A Walk in Time or Finding Time to Walk

It was another challenging weekend for eating well! Actually, Friday night was easy because Doug made us a super delicious and light creation of his own for dinner, buckwheat soba noodles in a flavorful broth with grape tomatoes sauteed in ginger, garlic and black sesame seeds, seaweed, and crabmeat. He went very light on the oil to help me out and the result was really great. Yup, I'm a lucky lady. On Saturday morning we hit the farmer's market where I fought the urge to buy my usual Indian Spiced Mini Donuts from the Chef Shack. It wasn't easy because those donuts are about the tastiest things on earth. Since the farmer's market is winding down for the season, there's a good chance next weekend I will buy some, but I figured if I could pass them up at the time, I would. They'll be there again next weekend. I picked up some apples (and a couple of bites of Doug's Cinnamon Apple Donut!) along with my usual tomatoes and eggs from the Wisconsin Amish kids. Is it wrong that part of me thinks the Amish kids are faking it? That the girls are wearing those long, heavy dresses and delicate white bonnets over their hair, pulled back in a bun, and the boys their wide-brimmed hats and suspenders and it's not real? It just seems too Witness with Harrison Ford for me. But, as Doug pointed out, they probably are the real thing because the kids can never do the simplest math, even with a calculator. It's weird. After the market, Doug dropped me off so that I could hit the sidewalk for a walk before the weekend festivities began while he ran errands.

I had about a million things to do in a short time so told myself a twenty minute brisk walk was going to have to do, but once out I told myself that another ten minutes wasn't going to put us behind too badly and would also do me a world of good. I was really glad I went the extra ten. Doug and I then got a quick breakfast at the Spring Street, where we go almost every weekend but because of the summer agenda we have not visited in about a month. Usually I choose a fat-laden and totally delicious breakfast like hash browns topped with cheese and eggs, but for once I went with just two eggs over easy and a piece of wheat toast to soak up the yolk. You know what? It wasn't disappointing in the least, and no one could be more surprised to say that than me! I didn't miss the bacon and potatoes as much as I thought I would. I hope I remember this in the future!

Finally, Doug and I got on the road to attend my cousin's wedding reception, a pig roast and camping event in beautiful central Minnesota. It was SO much fun, hanging out with cousins and eating fresh roasted pork and drinking beer. Light beer, that is! It was tough not to eat about forty pork sandwiches with all of the sides and maybe fifty cupcakes, but I was pretty good. Not perfect, but that's not my goal. Perfection is tough. So I held back just enough to not feel deprived. This morning I woke up before most of the others and decided that I would be lucky to go for an hour long walk in this beautiful country location, so I suited up (and by that I mean I put on a sports bra), grabbed my camera bag, and headed out on the main road, rumored to be haunted. Don't worry, I came back alive, the ghost didn't get me this time. I'm especially glad because if she had, I wouldn't have seen the gorgeous horses down the road from the lodge in the photo above. It's nice to be reminded that there are benefits to walking beyond the healthy kind.

I'm Getting Very Sleepy...

I was so excited to eat healthy food and to add regular exercise to my daily routine because I've read so many stories of folks who've changed their habits for the better and they all express their amazement at how much energy they have now that they're eating right. I couldn't wait to have that sort of energy! So I've been eating apples and peppers and protein as well as biking and walking and for the last week not only do I not have renewed energy, I'm exhausted! I've fallen asleep by 8:00pm several nights in the past week and I've needed my alarm clock to wake me most mornings, not something I'm accustomed to.

Watching as much Mystery Diagnosis as I do, and living with an unhealthy case of cyberchondria (I have every disease I read about on the internet) that has led Doug to forbid me to watch Mystery Diagnosis (which I clearly defy when he's not around), I naturally chalked up my exhaustion to an unusual, obscure, and highly fatal disease. Worried, I told my coworker about my newfound need to constantly sleep and expressed dismay at a regimen I thought was going to bring me boundless energy. This particular coworker knows a thing or two about fitness and health, so I was quite relieved to hear her tell me that it's not uncommon at all for your body to be so tired while it's adjusting to a new lifestyle and that I should probably give it more than a week. Color me impatient! Guess I'll wait it out, most likely under a blanket on the couch.

