Nomadic Foodie » Minnesota

Creative Itineraries: When it’s more about the journey

doniree — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:00:12 +0000

We could’ve booked our trip to my home state of Minnesota like this:

PDX > MSP

Point A to Point B

Saturday: Show up at PDX, check in, walk through security, board single-file onto a DC-10 or a 737 or an Airbus. Spend the next 3ish hours at 30,000 feet, and land in MSP two time zones later, stop at baggage claim, grab the luggage, get the rental car, and go from there.

The return trip would’ve looked the same, but [obviously] in reverse. There’s nothing wrong with this, we do this all the time. However, something made me look at this a little bit differently this time.

It’s About the Journey

Because the trip is about more than the destination (as much as I love knowing we’re going to spend a full week with my friends and family (and niece!) back in Minnesota), we opted instead for travel that would include new and scenic experiences. Because we took a moment to think about how we’d like to travel, our itinerary instead looks like this (and is three days of travel instead of one):

Amtrak’s Empire Builder

Friday: Show up at Portland’s Union Station. Hop aboard the Empire Builder, Amtrak’s cross-country train that will take us through six states in the next 36 hours. Power down laptops (since this one doesn’t have WiFi) for an entire weekend. Sit back, relax. Pop a bottle of champagne or wine as we watch the Oregon landscape roll past us. Fall asleep eventually, probably as we make near Tacoma, WA.

Saturday: Spend the majority of the day in the Observation Deck of the train because HELLO GLACIER NATIONAL PARK. Which I’ve never seen. Which includes the Northern Rocky Mountains. Which has me feeling as giddy as a little girl right now, just thinking about it. Read a book (or two). Have conversations. Journal. Nap.

Sunday: Wake up as the sun rises somewhere in northwestern Minnesota, beyond the North Dakota border. Get excited the closer we get to the Twin Cities.

We’ll spend Sunday through Sunday in Minnesota, and our trip includes:

so many hugs and kisses for my [will be by then] four month-old niece.
attending the wedding of a brother-like friend of mine, as he marries a sweet and wonderful bride (who’s also a CPY-Trained Yogini!)
taking a day (or maybe overnight) trip to Duluth, so I can show Chris my favorite lighthouse and Canal Park

Minnesota State Fair! Food on a Stick! Buying jewelry at the International Bazaar!
catching up with my friends from college, one of my many families-you-create-for-yourself families
Did I mention snuggles with my niece?

The Return Trip

Our trip home is almost as good as the trip out there.

Instead of flying back from Minneapolis directly to Portland (which we’d considered up until this morning when we realized we had other options), we’re going to be flying into Seattle on Labor Day morning, and taking the Cascades (another Amtrak) to Portland in the early afternoon. This means we’ll have time to drop our luggage off at the train station and wander around Seattle for a few hours.

Is the Public Market open on weekdays/holidays? Because I SO want to get my photographer fix there.

I’m SO excited. I’ve spent a whopping total of about 6ish hours in the downtown Seattle area, and didn’t see much more than the train station and the restaurant where we had dinner (which was fantastic). Since we’ll get downtown around 9, and leave around 2pm, I’m thinking that rather than two meals – BRUNCH is going to be the focus.

So, Seattle-ites – where should we grab brunch on a holiday Monday in downtown Seattle? What else can we do within walking distance of the train station? Anyone want to meet us for mimosas?

How do you travel? Are you focused on getting where you’re going? Or is the “getting there” part as much of an experience as the “being there”?

[Photo source: 1, 2, 3, 4]

doniree

Doniree Walker is the Nomadic Foodie. She loves the exploration and community of food, and currently lives in Portland, Oregon, and loves the region's focus on local and seasonal food, daily farmers' markets and food carts at seemingly every turn. She's on twitter as @doniree and @nomadicfoodie, and blogs her adventures and life in general at doniree.com.

Travel Updates

doniree — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:55:49 +0000

Stay tuned for some wanderlusty, nomadic, delicious updates and up-and-comings. Stick with me, and here’s where we’ll go:

Coming soon:

I was just in NYC and tried some tasty places including the Central Park Boathouse and an all mac-and-cheese place. Yes, I have pictures.
Travel tips – info on some of the things I’m learning about eating and traveling, particularly around eating healthy on the move
Cheese plate guest reviews! (Perhaps most excited for this)

Up and coming trips:

Weekend trip to PDX, August 27
Secret September road trip that I’ll announce soon (!!!)
Minneapolis in October to see friends and attend the wedding of two of my dear friends

Busy fall? Just you wait.

doniree

Gator Face

doniree — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:29:11 +0000

Rachel tried Alligator-on-a-Stick, a classic at the Minnesota State Fair, last year. She didn’t like it, but I commend her for trying!

doniree

Friday Foodie Flashback: Minnesota State Fair Bazaar

doniree — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:00:05 +0000

My favorite part of the Minnesota State Fair (second to the ridiculous people watching) isn’t the cheese curds (blasphemy, I know!), isn’t the tractors, and isn’t the Leinie Lodge Bandshell. My favorite part of the State Fair is the International Bazaar – jewelry, clothes, and food from all over the world? LOVE.

