A walk

Gopher Hockey!

Time for some hockey! 

Family photo!

Land sakes, my dad is really into that bad call.

The puppies at play!

So cute I can hardly stand it! 

Those smiles! 

Part two: shenanigans!

Twin Cities Eats: Izzy's Ice Cream

Izzy's Ice Cream is a local establishment on the corner of Marshall and Cleveland in St. Paul...and they were doing artisan ice cream before it was cool.**

They make their own sugar and waffle cones.  (of course they do)

See the little extra sphere of ice cream on top?  That, my friend, is the Izzy Scoop.  A key ingredient in their success, the Izzy lets you mix and match even if you only want a single scoop.

To further their mission to win at ice cream, they also add a malted milk ball to the bottom of the cone, since the homemade cones drip a bit more than the commercially-made ones. 

**It's funny, I just found out looking up their website that they started in 2000, and I could have sworn they've been there forever, but apparently my freshman year of high school is about it. 

Twin Cities Eats: Grand Szechuan

To me, the best Chinese places are in Chinatown and in strip malls.  In some strange way, it's an immutable law of nature. 

Tea House is certainly a favorite, but given how hungry I was at noon after waking up at 3:30 am and spending two hours in O'Hare, the proximity of Grand Szechuan in Bloomington and the most wonderful spicy dish---one of Eric's top five favorites in the Twin Cities---won out.

Pardon the horrendous quality of the photo, they're right on point in the general stereotype of a strip mall location in the suburbs in their incredibly poor lighting.  They also have dark red leather booths, and a fish tank.  One cannot be an authentic Chinese restaurant in this part of town without them. 

But, what matters is not that the fried rice is scooped onto your plate using an ice cream scoop, or that they serve the same bright orange sauce on the side as First Wok, the Chinese place of choice for every IWU student.  What matters is how it tastes.  And this?  This was a great meal.  

Home, just for a bit

And what would a visit home be without dog pictures?  It just wouldn't. 

Cambridge History: Kennedy Biscuit Lofts

Just down the street from graduate housing is the Kennedy Biscuit Lofts, the former home of the Fig Newton cookie.  I'd always walked past thinking, "Wow, I bet it would be lovely to live there!"

And wouldn't you know, one of the fine Articles Club ladies lives there, so I had the chance to see an apartment one fine Sunday afternoon.  Light and airy, the space was about as different from my apartment as one could imagine.   And quite simply the perfect place for brunch with the girls. 

Australian Wine Tasting

Ben held another one of his famous wine tasting events this month, and as always there was delicious food, wonderful conversation, and amazing wine.  I reprised my role as pourer extraordinaire, and tried valiantly not to eat all the things. 

One of my favorite moments was at the end of the tasting when we found out that the favorite shiraz of the crowd was in fact Yellowtail! 

"Yellowtail is incredibly infamous....for it's ability to do quite well in blind tastings."

Pink Cotton Candy Clouds

Niles Lab: "three down, four to go"

With that, the resident joker of the lab has finally become a doctor!