It's a doll's world
Although she doesn’t look it, Barbie is now a half-century old (her official birthday is March 9, 1959). Of course, the fashion diva has had a few makeovers, but that doesn’t matter to those who loved her as a child and love her now. And even if you have some less-than-fond thoughts on this international icon, you’ll want to head down to the Toy and Miniature Museum in Kansas City to see the special Barbie exhibit on display until the end of the year. It really has something for everyone.
Sylvia Says: Eco Coffee Cup looks sharp, cuts waste
It looks like a disposable paper coffee cup, but pick it up and you’ll know right away that this is something very different. The new Eco Coffee Cup by Smart Planet, designed as an earth-friendly alternative to disposable coffee cups, holds 12 ounces of coffee and is microwave and dishwasher safe.
Emerald City
When the kids are bouncing off the walls and your humor has left the building, it's time for a road trip to Emerald City. Located near the intersection of Interstate 35 and 87th Street Express at 9063 Bond St. in Overland Park, Kan., Emerald City is a 24,000-square-foot gymnastics facility filled with enough jumping, climbing, swinging and bouncing opportunities to wear out even the most hyperactive child.
The felt gourmet
“Dip, dip,” says 18-month-old Scarlett Robison as she dips a small sushi roll into a container. Her mother, Karen Robison of St. Joseph, says sushi is one of her daughter’s favorite foods. The colorful rolls are homemade, soft and easy to hold. But the best part, at least for Scarlett, is you can throw them on the floor. That’s because this is homemade felt food, an increasingly popular toy for children and a surprisingly successful home business for Mrs. Robison.
Sylvia Says: Sure, you could buy mberry ... but why?
If you’re ready for something wildly different for your taste buds, get a packet of the new mberry Miracle Fruit Tablets and throw a flavor-tripping party. Don’t worry, this is nothing illegal. The tablets contain no drugs, sugars or additives, but through a completely natural phenomenon they “turn ordinary foods into the extraordinary, turning on your taste buds and seducing your senses.”
Bacon mania
A slightly spicy, smoky aroma wafting through the air was our first clue that the Bacon Explosion had arrived. We quickly gathered around the table as if for a Thanksgiving feast and fixed our eyes on the platter holding the meaty masterpiece. “It’s like a dream for my taste buds and a nightmare for my cardiovascular system,” said Blake Hannon, one of the News-Press reporters who was on hand to sample the Explosion.
Romantic night out
February is the month for romance, a time to let that special someone know how much you care. It's a time for flowers, candy, cards and jewelry. But when you get down to it, a really special dinner out takes the cake. Not the usual place you go, and not where you can get the most grub for the money, but a place to feel elegant and pampered and to indulge in some fantastic food. So where should you go? There are so many places to choose from, so we came up with our top five tried and true, bona fide, awesome places to go. They are all moderately expensive, but yes, you are worth it.
Springtime in the basement
It happens every year about this time, when those tempting seed catalogs start filling your mailbox. The slick pages featuring juicy red tomatoes, shiny peppers and exotic veggies (like cosmic purple carrots) make us yearn for spring, when we can get out in the fresh air and dig in the dirt with the sunshine on our hair. As we look in the catalogs at the smiling people wearing straw hats and holding baskets of fresh vegetables pulled right out of their garden, we declare that this will be the year we will have a garden like that and vow to get started now by ordering some seeds. But for many of us, it doesn’t work out that way.
Sylvia Says: Click Espresso Protein Drink keeps you moving
Click is a new protein drink that claims to boost your energy, curb your appetite and increase fat burn so you can perform throughout the day. It’s being marketed as an alternative to sugary coffee drinks as well as fattening, calorie-laden protein drinks and bars to help you lose weight as a meal replacement, snack, or as a pre- or post-workout drink.
Eats: Eating is entertaining at Fuji’s
A quick cure for the winter doldrums and ho-hum meals is eating at Fuji’s Seafood and Steakhouse. You have your choice of sitting at a table for regular restaurant style dining or around one of the Hibachi cook tables, where one of the chefs freshly slices and dices your meal in front of you, adding an entertainment element to the mix.
Cookin' with Betty
It's about an hour before noon and the parking lot is full outside Betty's Cafe in south St. Joseph. Inside, a mixture of farmers, retirees, construction workers and businesspeople are packed into the small restaurant for some "home cooking," as the sign outside advertises. Today's special: meatloaf with your choice of three sides, all for $5.99. And looking out from a glass refrigerator door is dessert: homemade cakes and pies.
Home safe home
The bad news: Burglaries are up 25 percent from a year ago in St. Joseph. And nationally, there are 8,600 break-ins a day - one every 13 seconds, according to FBI statistics. The good news: You can do something about it. Thanks to advancements in technology, there now are affordable options that a decade ago were generally available to only the wealthy. By combining these technologies with a few basic, common-sense precautions, you can greatly reduce your chances of being victimized by crime.
