The Guthrie





A few weeks ago Gabe and I attended a famous play called "Cat on a hot tin roof" by Tennessee Williams. It was playing at The Guthrie theater which is a Minneapolis staple for it's modern architecture and amazing shows. The interior has amazing lighting and the exterior has a "neverending" bridge which juts out almost to the Mississippi river. Every window seems to have great views of the city and surrounding areas. We loved the show. We ended up eating a very late dinner at the restaurant on the ground level of the building called, Sea Change. Definitely one of our most favorite restaurants in Minne thus far. Food was so good.

Great show, great food, great date. <3

6 years!

We had an amazing 6th anniversary. We ate at a restaurant called Seven, a steakhouse. It was quite chilly outside but we were able to sit by a beautiful fireplace. It was a great spot! So romantic! Fun times in our "minne" city!

Six years goes by so fast. I can't believe all the places we've lived and all the things we've seen and done. On January 8 we had the 12th anniversary of our first date! Twelfth!!! It is unbelievable. I love him so much and I've always believed our love truly grows. We're happier and happier, really! Love you baby! Here's to many, many more!

Tin Cup Food Challenge

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Let's start off by saying if you have no clue who this guy is...this post will likely confuse you.

Gabe would like to BE him. And that is that.

Adam Richman stars on Man v. Food Nation on the travel channel and we both love the show.

He goes to cities around the U.S. scouting out good food spots and takes on extreme food challenges.

Gabe saw one recently where Adam visited the Twin Cities and was giddy with anticipation of going to a local dive called Tin Cup.

The challenge:

Two- one lb. burgers and two pounds of fries. These aren't just any burgers, they're juicy lucys which means they have a cheesy filling in the interior and these so happened to have jalapenos in the center and the actual burger was smothered in a hot pepper siracha sauce. Sound good?

Gabe and his friend Jon were up to the challenge.

Haha, don't you love the excitement!

Gabe finished the first burger in four minutes...

Second one took a little longer but he was foooooooooooooooooocused.

Starting to not feel so good.

.....aaaaaaand he's done. Finished both burgers but couldn't mange all the fries. The best part- he had to be at rehearsal in less than 30 minutes. I'm not sure how he didn't get sick.

In the fight against man versus food...sadly...FOOD won.

lumber jacks and fried food and such

Bluebird

Est. 1914 right on Main Street across from the Tabernacle

This is the cherry ironport I told you about in this post.

Yeah, this place is pretty much amazing! They serve huge warm dinner rolls right as you're seated. The food has been great every time we've gone and I think Gabe made it there again recently. Yum-O!

This darling sign is hanging right by the exit. AMEN!

fun

It is all over and I am sad. Going in I had equal parts elation and disappointment that it was all over. The movie was great. So glad I got to see it with someone who loves it as much as me.

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Today we woke up on the sixth anniversary of our engagement. Gabe had been home from his mission only a few weeks. I had recently passed my nursing boards, and was working as a new nurse. I was thrilled he was home. We spoke about getting married and prayed and the peace always came. On our very first date January 8, 2000 we went to the Olive Garden and five and half years later he took me back there. After dinner was over he blindfolded me and drove me to a friend's home directly across the street from the Orlando temple. He brought me in to the house sat me down and serenaded me on the piano, then got on his knee and asked if I would be his. It was magical with the backdrop of the illuminous temple.

Would you believe I do not have a single picture? Not one. That was before I had a digital camera or camera phone. We were a little preoccupied anyway.

I am leaving Utah tomorrow so we tried to have a fun day in between shows. We ate at a local joint called Angie's. They are famous for their "kitchen sink." So, we just had to get one. Twist our arms.

When we finished it (with another friend) we got a bumper sticker. Really it was Gabe's prize.

He had a performance tonight and he boasted about his new bumper sticker.

He texted me earlier to say that everyone wanted his picture with it.

I told him I was proud.



local treats

Here are some fun treats we have been experiencing in Utah lately! We had countless people implore us to go get Aggie ice cream when they found out we would be in Logan. The shop is located on USU campus and it did not disappoint. In fact, we had it two nights in a row!

The next joyous discovery has been from a local operation called Cox Honeyland. We have become addicted to cream honey. Try in on fruit, oatmeal, cereal, ice cream, crackers, granola, cookies, etc. I plan on buying a giant tub of this before we leave! Soooooooooooooooooo good!

