Filipino at Minnette's

In an unexpected turn of events, Minette who is usually in Georgia by now, makes a short return to the Twin Cities to receive her son, back fro Japan, where he is stationed with the Navy.  Better yet, she extends a last minute invitation to eat sue Filipino food at her house.  We can't possibly pass on this opportunity.

As usual at Minette's, we enjoyed great wine, terrific food, and heart warming conversation.  The only drawback of the evening and that Buzz had to stay behind and couldn't join us.  

Here are a few pics taken before everybody started digging in (yep, I had them wait as I took the pictures).

Rice noodles with chicken.  Filipinos squeeze a little lemon and add
a little soy sauce over the noodles.  Terrific!

Tapas: Marinated and sautéed beef served with fresh tomatoes.

Caramelized onions cooked in the drippings from the beef.
A perfect toping for the tapas.

Home made spring rolls.  In my opinion the best item of the day.

Milkweed

Many months ago, our friends Tim and Joy commented on a trip they did to the south of Wisconsin for the sole purpose of visiting a restaurant.  The place is called Milkweed and is technically not a restaurant.   Isaac Spicer (appropriate name for a chef), works out of his parents farm near Spring Green.  The experience is BYOB, quite possibly for legal reasons.  They serve a few tables by reservation only and arranges a set menu (adjusted for allergies and dislikes) for a suggested donation, which had grown since Tim and Joy went from $75 to $100 plus tip.

The place was reviewed by The Heavy Table including some pictures of the food. That along with Tim and Joys recommendation, made it a necessity for us to visit.  We organized a trip with a total of eight people from the building complete with passenger van rental and planned stops on the way.  The setup is nearly perfect.  Sitting outdoors by the house which includes a large window where you can see the chef cook.  The servers are family members and friends and create the perfect atmosphere with their knowledge of the menu, friendly personalities and close attention to detail.  In all, up to 60 ingredients for the meal came form the farm surrounding us.  Quite an accomplishment that did not go unnoticed.  

It has taken me so long to write this post that I have forgotten much of the details, so I will include the pictures I took and add a caption with whatever I can remember.

The dining gan: clockwise from the front: Clark,
John, Birdie, Kim, Sharon, me, Anita and Mike

By far my favorite: Tomato confit and goat cheese on tartlets

Melon soup with hot peppers

Croisants (really, why have bread when you have these flaky wonders)

Squash soup with ground cherries and other things I can't remember ;-)

Heirloom tomatoes with Mozzarella and a balsamic vinaigrette 

Another favorite: Halibut over vegetable slaw topped with ground
pork tongue with blue cheese.  We raved about the slaw for days.

Raspberry sorbet with strawberries, a palate cleanser

Chicken, sweet potaties and haricot verts

Molasses cookies and chocolate ganache pastries made by
the chef's wife Havvah (great name, eh?  A palindrome too.)

Apple tart over chocolate sauce 

Cheese course. Who remember what was served, really!
Probably a Wisconsin variety.

The Chef, Isaac Spicer

Also worth mentioning were the walnut burgers we had on the way back in Trempealeau, WI (across from La Crosse) at the historic Trempealeau Hotel Restaurant and Saloon.  This is alleged to be the birth place of the walnut burgers and I don't know it that is true, but they were pretty good.  Served with lots of sprouts and house fries.  Worth visiting if you are in the area.

Boom Boom Pow

Arriving at the 2010 People for Parks 5K and finding out the City of Lakes 25K was just finishing as the 5K was just getting started gave me an idea.  Would it be possible to run them both back to back?  I've always been a big fan of running bonus miles (extra miles run before or after a race).  Having two races back to back would make each race serve as each other's bonus miles.

Even better, the start of the first race was just shy of 7 miles from my home, so how about adding those miles to get some extra extra bonus miles for the day.  The tree strikes would be a running Boom Boom Pow worth writing about.  The mileage was not a concern, just shy of a full marathon.  I know it could be done.

