Day 4. Mall of America

For a good time, go to the Mall of America. It's large, but you can get your work done there.

Case in point: we went to MOA with a mission, a list (for focus), and a dream. For mrguy, a camera. For me, shoes.

Although we did not encamerate, I did emerge with three pairs of shoes, two bras, festive socks, some corporate hottie pants that somehow say "I'm credible *and* I'm having a good butt day" cheese curds and a tummy full of crepe. Not bad, I say. This is magic that cannot happen at home.

At home I am afraid of department stores: both the crowds, and hometown body dysmorphia that causes me to bring smaller garments into the changing room than I can possibly coax over my husky carcass. Switch to vacation time and I don't know what it is...the relaxation, the beer, whatever, but I can almost do no wrong in the changing room. Just set me up in the Nordstrom Rack in the Mall of America and I'm good.

I'm clothed, fed, amused (heard an overhead announcement asking for a woman named "Page Turner") and resisted the lure of the people selling pet hermit crabs in a kiosk called "Crabs of Hawaii."

Day 3

I've decided that I'm not prepared to speak of the wonder of the state fair, so I'm skipping on to day three.

On day three we foraged for ourselves in the city.

First we went in search of grub. We were hoping to go to Cafe 38, which has connections to Surly Brewing, but it was closed. We went instead to Rice Paper Asian fusion. I didn't come here for the Asian food. I came here for the herring, but that's o.k. I'd eat my weight in the green onion tofu wrap dealie I ordered if the opportunity arose.



After lunch we saw something that made me wish I had cameras in my eyes. The cutest little man, wearing a green checked tam-o-shanter that was larger than his bottom. With a red striped t-shirt, red shorts, and two different lengths of dark socks with street shoes. Wow. I love people.

Then we went to pay a visit to the final resting place of Tiny Tim. Even before I picked up the uke I followed Tiny Tim. Read his book, bought 78's of performers he liked... I finally got to see him play at a rock club many years ago. Glad I did, although in my passion to get a good view I positioned myself at center front, he was one of those spitty performers, and it was a little icky. But brief. He played about four songs, most of them twice.

After the mausoleum, we went to two guitar stores and a record store. This is my idea of a supremely good time. Yes, I bought vinyl.

And then we had dinner with our people at The Craftsman, where I had this tasty but unphotogenic beverage:

The Results Are In, MN-Style

Enjoy!

Soogee-Moogee:
3) A nautical cleaning compound used for cleaning boats

Sunny Side Up:
1) After a woman working at a big city pickle factory gets stressed out, she moves to the countryside to relax

Balderdash, Minnesota-style

We've only played Balderdash with the Guy family in the past, but last night we branched out and played with a room full of wascally rambunctious academics. It compared rather favorably, I have to say ;)

Here's a sample of the night's fare:

Soogee-Moogee:
1) A British dessert based on a classical Indian sweet
2) A loan word from Chippewa for a type of corn grown in what is now Nebraska
3) A nautical cleaning compound used for cleaning boats
4) In golf, a swing that fails to hit the ball
5) A Korean condiment

Sunny Side Up
1) After a woman working at a big city pickle factory gets stressed out, she moves to the countryside to relax
2) A woman named Sunny falls in love with a man named Sunny and hilarity ensues
3) A swimming instructor whose in vitro fertilization is exposed in a Florida resort drowns in a yellow pool
4) Two waitresses from a cafe hit the road and find true love
5) Two young men on a road trip learn about love and pharmaceuticals
6) A small town waitress is forced to turn tricks on the side to make ends meet
7) A railroad magnate takes over a chicken farm, in this hilarious industrial age romp
8) On a hot day in Philadelphia, two young girls learn a valuable lesson from a trucker

And there you have it. A good time was had by all and I won Balderdash, but only because we played a half game.

Minnesota Here We Come

When a scholar and a painter work at home together deep in thought, blog names are born.

Routinely, our brother-in-law manages to frighten my sister by existing.

He’ll walk through a room in a house that he owns, in which a pensive woman he’s been married to for twenty-two years is deep in thought, and he’ll mysteriously manage to frighten her.

“It’s just me, the little man who lives in your house,” he’ll say, and they’ll both crack up. Joke never gets old.

This weekend we go to Minneapolis to visit MrsMiddleGuySis and The Little Man Who Lives In Her House.

Can’t wait.

Not to Bragg, but...

Last night at dinner with friends, we were talking about vegetarianism and other nutritional pursuits. Ms X mentioned "...that amino acid stuff. What's it called?"

And I whipped my camera out of my purse and turned to the the last photo on it. It was of this:



Yep. That's the stuff.

That may be my favorite reference question / answer ever.

Garden News

Like I said, I had blogging on the mind and things in the camera.

This is my all-time favorite canna, blooming this week. I think I got it at an estate sale in this very neighborhood before we ever lived here. It was winter. I asked if I could buy the withered cannas in the side yard. They said "How?" I said I'll dig them up with the spade in the potting shed. $5 bought me some kickin rhizomes of the most beeyootiful cannas ever. I don't know what they are, but I look forward to them every year.

Then I repatriated them, moving them from Little House by the Refinery to The City of Pride and Purpose.

Ice

I bought an ice cream maker, and this is my first production: Meyer lemon lavender sorbet. The next week I made pear sorbet, and I don't know what next.

Yum.

Gizzards

My gizzards are not right.

I realized this after lunch, when my stomach repeatedly made gurgling noises that reminded me of the time when I ate those Pringles with Olestra. "This can't be good," I thought. And I did not perk up, so I went home while I still had my wits about me. I felt *so* cruddy, but I figured I'd catch up on my blogging while I was in the weeds.

I sparked up the computer to tell mrguy that I got home safely and commence the blogging, but before I could even do that, his car was in the driveway and he was making a quick beeline for the restroom. He was roughly the color of raw beef, his eyes were bloodshot and he was only room temperature. Not so hot. Seeing him so sick, I really felt much better by comparison. We went to the doctor, got some antihistamines and an epi-pen, and called in sick to uke class.

For the record, I still feel like dooky. However I always did want to go through the drive-thru pharmacy, and now I share it with the world!!

Trouble in Sumoland

My sumo boyfriend is on the ropes, to mix sumo and boxing metaphors.

Asashoryu, the first yokozuna from Mongolia, called in sick with an injury and then went to Mongolia to play a charity soccer match. He was captured on a cel phone video playing soccer, taking some hits and enjoying himself.

When word got back to Japan, he was suspended and put under house arrest until November 25th. He's depressed, but won't seek treatment. Here's the story from one of the international papers. And this from sumotalkdotcom

What is it with my sumo boyfriends?

My first sumo boyfriend was Akebono, the first foreign yokozuna (aka, Chad Rowan from Waimanalo). I still have such a soft spot for him. He must be on the outs with everybody in sumo because he wasn't at the big sumo tournament in Hawaii this year. And only the dinkiest picture of him appears in the program. And the Hawaiian media pretty much ignored his absence, which seems odd.

Oh well I guess I just like bad boys.

Here he is recently on Guam radio

Sumo. L.A. 2008. Oh yeah!