10 Reasons Why -22 Degrees is Not That Cold When You Are a True Minnesotan
It’s cold out there today. Really cold. Like -22 degrees and it feels like -45 with the windchill.
If you are a true Minnesotan you go outside and think, Oh, this really isn’t that bad. It’s cold, but it could be worse.
There are a few reasons why we stay here when it is this cold outside. We are smart enough to figure out how to keep warm in this polar vortex.
10 Reasons Why -22 Degrees is Not That Cold When You Are a True Minnesotan:
1. You own all the proper winter weather gear. This may include a parka, mukluks, a hat with ear flaps, and proper mittens. You don’ t care what you look like because at least you are warm.
2. You own at least 3 pairs of long underwear. Yes, you may look a little bit puffy today at work but your bum is nice and toasty.
3. You have a space heater at your desk. Did your feet get cold on your way into work? That is not a problem because when you get to work you can put them right in front of your space heater.
4. Almost everyone knows how to jump a car or knows someone who can jump their car and can do it in 2 minutes. We carry around the tools to get our cars started no matter where we are because it is the smart thing to do.
5. We all own at least 40 blankets. One of them is heated so that if it gets really cold we can plug it in and be nice and toasty when we sleep.
6. If you have something warm to drink it makes you think that you are really warm. We all have supplies of hot cocoa, tea, and coffee to make when it gets frigid. Your mom also used to put in those little marshmallows when you were younger.
7. When there are days like this we have a supply of movies, games, and indoor activities that keep us occupied for many hours. Plus, we may even get to sleep in.
8. We all know alternative (less safe) ways to heat our homes by using space heaters, cooking something in your oven, and lighting candles. You usually end up with a hot dish or a pot roast, it’s a win/win.
9. It gives us an excuse to cuddle up with those people you love. Body heat helps.
10. We know it’s not THAT cold because it could always be worse. It could be -40 degrees and it feels like -70 and it snowed 3 feet overnight and then it sleeted for that very brief warm up. IT CAN ALWAYS BE WORSE.
Lets be honest, we love it here in Minnesota, even when it is colder than Antarctica which is only at -11 degrees today. We stay because of the people, the culture, the food, the community, and because summer is amazing here.
because I am a true Minnesotan
@mplsgossipgirl
How do you stay warm on days like this? What do I need to add to my list?
Isles Bun and Coffee
Tucked into a small spot in Uptown, Isles Bun is one of my favorite places to grab a bite for breakfast.
They have the most delicious buns! You cannot go wrong with any of their variations. And don’t forget the cream cheese frosting that they keep on the counter.
For what they lack in space, they make up for with how wonderful everything is. Even the coffee is excellent. If you are coming there on a weekend in the winter be prepared to take your bun to-go since space is so limited. During the summer they have outdoor seating.
If you want to be a hit at your next company breakfast, order buns from Isles. They have an order form on their website and you will be everyones favorite co-worker.
Because on a weekend, a sweet bun and a coffee can relax even the most stressed out person.
@mplsgossipgirl
It’s a Pre Fixe NYE
Okay, don’t take this the wrong way. But, I am having a very hard time finding a place to eat dinner with a few friends on New Years Eve without a pre fixe menu. It is making me a little annoyed.
A pre fixe menu is a set meal with a set price. They usually are many courses and sometimes come with wine pairings. You normally see pre fixe menus at restaurants like La Belle Vie and restaurants that do farm to table.
I love a good pre fixe menu when it makes sense. Although, I don’t have a ton of cash this year to spend on a luxury dinner out for NYE. So, doing a pre fixe menu would be a stretch.
These are my ‘must haves’ for NYE:
- A place where I can have a tasty meal.
- A cocktail.
- It doesn’t need to be fancy.
- Quiet enough that I can have a conversation with my friends.
- It fits in my budget.
Since I am on a budget, I cannot afford a $40 per person meal plus the cost drinks and a tip. That turns very quickly into a $200 dinner with two people.
I am not a hater of pre fixe menus. When pre fixe menus work, they work. It works at restaurants that are used to pre fixe menus or are farm-to-table when they don’t know what ingredients they will have for the day until the farmer shows up. For example: I went to Saffron and had a pre fixe there and it was excellent. All the components fit perfectly together, it was just enough food, and I didn’t feel like I was being ripped off.
Saffron is doing a pre fixe menu for NYE at the restaurant and they are also hosting a last dinner meal with 6 courses and a location that you will find out 3 hours before the event. If that is not exciting I don’t know what is. Although, a bit unaffordable on my budget at $180 per person with wine parings, tax, and tip included.
My twitter follower @mspclothing suggested Piccolo for a place with a good pre fixe menu. I haven’t been to Piccolo yet, but it would make sense that would be great. Also, Veronica (@Andrjensn) suggested Restaurant Alma. Another good pick for pre fixe menus.
Now, my only annoyance with the pre fixe menu is when it doesn’t make sense. I can spot a restaurant trying to either save cash or turn over diners quickly from a mile away.
Is this what dining out on NYE has come to in Minneapolis? I hope not.
