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Tootsie Yr2: Little Rock, AR
Jan. 16th, 2023 09:09 amOn Thursday it was snowy and a lot colder than in days prior, so I decided to take it easy.
Did laundry, and had planned to walk to Cafe Cusco for their fried rabbit, but called ahead and found out that they are out of rabbit this week :( That's the third or fourth of my personal "Top 10 Foodie Finds" that I have missed out on due to post-pandemic issues (supply chain, reduced hours/staffing, closures, etc).
What can you do. I went to Zayka for some Indian instead.
It was good, especially the charred, soft, chewy roti. But too much rice and not enough veg in the chicken dish, imo.
I did a practice-pack for my new mini fridge.
The nice thing about this week is we're traveling to Little Rock by bus, so it doesn't matter how much my luggage weighs and there's plenty of time to reconfigure my stuff in my suitcase.
As it turned out, I hardly needed to change ANYTHING.
My food tupperware is almost the same size as the fridge, so I just took that out and packed most of the contents inside the fridge.
Then I packed everything as usual, and weighed the suitcase.
I had forgotten that the last time I weighed my luggage it had included caramels and my peacoat (6lbs total), so with both of those things out, there was actually a REDUCTION in weight. Fantastic!
The rest of my afternoon was very chill indeed. Data entry, anime, and the 7:30 show.
It went pretty well, and we packed up and loaded out afterward.
Bye, Springfield.
-----------------------------------------------
Early Friday morning we loaded onto the charter bus and drove five hours to Little Rock.
The route was through the Ozarks, which was beautiful but curvy/winding through the mountains, so I had to be careful not to look at my phone too frequently to avoid motion sickness. We stopped partway at a small Harp's grocery store. I was very glad for this because it had much better options than a gas station, and there wouldn't be time to grocery shop once we arrived in Little Rock.
We drove the rest of the way and got checked in.
I didn't have a fridge or microwave, so plugged in my Crownful and my Itaki.
So far, I am extremely happy with both of these appliances!
If a tiny fridge is something that you'd like to look into for yourself, know that Crownful is certainly not the only or best brand. There are many to choose from; just search "4 liter mini fridge" on Amazon. You can also order one of these through Walmart, Lowe's, Home Depot, or probably any appliance store. And there are larger sizes too, or plug-in coolers.
Anyway, once we arrived I hustled over to a convenience store that looked like it had a few grocery options.
It did, and I took pictures to show my foodie group, then got a few things and walked back because we only had a few hours before sound check. I unpacked as much as I could and filled my little fridge with blackberries, Greek yogurt, eggs, and Tofurky. There was still a little room at the top, so I ended up squeezing a banana in there later as well to keep it from ripening further. No veggies because I'm still working through canned green beans.
I ordered dinner via DoorDash, super uncommon for me but we were on a time crunch here.
It was a fried tofu sandwich with chickpea salad and chipotle tahini, and a side of greens and cucumbers which you could put on top of the sandwich or eat as a salad. It was "ok", but not as tasty as it sounded, sadly. The tofu was kind of dry and overcooked, and the chipotle tahini was so spicy it was bitter. But I'm glad I got to try it!
We are adjacent to the theater so it was easy to walk over and find the pit.
This is another modern theater, so there is a good amount of space and some nice accommodations in the dressing rooms like small fridges and more-than-one-toilet haha.
Here is Bill (trumpet 1) Kyle (trumpet 2) and myself (trombone) after sound check and before the show:
The show went well with a decent audience.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, we had two shows.
I slept as long as I could and then made breakfast, VERY grateful to have yogurt and berries.
I only drank half of my Core Power milk and was able to make room for the other half in the fridge. Yep, this really is working out perfectly!
There are quite a few other people on tour interested in getting a tiny fridge now, though I don't know how realistic it is for everyone's situation.
After breakfast, data entry for a few hours and then a walk to Three Fold Noodles for lunch.
It was sharply cold out, but sunny and clear. The river was still, like a mirror.
Three Fold is a very modern-looking restaurant, minimalist and clean white inside.
There were bowls of fresh-made dumplings lined up in the kitchen.
I opted for the beef shank stew which came with chunks of shank and carrots, big fat chewy house-made noodles, green tomatoes, lettuce, and cilantro in a VERY savory, complex beef broth. The noodles were absolutely perfect, but the broth was the star of the show.
I wonder if they simmer the broth for days to get that flavor, or if they use a pressure/vacuum cooking method.
Either way it was incredibly good. I don't usually like cuts of beef with a lot of marbled fat and cartilage, but in a soup you gotta appreciate the richness and flavor it brings to the whole shebang!
I also got their house salad to go, to eat tomorrow. It's too big to store in my tiny fridge, so I will write my name on it in big letters and hope it doesn't get snatched or tossed out in the communal theatre fridge. The lighting in the Green Room wasn't good for pictures, so you'll just have to imagine it: lettuce, cilantro, pickled cabbage and carrot salad, pickled mixed veg, a lovely tea egg, and green herb dressing. Can't wait to eat it!
Our two shows went pretty well.
