Devouring life, one bite at a time
I am spending the next couple days organizing my New York trip, so here are more from my adventures from the other week. The beauty of the city is there will always be uncharted territory. I toodled around the Upper West Side and took the …
If love is a transcending experience, then I’m convinced food is the barometer for it. I’ve theorized about this subject in the past, but pushed it aside when I stumbled upon dating prospects who lack an interest in food. I almost saw this as a …
This tucked away, basement performance space was created as a co-op for musicians to get together for impromptu jam sessions and collaborating. With a bass, piano, drum set, and a surprise vocalist, this was the perfect venue for an intimate evening of great music.
Though I was literally surrounded by close friends, I am sure anyone there would have felt the same. When musicians have the perfect chemistry, it’s only natural for the audience to be drawn into that circle of familiarity.
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The highlight was hearing Nichola Miller sing a couple torch songs from the deep end of the standard pool- I wish I learned their names, but they were new ones for me.
Her voice= soul, edge, and sass smoothed out with butter. This gal is going places.
As if I needed more incentive to plan my next trip here!
What trip to the Midwest would be complete without sampling some local brew? Ever the organization pro that she is, Mitch scheduled a tour of Summit brewery for her husband and me while she put in a few hours of work in the morning. We …
This weekend in St. Paul, I got to enjoy celebrating with my best friend on the signing of her new home. She got her keys the day I arrived. That meant lots of errands to run, rolling up our sleeves and diving into sprucing things …
At Matt’s Bar in Minneapolis, hundreds if not thousands of these juicy gems get churned out from a griddle the width of a kitchen sink. Two patties are sealed together around some kind of amazing cheese mixture that melts into a glorious liquid once it’s grilled. (The “i” is deliberately omitted, since the veteran employee who posted the sign back in 1950 wasn’t the greatest speller, if not in a huge hurry to get back to the griddle.
Here, my friend’s husband dresses his Lucy with the biggest helping of ketchup I’ve ever seen.
Mitch enjoys her first, if not slightly painful bite. By the way, we were amazed to immediately get a table, since there’s usually a line out the door for these babies.
I approach mine gingerly so I don’t destroy the roof of my mouth. The element of surprise is akin to Chicken Kiev, but it’s best to anticipate it so no one gets hurt.
An interior view of the splendor, adorned with pickles and grilled onions.
Matt’s has a friendly feud with another joint who also claims to have the best Lucy. Mitch is confident that Matt’s is the champion.
I found a recipe for it here, and will definitely be trying to recreate this Midwestern masterpiece when I return home.
Happiest gals in the Midwest? You betcha.
I was lucky enough to spend a day in northern Wisconsin a couple days ago before getting back to St. Paul. I arrived on a rainy afternoon after a warm couple days that were a huge help in getting the lake ready for summer. My …
It was a first for me. And parents, take note. This is a brilliant idea for any high-energy kids or high-energy friends of kids in your life. Just take them here and let them work it out.
They have a general jumping area, where accidents are avoided because you are only allowed one person per square (see other rules in the photo below). Pictured above are basketball hoops where you can dunk like magic, as demonstrated by my amazing cousins. Or if you’re like me and not athletically inclined, you can stay just as awkward, but with jumping. (Seriously, just because I couldn’t even make it into the short hoop should not discourage anyone else from being a basketball genius with trampoline aids.)
I had much better luck jumping into the big foam pit. It was much more straightforward- just fall in.
The real niche I found for myself which I failed to capture on film was dodgeball. It turns out I’m something of a dodgeball master after avoiding it for years. I teamed up with three of my cousins and we were unstoppable- undefeated for four games in a row. I tried to take it easy on the little kids on the opposing team, but man, it was satisfying to not be the guy taking all the hits like I used to in the old days of elementary school.
Just 30 minutes of jumping for me, and man, was I beat!
I read the greatest book just before leaving for New York. Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton was like a woman’s take on No Reservations by Anthony Bourdain, another food writer I adore but with a masculinity I can’t relate to. I found much …
