henry's letters: july 17, 2018

Dear Everyone,

This letter comes out a couple of days late because Cindy and I just got back from a ‘spontaneous’ trip to Minneapolis. I say ‘spontaneous’ because we actually planned it about five weeks ago, which is about as off the cuff as I can get. Owen had wanted us to come visit for a while (or at least, so he said), and I saw I could take a couple days off, and so…

Nicola and Wes Jones had come out the night before we left to watch Meeko for the few days we were gone. We went to Café Salsa for Mexican food, and then the Imperial Oak for Wild Blossom’s ginger grapefruit cyser (cyser is apple cider fermented with honey, so sort of a cross between cider and mead - there are many varieties of mead!). Cindy had had this a week before, and I had sipped some. It really has a delicious first taste, crisp, not to sweet or too dry, but I realized on having an entire glass of it Friday night that there was an annoying bitter after taste. Perhaps from the grapefruit? Wild Blossom is a meadery on the South Side (91^st and Ashland), so their products are available at Binny’s. If I can find some other flavors there I may purchase them.

We left Chicago Saturday afternoon and had an uneventful flight on Southwest, which arrives in Minneapolis at terminal 2. We rented a car, and, after a bit of a delay in the garage, were on our way to Owen and Alison’s.

As some of you know, they have a fantastic apartment on the penthouse floor of a building on the eastern edge of the Minneapolis down town, with views of the down town, the Mississippi, the Stone Arch Bridge, 35W, eagles etc. Very choice. Owen made a dinner with appetizers (smoked herring and Minnesota cheeses) flounder in caper-butter sauce, oven roasted green beans, sautéed potatoes and onions, and salad, while we drank a chardonnay plucked from their (for me) extensive wine collection. Afterwards we went downstairs to Izzy’s ice cream shop (next door!), where I bought pints of lemon-basil sorbet, monster mix (peanut butter with chocolate chips), and salted caramel. We enjoyed these with a rhubarb pie from the balcony while drinking a variety of different flavored gins (spruce, cedar, juniper, etc.).

They are on the top left

Panorama view from the balcony

Panorama of the main room of the apartment

The view at night. There are fireworks dead center

Sunday morning was the time for the FIFA world cup! Cindy was no longer interested in Wimbledon, not caring if either of the male players won, but we had both been watching the soccer tournament over the last month. For breakfast I prepared an apple-blueberry Dutch baby pancake, and then we sat down to watch the French dominate a scrappy Croatian team. Afterwards Cindy and Alison went to the Minnesota Institute of Art, while Owen and I went for a short hike at Fort Snelling.

Fort Snelling is a large natural area now, just east of the airport. In 1862 it was home to one of the unjust internment of 100s of Dakota, who later forced to migrate west to Dakota, or south to Nebraska. It is one of the many times our government did vile things for expediency and money. Of course, we would never have internment camps of innocents or the forced separations of families in our country today. The Fort was used as a garrison in the civil war, and was continued to be used by the military until the mid 90’s. Now the Minnesota historical society is trying to restore the old stone fort. We walked around below the fort, on the banks of the Minnesota River. We saw red-eyed vireos, great crested flycatchers, and Indigo buntings. We saw a nice meadow patch of restored prairie.

Monarch

We drove to a small pottery studio, the Northern Clay Center, where we saw a small exhibition of six ceramicists. One had some very surface finishing techniques with a manganese based glaze. We also asked questions about soda firing. We drove back to the apartment, and then walked further along the stone arch bridge, stopped at a beer garden on the St. Paul side, and then back on the 3^rd Street bridge. On the way back we passed one of Steve Minn’s developments, and Owen showed me his dead lift techniques.

architectural / sculptural electric line tower

Memorial to the dead and injured of the 35W bridge collapse

Guthrie theater with weird cantilever

Little girl...contemplating?

The standing wave is over 6 feet high

panaroma from Hennepin Island

The beginning of the falls

Dead lifting in front of Steve Minn's development

Alison and Owen had a business dinner that evening, so Cindy and I went to the gluten free food mecca of the Midwest, the Sassy Spoon, where we were joined by the owner, Tamara, and Vanessa, Evelyn, and Theo. We had samosa patties, dates stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon, chicken shawarma, chicken curry, and miso roasted pork. I really liked the twice-cooked rice. The kids also had some kind of chilled gluten free chocolate chip cookie dough for dessert. The two kids are at various camps for the summer, but the restaurant was pretty busy, and I had trouble hearing what they told me. Cindy was sitting closer to both of them, so she has a better idea of what they have been up to.

Finally!

The kitchen

Samosa Patty

Stuffed dates

Miso pork

Shawarma

On Monday morning Cindy and I walked a couple of blocks away to the Loft Literary Center, where we saw a really nice exhibit of arty bound books, and wandered a bit in their book store.

My kind of bar, on the way to the Loft. It's going to be torn down, however

Then we drove to Owen’s studio, which is on Hennepin Avenue, between 7^th and 8^th Streets. This is a part of downtown that is a bit down at the heels (hence there is space available for him), although there a lot of theaters and restaurants nearby, as well as the convention center. He has big western facing windows and a lot of art on the walls. We had a lot of fun looking at his paintings and talking about painting!

For lunch we drove south on Vanessa's recommendation (great choice!) to the World Street Kitchen, and its neighbor, Milkjam Creamery, where we had lemongrass meatballs, lamb belly tacos, and ‘milkjam’ (caramelized goat, cow, and condensed milk) ice cream. Back in the car, where we drove northwest to the Science Museum of Minnesota.

Luckily, we had made plans far enough in advance that we were personally met by the CEO, and given a guided tour of the premises. We saw exhibits on local wildlife, quackery in medicine, giant astronauts, hand cranked automatons, modern and traditional Native Americans, dinosaurs, and two fabulous thought provoking travelling exhibits, on our concepts of race, the other on mental illness. I especially liked the ‘musical’ earthquake display, which sounded a lot like gamelan music (appropriately, since so many seismic events take place in that part of the world). It’s a nice, active museum, and I can see why so many locals hold it dearly. It reminded us of the Pittsburgh Science Center, which was our kids’ favorite when we lived out there.

killer dolphin and crocodile

Fafnir, most intact triceratops

Lego architecture

This needs to be fixed, so your face can get projected on the astronaut's mask!

For dinner that evening we drove out to the Mirror of Korea, where we had vegetable pancakes, pork bul go gi, bi bim bap, Korean red snapper, and a kim chee dish.