Tag Archives: Minneapolis

Mommy and Tot Date Night at Cirque du Soleil’s OVO

7 Jun

I won a family 4-pack of tickets, courtesy of Anti-Supermom and the Mall of America, to see Cirque Du Soleil’s OVO.

I really needed the night out. We have two young daughters – ages 3 and 18 months. The past few years have worn us down. We have officially lost our mojo. In the evenings we usually end up eating at home, grumbling through chores, renting a Redbox movie, and going to bed at 10. Dullsville.

When I gleefully announced to my husband that I won us tickets to Ovo, we went through the whole cycle of “Oooh, maybe we could have a date night!” to “Ugh, what if the babysitter can’t get them to sleep again and we have a repeat of last Saturday when we had to leave the movie early?”  We thought about taking the whole family, but our youngest goes to bed at 7 p.m. and would maybe be scared by the circus. We came up with a brilliant solution. I would take our three-year old, her four-year old best friend who lives across the street, and his awesome mom!

Me and my daughter about to get buggy at OVO

In front of the big tent, our dates for the evening!

I seriously cannot thank Beth from Anti-supermom and Mall of America enough. For families considering going to Cirque’s OVO, I highly recommend it. This show is visually stunning and thrilling, but family friendly with enough silly humor and a cute story line to capture the little ones’ attention. My neighbor and I marveled at the up-beat, stylish entertainment and agreed it felt like we were at a fun, Euro party! We saw several families with young children, but most had to be carried out at the end and a few, like mine, fussed a bit.

Moms and tots in the tent taking a forbidden picture before the show started

If you are considering taking your family to see OVO, first, DO IT! Second, you might want to consider a matinée. The evening show got a little late for our young ones.

And that, friends, is the story of how two mommys and two preschoolers stayed up way past their bedtime and went to see the most awesome show they have ever seen.

Vino at OVO!

Merci!

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YoYo Donuts – Delicious Decadence

17 May

A hearty thank you to @JoelECarlson for holding a networking meeting at YoYo Donuts and Coffee Bar in Minnetonka.  I try to stay away from donuts, because those delicious fat bombs will be my undoing. I am on a mission to lose weight. To quote my friend, Amber, “It’s hard to blame the extra pounds on the baby after a year.”

But, life is too short to forbid myself from enjoying an artisan donut.

Yummy YoYo Donuts

 YoYo Donuts is a great place for a weekday morning meeting.  Gluttons rejoice and dieters beware because the shop is ironically nestled in between a Snap Fitness and Seattle Suttons. Whoopsie daisy – sorry diet!  Cheerful and clean, the shop features pop art on the walls and a sparkly display case showcasing the treats. The free wi-fi and lunch menu (pizza, sandwiches, etc.) are nice additions and ensure YoYo is not a one-trick pony.

YoYo Donuts on Display

 

I decided on two mini bismarcks, one chocolate with custard and the other a creamy key lime. Oh my goodness, I adore the key lime donut. Fresh, bright and delectable. As advertised, the coffee is right on the money and served in arty cups and saucers.

Chris walked me through YoYo’s donut variety. Fritters, bismarcks, cake donuts, long johns. Yum! I know my daughters would flip over the cake donuts festooned with froot loops cereal and silly gummy worms. These treats would be fantastic at a kid’s birthday party.

Chris at YoYo Donuts

The bakery is gaining a following of parents of children with peanut allergies. All YoYo products are peanut and tree-nut free. Crunchy graham crackers replace peanut crumble. Clever!

YoYo uses authentic Maine blueberries in place of blueberry chips and takes pride in their wheat, potato and barley flour to make their donuts flavorful and light. I can attest to the flavor and airiness of their donuts.

If you crave a donut, you must go to YoYo. I restrained myself and only bought one donut to take home to my family. Because I love my husband, I am gifting him a bacon-topped maple long john. 

bacon Bacon BACON
Bacon Donut from YoYo Donuts

 

He might just propose all over again.

Happy snacking!

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Top 10 Reasons Why Top Chef Should Come to Minneapolis

31 Mar

I’ll get straight to the point. I am a huge Top Chef fan and I want Bravo to launch a Top Chef Minneapolis show. Pronto!

I am armed with several compelling reasons why Top Chef must be here. I list a bunch of reasons below. If this post doesn’t get much traction right away, I’ll just come up with more reasons, not the least of which, “It would make me deliriously happy.”

Before I begin my list, a quick word on location, and why I’m campaigning for Top Chef Minneapolis and not Top Chef Twin Cities or Top Chef St. Paul. Honestly, I would be fine with any of the above, but in a world where sometimes people call our state “fly over space” Minneapolis has more notoriety than perhaps St. Paul. Heck, I knew people on the East Coast who thought Minneapolis was the state, not Minnesota! For the record, I love St. Paul – I went to school at Macalester, I got married on Summit Avenue, I lived on Grand Avenue and I go there whenever I can. My point is, pick any or all of the cities in Minnesota, I just want Top Chef here. Clear?

Now, on with my top 10 persuasive reasons:

  1. We have a thriving food scene and a ton of personalities to be captivating judges. For example, Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, is the hippest food writer ever, in my opinion, and one of Minneapolis’ best assets. Check out the Dara & Co blog where she and other uber-talented writers chat about the Twin Cities food life.
  2. We have top chefs. It sounds a little like a tautology: Top Chef should come to Minneapolis because we have top chefs. But, it’s true! Bar La Grassa is a 2010 James Beard Foundation Semifinalist and Tim McKee, owner of La Belle Vie, won the 2009 James Beard Award for Best Chef Midwest.  I can list many other outstanding chefs, but I’m going to save them if I need to campaign with additional reasons.
  3. Andrew Zimmern.
  4. Amazing original restaurants coming up with creative ideas every single day. Off the top of my head I can name Pizzeria Lola, Bar Lurcat and Psycho Suzi’s Motor Lounge.
  5. We boast beautiful scenery. The Mississippi River cuts right through downtown, the Stone Arch Bridge is breathtaking, we have 22 city lakes, an impressive cityscape with brand spanking new stadiums, and a surprising amount of green space. This is a very livable city and would represent very well on camera. I promise! I’m thinking about summer, but heck, come in winter too for ice fishing. We rock all year round.
  6. What is Top Chef without Whole Foods? We have two locations!
  7. Mega Food Production. Minnesota is one of the top food producing states in the nation. We are impressive and diverse. We have big agriculture, CSAs, farmers markets and lots of other progressive food production activities.
  8. Mega Food Processing. Betty Crocker, Pillsbury Dough Boy, Trix Rabbit, yeah, they’re all from here. Minneapolis is home to General Mills and a whole host of other food companies. Didn’t know that? Silly rabbit!
  9. If you bring Top Chef to Minneapolis, you will have a unique opportunity to highlight the famous Minnesota accent. We are adorable and great TV when you hear us say “Minn-a-soh-tah” and turn the word “no” into three syllables – “Noh-o-ah.”
  10. Plenty of choices for kitschy quick fire challenges. Can’t you just picture a hotdish challenge, or  best dish on a stick?

I have more reasons, like I want to meet Tom Colicchio, but I’m going to save them because I have a small blog readership and the chance that this will hit big on the first shot is pretty slim.

So, stay tuned, and if you are a believer, help me get Top Chef to Minneapolis!  Who’s with me!?

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