I made the proposal to my friend Tim at the bottom of my race report from the 2010 5k run.  His response at the bottom of the blog was positive.  A running date set a year in advance.

With the races day approaching, I sent my emails out.  Included Scott too.  Unfortunately, Tim had had a bike accident a few months before, and while his bones were healed, he felt too out of shape.  Scott had a more pressing commitment to run one of his crazy long trail races.  I was left alone and alone I would run it.

The first leg was great.  Left at 6:30 AM to make it on time for the first race.  Completed 6.92 miles in 1:02:33. Just over 9 minute miles.  I had to force myself to slow down.  There were still too many miles to come.

30 minutes later the second leg started.  The 25K City of Lakes, started well, but the sun came up high in the sky and tok much of my energy.   I managed a finish in 2:29:46 or 9:33 minutes per mile.  My start was considerably faster, but my steam was definitely running out.

Another 30 minutes wait and I am joined by a few friends to run the 5k.  I feel I no longer have the desire to run again.  Even this 5k seems like a daunting task.  The sun is high and it feels pretty warm.  Birdie was to join us to cheer not to run (and of course for a burger afterwards).  I convince her to walk to 5k with me and take Sharon's place (who could not make it due to a cold).  So my third leg resulted in a personal record as the slowest 5K I ever run (walked, really).

With a finish of 52:43 and an average pace of 16:55 min/mile, it was a little Pow to follow the Boom, Boom.  But I got a kick out of it anyway. Walking with Birdie was fun and I got to wear two race bibs from the two races.  Thanks go to Birdie for giving me the support I needed to complete the third leg of the day.  Those bonus miles are dedicated to her.

The fastest 1,000 miles (to date)

Tanks to my consistent training schedule and crammed race calendar (and of course my obsessive behavior) I have reached a new milestone: 5,000 miles since I started running. That;s almost the distance from Minneapolis to Japan (as the Boeing flies).

What's more, this is the least amount of time that has taken me to reach another thousand miles, as shown below: 

Milestone	Days to reach
1,000	567
2,000	434
3,000	357
4,000	300
5,000	281

I knew there was a good chance I'd shave a few more days to this last thousand, since my consistency (stubbornness) was still being refined.  I am not sure I can (not sure that I want) get the next thousand in any less than 281 days.  It will be fun to see what happens, though.

Redeemed Masu

A few months back I did a review of Masu as it was opening its doors.  While I tried to make it a positive review, several of my readers (I know, I was also surprised to learn I had several readers), read between the lines and came back to me with comments such us: "so... you didn't like the place, right?"  Indeed I was not impressed, but I wanted to like them badly being so close to home.

Last Monday, a few friends and I went for a new visit to Masu on our way to Jazz Central (which btw, just posted a few pictures on their website taken by yours truly).

I started with a Miso soup.  I was feeling a tad tired from a full day at work and thought its warmth would be comforting.  It was.  The soup came promptly and had good appearance and taste.  The soup was good, but miso soup is not particularly difficult.  As long as it is not salty and dis not come from an envelope with freeze dried tofu, it will probably be OK.  The true test would come with the entree.

 Mau specializes in Sushi and Robata.  Robata are small dishes (almost tapas style) that are skewered and grilled in a hibachi sort of contraption.  I didn't know it then, but in our trip to Japan, Sharon and I visited a Robata restaurant in Kyoto where we had a great meal and tried the grilled rice balls (Masu's version pictured at right), that were served as a side dish. 

For the entree I chose one of their Teishoku (set meals).  This is sort of like a bento box without the box.   At $20 a pop, it seems like a good deal.  Mine included Pork Katsu, Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura, 3 Sashimi, Zucchini Robata and Yaki Onigiri.  I found the pork to be a tad on the dry side (perhaps overcooked), but the sashimi was fresh, the tempura well down and not greasy in the least.  My Zucchini Robata was rather simple.  Terry and Maureen's, who ordered the one with asparagus looked much better.  They ordered the salmon Teishoku, of which I had a taste and was pleasantly surprised by its freshness and perfect temperature.  The center was juicy and cooked to perfection.  

