Open Streets Minneapolis in Longfellow

My street got some major love today in the form of Open Streets.  The whole stretch (about 2.5 miles) was closed to motorized traffic and filled with people on foot, bikes, skateboards, blades and probably a few other modes of travel as well.  There were tons of things to enjoy along the way, but the novelty of having the street free of cars was the major selling point.

We invited friends Arturo and Sam and their daughter Penelope to join us for a day of exploring and playing.  Tchazo got to come along, too!

Dunk tank!

Dancing in the street! Penelope and her dad above and with her mom below.  Tap dancing was a big hit!

A very kind person in the insurance booth offered Tchazo a bit of refreshment.  Bottled water out of a cup...he better not get too used to that.

Sam and I got chair massages!

It was the first time I have ever had a massage to live music.  It was a great experience and reminded me that I should really schedule a massage at their studio sometime soon.

When we got too hungry and hot to keep going, we headed to our back deck for lunch.  Paul made us some delicious pizzas.

We had salad with a lot of ingredients from our garden, too!

Penelope was quite taken with Paul's pizza cutting show.

 After a little dessert and post-lunch hula hooping, we said goodbye to Arturo, Sam and Penelope.  Since there was still a lot more to see, Paul and I hopped on our bikes to make the full loop of the event.

Paul wore the Beez Kneez bike helmet so I could get a photo for the photo bingo contest (fingers crossed...I want to win the raffle!).  Ella from E's Emporium is the waiving in the picture.  Her shop is awesome!

We made a stop at the Harriet Brewing Taproom for a drink and a bit of relaxing in the shade.  Paul enjoyed a beer while I ate my scoop of custard from Mosaic Cafe.

And then, before we knew it, the cops were making the sweep down the street, reclaiming it for the cars.  I hope this event returns next year.  It was awesome to stroll the neighborhood, bump into friends and celebrate our local businesses. Hooray for Longfellow!

Twin Cities PopUp Dinner

This weekend's PopUp Dinner was modeled after the Le Diner en Blanc, which originated in France 25 years ago.  The original event was planned by Francois Pasquier for a handful of friends.  The idea is that a group of people dressed in white (originally this concept was employed to make it easier to spot each other on location) set up a fancy, elaborate picnic in a public location and enjoy an evening together.  A handful of hours later, the party disappears, leaving no trace of the festivities.  

There are many variations on the concept happening all over the world now.  This year, my mom and I decided to host a table.  Event organizers kept the location secret until a few hours beforehand so we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at our PopUp Dinner location: Boom Island Park.  What a view!  That is the Minneapolis skyline in the back.  Just past the tables is a riverwalk and then the Mississippi River.

My mom arrived first to start the set up. Part of what makes this evening "chic" is the table decorations.  This was definitely my mom's area to shine!  No paper plates or solo cups were to be found on site!  It was not that sort of picnic.  Not at all.

When I originally heard about the event, I thought it sounded wonderful, but I have no desire to decorate a table so I didn't think I'd go.  I passed on the information to mom since I know she loves arranging table presentations.  I thought she might like to attend.  We quickly realized we were the perfect pair for an event like this: she spearheaded the table and I organized the food!

We sent out the invitation to some friends and overnight had filled our table of 8!

I am grateful to count these fun and adventurous women as a part of my circle!

The weather was absolutely perfect and contributed to the overall magic of the evening.

Before long, there were 500 people at the park, all wearing white and smiles on their faces!

We scoped out other people's tables and this one, which happened to be right next to us, wins the creepiest centerpiece award...hands down.

With a collective swirl of the white napkin, the dining commenced.

Part of the fun of the event was seeing what other people had prepared for food.  A diner from a nearby table came by to make use of our salt and pepper.  We traded him salt and pepper for a photo :)

We had a feast at our table!  It was a collective effort, with everyone contributing something to the table.

The instructions for the evening said to prepare 3 courses: appetizer, entree and dessert.  Here is a shot of my entree plate.

