Art in Bloom 2019

The crowd gathers near the entrance to the special Egypt’s Sunken Cities exhibit

Winter’s been overstaying its welcome again this year, but as always there are things to keep us occupied indoors. Lately, my wife and I have been organizing all our books. But when it’s time to get out of your house and a spring blizzard has covered the ground in a gross slush for another week, what to do?

A bloom to match Chihuly

We hadn’t yet seen the Egypt’s Sunken Cities exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, so last weekend we decided to check it off of our to do list before it closed later in the week. Like many of Mia’s traveling exhibits, it was very interesting to see such ancient, important artifacts so far from home. Lindsay’s a big fan of Ancient Egyptian stuff and this exhibit had a lot to offer on the unique cities of Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus, underwater for more than a millennia and a half. We particularly enjoyed it’s focus on Egyptian religion and the interesting melding of Greek and Egyptian mythology in the temple city of Canopus. A good tip to remember, if you wait until the last minute to get in before the special exhibit’s last day, you can get some good deals on the related merch!

Upon arriving at the museum, it seemed we were far from alone from deciding that a Friday afternoon was a good time for a visit. The day coincided with one of Mia’s most popular yearly events, Art in Bloom. The museum was filled with the intoxicating perfumes of various blooms, as well as packed with people admiring local florists arrangements in homage to Mia’s collections. The colorful bouquets can make even the most miserable, slushy April feel like the spring we are all craving. Outside, a wintry mix was falling from a dreary sky onto grimy streets, but inside, fresh flowers allowed us to imagine the coming time of year. Art in Bloom is always a fun time to visit Mia, still free for the vast, shifting collections the museum boasts and the intricate, innovative floral arrangements paying tribute to some of the museum’s beloved works of art are different each time. It’s definitely a great time to check out the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

I’d recommend taking public transit or walking, the parking in the whole area was wild, with the museum offering valet parking for full lots. We parked a few blocks away without too much trouble, though, making a perfect opportunity to bring home some donuts from Glam Doll on Nicollet for a nice donut dinner. The many restaurants on Eat Street, only a couple blocks away, are a nice way to end any visit to Mia.

Flowers inside, snow outside

Weird Contests Weekend

Puzzlers puzzle at the Landmark Center, downtown Saint Paul

Sometimes, during the Minnesota winter, it can be difficult to find the motivation to drag yourself out of your house into the freezing temperatures and treacherous icy streets of the city. It doesn’t take much time to start feeling the claustrophobia of a self enforced hermeticism, though. For us, it’s important to get out.

Last weekend, there were a couple of interesting and challenging competitions, each featuring a very different theme, that popped up around town, and we had a lot of fun participating in them, staying warm and staving off that seasonal depression.

The first was Fair State Brewing Cooperative Giant Pasty Stout Mix Off last Friday evening. Fair State is one of my favorite breweries in the Twin Cities so I was intrigued by their competition, celebrating the imminent release of a variant of their Giantsbane American Double Stout, a pastry infusion they’re calling the Duke of Bakefordshire.   

My wife, Lindsay, was not really that into beer before I met her. While I myself enjoy drinking a pint now and then, she’s been perfecting her cocktail making skills. Over the years of being dragged to breweries, though, she has found that stouts and porters, especially those heady imperial varieties (double the malts, and alcohol, of a normal brew) appeal to her. So much so, we’ve made a point to check out the various infusions announced at various local breweries and when she saw this opportunity, she jumped on it with gusto.

Mixers would infuse their Giantsbane with a pastry theme of their choosing, and Lindsay wasted no time in concocting the perfect flavor combination. I, being true to myself, frittered away my time. Fair State provided a number of ingredients to choose from, but also allowed each contributor to bring their own home brewed secret ingredients. The resulting mixes were judged on taste, presentation, creativity, and of course, the name (every beer needs a good name, after all). It was a fun, social event as beers with all manner of interesting adjuncts were presented and shared. The results will be released on February 9th.   