All and all Masu is not my favorite place to have Japanese, but it is definitely a good spot to try something beyond sushi and noodles in the Twin Cities.  I's give them three and a half stars out of five.  Had I eaten the salmon and asparagus, they might have taken four.

An Interesting Week

It was a very interesting week indeed.  Just a few hours after establishing a PR on a 13.1 mile training run, I haver chest pains and shortness of breath and ended up at the ER.  Seven hours later and after many tests completed in between episodes of being almost completely unable to breath, I am diagnosed with pericarditis, a swelling and irritation of the thin sac-like membrane that surrounds your heart caused by a viral infection.

The good news is that as a viral infection it just needs to run its course in one or two weeks.  The bad news is that I have the Team Ortho Monster Dash 1/2 marathon in just 6 days and the New York Marathon a week after that.  The former is the fifth of five events I have signed up with Team Ortho for the year and one in which I have been engaged in no small amount of trash talk with another runner, who we will call Daniel, and to which I can't possibly not show up.  The later is well, the New York City Marathon.

During my time at the ER, I had a chance to be fed, and this being a blog about food and running I thought I should give them an appropriate review.  With a co-pay of $100 for the ER, I thought the price of the meal was pretty stiff.  More so given the quality and lack of choices.

The appetizer of ice chips lacked flavor and was the only item served for several hours.  The only other item served as hors d'oeuvres was pasty like syrup that tasted like medicine, since it was.  These are probably planned to make anything following it like heaven.

The main course was a turkey sandwich on wheat (no chips other than ice chips) although it was served with a nice cold carton of 1% milk, a suggestion of the sommelier/nurse.  The bread was fresh and the turkey moist.  If the mayo and mustard were home-made, it must have taken them quite a long time in the kitchen to put them into the little pouches.  This must be the reason why it took so long to bring the sandwich.

Dessert was a vanilla pudding served in a plastic cup that took a lot of work to open, more so given their insistence on me wearing an oxymeter on my index finger at all times (perhaps a hidden camera strength test?)  Again, after seven hours waiting, it tastes pretty good.  Still, I would definitely advice against visiting this establishment at all cost.  While the service was excellent (particular kudos to nurse Bridget who waited on us), it was rather slow.

Anyway, I leave the ER still with some shortness of breath.  It was interesting that instead of mints, they give you Ibuprofen that you have to take for a whole week.  I did and it did nothing for my breath.

Six days later, my doctor clears me to run the Monster Dash on Saturday.  I am wearing a mast created by artist extraordinaire Mat Ollig, which surprisingly neither bothers me during the run nor affects my performance.  I give it all my might and it pays off.  While my official time is yet to post (interference thanks to my insistence on running wearing chips from all the Team Ortho races for the 2011 series).  I finish 13.1 in record time for a 1/2 marathon race.  My final time is 1:42:53 (7:47 min/mile).  Most important, 15 seconds ahead of my trash talking buddy (a good 15 years my junior).  Then again my time is not yet official, so the tables could soon turn.

The race was indeed terrific.  The course was changed just a few weeks before the race and moved from Minneapolis to St Paul.  The new course was all downhill (I believe they said 400 foot drop) and vey fast.  Notice the green line on the elevation chart below.  It was also very well organized with lost of entertainment (including the costumes worn by the runners) and with excellent weather.

 
This race also served as a retirement run.  I retire my shoes after 400 miles and my pair of Saucony Hurricane after 71 runs had reached that milestone (pun absolutely intended).  They were good shoes and accompanied me for four of the five Team Ortho races.  May they rest in peace.

To top it all, we followed the race with breakfast at Elsie's, a bowling alley that has become a post race tradition of ours.  Their breakfast is traditional American, but perfectly executed.  I opted for the off-the-menu Eggs Benedict with sausage patties instead of Canadian bacon (as if that was really bacon).  This breakfast has proved to replenish all the carbs and calories lost during any distance run.

