St Louis.... I like you

St. Louis still surprises me. I expect the best thing they can do is BBQ, and not much of anything else. I wrote about their Italian food last time, and like I said, it’s not great. But there are small little places that continuously surprise me. The Shaved Duck is one of those. The interior has a bohemian feel to it: low lighting, exposed brick walls, “artsy” looking things used as decorations. They serve only craft, local beers and wine. No Bud, no Bud light, surprising considering you’re in Anheiser-Busch country. They also serve wine, which is expected from a bohemian looking place. The menu is simple. You have BBQ, couple of good ideas with duck (duck confit sandwich, duck fat fried fries), and you have home cooking (meatloaf, mac n cheese).

I have learned, through the years, if a place serves duck, get the duck. My cousin got the duck gumbo, which was super, and the meatloaf. I decided to get the ribs, because I knew I wouldn’t have time to make it into the best BBQ place in the world, Pappy’s. The ribs were not great; they were kind of tough and still stuck to the bone. I much rather prefer the 8hr smoking, fall off the bone goodness, but it was still better than anything I can get on the east coast. I do like the dry rub though; I much rather prefer a dry rub and then let me add the sauce, which is a plus since the sauces were homemade. The bourbon based sauce tasted like a sweet bourbon, while the rest was also as advertised. The spicy sauce had a good amount of kick to it, which surprised me, since most white people don’t handle spicy very well, compared to the spicier cooking folks (Cajuns, Chinese, Korean, Indian).

Overall, the place was really good, and St Louis has yet to disappoint, expect for the Italian. St Louis is one of those places where it’s great to visit and a lot of fun, but the opportunities are just not as great there and because of that, it would be hard to live there. I’ve considered it, though very briefly, as a relocation spot, but that got shot down quite fast when you wonder into East St Louis.

Now for capoeira. I’ve been in this weird phase of hunting down Angola schools, since I’m not really feeling the contemporary game at the moment, though I will still go to CDO when possible. In St Louis, there are a couple of groups and my schedule worked out so that I could only make the Angola class and not CDO. Jesse teaches at Centre Esportiva de Capoeira Angola(CECA) under Mestre Pe de Chumbo, who originated from Mestre Joao Pequeno. It was a really small class, 4 people, in a not so great part of town. They started with music, and by music I mean we sang Maior E Deus, the ladainha, for 30 minutes. This was the first Angola class I’ve taken that didn’t do that much partner work. We did sequences for most of it, then the last 10 minutes was combining into partner work, which was weird to me. But all and all a great class, go check them out!

Remembering 9/11

It is hard to believe that one of the defining events of our generation has already been 10 years. I know it's cheesy, but I do believe I speak for a lot of people when I say that I still remember it like yesterday. I remember when I just got to the US, one of my teacher said they still remember the exact spot they were when JFK got shot. I thought it was weird, how a person could remember the exact spot. Now I get it. It's a crystallized moment in my consciousness. Not that I ever relive that day, but if I think about it, I still remember the councillor's office, the guy coming in and saying a "small plane" had hit the WTC. 

My cousin was 3 blocks away from the WTC, I was in DC. I couldn't get in touch with her, and I remember the panic that set in at school. But this post isn't about that day. This post is about how that day changed our collective psyche. From that day forward, we look at Muslims in "traditional garb" different, figured out where Afghanistan was, "jihad" became ingrained in our lexicon, airport security has the right to violate most any of your 4th amendment rights. 

We also sent 3000+ kids to their deaths and countless more Afghans and Iraqis. 

Are we safer? Sure, nothing has happened since and Osama bin Laden is dead. But we're still in Iraq and Afghanistan. The news station still claim that every other week there's an "imminent threat" and terrorists have some new schemes. 

For a guy who flies at least twice a week, out of the airport where the plane that hit the Pentagon took off, and is at the airport where the other 3 planes took off from at least once a month, I'm constantly reminded of the fact. Of course, we need to forgive and we will never forget. But we must also not forget what has happened due to that day. It changed the American psyche, and I believe not for the good. Let's take today not just to remember those who were lost, but also what makes us Americans. The fact that we are the most embracing national in this world, that we will not be governed by fear, and that though it might hurt, but we can not and will not sacrifice freedom for security. 

United we stand.