Figge, Food and Frolics

Good morning!

Yesterday was another fantastic day. My sister and I went gallivanting in the tank/car as Greg had to work (boo).

First we went to the Figge Art Museum in downtown Davenport. It's a giant, modern, clear and opaque-striped glass block along the riverfront. Inside, the ceilings are incredibly high and the walls are a bright white, in contrast with the black stone floors. On the top floor there is a gorgeous view of the Mississippi behind walls of glass and stools with drawing boards set up to use if the river scene inspires you to create. I absolutely loved it. The gift shop downstairs has some very unique and interesting things to buy and buy them I did. It was awesome!

After that, Nicolette and I went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant with excellent Crab Rangoon. I love Crab Rangoon. Then we went to Gordmans, which is somewhat like T.J. Maxx or Ross but much larger and with much more to offer. It's a great store! After Gordmans we went to Northpark Mall, where my sister used to work, and she showed me around. We went to Von Maur, Younkers and some other trademark Midwestern stores. Von Maur is very classy. They have a piano player like Nordstroms and he was playing show tunes so naturally we sang along. Quietly.

Steve and Barry's was the next stop. I found a henley top and new pants for $17 total! Iowa has a lot of good bargains on clothes. Someone explained why once but I can't remember. In any case, if you want cool clothes that are inexpensive, shop Iowa.

Maybe that could be a slogan for the State Office of Tourism.

Maybe not.

After deals at Steve and Barry's we went home and met up with Greg. We went out to dinner at Crave, a local place, which was delicious. I had pan-seared salmon on a polenta cake with garlic mashed potatoes and a strawberry martini. The salmon was crispy on the outside and moist and tender inside...not dried out at all...very nicely done. The polenta was also pan-seared and it was very flavorful and crunchy even though the fish was on top of it. They must have rushed it out once the fish was done to prevent it from getting soggy. I liked that. The garlic mashed potatoes were not quite as garlicky as I would have hoped, but they had big chunks of potato in them and that is always nice. The strawberry martini was not too sweet, and had strawberry puree in it which was delicious. Dessert was chocolate fondue which was splashed with Everclear and lit to roast the marshmallows that came with it. One of the other things included on the fondue platter were chocolate walnut cookies. CHOCOLATE WALNUT COOKIES. TO DIP IN CHOCOLATE.

It was heavenly.

If you live in Davenport and want a nice dinner, go to Crave. Yum!

That was yesterday. Today we are going to Greg's brother and sister-in-law's for dinner with them and his sister, brother-in-law and niece. That should be fun!

Ooh. We should probably bring something.