All posts by hannahviolin

I am a violinist. I also enjoy running, working out, reading, and hanging with my friends and cat.

Food Truck Friday

Friday night Chris and I went to "Food Truck Friday" with our friends Jon, Laura, and Benjamin.  The event is sponsored by Sauce Magazine and takes place in Tower Grove Park every second Friday in the warmer months, and I finally had off teaching for the night!  Basically a bunch of food trucks come and park and you can create your own picnic.  We weren’t sure quite what to expect but we had heard it got busy very quickly the previous month so we went early.

IMG_0912

You can see some food trucks here—Chris didn’t even know what a food truck was before going to the event.  Basically our conversation went like this:  Hey, honey, do you want to go to Food Truck Friday with our friends?  Sure, what’s that?  It’s an event where a lot of food trucks gather around in Tower Grove Park and you try a bunch of different food.  Okay, what’s a food truck?

IMG_0914

Once we got to the right area of the park we decided our best bet was to lay down our blankets and then each person go to a different truck to collect food for the group.  I had been told by several people that Seoul Taco was amazing and the best, and they had a really long line, so I got in that line.  (I learned that while cruising—I see a line, I get in it!).  Chris and Jon headed off in search of other great options.

IMG_0915

I ordered a bunch of tacos—if you couldn’t guess from the name, they serve Korean BBQ style tacos.  I ordered steak, pork, and tofu.

IMG_0917

They were grilling the meat right there.  Easier than doing it yourself at a Korean BBQ restaurant! Anyway, though the line was long it moved quickly.  We were all texting back and forth about what people wanted to try and what to drink.  There were several local breweries that had set up shop as well.

Finally we all met back at the blankets with the food loot!

IMG_0918

Tacos, the silver foil are different kinds of sausages sandwiches from the Sausage Syndicate, and those deep fried things are Jambalaya balls from Completely Sauced.  There was also a quinoa salad and a sweet potato falafel from Lulu’s. 

IMG_0934

IMG_0919

We didn’t find anything appropriate for this one so he just lay there being useless and we tried not to spill our food on him.

IMG_0922

Jon ate the sausage sandwich very dramatically.

IMG_0925

Ben refused to look at the camera.

IMG_0937

I look very wrinkly in this picture.  Maybe it’s because I instagrammed it?

Anyway, after the first round, we decided to send Laura and Jon back for a bit more food.

Chris decided he needed to feed Ben and then Ben fell asleep.

IMG_0928

Don’t say anything.  I know what you are thinking.

IMG_0931

Sushi from the Chop Shop and a sandwich that is unpictured and I can’t remember where it was from—it was a bruschetta type sandwich with a balsamic glaze and was delicious!  From a google search it seems like it was from The Cheese Shack.

This was a fairly "green" event.  After we were done eating we piled up our "trash" and took it to one of the waste centers, where volunteers sorted it into recyclables, compostable materials and other things.  I was surprised by how little was actually trash!

Anyway, we had a great time trying various foods, and really enjoyed our dinner.  The weather was nice (in the shade) and since we got there before 5 pm, it was easy enough to try a bunch of different trucks.  If our schedules permitted, we all agreed we would definitely go back! 

Here’s some twitter handles for the various trucks I mentioned if you are interested:

Chop Shop
Follow this truck @ChopShopSTL

The Sausage Syndicate
Follow this truck @SyndicateSTL

Lulu’s Local Eatery
Follow this truck @LulusFoodTruck

Seoul Taco
Follow this truck @SeoulTaco

The Cheese Shack
Follow this truck @cheeseshack_stl

Completely Sauced
Follow this truck @saucedonwheels

Have you been to a food truck event before or eaten from a food truck?  Chris said he was picturing hot dog vendors and such so he was especially surprised at the quality and selection of food. 

Vega Nutritional Shake Review

About two weeks ago I blogged about Vega Protein Powder. I was given some free samples by the company of their all-in-one nutritional shake powder in addition to being given a link so that my readers could get their own samples.

VEGAONE_SinglePouch_US_Chocolate

I hadn’t tried any yet at that point, but I’m new to this whole reviewing products thing and I was feeling pressure from the company to provide that link to my readers for free samples.  And I didn’t die, so if the link is still good, hey, knock yourself out.  I’m just going to say that Vega and I did not get along.  I tried it two or three different times, a couple of different flavors.  Chocolate was okay flavored as was vanilla flavored.  The berry flavor was pretty disgusting. 