Last year, I tried this Greek staple – the dolma – for the first time. This particular dolma that I’m noshing on is veggies and such wrapped in a grape leaf, and I grab one just for fun now every time I hit up the salad bar at Whole Foods.

Goofy facial expression, brought to you by my own excitement because I absolutely adore and look forward annually to the Great Minnesota Get Together.

doniree

Crave MN

doniree — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:06:19 +0000

Last month, I participated in a GuacOff courtesy of Metro Magazine and with the combined culinary stylings of some great fellow Twin Cities bloggers (Kaeti, Doug, Emily, and Conner), we took home Most Authentic.

This post isn’t about that. Conner did a great recap, so I’ll point you over there for that.

What this post IS about is the gift card that I snagged as part of the prize stuff from Crave Restaurant. I’m not too far from the restaurant, located in Edina’s Galleria Mall so when Rachel was here a couple of weeks ago, we decided to check it out. I kept hearing delicious things about it, and we decided to move in for their HUGELY PROPORTIONED brunch.

We rounded up my roommate and her manfriend and made it there pretty much as the doors opened (11AM on Sundays).

The deal (snatched right from their website, emphasis mine):

Fabulous Family Brunch $15.95

Generous helping of scrambled eggs with Tillamook smoked cheddar, house made baked hash browns,

off-the-bone ham, applewood smoked bacon, savory sausage links, whole wheat toast and jam, fresh fruit,

and sticky buns all served on large platters for your table to share and replenished as you desire!

Also Includes:

French Toast Bar with gourmet toppings

And

Our Chef ’s “Create-your-own” Omelet Bar

And

A glass of Mimosa, Champagne, or Orange Juice

Fabulous Family Brunch $15.95

Generous helping of scrambled eggs with Tillamook smoked cheddar, house made baked hash browns, off-the-bone ham, applewood smoked bacon, savory sausage links, whole wheat toast and jam, fresh fruit, and sticky buns all served on large platters for your table to share and replenished as you desire!

Also Includes: French Toast Bar with gourmet toppings and Our Chef ’s “Create-your-own” Omelet Bar and A glass of Mimosa, Champagne, or Orange Juice

Yeah, you had me at French Toast Bar and Champagne for sure. And I’m always a fan of hash browns or breakfast potatoes or whatever you want to call them, but these? UNFREAKINGREAL.

Seriously, those hashbrowns were greasy, cheesy, potato-y perfection. Because that wasn’t enough food, I also had the chef make me my own omelet.

Tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, and cheese – YUM!

Our table basically looked like this: we each had coffee and a mimosa. The plates in the center of the table included: the cheesy-orgy plate of eggs and hash browns, the meat-lover’s plate of sausage, bacon, and ham, plus some toast because why not throw more carbs in the mix, a plate full of sticky-buns, and then whatever plates we’d collected at the French Toast or Create-Your-Own Omelet station.

Make no mistake, I know how to make y’all drool.

I’ll have to get back to try their other meals, but this was definitely a winner for a giant Sunday brunch with some of my faves.

doniree

Minnesota On a Stick

doniree — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 05:02:12 +0000

I know, I know.

EVERYBODY’S doing it.

You can’t be a TWINCY blogger, resident, passer-through, man, woman, or pet rock without having been exposed to somebody’s own personal recap of their Great Minnesota Get Together experience.

For those of you unfamiliar and/or not from this great state, this event is also more formally known as the one and only Minnesota State Fair.

Ten days of deep fried EVERYTHING-on-a-stick, I believe Minnesota boasts the second-largest state fair in the country, just behind Texas.

I did my duty as a good Minnesotan and made my appearance on State Fair Day 2, Friday, August 28.

My counterparts?

Minnesota born-and-raised, long time state fair veteran and my oldest friend, Steve (pictured above, nomming some gator).

Alissa, a Florida native marking her second ever year at the State Fair. Last year was her first, being the year she moved here and all.

And virgin fair-goer, my blog-friend-turned-lovely-girlfriend Rachel. Rachel hails from South Jersey and until a week or two ago HAD NEVER HEARD OF CHEESE CURDS (pictured – reluctantly – eating gator above).

Don’t worry, we fixed that whole cheese curds thing.

I’m pictured above too, but I’m the one happily eating her grape-leaves-on-a-stick from The Holy Land in the International Bazaar (one of my personal favorite parts of the fair!), leaving the gator sausage (ew? but yes, of course I tried it) to the others.

