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... on two different ends of St. Paul. I am learning more about the Twin Cities as a whole, instead of sticking to my side of the river! Growth! (Beleagured sigh). One nephew is in a youth hockey final at the Charles Schultz Area (gotta use my OG icon) at noontime; then another nephew is in middle school finals at a Catholic church technically in St. Paul but near Roseville. Don't worry: I'm already planning to scope out the fish fry situation.
My dad and I went to fish fry at a golf course in River Falls on Friday. My aunt, 70 years old as of December, works there as a prep cook. She's my mom's sister. Growing up she asked we call her Crazy Aunt Shirley. She was "institutionalized" for a time in her teens; I imagine she has a combination of bipolar depression and good ol' PTSD, just like my mom. I imagine it was hard living growing up with a WWII vet who survived his ship going down in the Pacific and who was a raging drunk for the entirety of their youth (and, frankly, most of their adult lives). Anyway, Aunt Shirley made the creamy cucumbers that my Grandma Winnie used to make every summer. It was something else seeing a big bowl of those sitting adjacent to the salad bar. Ran into my cousin Cathy while there. That's the joy and pain of moving back to this area; the anonymity of Chicago has seeped away.
It was a very solid week, culinarily speaking. On Wednesday, Mel, Joe, Johan, and I went to El Sazon for Winter Restaurant Week eats. I had a birria croquette (technically there was no consomme, but I don't want to be a pedantic dick to the fine people of El Sazon, who made a very nice shredded beef croquette) to start, then lovely salmon with a nice spice crust with some beurre blanc and delicious rice slurry and finished with churros and cajeta (I learned this is a TYPE of dulce, so it was okay to keep calling it dulce). Nice lead up to fish fry, which were all the flavors of my youth: starch, underseasoned vegetables and potatoes, and tartar sauce. You know, white food for white people.
On Thursday Mel and Amanda and I went to Boom Island Brewery to play trivia with a bunch of cutthroats. After round 1, I was confident we'd be in the top 3, as we'd only gotten 2 wrong... only to discover three teams tied for first with perfect scores. Damn. Trivia is always fun, and it was made more fun by a Girl Scout cookie pop-up. Got some Caramel Delites, had them with my bespoke root beer. Was very angry I could not think of GO WEST (THEY SANG KING OF WISHFUL THINKING GODDAMN IT I KNEW THAT).
Yesterday Amy G and I went to Origin. It's astonishing. The movie has such a unique look that I can't wait to find an article about how Ava Duvernay shot it. I've never seen a movie that, at times, felt like a sweater but was also about the crushing history of humans finding ways to subjugate one another. I think I have to make an effort to see Poor Things before I can be declarative but Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor delivers one heck of a performance, perhaps The performance of the year. Amy G has read the book, of course. I will put my hands on it at some point and try my best.
My dad and I went to fish fry at a golf course in River Falls on Friday. My aunt, 70 years old as of December, works there as a prep cook. She's my mom's sister. Growing up she asked we call her Crazy Aunt Shirley. She was "institutionalized" for a time in her teens; I imagine she has a combination of bipolar depression and good ol' PTSD, just like my mom. I imagine it was hard living growing up with a WWII vet who survived his ship going down in the Pacific and who was a raging drunk for the entirety of their youth (and, frankly, most of their adult lives). Anyway, Aunt Shirley made the creamy cucumbers that my Grandma Winnie used to make every summer. It was something else seeing a big bowl of those sitting adjacent to the salad bar. Ran into my cousin Cathy while there. That's the joy and pain of moving back to this area; the anonymity of Chicago has seeped away.
It was a very solid week, culinarily speaking. On Wednesday, Mel, Joe, Johan, and I went to El Sazon for Winter Restaurant Week eats. I had a birria croquette (technically there was no consomme, but I don't want to be a pedantic dick to the fine people of El Sazon, who made a very nice shredded beef croquette) to start, then lovely salmon with a nice spice crust with some beurre blanc and delicious rice slurry and finished with churros and cajeta (I learned this is a TYPE of dulce, so it was okay to keep calling it dulce). Nice lead up to fish fry, which were all the flavors of my youth: starch, underseasoned vegetables and potatoes, and tartar sauce. You know, white food for white people.
On Thursday Mel and Amanda and I went to Boom Island Brewery to play trivia with a bunch of cutthroats. After round 1, I was confident we'd be in the top 3, as we'd only gotten 2 wrong... only to discover three teams tied for first with perfect scores. Damn. Trivia is always fun, and it was made more fun by a Girl Scout cookie pop-up. Got some Caramel Delites, had them with my bespoke root beer. Was very angry I could not think of GO WEST (THEY SANG KING OF WISHFUL THINKING GODDAMN IT I KNEW THAT).
Yesterday Amy G and I went to Origin. It's astonishing. The movie has such a unique look that I can't wait to find an article about how Ava Duvernay shot it. I've never seen a movie that, at times, felt like a sweater but was also about the crushing history of humans finding ways to subjugate one another. I think I have to make an effort to see Poor Things before I can be declarative but Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor delivers one heck of a performance, perhaps The performance of the year. Amy G has read the book, of course. I will put my hands on it at some point and try my best.