My Weekend (In Which I Discover Lillet)

Weekend, where did you go? I had three days off, which is just enough to set my world almost right again. I needed it, too, to get some work done. I have a new writing gig with Dine Magazine, which I’m excited about. Not only does this job promise free meals and luxuriously comped food vacations, I tell myself that surely anyone crazy enough to sacrifice her free time for her art must be passionate enough about food to be taken very seriously.

Dine is a print magazine and a blog in South Florida expanding their brand into new cities across the country. In my original vision for Edible Cities, I’ve always been a food journalist, so this goes along nicely with my plans. Bookmark TwinCities.DineMag.Net and return to it often–especially in a few weeks when there will be more indexable and commentable content.

On Saturday, I headed to the country to meet my childhood friend Carrie at her house in Somerset. We packed up her daughters Zoe and Jamie a took a trip to Fawn Doe Rosa. Look at this beautiful girl (and my new best friend). It’s eerie and sweet to see her face, given that I have known Carrie since I was two years old and Zoe looks so much like her, both then and now.

I spent the drive home daydreaming about the party I’m throwing on Friday. In my first draft of the party (the one that doesn’t take cost into consideration), I make about eighteen different “Le Cakes” as seen in Gourmet with ample aperitifs to go with them. Alas, a bottle of Lillet is 23 dollars, so my petit aperitif obsession will have to be a semi private affair. But it’s so good, especially with a Nicoise salad, and especially imagining a Frenchman serving it to me.

Sunday, Angela and I went bumming around the new Uptown Market, which I posted about on the Dine Magazine blog, so head over there to see a few pictures and sign up for the group’s facebook fan page for even more. For better or worse, we didn’t get a hot dog from the Magic Bus, as good as that might have been. We went to Bryant Lake Bowl instead. I had a colorful mess of huevos rancheros.

I’ve never been let down by the food at BLB–but I have been let down by the service a few times, hanging out for forever while all the tables around you get their food. A hip restaurant/bowling alley is not a good place to complain about practical matters, though, even though I might complain about one. The organic maple syrup offered to the table cost an extra buck fifty, and the server never says you’ll be charged. I don’t mind spending the money, but come on. It’s the principle of the thing. The crowd is a bunch of progressive urbanites eating granola pancakes–of course we want the organic maple syrup! Factor it into your operating expenses and serve everyone the good stuff. We’re discerning customers, and totally worth it, given what an institution BLB is.