Open Streets Minneapolis: A Day Without Cars on Lyndale Avenue

Would your city do this, shut down one of you most travelled streets?  What would happen?  What would people do?  In Uptown Minneapolis, the cars were all pulled off the streets and the party started.  I thought I would share a few pictures of the day, because as we hear more and more about our growing dependency on oil, the residents of Minneapolis, Minnesota decided to come together to bike, walk, skateboard and draw in the streets for an annual event called "Open Streets Minneapolis".

Right next to Lyndale Avenue, the Harleys were parked, the street was closed off to any motorized traffic and slowly, on Sunday morning the people began to emerge from the neighborhood.  A group set up their ping pong table.  The tables and chair came out for all of the small eateries in the neighborhood.  There was an air of enjoyment of the warm weather that we crave.  After a long hard winter, these are the days we live for.  The only ones who stay inside are either sick or dying.  No one is watching TV or on a computer.  It's time to get out there and just explore.

 Parents took their children out to play, and it almost seemed like a memory of simpler days.  The kids were doing what they do best, play.

A whole 8 hours of no traffic jams, no cars, no trucks, no deliveries and no emissions.  There was nothing competing with the song birds.  For about a mile there wasn't a single car on the road and the people came.  Sounds odd, doesn't it?  All of this just so that people could ride their bikes up and down the street, enjoy the sunshine and look at how peaceful it could be.  But there was a purpose for this.  One of the reasons Open Streets exists is to promote our bike trails.  Minneapolis has an incredible amount of bike paths, trails and bike lanes, ranking within the top 5 in the nation.  As far as commuting to work, we're also near the top, and that's saying something, because our winters can be incredibly vicious.

So on this day of chalk drawings on the asphalt, instead of cars, the residents came to show we care (and also like to have a good time).   The kind smiles, the friendly hand shakes, the good natured feeling as people just exhaled, made me feel glad to be home.

To be able to see scenes that seem to go by the wayside in other places and see them here, reminded me why I call this city home.  A lemonade stand set up by an industrious little boy who bellowed out, "ALL NATURAL LEMONADE, 100 PERCENT REAL" made me realize our kids are paying attention and also know how to take advantage of a hot day outside.

 I also saw that we are putting into practice what we need to do to change.  If Germany, with a similar climate to ours can change to more solar energy usage, so can we.  This new solar program gives a person credit for allowing solar panels to be installed.  I gladly shared their information with a few friends that were wanting to reduce their energy bills.

 All in all it was a very beneficial day.

 And the gas stations were idle.

 And the kids...

well, they were having fun too.

The garage bands moved their shows to their front lawns.

And the dancers showed off their moves.

It's good to be home.

Reinvesting Myself Here, Facebook is Dead to Me

In my love/hate relationship with social media, I find that for me it's time to cut out Facebook.  I found that line in the sand, which very simply relates to privacy.  I know that when I was in the Air Force I had no privacy and I expected no privacy.  Everything within my life would be reviewed and I understood why.  However, as a private citizen, FB unleashed a new feature with the phone application called, "listen".  I don't want anyone to listen unless I am talking to them and not everything you or I say needs to be heard by everyone.  I don't want to hear a story of why this is useful and I am simply not going to be 'sold' on it.    This is MY decision.  Everyone may have their own views about whether or not they want to stay on FB.  I think a lot about what freedom means.  It's a privilege.  People die protecting what we have.  People fight to not live in an oppressive regime and so many good changes have been made with regard to civil liberties, equal rights, gender and race equality.  Why on earth do we need to live in a cold war era type of mentality?  Those are the kinds of questions I asked myself.  Life is about living with risk, to have a free and open society is WORTH it.  

So, I guess, that means I am going to delete my FB account and actually start to use my blog again.   This page is NOT monetized and I post links to other non-profits that I found around the world that are doing some pretty amazing things.  So, this actually might be a good thing, since I have been thinking about wanting to create again.  

What will I be writing about?  

Life, food, appetites and whatever happens along the way.  

I have been enjoying the stress of being a student again.  I have been a great student of not knowing it all and I have been learning from a lot of very gifted people that have kind of given me that za zen notion of what it really takes to become a great chef.  A chef offends everyone and pleases no one at the same time.  Think about what that really means.  Everyone is so different when it comes to taste and what they are able to digest.  There are people who can eat absolutely everything and others that have to restrict their diets for a whole host of reasons.  

