www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/art-of-the-bicycle/
I thought you bike enthusiasts would like to know about this
wonderful exhibit in an historic museum, large enough to
loose yourself and family for a whole day! The Museum of Science and Inddustry
was my childhood playground. I know every inch of it, butI haven’t seen this
exhibit yet. I am sure there will be a book on bikes in the MSI shop, too.
The exhibit runs for a few years … enjoy!
Well, it was a very happy Valentine’s Day for me and my sweetheart last Thursday. I have not been out of my house for several weeks now, due to various factors and reasons. So, it was SO good for me to get some take out from the Bluff View Grill. The restaurant has taken on a new chef who seems to know what he is doing. DIdn’t catch his name, but his cooking is El Besto Evero! We didn’t have anything too fancy, but it was done to perfection. I had the almond encrusted walleye with baked potato and relish cream sauce, grilled carrots, peppers, and zuchini with a side salad of baby greens and feta cheese with red onion. And my sweetie had a 14 oz ribeye steak, garlic mashed potatoes, veggies and salad like mine and then we both had the bread pudding with whiskey caramel sauce. All under $50, packed up very nicely. I will go there again, and very soon. Hope to see you there.
See http://www.coffeemillgolf.com for all the details and special hours of operation. Handicap Accessible.
We were lucky to get a chance to visit the new and improved by new management of the Rivertown Cafe on Pembroke Avenue, Wabasha, MN. They keep short hours, til 3 PM most days and they do very well at serving a nice, low salt,
light touch menu.
I was very pleased to see salt and pepper on the table, along with jam, sugar, cream and condiments, like in the old days.
They also served a couple of pieces of pickle with the chicken sandwich D had, and my wrap came with a big helping of ranch dressing. The side salad actually had three cherry tomatoes, sunflower seeds and a bit of ham, cheese and cabbage and a nice dab of dressing. My chicken wrap was filled with all kinds of good stuff and the wrap itself was light and deliciously so. (Regular readers may know how I have been complaining about the little extras being reduced week by week until now, we felt lucky to get a plate with our meals.)
They have a full breakfast, lunch and dinner menu, even including meat loaf, hot roast beef and hot turkey sandwiches.
The atmosphere was clean, plain, very 50s, booths and tables and chairs, and the service was helpful and willing to make the tea right for us. The prices were a bit below local competitors and they don’t serve liquor.
All in all we had a good experience and would recommend the Rivertown Cafe to others.
Note: Pembroke Avenue is the street that runs into National Eagle Center.
First, the back story;
About five years ago, I went on oxygen therapy, 24/7, for COPD. It was prescribed that I get hooked up to an oxygen concentrator machine which is a unit about 3 ft by 2ft by 18 inches approximately, takes up space and the looks are not all that exciting. The machine makes a pumping sound every second or so as it draws air from the surrounding area and filters it so that 90% oxygen can be pushed through to the oxygen patient.
The oxygen concentrator machine is noisy and we were lucky enough to be able to store it out of ear’s hearing range, but then one of us would have to go down two flights of stairs and back to change the oxygen level every time I went from doing to resting and vice versa. Well, now we come to the genius part.
I know a person who does very well with machines, digital electronics, and so forth, and within hours, this person came up with an idea and a remote control system that would actually turn the machine up and down from wherever I was in the house. The rc system used my cell phone which I carry around anyway and a controller and some electronic components, like a small laptop computer at the concentrator location to turn my oxygen levels up or down, as much as possible and all I had to do was open my cell phone and select the level I wanted then find and select the network that was dedicated to this purpose was at my new oxygen level.
Needless to say, this has been huge blessing in my life because turning myself up and down manually was very tiring, boring and disruptive to my life. Having the machine in the room with me would be really boring, too. Oh, I appreciate the oxygen concentrator all right, but I really appreciate the genius, who happens to be my husband, who invented this system for me. And we must not forget to mention what a genius I am to have picked him to marry!
My husband is always looking for an interesting new challenge or project. He is a computer consultant with many talents and he can partner easily with people who need to grow their business, and otherwise move forward. Most recently he devise a plan for a mom and pop business that will save them $250,000 per year, just by making a few in house changes. On a larger level, he completed an involved data center migration in a very short amount of time when a medium sized company had a deadline they could not meet in house which saved the company’s biggest client from leaving them.
You can find him and tons of recommendations on LinkedIn, and although he does many jobs, he also finishes them and so we are always networking to find more work. He has proven to be an asset beyond the original reason for his being hired as he always comes up with ways to improve efficiency and financial approaches to his clients. There are very few jobs my husband has been offered that he wasn’t able to do, that is why he charges by results, not by the hour.
