Mon 22 Nov

Had a really nice little trip to Mpls/St Paul. On Thurs, we stayed at an older Best Western, very well kept-up, on the west end of 494. We lunched at the Finnish Bistro, shopped at the little store next door where I chatted with a woman who was also a Baking Show afficionado. She told us about a couple of excellent French patisseries in the cities and gave us addresses. We went to IKEA after lunch, wandered through the store, and bought 3 dining room chairs to replace the bench. Couldn't get the same stain, so we had to go with black; we'll alternate chairs on each side. New chair cushions, too, that are a better match for the flooring. We also found a new flannel duvet cover for the bed. Hit Costco near the hotel on the way back before checking in. Had just enough time to do Duo before leaving for our reservations at Broder's. Thought we had left enough time, but heavy traffic on the Crosstown made us a couple of minutes late - not a problem. Had a wonderful meal there with wine from the Ercole region (we toasted Pat D'Ercole!), delicious spinach ricotta gnocchi with excellent sauce and vegetables for me and pasta for Bob. Had a wonderful panna cotta with pomegranate and toasted orange peel shreds to finish off. Had a lovely time with Kurt and Barb on Sat/Sun. Barb made delicious oatmeal and a great fruit salad for our breakfast. Took a long walk around the new development on the old Ford grounds to see the progress since our last visit. Took another long walk afterward downtown to check out the new project in the old Dayton's space and look at how downtown had radically changed to a more residential area with lots of apartments, mostly inhabited by the younger people. Had a great lunch at a food court-type building and got tons of steps for the day. Watched Kurt and Barb curl on Fri night and watched some of the curling Olympic trials competitions at their house. After Lumen Christi on Saturday (more walking!), we went to a Mexican restaurant, Casa Maria, with Kurt and Barb for dinner. Sunday Barb made us multigrain blueberry pancakes. Barb and I took a neighborhood walk before we left. We did a quick stop-in at Woodbury Costco to pick up dishes that were out of stock at the other Costco as well as toilet paper. Food: 8:00 am Pulla cinnamon roll, 103 g blackberries, coffee