Reflections on Blue

An early evening stroll down the Nicolet Mall, Downtown Minneapolis. Labor Day weekend, the Minnesota State Fair winds down. Kids are back in school. Summer is over, the mood is blue. Have a fun and safe Labor Day weekend.

For August 31 - At the Fair

This week's entry for the 3 Photos a Week Challenge are pictures from the Minnesota State Fair.

Nothing can be better than cookies from Sweet Martha's cookie Shop. You can almost feel the pounds adding up! ;-)

In the Horticulture building where home grown flowers, fruits and vegetables are judged in cometition. Always a joy to see what has been grown.

After all the fun, food, and festivities, take a ride on the Giant Slide! Woohoo, we're having fun now!

Tuggs Tavern

Tuggs Tavern on Main Street along the Mississippi Riverfront. A relaxing place to rest after a walk from the Mill City Park. mmmm, burgers and beer!

Oak Street Cinema

A throw back to the old days, the Oak Street Cinema is on the University of Minnesota campus. It is not one of those ginormus multiscreen multi-cineplex mega malls in the 'burbs. An ecclectic mix of films; classic films, foreign films, independant, musicals, and documentaries. Aven amatuer showings. Pass the popcorn, please.

Power Broom

A quick trip to the 'Bou for my morning coffee turned into a longer trip. While leaving the 'Bou's parking lot, I followed the street sweeper all the way to the main intersection at HWY 169. What a lucky driver, this street sweeper looks brand new. And our streets are clean.

Flour Power

My favorite part of town, the Mill city area.

The old Pillsbury mill is located across the Mississippi River from Mill City and General Mills Gold Medal mill. An icon of Minneapolis.

Same shot, except during the darkness of night. I like the red lettering without the steel girders.

Minneapolis Skyline

A view of the Minnesota State Fair and Minneapolis skyline from the Space Tower. 340 feet in the air, turning 360 degrees for a panaramic view of the Twin Cities. I sure wish they had more clean and less scratched plexiglass windows. They make for mediocre photos. But, I hope you enjoy the view! Can you find the Sweet Martha's Cookie building?

Where's Waldo?

Where are we? Today, we spent the day at the Minnesota State Fair. An annual event wrought with fun history, events, food, and crowds. Be prepared to be annoyed. The Minnesota State Fair is a two week fun filled fair, after which, summer is "unofficially" over.

I have no idea where we are when I tok this photo. Nor do I have any idea how to get out. HELP!! But I don't care. I have consumed Cheese Curds, an Italian eggroll, deep fried pickles, coffee, a pronto pup with extra mustard, and a raspberry malt. Mm-mmm, enough food to last a week.

Please pass the Alka-Seltzer, Oy!

Foggy Morning Commute

A foggy morning...in more ways than one. Not enough coffee this morning. I only stopped in for a medium cup. I should have orderd the large with a double shot espresso chaser.

The morning commute in the fog was rather peaceful and surreal. I often wonder wha it is about the fog that makes our surroundings so quiet and peaceful.

Poached Pears

Thanks for your kind comments, everyone. I really appriciate it. Here is the recipe for you Kate.
I shall give credit where it is due. The recipe is from Frances Mayes in her book 'Under the Tuscan sun' Broadway books, New York. There, that should settl eall the legalities.

Dolce

Winter Pears in Vino Nobile

Peel 6 firm pears (core the bottom with a melon ball tool, and slice so the pear stands upright-my addition).
Stand the pears in a saucepan leaving the stems on.
Squeeze fresh lemon juice over each .
Pour 1 cup of red wine over them
Sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar on the tops.
Add 1/4 cup currents,
vanilla bean,
and a few cloves to the wine.

Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. (Or longer - depending on the ripeness of the pears). Do not let them become too soft.

Midway, tuen pears on their sides and baste several times with wine sauce.

Transfer to shallow serving dish. (All I could find were our ramakins).
Pour wine ssauce over pears. and garnish with lemon peel. (Shoot, I forgot that part).

Another variation to the same:
3tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup water
1-1/4 cup red wine
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extrac
10 peppercorns

Prepare pears the same and cook and serve the same.

Both ways were fabulous, I can attest to that. : )

Beaujolais Poached Pears

Questo dessert è molto dolce!