When I see restaurants with pre fixe menus that are priced way above what their normal priced menu item is–it does not make sense to me. You are loved for what you do day to day. Why not keep a good thing going? Maybe, add a special to your normal menu.
I completely understand that NYE is a big day in the restaurant business. But, I don’t think the solution is an overpriced, not well thought out, and a quickly served pre fixe menu. If I am looking to eat at a place that fits my ‘must haves’ someone else must feel this way too.
Once place that reached out to me was The Butcher and The Boar. They will have their regular menu available for NYE. This would be a wonderful atmosphere to spend NYE with friends.
Because it’s a New Year!
@mplsgossipgirl
Where do you think I should go on NYE? Do you know of a restaurant that has a great pre fixe menu? Or one that is affordable? Also, what places are your favorite for NYE?
UPDATE: Blackbird has a few specials but also will be serving their normal menu. Thanks @Andrjensn!
The Wizard of Oz- The Ordway
I love going to The Ordway during the holiday season. There is just something about Rice Park covered in snow and the lights shining in all the trees that gets me into the holiday spirit.
Plus, the show that they choose is always a fantastic family show. This year was no different, they choose The Wizard of Oz starring Danielle Wade who won a Canadian reality show contest for the role of Dorothy.
Her performance was outstanding. What made this version of The Wizard of Oz entertaining was the voices of the cast members, they could really belt a tune. Plus, the video that was embedded in the performance.
The video technology made the tornado scene very real. You may want to have a conversation about this with your children before you go to the show because otherwise it may scare them. Although, it did not really seem to upset any of the children who were sitting by me.
I think the show would be a great family outing. It is important to expose children to the theater early so they learn to love it for the rest of their lives. The Wizard of Oz runs until December 29th.
because there is no place like home.
@mplsgossipgirl
Disclosure: I am an Ordway Blogger and received free tickets to the show. All opinions are my own. I choose to be an Ordway blogger because I believe theater is very important and I love that we have such a wonderful theater community here in the Twin Cities.
Vote LoLa
As a supporter of local business, I had to tell you what is going on in Wrenshall, MN. A business called the Locally Laid Egg Company is one of four small businesses in a contest with intuit to win an ad during the big game.
The only thing you need to do to support them is visit VoteLoLa.com and click the vote button everyday until December 1st. Thank goodness, finally a contest where you don’t have to like anything, give any information, or sell your soul to help someone out.
I think you should support LoLa because they are local, sustainable, and they have a really awesome product. You may have had LoLa eggs if you have eaten at Duluth Grill, GastroTruck, or Surdyk’s Flights. You can find a full list HERE. Many of the local Coops sell the eggs too. If you have eaten the eggs at any of these places or in your own home you know how delicious they are. There is a different taste to eggs that are local and come from happy birds.
The Amundsen family wants to win to get people talking about different kinds of agriculture and encourage others to get into farming. Jason Admundsen started Locally Laid after his second layoff from a non-profit grant writing job and has invested everything into this business. You can tell just by looking at the Locally Laid website and blog that they truly care about what they are doing and want to do as much as they can to give back, including planting a tree for every delivery.
So, tell your friends, tell your family, tell your co-workers, and tell the person sitting next to you on the bus to VoteLoLa. It is even mobile optimized.
because happy chickens make yummy eggs
@mplsgossipgirl
Science and Cooking Class for Free from edX
I love to learn and take classes. If I was a billionaire I most likely would have been in college forever. Taking edX online classes helps fill that need for lifelong learning and they are free. That is the best part.
Edx is a non-profit started by Harvard and MIT and the goal is to bring the best of higher education all around the world. I think it is accomplishing its goal.
The class that I am currently taking is on Science and Cooking and to me it is unreal that this is offered on the internet for free. The first part that I am working on is heavily chemistry focused which is something that I hated in high school. I had a good teacher in college that did what this class does well, it uses real examples to demonstrate chemistry.
This class will add to my knowledge of food and cooking and make me a more inventive cook by having a better understanding of the science of cooking.
If Science and Cooking isn’t your thing, there are many other classes listed out there for you to try. There are several classes on poetry coming up soon. You could take a class on computer science or linear algebra. There is even a class about China.
Another thing that I like about edX is that it is completely on your schedule. Yes, when the classes offer certificates you have due dates but, this course seems to have a really great timeline to get it done.
If you are not working towards the certificate you can just have fun learning on the site.
You can find the website for edX here: https://www.edx.org/
because learning something new is always fun.
@mplsgossipgirl
Have you taken any classes from edX? What did you think? Are you going to try it out?
Figlio: West End
This was quite possibly the worst happy hour food I have had in awhile. I was wondering why Rojo in the West End was packed while Figlio was mostly empty.
Now, I understand.
This place will not be open for much longer unless the food standards change dramatically.
Firstly, let me start out by saying that the space is beautiful. There is a large dining room and a nice bar area. Secondly, the service was great. They went out of their way to make sure that the guests were happy.
The only thing missing is good food.