Anyway, we went on Friday during the late afternoon and into the evening hours and managed to try and share the following:

We ate:

beer
corn fritters
CHEESE CURDS
grape leaves on a stick
baklava
deep-fried alligator on a stick
DEEP-FRIED CANDY BARS (specifically the Reese’s PB Cups and the Oreos)
Wine flight from local Minnesota vineyards
Australian battered potatoes
Sweet Martha’s Cookies

What we missed that I wanted:

Deep-fried Belgian waffle
Summit on a Stick
Corn on the Cob (a food fest STAPLE in the midwest)

The verdicts?

Cheese curds are a must, and get the ones in the food building (according to Steve). If the line is any indication, he’s absolutely right on (but they’re a well-oiled machine and it moves quickly).

Trying different fruit wines from all over Minnesota was fun; I tried a Rhubarb wine that was unique and fruity.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups deep fried in some beignet-type batter and sprinkled with powdered sugar is pretty much the orgasmic fried dessert I have EVER had.

Also? The crowds on Friday night seemed a little thinner than going during the day, and the lines were relatively manageable (Sweet Martha’s cookies being the longest, as per usual).

Until next year, my fairgoing friends!

doniree

Zeno Wine Cafe

doniree — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:36:57 +0000

I hadn’t been to Zeno Wine Cafe since a date a few years ago.

Or was it a date? I never really knew with that guy until the fourth “date” or so and I finally attacked his face kissed him in his car at the end of the night. We made out all high school style for a few minutes, I went home, and that was essentially it.

But this post isn’t about him, it’s about food and wine and my girlfriend Melissa.

Melissa and I met in college, through mutual friends, and bonded instantly and closely. We were both lovers of psychology (different realms, but still), house parties, jam band music, and sharing dating stories because we always had the good amusing ones.

Anyway, she and I have the beautiful kind of friendship that continues to grow and flourish into adulthood after college despite different directions and lives and jobs and whatnot. We catch up every couple of months, giggle like schoolgirls, polish off a decent amount of wine, and typically find some of the Twin Cities’ most interesting places to eat.

Our last two catch-ups? Town Talk Diner, and then before that the French Meadow Bakery.

We have good, quirky, local hipster taste, I know.

Last night, we hopped into Zeno Cafe at Lake & Hennepin in Uptown. They advertise all kinds of happy hour deals that GO UNTIL SEVEN PM (which sometimes is unheard of, or at least hard to find, and those of us that can’t leave work at 3PM on a MONDAY really appreciate that extra hour or two!).

What we chose?

wine: $10 bottomless glass of [house] wine (I chose the white (a Pinot Grigio/Chardonnay blend) and Melissa had the Cab Sauv).

food: Apps are BOGO, so we split the Cheese Plate and the Mediterranean Plate.

According to their menu, these are the food deets:

Mediterranean Plate

Goat cheese, black olive tapenade, hummus, and Italian sun-dried tomato relish with fresh baked rosemary focaccia.

Cheese Plate

A selection of artisan cheeses served with fresh fruit, turkish figs and almonds.

To be honest?

I wasn’t all that impressed with the cheese plate. Then again, I’ve been spoiled this year in that my cheese plate devirginization happened at Mario Batali’s Enoteca San Marco in Las Vegas. Then I found Cafe Maude’s cheese plate. Twice. Two weeks ago, I sampled the cheese stylings at Bar Baresco in NYC’s Chelsea neighborhood.

So, I’m not a cheese plate SNOB, by any means (let’s be honest, I can’t ID anything really besides bleu, gouda, brie, and parmesan), but I do know what’s impressive and what’s notsomuch.

So Zeno’s was decent, just not… amazing. There was a gouda that was nice and creamy and smooth, but I bought a chunk of gouda at Lund’s last week that was as good if not better. There were no turkish figs as advertised, but there were grapes and apples. The almonds were nice. I should’ve taken a picture. Wow, foodie blogger FAIL.

The Med plate though was GREAT. I love goat cheese and tapenade and hummus and sun-dried tomato ANYTHING. And the focaccia was tasty.

But for $20 each that got us all kinds of wine and the right kind of noshing in between telling stories of going back to school, boys, travels, and just all-around catching up in general? Total win. I’d go back and do it again and probably sample more of their apps menu, but keep in mind you get what you pay for. If I want a cheese plate to blow me away, I’ll go back to Cafe Maude and pay the extra $ (though really, it’s not that much extra).

What will bring me back?

This deal. I’m intrigued by this. $30 date night includes wine, apps, dessert and a movie at the Landmark theater next door:

Recap:

Wine: $10 bottomless glass of a decent house wine. We like bottomless. No. WE LOVE bottomless.
Food: Cheese plate: mediocre; Med plate: Good
Price: Since wine was cheap and apps were BOGO, total bill was less than $40 (after taxes, before tip)
Do it again? Sure, why not.

doniree

Welcome to Nomadic Foodie!

doniree — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:52:15 +0000

I love exploring my own cities – Minneapolis and St. Paul – as well as getting out and walking/dining my way through new places. This blog is about that – it’s about the new places I explore and the people and food and wine I meet along the way.
Bon appetite!