The real problem however, was the, shall we say, digestive issues.  The first time I thought it was just me, as I’m a bit lactose intolerant and sometimes that sneaks up on me.  The second time I was still not convinced of the cause of the problem, but by the third day of having to visit the bathroom approximately 3 extra times before finally being able to get on with my day, I knew the only commonality was the powder.  That could be just me, of course (I am simply sharing MY experience here, and I am not a doctor), but since I was ambivalent about the flavor as well…it just doesn’t make sense for me as a product. 

I was hesitant to write this review at all, because I am not usually one to discuss my intestines and whatnot on the blog.  Of course I talk about that sort of thing with my friends all the time (not really, but occasionally of course) but I’m not used to blathering it all over the internet, BUT if you are to trust anything I say, then I need to be honest and occasionally give a bad or less than positive review of a product.  And I wanted to like the product, I really did.  With a vegan sister (I have two sisters, Leslie and my vegan sister Carrie, which is absolutely how everybody should refer to her) I wanted to like a vegan product.  And like I said, maybe it will work for you! (Follow this link to get a free sample.)  For now though, I’ll stick to my usual animal product filled protein powder.

Are you a cow?

I was at Target the other day and I figured I’d just poke through the children’s books. 

photo (53)

Am I a cow?  How would I know?  Or even more importantly, how would I NOT know?  Do cows know that they are cows?

So I bought the book.  For Benjamin.  (Even though he totally can’t read yet.) (I haven’t given it to him yet, and I’m hoping he doesn’t already have it.)

But then I read it.  Spoiler alert follows.

photo (52)

Oh.  I guess I’m not a cow.  *has a sad*

Yesterday I had my last day teaching at the school until the fall semester starts (which is in less than four weeks!).

This is a sign I shouldn’t mindlessly snack.

photo (51)

Yes, I cleaned it up. 

And then I got a little artsy with Instagram.  What do you think?

photo (50)

photo (49)

Can you tell what that second picture is?  (Hahaha.)

My blog in China

Today is my brother’s birthday—Happy Birthday Jesse!  He is currently in China for the summer. 

Monday night I was under the impression it was July 10th, and I thought China was 12 hours ahead, so I dashed off a quick HB email to him.  A little bit later I realized it was actually July 9th and I was early, so I sent a quick "oh, hai, I messed up but HB anyway" email.  Oh well, better early than late, right?  Anyway, Jesse responded and mentioned that he reads my blog there too, but can only see the text, not the pictures.  I suppose he doesn’t mind—he’s really only missing out on a bunch of cat pictures and the occasional bloodied or bruised leg or foot. 

I don’t see Jesse very often, but of course he was at my wedding.  However, I barely got a chance to talk to him—I thought I would have more time the next day but I didn’t realize he was leaving early.  Oops.  Hopefully at Leslie’s wedding I’ll have more time. 

Now I’ll post some pictures of Jesse, and he won’t be able to see them.  *evil laugh*

Tantillo491

Mom and Jesse

Tantillo383 

Jesse, Mom, Dad, me, Chris, Leslie, Carrie. 

IMG_1584

Carrie, Jesse at our rehearsal dinner the night before…

scan0027

Oh, and here we were.  I’m guessing Christmas 1980, since it seems to be pre-Leslie.  We used to be natural blondes.

Statigram

I just found out about Statigram.  It tells you about your stats on instagram (follow me @hannahviolin, or don’t, because I totally post my "best" work here on the blog).  I think this photo pretty much sums up everything about me.

statigram-top-photos

Yep. One sarcastic text convo with Sarah, two pictures of my cat, my dad on a bike, and me in my wedding dress, laughing.  What else is there?

Statigram actually suggested I should open the email this was sent in on my iPhone and then instagram the photo.  That may have been the greatest suggestion ever.  Here’s the result of that.

photo (48)

Now it looks OLD and even more awesome!  You’re welcome.

Cat in a bag

This happened while I was on the phone with Leslie the other day.  It’s her cat Albergo.

photo (46)

I presume that Leslie has not allowed the cat to remove itself from the bag.  Hilarity and destruction would likely ensue in that scenario.

Things Leslie and I discussed via text message yesterday included what Chris should wear for her rehearsal dinner in October and what shoes I will be wearing for her wedding.  I’m not sure if we are getting ahead of ourselves, but the one thing I appreciate about my sister is that she likes to be ready for things ahead of time as well.

Chris got back into town last night (he had been visiting his family).  The cat was most appreciative.  I was less so because he came home with a bad cold and ended up passing out before 10 pm,  poor guy.  At least I was able to watch three episodes of True Blood (Season 3) before going to bed.

photo (47)

You would think that I completely ignore the cat when he’s not around.  This is simply not true.  I don’t know why she likes him better.  Maybe I come across as too needy and desperate?

Last Tuesday of teaching for several weeks.  I am excited for vacation!