Long time no blog!
Sorry for my recent absence, but this weekend was a crazy moving weekend! The good news: I'm all moved in! The bad news: I haven't cooked in days. Moving entailed a lot of long days and lots of money spent on eating out. On Thursday night, a group of friends helped me say goodbye to 2100 Grand for the last time. After living there for two years it was a bit sentimental, but I'm sure the next residents are in store for a great time. We headed over to uptown and unpacked my 16 ft. moving truck. We were able to get everything in and most of the furniture put together.
This is the 16ft moving truck I rented!
After cleaning my old apartment for 3 hours on Friday morning, I had my final walk through and was ready to unpack all my boxes! Dan and Sarah came over and we unpacked every last box (including my entire closet- oh vey do I have a lot of clothes!). Although there were a few kinks in the process, having to exchange our cable box, having missing couch pieces from Ikea, Damian's car not fitting in the garage, losing the keys to the Penske truck and returning it a day late, it all worked out in the long run. Yes you read that right, I lost the keys to the moving truck an hour before it needed to be returned, had a new key made, returned it a day late, and didn't pay a penny extra. I guess I can thank my great persuasive phone skills from working at the phone center for so long. I did manage to snag a recipe from Saturday nights dinner at Damian's parents house. This meal was delicious so I will have to try it sometime.
Thai Noodle Salad
What you need:
-1 pound linguine
Sauce:
- 3 tablespoons minced basil
- 1/4 cup minced fresh spearmint
- 8 ounces coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger root
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/4 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
- 2 tablespoons minced scallions
Vegetables:
Choose any of the following equal 4 cups:
- small carrots, julienne 1 inch long
- asparagus spears, cut into 1 1/2 inch lengths
- red bell peppers, cut into 2 inch strips
- snow peas, cut in half
- green peas or snap peas
- mung bean sprouts
- scallions
- sliced water chestnuts
Garnish:
- lime wedges
- peanuts, roughly chopped
- cilantro (optional)
Cook the linguine in plenty of boiling salted water, drain and let cool completely. While it is cooking, make the sauce. In a bowl, combine all the sauce ingredients and mix well. Prepare the veggies and set aside in a separate bowl. Drop veggies into bowling water and cook until barely tender. Combine the noodles, veggies, and sauce. Refrigerate until cool, then serve. You may need to readjust the seasoning before serving because the noodles absorb flavor pretty fast. Add garnish before serving.
We served it with grilled salmon topped with salt pepper and mint.
It was dark by the time we ate- sorry for the bad lighting!
Lu really wanted a bite of the fish.
I also wanted to share with you one of the restaurants we ate at on Sunday! I've been here a few times and it is honestly one of the most authentic Mexican restaurants in the twin cities. If you have a few minutes and your near lake street, check out Los Ocampo's Mexican restaurant. You can eat in or grab food to go, either way you wont be disappointed.
I had the steak tacos with a side of chips and salsa.
Damian had the Burrito (he claims its bigger then Chipotle) with a side of chips and guac.
After helping Brian and Sam move in on Monday we headed to Barrio for a few drinks and appetizers. I have probably eaten at Barrio 10 times and have never ordered a bad dish. Since Brian and Sam moved downtown its just a short walk from about 100 restaurants and beautiful patios.
Gotta love happy hour Margaritas!
We headed over to Masa for a second round of Margaritas. Hey, we had to celebrate Labor day somehow!
I had the mango margarita!
It did not take much convincing from Brian to share the churros with him! (My love for churros is unreal)
Woof that was a long post! Hope you had a great holiday weekend. Back to somewhat normalcy for me-- hopefully involving recipes from my new kitchen.
