XO $28

Vodka
Stoli Elit $18
Ultimat $15

Gin
Hendrick's $12

Tequila
Gran Patron $32
Cuervo Reserva de la Familia $5

Rum
10 Cane Rum $12

dine
chicken caesar salad $9
Asian salad $9
Caprese sandwich $9
Turkey sandwich $9
Tuscan panini $10
Cuban style panini $10
Roast beef panini $10
Fruit & yogurt parfait $5

I moseyed in with zone 3 or so.

1C stayed empty until just before doors closed, and I almost
sort of regretted not checking at the gate, as the persons
in 6A and C were bigger than me. 1C was eventually filled by
a cute young thing, so fine. Anyhow, I slept well in the
slightly narrowed middle seat, and next thing I knew we'd
detoured around a bunch of storms and endured some sizable
bumps to land a bit early. Took a while for the Hilton bus
to show up, but when it did, it drove me to a surprisingly
pleasantly appointed place, with a perfectly acceptable room
and a lively and reasonably-priced bar. I had a nap and then
took the shuttle back to the airport to meet my traveling
partners of last month. I was in time to meet lili at her
flight, which came in early enough so she could go to the
rental car place and then back to the Hilton yet again in
our nice though somewhat scratched and dinged Sebring for a
daycap at the bar before fetching gvdIAD ... which we didn't
do, instead opting to make him take the shuttle to the bar,
where we were deep in thought, aka indulgence in ardent
spirits. Then to the Hampton, where they deposited their
luggage, and finally we ended up at hilarious hour at
Fiorella's Jack Stack, where I reconnected with some friends
of long ago, met new ones, and received many congratulations
for having survived to eat again. And eat I did. lili and I
split a pound each of brisket burnt ends and pork shoulder
burnt ends, which gave us plenty of sustenance with enough
to give samples to gvdIAD on one side and FlyGirl555 on the
other. lili also shared gvdIAD's cole slaw; I partook of
none of the frills. One thing to say about these burnt ends.
They're not really that burnt or that endish, being more
like stray pieces of regular brisket or pork shoulder. Not
that that's bad - the beef ends were quite tasty, especially
with the celery-seed-heavy sauces that came on the side; the
pork ends were better, worth the trip, no sauce required.
Neither was as fatty as I'd hoped. But then I'm a heart
patient, too, so I perhaps should be thankful.

No room for dessert.

Hitched a ride with FlyinHawaiian, who was heading back to
the airport with MissyDarlin and FortFun to fetch Calcifer
from her late flight in. We stopped by for drinks at the
friendly bar (thanks, FortFun, for the drink - that wasn't
in the plan at all), where having noticed me frown at the
dregs of the Courvoisier bottle being poured into my
snifter, the bartender opened a fresh one and gave me what
turned out to be a true Kansas, er, Missouri-size pour. I
turned in fairly early, because I was supposed to be at the
museum at opening time next day.

Saturday morning lili, gvdIAD, and I wanted to spend a
couple hours before lunch at the Nelson-Atkins, one of the
more surprisingly well-endowed art museums around, with,
among other things, it is said, the third largest collection
of classical Chinese art in the country, so I wanted to
check this out as well as the impressionist collection,
which is said to be small but good. And lili having a
certain connoisseurship appreciation for modern art, I
asked to tag along as she inspected the new Bloch wing.
Architecturally, it's pretty striking, but the art itself
is kind of a mixed bag. The acquisitions person must have
liked relatively conservative representational stuff (my
favorite, though, was a sculpture of a security guard to
which I Magoo-like said good morning to), which there was
in abundance, interspersed with second-tier works by majors
(a less moving de Kooning toothy woman, for example),
first-tier works by minors, and some that I found disturbing
or ugly or just plain bad. An interesting set of early
photos of Egypt. To get to the Chinese stuff, we had to go
into the original building, so we looked into the Atkins
Auditorium, a nifty lecture hall with murals by Thomas Hart
Benton, and then went upstairs to check out this famous
collection.

Some nice pieces. A little disappointed in the ceramics, as
my tastes (as with many things) run to the very old and very
new and not much in between, and I'm not thrilled with Ming
and Ching. Oddly, the painting that spoke most to me was
Japanese. I have this feeling, though, that in common with
almost all great museums, there's much more in the vaults
than on display.

