Purple Pride

Today I had to go to Salina for a meeting and on my way back I stopped off in Manhattan for a late lunch at Rock-a-Belly deli! Since my rental car was a purple PT Cruiser it only seemed fitting to cruise through Wildcat country! My Belly Buster on sourdough was as good as aways--and maybe better since I didn't have to rush back to studio!

While I was filling my belly, my dad was enjoying a Bielen'burger' at the Woodbury Cafe (located at 803 Bielenberg Drive, in Woodbury, Minnesota)!

Tomato, tomahto, Potato, potahto

However you say it, it was good! Sunday we enjoyed brunch at 'You Say Tomato' located in the Hyde Park neighborhood. We shared a BLT and the vegetarian quiche of asparagus, artichokes and potatoes (excellent!)

Eat to Live, Run to Eat

We enjoyed a slow and sedentary evening with friends from our running group tonight. No one felt like running after a dinner of make your own paninis, caesar salad, chili, artichoke soup and other goodies. Mike and I made one of our favorite desserts, Jack Daniels Triple Chocolate Upside Down Cheesecake. For everyone who is interested, click here for the recipe.

BNIM in the News

Recently, the office Mike works for, BNIM, has received alot of press. They are known as one of the leaders in sustainable (or green) design. Here is an article that was in Business Week and Metropolis magazine recently.

Snow Day

The last two weekends have been low key due to our recent dose of winter weather! Friday night Mike and I attended the opening of an exhibit called "Park Here" , featuring designs for the renovation of a downtown park. I was involved with the competition but our team was not chosen for the commission. Afterwards, we enjoyed dinner at Zin.


This morning we awoke to almost 6" of snow so we skipped church to shovel the driveway, walk to "suicide hill" to watch the sledders, listen to A Prairie Home Companion and enjoy pastries and Pensey's hot cocoa. It was a good, wet snow so now our street has over 11 "snow people" and other snow art.

Super Size Me

I just had to take a picture of the delicious cinnamon rolls that arrived at our office yesterday from Big Momma's Rolls, a local bakery. You'll notice the dime used to show scale. and speaking of scale--they weigh a pound each!!

Our last holiday visitors

We were happy to have Josh and Amy (Bartel) Lingenfelser in town this past Wednesday night before they returned home to North Carolina on Thursday! We enjoyed dinner at Lidia's before returning home to open Christmas presents and relax while watching Top Chef!

We all had Lidia's specialty, the pasta sampler which featured a mushroom ravioli, a pork ragu fettucini, and, pasta putanesca. A bit of trivia--pasta putanesca literally means "harlot's pasta". Some say this dish was originally made by ladies of the night in Italy, and placed in the window to attract customers. Another version is that the name is only descriptive - "it's a rough and ready concoction".

Ringing in the New Year

Our first day of 2007 was pretty low key--we took down the Christmas decorations, did some cleaning, watched some football, and, of course, the Food Network. Their New Year's day programming included a marathon showing of "Throwdown" with Bobby Flay. Tonight we enjoyed one of our favorite meals, pasta bolognese. I think Mike has mastered this recipe so we're ready when Bobby Flay comes to challenge us!

Happy New Year!

We enjoyed the last meal of 2006 with our friends Doug, Mickey, Bob and Christy. Chef Michael Chiarello supplied the recipes for warm pancetta, goat cheese and spinach salad, paella italiana and "molten" flourless chocolate cupcakes while we figured out sicilian bruchetta on our own! We also enjoyed a Columbia Winery Cellarmaster's Riesling, Meeker Vineyard's FroZin (a red dessert wine), and a midnight (ok, midnight east coast time!) toast of pomegrante infused champagne!


Here's to a healthy and happy 2007!