On a super cool note, Aaron and I had our first week weigh in and we were both superstars. I lost 8.4 pounds and he lost 9.4! No, my pounds probably aren't all (any?) fat, there's some water in there and whatever, but I'll take it! And even though it is my goal to beat Aaron in this contest, I was very happy for him as well, so I kept the gloating to a minimum - this week!

Success.

I think I did a good job this weekend. It was an amazingly fun girl's day at the race track with lots of opportunity for food and drink but I, for the most part, chose wisely. Oh, there was the occasional small handful of potato chips and dip, but I concentrated most of my eating on turkey, ham, shrimp, and these amazing dates stuffed with savory goat cheese and wrapped in prosciutto that my friend Treva made. Truth be told, I could have eaten fifty of those, but I held back to four or five. For the most part I'm tracking my food daily, but on a day like yesterday I was content to just know I was making wise choices and keeping a mental tick sheet in my head. It was tough not to drink more, but I kept asking myself if that next bottle of beer would be worth it, and most of the time it wasn't. A couple of times it was, but mostly it wasn't. And I still had an awesome time.

The awesome time continued into this morning when we all went to breakfast together and then got back to Minneapolis. Once home, I put everything away and, due to being up a tad late last night, felt like a nap was in order. But it was beautiful outside and I was afraid if I didn't take advantage of the opportunity right there and then, I wouldn't fit in any exercise later. So I donned my comfy clothes and an iPod and off I went for a really great one hour long brisk walk along the river where I saw a barge entering the St. Anthony Falls lock. I love it when I catch that happening. My first weekend is over and it was a good one, I can only look forward to many more of the same.

I Like Food

I know I'm alone on this one, but I really like food. Ha! My weakness is for sweets, but I like food in general. Oh, I don't like every food, I'm famous (okay, that's overstating it) for my dislike of olives, cucumbers and feta cheese. But in general, I enjoy the sensation of eating and the feelings of warmth and comfort that food provides. I like trying different things and I hate food ruts. Some folks, especially in dieting mode, find success in repeating the same meals over and over, and it really works for them. They put together the same exact lunch or dinner five to seven days a week and find that it's easier to not have to give it more thought than that. I totally understand this on a visceral level, but I get bored easily and would sit in front of my third turkey sandwich and baby carrots lunch in a row and I would be suicidal. I thrive on variety.

Fortunately, I date a fishmonger. I'm telling you, ladies, if you like food, you should find yourself a cute fishmonger. Fish and seafood are notoriously high in protein (fills you up!) and low in fat and calories (slims you down!). There are a million different kinds to eat, so if you don't care for one fish, there's another one waiting to please you. One night this week I decided I wanted sushi, but I certainly didn't want all the work that is involved in making sushi - with its nori wrapping and rice and all. So I settled for an even healthier option - sashimi, just plain old raw fish. I stopped in at Coastal Seafoods and asked Doug to throw together a few samples of whatever was best that day, and I came home with raw redfish, marlin, and scallops that I dipped in a simple mixture of soy sauce and wasabi. Couldn't be faster or easier, or healthier on all levels. Last night my fishmonger Doug offered to make us some dinner and, of course, I got a little nervous because I'm in diet mode and everyone has a different idea of what that means. But I needn't have fretted because Doug put together an amazing and light soup of shrimp, sausage and poached duck egg with fresh herbs that was delicious. He made the broth himself and skimmed every bit of fat he could out of it in deference to my goals. The broth was light and flavorful and while I have a long standing aversion to soup (it acts like it's a meal but it's really just a beverage), this sort of experiment went a long way in changing my mind.