Someone brought a Buc-ee's plush to the pit, so we were goofing off with that using misc editing apps and Josh's "conductor cam".
After both shows people came down to the pit to express how much they'd enjoyed the live music.
It's very nice when people take time to do that! Sometimes we get no feedback at all, not even applause after the final note.
Everyone enjoys a kind word, or appreciation for their work (that's right, playing an instrument for 2.5 hours is work).
-------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, I keep finding myself awake at 4am. Why?
I slept on and off until 8, then got up and made breakfast.
I made some overnight hot cereal too, since we aren't leaving until 11 on Monday and I'll have time to do things like wash dishes and pack the tiny fridge away before we leave.
Finished off my nonperishables for lunch, then suddenly realized that I've gotten behind on laundry.
Neither this hotel or the next has washers, and all laundromats are far enough away that an Uber would be needed.
So I used a same-day service (SudShare) and that worked out fine, but it's SO expensive.
This has been a week of unnecessary spending for me, for sure. I'm pretty annoyed with myself.
Anyway, too late now.
We had our 1pm show.
It went well, though I was tired and had mentally "checked out" so was having a little trouble focusing.
Despite that I played about the same as usual, just had some close calls with mute changes haha.
After the show we packed up...I am always the first finished because I only have to pack on instrument and a mute bag.
Someone made a nice wall tag for us to sign. Only a few people have signed it at this point...pretty soon it'll be full of signatures!
I signed it, fetched my salad from the fridge, and walked to the hotel where I grabbed a glass of wine at the bar and my laundry from the front desk and crashed in my room. The salad was still good and it was very tasty, I'm glad I bought it ahead of time. Most of the band went to a German restaurant nearby, one of the only places open on a Sunday night here in Little Rock. But I'm not into beer or sausages, plus I was so extra tired. After dinner and wine I made myself a cup of tea, packed up some more things, and relaxed with some anime and reading (currently plowing through The Complete Works of Jack London).
---------------------------------------------------------------
It's Monday morning. The bus doesn't get here until 11am, so I had plenty of time to sleep and wake up slowly and finish packing.
It's about a four hour drive to Fayetteville AR.
From a foodie perspective, I'm REALLY excited about this city!
There are two restaurants here that I've been looking forward to all tour:
Arsaga's, which has an incredible menu and three locations serving three very different types of food;
and Hail Fellow Well Met, which has some of the most beautiful plating and creative flavor combos I've ever seen for a cafe.
In addition, there's a large local co-op walking distance from our hotel! AND we're supposed to get refrigerators again!!!
I hope to be able to cook some nice meals for myself, and also enjoy some "uniquely Arkansas" local dishes as well!
And of course, play some great shows :)
Did laundry, and had planned to walk to Cafe Cusco for their fried rabbit, but called ahead and found out that they are out of rabbit this week :( That's the third or fourth of my personal "Top 10 Foodie Finds" that I have missed out on due to post-pandemic issues (supply chain, reduced hours/staffing, closures, etc).
What can you do. I went to Zayka for some Indian instead.
It was good, especially the charred, soft, chewy roti. But too much rice and not enough veg in the chicken dish, imo.
I did a practice-pack for my new mini fridge.
The nice thing about this week is we're traveling to Little Rock by bus, so it doesn't matter how much my luggage weighs and there's plenty of time to reconfigure my stuff in my suitcase.
As it turned out, I hardly needed to change ANYTHING.
My food tupperware is almost the same size as the fridge, so I just took that out and packed most of the contents inside the fridge.
Then I packed everything as usual, and weighed the suitcase.
I had forgotten that the last time I weighed my luggage it had included caramels and my peacoat (6lbs total), so with both of those things out, there was actually a REDUCTION in weight. Fantastic!
The rest of my afternoon was very chill indeed. Data entry, anime, and the 7:30 show.
It went pretty well, and we packed up and loaded out afterward.
Bye, Springfield.
-----------------------------------------------
Early Friday morning we loaded onto the charter bus and drove five hours to Little Rock.
The route was through the Ozarks, which was beautiful but curvy/winding through the mountains, so I had to be careful not to look at my phone too frequently to avoid motion sickness. We stopped partway at a small Harp's grocery store. I was very glad for this because it had much better options than a gas station, and there wouldn't be time to grocery shop once we arrived in Little Rock.
We drove the rest of the way and got checked in.
I didn't have a fridge or microwave, so plugged in my Crownful and my Itaki.
So far, I am extremely happy with both of these appliances!
If a tiny fridge is something that you'd like to look into for yourself, know that Crownful is certainly not the only or best brand. There are many to choose from; just search "4 liter mini fridge" on Amazon. You can also order one of these through Walmart, Lowe's, Home Depot, or probably any appliance store. And there are larger sizes too, or plug-in coolers.
Anyway, once we arrived I hustled over to a convenience store that looked like it had a few grocery options.
It did, and I took pictures to show my foodie group, then got a few things and walked back because we only had a few hours before sound check. I unpacked as much as I could and filled my little fridge with blackberries, Greek yogurt, eggs, and Tofurky. There was still a little room at the top, so I ended up squeezing a banana in there later as well to keep it from ripening further. No veggies because I'm still working through canned green beans.
