Travail - I love you

We went to Travail again tonight!  We went there last March and I blogged about my undying love for them.  Well they didn't disappoint once again.  We shared the tasting menu - I think it ended up being 8 or 10 courses with palate cleansers in between. Not one thing was repeated that we had last time (if you remember last time we made our own dippin' dots!).   Just a refresher about Travail - its a small restaurant in Robbinsdale (about 15 min from Minneapolis).  It has an open kitchen.  No waitstaff - in fact the chefs making the food bring it to you and tell you all about it.

I didn't get pictures of every course - but here are just a few things - forgive me - I cannot remember every detail of each dish but I'll do my best:

Mushrooms with mushroom bisque soup and a cranberry foam (they're big on foam here) and wild rice on the bottom (that was crunchy like rice krispies).  Honest to baby Jesus this soup tasted like Thanksgiving dinner.

Marlin with carrots, apples, herbs.  

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches toasted with caramelized onions and curry. OMG.  Shut the front door this was awesome.  I couldn't even taste the curry.

Ok this plate is about the size of a child's hand... on it is a quail egg and duck testicle.  So.freaking.good.  Never thought I'd say I ate a duck ball and liked it.

Ok let me remember this one... I think that is chicken and sausage.  There is also a hard boiled egg in there.  And brussels sprouts.   Never thought I would eat brussels sprouts and like it.  This tasted like breakfast, as did another dish we had involving scrambled eggs, pasta and ham.

Our dessert appetizer - on the left mini s'mores sandwiches, in the middle macadamia nut cookies and on the right macaroons with cinnamon buttercream filling.  There are no words....

And finally our dessert - so this was what looked like a strip of meringue - there were some caramelized fruits and peanuts too.  But the chef who brought it over said there were some fillings "hidden in there" that we had to find.....  oh we are up for a challenge...

Yep the plate had holes in it... and we found the fillings - cheesecake and gingerbread.

Not pictured:  candied oranges on sticks dipped in orange jelly and topped with basil dust and Pop Rocks (!!!!), steak tartar and carpaccio, another beef dish, a couple other palate cleaners and our beers.  :-) 

Please go to Travail!  They do such an amazing job.  Tuesdays and Wednesdays they have the tasting menu (which easily feeds 2-3 people) for $65!  That is stupid cheap for the quality of food you're getting.   If you don't think you'd be into the "weird" food - just try it - most people who know me would say they could never see me eating duck testicles.  Well I did and I liked it!  Run, run, run to Travail and thank me later.

Emmys!

The first show of the awards season was tonight!  I've made my list of best and worst dressed and I'll be honest - I'm finding it difficult to find dresses that wow'd me.  Ok, onto the clothes....

My Best, but none of them really blew me away, List:

Tina Fey - I picked Tina because she's not wearing black, navy blue or dark purple.   Not a huge fan of the brocade on the top but it'll do.  It fits her nicely.  Suits her figure.  Hair is good.

Hayden Panettiere - it's different.  I like it.  I like the color combo.  I feel like she should have more make up on - the Emmys is the place to do it up.

The "On the Fence" list:

Jane Levy - I love her show Suburgatory.   I don't love this dress - actually - cut off the sleeves and its perfect.   The sleeves age her.  Color is perfect!

Kat Dennings - this color is amazeballs on her... but the boobs... gah, someone should have fit it better to her chest (aka larger cup sizes) and it would have been perfect.  Love the hair and the red lip.

Julianne Moore - bravo for wearing a different color.  It looks great with her hair color and complexion.  I like it better in the picture than on TV - on TV it looked NEON.  

Christina Hendricks - I love her.  I again wish she would have held down the girls - although compared to previous years they are pretty under control haha. What's with the boobs tonight people!?   This dress is Christian Siriano - I love him!  He did a nice job designing this for her - it shows off her curves.   I like the belt.  I'm not sure I love the color... she would look so amazing in jewel tones yet she tends to wear black or nude colors.  

