BFapolis

I spent Memorial Day weekend visiting Becca and Jim in Minneapolis (or, as we refer to it, BFapolis).  Jon and Val were going out for a volleyball tournament, and I tagged along for the pre-volleyball festivities. As usual, it was big fun, with an emphasis on eating. Jim is a serious foodie who writes for Chow and recently launched The Heavy Table earlier this year, so we always get treated to the best of whatever eats he and Becca have discovered.

Jim, Becca, Jon, and Val above the Mississippi.

This year led off with Jim grilling out asparagus and curry brats from Kramarczuk’s, which I had been salivating for since I booked plane tickets months ago. Also thrown in were some cherry bombs (brats with dried cherries and cayenne pepper); the sweet/hot combo gave the curry brats a serious run for their money.

Day 2’s brunch saw my only real gastronomic faux pas of the trip; I opted for the “Farmer’s Breakfast” which consisted of a pile of eggs covered with some grilled onions covered with a pile of hash browns covered with some cheese. It was a big starchy cholesterol-laden flavorless mound of ugh; I still dunno what I was thinking. We worked brunch off with a quick walk across the Mississippi River and then some wandering around historic Fort Snelling (Photo)

That's right, I suck.

Any health benefits were then immediately erased by a quick stop at Fat Lorenzo’s for some amazing chocolate gelato. After a round of naps, we took advantage of the great weather to sit on the roof patio at Moto-i and have sake, beer, and tasty Japanese pub food. Everything was good, but the pork buns, rangoons, and green curry chicken dumplings were the stand-out dishes. I could have kept ordering pork bun after pork bun, but instead it was off to Sebastian Joe’s for milkshakes. Jim was going to throw half of his shake away, so I stepped in and did the right thing.

Ah, There's the cheese!

The centerpiece of day 3 was the Red Sox/Twins game, but first we hit the Nook for Jucy Lucys. The ‘in-progress’ photo is blurry, but you can still make out the cheese cavern in the middle of the burger. Good stuff, and the fries were awesome too. Thus fortified, it was off to the Metrodome to cheer on the Sox. (Photo)

A brief baseball aside: I moved out to Boston before Denver got a MLB team, so almost all of my baseball attendance has been at Fenway Park. I didn’t realize what a rare experience a Sox home game still is until I went to games elsewhere, first to see the Mariners last summer in Seattle, and now the Twins. Fenway fans, the pink-hat brigade notwithstanding, know how to root for the home team; they don’t need to be told that “it’s rally time”, they don’t need to be pumped up in between pitches, and they know that it’s okay to keep making noise while the game is being played. It’s jarring to hear the crowd in these other parks get completely quiet at key points in the game as soon as the PA system stops urging them on.

Shhh, it's rally time!

The Metrodome does have one substantial advantage over Fenway, however. When you buy two bottled microbrews at the good beer cart, the guy asks you if you want them in two cups or “one big cup.” Really? You can put both beers in one giant cup and we can stop pretending that I’m buying the second for someone else? I don’t have to find a safe place to hide my second beer that isn’t going to get kicked over or collect mustard packets or peanut shells? Really? How is it that we don’t have this “giant cup” technology in Boston yet? Next to the Sox 6-5 victory, this was the best part of the game, completely overcoming even the eerily silent “rally time”.

How is this possible?!

After the game, we went back to Becca and Jim’s and made jam: Rhubarb-Fig. Rhufig (have you been Rhufig’d? Know the signs!), is described as containing “nuggets of pure sweetness“, which we decided would be a great name for an album; band name still to be determined. The jam itself was not that impressive when warm, but tarted up nicely and got delicious after about 12 hours. While waiting for the last couple of jars to seal, it was back to Fat Lorenzo’s for a full meal (pepperoni pizza and a garlic chicken hoagie, enough for 5) and more chocolate gelato. (Photo) At this point, we didn’t know that the Rhufig was going to turn out so delicious, so there was a trip to the grocery store to get fruit for a second jam: blackberry-ginger. (Photo)

Don't call me 'frumpy'...

Day 4 started with the reinstatement of Biscuit Tuesday so that there would be a delivery vehicle for the jam. Mmm, biscuits. Both jams were excellent, but the rhufig emerged as the surprise winner. Jim needed to get some writing done, so the rest of us headed into downtown Minneapolis to wander around a bit. We checked out the Guthrie Theater, which has some good views of the city, the Mississippi, and the remains of the Mill City Museum, which was our next stop. The most interesting bit for me about the mill history was the homeless/squatter period from the last 1960s until the mill burned down in 1991. This is not featured prominently on the museum’s website, nor is it trivially google-able, but the museum had a good exhibit of photos and interesting captions from a former homeless resident of the mill (Photo). We also shot some potential cover art for the “Nuggets of Pure Sweetness” album. (Photo)

Album Cover Art

A late lunch on Day 4 was Vietnamese at Pho Tau Bay, followed by another jam course, this one including cheese from the Faribault cheese caves. Towards the tail end of this, I did my best bull-in-a-china-shop impression and managed to break one of the glass panes in Becca and Jim’s built-in bar; fortunately it was an easy replacement, so I might actually get invited back. This killed a bunch of the time while Jon and Val were dealing with pre-volleyball activities, and then it was off to Black Sheep for some tasty pizza; we completely destroyed our first three pies and were “forced” to order a fourth. Then we finally made it to Nye’s for a round of gimlets.

Day 5 was short since I was flying back and Jon and Val were off playing volleyball. We went to the main Bachman’s for breakfast; this is a home-and-garden store with an authentic French bakery in it…odd, but delicious. Becca bought an asparagus plant for their garden. Lunch was tacos al pastor at Taqueria La Hacienda; grilled pork with onions, cilantro, and lime. I think I ate five. Then it was off to the airport and the flight back to Boston, fat and happy.