This picture was taken at Hen House Eatery a few blocks from where I work in downtown Minneapolis. This is where we ate breakfast after our first night ever sleeping without Essie. Mykala booked a comfy room at the Marriott Renaissance at the Milwaukee Road Depot and the night before, we marveled at how little we had to pack while we slowly walked the Stone Arch Bridge. Since there were no tiny voices in the night and we didn’t need to worry about our little Ess, we both expected to sleep straight through and longer than normal, but both our brains were on overdrive thinking and wondering about our baby daughter, and we slept in fits and starts. But, it was nice to watch cable TV, take a good shower, and then pick up Ess. Plus, a little time alone was really good for our relationship, and marked a turning point where we were finally able to overcome the crazy schedule and lack of sleep and look one another in the eyes again and say nice things. I love my wife, and a mini vacation (I think Mykala called it a staycation.)
Just ate at Wok in the Park in St. Louis Park. Wow! Not only was just about everything on the menu vegan-friendly by request, but they had two flavors of vegan cheesecake. One of them we actually thought they’d made a mistake and told us it was vegan. Nope: the head chef stopped by and explained to us how he made it without any dairy or animal products. Yum.
Today, we ate donuts at a new place named The Donut Cooperative. I wish I had a picture of the fresh powdered cinnamon vegan donuts we devoured. Whenever these new restaurants open, Mykala and I joke that our visiting them condemns them to a horrible future of insolvency and closure. Thus far, I think we’re responsible for the closure of two bakeries and an Italian ice shop (shoppe).
This is us during our 2-day-prior to our 2-year-anniversary celebratory dinner out. It was an absolute blast. We savored and shared our way through a delicious 4 course vegetarian flavor fest at a tremendous Minneapolis restaurant called Restaurant Alma.
Anthony Bourdain’s show on the Travel Channel continues to amaze me with its fantastic writing (does he do the writing for his voiceovers? I think he does…) and exotic locales. In the Spain episode, Bourdain visits his close friends, the father and daughter team who run the world class restaurant Arzak. A good quote from the father:
