Catching Up

Okay, I admit I'm a little behind on the whole blogging thing, but it's hard to find time to write about what you are doing when you are always doing stuff!

Wednesday, June 3, we returned to Vine Park Brewery to bottle the Windy River Wheat we had brewed two weeks ago. Bottling goes pretty quickly, and we willingly shared samples of our beer with other people who were there either to brew or bottle. The guys bottling next to us also shared their beer with us, which was nice and a fun part of beer making – everyone is pretty friendly.

There were two couples there – the guys were making beer and the girls had just finished the 5 minute task of brewing wine. We asked what kind of wine they made and inwardly turned up our noses when they said white zinfandel. Bleah.

Friday, June 5, we had a Bibelot gathering at Ann Kraker's house, partly in honor of Sue's birthday. We started out in the backyard but ended up in the house once it got chilly. It was a good group – Ann, me and Josh, Nancy Lee, Sue, Lena, Sarah and Michael, Jerry and R.T. Maybe that was it? Everyone brought good snackies – I brought that Asian salad recipe I got from Jill Lindeman – had a few drinks and generally chilled. Naturally, Bibelot and its goings on were a hot topic of gossip.

Saturday morning, June 6, was our garage sale and it was dismal. Cold and rainy and, therefore, pretty slow traffic. Josh ended up rounding up our space heater, and I made hot chocolate and wore my wool hat. Needless to say, we didn't exactly cash in! We closed up shop around noon and took a nap before heading over to Ted and Natalie's.

Ted and Natalie were supposed to have a backyard garden party, but we wound up inside since the weather was still not cooperating. Stupid Minnesota! They have redone their kitchen and it is really nice – beautiful cabinets and floors, etc. We didn't know too many people – I knew Tina Chong and Adam Hollenbeck, of course, but Ted and Natalie were busy hosting. I was hoping to see Jag and Jisha, but I guess Abhi is sick.

After we left we stopped at Famous Dave's in Uptown for a beer and pulled pork sandwiches. Yum!

Sunday, June 7, the weather still wasn't that great but we decided to brave it anyway. We decided to check out Patrick's Bakery in Edina for breakfast, where I had a quiche and Josh had a ham and cheese croissant. More importantly – the desserts! Their case is beautiful, and we ended up bringing 5 desserts home! I bought a raspberry macaroon, which was okay, and a chocolate raspberry cake, which was awesome, and a big chocolate blobby thing, which tasted like a Chunky candy bar and was oh-so-good! Josh got a tiramisu and some chocolate cake thing. If Barb ever comes to visit, I will be taking her there. Very reminiscent of the fabulous patisseries we loved in Montreal, though I will have to reserve final judgment until I try their hot chocolate.

Next we hit up the Edina Art Fair. I felt bad for the vendors because they had crappy weather all weekend. Though, fortunately, there were plenty of people out and about; I'm sure Saturday was an entirely different story. I bought a Christmas gift for someone and a pottery bowl for me. We picked up some hot chocolate at the 'Bou and I continued my campaign to get a dog by pointing all the cute dogs out to Josh. I'm pretty sure I am no further in my mission.

Take me out to the ballgame…

Wednesday was a mystery date planned by Josh. We took the day off work and had a leisurely morning of sleeping in, walking down to our nearest lake and generally hanging out. We left the house around noon to go to the Saints game, St. Paul’s semi-pro baseball team. We had great seats, directly behind home plate and four rows back. The awesome thing about Saints games is you can get these seats for $12 apiece!

Since it was a mid-week day game, it was not remotely crowded. We ended up sitting between two season ticketholders who knew pretty much everyone who walked by. They were nice and we chatted with them a bit.

It was a HOT day – in fact, it hit 97 degrees and broke a record for being 8 degrees warmer on that day than ever before. And, it was windy – thank goodness, because without the wind it would have been miserable. On the down side, a fair amount of dirt ended up in our beer, hair, teeth, etc. Gritty.

Saints games are always super random and I don’t think I’ve seen an entire inning even once in all the times I’ve been to one. There is always too much to do, from getting another beer to watching eyeballs chase each other around the field, commenting on the trains going by and people watching. Oh, and the pigs in tutus, of course!

Wednesday was no exception as the power went out for several innings. No scoreboard, no PA. People just passed the word along. #17, third baseman John Doe is up to bat. Funny.

We had to leave during the sixth inning because we had an appointment to make beer and wine. Our new friends were sad to see us go. The Saints were behind, anyway, and ended up losing the game.

Josh had booked a 4 o’clock appointment for us to make a batch of beer and a batch of wine at Vine Park Brewing. We have both made beer there before, but never wine. We’ve been saving our bottles at home!

We got started on the beer first, since that takes longer. Measure, boil, mix. Pretty simple and there’s a lot of down time in-between. So we hung out, read the paper and drank the free root beer. We go back in two weeks to bottle the Summer Wheat.

As for the wine, it couldn’t have been easier. They have a bucket of water and you stir in a packet of clarifying agent, two packets of oak, a box of grape juice and a packet of yeast. (I had no idea oak came in powder form!) It will sit there and ferment, and then we’ll go back in six weeks to bottle it. I was surprised that’s all there was to it. Once we get our rioja back (makes 30 bottles), we will have to store it for six months before it is ready. We’ll have to have a “come try our wine” party!

After that we swung by Shamrocks for their juicy Nookie burger and fries (in a word, YUM!). Then, home again for a nap and a shower. All in all, an excellent mystery date!