The next amazing thing we found was Root Beer milk, made at Gossner Dairy farm. Believe it or not this stuff has a shelf life, no refrigeration necessary. I still haven't figured that out. Not only does it come in root beer flavor, but also mango, orange, and banana. Whaaaaat? The root beer milk tastes like a root beer float and it's very tasty. We haven't tried the other flavors but I've heard they are like drinking creamsicles. They even have recipes for the stuff. Go here Crazy! Have you ever had root beer milk?

all about food

Some firsts for the Florida kids:

1) Gabe and I were introduced to Cherry Ironport at a restaurant called The Bluebird Cafe located on Main St. in Logan. Mr. Ballam took us there for lunch a few days ago and insisted that we try this beverage. I think the best way to describe it would be really, really sweet cherry coke. It's a soda only sold in this part of the country and it was definitely worth a try. My lips puckered at first, but we got used to it quickly. Pretty yummy. The Bluebird is an old fashioned soda fountain and cafe. It was adorable inside and the food was great. I'll have to take more pics the next time we go. I didn't want to be like paparazzi in front of Gabe's boss, whom was probably approached by at least half the restaurant while we were there. Also, the peanut butter ice cream pie...ridiculous.

2) Cafe Rio!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been hearing about this place for several years from friends and blogs and I could not wait to try it. I had the Cafe Rio salad which did not disappoint. I dove right in and almost forgot to take a picture. It's a flour tortilla with rice and beans and a yummy salad on top with amazing tomatilla ranch dressing. We tried their burritos today but I still think the salad is my favorite! Please excuse the phone camera picture quality.

 3) Red Velvet Strawberry Shortcake. You should make this. I found the recipe via my friend  Amanda's pinterest and I'm so glad I made it. The original recipe is for a four layer cake. Two layers of red velvet and two layers of white cake, alternating. After making all four layers I decided it would fall over if I personally stacked it that high so I made the executive decision to make two cakes each with one layer of red velvet and one layer of white. We had a get together with our host's family so it was a good thing it made a lot :). It' super simple-  box cake mix, cool whip, and strawberries. That's it.

I recently set up a pinterest account and I'm so glad I did. It's a great way to catalog ideas and projects and I probably would never have found this great cake recipe. Here is my pinterest if you want to take a peek. I don't have much on their yet, but I'm sure I'll collect more over time. Does anyone else have pinterest? Let me know so I can follow you :)

New York (Part III)

The last day we were in New York we visited our friend, Christina. She took us to the most amazing place for brunch called Max Brenners. He is a chef that specializes in chocolate. Need I say more!

Even though it was 10:30 in the morning, we all felt the need to try some dessert. Gabe solved that for us, he ordered a chocolate sampler! It had everything- brownies, fondue, dark chocolate shot, chocolate egg roll, and a chocolate chip waffle. Sounds a little strange at first, but it was genius. I ordered a spinach crepe and Christina ordered blueberry pancakes with blood orange syrup. I have to say it was one of the best meals of my life. Not only was the chocolate good, that crepe came straight from heaven as far as I'm concerned. I'm pretty sure this place will have to become a repeat every time I go to NY.



Not too far from the restaurant we ventured to a store I had been reading about called Fish's Eddy. It was a charming home store with all kinds of fun antique items and interesting pieces.

They had this really cute "cheer up" line and these porcelain hands are made from rubber glove molds. I bought a miniature one to hold my rings. I was collecting ideas for a future house someday.

Isn't this fun art work? We found it in the subway on our way to the airport. Makes the subway a little more inviting I think. :)

We are so happy we were able to make the trip to NY. The first few days we were there we stayed in CT with our friends Brenda and Braden, so it was fun to see the calm side of life not too far from the city. Then Christina let us stay at her place in the Bronx too so we got to see all kinds of places. Thanks so much to our friends for letting us stay. We had an amazing time!

New York (Part II)



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After our lovely afternoon spent seeing the boat house, bethesda fountain and belvedere's castle we headed over to The Museum of Natural History

I would like to take this time to publicly make you all aware that my husband is a subway/public transport genius in NYC. We downloaded subway apps on our phones which helped, but we never got lost, not once. He would just grab my hand tight and weave me through tons of people and we always made it to the right place. Without him I would have curled up in a ball somewhere that would have inevitably smelled.

Thank you husband!

Okay, that was a bit of a tangent. After the museum we headed to midtown to eat at a great pizza place we heard about called Bella Vita. It was delicious!!!

After leaving the little pizza joint it began to pour!! Pour, I tell you. So, we made a quick deicison to hide in a delicatessen. "But we just ate dinner," I mentioned to husband. So, the next best thing was cheesecake. I only remembered to take a picture when we were almost done. Oops. It was heavenly though!

I'm sure you can imagine.

When it stopped raining we headed to see this..

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We loved it!!!! Loved it! I didn't know much about the show going in, but our friend, Jessica Rush was performing in it so we decided to see it. So worth it. I didn't realize how many of the songs I recognized. It was so well done. Everyone was awesome. We both highly recommend seeing this show!

That wraps up the end of day two in the city. Was that long or what??