Car Angels to the rescue
It's called the final straw - that point in your life where you are like an overloaded camel. Add one single straw to your load and it's a disaster. For Diane Embrey, that final straw came when her only vehicle, a 1987 Toyota pickup truck, needed repairs.
Sylvia Says: Mad Hectic Oatmeal is great for breakfast
One of my favorite food memories from when I was a child is breakfast on frosty, cold mornings. I would sit at the kitchen table snuggled up in my robe and flannel PJs and my mom would bring me a steaming bowl of oatmeal. She would place a heaping spoonful of brown sugar in the middle and pour cream or half-and-half on top. Mixing it all up and eating it with a slice of buttered toast would make me feel all warm and cozy inside.
Eats: Nachos, Goochy Goo style
The pork nachos began simply as something different to serve during the Savannah High School 100-year class reunion last year, says Goochy Goo BBQ owners Michael and Dee Ventucci. They wanted something easy to hold for carry out, but not the same nachos as everyone else has.
Cleaning (with a smile)
Cleaning the bathroom together may not be your idea of quality family time, but numerous studies have found there are more benefits in doing such chores than a sparkling toilet bowl. From reducing stress to staying connected, keeping your house clean together appears to be the way to go. One study on child rearing by Markella Rutherford, assistant professor of sociology at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, found giving children regular household chores will keep them grounded and help them develop a caring attitude. And if that's not enough, a report published in the Journal of Family Issues found that wives and husbands who spend more hours on household labor have more sex than those who spend less time at it.
Financial fitness
Did you resolve to get in shape this year? Lose weight? Important goals, but perhaps you should also focus on getting financially fit. Controlling what you spend is just as important as watching what you eat when it comes to feeling good about yourself and your future.
Sylvia Says: Campbell's Soup at Hand is good in a pinch
If you eat on the run or at your desk and want something neat and easy, you'll want to try Campbell's Soup at Hand. The soups come in a 10.75-ounce container with a red plastic cap. To eat the soup, you just "heat and sip" as the instructions say. Of course, they have more elaborate instructions on the back in case you can't figure it out.
Nature's gift
There is something surreal about seeing a bald eagle with your own eyes. The symbol of our nation, with its distinctive white head and hooked beak, is nothing short of majestic as it soars through the air with wingspans from 6½ to 8 feet wide. And watching them is one of nature's gifts this time of year, particularly in Missouri, where more than 2,000 of the birds regularly spend their winter. Just ask Deborah Weems, a St. Joseph photographer and physician, who recently took a trip to Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge to get a glimpse.
Sylvia Says: New mascara offers something different
Every month some company comes out with a new mascara that promises to give you longer, thicker, richer lashes. But I am sure Maybelline has broken ground by coming out with a motorized wand for your lashes. Yes, you read that right. It's a patent-pending vibrating brush that they say will transform your lashes to perfection.
Eats: Get your fill at MacKenzie's
One of the most popular food requests at MacKenzie's Bar and Grill in St. Joseph is the MacKenzie Burger. It's a huge sandwich packed with two six-ounce grilled hamburger patties, bacon, two kinds of cheese and grilled onions.
Some like it hot
Somehow a cold beer or frozen margarita just doesn't cut it about now. But instead of moping around missing those warm days of summer, embrace the cold by enjoying some hot winter cocktails.
Be wise and accessorize
The right accessories can turn plain into stylish, frumpy into trendy. And it's as easy as throwing on a scarf or putting on some earrings. So what's hot this season? Big, bold and back to the '80, according to fashion experts Andrea Ash, shoe and accessories manager at Dillard's in St. Joseph's East Hills Shopping Center, and Sylvia Thompson, co-manager of Forever XXI at Zona Rosa. We're talking about big hoop earrings, big bags, big hair and big watches to wear with a very '80s silhouette. "The '80s acid-washed jeans, oversize tops, skinny bottoms, knee socks and leggings were really popular last year," Ms. Thompson says. "This season it's following through with the rest of the '80s trends."
Hit the slopes
A sure-fire way to beat the winter doldrums is to take the family to Tornado Alley. It's a 700-foot slope at Snow Creek ski resort near Weston, Mo., where all ages can enjoy the thrill of snow tubing together.
Seal it up
At a time of year when most of us are worrying about ever-increasing energy costs, Susanne and Bernd Eichenmueller of St. Joseph should be feeling pretty good, if not smug, about their new energy-efficient home being built. When it's finished next year, the couple's utility bills will be 50 percent to 75 percent lower than a normal home, according to Shauna Zahner with Stitt Energy Systems, the company that designed it. We first visited the home site in September (Sept. 21 News-Press) and plan to follow the progress to the finish, when its energy efficiency will be put to the test.
