Pork Fat….

Rules!!..

after the protein glut at Ray’s on Saturday night, the FOJTY’s picked us up at the hotel Sunday morning and took us out for breakfast at



Jones Heritage Farms is one of the growing number of small farms "reverting to traditional farming techniques eschewing modern industrial agricultural practices such as animal confinement, the feeding of animal byproducts and the use of antibiotics and growth hormones. The result is better tasting food and more environmentally friendly practices." Must work because they produce a damn good breakfast.

It is apparent that it is a real farm



With real critters







The “restaurant” is located next to the barn



You’re seated in an enclosed patio which can be opened to the outside (and, according to FOJTY, the roaming chickens) with a view of the back pasture housing the sheep, a hog or two, and more chickens. The menu is simple:



After an infusion of coffee, we ordered. I took the “number one with bacon and eggs up”. A little oddity, the server was unfamiliar with the term “up” or even “sunny side up”. I am not sure what the local vernacular is, but eventually my order was understood. And, no matter that FOJTY had twenty ounces of ribeye steak the previous evening, he selected a "number two" with double bacon and a sausage (for the three meats) as his choice. MFO also had a number one, and asked about the “southern potato hash” another semantics oddity to us, but it turns out that they are what we would normally call “hash browns". So she added that to her order.

After a bit more conversation and watching real animals, our orders arrived. It’s so nice to see “real” eggs. Look at those yolks… what a beautiful color and they tasted so good..



And the three egg version was equally inviting (look at that pile of meat!)



Pretty soon my plate looked like this



Everything was so good..

As you leave you walk through their little “store”



Where you can purchase various local items..



On the way back to the motel FOJTY wanted to show us one of his favorite subdivisions:



Complete with catchy street signs. Wouldn't you want that for your address?



What a great experience that breakfast was. We talk about this “buy local” stuff but this is really it. They also occasionally do wine dinners with guest chefs . That would be fun for your weekend in the country! A different life.

So we reluctantly bid adieu (or so long) to younger son, pointed the MOMSTER north toward the big city and FOJTE, where other culinary pleasures awaited…

Different outfits up there for

DFD

Ray's....

No, not the canoe livery in Grayling, Michigan, nor the actor from Everybody Loves…., it’s the restaurant in Kelso, Missouri.

After our day of driving finishing with water lapping at the wheels of the MOMSTER, we crossed the Mighty Mississippi and arrived in Jackson, Missouri, home of FOJTY and MFOJTY. They are attending SEMO (in Cape Girardeau) and hence are living in the nearby town of Jackson. It’s pretty rural there, about two and a half hours south of the Biggest Little City in the Midwest and our former home, St. Louis. We pulled into the motel under some threatening skies.



After resting a bit, the FOJTY’s picked us up and gave us a nice tour of the Campus of SEMO (South East Missouri (MO)) State University. It is a surprisingly large campus for an “outstate” institution, and is home to around 11,000 students. After the tour, we headed south and turned off on Highway 61 (revisited), into the little town of Kelso. FOJTY had done some research and discovered a restaurant called Ray’s of Kelso. Turns out that there has been a presence of “Ray’s” since the current editions father opened a drive-in in 1964, which was about the first in the area to make Pizza. When the Interstate 55 was completed, so was their business, so they opened a restaurant out of their home in ’67 and added steak to the menu. Ray’s Steak and Pizza remained a fixture for a long time, and when the original Ray passed, his son moved into an old bank building and has been operating it as a restaurant since. Besides the restaurant they have outdoor seating and a separate house for large parties.

The interior reminds you it is a bank with high ceilings, and even the vault (which you can dine in) and the ample walls are decorated with pieces of art. Servers are dressed in white shirts and black vests, a welcoming touch. Tables have no cloths, but each placemat has a brief historical sketch of the place. We were seated in sort of a booth in the front, a nice table. Soon after we were seated we were approached by a server younger than most, and she led off with the dreaded full blown “Hi I’m…care of you” speech. I thought oh, boy, here we go.

Well, wrongo oh parochial bottom feeder. Aside from a few gaffes in service which I put down to inexperience, it was a pretty impressive restaurant. The menu is varied and complete for any appetite and taste. Of course they feature steak in three cuts (filet, strip, and ribeye from seven to twenty ounces) plus a porterhouse (one and a quarter pounds) and 20 ounces of Chateaubriand for two carved tableside. They also offer a pepper steak and an Oscar version. Aside from the beef centric, there are also the (famous) pizzas, as well as a good selection of other things. Like veal piccata, Wienerschnitzel, lamb and pork chops, free range chicken in many preparations, vegetarian options, and many seafood choices, such as mahi mahi, grouper, shrimp, scallops, and even lobster as tails or in ravioli. Appetizers are many, including crab cakes (lump blue crab), baked Brie and grapes, stuffed portabellas, shrimp cocktails and sweet potato fries. Prices for the apps were generally under nine, and entrees varied depending on the size of your appetite for steak, and the other options generally very low twenties to under. Lobster tails a bit more. We decided on wine instead of drinks and the wine list was equally surprising to me as it contained some very nice selections at reasonable prices. Both new and old world were represented. Things like a Paul Hobbs Chardonnay and Talley Pinot showed up and we selected an ‘07 Catena Malbec (from Argentina).

In short, the menu was much more impressive than I expected. While we were pondering our choices, Ray showed up a the next table to carve a Chateaubriand. It arrived on a cutting board, sizzling, and he drenched it with (something) which was then flambéed to caramelize further. Of course he had a shtick while carving but it wasn’t meant for the whole room (as it is in our nearby Jerry’s). Our wine was brought to the table by another server (my guess driven by age for serving alcohol) and he did a nice job of presenting.

