Bonspiel!

I was in my first curling tournament this past weekend at the St. Paul Curling Club.



Needless to say, it was not the most formal event of the year.

Yes, again.

I guess I can't go to the Modern forever on this project. They have a small menu, which I love, but eventually I'll run out of food to photograph there... unless you take specials into consideration.

You know, there isn't anything I hate more than a restaurant with a giant menu that spans multiple different ethnicities of food. I can't name one that does that well. I bet you cant either, because they don't exist. My grandma wants to go to the Green Mill sometimes. I don't fight always, but seriously, take a look at their menu once. Holy shit. Its probably 10 pages. 10 pages of fried shit. Overcooked Cisco doo-doo. Greek booger salads right next to Asian poo salads. Butt-cheese lasagne right next to the worst skank steak you could ever find.

This food, sir, is NOT that...



I can't remember exactly what was in this beet/spinich/egg salad. I DO remember both myself and the person I was there with being overly surprised by how fucking good it was. What surprises me now was that I was even surprised. Kudos, Modern.

True Thai

Yesterday was a shitty, rainy, shitty day. I can feel another cold streak coming, but I don't want to check the weather because I'm scared it'll make it worse.

I went to the new Seward co-op, hoping for some enlightening experience that will initiate a change in my stagnant cooking habits. It didn't happen. Its nice and all, but it just didn't happen. I got the necessary ingredients for the pasta sauce I was making that night and left. I should mention here that that sauce is 10 years in development for me, its one of my best items, and it somehow came out blah. Nice day.

I DID see True Thai on the way out, though. Another one of those places that I've eaten take out from a few times, but only once at the restaurant. I figured I'd stop, even though I didn't want to because I had to eat my own food soon. Begrudgingly, I ordered tofu lab salad because I figured it wouldn't fill me up. I barely even wanted to eat it.



Lab salad is good, but it doesn't photograph all that well. If I wasn't even gonna eat my food, I could have got something a bit more dynamic, at least. Dumb fucking me. And my lugubrious mood should NOT reflect on True Thai. They have perhaps the best thai food in the city. Its just that its still raining so I'm like fuck it...

Wild Roast

It took Jenny and I about an hour to decide where to eat today. Part of that is because we were at Jimmy's trying to decide(not smart), part is because I'm an extremely indecisive dude. Of course, when we got here, it took me another 10 minutes to decide what to eat. I was about 5 minutes from missing the light for this shot all together because I can't make up my mind about anything. No wonder I'm still single at 33...



Its the Trinity College Tuna Melt. It is delicious.

I hate Bar Lurcat.

As someone who has a bit of nostalgia for The Loring Bar, you might be able to imagine my disdain at the monstrosity that is Lurcat. I'm not sure that they could have found a more polar opposite to fill its shoes. I hate its vespa-esque music. I hate its post modern bullshit decor. I hate the beautiful sinks that always end up splashing on me when I wash my hands. I DON'T hate our mayor, but when it comes to going out for the night, I really don't feel like he and I have the same goals and therefore I don't want to party at the same bar as he and his wife.

That being said, I cannot deny the Lurcat mini burger. No man can deny the Lurcat mini burger.



I maintain that I would gladly give up 5 years of my life if the alternative was living life without ketchup. Ketchup does not belong on the Lurcat mini burger. Nothing does. Its perfect as you see it above. They gave me the low down of what is involved in the making of it once. I was eating one at the time, so the only thing that I remember is... butter.

Elie's

Downtown Minneapolis gets a bad rap from people like me... and for good reason. Besides First Ave, I can only think of 3 places off hand that I like to go to. Murry's, Cuzzy's, and Elie's. Shit man, I once got denied to the most wanker-esque establishment of all(Norman's) because my BRAND NEW BLUE SUEDE CHUCK TAYLORS didn't work with their no tennis shoes dress code. Can you imagine the look on my fucking face!? Excuse me, tennis shoes?!?

Anyway, I showed up at Elie's at the exact second they opened(yes, I'm that guy), got my seat by the window, and ordered the steak benedict.



For the record, I don't even like eggs benedict, I just thought it would make the best photo out of all the breakfast items. Thats dedication.

*This part is an edit on my original post. A friend of mine sounded like she had quite the bad sunday, so I thought I'd share the lineage of events that happened on this particular sunday.

Coffee
Elie's breakfast/photos
Whitey's to read the paper, drink coffee and greyhounds.
Read the internet news while watching for squirrels to shoot.
Chess.
Coffee
Chess at the Spring Street.
General drunken shananagans with friends.
Night alone with special woman.

I'm a lucky dude.

One man show

Part of the whole food photos project that is so cool is that I'm spending money at a time when too many people are watching too much TV. If you watch some asshole 'expert' flap his arms enough while spouting off about impending financial doom, that may tend to make a person clamp down. Fortunately, I live relatively cheap, have been working a good amount for this time of year, and I don't own a TV. Therefore, I have enough money to do this, and I'm not scared.

I do miss cooking, though. And I did have $43.67 left on my Ready Meats gift card.

So, I decided to play chef, food stylist, photographer, diner, and dishwasher. Seared/Broiled peppered filet mignon with a red wine reduction sauce and crumbled blue cheese, roasted roma tomatoes, all served over a bed of mixed greens.



Notice the distinct lack of blue cheese. Thats because my dumb ass found out its harder than I thought to wear all those hats at once and remember to use all the fucking ingredients. Plus, I was hungry, so I tried to get it done while the food was still hot(I failed). The time crunch proved to much to handle.

I broiled some carrots, too, but decided not to use them in the shot. This shot turned out kind of cool, though, so here.

Afterparty ala Jimmy's

Jenny and I had a conversation about whether or not we should continue our afternoon wine buzz in an establishment a bit more suitable. It was a short conversation. As always, Jimmy's delivers smiles, photos, camaraderie...



...and booze.

Its hard for me to tell people how much I love this place. I could give you 7 reasons right now why wherever you are right now just sucks compared to Jimmy's. That being said, I'm gonna keep my fucking mouth shut, because Jimmy's is a bit less known than most the NE bars. I'd like to keep it that way.

...and again.

So Jenny and I went to The Modern(again) for lunch. Again, I somehow feel like I need to apologize for eating at the same place four times in a month when there are so many other restaurants to try. Like I said, though, its close, extremely good, and they also have good, cheap wine from 11-4 during the week. Also, they have beautiful food, good surfaces, and excellent light... thus, making it a near sure thing as far as photos go. Also, Sally is great. Unpredictable, and great.

What the fuck. Why am I apologizing, or even explaining where I'm eating? Its my fucking project, and my fucking money.

Heres my fucking soup.



Oh, and whilst outside having a victory cig, I saw this. It has nothing to do with anything, obviously, but I thought it was cool.