So view this blog as a menu, with a lot of options.  It's just a journey, a story, a perspective and at times it might be an ego-driven nightmare where there are a few crash and burns along the way. Maybe I vent.  Maybe I don't.  Maybe I just spontaneously explore an idea and beat it to death.  We're all friends here and for whatever reason, people still do read my blog, finding me through a random act of a key word search.  It's all good.  On this web plain, we are all citizens of the world.

Hello world!

The Grey House - Farm to Table Uptown Minneapolis

The fixed price menu is a great way to sample a chef's skills.  Today, I walked by The Gray House, in Uptown Minneapolis, where Chef Ian Gray, personally greeted me and talked about his technique, good food and sourcing his seasonal menus from as many local farms and food cooperatives as possible throughout the year.  Though, during our harsh winters, he does source with farms out in California.  It was before dinner rush and he looked fresh for battle.  It had been a long cold winter and everyone is ready for spring.  So are the local businesses.

Chef Gray

Drinks are priced well, with an excellent selection of IPA beers that are handcrafted in Minnesota and Wisconsin.  The wine list was a good mix of domestic and international blended, white, red and sparkling wines.  I am sure I could have asked for a pairing recommendation, but I felt in the mood for a nice Italian sparkling white wine.


 Though the space is small, it feels wide open and the interior is kind of designed like an exterior of a Gray house.  It's simple, clean, almost zen-like, but not in an antiseptic kind of way.  You feel like you could come here with a group of friends and just hang out or have a business lunch/dinner here.  It's intimate enough for a date-night and casual enough to wear jeans.  That's hard to pull off.

Tonight I decided to try the three-course for $20, for a couple of reasons, it's economical and I wanted to see what $20 will get you in terms of a high quality chef and I wanted to see what kind of ingredients he would use.  That's tough in this industry when you are trying to keep your doors open and at the same time, attract new clients.

 The first course is the same.  You have your mixed greens in a vinaigrette.  As more people are getting educated about their food and the technique that goes into making a salad, I can tell you this is not a sloppy salad.  The knife cuts that demonstrate technique are as precise as a surgeon with a scalpel.  Paper thin textures of assorted root vegetables that showcases skill, fine julienned red onions danced with the brussel sprout leaves and greens.  This salad was not drenched, but perfectly coated with vinaigrette.
This was the perfect opener.


My palate was clean and ready for the next course.

 The next course was a savory sausage over a bed of cheesy polenta.  The flavors just complemented each other incredibly well, great mouth feel and the portion size was good for a hearty lunch or a light, but substantial enough, dinner.

The final act in this play is a hand crafted gelato. Pictured is the salted caramel, which was sinful enough to want more, but it does satiate the sweet tooth.

For $20, yes, you can have a gourmet experience and have quality service.

Of course, The Gray House does have a full menu, with an incredible assortment that is always changing as the seasons change.

Sex, Love and Craigslist

A single woman posted an ad on Craigslist today that caused a huge response in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I know, because I was that poster that happened to browse through the personals.  Blame it on a long winter, or a touch of Spring fever.  Whatever that fever was, I had a Jerry McGuire moment at around 2 am.  The headline was "What This Woman Wants".  Two hours later, my email alerts were coming in like popcorn.  First slowly, than as the Twin Cities woke up, my email account exploded.