Contact; Doug Spencer at forhire99@gmail.com
There’s a very nice, super clean, but old restaurant in Kellogg you may have missed when visiting Lark’s Toys, one of the ten biggest and best toy shops in the country. That’s because you have to turn to the east off Hwy 61 rather than west to get to Lark’s.
But, turn you should, if you are hungry, in need of some smiling faces, and don’t mind spending a little less than when you go to those fancy places that reside right on the highway. Hey, it’s only about 2-3 blocks off. Don’t be lazy.
The food is good, there are plenty choices so that everyone will find something they like. When all else fails, my hubby says their burgers are the best in the whole southern half of Minnesota. Well, at least out of the 50 or so places where he has had burgers. That’s a dang good recommendation right there.
I loved their fried cauliflower, fresh salads and homemade cauliflower soup. Plus when I asked them for iced de-caf coffee, they came right up with the perfect drink even though they had never served it before. IT was delicious for me, a very fussy iced de-caf coffee drinker.
I also liked their drummie special with fried chicken drum sticks and green beans and mashed potatoes. It reminded me of childhood and home. It all tasted really good. Not too much salt at all, and Patty, the owner of 24 years, told me she only uses real butter. But I didn’t detect too much of that either. A great blessing for those of us over 40, 50 and beyond.
The fries were delicious and I am about to get back their for their pies, which are homemade and look really good. (Inserted later, we have had several of their pies and give them a hearty thumbs up! Even if you are on a diet, share some and try it!) So, when you are here, go there for lunch or dinner or breakfast. Check the hours. They are not open M-Thurs Evenings.
Look for the pretty lace curtains on the windows and the nice padded chairs for comfortable seating.
Oh, and they only take cash, but there are ATM machines within blocks.
This is from their facebook site:
homecooked meals …specializing in homemade soups and pies. Friday night all you can eat fish and shrimp fry. Also prime rib saturday night. along with all you can eat shrimp.Breakfast served all day. Noon luncheon specials…Monday and Tuesday vary weekly. Wednesday varies monthly. Thursdays feature BBQ pork ribs. Also serving daily Hot Beef mashed potatoes and gravy.
Town & Country Cafe
309 N Belvidere Ave
Kellogg, MN 55945
1 507.767.4593
Hours
Mon – Thu: 6:00 am – 3:00 pm
Fri: 6:00 am – 9:00 pm
Sat: 6:00 am – 8:00 pm
Sun: 7:00 am – 1:00 pm
Visit my http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/bright
greeting card shop
George’s Vineyard is lowering prices in the month of March – here is their facebook post -
GET READY!!!…..The Vineyard is turning 10 in March, and to celebrate we will be running specials all month long….Medium one toppings for $6, Large pizzas for $10, half priced apps after 8pm, and more!!! We are also featuring daily door prizes and weekly raffle drawings. Don’t miss out….all offers and drawings begin March 1st!!!!!!
1160 Highway 3 S Northfield, MN 55057
(507) 645-0100
Silver Star Saloon and Grill
170 Pembroke Ave, Wabasha, MN 55981
Phone 1-651-565-2800
is a nice little restaurant that is where we went the day before Christmas for lunch. And man, was I happy to eat there. Formerly it was Los Gringos Cantina, mostly Mexican, and very good, but we didn’t go there as much as we did take out from there, as the lunches seemed a little too costly. But they had a great take out deal and we went for that often.
Now, Silver Star has maintained most of the old Los Gringos Mexican fare, but has added some pretty good All American Cowboy sandwiches and appetizers. Dh had his usual bacon cheeseburger and fries and I tried their turkey burger which
I added a fried egg on top and a cup of guacamole on the side, plus fries and lemonade.
I had to take a double taste because I almost thought our man at the helm, Kyle, made a mistake and brought me red meat. No, it was a really good turkey burger and the best I have ever had to date. The texture was more like some hamburgers I have eaten in the distant past, and with the egg on top, lettuce, tomato and cheese, you get the complete spectrum of flavor that you want in a restaurant sandwich.
We also got to try the delicious chips and salsa. Compared to others, these were much thicker chips and much chunkier, flavorful salsa that one usually gets when out. More like homemade. I ate it up.
Dh liked his burger so much he actually said he’d put it in his top three, being Grundy’s and Northfield Golf Club in Northfield, but the golf club has changed chefs, so I cannot count that one in for sure, but Grundy’s is prolly still in on the count. SO, good for you Silver Star!
The atmosphere is friendly, very clean, handicap accessible, has 2 tvs, karioke on certain nights and is going to be closed for a month from Jan. 15 to Feb 15 of 2012 for refurbishing. If you come to see the Eagle Center, this is one of the best places to stop and dine. UPdate: Re-opened now and just as good as ever!