Sylvia Says: Pillsbury offers a way to bake 'simply' easier
Has the holiday season made you feel a little inadequate in the kitchen? Do you wonder how everyone gets their cookies so perfectly round and evenly textured? Or maybe you wish you could offer some fresh-baked cookies from the oven, but simply don't have the time. Well, Pillsbury may have come up with the solution. It's a new refrigerated cookie called "simply."
The house the Millers built
During the year 1854, before the Civil War and before Jesse James robbed his first bank, Issac Miller built a home for his family in St. Joseph. He was a Southern hemp farmer from Monroe County, W.Va., and had signed a land grant from President James K. Polk for a half section, or 320 acres. This was with the stipulation that he had to fence it, have a paying crop and build a permanent dwelling in 10 years. Much has happened to the town and the world since then, but 150 years later, the house not only is still standing but continues to be occupied by the Miller family, with much of the original furniture.
Bittersweet tableau
It's dark and quiet on Penn Street in St. Joseph until you come to the intersection at 27th Street. That's where dozens of cars are waiting in lines outside barricades, manned by several men dressed in heavy winter coats for the cold night. A bit after 6:30 p.m., the men get a signal that it's time. The barricades come down and the Christmas tableau begins. The tableau is an outdoor drive-through living nativity with 10 scenes that depict the story of the birth of Jesus. It's been presented free to the community for 19 years as a gift from the members at Wyatt Park Christian Church. And it's a large undertaking, involving more than 100 volunteers, live animals, costumes, props and scenery.
Sylvia says: R.W. Knudsen Pomegranate Juice sparkles
Although it's hard not to give into all the tempting holiday goodies this time of year, it's best to try to eat as healthy as possible, whenever possible. It's the easiest way to keep from feeling depressed when January comes around, anyway.
Eat: Oriental offers a Far Eastern experience
If you like Chinese food, you'll want to check out Oriental Restaurant on the South Belt Highway.
Practical presents
When shopping for holiday gifts, this is a good year to think practical. As tempting as it may be to impress everyone with the latest fad or toy, something useful will be what is appreciated after Christmas Day. Seriously, how much use is anyone really going to get out of a $40 Play and Freeze ice cream maker (a ball you roll around for 20 minutes to make ice cream) or a $17 electronic hot dog toaster? Here's a few new products that came out this year that you might want to consider for others and yourself:
Homeless, but not forgotten
Children bound with glee through the halls, cheeks flushed with excitement. Dinner is over, the dishes are cleared. And now it's time for decorating the Christmas tree. It could be a holiday scene at any home in America, but we're at the Noyes Home, where most of these children are homeless, whether temporarily or permanently. The reasons why vary, but thanks to the foresight of the Ladies Union Benevolent Association (LUBA), they will be taken care of this holiday season and year-round if necessary, without government aid or support.
Crazy for hamsters
Now that Mr. Squiggles has been exonerated, the search to find him can proceed at full insanity. In case you've been out of the loop on hot Christmas toys this season, Mr. Squiggles is one of the five Zhu Zhu Pets robotic hamsters that have been selling out of stores nationwide.
Sylvia Says: A plug for CP Docks' Plug in Shelf
When you see it, you'll wonder why someone didn't think of this before. CP Docks' new Plug in Shelf personal cell phone charging station is nothing fancy, but it's really logical and handy.
A touch of Holland
Walk along the brick streets of downtown Pella, Iowa, and you can't help but wonder if Disney had a hand in it. The squeaky-clean town located about 45 miles southeast of Des Moines (about 2½ hours from St. Joseph) has a touch of Holland throughout, from the Dutch storybook storefronts to a working windmill in Pella's historical village. That's because Pella was founded by Dutch immigrants in 1847 and continues, by design, to embrace the Netherlands' look and traditions, says Bonnie Verburg with the Pella Historical Village, which is adjacent to the downtown area.
Sylvia Says: PEEPS aren't just for Easter anymore
Easter time is the time for eggs, but it's also huge for PEEPS, those fluffy marshmallow chicks that now come in six colors and a variety of shapes. In fact, PEEPS have been the number one non-chocolate Easter candy in the U.S. for more than a decade. But this year, PEEPS are taking on Christmas and entering the chocolate competition with their chocolate mousse flavored reindeer - an appropriate venture for Just Born Inc, (the manufacturer) since its headquarters is located in Bethlehem, Penn.
Eats: Bouganvilla Restaurant is a good gamble
Even if you don't gamble, you might want to check out the Bouganvilla Restaurant at Terrible's St. Jo Frontier Casino. For one, the spacious dining area overlooks the Missouri River with little else but nature in view, where you can sit at tables surrounded by a full wall mural of the early frontier and an abundance of flowers and plants in a virtual courtyard setting.