We had time to run through the American galleries then check
out some of the Italian Baroque stuff (not unlike what we'd
encountered a few weeks before). There remain things unseen
that I'd like to see, so that means having to come back to
the next BBQ Do.

Rendezvous at the gift shop, then on to Oklahoma Joe's,
which despite its name is in Kansas. We got there right at
noon only to find that those crafty FTers had been there for
some time and had nearly finished. The advantage of being
way-behind trailers is that there's extra food: we skipped
line and tasted the burnt ends (best of the trip) and ribs
(best of the trip) courtesy of Starwood Lurker. Then I
sneaked back in line - if this had been at the airport or
in virtually any other part of the country, this would have
been massively jumped upon - for a half pound of pulled pork
(at the urging of gvdIAD, who said it was fabulous, and he
was right - best of the trip) and Boulevard Wheat on tap
(draw beer, as they call it), a lightish beer but not nasty
as so many wheats are. I should have gotten several more, as
a 10-oz pour was not enough and only $1.75 anyway, but I
have only so many hands, and I would have had to go to the
end of the line this time, as there were no longer any FTers
to sneak in behind.

Having been mostly sated, we continued on our almost-random
way and miraculously without benefit of address or directions
found ourself at Christopher Elbow's, the chocolate mecca.
We also found that Calcifer, Condition One, FortFun,
FlyinHawaiian, gvdIAD, and missydarlin had preceded us.
I splurged on a hazelnut disk ($3), good chocolate whose
natural nuttiness was enhanced with crushed hazelnut brittle
- but the brittle itself had little distinct flavor. Also
one each of the Persian (marzipan and spice), tequila lime,
and jasmine tea truffles, all yummy, though the tequila one
was of white chocolate - I should have been tipped off by
the white shell. And tasted the famed fleur de sel caramel
(I've had almost indistinguishable at lower price elsewere,
but here the texture of the caramel was perhaps preferably
drippy) and the hazelnut and I think mocha drinking
chocolates, both unbelievably rich, the former very
flavorful. Not too sweet, either.

Pix can be found on the Web of the hot-looking water faucet
in the bathroom.

We continued on to Union Station, which disappealed to us
for a number of reasons: 1. parking costs money; 2. it's
just like any number of large public buildings in any
number of cities turned into mall-type retail or mixed-use
facilities; 3. there was a wedding and/or reception going
on, and a lot of the real estate was cordoned off. So
casting about for someplace to see, we checked out the top
of the nearby hill and its National World War I Museum and
Liberty Monument. Bumped into the FH, Calcifer, MD, and FF
group again and were accused of stalking them. Nice view
from the grounds - we didn't go to the top or inside.

River Market beckoned, but when we arrived, parking seemed
to be at a premium, and an afternoon of shopping didn't
seem worth the effort, so we parked a ways away and checked
out the riverside. We found a peculiar bridge over the
railroad tracks with an elevator at the end, which led to
the Riverfront Heritage Park - mostly a bike trail but with
pedestrian amenities as well. It was definitely a work in
progress but shows some promise.

We dawdled a bit and as a result showed up at LC's as others
were finishing their food. What's this with FTers being
early to things? Okay, I should have gotten the burnt ends,
which are said to have been gorgeous. Instead, I ordered
fatty warm brisket with light sauce. And the order didn't
come and didn't come. The rest of the crowd started to leave
and be replaced by other crowds. I asked lili to exert her
charms and find out what had happened to our food. Well, it
quite simply had been forgotten. So the cook rushed out an
order - extra lean cold brisket with no sauce. Peuh. There
was no particular reason to stick around, so we ate rapidly
and incompletely and high-tailed it to the next stop, Big T,
where again everyone had eaten, but this time we were early
enough to receive a tribute - ribs from HPN-HRL and burnt
ends from the FH-C-MD-FF axis at the round table in the
corner. I found the ribs a bit on the salty side (what? no
beer on tap?) and the burnt ends on the less burnt side,
but both were tasty. Didn't bother with sauce here.

I ended this leg by getting stuck in the bathroom for five
or ten minutes, during which time I was not missed.

