For my birthday, I visited my best friend from high school + her fiance in St Paul / Minneapolis. In a perfect celebration of my making it around the Sun one more time, we ate a lot of flour-based food. And went to the Mall of America. What more could you want?
![Vreniki from Moscow on the Hill](http://andcuriously.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/0519_vareniki.jpg)
Started the trip off with these little potato and cheese filled dumplings. Topped with sour cream because why not. The Russians are a people who understand me. And yes, I did eat all of them.
![Izzy's ice cream](http://andcuriously.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/0519_izzys.jpg)
Look at the cute little scoop! At Izzy’s, you get a tiny scoop on top of your normal scoop, which perfect for me, because I always want to try more flavors. The best part of this — when I got to the bottom of the cone, I found a chocolate malt ball sitting down there, presumably to keep the ice cream from dripping out. I shrieked like a child, “There’s chocolate in here!” It sort of reminded me of those Japanese soft drinks that have a marble in the neck of the bottle.
![Tower of toast from The Bachelor Farmer](http://andcuriously.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/0519_tbftoast.jpg)
In the background, you can see the special dishware they have to hold pieces of toast (and also Phil’s arm, hi Phil). It’s beautiful. We topped with fish in a creamy sauce and a variety of spreads including fresh ricotta, toasted seeds, and jam. I could basically eat this all day.
![Popover from The Bachelor Farmer](http://andcuriously.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/0519_tbfpopover.jpg)
I’m devoted to popovers. And I finally tried some ramp (in the background)! I’ve basically been scouring Bay Area farmers’ markets for years trying to find it… who knew I just had to go to the Midwest?
![Lobster and egg bruschetta from Bar La Grassa](http://andcuriously.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/0519_blgbruschetta.jpg)
This was as good as it sounds. All soft and savory and a little truffley. You can see the chunks of cream cheese in the foreground. Oh my God. I want another one. I have to move on because I am literally drooling.
![](http://andcuriously.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/0519_blggnocchi-231x300.jpg)
Pillowy and rich and bright from citrus. I love pasta! Bar La Grassa offered half portions of pasta, which was perfect, because we could try a bunch of them.
We ate much more (of course), but these were the only even moderately acceptable photos… maybe I should get a real camera. We also watched an entire season of Scandal, which I consider a great achievement.
Thanks, Victoria and Phil for a wonderful visit!