Who: Peggy Noland, boutique owner, designer, fashionista, artist, teacher

What: Late afternoon "d-runch," (lunch/dinner) at YJ's Snack Bar (128 W. 18th St. Kansas City)

Merchants in the Crossroads had palpable glooom on their countenance when they found out that the Peggy––a sort of Peggy Guggenheim of KC––Noland, had taken up some projects in Los Angeles and would be around the metro a little less in the foreseeable future.

She demured on what she was actually working on out there, nothing personal, just business.

I know personally that when something is in progress, a book, a new business idea, a script, an essay, a painting... any endeavor, talking about it can be a jinx. Maybe it won't actually pan out the way you thought it would, or it won't happen at all.

She'll be chillin' in Downtown LA and its environs. My former stomping grounds. And as an adopted Kansas Citian, I'll definitely be catching her out there. I'll let y'all know what she's doing--it's kinda my job. I'm not exactly a cultural teetotaller, but certainly a kind of tattletale, especially when it comes to interesting people in the metro.

Peggy is a hometown girl who knows how to braid cornrows. She hangs out with the wierdos with beards and fedoras on bikes 'round these parts, kicks it with the fashionistas, the tastemakers and the big-wig pinstripped patrons of this fair city.

She's also a teacher, who will likely be missed at KCAI for a while. I can usually find her at my literal and figurative filling station YJ's Snack Bar where she met my mother one bright, yet somber Sunday last year. That day, the breakfast at this snack bar was especially comforting. It's always good in fact. Truthfully some of the food is a required taste, but it's always hearty; there's always hearty conversation too.

Peggy's not gone. Her store, her vibe, her essence is still here on 18th street and her family is still in Independence, and she's still repping KC.

We sat down, this is what she had to say (and what we had to eat) over at that snack bar:

Bloggy banter summary: Art, the brain drain in Kansas City, the arrival of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Her meal of choice: Mediterranean Feast: Rice, hummus, pita, olves (but she also digs the "home cookin'" menu of down-home favorites, can't describe here because it's always a different variation of biscuits, grits, eggs, Americana coffee--all the trimmings.)

What I munched on: Cheese ravioli, a salad and Coke, the kind of bottle the phrase coke bottle shape comes from. In other words, Coke Classic. The meal was boss. The Saturday Fish Fry with cornmeal shrimp, tilapia and cornbread is something this urban nomad doesn't miss on Saturday nights.

The Takeout: On the never ending push pull between art and commerce, she says, "Money is a tool. You can choose to build without a hammer, it just takes longer."