Arriving at Landmark Center on a frigid morning

 

On Saturday, we were invited by a friend to participate in the Winter Carnival Puzzle Contest held in the Landmark Center in downtown Saint Paul. We’d never participated in something like this, but after Lindsay introduced me to the cozy winter fun of working on a puzzle while watching comedy or under blankets on the couch, I was intrigued with what a contest would be like, and felt like it was a perfect match for a more relaxed Winter Carnival event, especially as the temperature plunged so much that other Carnival mainstays were being cancelled.

completed!

Arriving at the Landmark Center as snow was falling, the cavernous main room was packed with tables ready for contestants to start obsessing over puzzle pieces. I have never before witnessed such devotion to the jigsaw puzzle as dozens of teams worked together to put together a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle in the two hour time limit, each with a twist in how the final product differed from the cover image. It was interesting to consider what events led to the banning of such useful puzzle solving cheats as spatulas and flashlights. It was quite serious, though also laid back and, while were weren’t exactly running with the top dogs (who completed their puzzle within a half hour), we did finish ours before the first hour was done.

All in all, a successful weekend and the feeling of accomplishment will help us through some more frigid weather.

Keg and Case (and the Final Entries of MSP Adventure Time)

 

We’re going on an indefinite hiatus here at Minneapolis-Saint Paul Adventure Time, so there will be a few last entries to go out on in the next week or two. 2018 was a busy year with a lot of changes, as can be seen by the sparse updates during the last few months.

It has been a fun four years exploring some of the many things that you can experience in these vibrant and changing cities, whether you are just visiting or spending a lifetime here. During those busy times in life, when time or budget keep you home, it is nice to know how many experiences you can have without leaving your city. And there’s always something new happening, as well.

Living in Saint Paul, this seems to be particularly the case as the capital city begins to challenge its reputation as the boring twin, where the streets are dead after 4:30. There was quite a bit of fanfare, for instance, regarding the Keg and Case Market, finding a home in the old Schmidt’s Brewery Complex on West 7th Street, and when we heard that it was doing a soft open, my wife and I managed to make it over.

 

I’ve loved visiting and eating at the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis for years, so I was excited to see something similar open in Saint Paul as well and I was not disappointed. During our first visit, and subsequent trips it was hard to decide what to check out first, and upon returning with my family and wife’s family visiting from California, we still have not sampled everything the Keg and Case has to offer. In the meantime, more stuff has opened!  

A view of Forest and Fork’s mushroom farm from Clutch Brewing

It is a pretty cool place, all of these storefronts bustling in the guts of the one of the old Schmidt warehouses, where once cases of beer were packed for distribution. There is a mix of established Twin Cities businesses and entirely new ideas. Local mainstays like Bogart’s Doughnuts, Pimento Jamaican Kitchen, and Revival, here opening a counter specializing in smoked meats (for us vegetarians, they even offer a delicious barbequed jackfruit) opened branches here. At the same time, such unique new ideas as Forest to Fork Wild Food are growing wild mushrooms on premises! I can’t wait to try out some of their chicken of the woods in a recipe.

 

Upstairs, Clutch Brewing revives the building’s beer roots, allowing patrons to enjoy a pint or two with their meals. My favorite was the Barnstop, a biere de garde, a quaffable, malty style I don’t see too often and always enjoy.

enjoying some Sweet Science!

Our favorite is, of course, the first year-round physical location of Sweet Science Ice Cream. After checking out a few of their pop ups, it’s great to have a place to grab their delicious, innovative ice cream.

The lines can be a bit intense, but worth the wait. If you happen to be able to visit during the day on a weekday, it’s a lot easier. Also, parking can be limited as well. It is nice to live within walking distance! Especially by spring, this will become a regular stop for us, and I’m looking forward to trying the pizza and the halwa. I’d definitely recommend checking it out!

 

Foci

A few weeks ago, on that last blistering hot September weekend we had here in the Twin Cities, I tried out a new and interesting experience.

Throughout my childhood, I knew that my mom was a very creative and crafty person, and she had a lot of handcrafting hobbies she became very skilled at. For a long time, she was a master at basket weaving, spending a lot of time at the Minnesota Textile Center and even running my whole boy scout troop through the basics for that coveted Basket Weaving merit badge. In recent years, though, she has become obsessed with fused glass. 

