I am posting from Barb's account while she puts her feet up for a while.
(Yep, I wore her out.) And she was mean. I asked what I could do and
she set me up with a huge bag of green beans to snap the ends off.

I've been in Minneapolis visiting the Schallers since Wednesday and in
the words of someone we all know, "It's GOOD to be me." (Said person
would follow up with "It sucks to be you" but as a well-mannered only
child, that never occurred to me.)

Thursday we went to Inglebretsen's Scandinavian shop, lunch at Maria's
Cafe (where we both punted and ordered delicious wild rice pancakes
because the kitchen reported "The avocados aren't ripe enough." when we
ordered avocado/creamcheese/onion sandwiches. We were happy to have had
that warning, and the pancakes were divine.

We stopped next door at the Northland Native American Products store for
wild rice and had the added benefit of selection and cooking advice from
the pros.

Trader Joe's was next where we each BI (bad influenced) the other about
products to try. A small fortune later and we were on our way to
something more bucolic.

We drove around Lake Harriet where I was impressed by the gorgeous old
houses facing the lake. We stopped and walked through the rose garden
and Ma Schaller took some stunning photos of roses and yours truly. :-)
We then walked over to the Peace Garden, a very lush, green area.

Yesterday we drove to Stillwater, the oldest town in MN, on the La
Croix River across from Wisconsin. What a great town for browsing, full
of antique shops, galleries, and the nicest kitchen shop I have ever
been to. The people were incredibly friendly and not (I think) just
because Barb was handing out jam left and right.

We had lunch at Marx, splitting a white pizza and linguini with pork
tenderloin in a sauce of coconut milk, cilantro, and lots of spices.

Today's tip began early (It was FREEZING!) to the incredible Mpls
farmer's market. Holy cripes! Every vegetable I've ever seen plus many
I'd never heard of. Many Asian greens. Sweet potato leaves. Lots of
eggplant in shapes and colors I've never seen, Yummy cheese and
sausages and pastry. Fantastic flowers, both cut and potted, Herbs of
every description. The Olive Man was there. Apples, plums, peaches,
pottery, clothing--it was sensory overload.

So was breakfast at Al's in Dinkytown. There was a log wait so B kept
the waiting public happy with crackers and a jar of her nectarine jam
she just happened to have in t he car. What hoot! Al's is exactly
nine feet wide and 14 counter stools long, and if you are
claustrophobic, stay home. Everyone who walked out assured us "It's
worth the wait!" and it was.

Tonight we are meeting for dinner with some current and former ng folks.

Note: If Melba invites you to Minnysoda, don't think twice. You'll
laugh more than you have in years and have the time of your life,
gar-on-teed!

gloria p
who wishes she lived closer, except for the beans....