Mom and Dad's visit

Last weekend, my mom and dad got to come up here and visit for the first time since bringing the moving van up here.  They got here Friday evening, so David and I were both able to pick them up from the airport.  That night for dinner we went to a restaurant in Downtown St. Paul, called Meritage.  It's a French restaurant, and it was delicious.  Here's some pictures of our yummy food. 

Mom ordered the pumpkin soup with gingerbread croutons. 

Dad ordered a salad with dried apples and blue cheese.

 This is my yummy entree...roasted caribbean black grouper with a root vegetable risotto and red wine sauce. Delicious!

David ordered the Swordfish with a coriander crust and lobster tortellini.

Dad ordered the cardamom glazed wild acres farm duck that was really yummy. 

  

Of course mom ordered the "composition of carrots" that had carrot pancakes, carrot fricassee and carrot gratin. 

 So I had to order this dessert when I saw on the menu.  This was a custard with apple beignets and yes, that is grape jelly brushed onto the plate.  It was very unusual but very delicious.

After dinner we went back to the apartment and went to bed.  We woke up Saturday morning and went to the Copper Dome which was a very good cheap breakfast with lots of pancakes choices, over 30 including sweet potato, coconut, raisin apple, cranberry nut and more.  I ordered strawberry crepes which were very delicious. 

After breakfast we went to Minnehaha Falls which would have been even better if we had gotten some rain before going.  The water was pretty low.  But it was pretty.  Then we went to Como Zoo and the Conservatory because you have to go there.  The weather was absolutely perfect Saturday, so walking outside was a lot of fun.  After the zoo we went to Grand Ave and got some coffee and Bread and Chocolate.  We then went to the St. Paul Cathedral that is absolutely beautiful. I didn't take any good pictures, but just so you can see what it is...

After that Mom and Dad had already decided that we should get my car ready for the winter.  So of course, up here you go to Menard's which is their version of Home Depot or Lowe's.  So get that picture in your head.  We walked into the huge 2-story Menard's and between the escalators for the shopping carts was this:

Yes, this lady was playing "Climb Every Mountain" while we shopped for snow shovels, windshield wiper fluid, and a car battery charger.  After we got my car all ready for the winter we went to the apartment before dinner. 

Saturday night's dinner is a dream place for most guys. It's called Manny's Steakhouse and it's in downtown Minneapolis.  They are obviously known for their ridiculously fresh, delicious, and HUGE steaks.  (warning: any vegetarian friends might not want to see the rest of this blog)

So, our waiter comes around with the menu which is a cart of raw beef wrapped in saran wrap, so you can see what you would be ordering. 

 
David and dad decided to share the "Bludgeon of Beef" that is a 50 oz bone in ribeye.  They split the steak in half for them, and here was David's half.

And this was what I ordered......

Needless to say, we had plenty of leftovers.  We ordered loaded mashed potatoes and asparagus to share.  Then we shared strawberries and whipped cream and chocolate pecan pie for dessert. 

Sunday morning we went to church, which was really fun because mom and dad got to meet some of the people we've been talking about.  We went to Cafe Latte for lunch (duh...previous post), and then David and I dropped them off at the airport.  It was less than a 48 hour trip, but it was great.  Just enough time to get to see some great things.  David and I are about to go home for Thanksgiving, so we're both very excited about that. 

 p.s. As I'm typing this, here's what's going on outside.  I'm about to go pick up Dave and another Cantus guy from the airport, so I'll get more practice driving.

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!!!!!!

Oh Christmas Tree

 Last week was Halloween, so David and I left a bowl of candy in front of our door and went to a Halloween party at one of the Cantus guys' houses.  We went as Jack Donaghy and Liz Lemon from 30 Rock.  I know it's not super creative, but it was late notice and we had to use what we had in our closets.  David had the day off, so he made some pumpkin salsa.  He carved the inside of a pumpkin out, roasted the seeds and added some rotel and other things.  Here's his finished product.

Here are some of the Cantus guys at the party.  The guy in the back, Chris, safety-pinned purple balloons to his clothes to be grapes.  It was pretty hilarious.


We know we're early, but I looked at the calendar and realized that David and I won't have a Saturday together until the middle of December, so we decorated our apartment for Christmas a couple Saturdays ago.  Ahh! I know it sounds ridiculous, but I didn't feel bad when I passed a house today with their xmas wreaths on the outside of their house and candy canes in the yards.  A coworker told me that they decorate early because it gets really cold so early up here that it's too cold to decorate outside.



This is my first time to decorate for Christmas without my mom or sister and with my own stuff, so David and I had fun figuring out where we wanted stuff to go.  Here's what we got.

 We decided to go retro with the lights for the balcony!  We couldn't resist when we saw them.  David was in charge of these lights....    ;)

We're ready for Christmas up here!  Mom and Dad came this weekend and we had a great time.  I'll post what we did soon!