Passage to Goodness

Any day that I get a chance to visit my favorite restaurant, Passage to India in Fargo, is a good day. J and I have been trying to come in more frequently now, because the owner, who personally knows us from visiting so often, keeps asking us when we're coming again... How can you say "no" to this?

Personal favorites:

• Palak paneer, a spinach curry with paneer cheese;
• Chicken Tikka Masala, a creamy tomato sauce;
• Masala Chai tea, which was actually adopted into the cuisine under the British influence;
• Naan bread; the best!

Pre-Thanksgiving Feast

Italian-themed dinner seemed perfect as a pre-Thanksgiving feast at the F's, and Jeffrey and I competed with each other in garlic break making abilities. Jeffrey's mozzarella topped garlic bread beat my blue cheese bread, but I think the real winner was G with the delicious tiramisu! However, M's specially saved for this occasion French wine I think beat all of our goodies!

Pumpkin Pie and good company

Thanksgiving finally is here and I am enjoying stories and laughs at the table while eating delicious pies after the dinner. Afterward, Gomer kept me company...

The Giant

My trip to Bemidji also resulted in meeting the Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Apparently, the legend originated from Quebecois loggers fighting the British soldiers. Amongst the loggers was Paul Bonjean, who turned out to be quite the fighter! Later on the story was modified for advertising purposes.

Minnesota Nice

I was visiting Bemidji, MN last week, and encouraged by a friend who is familiar with the area, we had lunch at a little cafe named Minnesota Nice. She kept explaining the wonderful meals they offer, but I was sold on the name right away! I googled the term, and Wikipedia informs us that "Minnesota nice is a stereotypical behavior of long-time Minnesota residents as being hospitable, curteous and well-mannered." I just had to visit the cafe! The potato pancakes were delicious and my friend's E.'s blueberry pancakes were so tastey I ate half of it, too!

Halloween

Jeffrey "the Panda" from a certain cartoon and Anna the Swine Flu. Don't get close!

Howie Mandel and one of his girlfriends.

Hermione is putting a spell on Swine Flu.

Mario and Luigi crashed the party.

Sushi Pro

Tonight my friends and I attended a Sushi making class at the UND Wellness Center. We learned how to make delicious Miso soup, which I know Jeffrey loves, so I will need to put my knowledge to practice! I now also know how to make a caterpillar roll and a hand roll. They were all so delicious and pretty easy to make, although this was the first time I have seen sushi rolled up this way.

Taters

Tonight was the annual French Fry Feed in GF, which claims to be the largest french fry giveaway in the world. Is this true? Perhaps it is, as over 4,000 pounds of french fries were given away. although apparently this number was lower than last year. A friend of mine, K., and I took advantage of his very healthy dinner choice and made our way to the University Park, right when the feed opened. It was pretty cold and there were not too many people around, so we ate our fries and went home. Yay for Potato Bowl! Go Sioux!

Hay Ride!

The day has finally come! I have purchased a pair of cowboy boots for this exact reason, and borrowed a cowboy hat from a friend. Now I feel like a real cowgirl and ready to go on a hay ride!
We started at a friend house with delicious snacks of Hay Ride Chili, garlic bread, brownies and many more! Two very special dishes were also present; Bigos, or Polish meat and cabbage stew that was cooking for a whole day, and smoked meat roll-ups. After the feast we took a tour of the country neighborhood in the hay ride, and continued to a country bar in the nearest town. It was a fun night!

The green pasta

My cousin Aga is an artist and tends to think like an artist when preparing food. She does not use written recipes, rather she creates the meal using her imagination. Featured tonight was a green pasta made of pesto and arugula, which added a little spiciness to it. Arugula is very popular in Italy, where Aga travels to often and I am sure the travels inspire her cooking quite a bit. Italian Lavazza espresso followed the dinner and later that night we shared grandma's plum cordial.

Morning sun

The morning sun shines on the table full of goodies for breakfast. By my plate there is a glass of delicious milk, straight from the cow! It actually tastes like cream! Next to it there is farmer's cheese, which I am having trouble getting my hands on outside of Poland! But it sure is present on my plate for every meal while visiting!

Dad's Garden

A walk with Nero

Mom, pops, Jeffrey and I took Nero for a much needed walk. He sure enjoyed it! Nero is known fr picking up huge sticks and carrying them around. Occasionally he tries to sneak them into the house, but these attempts end up in leaving them in the yard...

Krakow, my favorite city

Here's the Wawel castle.

Looking at the Wisla river.

Old foundation, the first King of Poland lived here, even before Poland became Christian.

Piece of Minnesota in Poland

Strolling down the Town Square of Krakow you may encounter city tour vehicles with multilingual tour guides. We visit the city frequently and know it pretty well, so there is no need for such tours, but imagine our surprise when we stumbled upon Minnesota plates on one of the vehicles! Staring at it, we were quickly approached by one of the guides, who turned out to be from Chicago and studying business abroad. He said next year he was going to study in Spain!