Our full table of fabulous outdoor diners (clockwise from the left): Jessica, Me, Deb, Kathy, Dallas, Missy, Charleen and Jamie.

Some of the women at our table were strangers at the start of the evening, but that didn't stop us from sharing some (dignified) shenanigans.

As the sun went down, the music shifted from a live jazz/lounge band to a DJ, the tables shifted from sunlit to candlelit and the mood went from dinner party to dance party.

As the evening drew to a close, a few lanterns were sent off into the night and then everyone packed up.  I overheard many comments about plans for next year, so I am pretty certain everyone else had as wonderful and memorable of an evening as our table did.  Cheers!

The Annual Reward: Blueberry Edition

The abundance of fruit that comes along with summer makes me so happy.  With each crop that comes in, I indulge as thoroughly as possible.  If I can pick it myself, that makes it even better!  I was sad that it was looking like I was going to miss the blueberry crop this year.  The farms that I knew about were having so many pickers come during the week that they were closed on the weekend so the berries could ripen.  I was determined to pick blueberries, so I scoured the internet looking for other options.  That was how I found Silkey Gardens.  I am so glad I did!

I put a last minute call out for a blueberry picking companion that was willing to get up and out the door before 7am on a Saturday and Tessa answered the call!  We could not have asked for more perfect picking conditions.  The weather has been unseasonably cool and the morning we went, it was sunny but still chilly enough for hoodies and tennis shoes.  Probably because of the chilly temperature, there were absolutely no bugs bothering us.  The farm was only open for 3 hours and we were there for 2-1/2 of them and I could have stayed for so much longer!

I stuck to the blueberry patch, filled with blueberry bushes some of which were 60 years old.  I got over 10 pounds of berries which wasn't too hard because the picking was super easy.  Tessa divided her time between blueberries and raspberries and got a nice haul of each. We also made a stop in Northfield to visit the farmers market, coffee shop and a yarn store.  All in all, we had a pretty fantastic last minute day trip and ended up with plenty of berries to keep us busy for a large part of the weekend.

With my haul, I made a half batch of blueberry lemongrass syrup (recipe from Tart and Sweet).  I think my syrup turned out to be more of a jelly/sauce.  I tasted the warm sauce and found that the lemongrass was pretty subtle.  I hope the lemongrass becomes more evident when the sauce is cooled.

I also made a double batch of No-Sugar Blueberry Orange Jam from Gourmet Preserves.  Woooeeee! This is tart jam.  It is made with orange juice concentrate, orange zest, sliced oranges and blueberries so it is no wonder it is tart.  I just wasn't expecting it to be THAT tart.  I am hoping this one mellows out as it sits.  Yes, that is right, I am hoping one preserve gets stronger and one gets weaker as it sits.  That will happen, right?

In addition to putting a bunch of those blueberries in jars, I also put a bunch in my belly!

I put some in the dehydrator and some in the freezer, as well.  I haven't decided if the dried ones were worth it yet.  The texture turned out a bit funky (below photo shows them in the midst of the dehydration process).

Jars full of fruit are satisfying, kind of like a new pen, but tastier.

Foraging for Mulberries

On a lunchtime walk with a coworker, we came upon some squishy ground and a lightbulb immediately went off.  I looked up and sure enough: MULBERRIES!  This tree is on public property, so I made a mental note to swing on by when I had a container with me.

That Friday, I left work and it was beautiful outside.  A quick call to Sarah, an invite for spontaneous fun, a stop by the bathroom to wash out lunch containers and we were on our way (by bike!) to get some mulberries.

The tree is pretty tall, so we could only reach a small amount of them.  Picking mulberries is tricky!  For everyone one that you get in your container 3 or 4 fall on the ground.  I know the trick is to lay out a tarp under the tree, but spontaneous pickers don't tend to carry around large tarps :)

We did get enough for a few servings of granola, yogurt and mulberries.

I hope to catch that tree at the right time next year so I can do the tarp/tree shaking harvest method and get a better yield.  I love free fruit!