September leaves

September Skies

Cabin sunset

Lake Sanborn

 

Blustery days mean foam on the rocks!

September at the cabin

Surprisingly, the only changing leaves were on the sumac!

Look at that magnificent rock job!

My favorite spot.

The view from the hammock

Twin Cities Eats: Craftsman

Birthdays call for cheese plates!  Look at this beauty.  So tasty. 

We ended up eating on the patio of Craftsman, a great call.  Swathed in greenery and well-insulated from the street noises and smells, it was a lovely spot to enjoy cheese and and a glass of wine.  We also ordered their charcuterie plate, which was a quite adventurous choice, though we didn't know it at the time (kidneys, pate, head cheese and more of the same).  We gave it the old college try, but it was a little past our palettes - or maybe the cheese just tasted so amazing to us that we wanted more of that instead. 

Stillwater Antique Shopping

A long tough day of antiquing means lots of wandering and spying to the backs of cluttered shelves, looking to find the next find, and usually drooling over things I have no space, use, or money for...it's the best.  

I ended up with:

--two volumes by James Whitcomb Riley, a cousin from my grandmother's side of the family

--an awesome set of eight green/orange/red flowered glasses in a wire rack

--two sets of four tiki drinking glasses with patterned wood on the outside

--an ah-mazing revolutionary dude with a tri-corner hat mug; he is absolutely going to be for making Boston punches once he's out at my place

I have been really bad at taking photos of my finds since I've gotten home - things tend to get packed and stay packed.  But just you wait, internet.  My bar is going to shock and amaze once it's finally set up. 

An important component of antique shopping: refueling!  We ended up stopping at Smalley's Caribbean BBQ for lunch, and things were tasty but sadly lacking in fried plantains.

Twin Cities Eats: Northgate Brewery, Wander North Distillery, and Brooks High Beer Battered Food Truck

The strange neighborhood of Minneapolis known as the quarry houses mostly industrial buildings, with a smattering of other companies, including breweries!  Especially after hearing the combination food truck + brewery, we knew we had to check it out. 

We ended up starting our evening with cocktails from Wander North, a place we didn't even know was there.  And what a great place to stumble upon, delicious simple cocktails that showcased their vodka and gin.  Although, I saw the flavors in the gin and told the bartender I was now craving an Army Navy and he looked at me like I was a weirdo.  I brought up the recipe on my phone and he said, "Wait, you made it up?" and I started to be reminded that I'm not at Green Street or Drink or Ames Street.  Definitely a Minnesota lesson: just order a gin and tonic and shut up and enjoy it. 

Next, we got food from Brooks Beer Battered Food Truck - on the whole, it was delicious.  Great walleye, tasty slaw, and those cheese curds, nom.  The wild rice was really undercooked, but the flavors were good.

Even better, we enjoyed our food in Northgate Brewery with a beer, and the kind of trivia that made me feel like an idiot.  Things that we could not do: identify any of the internet meme cats (except Grumpy Cat).  Oof. 

Boston apartment vignettes

Yep.  Homesick.