The biggest disappointment of the night was the flatbread. I remember back when Figlio was in Uptown the flat bread and pizzas were all handmade with real dough and then cooked in a brick oven. You know having an open kitchen where you make the flat breads only goes well for you when you actually make the flat bread. Watching the ‘chef’ take out a pre-made hard flatbread out of a plastic package sealed it for me. Not to mention how the toppings were handled. Yuck.
Big mistake ordering the porchetta bruschetta and sliders. Same thing different bread. Both not great flavor wise.
The only two things that I liked were the fries and wings. Holy moly, the fries are great. Perfectly cooked and great with the béarnaise sauce. The wings were seasoned very well but I would have liked to have different sauce with it. The mustard and BBQ sauce did not do it for me. It was weird that I liked those things the best and neither of them were Italian which is most of the menu at Figlio.
My suggestions are to make your own dough and make quality flat bread and to take one or both of the Porchetta items off your happy hour menu. Make a new dish. Go back to basics and serve high quality real food even for happy hour. There are so many people like me rooting for Figilo from Uptown to be reborn. This is not quite it.
because pre-made is unacceptable
@mplsgossipgirl
What was your experience here? Should I give it another try?
A Foodie Halloween – Acqua Forest Lake
So, I am not sure what you are doing on Halloween but this sounds like a lot of fun. Acqua in Forest Lake is having a ‘night of the living fed’ dinner party.
Acqua just opened its second location in Forest Lake. You may remember the original location that is on White Bear Lake near Tally’s. I haven’t been to Forest Lake yet, but the food in White Bear Lake is amazing. I had a honeydew gazpacho there once that made me look at gazpacho in a new light.
This Halloween party is limited to 200 guests and costs $100. This includes a five course dinner, drinks, a costume contest and raffle prizes.The dinner includes a cocktail hour with passed hors d’oeuvres, salad with fried pork belly, roasted butternut squash soup, scallops, beef tenderloin and pumpkin tiramisu. Drinks include, wine, beer, and select cocktails.
It sounds really great but I hope they know how to serve 200 people at one time. I think that will be quite the challenge. This is their first time trying an event like this, so it will be interesting to find out how it goes. If it goes well, this would be a great event to have each year.
They are giving out some big prizes. The prizes for the costume contest are $1,000 gift card, $250 dollar gift card, and a $100 gift card. It would be a great way to treat your family to a wonderful meal. Also, they are not stopping there, they are also giving out two raffle prizes, one is a dinner for ten including wine pairings prepared at your home. The other is a limo, wine tasting, and dinner for eight at one of the restaurants. Plus, chances are good since they limited the dinner to 200 people.
You can sign up to receive weekly emails from Acqua that tells you about the specials and events like this one on their website.
If you want to attend you can call Acqua Forest Lake at: 651-464-6130.
because it is better than eating all of that candy.
@mplsgossipgirl
Don’t worry, I am not affiliated with Acqua in any way. I got an email from them and I thought I would share this fun event with people who love food.
Umami Takeout
This is not your normal takeout. This this some seriously good food.
I was excited to hear that the pop up restaurant Umami would be doing takeout since I was unable to get a reservation these first few weeks. I do like this process of making a reservation online beforehand and just showing up for your dinner already pre-paid. This makes it easy and plans a date/get-together ahead of time.
The chefs from Travail clearly are loved because getting a seat was extremely hard these first couple of weeks. But, good news! They just signed a year long lease thanks to their large Kick Starter fund. I am hoping to get to eat in the restaurant soon, but loved that I was still able to try some of the food via takeout.
I ordered everything on the takeout menu and it was only $25. It was definitely enough for 2 people.
My favorite item was the Bun. I could eat them everyday for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is that light fluffy pillow looking like thing on the left bottom of the picture above. Another favorite was the ramen. They will have this takeout menu until October 19th, then will move to their Dim Sum concept after that.
I can’t wait to see what the chefs will come up with next. I love that they are bringing some love and energy to North Minneapolis with their unique approach to food.
because you really need to give it a try!
@mplsgossipgirl
Cheeky Monkey Fall Soups
I have been to the Cheeky Monkey twice in the last two weeks. I cannot stop myself.
There are two reason why I keep coming back:
1. fresh food
2. relaxed atmosphere
The Cheeky Monkey has a daily dinner special and two daily soups. These Fall soups are exactly what I was looking for on a chilly day. On my first visit I had a potato and leek soup that was creamy and earthy enough.
I paired the soup with a fresh perfectly dressed salad. One of my normal complaints is that restaurants over dress their salads. This one was flavorful but not dripping in the dressing which made the nuts and cheese hold up.
On my next visit I ordered a chorizo and white bean soup which was equally as good. They know how to build the flavors with these soups by adding in ingredients like kale and green onions.
With this soup I had a watermelon salad which was a summer dish and did not really go with the soup but still very good and exactly what I felt like eating. They also had the Surly Fest on tap which is the Octoberfest style of beer from surly.
because it is time to fall in love with Fall.
@mplsgossipgirl
mplsgossipgirl 