So my challenge for this weekend, food-wise, is that it's a super fun girl's weekend. I love hanging out with groups of my funny and smart women friends for the weekend, but I don't always make the best food decisions! I thought long and hard about what to bring because I don't expect anyone else to provide for me just because I'm trying to drop pounds, nobody else is responsible for my decisions. At first I thought I'd bring a veggie tray with a light dip of some sort, but then I remembered that I love a local fishmonger and should take advantage of that! Plus I like the idea of getting in some protein to fill me up. So Doug picked me up a couple of pounds of unpeeled shrimp and cooked them up simply with some peppercorns and bay leaves. I also got some homemade cocktail sauce from Coastal to serve with the shrimp. Yum. And I'm whipping up an Asian slaw. I love raw cabbage and how it holds its shape with dressing on it for a long time, unlike conventional lettuce that droops after one minute. I've never made this particular Asian dressing, but what can go wrong with tofu, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, honey, lime, and other delicious ingredients? So no matter what other foods are at the table today, I feel confident that I'll have great go-to food that I can enjoy, and so can my friends. Win - win!

Exercise Is Hard. To Fit In.

My gung-ho exercise attitude waned a little from yesterday. What can you expect? It's been two days! Nobody can expect to be healthy for two whole days in a row! Ha, I kid. But yesterday's bike ride to and from work plus a walk at lunch didn't repeat itself today. I felt dizzy all afternoon today and when I got home I planned to hit the sidewalk but all I could do was take a pain reliever and fall asleep for an hour. I woke up at 7pm, frantic, wondering how I could fit in some exercise and get my errands done, too. So I decided to walk to the grocery store and pick up needed items for my upcoming girl's weekend in a land far, far away called "Shakopee." While not a long walk to the grocery store - it's about ten minutes one way at a brisk pace - it was far better than the alternative, finishing out the evening on the couch never having moved. And it was muggy out, so I did sweat like Olivia Newton-John in her Physical video. Felt like I really did something as a result.

I texted Aaron yesterday and told him I was pretty sure I was winning the contest already. He replied that he had already lost 40 pounds by lopping off his right arm. This competition is on!

It Starts.

It came to my attention recently, when I looked in the mirror, that I'd let a few pounds ("a few" being a relative concept here) creep on in recent years. Maybe it's been more than just a few years, I'm not sure. Well, I'm kind of sure, but not really. That's because it's just easier to not think about it, to not notice it, to not look in the mirror. But maybe doing the easier thing is what got me here in the first place, and maybe it's time to work.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not full of self-loathing. Fortunately I'm bright enough to know that my weight is not me. There's more to me - to everybody - than that. But like anyone else, or almost everyone else in America these days, I endure mornings when nothing fits right and everything feels wrong. I struggle when looking for special occasion outfits, though that might more have to do with my need for comfort than my feelings of self-worth, jury's out on that one. I purchase my clothes in what I call "uniforms," groups of the same clothes in different colors (but not entirely different colors because I like the dark colors better, or maybe I think they like me better. Again, jury's out on that one).

So what's a girl to do once she's acknowledged the obvious and decided it's really time to do something about it? That's right, she challenges her friend to a weight loss challenge. Aaron and me, a scale, a spreadsheet, and a gentleman's handshake agreeing that the biggest loser by percentage on Valentine's Day wins $200 from the other, who will also hopefully be a big loser. I went to Aaron's house last night where we officially weighed in and groaned at the number on the scale. But you can choose to let it get you down or you can change it. I'm choosing to change it.

Gear Daddies in Duluth

I've been listening to the Gear Daddies for over twenty years now and still they enchant during every live show. Last night was the quintessential summer evening of music and outdoors and water and beer on the shores of Lake Superior at the Duluth Music & Maritime Festival and Marty Zellar and the boys didn't disappoint. I'm pretty sure Doug got tired of me announcing at the start of each tune that "This is my favorite song!" but he played it cool. Time hasn't hurt the Gear Daddies, and I hope there are many more years of concerts to come.