To celebrate a recent milestone birthday, we thought it would be fun to learn some new crafting skills with her and bought us all a Groupon for a glass paperweight making class at Foci, a local non profit celebrating the medium of glass. In the end, it was a fun and rewarding activity I would definitely recommend.

Foci has been present at numerous local art events and festivals, demonstrating the tools and skill of glassblowing to the community, including the Northern Spark, so the name was definitely on my radar and I jumped at the chance to share the new experience.

Foci (pronounced, we discovered, as “fo-sigh”), the home of the Minnesota Center for Glass Arts, is housed in a repurposed and sprawling old factory building in the Como neighborhood of Minneapolis, near the Mid City Industrial. Displaying the finished products of member artists as well as the artists at work in the studios Foci provides, it is a pretty cool place. I always like to  see such urban ruins being put to new creative and collaborative uses. The only issue is the accessibility, which the organization is trying to change. Currently, the building is not ADA accessible, with two sets of steep stairs being the only way to access the studios and glass working areas.

While the weather was stifling outside, the glowing infernos inside the brick building made the interior even hotter. If you are taking a class, bring plenty of water. We signed up for a Paperweight Experience and with the assistance of a professional glassblower we got a quick rundown of the tools and techniques we would be using to make our very own fused glass paperweight. With the temperatures and heavy metal implements being used, it was great to have such a thorough and helpful guide to using them, assisting us in some of the somewhat intimidating tasks.

With kilns firing away at almost 2000 degrees fahrenheit, we were assisted in grabbing a blob of molten glass. After this, it was up to us to choose our colors among varying shades and opacities of glass fragments (or frit), fusing into our glass and using pliers and tongs to shape our white hot blobs to our desired shapes before adding another dollop of molten glass. This we shaped into the final form of our future paperweight using a moistened wooden cup or our own hands protected by a wet newspaper. Feeling the extreme heat radiating off your work, hearing and feeling the hiss and pop of steam coming off the newspaper as you manipulate the odd consistency of the glass, smelling the slight woodsmoke smell, was a quite intense experience. Once we detached our finished spheres or cones of glass from the pipe and stamped our initials on it, we felt quite accomplished. We then just had to wait forty eight hours for the glass to cool completely for us to take our creations home and see their final appearance, as the temperature of creation makes everything glow orange or red.

A few days later, as the temperatures dropped, we came in to collect our own handmade paperweights and were pretty gratified by the results.

All in all, it was a very exciting, if sweaty, experience that I’d recommend to anyone looking for a fun, creative experience.

 

 

Summer Fun 2018

Northern Spark begins, June 2018- photo courtesy of Lindsay Cameron

It’s been a fun summer, but busy – but that’s another story. We didn’t get to go on as many fun adventures this year, but we did manage to attend a few favorites and a couple new ones, as well. As the Minnesota summer ends and the autumn, my favorite time of year, begins, I thought I’d review my summer in MSP.

We again attended the Pride Dabbler, which I always enjoy. As part of the exciting Twin Cities Pride Fest celebrations, it packs Loring Park with all manner of GLBT inspired beers and people excited to try them. Truly a worthy celebration of our state’s innovative brewing scene and strong GLBTQ+ community, it is the most fun and interesting of the beer dabblers, I feel. I always appreciate the chance to return to my old neighborhood for a bit as well. This year we enjoyed cool local all trans band 4thCurtis perform. Check out my account of my first visit here.  

Pride Dabbler 2018- Photo Courtesy of Lindsay Cameron

Stop on the Weird Nicollet tour, the – photo courtesy of Lindsay Cameron

After missing last year, we were excited to again experience The Northern Spark, among the Twin Cities most unique and always surprising art events of the year. This year, the spark took on downtown Minneapolis, at the Commons outside the ominous, looming form of US Bank Stadium (death bringer to birds, crowder of the train lines), and all down the newly renovated Nicollet Mall (finally!). While, unlike previous years, the festival did not stay out all night, the more compact location allowed participants to conveniently to experience more of the events and performances, though it also felt a bit more crowded than in prior years. My favorite was the super awesome Weird Nicollet Walking Tour, presented by a local urban geographer guiding us through some of the weird and lost history of Downtown Nicollet Avenue, from the largest gathering of tap dancers in world history, to the old skid row, to the first skyway.  I blogged about my experiences in 2014, 2015, and 2016 as well.

