weekend report: march 15-16

Friday: My weekend started early on Friday, when the pub team cut out of the office for lunch and the Parade of Homes. We tour Parade homes semi-annually for inspiration and to see a more three-dimensional rendering of the blueprints with which we spend our days. Plus it’s a fun and easy way to do some team building. In past years we have visited homes in the northeast, southeast, and southern parts of the Twin Cities, so it was fitting that we would travel west to Plymouth and Wayzata for the spring Parade.

The first two homes we toured were part of a large development, built by Lennar, the Twin Cities’ largest builder. These homes had standard layouts with square footage ranging from 2,845 to 3,233 s.f., placing them firmly in the “move-up” category. Some of the nice details included cherry cabinetry, granite countertops in the kitchen, and a two-way fireplace shared by the family room and the living room. Homes in this category start at $600,000, which seemed to be incredibly overpriced.

The last two homes on our trip were massive, gorgeous luxury homes built by Hickory Fine Homes. I must say that while each of these homes was beautiful, they were a bit over the top, starting at $1.5 million. One home was a basically a large “barn,” with a series of gambrel roofs. Continuing the barn-theme inside, the Great Room had an incredible vaulted ceiling with massive support beams. The kitchen’s was vast. Both rooms open onto each other and shared a view of a small lake. The laundry room, five bathrooms, kitchen, and lower-level bar each had countertops from a unique slab of granite. The lower level also sported a basketball half-court and a climate-controlled wine cellar. Oooolala.

In general, the homes were really well staged, which always inspires me to conquer clutter and pay attention to the details in my own home, which, if I do say so, has very nice bones.

John and I took the boys to see Horton Hears a Who, which I found to be a near-perfect adaptation. I’m always amazed at how a fifty-page children’s book can be stretched to fill eighty minutes onscreen. In between the computer-animated jungle and Whoville scenes, there was a neat homage to the hand-drawn art of Dr. Seuss that will satisfy the Seussian among us.

Saturday: Made Bittman’s quick and easy waffles (How to Cook Everything has the best, uncomplicated breakfast recipes). John and I worked in our bedroom, folding the mountains of clothes and sorting through the detritus the ends up there on a daily basis. John took the boys to Minnehaha Falls for a hike with friends while I enjoyed some time for myself. First I hauled a couple buckets of paint and cement sealer to the county household hazardous waste site. The cement sealer, which had been stacked between two other containers for at least three and a half years, started leaking last week. So I bagged them as best I could without actually touching the ooziness, and with thoughts of Pa Ingalls and Mr. Edwards treacherously hauling nitroglycerin to Mankato in their horse-drawn wagon, I transported the containers very, very carefully to the dump. Then treated myself to a cafe mocha at Dunn Brothers while I read Omnivore’s Dilemma in anticipation of book group this coming Thursday.

Finally, the evening of our dinner reservation at one of Minneapolis’ hottest new restaurants, Heidi’s, had arrived. John and I shared our four-top with Tracy and Bill, who had just returned from a month in Mexico. We started at Tracy’s for aperitifs (a chateauneuf du pape and a tempranillo accompanied salumi from Salumi and some treats from Premier Cheese Shop—lomo, roquefort, and an Irish cow’s milk soft-ripened cheese).

Heidi’s is a tiny space that looks posher online than in real life, but it’s still a lovely space. Even though we arrived late, we were still greeted by a slight backup, which gave us time to chat with Frank, the zany front-of-house guy. Chef Stewart Woodman’s food was phenomenal. I started with the fingerling potatoes enrobed in a grainy mustard and cornichon-studded raclette sauce and topped with frizzled leek strips—an elegantly reconstructed take on the French apres-ski treat. We drank a Gruner Veltliner Gmork with our starter. My main was off the menu: lobster in pureed parsnips and a ginger reduction of some sort. Sublime. We drank a French pinot noir with our main courses. I’m still thinking about Tracy’s beet ravioli with a whisper-thin wrapper surrounding a beet slice (rather than a puree), nestled into a truffle foam. John’s Australian sea bass was crispy on the outside and soft inside in the way we’re never able to cook fish at home. The table split a chocolate cake with espresso ice cream that was, hands down, the best dessert I’ve had since 112’s tres leche cake. I cannot wait to go back to Heidi’s, and you should march there as soon as you can.

Sunday: Yoga was cancelled so what better alternate than a pastry breakfast at Bread & Chocolate with the guys, who, afterward, very politely indulged me in a trip to Garden of Eden. Later, Simon and I snuck out for ice cream at Izzy’s (Irish moxie [coffee base with Jameson whiskey, oreos, and heath bars] and a Guiness izzy); then stops at Cheapo’s (looking for Carbon Silicone, Mick Jones’s latest project) and the library. We spent a lazy afternoon around the TV. I got to read for an hour or so while John watched Tiger Woods win the Arnold Palmer Invitational. We met friends at the St. Paul Curling Club for dinner and watched our friends Colin and Dave curl. Their four-person curling team advanced out of the semifinals for their league’s championship. John and I stayed up late, hanging out in the studio and working on our computers. Such an awesome way to end a good weekend.