Munchies

Some of my friends have been going to an almost monthly dinner for four years now.  Less a big gap for covid that started basically a day after I shipped home from Provide, Rhode Island from a business planning trip and sat away from others as it was an unknown at the time.  The crowd changes a bit here and there as kids and girlfriends and ex-girlfriends show up and people run into commitments.

The food isn't always good, but that generally becomes part of the lore.

I think my favorites have been Chimborazo and Mama Sheila's House of Soul, but we've been to a lot of my favorite places to eat including Christo's, Winzer Stube [RIP], Moscow on the Hill, and Peninsula.

All of us at Kasada for dinner last week.

A list of places we've been the last four year:

• January 2023 - New Years, McVays [Jen recovering from Total Knee Replacement]
• December 2023
• November 2023 [Kyle] - Caspian Bistro [although Kyle had to bail for Covid shot reasons and Ming/Julie were out]
• October 2023 [Matthew] - no munchies in October
• September 2023 [Larry] - Pad Thai [small group]
• August 2023 [Ming] - at Ming's house for his birthday, many many egg rolls.  Wild Orchid restaurant.
• July 2023 [Scott] - the Market at Malcolm Yards
• June 2023 [Ming] - Nanny's Jamaican
• May 2023 [Kyle] Ghorka, Nepali / Indian
• April 2023 [Matthew] - Cecil's Deli
• March 2023 [Larry]- Iwa Sushi in Inver Grove Heights. No Kyle.  Don't eat the ramen.
• February 2023 [Scott] - Little Szechuan Hotpot in St. Paul.  30 minutes before the double homicide down the street.  Larry got parked in, almost.  Hot Pot lung was a real issue [cough, cough, cough...].  Wow...the smell in my clothes, hair, and sweat when I got home.  Kyle, Lisa, Aeryn and I ordered just a bit too much food [way too much].
• January 2023 [Ming] - Kalsada’s Filipino food
• December - New Year’s at Scott and Jen's
• November 2022 [Kyle] - Yarusso Italian [Scott came back from Irvine CA for Alteryx]
• October 2022 [Matthew]  - Christo’s
• September 2022 - no munchies
• August 2022 [Ming] - Hai Hai
• July 2022 [Larry] - Chimborazo
• June 2022 - no munchies
• May 2022 [Scott] - The Mill Northeast
• April 2022 [Kyle] - Hola Arepo
• March 2022 [Ming] - Ngon Vietnamese.  Ming hopped the queue.
• December 2021 -[Kyle] - New Year’s.  Ming is in Hawaii
• October 2021 [Matthew] - Wiederholt’s Supper Club.  No Ming.  He got lost.
• September 2021 [Larry] - Guava’s Cuban Cafe
• August 2021 [Scott]....Cuban place by Brad lunch, El Cubano
• July 2021 [Kyle] - Buffalo, Forget Me Not Cafe [Dan’s memorial with Larry as well]
• June 2021 [Ming] - Donatelli’s [Italian, I think]
• HERE BE COVID
• March 2020 (Matthew) - Moscow on the Hill [Scott came back from Providence, RI for VP]
• February 2020 (Larry) - Beruit
• January 2019 (Scott) - Brasa (only Ming and Julie and Scott and Jen and Aeryn, St. Paul >> very, very cold)
• December 2019 (Ming) - Mama Sheila’s
• November 2019 (Kyle) - Sakura (St. Paul)
• October 2019 (Matthew) - Chimborazo (Columbian)
• September 2019 (Larry) - Mesob (Ethiopian on Hiawatha)
• August 2019 (Scott) - Apoy Phillipino Bistro
• July 2019 (Ming)- Mama Sheila’s Soul Food Kitchen [Buffet]
• June 2019 (Kyle) - Babani’s Turkish
• May 2019 (Matthew) - Winzer Stube German Restaurant
• April 2019 (Larry) - Adelita’s (Hispanic, Oz was there)
• March 2019 (Scott) - George and the Dragon [Brunch]
• February 2019 (Ming) -  City Afrique (Scott's family missed)
• January 2019 (Kyle) - Peninsula (Malaysian)

Sakura (and more)

We've been doing a monthly dinner event for almost a year now.  We've gotten around.  Tonight we went to Sakura in downtown St. Paul.  I had the Chriashi sushi - it's in the foreground.  K and L are eating primarily appetizers and rolls.  The food was good, although Kyle had the most positive things to say about the whiskey flight they tried before I got there and my sushi was better than Poot's salmon teriyaki, which looked like what you'd order if you didn't like sushi.  She did enjoy her dumplings.  I particularly liked them when I squeezed some orange on them (as in citrus, not simply the color) to complement the soy sauce.

Our historical venues:

• November 2019 (Kyle) - Sakura
• October 2019 (Matthew) - Chimborazo
• September 2019 (Larry) - Mesob (Ethiopian on Hiawatha)
• August 2019 (Scott) - Apoy Phillipino Bistro
• July 2019 (Ming)- Mama Sheila’s Soul Food Kitchen [Buffet]
• June 2019 (Kyle) - Babani’s Turkish
• May 2019 (Matthew) - Winzer Stube German Restaurant
• April 2019 (Larry) - Adelita’s
• March 2019 (Scott) - George and the Dragon [Brunch]
• February 2019 (Ming) -  City Afrique (Poot and I missed this one)
• January 2019 (Kyle) - Peninsula

Outside the restaurant someone had dropped their sushi roll.  Very sad.  I hope it wasn't the Zach Parise specialty roll.  And I assume they dropped it rather than flung it at the wall/ground in anger.


We also made it to the play "Towards Zero" by Agatha Christie this weekend, over at Theatre in the Round. Good play.  I really enjoyed the first 99%.  And then there was a weird Christie twist at the end that made it feel like a bit of a rom com.  The acting was great and her murder mysteries are fun. This one had the motto that the murder should occur at the end of the story.


Kyle gave me a birthday present, a bottle of Ohishi Whisky. 


And Joe gave me a birthday present.  Schematics for a keg and other brewery related items.  I'm going to ask my father in law to frame them for me.  They'll be really nice wall art.  My family got me a cast iron bank.  A dog.  I have a small collection, and it fits in nicely.  Poot says she picked it up in Wisconsin near the cheese shop while on her visit to a friend last month. No picture.  You'll have to trust it looks like a cast iron dog.