Mickey's Diner

This diner is pretty famous- it's made appearances in several Food Network shows as well as the Mighty Duck's! After such a wonderful night it was a wonderful final stop. We arrived around at 2:00 AM and we were joined by a full crowd. I guess it makes since that people would come by after partying... the food might taste better then. Although the level of cleanliness was questionable you couldn't argue with the number of people there. People were waiting to find spots shortly after we arrived.

So we ordered from the Sweet Treats section of the menu and got a

Sundae with hot fudge, whipped cream, chopped nuts with a cherry on top. There could have been no other way to end such a awesome night with Emily!

Como se dicen en la Argetina, era como la frutilla del postre, literally.

The Dakota

We then left the Uptown neighborhood for downtown Minneapolis. The Dakota is one of the highlights of the night scene in the Twin Cities- it caters to a more mature crowd but Emily and I still had a great time. We went to the 11:30 PM show to see Kelly Rossum Quartet, a group based around the trumpeter. I enjoyed the quartet but the pianist really stole the show. He was expressive and used some techniques I had never seen before.

Emily had hoped to eat some dessert at the Dakota but we quickly found out that the kitchen closed at 12:00 AM and there menu was limited to drinks and bar food. That actually turned out ok because I was too full to enjoy dessert at that point so we came up with a solution: Mickey's Diner.

Oysters

I wasn't really quite sure what I was getting myself into but we went for it anyway! We ordered the "Kusshi" which was described as "smooth and lite mineral taste from Canada". I put on a lot of cocktail sauce but the texture was still a little difficult for me to handle. However Emily really enjoyed it... who knew?

Here are some before and after pictures:

Jamily Jamboree part deux

Emily and I are lucky enough to celebrate our 2-year anniversary on Saturday January 30th! It was a night out on the town... which can be hard to do if you don't have a car and it's below freezing, so we were lucky enough to have a car for that night. It was a pretty full night of activities. We got a great recommendation for a restaurant, Stella's Fish Café located in Uptown Minneapolis, then we went the Dakota Jazz club on the Nicolett Mall also in Minneapolis, and then finally to Mickey's Diner in Saint Paul. I loved every place we went and would recommend it to anyone! Here are some pics from the night with descriptions.... do enjoy!

First stop- Stella's Fish Café

We started off the meal with Chesapeake Bay Crabcakes that were paired with a wonderfully creamy sauce and blanched spinach which was rather refreshing. Often crabcakes are paired with a lemon aioli sauce, but I really enjoyed the flavors of the crabcakes and the sauce... pretty heavy though!

For our entree we ordered Stella's Fish Sampler to share at $29.95 and it wasn't a bad price for the amount of food that we got, and it would have been way too much for just one person. It was a paring of grilled salmon, swordfish and scallops with their "signature sauces". I must say that at first I was a little apprehensive about seafood in the Midwest. Maybe I am a seafood snob but hey I grew up in the Northwest! Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised... remember low expectations??

Also as if that wasn't enough we ordered one of the side dishes and it possibly was my favorite part of the meal... if I had to pick. The garlic mashed potatoes were full of spice and creamy but the skins were left on the red potatoes so they still had a nice texture to them.

Finally to top off our meal at Stella's we thought we would be a little adventurous and try oyster's for the first time! At this point the restaurant had turned into a bar, luckily Emily had arrived before the bouncer, and we had no problems- it did get a little crowded and loud.

And a few more...

These pictures were also taken at Seward Park. It's hard to tell in some of these pictures but it's starting to look like spring time in Seattle! Flowers are blooming and the grass is green... that's a lot more than Saint Paul can say.

Back in Seattle for the weekend

Well I am back in Seattle for the weekend to be with family, I managed to explore Seward Park a bit! And given the extremely unseasonably warm weather, it was pleasant to be outside... and especially compared to Saint Paul, MN it was like I had gone to Hawaii for the weekend. Well, sort of.

Anyway, my mom and I went into the fairly new Audubon (spelling) center. So we decided to take part in some of the activities going on. Today we went bird-watching, yes bird-watching at 8:00 AM in the morning yes 8:00 AM in the morning.

I'm definitely not going to call myself a born-again "birder" after the experience but I must say I went in with low expectations and I was pleasantly surprised. It's kind of the new thing I do, with low expectations you're never unhappy.

I was like the youngest person there by like 30 years but the guide was a former Washington Middle School student and was 23 so I didn't feel so awkward being there.

We saw about 22 different bird species- who knew! Highlights.... a blue heron in a tree, a cormorant, a king fisher and some wood-pecker species.

Also the great mountain was out which was awesome because it is often hidden behind clouds and you wouldn't even know that there is 14,000 ft mountain in Seattle's background.

All in all a great couple days here and worth the hassle of travel.

Until next time!

Love, JWOW