You might know that N and I spent about 12 years in L.A. and recently moved to Michigan. It’s not easy starting over with a new house, a new job (now on its third and final iteration thank you very much) and a new area that can have all 4 seasons in the span of a day (well, almost). Trying to build a friend network is hard. Weird thing is, that’s been the easiest about moving to the Sticks. And I wouldn’t even call these people friends. I’d call them family. In the span of a few years we’ve cultivated a pretty cool family here that we can rely on and–best of all–have fun with.
That’s not to say that we don’t also have a pretty damn good time with the family we were born into. Our recent trip to Minneapolis was proof that laughing should be considered a workout when you are laughing all the time. B.i.l. and his lovely lady J hosted us for a long weekend of delicious food, drink and fun. Oh Minneapolis you are such a foodie town.
The first night was drinks and then pizza. N and I were giddy because we’d heard all about Lola’s.
Lay off me, I’m starving!
We did not know that we’d have to wait almost 2 hours so when we finally got our booth, we ordered–no joke–5 pizzas (a GF for me!), the squash special, pizza oven roasted cauliflower, olives and for dessert: ice cream with EVOO and salt. Oh. Good. God. We had little in the way of leftovers and I could not wait to put on my yoga pants (AKA: expandable waist pants for the pizza belly I harbored) and sleep it off.
The next night was equally remarkable. Japanese sushi and robata grill? Yes please.
Happy and you know it. Ready to put away some major amounts of grilled business.
Even the drinks were pretty cool.
Of course I went for the pink citrusy drink with the gummy bear.
My B.i.l. is one happy dude.
And since the addition of J, he’s floating on air.
A sake toast.
Getting back from the ‘Sota we went from this:
Fall colors galore.
To this:
Snow and a very disgusting melting pumpkin ready for compost.
In the word of Clay Davis from the Wire: Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit!
You know you miss it.
I was so hoping for late snow this year and it was earlier than ever. Before we knew it Turkey Day was here.
Time for Turkey Day 2013
K and B hosted the Feast this year with the rest of our TC family.
Roasted to perfection.
Everyone brought a few dishes and we ended up with way too much delicious food.
K carving away with his electric knife.
The alcohol was flowing freely and so was the conversation.
J and N on Turkey Day.
The gravy was made, the turkey sliced and the potatoes out of the oven. One last photo op.
Some of our Turkey Day family members.
I made this:
Well composed plate.
E did this:
E’s Paleo Diet pic.
It was over too soon. But during dinner we had plenty of time to talk about plans for TC’s Little Fleet Pizza Night hosted by K of Pizzeria Dante.
K, N and THE Pizza oven.
They ended up making 22 pizzas. I got to serve ’em up in my Ramone’s tee while N got to dress the pies.
Pizzeria Dante’s sous chef.
This led up to a crazy pre-Christmas night with K and B that was comprised of copious amounts of guac and chips and K’s tasty chili while watching The Nightmare Before Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the real version) and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. And it’s been snowing, snowing, snowing.
The Foodbin 