First stop was P.F. Changs. Yummm. This is one of my favorite places to eat. The first time I ate at one, was only because someone had given me a giftcard for my birthday one year. I think that was in 2004. I remember I was still living in Madison, TN...and working at Opry Mills at the time. My first experience in a Changs was the one in Franklin, TN. And it was delicious. :) I wound up eating there any chance I could (lunches, dinners, lay-off celebrations, new job celebrations, Christmas get-togethers, etc). Now that I live in IL again...and the closest Changs is 150 miles away...it's really not that fair. But whenever I make it back to TN, I always make a point to make sure it's on my list of places to go before leaving town. :)
P.F. Changs at the Galleria in St. Louis (look for the horse!) :)
Crispy green beans....super yummy!
Shrimp fried rice.... One of my faves!
After Changs, we went across the street to the Galleria mall. Spent some money (one of my favorite things to do, ha ha)...walked off all the food from lunch. One place that I really liked going in the mall, was a book store. It's just a local book store...which is so extremely rare to find these days. Usually you can only shop at Barnes & Noble, or maybe Books-a-Million. It was refreshing to be able to walk into a small book store with a lot of variety and good prices.
We left the mall and hopped on I-170 North. Less than a mile later, we exited onto Delmar...and pulled in the parking lot at Jilly's Cupcake Bar & Cafe. This is the place I blogged about a few weeks ago. The cupcake place in St. Louis that won an episode of Cupcake Wars. OMG. I am still so excited just thinking about this place! It was super easy to find, and when we got there it wasn't too terribly crowded. However, after ordering and taking the last empty and clean table...it was as if the entire city had decided they wanted a cupcake at the same time. We lucked out getting there when we did. After experiencing this place, I've decided that it will be a new tradition. Any time we cross the river into the city...we have to go get a cupcake. ha ha It was THAT good.
Here it is!
This is the Sugar Berry Princess cupcake at Jilly's. It's made with a raspberry vanilla cake... blackberry curd stuffing... with purple-tinted strawberry buttercream frosting, white chocolate wings and jelly candy. Holy cow. Oh...and it was a rather large cupcake, so there was extra yummy goodness.
But no matter how big it was...I managed to eat it all. :)
Our next stop of the day was back across the river to IL. We hit up some stores around St. Clair Mall, then wound up at the mall. Now...when you are at this particular mall, you cannot leave without eating at Olga's. It's against the rules. So for dinner...we ate at Olga's. I've been eating there since I was a kid, and it's still one of my favorite places. Unfortunately, the one in Fairview Heights is the only one in the vicinity. I think they are based out of Michigan...so 99.9% of the chain is up there. But thankfully, this one has managed to stick around all these years. :)
The turkey club Olga..mmmmmmm.....
That rounds out my New Year's Eve Eve. Again...lots of shopping...and lots of eating. :) How much more could a girl ask for?
As for today...New Year's Eve....I've been munching on my souvenir from Jilly's over the course of the day...
And on that note...I think I'll go get another mini-cupcake.
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