Spinning

I love the pure joy of little girls, from all corners of the world, rejoicing in the raucous spin of a hula hoop at a local carnival.

A Summer Dusting

I love this shot of Doug sprinkling Creole seasoning on the first pile of crawdads, corn, potatoes, garlic, and Andouille sausage that came out of the enormous pot at yesterday's annual crawfish boil party. It makes me feel all kinds of summer-y.

Around the World in a Champagne Flute

A long time ago, maybe fifteen years or more, I happened to catch an episode of Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 Days. The Monty Python alum had matured into a world traveler, visiting ports far and wide and reporting on them for his television show. In the episode I watched, Michael almost literally washed up on the shores of Hong Kong after an arduous journey by ship on the South China Sea. I didn't know much about Hong Kong at the time, just that it was an exotic, modern city of skyscrapers that either was or wasn't part of China. I'm much clearer on that whole topic now.

In the episode, Michael was picked up by car and whisked away to his friend Basil's apartment high in the sky. Basil was a cute Asian gentleman with nerdy glasses and a pretty wife carrying their newborn baby in her arms when they welcomed Michael in broad daylight to their home. Even though it was maybe lunch time, the first thing Basil offered Michael was a glass of champagne, which he happily accepted and they proceeded to enjoy the bottle on the balcony of the skyscraper apartment. I remember watching that and thinking it was about the most sophisticated thing I'd ever witnessed. I mean, who keeps a chilled bottle of bubbly on hand for visitors who happen to swing by? I was enchanted by the idea of a friend popping by to see me some afternoon and me suggesting we pop a bottle of champagne and sip the afternoon away. I vowed at that moment that I would always keep a chilled bottle of bubbly in my refrigerator, ready should a friend come by during broad daylight. I'd never seen that episode of Around the World in 80 Days again, but I'd thought of it often when I saw the bottle of bubbly keeping cool next to my butter and juice.

And now, more than fifteen years later, I still keep a bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge, just in case. Of course, I've never had the opportunity to casually pop open a bottle because my friends aren't really the pop-in types and I'm usually at work during the day, but still I keep restocking a new bottle when I inevitably drink the other bottle myself because I don't want it to get too old.

Fast forward to Hong Kong, March 2011. The country is now back in the possession of China after a long stretch under British rule and, more importantly, I'm going to visit for the first time to see my dear friend Lisa and her husband, who moved there a couple of years ago for her job. After ten long, hot, beautiful but challenging days in northern India, my parents and I arrived in Hong Kong where a car picked us up at the airport and whisked us off to Lisa and Kwesi's apartment high in the sky. As we settled into the comfortable leather furniture on a beautiful, sunny afternoon, Kwesi offered to pop open a bottle of champagne. My head started spinning, I had certainly never shared the Michael Palin story with Lisa and Kwesi, yet here I was in Hong Kong, in broad daylight, high up in a skyscraper overlooking Victoria Harbor, drinking a flute of champagne with friends. It was like my life had come full circle and some unintentional self-fulfilling prophecy had come to fruition.

Fast forward again to Minneapolis, April 2011. Upon returning home I shared this story with my sweet boyfriend, Doug. I told him how magical it was to feel like I was walking in the shoes of Michael Palin, going around the world and serendipitously repeating a part of his journey that had meant so much to me. Just recently Doug and I were out for a walk and went past the wine and spirits store in my neighborhood. We ducked in to see what looked good and Doug purchased a really nice bottle of Moet & Chandon champagne, even though I protested that it cost too much. When we returned to my place, Doug placed the bottle of bubbly on the counter and next to it a new DVD copy of Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 Days, so that I could watch the Hong Kong sequence once again after all this time and relive the magic that I had lived in real life just weeks before.

Feel free to stop by some afternoon, the champagne is on ice.

Quantum Leap

I get just a little bit too excited about winning stuff, even if it's just a can of pop or a balloon or something. So imagine how over the moon I was when tonight I found out I won a cool $60 scale!

