Friendship House - Wamego, KS

Judy has been a Wizard of Oz fan since she can remember. She's read all of the books and seen the movie multiple times. So when she learned there was an Oz Museum in Kansas, she had to see it. So in between our stop in Abilene to visit the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum and Topeka, where we planned to visit the capitol building and a Brown v. Board of Education Civil Rights Museum, we took a 10 mile detour north of the I-70 to Wamego to see it. We were visiting around lunchtime, so we visited the number one (out of 15) restaurant in Wamego on Trip Advisor, Friendship House. 

We were more than pleasantly surprised. Friendship House is a bright yellow two story home on a residential street, about three blocks from the shopping district and main street. It was not immediately obvious where the restaurant was as we drove down the street. The inside looked kind of Christmassy, with wreaths of flowers on the doors and going up a bannister to the upstairs. It has wood floors and wood chairs, just a nice atmosphere. 

Our server went through a list of various cookies they had available, it is a bakery as well as a restaurant, and when she mentioned ginger snaps, I asked if they had milk. Within minutes I had a glass of milk and a wonderful huge, warm ginger snap to dip in it. It was so good I ended up getting two more before our meal was finished. It reminded me of my days as a young missionary in England. I used to buy a package of ginger snaps and a bottle of milk for lunch and dip the ginger snaps into the milk until they got partially soggy. But these ginger snaps were much larger and much softer. I could go back there every day for ginger snaps. 

Ginger snap and milk.

Judy got some thick cabbage soup which tasted homemade. I got a roll filled with beef, onions and horseradish, I don't recall what they called it, but it was good. Nothing to go out of the way for, but good.

We shared a peanut butter sweet roll which was warm and gooey. Then I got a goopy slice of coconut cream pie. The pie didn't hold its shape, but it more than held its wonderful taste. 

Look how much frosting is on this sweetroll!

This coconut cream pies doesn't look like much, but it was wonderful.

Forget the real food, just come here for the bakery. Everything was freshly cooked, it was like eating at Grandmas. Judy got to see the Oz Museum and she was happy. I got to eat ginger snaps and milk, sweet roll and coconut pie. I was more than happy. The Wamego detour was a good one. 

First Presbyterian Church of Topeka - Stained Glass

Across the street from the Kansas State Capitol building in Topeka is the First Presbyterian Church of Topeka. From the outside there is nothing that particularly sets it apart, but from the inside looking out, it contains a treasure-trove of stained glass that is some of the most beautiful I've seen anywhere. 

First Presbyterian Church of Topeka. Picture from here. 

The building was completed in 1884. The Tiffany windows were installed in 1911 for $14,000. I can't imagine what they are worth now. As the church website says, they are "irreplaceable." They are made of Favrile glass, an iridescent art glass designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, patented in 1894 and first produced in 1896. It is "different from other iridescent glasses because its color is not just on the surface, but embedded in the glass." (Wikipedia, Favrile glass)  The colors are produced by adding cobalt, gold, copper, manganese and other metal oxides and enhanced by modifying surface textures, layering glass or wrinkling the surface. No paint, enamels or stains were used. Tiffany went to Topeka to see the church before drawing sketches, later sent watercolor sketches for approval and then was on hand for construction. 

Inside the chapel without any lights on.

The altar with the lights on.

A non-Tiffany window above the altar.

Chi (X) and Rho (P) superimposed on each other are the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ. This was the symbol used by the Emperor Constantine as part of his military standard. 

Behind the altar.

The Kansas Capitol building dome from a church window. 

A large stained glass window - perhaps of Jesus ascending into heaven after his resurrection? But this big picture doesn't really do it justice. You have to break it into photos of its smaller parts. The next four pictures show fragments of this bigger picture: (1) Jesus attended by angels; (2) Jerusalem below his feet; (3) the crowd to his right; and (4) the crowd to his left. 

This is part of a larger presentation of the manger scene. I found that pictures which included too much did not capture the texture and color very well. So I am including smaller pieces to capture the real beauty of the glass. Here Mary holds the infant Jesus while Joseph looks from behind. This picture, and the next few, are not part of the Tiffany collection, but windows from a side chapel.

To the right of the panel above was this panel of the wise men bringing gifts to the Christ-child. 

To the left of the panel of the first manger scene was this panel of the shepherds come to see the Christ-child. 

I'm intrigued by this one. It must be the presentation of Jesus in the temple: Mary on the left, Joseph on the right and the Jewish High Priest holding Jesus in the middle. 

The Annunciation - the angel Gabriel speaks to Mary.

A great depiction of the child Jesus bringing a board to his carpenter father. 

A small piece of a much larger scene of one of the Tiffany windows. Amazing colors and details. 

Detail and shading in the face, neck and hand. This is a smaller detail picture of the larger window below. Note how the larger picture just doesn't capture the color and detail. 

Foot details.

This face looks like it pre-figures hair styles in the 1920s. 

Jesus in a baptismal scene. John the Baptist is to his left out of this picture. The whole window is below and a larger picture of John the Baptist is below it. 

An angel - love the wings.

Another angel. I love that the angels are women. 

Amazing hair.

A close look reveals that the texture of this lamb's wool is enhanced by thick and undulating glass. 

This side view shows the differing thickness and layering of glass.

Another side view shows thick pieces of glass bulging out of the flat pane surface.

More bulging pieces of glass.

I love the colors in the center pane.