Now my Worst Dressed List:

I don't know who this chick is - other than she's on a show on HBO - but who cares about that - wtf is she wearing?

Zooey Deschanel - oh Zooey I heart you but I don't heart your dress.  On TV it looked like your boobs were about to fall out.   And the skirt is a mess.  You're still cute though.

Claire Danes - she usually hits it out of the park - not tonight.  Just because you're preggers doesn't mean you have to wear a sack.  The hubby looks good though - let's just look at him.

Kristen Wiig - oh look she's wearing a nude/tan colored dress.  SHOCKER.  Sorry, it looks like a nightgown. 

Michelle Dockery - aka Mary from Downton Abbey.  Sigh.  Where do I start? It looks like someone from the first week of Project Runway made this mess.  Satin wrinkles too much so the front looks a mess.  The top is weirdly fitted.  It looks something something she made herself.  No bueno. 

Glenn Close - I have no words...

Who were on your best and worst dressed list?

Dolce Mia

Remember when I told you guys I won something?   Well I've had a chance to use it for a week or so.  I won a giveaway for Dolce Mia - their customer service was great!  I really like the products so far.   I love that they use natural ingredients and no extra additives.  Ok, onto the goods!  How nice is this packaging?

For the lotion I picked Hula Girl Pikake - it has a really strong, strong smell.  I like it, but a little goes a long way.  It totally reminds me of Hawaii - the Pikake is a flower found in Hawaii so the scent of the lotion takes me right back.   The soap I picked was Mango Tangerine - this has a light smell.  It lathers nicely.  Both the lotion and the soap make your skin soft.   Kyle from Dolce Mia even threw in a couple travel sample size lotions.

I love, love, love the packaging!  I would definitely recommend Dolce Mia, especially if you have friends like me who enjoy a vintage twist.   It would make a great gift! Thank you to Kyle and Bethany at the Glamorous Housewife (who hosted the giveaway)!

Abnet Farm Art Show

The 1st Annual Abnet Farm Art Show is complete.  Lucas met a ton of great people.  He sold one lamp (woohoo!).  The weather was amazing.   Thank you to everyone who came out to support him.  It means the world to us.  And thank you to Julie and Edie Abnet for inviting him to their show.  Enjoy some pictures from our weekend.

Confessions..

1.  We're on a banana bread bender in this house..... seriously - I've made 2 loaves and 2 batches of muffins in the past 2 weeks.  I've found that a splash of coconut rum and brown sugar instead of white sugar are a good thing.   Going for chocolate chips the next round - the elliptical has been seeing me quite a bit.

2.  I kind of want to dye my hair red again - its been about 8 years....  but what shade...

3.  I love this dress but I'm not sure where in the world I would wear it.

4.  I need a new car - no really, I do - mine is leaking oil and I'm not fixing it again.  I don't want an SUV again (trying to not have another huge car payment) and I don't want a car (I still need to transport a dog crate and Lucas' bike sometimes) - I want an SUV/car baby... I think the closest affordable SUV car I've found is the hamster car.  We drove one in New Orleans and I liked it.

5.

I Won Something!

I love winning things!  I read alot, ALOT, of blogs.  Quite a few of those blogs have giveaways.  If it doesn't involve too much effort I always enter.  Last winter I won a giveaway for 100 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly (sa-weet).  Those came in handy!

Yesterday I was delighted to find an email in my inbox from The Glamorous Housewife telling me I won the giveaway on her blog.  Eeeee!  What did I win?  I won a full size lotion and soap from Dolce Mia.  All of the packaging has a vintage flair.  I love it.  I can't wait to try them out.  I'll let you know what I think.

Ta ta for now!

What year is it?

I started re-watching Mad Men this weekend because Lucas literally worked 14 hours each day - I had nothing else to do (other than some shopping and cleaning).  I started over with Season 1 which takes place in 1960.   At the same time I started reviewing Mad Men, my friend on Facebook, Dollie, posted this question:  why are YOU happy it is not actually the 1950s? I know we are all happy to take the good from the 50s (style, class, quality), but what are you happy with leaving in the past? I would love to get some insight from other vintage ladies on their take on the feminist movement.