Open Streets Hiawatha

We checked out a few of the Open Streets Minneapolis festivals we had not attended before; Hiawatha and Franklin. It was cool to go to two of them this year! These events are always fun, allowing pedestrians and non motorized vehicles to take to some prominent Minneapolis thoroughfares to experience the city and its neighborhoods in a much more immediate way, interacting with the community and environment up close.

Open Streets- Lake and Hiawatha

Lake and Minnehaha was very cool, delving into the Longfellow neighborhood, and we began by enjoying a few drinks at the Longfellow Craft Beverage District. Right outside awesome local indie bookstore, Moon Palace, the local distilleries, cidery, and brewery Lawless, Du Nord, Urban Forage, and Arbeiter Brewing offered some delicious and refreshing libations.

After our enjoying our drinks (especially the cocktails from Lindsay’s favorite, Lawless), it was nice to wander down Hiawatha and check out some of the weird vintage and antique shops full of strange and bizarre items that have popped up along the avenue, ending with some interesting dumplings at Dumpling.

A few weeks later, we attended the Franklin festival, walking down Franklin in the heart of the Seward neighborhood and enjoying baked goods from Mon Petite Cheri, learning more about pedestrian concerns in Minneapolis, and enjoying the historical hidden gem of Milwaukee Avenue. Back in 2016, we explored the Lake Street Open Streets, and in 2015 I visited Central Avenue in Northeast.

Open Streets Franklin

Finally, we returned to the Minnesota State Fair for it’s busiest day ever! In hindsight, maybe not the best choice. In spite of the oppressive heat, I had never seen crowds so huge, which crawled to a tangled mess whenever they tried to bypass the huge lines of people trying to grab one of this year’s touted new concessions food. Turned out the French Meadow’s “Earth Wings” were pretty good, but we were slightly disappointed by the smoked ice cream at Blue Moon Dine-In Theater. After riding, per tradition, the Old Mill (surprisingly not crowded) we went for some beers at the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild, before trying out a couple of state fair exclusive specialty beers at O’Gara’s. Busing back home, we tried to cool off and unwind from the hoards we squeezed our way through. My visit in 2016 can be found here. 

our cornucopia of State Fair goodies, 2018- photo courtesy of Lindsay Cameron

As the days and nights cool off, I’m looking forward to some autumnal adventures soon!

 

Laborial Day and Trivia Mafia

612: Brew in Northeast Minneapolis

The first Saturday in August this year, the 4th, marked the exact halfway point between Memorial Day and Labor Day, which is definitely an odd date to mark and one that had never occurred to me before. I think that, in future, though, I’ll definitely be sure to mark Laborial Day down on my calendar!

For the past year or so, my wife and I have gotten a little bit obsessed with the Twin Cities own trivia empire, Trivia Mafia. We’ve tried out a few of the local versions of bar trivia offered in the metro and have found it to be the best mix of risk and reward and have had quite a bit of fun at some of the many local establishments that offer trivia nights, officiated by some very funny hosts. Along with a group of friends, we’ve had some success, even participating in the annual winter invitational last March. Well, we didn’t do the worst, but Kitten Mittons has been known to pull a win on occasion, netting some free tickets to a local show or event or gift cards to one of the participating establishments. In fact, we won the tickets for last fall’s Adult Night at the Children’s Museum playing Trivia Mafia.

Laborial Day Trivia Stop #1 at Sociable Cider Werks

However, Trivia Mafia offers more than trivia nights at venues across the Twin Cities and beyond. For the last few years, they have established a new tradition of Laborial Day, the halfway point between the two bordering holidays of summer. Yep, here in Minnesota that means that snow, so deep just four months ago, will be here in four more months as well, so participants wear black and white to symbolize the color schemes of each. While Trivia Mafia is generally free, a $5 admission fee gets you into the Laborial Day festivities, along with oreos (laboreos) and ice cream sandwiches. Of course, there is trivia as well, four special trivia quizzes each held at a different Northeast Minneapolis brewery for four entertaining (and slightly intoxicating) hours.

