Restaurant: Peninsula

I've been on a "I must try new restaurants" kick lately, so a friend and I sampled the new Malaysian place in town, Peninsula, last night. My only other experience with Malaysian food was very good: a place called Rasa Sayang in (of all places) Golden Valley, had a wonderful chef when they first opened. (Unfortunately but not surprisingly, the suburbanites never tried the place, or if they did, they did not take to it. Chef Chen left and the food just hasn't been the same since.) I've wanted to check out this new place ever since it opened in January.

Luckily, Peninsula opened in a part of town that gives it a good chance for survival. And after sampling the food and atmosphere, I'm confident in saying that its chances can be upgraded to excellent. We started off with Popiah, a Malaysian style steamed spring roll stuffed with jicama, egg & bean sprouts. The jicama and bean sprouts were tender and tasty.

For the main course, I tried Mango Chicken. Though not the most adventurous choice I could have made, it was wonderful to the sight and the taste. It was served in a hollowed-out mango shell and burst with fresh mango and sweet pepper. It was not designated as spicy, but I was pleasantly surprised that it had just the right amount of spice to give it a little heat. I also sampled my friend's Beef Redang, and it's wonderful combination of flavors made me want to return tonight! I don't expect much for atmosphere in ethnic restaurants, so the space was a surprising as well. The high ceiling and large room were balanced by warm, dark wood flooring and trim and just the right level of light. This combination made the space feel full of energy, yet intimate at the same time.

Restaurant: Morelos Mexican Grill

A friend and I sought refuge from the gray, rainy days that kept us from doing the Headwaters Ride this year, and found it in the margaritas and tasty food at Morelos Mexican Grill in Richfield. The restaurant is in a former Godfather's Pizza, but you can barely tell. I couldn't tell you whether the decor was authentic, but it was so bright I didn't care. Colorful blankets and other paraphenalia hung from the ceilings, and the bathrooms had rows of painted tiles and a what looked to be a hand-painted sink.

I only tried a combination tostada (w/carnitas), tamale (w/chicken), and enchilada (w/beef), but all were tasty. What impressed me most was how NOT greasy they were. I definitely want to go back and try some of the more adventurous items. The margarita was a little weak, but very flavorful.

Muzak!

I've been slowly and not very comprehensively working through the giant stack of un- or little-read New Yorkers in my apartment. I don't think The New Yorker has been as good as it was even a couple years ago, so I'm not feeling quite as guilty as I might have. At any rate, I just got done reading the April 10, 2006 article about Muzak. You may be surprised to know the company still exists and you probably heard Muzak today if you left the house.

For me, and most people I imagine, Muzak equals already overplayed pop songs, instrumentalized. The word automatically invokes an image of a 17-year old me at my part-time hardware store job, ringing up a toilet plunger and wasp spray as an instrumental "Papa Don't Preach" floats in the background.

Now Muzak "audio architects" create "audio brands" for many of the businesses you patronize. You may even hear it while you work if your employer is a corporate HQ. Anyone who's been to a mall knows at least some stores put thought into what music is playing. (Ambercrombie and Fitch's soundtrack is "Over 21? Keep out!") But way more do than you might have thought. Muzak even has a competitor, D.M.X.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Disgusting Cherry Flavor!

So I was just reading the latest CandyBlog post about Cherry Cordial Hershey Kisses. Cybele May finds them "dreadful" and "disgusting", but admits "one of the reasons I probably don’t like cherry is this medication they used to give kids to sedate them before surgery (I’ve had it twice) - it was bright pink and they’d bring it in a little paper cup and it smelled kind of appealing at first (that’s how they suckered me in, that and I hadn’t eaten in 12 hours) but once in the mouth it washed down my throat with a fire that made me distrust those nurses for the rest of that stay in the hospital and the next."

When I was young, I used to have to choke down cherry-flavored liquid Dramamine before car trips and more than once was subjected to cherry-flavored flouride treatment at my evil dentist (Dr. Sween--could there be a worse name for a dentist? It sounds like his drills did). Not until I was older did I realize that none of the flavors made the medicine stomachable. When I started asking for unflavored stuff, I realized that flavor actually made them worse. Unfortunately, I didn't discover that fact until after cherry-flavored sweets were ruined for me forever…popsicles, candy. I'm glad to learn I am not alone!

Book: Hit By A Farm

As you'll come to learn, I'm a huge reader. I finished Hit By A Farm by Catherine Friend this morning, a memoir by a Twin Cities writer who moved to southern Minnesota to help her partner fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a farmer. The book read quickly: a warm, funny series of vignettes from their first year of farming. What stood out the most was the authors' honesty. It was the exact opposite of those idealized paeans to nature for which the author expresses skepticism in the beginning of the book. She details the nitty-gritty of taking care of animals and very candidly reveals the strains this undertaking put on the author and her relationship with her partner. All while being absolutely hilarious.

She spoke at my library tonight, and was even more charming than I'd imagined she might be. She was asked how the small town of Zumbrota felt about the book, with it's frequent references to women's underwear and animal testicles and openness about her sexual orientation. She said the town was very supportive of her success with the book and related a story about the local book party that many townsfolk attended. A farmer in the community walked up to her partner Melissa during the party and told her how brave she was for allowing Catherine to reveal so much about their life. Melissa, of course, started thinking about her underwear size and she and Catherine's therapy sessions. But the man continued, "I would never have let anyone publicize that I had let a tractor's oil go dry!"

The Midtown Greenway

The Midtown Greenway is now open all the way to West River Parkway!




I thought it would be at least another 2 years... My friend and I rode it on a beautiful sunny Thursday afternoon. It's not the most scenic, but my friend pointed out that the other stretches weren't very pretty for at least a year, until folks realized they had an audience in their backyard! Good point. At any rate, it's so nice to be able to bike from my house to the Mississippi River on one smooth, car-free path!

Making the Switch

I love the new stuff you can do with Beta Blogger, so I'm makin' the switch. Since I can't figure out how to move my regular Blogger blog, I'll just link to it here.