Smack dab in the middle of America's bread basket, you'll find the City Museum in St. Louis, Missouri housing a collection of amazingly inventive exhibits and vintage shops more fun than you could imagine. Where else can you find a shoelace factory, an aquarium, a mess of giant slides, a circus, and a Davey Crocket cabin all in one place?
The Museum of Mirth, Mystery and Mayhem is where the innocence, tawdry charms and cheesiness of the carnival midway and eccentric roadside attractions come to life. Don't miss the Elvis Channeler, the Corn Dogs Through the Ages exhibit and the world's largest pair of men's briefs.
What happens when you mix two Saber 40 aircraft fuselages, a fire engine, a castle turret, a 25' tall cupola and several 4' wide wrought-iron slinkies? MonstroCity, the most monumental, monolithic, monstrous montage of monkey bars in the world.
Deep within the heart of CITY MUSEUM. Enchanted Caves offer explorers of all ages an opportunity to walk, climb and crawl through the bowels of the museum.
Finally, stocked to the brim with everything from refurbished furniture to candy bars, vintage clothing to rare CITY MUSEUM relics, purchases from Store 4 allow you to take the real CITY home with you. Rows of colorful bathing suits, old band uniforms and tons of vintage, used clothing make up this 4th floor shop. Why spend $30 on a new mass produced T shirt when you could spend $12 on a vintage one Rodney over on 4th st actually wore. I LOVE this idea.
Take the photo tour HERE
There's something wondrous about avocados. They're creamy, luscious and downright tasty. Throughout Asia, Brazil and Jamaica, they are used in desserts. The avocado shakes particularly in Bali were top notch. Not to be outdone, the Indonesians add chocolate syrup down the sides and together, it's a super refreshing mid-day treat. That those green slimy creatures are high in potassium, are a good source of vitamins B, E, and K make them seem oh-so healthy too.
2 ripe avocados, peeled and seeded
5 tbsp granulated raw sugar
1 tbsp sweetened chocolate syrup
1 tsp sweetened condensed milk
1. Put 1 cup crushed ice, 3 tbsp. water, avocados, and sugar into a blender and purée until smooth and sugar has dissolved, about 1 minute.
2. Divide between two tall 10-oz. glasses and pour chocolate syrup and milk into each glass. Serve with a spoon and straw.
Now for some fun reading whilst enjoying aforementioned recipe, I highly recommend Daniel Pinkwater's "Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death" which can be found at specialty used bookstores or the internet. My love of this book runs very high. As a teenager, it saved me. As an adult, it helped me move across the country to a new town, where I knew no one, named Portland. It's a young adult book, but anyone who loves adventure, sneakng out of the house and a singing chicken will LOVE it. It is har-harlarious! And you can quote me on that.