I have a blog roll that I follow pretty regularly, all sorts of blogs about food, photography, travel, and anything else that tickles my fancy. From time to time certain bloggers have giveaways but I'm not usually interested in the products. This time, however, I was intrigued when Ex Hot Girl, a photographer and weight loss blogger, posted a giveaway of something called a Quantum Scale. So I left a comment on her blog, which doubled as a drawing entry, and when I visited Ex Hot Girl's blog tonight, I saw my face staring back at me with the announcement that my comment had been randomly chosen as the winner!

But I didn't win just any scale, it's the Quantum Scale and instead of registering your weight, it only registers the amount you've lost (or gained, gulp). When you step on it for the first time, it secretly records your weight and then every time you subsequently step on it, it lets you know how much your weight differs from your starting weight, without reminding you what that actual number was or is. So, in theory, you can just keep track of the amount you're losing without obsessing about your exact triple digits. I know it might just be a mind game, but I'm excited to give it a try - for free! Woo hoo!

What's Being Missed

Just over one and a half weeks into a month of eating vegan and people are asking quite often what foods I miss most. Honestly, I don't really miss too many foods, partly because it hasn't been that long and partly because I know I can have them again in a few weeks. But that said, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I might be missing chicken, at least a little bit. Everywhere I turn there's chicken. A new cooking show called the Spice Goddess introduced me to a dish of chicken and yogurt and spices that made me swoon just a little, and an article in a work publication today about the expansion of the delicious Portuguese chicken chain Nando's almost pushed me over the edge. Which got me to thinking about the wonderful Amish chicken I had at Cafe 128 the night before this month started (photo above). Oh, that chicken with blue cheese mashed potatoes was good. It's just a few more weeks, right?

The Weekend Vegan

My first vegan weekend wasn't as bad as I worried it would be. That's probably because I'm not a healthy vegan, but rather I take it as it comes. What I mean is that I don't mind supplementing my healthy, green vegan lifestyle with Puffcorn and vegan chocolate. Hey, life is short.

Friday night Doug and I spent a lovely evening walking to Chipotle for a little din-din. Chipotle has great vegan options, like their black beans, fajita vegetables, rice, salsas, and guacamole. A big salad was in order downed with an undrinkable, skunky Corona beer. Didn't finish that, to be honest. Then we walked to the movie theater in my neighborhood to see Cedar Rapids (funny and local!) and I enjoyed a nice bag of Sour Patch Kids (naturally and accidentally vegan!). Doug got popcorn but poisoned it with butter, or buttery topping. I'm not sure if my local theater does the real thing or not, but I don't like my popcorn with any sort of liquid topping. I'm a salty purist, so it wasn't tempting for me to cheat.

Saturday morning my parents arranged a breakfast out for the whole family, and to accommodate my vegan lifestyle, they chose the Triple Rock Social Club. Yes, the Triple Rock is known for Free Bacon Wednesdays, but they also have tons of vegan menu choices. I opted for a mush of potatoes, fake nacho cheese sauce, scrambled tofu, and toast with vegan butter. Oh, and two delightfully large vegan Screwdrivers. After that we ventured on to a couple of meat raffles. Yes, that's wrong for a vegan, but to be fair, I didn't win any meat. Doug did, and lots of it - ha! But I shan't eat it until next month. Dinner was a delicious Thai vegan curry feast from Sen Yai Sen Lek that I would love to try again because just a little while later it was all gone when I barfed my guts out against my will. Curses! A perfectly fantastic vegan meal - gone!

On Sunday I tried to eat a little, a vegan banana pancake from the Seward Cafe, but while it was absolutely delicious, my stomach wasn't ready for it. Instead I watched Doug down the vegan biscuits with mushroom gravy and vegetables. The color of the gravy, I won't lie, was a bit off-putting, a weird gray hue instead of the usual whitish with peppery flecks. Doug, who was being nice and ordered something vegan, said that it wasn't horrible. He said the gravy lacked a certain depth but he liked the hearty biscuits and the unusual inclusion of vegetables.