"I just checked the posts and there was something rather depressing. Some people are so jaded, only posting about what their needs are and giving a whole list that when you sum it up, they might be better off with a prostitute to service them. To be incredibly honest, no one is looking for anything lasting. Perhaps a bandage for their emotionally mangled lives. If it sounds like I am being judgmental, I am. We all are when we read these posts. The real questions we should be asking is do we really even know how to love? Seriously, if all you are looking for is sex, you might have a great relationship with your hand, but another living, breathing person who is this illusion of who your ideal might be isn't really going to cut it for any of us looking. We grow intolerant as the years go by, perhaps less forgiving, less patient and the honest truth is we are incredibly selfish people who are basically trying to find our own reflection in a stranger's eyes. I have my ideals, you will have yours, but what if we tried to be the kind of person we were searching for? Or are we trying to find a person that compliments our shortcomings? Chances are, if there is a person I don't like, I can't image doing anything with you. If you are a person I want to get to know, I would go through hell and back just to be with you. That's how it works. I wouldn't have to like what you like, or live the way you live, but I would have to feel some incredible force that would draw me to you and THAT is what I am looking for. To be honest, it's rare, but it's real. I don't settle for anything fake in my life. I don't have time for that kind of crap and neither do you. I don't care what you believe. I only care that you are in possession of a heart. Who we are, essentially is what we decide to reveal to the world, and frankly people mostly lie or identify solely with a title of their choosing to create an identity because they have forgotten long ago what has given them life. The type of man that I have been attracted to in the past, well, he's a man. I have had long term relationships, they tend to teach me more than having a high body count (that was when I was young, and I wouldn't qualify those as relationships, more like editing along the way the kind of man I don't want to be with). So, if you are still out there, in this city, and you happen to be reading this, it's your choice. Either we find each other in the most serendipitous way possibly, or you reply and start a conversation. For the young men who are looking to fulfill some "Mrs. Robinson" fantasy, no thanks boys. I have a son who is older than you, and for me, that is NOT a fantasy I am going to enact in this lifetime. AGE: 48 -58. Fellas, I have only one physical requirement. Be in shape (mentally, emotionally and physically). I have one relationship requirement: Be unattached (I am not looking for a Duece Biggalo). Be yourself. I may have to face the reality that a lot of you are married and that I may be single for the rest of my life. That's fine. I am OK with that. However, I thought I would toss this note in a bottle for one last attempt to try to meet you. This imaginary person in my head, the construction of my own imagination or somewhere out there. Don't worry, I am not looking for someone to save me. I most certainly am not going to try to save or change you." That love...that ultimate intangible."

The response wasn't that I was necessarily looking for attention, but I was expressing what I was seeing.  Had we really just come to a point where we stop seeking relationships and just use message boards to hit up each other for sex, because no one is willing to risk their hearts?  I considered my own life. Seriously, I hadn't WANTED  to open up myself.  I hadn't wanted to be vulnerable.  By being anonymous, I found that I was feeling the freedom to simply express the observations of what I was seeing.  From 2 am - 10:21 am today, I received 50 responses before my ad was flagged for being 'inappropriate'.

I only received three replies that unleashed a world of hate towards me, waiting to bait me with the ever popular C--- and unleashing assorted personal attacks.  Sadly, they personalized my observations and didn't realize that they were about the general quality of Craigslist posts.

47 messages were incredibly encouraging.

"im 25 years old and I AM NOT LOOKING TO HOOK UP WITH YOU !!!! i just wanted to wish you the best in finding someone to love and spend the rest of your life with, i was in a relationship for 6 years, and ive been single for a little over a year now and i have pretty much givin up on even trying to find anyone..."

That means the MAJORITY are also tired of the meaningless kinds of 'relationships' that are advertised on Craigslist.  

"I sincerely hope you connect with someone worthy of the mind and heart you so obviously have. 

I don't do online dating at all and have only recently perused the CL lists out of lonely curiosity, originally only looking for a cheap bed (the furniture kind, that is), but from the few days I've peeked in on these personals I can heartily agree with how sad so much of the people's atittudes are towards approaching a relationship. 

We've both made it through a very hard winter that is perhaps a good metaphor for the state of our hearts, and I wish you luck and hope the Spring finds you some joy."

"What you said in your post so eloquently describes what's wrong with many of us, men and women, in today's society. I'm 25, and I hate how my generation defines Love and Relationships. I can't find anyone compatible because I get labeled "Old-Fashioned" and "Desperate" because I'm paying attention to what emotions a person invokes in me and vice versa. Your words stated that perfectly and it's refreshing to read. "

"(Begins slow clapping)

Good morning,

I'm glad that someone has FINALLY had the guts and nerve to address the issues with a lot of these posts and the impossible matches they're looking for.

I agree that almost all men on here are looking for sex and that's it, there's nothing wrong with wanting to have sex but it doesn't compare to making love with that special person who you connect with on multiple levels. I've had two partners in my life and it's by choice, I'm a gentleman who takes the time to know someone before just jumping into bed with them.

I wish you the best of luck on your search and wish you happiness."

But mainly  this response was what I was seeking, a confirmation that I wasn't the ONLY one who was seeing this.

"Enjoyed Reading your posting!

I am a bit too old for you at 59, But yust wanted to let you know

there are guys out there looking for the same things.

   Again Well Said! and Best wishes in your search."

