North Shore Weekend

My cousin Kara got married this past weekend up on Minnesota's "North Shore" of Lake Superior. The weather was perfect - sunny, nice breeze, not hot or humid. I've only been that far north for skiing at Lutsen Mountain and have always wanted to see everything in the summertime. It was a great 3-day weekend, so having to come back to a hectic and busy lifestyle was really tough.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Back on Saturday I said that all the rain is good because the earth needs it. Well, apparently it doesn't need 18 inches of it in four hours - causing massive damage, injuries and casualties from flooding in SE Minnesota. What really perplexes me is that parts of the state are still suffering from drought...go figure.

It's Raining!

Well, it has been raining on and off pretty much all day...and for the last hour or so it has been coming down pretty nice. Why is this a good thing? Because we've had a really dry summer so far and the farm kid in me knows that our good earth needs it.

...and that's the truth! *thbbbt*

Smells Like Meat

After about 10 days of procrastinating, I finally decided it was time to get out the dehydrator and make some beef jerky. We're doing double batches now (2 lbs of ground beef) as it doesn't last long. It's a great snack and isn't all that bad for you...well, except the salt part. Our house now smells like cured meat - and in about two hours we'll have something to show for it. I use my friend Keith's recipe and then tweak it just a bit to make mine a little different - yum!

The Weekend

The wife went to Florida with her mom, dad, sister, niece and nephew to have some fun in the sun. They also went to Disney World. Me? Well, I decided to stay here. I've been to Disney World in the past 1.5 years (our honeymoon) and it's still "right there" in my mind. Maybe in another year or two I'll be ready to hang out with the mouse & the duck. ;)

I spent the weekend hanging out with friends, mostly. Friday night I stayed in. On Saturday, Kurt and I watched the Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire. Saturday night I went to an old haunt (Moose Country) for dinner with friends and to catch up with Diane, a college friend/ex-roomie who had come up for Renae's baby shower. Kurt and Julie, their daughter Abbie, Todd and Renae, myself, and Diane had a great time watching Abbie as she dipped her fingers in Ranch dressing.

Kurt & Julie had to put Abbie to bed, so the rest of us opted to rent a movie (300) and watch it on Todd & Renae's new huge flat-panel television. Way-cool...now I want one. =) On the way there, I gave Diane a tour of downtown Minneapolis. She took a lot of pictures by sticking her camera out of the sunroof (like the one in this post). We also drove by the infamous bridge that collapsed on 35W. You can get pretty close by driving down University on the north side of the river. The whole thing is still pretty eerie, maybe I'll go back when it's light out.

I surprised the heck out of Nate by showing up at his bar on the way home from the movie. I like doing that, it keeps him guessing. *evil grin*

Friday Lunch with Friends

Yesterday I met up with Heather, Gwen and Ben for lunch at Sorrento Cuccina. It's this really great family-owned Italian place in the downtown Minneapolis skyway system. You get a lot of delicious food on the cheap, which is always a good thing.

I had the Sorrento Chicken, one of my favorites - but this time I got it with roasted potatoes and vegetables. Hey, you have to eat sort of healthy, right? =) They also have these really yummy breadsticks that have pepperoni bits inside.

Thanks to Heather for the great idea and to the others for a great end-of-week lunch! This could easily start becoming a traditional thing...