Uncategorized – Muggsy Lauer https://muggsylauer.com Musician, coffee roaster, cemetery and history enthusiast. Thu, 12 Jun 2025 16:50:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 https://i0.wp.com/muggsylauer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/guildx170.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Uncategorized – Muggsy Lauer https://muggsylauer.com 32 32 193498805 Our Trip to Kansas City https://muggsylauer.com/2025/06/09/our-trip-to-kansas-city/ Tue, 10 Jun 2025 00:24:02 +0000 https://muggsylauer.com/?p=1426
Ev’rythin’s up to date in Kansas City.
They’ve gone about as fur as they c’n go!
- Rogers & Hammerstein "Oklahoma!"
Statue of Harry Truman

Our first stop was the Harry S. Truman museum and library in Independence, MO. I was born during LBJ and started school under Nixon, but Harry was spoken of with respect in our house. My dad would have served under him as CIC during the Korean War.

There was so much more to Harry than I realized or remembered. Yes, he assumed the Office of President of the United States upon the death of FDR. Yes, he was the man who made the decision to drop the A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But I had sort of forgotten that he was in office during the Korean War (duh. Shame on me, a M*A*S*H fan!), and during the recognition of Israel as a nation. I had also completely glossed over his Fair Deal and the fact he would have been the guy in office during the Cold War, McCarthyism, and the beginning of nuclear proliferation. Suffice to say, the guy really influenced and shaped the 20th Century as I know it.

It's a shame the Fair Deal never made it very far. I think a lot of the problems the US has now could have been avoided if it had passed.

There are some incredible things at the museum, including a full-sized reproduction of the Oval Office, as well as Truman's working office at the library, which is fully intact and just how he left it when he died. There's also the safety plug from the first atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima. In the same room are 1000 origami cranes folded by a Japanese girl who was suffering from leukemia caused by the bomb years later. That was very sobering.

The museum is located in the middle of an area I would not want to live. Very run down, with lots of boarded up houses and businesses. And then suddenly there's this magnificent building and museum. Harry and Bess' graves are there, as well as Margaret and her husband, Clifton Daniel. We were there for a couple of hours, and they were hours well spent.

A brief stop at a dispensary, and we were off to the hotel and our first night in KC.

Street Mural

Our first night was spent walking around the area where our hotel was located, which was in the downtown arts district. To be honest it was a bit of a drinking tour with stops at the International Tap House (loud. It was so loud), Brewery Emperial (great outdoor seating area), the City Barrel Brewery+Kitchen (kinda meh, but good), Lifted Spirits Distillery (where we had some excellent cocktails), and Grinder Pizza (a punk rock attitude with B+ pizza). I may have missed a stop or two here; blame it on the alcohol.

One of the very cool things about that area is the number of murals and other street art you find. Dubuque, Iowa has that, too. I wish more places did. St. Cloud has some great walls that could be painted.

KC Street Art

[See image gallery at muggsylauer.com]

Of course, that's not the only art we saw in KC. The next day, a rainy Sunday, we went to the Nelson-Adkins Museum of Art. That trip is worth its own post.

]]> 1426 Salmon Loaf (1928) https://muggsylauer.com/2024/09/17/salmon-loaf-1928/ Tue, 17 Sep 2024 17:26:22 +0000 https://muggsylauer.com/?p=1053
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Salmon Loaf (1928)

Recipe by Mrs. J.P. McDowell, St. CloudCourse: MainCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

45

minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 small can of salmon

  • 6 soda crackers

  • 2 or 3 eggs

  • 1 Tablespoon butter

  • 1-1/2 cups milk

  • 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

  • 1 Tablespoon flour

  • Season with salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  • Take one small can of salmon--drain oil into a cup. Pick out bones and mash with a fork.
  • Roll six square sunshine soda crackers. Mix fish, cracker crumbs and 2 or 3 beaten eggs. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Melt one tablespoon of butter and add to mixture, also one and one-half cups of milk, on heaping teaspoon Royal baking powder, and one tablespoon flour added last.
  • Sprinkle a few crumbs on top (little crushed brown, buttered piece of toast may be used), and bake loaf at 400 F for 30-45 minutes.
  • If desired, a butter sauce, or a white sauce may be served with the fish. Blend on tablespoon of butter with one tablespoon of flour, over fire in double boiler. When tell mixed add one cup of scalded milk and cook five minutes in a double boiler. Season nicely with salt and paprika. To make butter sauce, add boiling water to flour and butter, instead of scalded milk, and then season.

Notes

  • My mom used to make something very similar to this, but I don't remember her ever adding any sauce.
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