What to Eat Wednesday

Next up on my What to Eat Wednesday we go to St. Paul, Minnesota. The capital of Minnesota. It's a nice city. Beautiful and quiet. Old trees, old houses, yummy food. 

One of my favorite places in the Twin Cities to eat is Babani's. It is thought to be the first Kurdish restaurant in the country. I don't know if that is true but I do know the food is very aromatic, warm and unique. Some of the dishes seem to be a lighter version of Indian food. My favorites are the lentil soup, Niskena, the Kurdish bread, the Kurdish lemonade made with black lemons and the Garbanzo Bean Shilla with chickpeas that melt in your mouth.

What to Eat Wednesday

So, I am going to start regularly featuring subjects. I started last week with Friday now being CatDay. Now Wednesdays will be about food. What to Eat Wednesdays will be either a place to eat or a recipe to make at home. I am going to start with a place I ate at 4 times on a vacation about a month and a half ago simply because it was so great and so was the staff- they deserve any attention they get. 

The place in question is Green Vegetarian in San Antonio, Texas. I was in Texas for 7 days and ate here 4 times and also stopped to buy a dozen cupcakes for a family gathering. The entire bakery is vegan and wonderful. I spoke with the resident baker one day and not only is she talented, she is super cool. I wish I'd taken her picture. She also makes vegan dog treats. 

Vegan breakfast seems to be the hardest meal to find in restaurants. I was very pleased to have breakfast at Green twice and it was amazing both times. My favorite was the Vegan Migas which was a combination of tofu scramble with tortilla chips and refried black beans.

I do hope if you ever have the chance you'll stop by Green. The staff was very nice and had no problems with you asking a million questions. For other suggestions on where to eat when traveling check out Veg Guide. It is a website that has been an invaluable resource for me the last 10 years of traveling. 

Have a cupcake filled day!

Catday

I have decided that I will no longer acknowledge Fridays. They will now be Catday and will be filled with the billions of cat pictures I have taken over the years and will continue to take. Here is your first installment.

The San Antonio Zoo, your daily dose of cute

It's hard to explain how I feel about zoos sometimes. I wish they didn't exist but I know some creatures and plants have only survived because someone cared enough to put them in a zoo. And of course, there's also the fact that I was taken on four first dates in a row to the zoo when I would tell people I was a vegetarian. So there's that too. The San Antonio Zoo is a place that has been working for animal conservation for a long time. I am glad that there are kind and dedicated people who take care of these wonderful creatures.

To the Land of Make Believe

I love going to the Mn Renaissance Festival. It seems to be getting more and more popular too. People dress up to the nines! I can't believe the shopping there either. It's impossible not to leave with some sort of fun, gorgeous little trinket. It so fun to wander and see what's about.

Happy Birthday!

I am having a birthday very soon and one way to celebrate is to have a coupon code running in my shop. It's 25% off your entire purchase. All you need to do is is enter code: BDAY25 in the coupon field upon checkout and it will be deducted. The offer is good until Oct. 23rd. Thank you Thank you! I love having a birthday, I'm so grateful for so many things!

I would very much appreciate it if you stopped into my shop and had a look around!

~~~~~~Have a Wonderful Day~~~~~~

The Early Days

I’ve taken on the daunting task of organizing my iPhoto library for many reasons, including being able to have an entirely separate library for jewelry photos for my ETSY shop. As I’ve been going through them, all 35,000 + I’ve come across old memories as well as pictures from the start of my jewelry crafting. Little things really. Simple pieces that gave me great joy to create and shipped many off to new homes or gave as gifts to the people I love. It’s fun to see what things have changed or how some of the things are the same except more well defined. I'll say this, I’m so happy that I have better cameras and know more about lighting.  I continue to learn to light better and understand photography, especially when I live somewhere like Minnesota where the weather can be very dark for many days, I’m more and more pleased how my things turn out. 

Here’s some past pieces. I’ll share more of them on my Facebook page as well. Have a great day!

San Antonio Museum of Art

Going through many, many pictures. Here are some favorites from the art museum from my visit in September.

The SAMA showcases a lot of Hispanic and Latin art. Including lots from the immediate region. I never pass up a chance to go to an art musuem.

San Antonio Botanical Garden

I recently went to Texas and visited many cool places in the city of San Antonio. Starting with the San Antonio Botanical Garden. I took A LOT of pictures because there were so many unusual plants to see, touch and smell. It's a great, well-kept place to visit. I highly recommend it. Now for a whole bunch of pictures!

Batcave!

OK, so the bats weren't really there. I did see one but, they do live there in the winter....oh where? That would probably be a good thing to tell you. In Crystal Cave in Wisconsin. So after hiking in Northern Wisconsin earlier this summer and learning that some of the rocks and land here are the oldest in the world, I made up my mind to explore more. This place is about an hour from my home and offers a tour that goes 70 feet under the surface to show you a bit about the geological wonders that is the midwest! ;o) Plus, it was 50 degrees underground which was a very nice break from the August heat!

Parley Lake Winery

As my exploration of Minnesota Wineries continues, I find that I am surprised how each seems to be a different experience. My visit to Parley Lake Winery included seeing llamas, tractor rides, a band and someone making pizzas in the back of an old fire truck(which I didn't get a picture of...boo!) I might add the Frontenac wine=YUM. I also very much enjoyed all the white wines they made. I seem to like white wine in the summertime quite a bit.

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

This past weekend I went and spent the day at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. It is in Chanhassen, MN. A little town about 45 minutes from where I live in the city that was recently on the list of best small towns in America. It is a very pretty area with green as far as the eyes can see and it is of course, home to the arboretum. Which is a HUGE and beautiful place. There were no fewer than 6 weddings being set up there on Saturday. Totally understandable as each area is like walking into a different sort of fairy tale. We took a lunch and a camera and ran around the grounds. They are setting up the new scuplture garden and there was also an art crawl. I do like to pretend I am in another world on occasion(that occasion is not really very rare) as that is just the sort of fruit cake I am. But it really is worth a visit. If nothing else you can exhuast your children out there. Bring water and you can mostly certainly get a tremendous work out by walking the grounds. But they also offer tours for those who prefer a more leisurely way.

Westwood Hills Nature Center

One of my absolute favorite things about Minnesota is nature is everywhere. You can live in the city but within a mile not feel like you do. Hidden away just a few miles from my home and just off a highway is the Westwood Hills Nature Center. A little green gem in the midst of a busy neighborhood. It's an easy hike around the lake. It's quiet and full of birds and dragonflies. So when you've had "one of those days," you can head over there for a bit of peace.

Random Happy Pictures

Some random shots from my phone of happy things the last week or so!

Cocktails at the Castle

It's something of a secret that Minnesota has lots of old homes and mansions of historical value. There were a lot of business pioneers who took up residency here and built impressive and artistically significant homes throughout the Midwest.  One of my favorites is the American Swedish Institute in the Turnblad Mansion. It's even been visited by the King and Queen of Sweden. 

Recently, they have been host to monthly parties and I got to attend one. It was pretty great and the night was lovely. They had food, drinks, music, Swedish glass blowing demonstrations as well as the Swedish game Kubb.

Magical Minnesota

When it gets warm in the Twin Cities, people garden like mad. They are fantastic at it here. I think Minnesotans have a special appreciation for growing things since we live without them for so many months out of the year. One of the best examples of the green thumbs that abound is the Lyndale Rose Gardens. This place is magical. The whole area is beautiful most of the year but boy, when those roses bloom there's nothing like it here!