Fred's Minnesota Blog

The other gardens are also doing well this summer.

Fred cooking Paella on Father's Day. It was a very pleasant day in Minnesota. The weather was very nice and just warm enough. We tried to copy Gerardo's Mother's paella recipe. While it was better than some we have made in the past it was not nearly as good as Last Fall's.

We cooked all the ingredients separately and then assembled them for the final cooking. We didn't think we had enough rice so we added an extra cup which we will not do again. We cooked all meats outside on the Turkey Cooker.

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For the Father's Day celebration we had an Ice Cream Cake and many presents for everyone.

Fred got a number of shorts and shirts along with a DVD recorder for the computer. He doesn't have it installed yet but we are still trying to get the new computer to work correctly.

We were off this week to St. Paul Public Library. We drove Theodore Wirth Parkway to Lake Calhoun and then into St. Paul on Ford Avenue. A very pretty picture of Minneapolis from Lake Calhoun. We stopped at Cooks of Crocus Hill. I saw a book there that Alicia might enjoy about the history of the St. Paul Farmer's Market.

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Then off to downtown. In St Paul, we visted the Public Library. This is one of Kathleen's favorites because it is an "Old Time" library. It still has some card catologs.

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On the way home we stopped at Mac's Fish and Chips and got take-out for home. By the time we got home the fish was cold and tough, not as good as we remembered from last year. The next time we will stop and eat at one of the parks in the area.

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A few weeks ago our friends, Sharon and Dick, from Michigan, stopped on their way up north to attend a family wedding. They took us to Granite City for dinner. Fred forgot his camera so we had to wait to get their pictures before posting.

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This week's adventure was to Trader Joe's to look for a quantity of "Two Buck Chuck". this is a new store in South Minneapolis. We drove down and couldn't wait to get inside. Fred bought a whole case of 'Two Buck' for home.

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Afterwards we went shopping for clothes at Target and JC Penneys at Ridgedale. It was just too hot and muggy to be outside. Tired but happy, we had an early dinner at Applebees restaurant. We were the second people there, so Fred asked, "Are we too early?" They replied that we were right on time. By the time we got done it had started to rain and storm.

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Dead, our computer is dead! Our Friday adventure ended up being an interesting Saturday adventure. Fred and Gerardo went shopping for a new computer. That story will be another blog. Simply say that we were able to get back on line.

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Our rain gauge showing 4.5 inches of water from the storm.

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We had a Beer Can Chicken this week. It seemed to be less messy than chicken on the rotisserie. It was very good, very moist. It was an interesting experiment, we got the recipe from a Betty Crocker Holiday Cookbook.

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This is a picture of the $126 million dollar ($126,000,000) library in downtown Minneapolis. The spotlight was more on the building than the books inside.

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Kathleen looking through the stacks for books. We did get a nice selection of DVD's and Videos.

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This is the Global Center in South Minneapolis, an old Sears Building that has been renovated into lofts with shops and dining on the first floor. We had sandwiches at a shop inside featuring Mexican fare. Kate recommended it and it was very good.

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Chinese Food at the New King's Buffet was the order of the day. Kathleen enjoys Asian selections and we endulged her on her birthday. At home we enjoyed presents and some Rhubarb Crisp.

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The Rhubarb Crisp. I think we are about Rhubarbed out.

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Fred and Kate got the garden planted and the lawn sprinklers working.

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Fred had a fountain at one of the sprinkler heads and when he dug it up to see what the problem was found that a root from the choke cherry trees had grown into the connection and broken the saddle union. It is very interesting to see. Fred replaced it with another type of union. His box of sprinkler parts is growing bigger every year.

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In the garden, Kate and Fred planted tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and some zucchinis. That cat, Kazin, and YiYu looked on giving advice the whole time.

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This summer we have a new theme. There are fourteen Minnesota Wineries most of which offer tours and tastings. We would like to visit as many as we can this summer. Last week, we stopped at three on the northeast side of the Twin Cities. This week we traveled northwest to St. Cloud and on the way stopped at the Goose Lake Farm and Winery . The lady was very nice and we tasted the Rhubarb and White Grape wines. We decided to add the White Grape to our collection. They also make a complete selection of other fruit wines, like apple, apricot, blueberry, cherry, cranberry, peach, pear, plum, and raspberry.

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Afterwards it was off to St. Cloud, MN. Last year we went before Memorial Day and it was too early for the Gardens to be open and for the Trolley to be running.

This year we decided to wait and we rode the Trolley for a tour of the city plus had a nice relaxing time in the gardens. There are two gardens next to each other. The Munsinger Garden is owned by St. Cloud and maintained by the University of St. Cloud on the Mississippi River. On the bluffs above the river were the Clemens Gardens. Mrs. Virginia Clemens was confined to a wheel chair and her husband created the gardens for her enjoyment. Their house is right accross the street from the gardens. At first we expected to see a multi-story mansion but realized the logic of a quite large single story home. (In Minnesota ranch houses are called ramblers, I don't know why) It was a most impressive rambler.
Kathleen in the lower garden. Another view of the fountain.