Escape To The Twin Cities

Last weekend I took a trip to the Cities (that's what the rest of Minnesota calls Minneapolis/St. Paul/Suburbs).

After a long winter we needed to take a Spring Escape.

We went to my favorite restaurant The Good Earth at the Galleria. Well, it was my favorite. I wasn't very impressed with the service or food. It was like eating at a Perkins.

I had a coconut/mango smoothie.

Mom and Dad

Appetizer - warm artichoke dip with jicama and pita wedges.

This was very good. The pita were warm and soft. The dip was creamy and the jicama added a nice crunch.

Mom's main dish - it was over spiced with cumin.

Dad's dish - too much 5 spice.

My meal - the nut/bean burger was undercooked and mushy. The soup was good, but I can make richer broth. Sorry Good Earth!

On our way to Minneapolis to see Macbeth at the Guthrie.

Macbeth was amazing. Although the costumes were a little distracting - 1950's military?

The next day we went to the Mall of America (MOA).

It was an interesting experience.

I met a woman who took cupcakes hostage.......

So, we went to the Williams-Sonoma store. They were doing a cake/cupcake demonstration. We watched for over 1/2 an hour. I was planning on buying some things after the demonstration, but then I met the Cupcake Nazi.

She was so mean!

See the woman on the right side in the brown shirt cutting up the GIANT cake (apparently not big enough to share). First of all, she argued with the blonde woman through the entire presentation - they couldn't agree on anything. Then she went to cut up the cake and get the cupcakes ready. We watched while at least 15 people (shoppers - not people watching the presentation - like us) came up to her and she gave them a slice of cake.

Finally, she passed out pieces of cake to all the people watching the demonstration - except us.

O-kay

Then she brought out a tray of 40 cupcakes (there were about 9 people watching the demonstration). She passed out cupcakes to everyone else and said to us, "We want to make sure everyone that signed up for the demonstration gets a cupcake first." Then she took the remaining 31 cupcakes behind the counter AND continued to hand out cake to random shoppers!!!!!!!

We left and I will NEVER, EVER buy ANYTHING from Williams-Sonoma!!!

Who keeps cupcakes hostage?!?

It's not humane!

Cupcakes are for sharing.

Period.

Also, the blonde lady kept telling people they could buy the same supplies cheaper at Ikea.

Um?

We saw Jesse Venture (our former Governor - so weird and hard to imagine that it actually happened) signing his book.

Crepes - yummy!

Dinner at Ikea. I was so tired by this time. We ran into more rude people a Ikea, but that's to be expected at Ikea - they are always rude.

I LOVE the gravy on the mashed potatoes. It's vegetarian! We bought 12 packets.

Dad watching March Madness in our hotel room.

We stayed at the Residence Inn by Marriott.

It was super nice!

Mom in our room's kitchen. It was better stocked than a lot of houses that we have rented.

Yummy cheese and cocosballs that we bought at Ikea.

Those cocosballs are so good. They have a soft marshmallow cream inside them. I would make the trip to the Cities just for them.

There was a full complimentary breakfast every morning at our hotel.

It was wonderful! Lots of choices and the staff were friendly, cheerful and helpful.

The warm buffet choices: eggs 2 ways, pancakes, croissants, hash browns, fried potatoes and some other stuff.

Other side of the buffet. You could also make a fresh waffle or have 3 choices of cereal.

The next day we went to the Science Museum in St. Paul. We saw the Dead Sea Scrolls.........and everything else!

Pretty blue sculpture.

Mom and me with the Mississippi River behind us.

Dad and Mom.

Downtown St. Paul.

Riverboat.

Mississippi River.

I thought this fish in the Mississippi River display was neat.

It's made out of junk.

It was pretty.

Loon!

The Minnesota state bird.

I'm sitting in a red blood cell chair!

Slice of the human body. This person had lung disease and plaque in their aorta.

Side way - with a huge brain aneurysm.

Dad

Dad and Mom.

I thought this was pretty.

And this was pretty too!

It's plastic "junk" glued on a wall with 4 different colored bulbs in the ceiling above the wall.

You could change the color combinations and change the shadow colors and patterens.

Home again.

With a cupcake, it would have been a perfect vacation.

Just kidding! It was a great trip!

Cute Tansy

Tansy is getting bigger every day!

I love this first picture, because it shows off her cute little mohawk. :P

She likes to tug on the ribbon in my PJ pants.

This picture is a little hard to see, but she fell asleep upside down in the crook of my arm.
She really likes to have her ears rubbed.

Tansy's favorite spot - on my lap.

Can Jam March - Allium

The third Can Jam challenge of the year was allium.

I was happy, because I have lots of garlic left over from last year's garden .

I also had 2 Copra onions from last year's garden that I was saving for something special.

Something special like Onion Garlic Jam!

This is seriously good stuff.

When I'm cooking something and I really like it, this is what I say to myself, "Mmmm, oh yeah. This is some seriously good stuff. I'll just try a little more."

Onion Garlic Jam

4 cups cooked garlic/onion puree -For texture if desired, reserve 1 cup onions cooked, but unpureed
4 cups brown sugar

3 cups vinegar

2 Tbs salt

1 pkg no sugar needed pectin

Variety of home grown garlic.

Garlic bulbs ready for roasting in a 400F degree oven, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt.



My 2 normal large sized onions and a JUMBO onion from the grocery store.
It was huge!

Slicing up a Copra onion. It is amazing how well these onions store through the winter. This onion is over 6 months old.

More onion slicing.

Cooking the onion slices with a little butter and salt.

The salt breaks the cell walls in the onions and helps them release more water.

Less water = more onion flavored jam.

Roasted garlic ready for pureeing.

All the ingredients in the pot ready to be boiled up.

Bring everything to a boil and then add pectin.

Return to a boil and continue cooking for 1 min at a rolling boil that can't be stirred down.

I cooked mine for about 5 mins at a rolling boil, because I wanted a very firm jam.

Pectin added - reboiling.

Pour into sterilized jars and adjust 2 piece tops.

Process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 mins.

This post to me a ridiculously long time to write, because I have a new fur baby distraction.

Tansy!

I also worked 7 out of the last 8 days..........my one day off? I made jam! LOL

New Bunny!

Do you remember in Anne of Green Gables when Matthew Cuthburt goes to the General Store to buy Anne a dress with puffy sleeves?

He ends up buying a rake, 50 lbs of brown sugar, ect.

Well, today I went to the "General Store" looking for straw.

I thought the Ladies might like some straw to dig in. I gave them a couple bales last Spring, they had fun digging through them and then I composted the straw.

I didn't find any straw.

It couldn't hurt to take a peek at the baby chicks - right?

Awwwww - there was one baby bunny all alone.

It came right up to my hand and let me pet it.

Awwwww - it fit perfectly in my hand.

It was so cute!

No.

I bought some canning jars, a magazine, some more canning lids and went home.

.

.

.

Then three hours later I went back to the store and bought her!

I think she is a she, because she was in the bin marked female, but of course she might turn out to be a he.

Only time will tell.

Now I need to name her.

She was only sniffing.


Catty says, "Whaz that!"



"Lemme out! I chew you big fur ball!"

Update: She has a name! - Tansy Tweed.