So an interesting week indeed.  Now another week of tapering before the New York Marathon.  Hoping for less excitement there.  I leave you with some of the costumes we saw at the race.  Not even the best ones, but a fair sample I was able to capture at the finish line as we were waiting for our friends to join us.

Three devil girls who agreed to post with me

The drag while running with this must have been incredible

One of my favorites

Of course I had to capture this one.  Was her name Siri?

Out

Out of breath from a recent cold I haven't quite shaken off
Out of shape from not having run for a week
Out of time having spent half my morning on the net and having all kinds of thing to do
Out of my mind, since I have a 1/2 marathon in a week and the NY Marathon in two and I should be tapering
Out of excuses...
Out the door because I am a runner

And the result paid off with a nice PR.  13.1 miles in 1:40:43 (7:41 min/mile).  Nope, this wash;t a 1/2 marathon just a 12 mile training run that I thought I'd stretch to 13.1 for the fun of it.  And boy am I glad I did.

Tapas at Home - Redux

Tapas at home again.  This time to welcome Ros and David to the Phoenix.  Also invited were Nancy, Pat, Hugh and Mary.  The menu is almost a repeat of last week's, but this time my camera was ready, so a took a few shots to document it for the blog.  Al around a great evening, if I may say. 

Baked Idaho Potato Chips with Ibiza Sea Salt and Peppadew Peppers

Chèvre, Cream, Fleur de Sal and White Truffle Honey

Fresh Figs Baked with Prosciutto and Clover Honey

Red Pepper Scallop Ceviche with Hojiblanca EVOO
and Red Jalapeño Ice

Shrimp Toast with Chèvre, Shallots and Lemony Aioli

Warm Tomato Confit Salad with Fresh Mozzarella and
Sweet Barnea EVOO-Kalamata Balsamic Vinaigrette 

Turkey Meatballs with Saffron-San Marzano Tomato Sauce 

Flamenco Quail Eggs with Asparagus, Red Pepper
and Spanish Chorizo

Moroccan Surf ‘n Turf with Lamb, Shrimp and Brava Sauce

Savory Bread Pudding with Hot Italian Sausage, Fennel,
Asparagus and Goat Gouda

Vanilla Ice Cream and 2007 Don Pedro Ximénez Sherry

Same as previous... this picture illustrates the way
to eat this dessert.  The sherry is poured over the
ice cream to give it a sweet toasted caramel  flavor.

Espresso-Dark Rum Chocolate Mousse with Smith Woodhouse Port

Patti Mayonnaise, Sharon and Thomas end the evening with a singing performance

2011 Big Woods Run - Race Report

Yesterday was race day at Fairbault, MN.  The event is the Big Woods Run 1/2 Marathon.  This is a trail race that starts on a road (about 1.5 miles), then moves to flat trails and around mile 4 or 5, starts a hilly terrain.  Not quite what I saw at the Afton Trail Run in 2011 (which that year because of the MN State shutdown had to be moved from a State Park to a ski park and had brutal hills), but certainly hilly.

The day was windy and cold at the start, but the sun was up and as soon as you got in the woods, the wind was barely noticeable and the temperature seem to raise a bit (probably the running).  The route is full of turns, and it is a beautiful trail, but my eyes were kept right on the ground.  More so after seeing two of the runners kiss the floor after tripping on a root.



I also enjoyed the fact that the first 1.5 miles (and thus the last) are on the road.  This allows you (if you have the energy at the end, and I did) to pick a few runners and pass them on the final stretch.  That forces me to pick it up and push through on the last mile.

This is a terrific run, fun, not too big (about 300 people) and well organized.  I do have, hover a major complaint.  While the race is a ChampionChip Timed, it appears they only use the chip for the crossing of the finish line and not the start.  As a result, if you are towards the back of the pack when you cross the start line, you get a few seconds added from the time the gun goes off (or a siren in this case), to the time you finally cross the start run and start running.  Since we were all the way in the back, for us it was about 50 to 55 seconds.