Haha, I’m just joking around. Everyone knows we want to be home for the holidays around the hearth with friends, neighbors and family every single year. But there are times when that’s just not going to happen. People may not have anyone in the family that can cook, or they travel abroad, or become ill, it could be the weather that stifles travel or sometimes it’s just a little misunderstanding that will blow over in say, ten, twenty years. Sigh.
Well, we couldn’t wait for any of those disappointments so when I was lucky enough to discover this place on the Internet only yesterday. And please remember that these are American business people as I watch charges against China for it’s alleged business espionage. Sigh.
Anyway, I have been dying for Thai food. Back in Chicago, we had three Thai restaurants within three blocks. We ate there almost every day. Mmmm. We got fat, too. We did not realize at that time how many calories were in the food. Now, i almost always bring home half my meals eaten out for the next day. And I neither gain or loose weight from that choice.
SO, I had my favorite vegetable pad thai and dh had his fav beef basil. Both were decidedly delicious. They came with appetizers of soup and crab ragoon. We didn’t have drinks today, so we came out of there spending only $22, and that was with a holiday size tip.
The restaurant was clean, played quiet Chinese music and the waitress was very nice. There are 160 items or so on their menu and they have three sauces on the table. They will give to chop sticks if you ask and they are so much fun, I always get them.
I’ll keep this short today, only to say they are handicap friendly. See all the info below;
http://www.winonagardenchineseandthai.com/index.htm
Not all restaurants are the same, in fact, far from it. There are times when I think, all this food really tastes the same after a few chews. I am jaded, it’s true. But, it is said that we eat with our eyes, and lots of restaurants think to dim the lights so we cannot see what the heck we are eating. Or that the golden glow of a dim light will actually enhance our appetites. That may also be true. (I am rambling and that’s what I do best, but, hold on, I’ll come to a point eventually.)
Oh, what I want to talk about is how Chula Vista is one of those that is nicely lit at least in the daytime…they have been around for 22 years, so they must be doing something right. As for ambiance, the table itself is a tiled in the colorful Mexican style, as were the booths, covered with beautiful parrot images. The music played on and on and there is also a bar in the corner if you are interested in checking out the Vikings game.
But, what really struck me was the lightly cooked, colorful, fresh looking food. MmmmMmmmm. My mouth waters even now. Dh had what he always has, the steak fajita, but it was more colorful and beautiful in it’s presentation. I had a green chili enchilada with rice and beans, and it was very neat and pretty and delicious. I also had the avocado salad and chicken cheese soup that came with it. Both were very good, not too salty, not too hot. and I had plenty leftover for the next day’s lunch.
The service was perfect and the restaurant is handicap friendly. Even their iced tea was good. Lots of places are trying to cut back with the drinks. Don’t do it. It will kill you after all is said and done.
So, if you are in or headed to SE Minnesota, head for Chula Vista in Winona. And have a great meal!
Nosh is a fine dining restaurant in Lake City on the harbor of the Mississippi River. It served some of the best food I have ever written about since I have been writing this blog for six years (or more?). The food was excellent, the atmosphere, dark and mysterious, simple and full of music, which I loved. The prices, not so bad for the quality of food we had and the experience of eating somewhere where a lot of thought is given to each scenario. The service was spot on…thanks to Austin and a wonderful lady. Austin knew everything about the menu and he also snapped a picture for us.
And now, I must set the record straight. The food was not only good, there was a goodly amount of it. Not the French style of dining, with the tiny but mighty morsels. This is a well rounded meal in itself without a lot of add ons, but the add ons should do fine if you have a superlative appetite.
I had the seafood paella with sausage. Dh had the lamb with chick peas, cauliflower and some of my sausage. I cannot tell you how happy I was to eat shrimp that was perfection, scallops, the best, sweetest, browned just enough with a piece of walleye, which is hard to do badly, and mussels, which to my surprise were sweet and delicious. The beef sausage was not like meat I have known in the past. It was delectable, delicious, hard for me to share with dh, but I did.
Dh had the lamb rib eye which he thoroughly enjoyed, along with chick peas and cauliflower in a lovely tomato sauce.
He even ate the chick peas and cauliflower, which he has heretofore be unknown to do. (Haha. Heretofore. Where do I get these words? Americans don’t know the words from the 19th or early 20th century … we have whittled down our vocabulary quite a bit and I’m bringing it back, one word at a time.)
For dessert, the maple nut tart with cranberry compote and vanilla bean ice cream was so perfect. How do they do that?
Not too creamy, not too dry, chopped nuts all the same size, crust, again, perfection. My hat’s off to the chef or chefs at Nosh Restaurant and Bar in Lake City. To close I will say, read all about it at their cool web site, but tasting is believing.
http://noshrestaurant.com/