My Friday Night: Blends and Spoon River

After work yesterday I made my way to downtown Minneapolis to meet up with my friends and fellow bloggers Katie and Becky. I always get excited about meeting up with these girls. Although we’ve only known each other for a short time, I feel so connected to them. Our conversations are always great, we laugh, we talk about life, blogging, food, etc. We always have an amazing time together and last night was no exception.

Becky poured me a glass of chilled white wine upon arrival of course. ๐Ÿ™‚ Like she says, if you come over, she’ll always keep your glass full of wine.

wine

The only thing about this get together was that it was a little bittersweet. Becky will soon be moving to Chicago, so this was our Bon Voyage get together. It was more sweet than bitter however because for one, I am thrilled for Becky and this new chapter in her life, and two, Chicago really isn’t very far away; a quick plane ride or a five-hour car ride. It’s no big deal. Now we have more of a reason to go out to Chicago. We’re already starting to plan for our trip out there!

Last night we headed over to Spoon River for dinner which is “aย restaurant in Minneapolis committed to the advancement of organics, the support of local growers and serving the freshest, most delicious food possible.” sourceย  Sounds amazing right? Well, it was.

spoon river

I ordered the vegetarian special for the night which was zucchini stuffed with ricotta, goat cheese, and kalamata olives, roasted bell peppers, roasted eggplant, green beans, and a quinoa pilaf. Oh my goodness everything was fabulous; so full of flavor and incredibly fresh. Go eat there now!ย  spoon river

The company with dinner was pretty fab too. ๐Ÿ˜‰

becky katie melanie

 

We sat outside and enjoyed the perfect evening.

For dessert I enjoyed two homemade bars: a Special K bar from Katie and a cookie dough bar from Becky (recipe to come!). Both were sinfully delicious. I felt bad I didn’t have any bars to contribute!

We said our good-bye’s at the end of the evening but as I always say, “it’s not good-bye, it’s see you later.” I can’t wait to see you gals again soon. I love you both!

The remainder of the evening was spent cozied up in my sweats and laughing at this guy who thought it was a good idea to dissect his toy…

Moose

He looks a little suspicious if you ask me. What’s that hanging from his tongue? ๐Ÿ˜‰

I still have some crazy fun things to share with you from this past week, but I need a little more time to put it all together! Be on the lookout next week!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Continue Reading My Friday Night: Blends and Spoon River

Sweet Friends, Decadent Desserts, and Free Wine

Hi my friends! I don’t usually post on Sundays but I have had such an amazing last couple of days and I can’t wait to fill you in. Does the post title intrigue you?

On Friday I got dolled up after work for a friend’s wedding. I was so happy that the weather actually held up and ended up being beautiful and partly sunny when the evening rolled around.

wedding ready

My hair actually looks pretty long in that photo. It’s hard to believe I had about five inches chopped off of it! I’m starting to like the cut more and more.

On Saturday morning, Dana, Moose, and I hit the neighborhood for a five-mile run. This was our test run to determine if we were ready to run in a 10k next weekend. Well guess what? We passed our test. The run went pretty well and we have officially decided to run in a 10k next Saturday! The registration is complete so there is no turning back now.

Next on the agenda was a meet-up with Becky and Katie, a couple of my fellow blogger friends. We met at a local Caribou coffee where we sipped on our coffee, chatted about life, new adventures, and of course, our blogs. There is so much to know and learn about blogging and it is so incredibly nice to have friends to bounce ideas off of.

coffee with blends

I have a few new projects I would like to work on with the blog this upcoming week. The girls definitely got the wheels spinning with some great ideas!

Our date continued at Patisserie 46 off of Grand in Minneapolis. They are well known for beautiful desserts, fresh bread and pastries, ice cream, but they also offer savory menu options like pizza, quiche, cheese plate, and paninis.

I pretty much freaked when I walked in this place. Cue the angelic music.

patisserie 46

Yes, these are all real and edible. Isn’t it unbelievable?

patisserie 46

We all snapped photos, drooled over the decadent beauties, and contemplated our dessert decisions for what seemed like eternity.

I decided on the “Rory” which is caramel mousse, vanilla cream, sable breton (don’t ask me what that is), salted caramel, and pecan nougatine. Sounds pretty fancy, right?

patisserie 46

It was a work of art…almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

patisserie 46

I savored every bite of it’s decadence. It was creamy and caramely and just sooooo good. I also bought a peanut butter and chocolate chunk cookie home to share with Dana. It was pretty good, but not as good as the Rory.

The main reason we went to Patisserie 46 was to meet up with the wonderful Teresa, who is one of the owners of Famiglia Meschini wines. This family-owned company manages a vineyard in Mendoza, Argentina which is where Teresa’s husband, Eugenio is from. He grew up in a wine-making family, and his passion for wine only progressed over the years. Teresa is equally passionate. Eugenio, along with Teresa, their family and other extended family members, own and run this growing business.

To read more about the family and their story, check it out here: Famiglia Meschini.

Teresa brought four different wines for us to divide among ourselves and taste. She also mentioned getting together again in the future to do more of a complete taste testing. We were all about that idea! We were all excited to meet her, hear about the wine and her company, and of course, we were all happy to get free wine!

Teresa FM wine

FM wine with blends

***Love these girls!***

After our sugar rush, we parted ways…

I’m not one to have a drink very often, but when I do, it’s almost always a glass of red wine, so I made sure to take one of the reds home to try. The one I got was the Pinot Noir which is made from grapes from Chile (they work with another vineyard in Chile).

FM wine

Dana and I had a quiet night on Saturday so we decided to crack open the bottle while we played an exciting game of Yahtzee. We have pretty crazy Saturday evenings. ๐Ÿ™‚

FM wine

FM wine

yahtzee

We both enjoyed the Pinot Noir. It isn’t usually our first choice of reds (we usually go the cab sauv route or red zin), but this was a very pleasant, subtle, and smooth wine and we both liked it quite a bit.

I am excited to try some of the other blends too! If you’re local and what to try some of this lovely wine for yourself, you can click here to find a store nearest to you: Wine Locator.

(In case you were wondering, I beat Dana in Yahtzee). ๐Ÿ˜‰

It was an absolutely fantastic Saturday!

Thank you Teresa for meeting up with us! Can’t wait to work with you again in the future, and ladies, can’t wait to see you again!

Continue Reading Sweet Friends, Decadent Desserts, and Free Wine