Five Things I Love About Kansas City

1. Murray's



Simply the most delicious ice cream on the planet. And you can't get it anywhere but at the shop in KC. Murray, who is actually a woman, and, yes, actually goes by "Murray," knows dairy. She opened the business with her mother in 1984, specializing in homemade ice cream and cookies. Years later, she's expanded to include a coffee bar, made-to-order ice cream cakes and pies, and the best soda fountain treats this side of the Mississippi. You can get a Green River phosphate or an egg cream made to precision. Best flavor of ice cream: hands-down it's the One Drunk Monk, a frangelico ice cream with perfect-sized bits of hazelnut and chocolate espresso flakes. HEAVEN. But she only makes it at the end of the month. Her 200+ flavors rotate regularly.

Murray is notoriously humble and publicity-shy, which hasn't stopped Bon Appetit magazine or Food Network from featuring her desserts. She has refused franchise offers for years, preferring to keep her business a mom-and-pop that doesn't even have a computer on the premises. She cranks out all the ice cream herself on-site and has the carpal-tunnel to prove it. I worked for her at the shop for six summers of my youth. It was the best job I've ever had, working with some of the best people ever to inhabit Kansas City. Soda Jerks 4 Life!

Oh, and Murray's is on Myspace.

2. Downtown always smells like coffee.



Thanks to the Folger's plant that roasts all day and all night at 7th and Broadway.


3. The River Market

The place where every ethnicity and social class in Kansas City converges on the weekends. You can literally eat a different type of ethnic cuisine from its many restaurants every day of the week. I know this because I work a block away and I've done it. And the amount of fruits and veggies you can get for $5 will feed you and a clan for a week. Also, the history of this area is incredibly fascinating. Brothels, political corruption and gangsters, oh my!






4. Driving down Ward Parkway with the windows down on a sunny day.

This is the Wikipedia entry on Kansas City's infamous boulevard of mansions and fountains.

And here's what it looks like on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Spring. (This one gets a bonus because it includes Cypress Avenue and the voice of host, Bill Shapiro on the radio in the background. Best show on the radio in KC for 25 years.)



5. The Marching Cobras

Seriously, I want these guys to play my funeral.

Here they are performing on the roof of the Downtown Library.



P.S. There are about 20 more things I could have included in this post, including The Foundation, The Westside, The Nelson, and on and on...it was difficult to narrow it down to five. Maybe I'll do a Part II in the future, but for now this will have to suffice.

Five Things I Did This Weekend

1. Enjoyed the weather.
It was 75 degrees! The wind was fiercer than Ferocia Coutura, but it was 75 degrees!

2. Took Mason to the Skate Park.
I love boys on skateboards. For life.

3. Went to a party at Illegitimate Art.
Homegirl at the party was rocking the sickest pair of shiny purple pants. And I was fortunate enough to stumble upon a $5 original edition of Girl Talk Date Line. Yep. Slumber party time!

4. Urban hiking with Tom and Katie.
We fought the high winds to stroll eastward on Southwest Blvd. through the Westside. We made some awesome discoveries. First, the old Plaza de Ninos building on Belleview. This is hands-down the coolest building in KC. Then, we found an abandoned Disney Princess ball. And finally, we treated ourselves to popsicles at Tropicana on the Boulevard. Delicioso!

5. Took pictures.
So you can see it all for yourself.

Five Things about Obama's KC Visit

1. There were lines.
I arrived at Municipal Auditorium around 4:45 pm (an hour after the doors opened) and there were lines of people pushing through the doors to the building.



2. There were Republicans.
Once inside, it was a massive crush of people in the foyer all trying to squeeze into a stairwell to get downstairs where the entrance to the event was. This waiting stage lasted about an hour. The guys behind me were Republicans who voted for Bush in 2000...and they were talking about how if Obama could change things, it didn't matter what party he was from. They were mostly pissed about the war and the economy.



3. There were white people.
Once on the auditorium floor, I took a look around at the diversity in the crowd. It wasn't something I noted because I feel like his race is a factor, just something you don't see that often...in KC, that is.



4. There were people who didn't get in.
I came out of the auditorium around 7:30pm, unprepared to find more than a hundred people gathered across the street at Barney Allis Plaza who were unable to get into the event. They had been outside waiting for him for 2 hours...and they were chanting his name. They couldn't feel their toes, but they stayed until he came out to deliver an abbreviated speech to the crowd. As he left, people on the street cheered him and people ran after his motorcade like he was a rock star, excitedly telling their friends, "I shook his hand!!"

5. They should have played this for his introduction.

**Before you ask, no, I did not get one good shot of Obama. I left my good camera at home like an idiot and had to use my camera phone, which is why all my pictures suck. Thank you very much.