Noel Coward's Brief Encounter at the Guthrie

This past Sunday night Paul and I went out for a lovely Sunday evening with Karl and Heather, Paul's Brother and sister-in-law. The night was a very thoughtful Christmas gift to the four of us from Paul's parents. We ate dinner at the Level 5 Cafe and then attended the show. We really, really enjoyed the play and the Guthrie sure is simply a great place for theater--we'd been to a concert there before in another theater, but not a play. The play was very well performed and it was also a semi-musical; I was not expecting this, so it added another dimension. There were some great special effects as well. We took time before the show to enjoy the weather on the Guthrie "deck" over the river and snapped a couple of pics. Thanks again Pat and Marv for the great gift!! Paul and I both commented we MUST get out to the Guthrie more often.

Best of the Best Party and Restaurant Week 2010

On President's Day we met up with our good friends Dawn and Julian Janes for our third annual trip to the Guthrie for the Mpls/St. Paul Magazine Best of the Best Party! What better way to sample many of the Twin Cities best restaurants for a mere $35/person, not to mention the featured wine and drinks. We had a great time!! The Best of the Best Party kicks off Restaurant Week every year, so we met up with Julian and Dawn again the follwing Friday at Jimmy's Food and Cocktails in Minnetonka! It was our first visit and we really loved every bit of food and drink that we ordered. We definitely plan to go back.

Chile Part 9: Santa Lucia

It seems as though there were fantastic unexpected surprises each day of our trip. Chile really is such a beautiful, diverse country and we couldn't have been more impressed, especially considering that we had less than 24-hours of planning before arriving! Our hearts and prayers go out to the people of Chile as they rebuild and struggle after this recent earthquake. On one of our last full days in Santiago we stumbled across Santa Lucia, an amazing park/monument. We found it to be one of the more beautiful and interesting spots on the trip. It was a winding series of steps and paths leading up a huge hill/mountain within the Park Metropolitano (in a different section of the park than San Cristobal which I posted pics about earlier). It was very hot that day, but we are so glad we did the climb!!

Chile Part 8: No vacation would be complete without a little shopping!!

We had a good time exploring both the traditional artisan market of Central Santiago as the artisan community of Los Dominicos as well as the luxury shopping district on Avienda de Cordova and many shops in between!! I am especially thrilled with the purchase of my traditional Chilean Pig Pot originating from the town of Pomaire Chile.

Chile Part 7: Becoming Gaston Acurio Groupies?

Paul and I think we may be groupies now--groupies for the fastest rising Celebrity Chef out of Lima, Peru. We first discovered Chef Gaston's amazing Peruvian Cuisine at his flagship Lima restaurant, the hip La Mar cebecheria peruana in Fall '08 during our trip to Peru and LOVED it!!! The food and the atmosphere! We were so excited when we learned of his decision to bring a bit of Peru to America last year, opening a La Mar on the wharf in San Francisco!!! During our trip to San Fran/Santa Cruz in October '09 we were able to have dinner and it was even more amazing than in Lima (perhaps because I could actually read the menu!!) While in Santiago we learned that Gaston has opened three restaurants in Santiago and we made it to two of them. We've now eaten at three of his La Mar restaurants and each one has been fabulous--they even had my favorite soda in the world, Inka Kola from Peru. An all around wonderful evening. Later on during the trip we ate at Tanta a new concept where we were able to sample yummy Chilean empanadas which were delicious and slightly unique compared to other empanadas I'd had before!!