A panel of a wooded scene with a deer to the left. Details of a portion of the left panel and right panel follow.

Jesus and Mary after the resurrection?

I've not provided photos of many of the larger panels because the pictures don't do them justice. It is really only the small bits and pieces that reveal the majesty of the work. 

Proof - Des Moines, Iowa

From what I'd read before-hand I was really looking forward to eating at Proof in Des Moines, Iowa. It was rated no. 4 out of 509 places to eat in Des Moines on Trip Advisor and its chef, Sean Wilson, was a 2013 James Beard Award semifinalist for best chef in the Midwest. The James Beard Award is the most prestigious cooking award in the U.S. The website notes that it takes "its influences from the Mediterranean and Northern Africa," blending "old world with the new by using local ingredients in all of its dishes."  When we made a reservation we answered some questions including "how adventurous of an eater are you?" Of course I noted "very," and imagined them coming up with some very exotic combination for us. I thought this would be our best meal of the trip. We ended up having several other meals I thought were better (see Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue in Kansas City and RowHouse Restaurant in Topeka). We did have a very good meal, I'd rate it a five, but it did not "wow" and I was hoping to be wowed. 

Proof, in downtown Des Moines.

Proof is located in downtown Des Moines and what actually did wow us were several locations nearby, one of them right next door. The Pappajohn Sculpture Park, full of incredible modern art sculptures by world-renowned sculptors, set in a 4.4 acre park, will get a post all by itself from Judy. We walked off our dinner afterwards in this park. Then the amazingly beautiful Iowa capitol building several blocks uptown will probably get a full post from both Judy and me later. We went there after our walk in Pappajohn Park and again the next morning. 

Back to Proof. The best dish, by far, was a Spanish grilled ribeye and I have to say, it was great in every sense of the word. It looked fabulous and tasted even better. To start with, it was a great piece of meat, a thick fatty ribeye grilled medium rare with several sliced strips leaning against the main mass and suspended lean-to like, like fissures, over a bed of asparagus, lending color and the suggestion that it was a volcano spewing wonderful sauces in rivulets all over the plate. Roasted potatoes were spread out like molten rocks. But what really made the dish work were the multiple sauces with different colors and tastes fanned out and then coming together at the edge of the plate, like multi-hued lava. One of the sauces was a chunky green sauce called a chimichurri, made of Italian parsley, cilantro, garlic, crushed red pepper and olive oil, and used on grilled meats. It was overshadowed by a Harissa mayo which dominated the left side of the plate. Harissa is a Tunisian hot chili pepper paste using roasted red peppers, serrano peppers and other hot chili peppers, herbs, spices garlic paste and olive oil. Mixed with the mayo it was creamy and rich with a little bit of heat. The best sauce, which was a light red, almost orange, was a mojo rojo, my favorite of the sauces. At least one recipe I see for mojo rojo contains dried New Mexico chiles, smoked paprika, garlic, cumin and olive oil and it really lent the most significant, oily, heat. Finally, there was an olive caramel sauce which was a dark red and slightly sweet. This dish was all about cutting off small bites of ribeye and rubbing them in one or more of the erupted sauces. Each bite was different, depending on the blend, with different levels of creamy, oily, salty, spicy and sweet. One of the best steak dishes I've ever eaten.

Spanish grilled ribeye - eye candy.

The next best dish, but significantly lower on the Richter taste scale, was the prosciutto and artichokes served with "farm" style cheese and a caper-honey dressing. It was visually very pleasing with different colors, shapes and textures. It also had nice mouth-feel with different soft textures. It would have been an all-star dish if I hadn't tasted it, but the taste did not live up to the visual. The farm cheese was so bland that it even counter-acted the capers and prosciutto which normally have such striking flavors. Still a good dish, but one that really could-have, should-have, been great.  

Prosciutto and artichokes

Note that we're starting to go downhill. The roast pork belly with garlic scapes, bok choy and mushroom/bacon broth sounded so good, but alas was disappointing. I LOVE pork belly - how do you make it bland? I don't know, but they did. The garlic scapes were interesting, the flower bud of the garlic plant. It was something I'd not eaten before, but did eat something similar, later, on my trip to the Sierras with Sam and Andrew. I would not order this dish again. 

Pork belly

Continuing downhill, I left the worst for last. By far the biggest disappointment was the duck confit served with orange sauce. I love duck, probably more than pork belly, and this dish is a sort of shredded duck, breaded and fried. By itself, the duck McNuggets (the pejorative term is intended) were dry and tasteless, everything duck should not be. Only liberal spreading of orange sauce made it edible. It is one thing to make pork belly bland, but another to ruin duck, and in such a good restaurant. Inconceivable. When given an opportunity to try duck McNuggets at another restaurant later on our trip, I could not run the other way fast enough. Some day I may find the courage to try it again, somewhere else, but I need time. 

Duck (McNuggets) Confit

We had a cheese plate with three cheeses. I don't even recall what they were. I think one was some sort of an aged goat, another a hard cow or sheep and another some sort of brie. Cheese is always good, but it doesn't really tell you anything about the restaurant. 

We had more cheese than this. I just didn't get around to taking the photo until the plate was depleted.

We also had a beginning appetizer which was kind of a spicy cucumber slice rolled over marinated onion perhaps? It was good. 

It was a good meal, the Spanish grilled ribeye was worth going for all by itself, but should have been so much better. My expectations were very high and I'm sure that did not help (but I still can't get over the duck McNuggets).