The rest of my first vegan weekend was uneventful because no kind of food was good. Barfing makes it much easier to eat vegan because you don't miss food of any kind. Lesson learned.

Please Don't Mock Me

Eating vegan for three days hasn't provided any insurmountable challenges, it's just that you have to think/talk/dissect food so much! "Is this vegan? Does it contain milk solids or egg whites or honey?" In a way, that's probably a good thing. It's easy to sleepwalk through your food life, eating whatever you want whenever you want - which isn't the healthiest way to go and something I'm very guilty of. Veganism has forced me to consider every bite. It's made easier by having backup options always available - Holy Land brand jalapeno hummus and vegan crackers, plantain chips, peanut butter, Ezekiel brand sprouted grain bread, and fruit are always available to fill the void with little thought. But vegan woman does not live by hummus alone. Sometimes one must branch out and try canned mock duck.

Canned mock duck, available at Asian grocery stores like United Noodles, sounds disgusting. Truth be told, it looks disgusting, too. The producers add that duck-like skin texture to the mock duck that is both intriguing and creepy at the same time. Doug has used canned mock duck in the past and though he warned that it can have a canned flavor, he volunteered to make us a mock duck lemongrass soup from a vegan website that I had found. He released the mock duck from its tin environment and marinated it in shallots and soy sauce and ginger and other delicious things and then finely julienned red peppers and onions and created a plate of toppings that included fresh mint and cilantro. Meanwhile, organic vegetable broth from an aseptic package simmered on the stove with fresh ingredients that Doug had added. At dinner time he put them all together with rice noodles and made a pretty nice bowl of soup. To be honest, the vegetable broth left something to be desired, now we know this particular brand wasn't anything to write home about. But the rest of the meal was quite delicious, including the mock duck. I was surprised, but I liked it. Doug separated the remaining mock duck from the soup when we were done and I think it will make a great salad with all the same fixings, just not the broth.

So, while I would love a big Buffalo chicken sandwich, the alternatives are not so bad. Canned mock duck - who knew?

I Guess Camel Meat Is Out

I work in a creative workplace where food ideas are constantly being bounced around and dissected and reworked, so I shouldn't be surprised when I open my big yapper and end up agreeing to eat vegan for a month!

Recently my coworkers and I were having an important (ha!) discussion about our favorite TV show, Top Chef. Our favorite chef on our favorite show, Richard Blais, had returned to the all-star edition looking much thinner than he did during his season of the show. There was an article about him in one of our work magazines and he explained that he kick-started his weight loss by eating vegan for one month in order to sort of detoxify his body and get back to the basics. Without much thought, I innocently volunteered that we should try that, but I don't think I really meant it at the time. However, Lizzie, ever the willing subject when it comes to food experiments, leapt at the idea and said "Let's do it!"

Still cautious about enlisting myself for this silliness, I suggested we really figure out what it means to eat vegan. Most importantly, could we still drink alcohol? Turns out we can, and so the decision to do it became that much easier! There are alcoholic beverages that are not vegan, but most are, so even if eating vegan sucks, we can drown our sorrows in booze to forget the pain. We tried to encourage our coworkers to join, but after a few false starts, only three of us are in. Chickens.

We agreed to start on Monday, March 28 so that I would have one week after returning from a whirlwind three week trip around the world (Amsterdam, India, Hong Kong and Borneo) to eat all my favorite meats and cheeses that I had dearly missed while traveling. We will continue through the end of April. Before agreeing I totally forgot that Easter falls in the month of April this year. No Easter ham, no deviled eggs, none of my mom's sweet bread, no seven layer salad, no buttery mashed potatoes. I could go on and on. As I am usually in charge of preparing some of the desserts, I have already researched one vegan dessert to make (lemon coconut bundt cake!) so that I can have something, and will have to make some side dishes as well! I will happily make non-vegan food, I just won't be able to eat it. Phooey.

