Sometimes all you really need to unwind is a day trip. Week long vacations involve lots of planning and packing. A day trip can be decided on the spot and only requires a tank of gas and the support from your in laws to watch your dog. Justin and I took this past week of from work. We had thought about taking a vacation but in the end decided it was a good idea to save some money. Justin suggested on Wednesday that we drive to Duluth on Friday. I’ve only been there once (last spring) I remembered that I really enjoyed the lake views and all the beautiful flowers we saw.

When we hopped in the car Friday morning there was no question as to where we would be heading when we got to Duluth… New Scenic Cafe. We LOVED this place last year and have been wanting to go back. I was impressed that some of the same stuff was on the menu this year (no reason to change a good thing).
Here are some of our lunch pictures.

Appetizer: Artichoke Slather

Salad: Roasted Beet Salad

Entree: Lobster Bisque

Justin and I were joking before we ordered that he always orders the same thing at restaurants. He told me he was going to try something new and order the Prime Rib Dip. After we ordered I remembered I had blogged our trip last year. Anyways the point of my story is I looked at my previous entry while we were waiting for our meal and I found out that Justin ordered the same sandwich for lunch. (So… I did not snap a picture of his sandwich) He did want me to tell y’all it was just as good as last year.

Here are some links to some other spots we checked out while in Duluth.

1. Cooter Pottery
2. Blue Heron Trading Company
3. Duluth Kitchen Company

Happy Weekend!

Erica

What a great weekend! My mom came in town and we celebrated her birthday this past weekend. I jam packed the weekend with a couple of surprises, a couple meals out and one home cooked dinner.

Here’s what I learned this weekend:

Sometimes the best gift is a chance to be pampered. I could not get over the look on my mom’s face when I surprised her with facials at Spalon Montage on Friday afternoon. I didn’t snap any photos but just trust me. This was heavenly from the comfy terry cloth bathrobe to the warm neck pillow and the chance to wait by a glowing fireplace. The ambiance that they create there is a great experience. I can’t wait to book my next appointment.

Birthday dinners are a blast when you try a new restaurant with an inclosed rooftop. I can’t get over the view from Union Rooftop. I was just as impressed with the food too. My mom continued to rave about the pumpkin ravioli she had the next day.

The scallops I had at Union.

Wuollet’s Bakery shocks me every time I order a personalized cake from them. They are truly some of the most talented cake decorators. I went in a week before and ordered my mom’s birthday cake. I am crazy and gave them some very detailed instructions of how I wanted it decorated. The end result was perfection and it tasted really yummy too!

The final thing I want to share with all of you is that after 6 years of trying I finally made a delicious brisket last night. The only problem…. My mom was here to help me.

I have no idea why all of my dinner is smushed to one side of the plate. My presentation skills were slacking a bit last night.

Smiles,
Erica

When I started to write this post I thought for a second about coming up with a cute name for the title but… Then I decided a place like this that is sooo good does not need the title it can truly stand on its own.

Cafe Levain has been on my must try list for at least 6 months. Why it took me this long to go here?.. I have no idea. It is owned by the people that own Turtle Bread and Pizza Biga(really want to go here).

We started our meal out with bowls of soup. I had the onion soup.

Justin had the potato soup.

I really wanted the mussels as an appetizer but they sold out right before we got there. (Next time I will be ordering those. They looked AMAZING)

I had the Roast Chicken with polenta, stewed mushrooms, kale, brown butter and chives.

Justin had the Braised Beef Short Ribs with potato purée, brussels sprouts, roasted carrots, braising jus and dijon crème fraîche.

We ended up not ordering dessert because we were pretty full when we finished our entrees.

Thanks Erin and Dan for the great recommendation. We will definitely be heading back to Cafe Levain soon.

Happy Weekend!
Erica

Sundays are usually meant for barre class and grocery shopping. This weekend I decided to take advantage of the fact that we grocery shopped last night by doing brunch at a new spot with Justin today. We got a great recommendation from a friend of mine. We went to Sun Street Breads Cafe. I can’t even begin to describe how amazing this brunch was. Justin had biscuits and gravy. I had a southern fried chicken biscuit. Great prices and friendly atmosphere. We will be back soon.

Happy Weekend!

Erica

This year Justin and I made a pact that we would not be exchanging gifts. Neither of us was coveting any sort of thing and we are trying to not accumulate more stuff in the home. We decided we would rather go out to dinner to a new restaurant. Last night we went out for our Hanukkah date night to Travail Kitchen and Amusements

We got to the restaurant at 6:30 and only had to wait about 20 minutes (which we learned was not a norm at this place). We had been told by numerous people to plan on grabbing a drink and appetizer at the bar because we would have to wait for a table(this was not the case for us).

After looking over the menu we chose the 8 course tasting menu which came with amusements. (Amusements were in the form of individual tastings of food… I’m probably not describing this well at all so just wait for pictures)

Every single thing we had was delicious and some of the foods we had never tried until last night (example- venison) .

Here are some of the snaps (Kat, I tried my hand at editing but I still might need another workshop)

This was an amusement.

Another amusement

Make your own dip in dots (sooooo cool)

We both loved the caramel apple and the cotton candy.

Side note- I forgot to take a picture of course three which was the pork ribs.

Happy Hanukkah!

Erica