(This dessert is very sweet)

Last Christmas, I recieved the book 'Under the Tuscan Sun', by Frances Mayes. Yes, it does take me a while to read a book. I spend more time with my camera and uploading than reading these days.

Anyhow, the book is a wonderful - magical read. In the book are a number of great recipes I am anxious to try out. Poached pears was one such recipe that we enjoyed. It involved pears, (of course) and wine, I chose Louis Jadot Beaujolais. What could be better?! Look out Emeril, Lidia Bastianich, Giada De Laurentiis, and and Mario Batali, I'm in the kitchen! I apologize for these indoor food shots, I've been stuck indoors these past few days.

8/22/07 - Stuck Inside

Inside looking out. 6:30PM, and I'm still at work despite the lovely day outside. From this vantange point, I can watch the progress on the new building in the development in the background. Also, that is Rapala headquarters across the street. I may have to walk over there one lunch hour and see if they have any free lures. They just may want to give some away, don't you think?

8/21/07 - Red-Green

A great PBS show, eh Harold?! Today was a 15 hour work day to meet a deadline; which is noon tomorrow. Ah well.

Earlier this morning, we were playing around with our new LED light source from Color Kinetics that will illuminate our Big Ass Fan. It has a DMX controller...that means the colors will change per the program run in a myriad of patterns; red, orange, yellow, fuschia, green, blue, indigo, purple, cyan...I believe thate are at least 12 different colors.

8/20/07 - What's for Lunch?

Silly question, we're having Crab, Pork, Shrimp Pho Soup at Cam Ranh Bay restaurant in Eden Prairie! Co-worker JB declaired it to be a soup day due to the fact that the waether was drizzling, and chilly. A perfect day for Pho Soup. He was right. This soup is outstanding. Actually, all the lunch meals we have had here are very good; great Vietnamese cuisine, rivaling Vina in Richfield. If you are in the area, stop by Cam Ranh bay, it is across the street from 2 of our other lunch stops, Punch Pizza and Little Sushi.

August 19th - Almost harvest Time

While at a family BBQ, we braved the rain to admire my brother-in-law's large backyard squash garden. the squash took over his entire garden, choking out the tomatos. I can hardly wait to help harvest the squash this autum.

8/18/07 - H3 at the Round Table

Our little hummingbird, H3, chased ruby throated hummer, H2 away from the round table. She seemed content to set table and enjoy the cool of the gentle rain.

8/17/07 - Espresso Shop

This morning I changed it up from the 'Bou and stopped in at my favorite coffee shop, Dunn Brothers. A little out of my way, but so worth the extra time. Better coffee, less crowded, (no teenagers), fabulous scones, biscotti, and friendly service!

Not that the 'Bou doesn't have friendly service. The 'Bou is quite friendly as well. But here at Dunn Brothers, there is that no nonesense knick knack counter clutter; no 'Boubalm, no reindeer trinketry. Yes, sadly, they too have a Drive Thru. but it seems in this day and age, the Drive Thru is a necessity for suburban commerce.

This is almost like being back in one of Rome's finest corner coffee shops. Almost, but not quite. Stop in, see you at Dunn's!

August 17th

Spanning HWy 169, on our route to Caribou coffee, Buffalo Wild Wings, and The movie theater.

An evening at BWW, hot buffalo wings and ice cold refreshing adult beverages. The perfect finger food. Beer was refreshing.

The Mann Champlin 14 theater, 14 screens of cinema pleasure. We went to see the movie Ratatouille. A fun movie! Which we thoroughly enjoyed and recommend for kids of all ages, (even if you're post 40 like me).

8/16/07 - Mini Golf

Welcome to my mini-golf course! Excel Energy is upgrading our neighborhood underground electrical feeder line. A feeder line that was under designed for the neighborhood. We all hope this will put an end to our power outages.

8/15/07- Look out, I'm Late!

7:15 AM, typical morning commute, late as usual. Fortunately, the traffic is unusually light this morning heading south. I guess I shouldn't have stopped in at the 'Bou for a cappuccino and scone for breakfast. Dang cell rang, I dropped my scone on the floor, there goes breakfast. Yep, a typical start to the work day. Tomorrow, I'll change it up with an espresso and try and drop a lemon poppy-seed muffin on the floor.