I'll Be Back

Remember me? Me neither. It's been awhile, I've missed you. I wish I had a good explanation as to where I've been, but I would be lying. I'm just here now.

I'm not much for resolutions, which is the thing people say right before they announce their soon-to-be-failed resolutions, but I'm really going to try to get back into this blogging thing. Not sure why, as the digital world has already heralded the death of the blog. Guess blogs are too wordy, if we can't express ourselves in 140 characters or less, we don't have the patience. But I want to buck that trend, to keep my little wordy corner of the world alive regardless of what social media gurus have to say.

So while I don't have time to post a real entry right now, I am posting something - anything - to show that I mean it. I'm back. And to prove it, here's a photo I took in a market in Cuernavaca that I manipulated in ColorSplash on my new iPad. Too much fun.

Please stop by again soon, I'll be back.

That Thing I Love Too Much

It's been awhile since I've written about one of my favorite topics, nachos. That's because generally there's not much to report. There are a lot of monumentally bad nachos stinking up this world, and I usually choose not to report on them because it's so much more fun to talk about the good ones. Too bad they're so few and far between.

Recent events have changed all that. The first was a visit to Acadia Cafe on Cedar and Riverside, kitty-corner from the 400 Bar. Acadia Cafe is definitely a college hangout, super casual and borderline dumpy without going all the way there. They host live music and boast one of the most amazing beer lists around. Last week Doug and I went there for dinner before a beer tasting event at the nearby Cedar Cultural Center. We settled on a grilled cheese with bacon and tomato and an order of the nachos, because we were eating healthy. Ha! Anyway, the chips for the nachos are fried on the premise and it shows in the final result, there's a definite homemade taste to the chips that is quite delightful. As for toppings, they were basic, but generous. Cheese, black beans, tomatoes, with a side of salsa and sour cream. They're not going to win any awards, but they're solid and deserve a chance.

The other nachos I tried recently could win an award, if there were such a contest out there. And if such a contest exists, I beg to be invited to judge. Friday night I celebrated my upcoming birthday with the Hags - my girls, my peeps. Originally I had wanted to go to Bar LaGrassa, but that is not the place you go with a big group on short notice. All of the Twin Cities wants to be there and they make early reservations, which we couldn't. So instead I chose a place where I hadn't been in years but remember enjoying, a place centrally located for all of us in downtown Minneapolis, a place where reservations wouldn't be an issue. Eli's Food & Cocktails is on the periphery downtown, at 13th & Hennepin, but has the most important thing a restaurant downtown could have - a free parking lot adjacent! Love that.

The menu at Eli's is substantial, with great appetizers and entrees and specials that include ingredients like pork belly and duck confit. The atmosphere is laid back, with Ella Fitzgerald and Ray Charles crooning in the background, and the lighting is subtle. We decided to share a few apps to get things started and, thankfully, Maria suggested a half order of nachos with chicken. The menu says they fry their chips at the restaurant but I couldn't tell. Still, these nachos may just be my new favorites in town! Just the half order was a good size, piled high with chips and cheese and spiced chicken and the requisite tomatoes and onions and salsa and sour cream on the side. There wasn't a big pile of dry chips left at the bottom, the sin committed by so many restaurants. I truly didn't want the plate of nachos to end and briefly considered ordering another plate for my dinner entree. But I came to my senses and realized I could actually return to Eli's and enjoy them again. Which I will be doing, soon.

A Beautiful Reminder

Anyone who knows me well understands that I pretty much always want to be anywhere but here. Certainly I am here, but my head is usually in the clouds dreaming of faraway places, countries where I could be working and playing and living and loving. But plans don't always work out the way you thought they would and life moves in mysterious ways. You don't always turn into the next Sebastian Junger or Annie Griffiths, you don't always write the great American novel. There are no guarantees.