Finally we all decided on our food. MFO and I split a shrimp cocktail, FOJTY and MFOJ got an order of the sweet potato fries. For main courses, I figured one should dance with the horse they rode in on, and took the diminutive 13 oz. ribeye medium rare, with choiced sides of a Caesar salad (extra cost) and “loaded” baked potato, MFO did the lobster ravioli (Tender chunks of Lobster, minced Shallots, Cream, and Manchego cheese, topped with sautéed Snow Pea Pods, Baby pencil Carrots, Onions, and Mushrooms, Garnished with our Alfredo sauce and minced Pistachios) along with a baby spinach salad), MFOJTY selected the “Californian” pizza which was also loaded (Fresh sliced Tomatoes, Spinach, Artichoke hearts, Scallions,Mushrooms, Bell Pepper, Onions and Black Olives with Fresh herbs and our 5-Cheese Italiano blend. (a no sauce base Pizza)). And FOJTY being a growing boy, took all twenty ounces of a ribeye, and a special asparagus side.

As this is (as usual) getting out of hand we’ll cut to the chase. All of the food was very good. My Caesar salad was crisp, with a nice tangy dressing and yes, an anchovy was atop. All other salads were large and good. Our steaks were cooked just right and actually tasted like steaks (advertised as Prime CAB). The pizza was covered with the items above. MFO thought all the stuff on the ravioli was a bit much, but none the less enjoyed it. The FOJTY’s enjoyed a Crème Brule.

Our server (again inexperienced I hope) seemed to check on us too often and at odd times, kept wanting me to “keep my fork” between courses – I refused and was given a whole new service wrapped in a napkin, cleared the other three plates and asked if they wanted a box while I was still eating my steak, and wanted to know if we wanted the check half way through dessert..

But, as I ALWAYS point out the above observations are only noted as an objective evaluation. We had a wonderful time with our son and his wife, and thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Valuable time together..too little of it..

Ray’s was a very pleasant find (thank you FOJTY), and for you STL dwellers who want to have a nice weekend getaway from the bustle, you might consider making a pleasant drive for dinner (reservations highly recommended at Ray’s) and stay over in the country. It’s not a chain, the customers were friendly and DFD’d. And you will want to stay over after I tell you about our breakfast the next morning..

And most people were

DFD

working on the road.... day two

on the road again...

In Mt. Sterling, KY, after our nice little “dinner” and some relaxation we turned in for the night, knowing the next and final “road day” would be a bit taxing because we stopped short of Lexington, our original target for the day. So next morning we headed out. After a half hour of driving or so, we entered Lexington, the



And of course if you can dabble in horses, you probably have some cash, and indeed there is evidence of that around there





I wish I knew the story..

Since we were heading for FOJTY’s home in Jackson, MO, we altered our normal STL course and headed down a myriad of “parkways” toward the lower left end of Kentucky. We weren’t the only people on the roads as we saw several convoys of these:



Must have been about 50 in this particular parade, all ages, genders, garb, and cycles, however most were Harleys.

After Paducah, we got to the river(s) and began to see the effects of the flooding.



And then we got to the famous river town of



And over the years a number of factors have made it almost a ghost town. Apparently even the best burger in southern Illinois couldn’t help them stay open





Illinois 3 is the “river road” near the mighty Mississippi and the nearer the river we got, the more waater we saw..





Eventually it seemed that the river lapped at the shoulders..



So, that pretty much ended our day..

But of course there's things on the road along the way that catch your eye... not that I would look of course (Gee honey look at that!! Pull over....uh, never mind)



Despite all, we arrived higg, dry and tired in Jackson Missouri, near Cape Girardeau home of FOJTY. We had a great dinner there, the first of two very nice meals.. the subject of the next Feeder.

And we did need to

DFD

Road Work Day One

Traveling and Blogging are not concurrent...

Friday we got on our way about 9:00. No matter what we do, how much we plan, alarms set, good intentions, we always start at nine. I don’t understand it, but it happens. Anyway, the MOMSTER pointed west and off we went. MFO decided to modify our normal route (into VA, 95 south to Richmond, I64, I81, I64 again to Charleston, to Illinois to STL) and after going over the Harry Nice Bridge, we branched off through Fredericksburg, and eventually Front Royal where we picked up I81 south until (are you still with us?)and then branced off on US33 which bridged the mountains over to I79. Needless to say on a smaller "non-interstate" road you have to contend with things like:



And



But you also benefit from seeing things closer up



And





And “real” non national chain places such as



And although we were in the “back woods” of West (BG) Virginia, relatively unpopulated and small, there was one constant in a town of any size



always a lot of folk.

Due to the ups and downs and rounds and switching through the mountains we fell short of our intended spot to RON, and instead we got off the road weary and stayed in Mt. Sterling, KY. And also due to the rigors of the road and the hour, dinner consisted of



And I won’t tell you how we were

DFD

day two coming up!

A Journey Begins...

Catch up, mop up day.

Tomorrow morning we load up the MOMSTER and point west toward St. Louis. We will be able to visit both the FOJ’s and then MFO will continue on to Wisconsin and I will return here via the airline with the funny pilots you may have heard about in the news. Brown notebook, camera, and keen powers of observation will go along, and provide fodder for the feeder. We do have a couple of opportunities for food intake scheduled that sound promising, so hopefully good reports (depending….) to follow. So, for the next few days, publication may be hampered by the vagaries of hotel internet access, signal strengths and so forth. That, and with the installation of MS IE 9, Blogger (my vehicle for publication) has some interface issues. Damn technology!!

And just to leave you with a fashion note, you know that these days camouflage clothing is all the rage. Well, apparently it extends to the insect world as well..



he/she visited our garage yesterday...

So, until an unknown future date…bon voyage!

And we of course packed clothing to support

DFD