I confirmed this using both my GPS and Mike's watch.  His was 55 seconds off and mine was 50.  Here is a link to my results.  You may notice that the start and end do not coincide.  But that's because I could not get a satellite signal on time to get a position with the GPS.  That, however, doe snot affect the time, since it does not need a satellite to know the time.

So my official (incorrect) final time is 1:54:05, but my actual (correct) time as measured by my GPS is 1:53:16.  This small difference is important because my time last year was 1:53:33, so with my time this year was 17 seconds faster.

All and all it was a very nice race.  After the race we opted to stay for the soup, bread and cookies which warmed my belly and felt great.  I honestly only signed up this year because Mike suggested it.  And while the town where it is hold is a tad far (just over an hour south of the cities), I think it is worth the drive.  I would definitely do it again next year and perhaps try to shave another 17 seconds :-)  

Tapas at Home

Sharon and I had some friends over for dinner last night to welcome a couple into the building.  We took the day off to prepare and really spent it cooking non-stop for one of our (slowly becoming legendary) tapas party.  I am sorry to say that I completely spaced out and did not take a single picture, you my readers will have to take my word for it.  Everything listed below was cooked and looked (and tasted) great.

The menu started as a copy of one tapas party had for Tim and Joy a few months back, but quickly evolved and we ended up with something almost entirely different.

• Baked Idaho Potato Chips with Sweet Barnea EVOO and Ibiza Sea Salt and Peppadew Peppers - Sharon makes these and they are terrific.  Slowly becoming a regular item to open our tapas parties.

• Fresh Figs Baked with Mangalica Jamón and Clover Honey - These came out great.  The jamon was a last minute addition when I say it at Surdyk's, where it was retailing for $78 a pound.  The seven very thin sliced I got were $7.  Ridiculous, but terrific. 

• Chèvre, Cream, Fleur de Sal and White Truffle Honey - A copy of 112 Eatery's, where they make it with ricotta instead of goat cheese.  This is such a simple and great dish.

• Shrimp Toast with Chèvre, Shallots, Jalapeño, Pancetta, and Lemony-Grain Mustard Aioli - A truly last minute addition as recommended by my dentist the morning of the party as I was having my teeth cleaned and she commented on a dish her husband made for her birthday 4 days ago.

• Red Pepper Scallops Ceviche with Hojiblanca EVOO and Jalapeño Ice

• Warm Tomato Confit Salad with Fresh Mozzarella and Truffle Oil-Kalamata Balsamic Vinaigrette  - These tomatoes were in the over for 4 hours at 250 degrees with garlic, olive oil and salt.  They came out sweet and delicious.

• Flamenco Quail Eggs with Asparagus, Red Pepper, Palacios Chorizo and Pomodoro Sauce - This was the type of dish that I should have photographed for the blog.  It looked pretty awesome.

• Turkey Thigh Meatballs with Saffron-San Marzano Tomato Sauce and Saffron Home-made Crackers - A staple at our house.  Sharon makes the crackers and we can never have enough of them.

• Moroccan Surf ‘n Turf with Lamb, Shrimp, Cumin, Fennel and Santo Domingo Pimentón over Brava Sauce - Probably my least favorite, but not bad.  Presentation was incredible with the brava sauce splattered over the top, but the meat was a little tough.

• Savory Bread Pudding with Hot Italian Sausage, fennel, Asparagus and Goat Gouda - In both Sharon's and my opinion, the best dish by far.  Loosely based on a recipe I found online, but greatly modified (enhanced?) with the goat gouda, fennel and cream instead of milk.  I also doubled a couple of the ingredients to kick it a a few notches.  We will be making this again for sure.

• Vanilla Ice Cream and 2007 Don Pedro Ximénez Sherry - The Sherry is poured over the ice cream to get great dessert that sort of reminds you of a creme brûlée.  This was a pairing we saw at a wine tasting that stuck with us. 

• Espresso-Dark Rum Chocolate Mousse servers with Smith Woodhouse Port - A recipe from Alton Brown that is entirely out of this world good.

Again, sorry I forgot t take any pics.  I even had the camera out, just never remembered...