But it's certainly not with a heavy heart that I remain here in Minnesota. Yes, I complain bitterly each year as the gales of November come early, yelling "I'm moving!" to anyone within earshot, but I have a million reasons to love living here as well. I love my family, my friends, my sweetie, my gigantic kitty and just the quality of life here in general. Still, I need reminding now and then just why I haven't left my birthplace. This past week I received that reminder, in spades, during a two day vacation on the North Shore (that's local speak for the stretch of shoreline on Lake Superior that runs northeast of Duluth). Even during this cold month, when the leaves have blown away and the grass has faded, the beauty of this area of northern Minnesota cannot be denied. At one point during a drive from the lodge where we stayed in Beaver Bay north to Grand Marais, I couldn't help but think that the beauty was so alarming that people living on the other side of the world could come here and be bowled over by what they saw, by what they were missing back home. That's the reminder I need to take with me, that as beautiful as the rest of the world is - the pyramids and the walls and the mountains and the seas - that same beauty resides right here under my nose, just waiting to be encountered.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Recently Doug had the day off from work and picked me up for lunch. It was beautiful out so, after an unsuccessful attempt to get anyone to acknowledge our presence at Sushi Tango and walking out, we found ourselves sauntering into Uptown Cafeteria & Support Group, the new and oddly named restaurant in Calhoun Square. The Cafeteria has windows that open completely, so even though you're inside it feels like you're outside, which is fantastic until some loser's car alarm goes off ten feet away for twenty minutes. Suddenly you find yourself longing for the dark, cavernous booths of a local burger joint.

Nonetheless, we were happy to be enjoying the late summer warmth and ordered, somewhat foolishly, two bleu cheese menu items - a bleu cheese salad and the bleu cheese nachos. Both came with an (over?)abundance of bleu cheese, something I never thought I could feel. Too much bleu cheese? What? But the salad was covered, absolutely covered, in bleu cheese crumbles, and sometimes more is actually too much. Perhaps if we had only ordered one or the other I'd feel differently, that might have been our mistake, but I'm pretty sure each were overkill nonetheless. The nachos were a fun twist on traditional corn tortilla/cheddar/salsa nachos, with bleu cheese sauce, crumbles, bacon and green onions atop crispy fresh homemade potato chips. The bacon was a fantastic addition, but the chips suffered from an all too common nacho issue - chips drenched in toppings while many others went without any. Still, I'd order them again with just beers and no bleu cheese salad and share them with several other people because a little goes a long way with these.

On the other hand, The Uptown Cafeteria & Support Group has something really wonderful to offer its guests - the best table sauce selection I've seen in awhile! Always at the ready no matter what you order, soy sauce and bright green jalapeno Tobasco sauce share the caddy with Sriracha sauce and a giant, shiny bottle of Mrs. Butterworth's syrup. What more could a diner need?

Thank You, Mother Nature

As regards weather in Minnesota, there is a lot to complain about. Our winters are long and cold and frustrating, we can get some awful heat waves in the summer, tornadoes in the spring and fall can sometimes last about an hour and a half. But this summer and fall have been spectacular, and I must give credit where credit is due. Thank you, Mother Nature, you have been very kind to us (or those of us who don't live in southern Minnesota where everything is underwater).

Doug and I took a road trip a couple of weekends ago, just for the day, to St. Peter. The air was warm but not too warm and the fields were gorgeous as we drove on and on past one after another. Then last weekend we spent in northern Minnesota on a golfing weekend with my best friend and her husband. I was pretty sure the weather would be bad and mentally planned alternative activities that we could do while the rain fell, except that it not only didn't fall, but the skies were the most beautiful shade of blue and dotted with puffy white clouds that reflected off the cold lakes like a mirror. On top of that, the leaves were changing color, from deep greens to vibrant shades of yellow and orange and red that looked like classic paintings. Today we visited the farmer's market and then an apple orchard in Delano, a lovely brisk and sunny drive due west on 55, and once again couldn't believe our good fortune. The sun shone on us the entire day, lifting spirits that can so often be down during overcast Minnesota weather.

Thanks again, Mother Nature. We owe you one.