The only things I love from the 50's are the fashions (well most of them), the music, and the cars - things were pretty to look at.  The attitudes of the time were not pretty.   I see all the political hoohaa on the tv today and think to myself "How far have we really come in 70 years?" - we still have racism, we still have sexism, we do not have equality for all, and women are still expected (for the most part) to not only be full time housewives but also work a full time job. I think the biggest stride we as women have made is choice.  We can choose if we want to get married.  We can choose if we want to have children.  We can choose birth control.  We can choose abortion.  We can choose to work.   We have choices.  And without sounding too political, I hope we can continue to have those choices or we might as well go back to square one.*   

Secondly, I'm happy that women have made strides in the work place (although some women are still fighting for equality).  I can laugh out loud now at Mad Men when one of the secretaries remarks to another "The men who designed this (typewriter) made sure it was simple enough for a woman to use" but I think to myself "MY GOD THINGS WERE ACTUALLY LIKE THAT!"  I can't even wrap my head around hearing the nurses I work with talk about doctors with their cigarettes and ash trays on their carts while rounding 30 years ago, much less the thought of people drinking at work and men being able to more or less grope their secretaries and no one thought twice about it.   To be a fly on the wall.... (and yes I realize that it wasn't like that in EVERY work place).  

So what are you happy leaving in the past?  Acid wash jeans? Mullets? Polyester suits?  :-)


*I'm not here to argue with anyone about what THEY believe in - we are lucky to live in a county where we can believe in anything. What I'm saying is everyone should have the ability to make a choice and unfortunately there are people, "leaders" in this country, who want to take the ability to choose away from people.  I don't agree with that.  I don't feel that government leaders who don't know me from Adam should have the ability to tell me what is best for me and my situation, or anyone's situation for that matter.  /Off the soap box.

Five Question Friday

Happy Friday peeps!  This was the longest short week ever.

1. What is your favorite fall tradition?Halloween parties, haunted houses, apple orchards, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin latte.  You get the idea.  :-)  

2. If money weren't an issue, how many kids would you have?Still going with none.  

3. If you were to get a tattoo, what would it be and where would you put it?The reason I don't have a tattoo is because I don't think I'd ever be able to decide what to get or where LOL.  True story.   Whatever it is it would be something smallish, dainty, and where I could hide it if I needed to for work.

4. What condiment is a must in your house?
Probably ketchup.

5. How did your spouse/fiance propose?
I knew it was coming at some point because I picked out my ring.... soo he was going to try to propose while we were at Tony and Tina's Wedding (a play) for a work Christmas party BUT it didn't go as planned (too loud, not the right moment, etc) so when we got home he proposed in the kitchen.  :-)  Didn't matter to me how he did it - I still love him all the same.  

And it's over

We are pulling the house off the market - it has been on the market for almost 2 years and we've had a total of TWO showings and those were both agents, not even people looking for a house.  I think we're both relieved to just be done with it.  We are going to refinance in the next month or two and stick it out another year or two - hopefully the market will be improved by then. The thing I'm most excited about (but Lucas probably isn't) - I'm going to redecorate/freshen this joint up.  We haven't really done a repaint/redecorate since we moved in 6 years ago.  Obviously our taste has evolved.  So that will be fun!  I won't be starting any redecorating until probably February/March/April.   It's too busy leading up to the holidays to start tearing apart the house.  I plan on doing as much DIY/refurbishing/reusing as I can.  Thank you Pinterest!  I'll be spending the winter thrifting for things I can refurbish.  And stay tuned - I'll probably be selling a few things we have in the house now (like the wine rack, living room area rug, etc.)

Here is my total ADHD inspiration board:

http://pinterest.com/portia319/for-the-home/