Adios Minnesota!

On our last day in Minneapolis, I tried to do a repeat of the awesome breakfast at Al's Diner. Alas, the line was too long and we didn't have that much time before showing up for work. So we walked around the neighborhood and found Tony's Diner.

I went with a potato hash, toast, and a veggie omelette topped with american shredded cheese.

It wasn't the same as eating at Al's, but it hit the spot for the morning.
Work was smooth and we were out early enough that we attempted to look and see if there was any possibility to check out the lgbt night life in Minneapolis, a city that is supposed to be super gay friendly. Everything looked like it would start after 10pm and both of us were ready to be asleep early, what with the flying out of the city mad early in the morning. We fell into my old fave: enter Taste of Thailand.

We each had us some singh thai beer and veggie spring rolls.

I went with my tried and true choice: tofu pad thai.

I was not impressed with the sauce flavor, but the tofu was good and firm, well scalded, so not all was lost. A good way to end the visit, only sad I didn't get to see Dawn again.

In English my name means Hope

Our second day in Minneapolis was smooth workwise - work went by quickly and we were stuck with an extra short lunch hour, and so we just crossed the street to make a quick stop by Peter's Grill. I went for simple and had a grilled cheese sandwich with vegetable soup.

I can't say that this simple choice led me to understand why Peter's Grill was so crowded, or highly rated on yelp and what not.

For dinner I was on my own, since Bea needed a break, and I needed to mellow out. After my different choices I went with the hotel's restaurant and seriously, who remembers the name of hotel restaurants? I do, however, have pictures of the meal: an organic turkey meatloaf, wrapped in bacon with mashed potatoes.

Not impressed. The sauce had mushrooms and a nice thick gravy flavor, but that was it. I needed to take away the taste with some pecan pie a la mode.

Much more impressed with this, but it wasn't the best thing ever, either.

Soon after, Bea and I met up to drive a little ways to go see a play made out of "The House of Mango Street," which I found out was happening through my Carino, who loves the collection of short stories.

Since it's been a while since I read the book, the play was fresh and exciting. I think they did an okay job of adapting the stories and the actors were pretty nice, especially older Esperanza. I think, though, that the source material is better as short stories than as a play.

Peaches!

So, in Minnesotta again, this time a full stay in Minneapolis. Traveling with Beatriz this time, who was kind enough to take over the car and entertain herself while I hung out with my favorite Minnesottan, Dawnie!

It was one of those great times when you get so excited you forget to take pictures. Dawn picked me up at my hotel and then indulged me when I said I wanted to try out something new: Buffalo Wild Wings. Forgive me for not having any photographic proof. The wings were interesting, the sauce more so, the company was excellent. Found out that Dawnie is waiting for another little being to enter the world, so we indulged in some delicious water.

After, we drove down to see her place and say hi to the two men in her life: Jeremy and Ethan. I'm really sad I didn't get to take a picture with Little E, who is a total sweetheart and all kinds of handsome. I got a tour of their home, and it's beautiful and comfortable. Made me remember how Dawn and I would fantasize, while folding letters at the Boy Scouts Office, of having an apartment together in New York City where Dawn would get to decorate, and I'd get a little corner for my comic books and things. Story of my life: surrounded by all these awesome women that don't appreciate the beauty of a comic book poster decorating the hallway. In any case time went by really quickly and before I knew it, Dawn was dropping me off at my hotel. I can't believe that it's been 12 years since we met - so much has happened in our lives since! I do love that seeing her is like time hasn't gone by.

So, today Beatriz and I actually have to head to work. The morning started a little rocky since we had the recording address wrong, but once we made it there, it was all pretty smooth. For our lunch we weren't so sure about what to eat, where to go, so we just walked around the downtown district, where I got to see this:

It was a shock at first, but funny. The downtown district was full of food trucks, but we didn't see one we were attracted to. Finally we found Bombay Bistro, which had a nice lunch buffet going.

I had two delish servings of naan, lovely basmati rice, eggplant. It was a happy, good choice for lunch. On the way back to the recording spot, I saw this:

Made me wish I read music notes so I could see what song was it.

For dinner, after much searching of the online world, we headed to Bryant Lake Bowl. We shared an order of giant tater tots.

They weren't pretty good. They were just too big to remain with flavor, you know? The sauce, which was mayo based, was tasty and creamy. For my entree I tried a Silver Ranch Bison Philly. Which is a shaved top round, peppers, onions, and swiss with garlic roasted aioli philly sandwich.

Although I was proud of me for trying out something new, I didn't feel like the whole thing paid off - I ate about half, since I didn't really enjoy the taste of bison. We stopped by the bowling alley part of the restaurant, and we were impressed with the fact that you can keep score manually. It was pretty cool.

Since all the lanes were taken we stopped instead by the arcade next door. Played some games.

All in all, not a bad beginning to a short visit.