It was whispered that Arthur Bryant's was supposed to happen
at 6, rather than 7 as originally planned. We couldn't
believe our ears at the change so decided that we'd heard
wrong. lili wanted to show me this funky little neighborhood
called Westport, which she'd enjoyed in the past. It seems
to be in decline, or flux, or something; as we strolled
around, we found a distressing (or gratifying if you are
inclined to think that way) piece of evidence of change -
abandoned taverns with for rent signs. How can an Irish pub
go out of business, I mused to myself. We were about to
give up (lili suggested half in jest that we crash happy
hour at the Embassy Suites down the road), when we stumbled
on a cute pedestrian passage with a bar, an ice cream place,
and another bar. All right! The nother bar was a little
outside place, and we inquired about draft beers, especially
Boulevard Amber, which I'd been getting accustomed to. No
draft, but what we could do was go upstairs to the indoor
bar (called Californo, in case anyone cares), pick up a
couple to go, and sit there outside. Turns out both places
and the function area across the walk are all part of the
same establishment. It was getting a little cool, and so
the staff set up a gas radiant heater for us: this was
somewhere between amusing and disconcerting, as they clearly
had no idea what they were doing. I asked if we should be
concerned lest we be blown up, and the answer was negative.

Okay, we were in plenty of time to get to Arthur Bryant's by
7, only we took a wrong turn (this one was not my fault, I
got us to where we thought it was in plenty of time). So out
came the phone. Turns out we were about six blocks away, so
we jubilantly arrived ... just as everyone else was leaving.
So we didn't bother even making a pit stop here, just going
with the crowd to the last stop, the original location of
Gates Bar-B-Q, with its fragrant pit and chirpy cashiers.
(It appears that uva185 and others did worse than we had,
showing up at the wrong Gates altogether.) For a change of
pace I ordered ribs, which were quite respectable, trading
some for some burnt ends and a taste of very ordinary turkey
sandwich. lili picked up some sweet BBQ sauce and some extra
hot. The consensus was that there wasn't a lot of difference
between them. Both were in the celery-seed-heavy style.
We ate in the lounge, where the beer selection was kind of
dubious, so I ended up making black and tans out of MGD and
Guinness. I think it was aviationkiwi who expressed shock
and disgust at the MGD on the table, so I offered him a
taste of my concoction. I forget whether he took up the
offer, but I am sure that in either case he wasn't
convinced. The burnt ends here were exceptionally fine.

The finale ultimo: Foo's frozen custard, where the specialty
is concretes - the custard (a sort of slow churned ice
cream) mixed with various substances to creat a delightful
or perhaps strange dessert. We shared the coffee caramel:
the custard is blandish in itself, but the caramel sauce
brought it to life. After which fond goodbyes to the FT
people and a stroll to the Brookside Art Fair, which was
just pulling up stakes for the night. Some interesting
stuff, but the only things I'd have been inclined to buy
were some earrings that would look good on lili, but it is
perhaps unfortunately not my place on this planet to buy
earrings for her.

A sated and slowish ride back toward the airport; we parted
fondly as she dropped me off for a few hours' rest at the
Homewood MCI - she went on to the Hilton where I'd been the
night before.

At the airport next morning: Condition One and gvdIAD, on
their way to IAD; nevansm in 3C on his way to ORD. There was
discussion about the finer points of ID, especially the
rarer forms of official US Goverment ID, some of which were
shown and told during this visit.

gvdIAD chortled about sneaking several packets of OK Joe's
bbq sauce aboard, pointing out that GoingAway owed him BIG
TIME for his sacrifice.

UA 321 MCI ORD 0744 0910 319 3A

A comfy flight. The more I fly on the Airbuses the more I
like the first class seating (though the couple inches extra
width actually makes it more difficult to sleep, as one
tends to fall into the space between the seat arm and the
curve of the fuselage.

UA 439 ORD BOS 1201 1527 319 1D

I guested nevansm into the club, and we chatted for a while;
presently it was time for him to leave, and I read FT until
my flight, which was wholly insignificant. I believe lunch
was served, but I didn't pay any attention to it. And so
back to reality, or what passes for it in my life.

-30- (I used to put -33- here, but that must have been beer
influenced, the memories of the middle-aged not being what
they used to be)

Thank you for your detail report