No, I really am not seeking anyone through the virtual world and I am NOT criticizing people who do find love that way.  If it happens for me, I want it to be in the real world through an imperfect situation in the course of everyday life.  That's how I would love for it to happen.  

However bleak it may look, there are others out there wanting to believe again, but this time, I think we are all realizing that a list doesn't really work.  What does work is being that person that is loving and kind in order to attract the good in the world.  Or something like that.  We are NOT alone.  

Here's to love and not giving up.  Love still exists, with or without someone to share it with.  

A Chateau in France for 10 Euros

In France, to love money is evil.  To give the poor a chance of owning a home for 10 Euros (approximately $14 USD based on today's rate of exchange)?  A beautiful woman who was trying to sell her home for what she needed/wanted wasn't able to secure her asking price.  So, she consulted with her lawyer and decided to hold a contest.  You pay 10 Euros via PayPal.  She sends you two questions.  If you are the winner, you get the home 

Sounds simple?  Well, it reminded me of the classic mythology where you are asked a question.  The wisest answer will win, not the smartest one.

If you feel like helping this lovely woman out, enter the contest.  Use your best French.

And, for a moment, be like me, a co-owner in this house with a vested interest until that day when a winner is declared.

Bon Chance!

Not an "Appetite for Destruction" nor is it "Eat, Love, Pray"

Paul Moeschell's Pope Soap and Candle

It's been a very busy time in my life.  It's kind of like turning soil to get the oxygen back into it.  I decided to update this blog with a visual representation of things I have been involved with or acquiring sans the philosophies I tend to regurgitate here.

My Hippie Self

Also I would like to thank the 40,000 global visitors to my little world.  I tend to think of myself as a global citizen, since I have walked down some of your streets, been in your valleys and have seen some of your mountain tops.  By no means am I done exploring.

Chicken Chausser, Rice Pilaf and Glazed Carrots

 This summer, I decided to return to school, to do something I love, for the benefit of others.  I am in culinary school, doing well, and I thought I would share some of the things I am learning.  As one of the chefs shared with me, "you must learn the rules---then you can break them."  How many things does this proverb apply to?  Countless.  At least for me, I found a number of times in my life where I followed everything to the letter only to scrap all of the 'rules'.

Winter Approaches

It's winter.  It's Christmastime.  It's the end of a year where you shouldn't really ever look back, but look at where you are right now in order to see where you will be in the future, and ahem, not really so damn much about the future IF you are happy doing what you are DOING right now.  The future does take care of itself.  I didn't get that  for a long time.  I was so damn busy planning my life, I don't think I was really living my life.  The consequences, well, I may have slept through about 17 years of my life.  Maybe that's a bit harsh, but when I think about it, I may have been operating on auto-pilot for a bit there.  A living coma where one day bled into the other and I forgot how to live.  There were so many promises I made to myself that I almost forgot about them.  (I know, good for me...yadda, yadda, yadda).

Sausage

Primal pork cuts

Tastings

A nice transition point, just doesn't seem to be found.  There was a lot of taking dead animals, processing them into beautiful meals to nourish others.  I had been a practicing vegetarian, most of my time abroad.  I started thinking about life, death, the way we deal with death as a culture and how we tend to judge others by what we eat.  Everything has life.  Everything dies.  We sometimes have different experiences that take us into  different experiences.

Gnocchi and Pork

Scallops

Dinner at French Meadow

Olives

Scallops

Brussel Sprouts

Indulgences

Lapin with Risotto 

Liver and Onions

There I was, eating meat again.  I made the decision before I went to culinary school.  However, there was a difference in my approach.  I held a deeper respect for what I was consuming, whether it was plant or animal.  Their lives were sustaining mine and made me think of how we all sustain each other.  It's a very intricate system of life/death.  It made me a lot less judgmental, yet, that doesn't lessen the need for us to be more respectful  and balanced in our utilization of our resources, no matter what they are.  Some people eat the way they do for a reason or a season.  They change for a variety of reasons they came into on their own.  We all own our decisions, live with the consequences and go from there.  If we really tried to please everyone, we please no one, not even our fragile little ego is horribly damaged by catering to others.

So I came into this experience, telling myself, "I know  nothing."  I ate everything, even things I would have never dreamt of ever eating again.  

It was a slaughter of indulgences.  However, I was careful to keep track of how much I was eating.  And it was A  LOT OF FOOD.

To be fair, I did give a lot away because I did listen to my body and cut myself off before that critical explosive point.

