Saturday, March 27, 2010

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!






3 comments:

  1. loks awesome!!! W-S is snobby. i've always got that vibe from them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Catalina-

    My name is Emily Watson, and I work for Think Up Consulting. We are working on a project with Residence Inn by Marriott hotels, and I think you might be able to help us.

    I saw on your blog the recent post that discussed your positive experience at a Residence Inn. Our project will feature stories from real Residence Inn guests talking about specific features of the hotel. And guests like you are just what we are looking for.

    I would love to talk to you and tell you a little bit more about the specifics of the project.

    Feel free to e-mail me at

    emily@thinkupconsulting.com

    And we can discuss the project details.

    I look forward to speaking with you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. HI there, I am not sure where in MN you live, I suspect up north somewhere, (so do I) I came across your blog from your post on GardenWeb Cottage Gardening. Anyway, I just wanted to comment Your garden looks great!
    But, I think I know, or have at least met your parents! They look soo familier and I can't place them, it's driving me nuts!

    ReplyDelete