Red River Foodtruck outside of Socialble

This year was a coolish day as we traversed the streets of Northeast, beginning at Sociable Cider Werks, an old favorite, before heading on to Able Seedhouse (a new favorite), 612:Brew (an established brewery I’d yet to have visited), and ending up at the stylish Bauhaus Brew Labs. Each an easy walk from one another, it was quite a blast to sample a different brew at each location and keep on trying to come up with answers. As with Trivia Mafia in general, each was based on a theme, and some were kinder to us than others.

Laborial Day in full force at Able

Surprisingly, we did pretty well on the subject of Cleveland, Ohio (the 216 area code to riff off the 612 Brewing location) for a blog so obsessed with the Twin Cities. Still, it was perhaps better that we didn’t excel, since the prizes for each segment is a round of beer or cider for the winning team. If we were on fire, that could have proven a bit much, though perhaps those who succeed early may be at a disadvantage later. We never found out! All in all, one of the funnest days out of the summer and I would be excited to try our luck again next year.  

“Use your noodle, not your google!” Mural at Bauhaus Brew Labs that seemed appropriate for Trivia Mafia’s slogan

 

Art-A-Whirl 2018

 

Outside of Rogue Buddha Gallery

I’m excited to start up a new year of adventures here in MSP, after some long months of stasis. Before I wrap up some last favorites of 2017 and some of the reasons I’ve taken a writing break, I’d like to post about a fun new experience from this weekend.

After a long, cold winter that seemed to overstay its welcome by a few months, the warm temperatures of spring are sure to make any citizen of the Twin Cities look for some fun things to do outside. We look for any excuse to leave the skyways and our comfy winter lairs. Lindsay and I have been obsessed in recent weeks with tackling the walks featured in the book Walking Twin Cities; some of which we walked before the snow from the last blizzard even melted away.

Art-A-Whirl venues in Northeast Minneapolis

This last weekend, we took the opportunity to check off the “Nordeast” walk, a 2.5 mile stroll through the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District, which just happened to be the Art-A-Whirl, Northeast Minneapolis’ annual open studio tour, the largest in the country. Art-A-Whirl was always something I was aware of and interested in checking out sometime, but for whatever reason I never ended up going, so it was fun to finally experience it. In it’s 23rd year, there was so much cool stuff happening all throughout our walk, from local artists displaying their work to local bands performing at neighborhood restaurants, it was almost overwhelming! Here is a few of my impressions from our afternoon of walking the Art-A-Whirl.

Some curing salumis in the Food Building

The day was perhaps not the most spring like, with a brisk wind and temperatures in the low 50s making it feel a little more like October, belying the sweet perfume of the blooming lilacs as we walked through the vibrant Northeast neighborhoods. Beginning near the Pierre Bottineau Library, built into the old Minnesota Brewery building, we explored the old brewery buildings, once packed full of bottles of Grain Belt, now filled with all manner of paintings, photographs, sculptures, and other interesting things, and crowded with patrons of the arts. In the Food Building, we saw more artists amid the baking bread and curing salumis of Red Table meats and Baker’s Field Bakery.

A few of the many whimsical creatures at Betty Danger’s (photo courtesy of Lindsay Cameron)

Some of the local restaurants were also in on the festivities. We had lunch at Psycho Suzi’s, celebrating an Art-Thou-Luau and puppy pageant, enjoying our tropical drinks on the decidedly untropical porch with it’s view of the rolling Mississippi, and some cute dogs. Still, we were happy to be outside in spite of the chilly temperatures. A few blocks up the street, we indulged a little round of mini-golf at Psycho Suzi’s sister establishment, checking out more unique and interesting pieces along the way. I will discuss more about the kitschy and very midwestern sport of minigolf in an upcoming entry.

Walking Twin Cities with the authors!

Heading down into the heart of the Art District, we stopped at a few interesting places, making our way through the crowds. At Rogue Buddha Gallery, we saw some spooky art by curator Nicholas Harper and other local artists, and then caught some more music behind the Sheridan Room and the 331 Club. As Lindsay consulted our copy of Walking Twin Cities, looking for where to turn next, we were surprised to bump into the author’s themselves, who were themselves surprised to see their book! So far, it’s been a great resource, as we learned a lot on our strolls, including how Northeast Minneapolis was once a national leader in casket production and it was fun to be able to show our appreciation in person.  