I ordered dinner via DoorDash, super uncommon for me but we were on a time crunch here.
It was a fried tofu sandwich with chickpea salad and chipotle tahini, and a side of greens and cucumbers which you could put on top of the sandwich or eat as a salad. It was "ok", but not as tasty as it sounded, sadly. The tofu was kind of dry and overcooked, and the chipotle tahini was so spicy it was bitter. But I'm glad I got to try it!
We are adjacent to the theater so it was easy to walk over and find the pit.
This is another modern theater, so there is a good amount of space and some nice accommodations in the dressing rooms like small fridges and more-than-one-toilet haha.
Here is Bill (trumpet 1) Kyle (trumpet 2) and myself (trombone) after sound check and before the show:
The show went well with a decent audience.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, we had two shows.
I slept as long as I could and then made breakfast, VERY grateful to have yogurt and berries.
I only drank half of my Core Power milk and was able to make room for the other half in the fridge. Yep, this really is working out perfectly!
There are quite a few other people on tour interested in getting a tiny fridge now, though I don't know how realistic it is for everyone's situation.
After breakfast, data entry for a few hours and then a walk to Three Fold Noodles for lunch.
It was sharply cold out, but sunny and clear. The river was still, like a mirror.
Three Fold is a very modern-looking restaurant, minimalist and clean white inside.
There were bowls of fresh-made dumplings lined up in the kitchen.
I opted for the beef shank stew which came with chunks of shank and carrots, big fat chewy house-made noodles, green tomatoes, lettuce, and cilantro in a VERY savory, complex beef broth. The noodles were absolutely perfect, but the broth was the star of the show.
I wonder if they simmer the broth for days to get that flavor, or if they use a pressure/vacuum cooking method.
Either way it was incredibly good. I don't usually like cuts of beef with a lot of marbled fat and cartilage, but in a soup you gotta appreciate the richness and flavor it brings to the whole shebang!
I also got their house salad to go, to eat tomorrow. It's too big to store in my tiny fridge, so I will write my name on it in big letters and hope it doesn't get snatched or tossed out in the communal theatre fridge. The lighting in the Green Room wasn't good for pictures, so you'll just have to imagine it: lettuce, cilantro, pickled cabbage and carrot salad, pickled mixed veg, a lovely tea egg, and green herb dressing. Can't wait to eat it!
Our two shows went pretty well.
Someone brought a Buc-ee's plush to the pit, so we were goofing off with that using misc editing apps and Josh's "conductor cam".
After both shows people came down to the pit to express how much they'd enjoyed the live music.
It's very nice when people take time to do that! Sometimes we get no feedback at all, not even applause after the final note.
Everyone enjoys a kind word, or appreciation for their work (that's right, playing an instrument for 2.5 hours is work).
-------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, I keep finding myself awake at 4am. Why?
I slept on and off until 8, then got up and made breakfast.
I made some overnight hot cereal too, since we aren't leaving until 11 on Monday and I'll have time to do things like wash dishes and pack the tiny fridge away before we leave.
Finished off my nonperishables for lunch, then suddenly realized that I've gotten behind on laundry.
Neither this hotel or the next has washers, and all laundromats are far enough away that an Uber would be needed.
So I used a same-day service (SudShare) and that worked out fine, but it's SO expensive.
This has been a week of unnecessary spending for me, for sure. I'm pretty annoyed with myself.
Anyway, too late now.
We had our 1pm show.
It went well, though I was tired and had mentally "checked out" so was having a little trouble focusing.
Despite that I played about the same as usual, just had some close calls with mute changes haha.
After the show we packed up...I am always the first finished because I only have to pack on instrument and a mute bag.
Someone made a nice wall tag for us to sign. Only a few people have signed it at this point...pretty soon it'll be full of signatures!
I signed it, fetched my salad from the fridge, and walked to the hotel where I grabbed a glass of wine at the bar and my laundry from the front desk and crashed in my room. The salad was still good and it was very tasty, I'm glad I bought it ahead of time. Most of the band went to a German restaurant nearby, one of the only places open on a Sunday night here in Little Rock. But I'm not into beer or sausages, plus I was so extra tired. After dinner and wine I made myself a cup of tea, packed up some more things, and relaxed with some anime and reading (currently plowing through The Complete Works of Jack London).
---------------------------------------------------------------
It's Monday morning. The bus doesn't get here until 11am, so I had plenty of time to sleep and wake up slowly and finish packing.
It's about a four hour drive to Fayetteville AR.
From a foodie perspective, I'm REALLY excited about this city!
There are two restaurants here that I've been looking forward to all tour:
Arsaga's, which has an incredible menu and three locations serving three very different types of food;
and Hail Fellow Well Met, which has some of the most beautiful plating and creative flavor combos I've ever seen for a cafe.
In addition, there's a large local co-op walking distance from our hotel! AND we're supposed to get refrigerators again!!!
I hope to be able to cook some nice meals for myself, and also enjoy some "uniquely Arkansas" local dishes as well!
And of course, play some great shows :)
