Sir Grump Munch

December 02, 2004

Thanksgiving in Minnesota

Hello friends, it's been a good week around here, but a cold sonofabitch. I suppose it's that time of year and this is the midwest, after all.

The main reason for the update is to let you know that I've posted a gallery of photos from our trip to Minnesota over the holiday weekend. A good friend of Vanessa's from work was getting married in St. Paul and Vanessa's parents live in Afton, 15 miles east, so we stayed with them for the weekend. They have a gorgeous old farmhouse that they've re-done themselves over the course of the last 20 years. It's well-insulated, comfortable and handsome. No goddamn vinyl siding there. I've always liked Vanessa's dad Pete, but when I found out that we share a profound hatred for the blight of vinyl siding in this country, I knew my girl was a keeper. I helped him and his nephew Nick install some windows in the garage they're building...it a great feeling to pound nails, to hell with doing this computer shit for a living...

Thanksful for: I got to see Kiyo and Ulli in Minneapolis, as well as meeting Vanessa's friends Kyle and Michael who I'd heard so much about. Got to walk around Nicollet, excuse me, "Eat Street" all by my lonesome on a cold and rainy day, surveying the scene and making notes with the camera for posterity. Ate some good food (but not enough), saw an art show, stopped at the Hard Times Cafe to look for Sunshine and get some AMAZING vegan baked goods on the cheap, crossed paths with good friends in Madison, and even took a quick, off-season, nighttime cruise through those Wisconsin Dells. Great stuff all around.

Regrets: Didn't get to connect with Ryno (went to MI for the holidays), or Keiko (don't seem to have current contact info, or she's avoiding me, one or the other), or the Champs at CSA including Todd, Chuck, Dimmel, Laurie and Eric; didn't get to eat at Kihn Do, the Village Wok, Vo's, Harry Singh's, Little Tijuana, Seward, Fujiya, and a few dozen other places that I miss. Didn't stop at Sexworld. Couldn't make it to Cafetto to see Brent. Didn't walk the hallowed halls of MCAD.

Disappointments: Lots of ugly-ass condos being built in the old neighborhood. The MIA/MCAD/CTC buildings keep giving birth to bastard offspring in the name of expansion. Lastavich's white house, the target of many tossed lunchtrays, was just a spot in the grass. I realized I didn't do a very good job of documenting the neighborhood when I lived there. I suppose it WAS pre-digital-camera. You never realize what you missed until it's gone, or changed (and you're not sure exactly how it used to be because your memory sucks). That pizza place in Lynlake with the bluegrass changed its sign to something shitty and new, as did the dive bar on Lake St. that I featured in my mortion graphics project. Strudel & Nudel had closed (see notes among my photos for relevance of this fact). Mr. Sindbad apparently doesn't work at Sindbad's anymore, he's back in Iraq...I hope he's okay. I didn't get to see Sunshine, and apparently he hasn't been around the HTC for quite a while.

Affirmations: Many of the things I cherished about the city are virtually unchanged, and some are even better. HTC has better vegan baked goods than anywhere in Chicago, and much cheaper. I would've killed to have the Spyhouse instead of that sleazy corner store while at MCAD. Sindbad's spinach pies are amazing, and the nice woman still works there. Truong Thanh market hasn't changed a bit in 5 years, same smell, same cashier, herbalist and everything. The neighborhood is still the same healthy, beautiful place I remember, more or less. Yes, I realize that "you can never go home again," but these things warm my icy heart.

Posted by pj at December 2, 2004 12:21 AM