The sun sets in Northeast Minneapolis (photo courtesy of Lindsay Cameron)

 

 

After our brush with literary fame, we stopped for a peanut butter porter at Dangerous Man as the sun began to set behind the looming clouds. Finishing up our walk, we went off the route to make our way over to Central Avenue for the finale for our evening, Har Mar Superstar at Bauhaus Brew Labs, part of the brew lab’s Liquid Zoo lineup. As among the most stylish breweries in the metro, as usual for events at Bauhaus, there was a bit of line to get in but once inside, it was a great venue for Har Mar’s brand of energetic, catchy dance pop. After a fun set, it was a long bus and train ride back to downtown St. Paul, encumbered with beer and art, but it was a great day and definitely worth the fatigue! Northeast Minneapolis is a fun, dynamic, and idiosyncratic area and I really enjoyed the chance to explore it up close.

Har Mar Superstar performing at Bauhaus Brew Labs (photo courtesy of Lindsay Cameron)

 

2017 Highlight: Night in the Children’s Museum

This was a new experience!

Last September, Lindsay and I were playing our weeknight trivia down at Emmett’s Pub on Grand, one of Trivia Mafia’s many locales. We’ve kind of gotten a little obsessed with them over the last year, but that’s a topic for a future entry in MSP Adventure Time. That Tuesday, we happened to win third place and claimed our prize; two tickets to the first ever 21 and over night at the Minnesota Children’s Museum!

I have vague memories of visiting the Children’s Museum in St. Paul as a kid years ago, though by this time, I was more into the dinosaurs at the Science Museum of Minnesota or the dioramas at the Bell Museum than the early childhood hands on educational activities at the MCM, so I never really thought much of them over the years. As a childfree adult, there was no reason to, I guess.

However, the museum recently expanded and built up a lot of cool stuff, like cool interactive firetrucks and multi story climbing towers and ball launchers that would appeal to the grown ups as well. Perhaps by putting together this Adults@Play: 21+ Museum Takeover Event, they wanted to share these new amenities for play with a greater audience. What better way to get the word out about all this new stuff than to allow adults to tromp through the place without feeling self conscious? Maybe next time, they will bring their kids!

 

It was a very fun evening, in any case, and I really appreciated the chance to see the vibrant, cool space in downtown St. Paul, from it’s cozy outdoor play area to the rooftop, and just run around like I didn’t have anything to worry about, while enjoying some adult drinks, of course.

Throughout the museum, there were cool things to look at, and it seemed the grown up, or maybe “Kidult” attendees were having a good time, thanks to such activities as a fun improv game from the Theater of Public Policy and arts and crafts brought to you by Can Can Wonderland (see previous entry). Lindsay and I definitely had a lot of fun with the latter, crafting our own really cool magnets we totally have on our refrigerator.

Keep an eye out, ‘cause they’re planning another one for this spring. Or you could take your kids any day and miss out on having as much fun yourself!

Some cool magnets we made from vintage books and magazines!

2017 Highlights: Can Can Wonderland

Hitting the links at Can Can Wonderland: Photo courtesy of Lindsay Cameron

Just opened in 2017, Can Can Wonderland was one of the most fun, weird, and wild nights out I have gotten the chance to experience over the last year. Buried deep under an old can factory in the industrial zone in the Midway area of St. Paul, it is one of those new uses for decaying industrial infrastructure that is making the city so interesting.

After hearing about it early in the year, Lindsay and I were excited to finally make it there with a group of friends for my birthday last August, and it was definitely worth the wait. In this case, literally, as the place was so popular we had to wait several hours to get into the much anticipated artist-designed mini golf course the place is becoming most well known for.  From what I’ve heard from others, arriving the earlier the better is advisable to get checked in for minigolf, as we discovered as we were the very last group to make it through the links late one Thursday evening after getting signed up before seven.