Bake someone happy
Friends and family of Kathy Crowther know that the holiday season has arrived when she starts making her famous chocolate-covered toffee bars topped with ground walnuts and almonds.
Holiday style
There is a reason customers have been known to travel more than 100 miles to shop at Nell Hill's in Atchison, Kan. That's because owner Mary Carol Garrity has got style. It's a unique combination of fancy and casual, sophisticated and whimsical - a style that has been featured on "Today," "The Early Show" and in The Wall Street Journal, to name a few.
Christmas in the cemetery
Past the displays of Christmas trees, wreaths and holiday decorations, in a back room at Earl May Garden Center in St. Joseph, outdoor manager Craig Hayes dons a mask, picks up a gun and gets ready to flock. "We've been doing it for more than 50 years," he says as he turns on the fans in the plastic-covered room.
Santa, 'Little House' and shopping for the holidays at Crown Center
Celebrating during the holiday season doesn't have to be expensive, especially if you take advantage of all the low-cost, and mostly free, family-friendly entertainment at Crown Center in Kansas City. Between the Christmas decorations, music, entertainment and shops, there's something for every age.
Scrap the scissors
We all want to preserve those precious moments - the milestones in our families' lives, the once-in-a-lifetime events and even the simple times we share day to day. And scrapbooking has been a popular way to do that for centuries. But with our very busy lives, sometimes those awesome photos are either stored away in boxes or vanish into the computer hard drive, never to be seen or enjoyed. Which is one reason for the latest boom in digital scrapbooking, says Andrew Laffoon, CEO and co-founder of Mixbook (www.mixbook.com).
Food of the gods
Rich, decadent and addictive, chocolate has got to be one of the most delicious and seductive foods on earth. Even if you don't need another reason to indulge in its dark sweetness, a trip to "Chocolate: the Exhibition" will give you one and many more. Union Station in Kansas City is hosting the exhibit, developed by Chicago's Field Museum, through Jan. 3, and we couldn't resist checking it out.
Time for tea
When life gets too stressful, drink tea. It's especially comforting during the holidays when there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day, says Sarah Mathews with Anna Marie's Teas in Liberty, Mo. Sitting down with a cup of warm, aromatic tea can do wonders for your sanity.
Eats: El Jalapeno brings spice downtown
The brick walls, tiled ceiling and courtyard patio look like they were designed for El Jalapeno in Downtown St. Joseph. When combined with the piped-in Spanish music, Southwestern decor and overall authentic ambiance, it seems like the restaurant may have been here for years. But it was actually just in March of this year when El Jalapeno took over the building most people will remember as the home of Chloe and Bernard, a primarily French cuisine restaurant.
Never too late for dolls
Grace Davidson doesn't have to look far to see a friendly face. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Snow White, several Barbies and dozens of Cabbage Patch boys and girls give her constant smiles from across the room as she sews at her kitchen table.
Sylvia Says: Green Wash Ball saves the Earth - and your money
Technically, you don't have to use toothpaste to clean your teeth, as long as you use a good toothbrush. And the same kind of thing could be true with detergent. According to Give A Green Bag, commercial laundry detergent isn't necessary to clean your clothes. In fact, they say, it's actually bad for the environment. That's because most commercial detergents contain phosphates, which remove hard water minerals from water but stimulate growth in certain organisms, creating an unbalanced ecosystem.
Black, white and red for Christmas
What's black, white and red all over? Yes, it's a newspaper, but it's being used in a whole new way for Christmas decorating that's nostalgic, fun and inexpensive. Black and white has been a popular home decorating trend for about three years, says Joyce Gilpin, an antiques dealer at the Jesse James Antique Mall. But this year, the trend - using things you have around the house, like newspapers and sheet music - is making a splash in holiday decor. "It's a way of repurposing what you have for Christmas," Ms. Gilpin says.
Sylvia Says: Amazing Grass offers a natural nutritional experience
I worked at one time for a guy who was really into his health. He was in great shape, but worked out all the time and was known to eat tuna for lunch, straight out of the can with nothing else.
America's house
Barbara O'Malley thinks her husband, Patrick, can do about anything. Patrick says that's just because you can't see all of his mistakes. Visitors on this year's Holiday Homes Tour in Weston, Mo., Nov. 20 through 22 will no doubt agree with Barbara - especially once they see the O'Malley home, where Mr. O'Malley has not only restored and preserved much of structure but made many of the Pennsylvania-German-style furnishings himself, along with creating some fascinating photo displays. And he is the same O'Malley who restored and owns Weston's landmark 1842 O'Malley's Pub and the America Bowman restaurant.
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