Sin Cities

The first weekend in December, I visited friends in Minneapolis. I took the Amtrak train Friday evening, and while a view of the landscape was eclipsed by the dark, some of the cities were quite pretty. Red Wing, with its stone buildings lit by a combination of slow-falling snow and glowing street lights, was particularly stunning. I rolled into St. Paul at about 10:30pm, so after making our way back from the station through the snow, we chatted a bit and then went to bed.

On Saturday, we went to a craft fair at the Midtown Global Market and ate massive falafel sandwiches at Holy Land. The sandwiches were seriously large, containing about 5 or 6 balls of falafel, a generous amount of well-executed hummus, and shredded romaine. I adored the contrast between the spiced, crispy falafel, the fresh romaine, and the creamy hummus. Next time you're in the Sin Cities, I highly recommend trying it. Not only does Holy Land have amazing food, but a friend who lives there told me that they also contribute to their community in various ways. For instance, they reclaimed an entire city block that was in bad repair.

Check out the size of that falafel sandwich. And that was after I'd attacked it a bit. The expression on the guy in the background who was inadvertently included in our photo op. is classic.

Later, we met for dinner at Pad Thai on Grand Avenue. I had green curry rice noodles with veggies and fresh tofu. Mara had green curry with fresh tofu. Em had green curry with chicken. Naomi had the eponymous pad thai, but laced with sriracha and more vegetables than normal. Sriracha transforms pad thai from a bland, dowdy noodle dish into something fabulous. Who knew?

At dinner, somehow the conversation meandered onto the hideous Twilight series. Em brought up the very good point that it would seem rather improbable that Bella could be pregnant in the next movie, being that she's relying on what we termed "undead semen." This made us descend into crazy laughter. Needless to say, a few glasses of wine were consumed at dinner.

Also, at the end of the evening, I had an exchange with an older gentleman who was donning his galoshes at the door. (I was waiting for people to return from the bathroom.) He said his wife makes fun of him for wearing them, but that they work really well in Minneapolis. So to those of you--and you know who you are--who are embarrassed to wear your galoshes, you should just buck up and don them proudly.

Later that evening, we went to a holiday party at Darren's house. Funky ice luminaries lined the walkway, but I didn't capture a photo because it was too cold to tarry outside. Inside, we were met with a pretty Christmas tree decorated in silver and blue and a yummy buffet table graced with various delectable items. Among them were tortilla pinwheels containing cream cheese, pickles, and lord-knows-what-else; pretzel rods; and corn chips with a devilishly yummy amalgam of Velveeta, turkey, and salsa. I didn't need to know how delicious that latter one is. Now I must plan a trip to the grocery store to search out this bizarre-o "food product," if only to verify that it is segregated from the regular dairy products and does not need to be refrigerated. Someone at the party gave me this little tidbit, and I must confirm it. Someone else said they are no longer allowed to even employ the word cheese, even when paired with the word product, on the package. Fascinating. Simply fascinating.

And I can't allow the miniature kale Christmas tree centerpiece constructed by Mister Mike (at Darren's bidding) to go unnoticed. The boughs were kale leaves affixed to a styrofoam base. Cherry tomato "ornaments" were staked onto it with toothpicks. It was Mikey at his Martha Stewart best.

The highlight of Sunday was visiting the Como Conservancy with Mara and Rachel and then having another Thanksgiving dinner at Naomi's house. Thanks to Naomi for a marvelous dinner! I might add homemade creamed corn with leeks to my Turkey Day menu. It was heavenly.

And the next day, I boarded the train early to head back home.