On the other hand, there is plenty stuff to of keep you occupied while you’re waiting, including vintage arcade machines, a variety of tasty comfort food (I recommend the grilled cheese), and delicious, bizarre cocktails. The blue cheese infused gin “Sailing the Seas of Cheese,” for instance, was a refreshingly creamy mix served in the gaping maw of a shark shaped mug, complete with fake blood. Wow! And, it is was quite tasty as well. Of course, Lindsay ordered me a wonderful Happy Birthday cocktail as well, a delicious birthday cakey drink which was served with a sparkler and a party popper let off by the bartender.

Receiving a birthday sparkler from the bartender at Can Can Wonderland: Photo courtesy of Lindsay Cameron

In addition, another new 2017 brewery, BlackStack Brewing, shares the same location, in on old warehouse upstairs from Can Can’s subterranean factory space, allowing you to sip a few pints of Punch Press Belgian ale or Spare Parts dark lager while waiting for your queue in the Can Can line. The comfy, low key brewery offers plenty of seating and board games, too.

As for the mini golf, it was well worth the wait. Now, I haven’t played much mini golf for a number of years, so I was a fair bit rusty when the time came to hit the course. To be honest, I ended up swinging wildly at the ball and didn’t get very far in terms of progress. Maybe the beer and the cocktails had something to do with that, but the elaborate and innovative backdrops certainly made even losing fun. In addition to the cool surroundings, the whimsical holes allow for any number of strategies for getting your ball through the obstacles- attempt a delicate maneuver to roll it right up the tongue of the Blue Toad, or try to knock it over the pond? Take the bridge or brave the tornado in the Natural Disaster? My favorite was trying not to get the ball lost under the couch in Gramma’s Living Room, packed full with kitschy bric a brac and vintage knick knacks. After all eighteen holes, I was pretty tired.

Taking a rest on Gramma’s Couch at Can Can Wonderland: Photo courtesy of Lindsay Cameron

Thankfully, we were responsible and came via Lyft, though on a less hot, muggy day, Can Can Wonderland is a convenient fifteen minute walk from the Fairview Avenue Station on the Greenline. I’m looking forward to making another expedition here.

Holiday Cheers

 

Having a merry Christmas at Lawless Distilling

It’s back to work for many of us Americans on Boxing Day, MSP Adventure Time included, so hopefully everyone has had a warm and cozy holiday season so far. Now that the big ones are over and a subzero cold has settled over the metro, I’m going to reflect a little on some of the fun things we got up to this busy holiday season.

There’s always the crop of local craft fairs and markets, as I’ve written about every year, great for picking up a few last minute locally crafted gifts. A new one we checked out this year was the Hoppy Holidays Makers Market at Urban Growler Brewing Company in St. Paul’s St. Anthony Park neighborhood, one of my favorite local breweries. Along with checking out some cool local craftspeople, we picked up a bottle of the Bourbon Barrel Imperial Porter, one of Urban Growler’s limited releases. Not as much of a beer drinker, Lindsay has discovered a tolerable liking for the rich, sweet, heavy stouts and porters. That’ll be a great, heady libation for our New Years celebration.

Urban Growler

Along with the craft fairs, we had another fun, energetic evening down at the Eagles Club in Seward, as I wrote about earlier this year. The 7th Annual Kinda Kinky Holiday food raiser was, again, a good time. The same Kinks hits performed with joy and energy by a roster of guests, it is always a cheery experience.

The highlight of the holidays was definitely the Miracle at Lawless, Lawless Distilling’s hosting of a holiday themed pop up cocktail bar idea originating in New York. Here, they’ve transformed their cosy and intimate but elegant space into a Christmas lighted extravaganza complete with themed drinks and the comforting, nostalgic scene of pine. It was packed when we arrived but we quickly got a couple of tasty drinks, a Gimlet Who Stole Christmas and a Sipping Hot Chocolate infused with fragrant Bittercube bitters. This has come to be one of our favorite spots in the cities for cocktails and it was a great way to get a break from the stressful holiday season. They’re continuing the miracle until New Years, so I’d really recommend stopping by for a festive and stimulating beverage.

 

Miracle at Lawless

Hmm, I notice that a lot our holiday outings involve a drink or two…

In any case, for the new year, we will be writing a little about some of our favorite distillers here in the Twin Cities!  

 

 

 

Urban Growler, 2325 Endicott Street, St. Paul

Miracle at Lawless, 2619 S 28th Avenue, Minneapolis