Weekend Get-Away - Mpls/St. Paul

Currently the Hubby's in the Twin Cities training for three weeks (one week down, two to go) and he discovered he had a free weekend. A phone call later, I found myself leaving work early on Friday, dropping the Hounds off at Pookie Prison (in their minds) and heading south for a weekend getaway.

Because of the time I rolled in, we stayed close to the hotel for dinner, frequenting an old favorite - Davanni's - for dinner. Whole wheat garlic cheese bread and a traditional crusted pizza topped with pepperoni, green pepper, mushrooms and pineapple. Nothing too notable there.

For the first time in what seemed like a month, Saturday was clear, sunny, and without rain. We took advantage of this beautiful fall day and started out on Grand Ave in St. Paul. We scored a free parking spot at Victoria Crossing and walked down to Penzey's where I picked up a package of Cassia Cinnamon, Ground Allspice, and Sweet Curry Powder. Lunch was at the Wild Onion - pulled pork sandwich with fries for me, southwestern chicken sandwich with fruit for him. Afterward we made our way to Northern Brewer where he picked up some homebrew supplies.

Como Conservatory was on our loose agenda, but first we stopped at Izzy's on Marshall. The Hubby's seen the Bobby Flay episode of Throwdown at Izzy's (Izzy's won), but he's never been there. We shared a a scoop of cranberry cheesecake in a waffle cone with a chocolate almond soy "Izzy" on top. Yum!

Our timing was off to tour the somewhat recently renovated (in the last 4 years) conservatory, as they were closing at 3:00p for Zoo Boo. We were there at 2:50p. Disappointing, but we took advantage of the day and walked around Como Lake instead. Afterwards, feeling a bit tired, we found refreshment at a neat little coffee shop right off of Como called the Java Train.










We aren't fancy drink people - I had an ice tea and he had a root beer and we shared a apple scone. Afterwards, we took a drive along the Mississippi from Marshall St up to the U of MN, and back down on the Mpls side. Beautiful drive. Since we were in the my sister's neighborhood, we popped in to say hi and to see how big the nephew has gotten since I saw him in Sept.

The Hubby picked out a local brewpub for dinner: Herkimer Pub and Brewery, Lyndale Ave, Mpls. We shared a "Sky Pilot Kellerbier" and a sampler platter: crabcakes, sweet potato fries, chicken quesadillas, and buffalo wings. The beer and food were good, the ambiance amiable (modern meets working class), the waitress...umm...well, I've had warmer receptions from a vending machine. Barely perfunctory.

We concluded our evening somewhere on Bryant between 35th and 36th street at Gigi's, where we shared a very bright key lime torte and a couple of fresh fruit, hand made, spritzers. This was a neat little restaurant/cafe, made all the more delightful by being able to sit outside after a absolutely fantastic fall day.


Sunday found us with a little bit of time before I needed to depart so we popped up to Minnehaha Parkway (not the falls) and took a walk along an absolutely love stretch of the creek. Huge cottonwoods, silver maples and oaks lined the creek, all decked out in their fall colors, with the gorgeous large homes as a backdrop. Sadly, by mid afternoon I was on my way North again to retrieve the pups from their "vacation" and to run a few mundane errands before the new week started.