Veal Blanquette

Salmon 

First Avenue

Complete emptiness 

Mayor R.T. Rybak's Farewell Bash

Chastity Brown

In the midst of all of this creating and replicating I was discovering all of the rules I wanted to break in the future.

I was really learning about was our bodies have for wants and needs.  Like realizing we really do need protein and there are things that animals to give our bodies to help them heal.

I also had the pleasure of meeting a local Minnesota Folk Singer, Chastity Brown.  I actually didn't really know who she was when I met her, which is good.  We had a nice conversation about literature, words and Ernest Hemingway.  I was talking about myself, which more about my excitement about being home and how bizarre it seemed to me.  It's kind of like waking up from a coma, though I was away for 23 years, my friends are older, the places have changed with time and I wasn't here to see it all.

First USA Edition Acquired

Chastity was gracious and patient as she listened to me quote Hemingway's theory of life, as being a "moveable feast".  Perhaps  there is a certain bit of gluttony on my part.  The same kind that Henry Miller had about life, wanting to experience the zealousness of the eternal moment.  In any event, I am glad I discovered the music of Chastity Brown.  I liked what I heard, she uses and choses words well and has a powerful voice.  It's authentic.

So much great food

 So  as I go through the pictures of some of my culinary productions from this year, I pinch myself because I have never worked in a professional kitchen and I realized that not once did I say to myself, "I can't do this."

Scallops

Perhaps I said to myself, "don't know a damn thing."  When I realized I wasn't the expert I was able to do by 'not doing'.  "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."  -- Socrates                  

Gravlax

Writing Again

So, after all, of what I could, or should, or would be doing is right in front of me.  Lessons or no lessons.  The action of inaction was my teacher during these wonderful months of learning how NOT to know it all, and meeting a lot of wonderful people along the way.  It's a break for a season.  In the depths of the cold snows of Minnesota, where life is just waiting under the surface to be reborn.  

Looking forward by looking at my present

That really is why I love being here.  You witness rebirth every year.  A clean slate for the world.  Isn't that beautiful?

Culinary Photo death

This is the very last image my Nikon shot.  I squeezed every bit of life out of my camera I could.  This object, that was a companion in South Korea, China, throughout Europe, in Washington DC, New York City, and now home here in Minneapolis threw itself into spasms while I was taking photographs of a duck that I had respectfully fabricated.

An object that ceased to be useful, yet I was accustomed to its usefulness.  That is how technology has been for me this year.  I was really impressed with how it lasted.  Almost all of the images on this blog were taken with that camera which I had purchased in South Korea, when my other camera could no longer handle the task.

I have to say, I haven't wanted to migrate to a smart phone.  I spent hours looking it over, and each time, I close the window without a purchase.  It's just not the same.  I don't want to post every picture.  Sometimes, I just want to look at something differently.  Sometimes, its a random moment that I am trying to capture.  Sometimes, I learn from the simple things, by how they stack up and I just stare and I think about what I learned through those pixels.

Those are my lessons.  I chose to learn something for the moment that made it tangible to me.  Just as all of you, out there, do for yourself.  I opened the cart, looked at the new phone, with built in camera, but I don't have that same excitement.  I made a realization, that I don't want that jazzed up phone.  I realized in a moment, when my camera died, why I loved my camera.  The editing I can do and though I don't have to 'share' those images, I just don't want them on a phone.  I think it's kind of strange to all of a sudden feel this strange aversion to technology I normally love.  I just can't explain it.  So I opened the cart and closed it a few more times this week.

And I realize I just want another camera.  I don't want or need the other gadget.  I am thankful for what I already had.  So I will pick up another camera.  One that I feel good about using.  That if I drop it, it won't shatter on me in tough times.  I need a workhorse.  I need a good shot.  Down to the last kill, with over 48,000 miles under its belt, through x-ray machines, ceremonies, artists homes, strangers on the street, to solar eclipses on the other side of the world.  It was a well used, and somewhat abused piece of equipment that served me well since 2009.  It died in the presence of me.  One knows the difference between a low battery and equipment failure and this was equipment death, the screen went black.

I tried to coax it back to life, pushing the power button, taking out and reinserting the battery, and it flipped open its lens for one last shot, I photographed my efforts and then the screen went into all assorted colors, withdrew its lens and closed up for good.  It was dead.  Even mechanical things die.  We also die.

I recently got news that I wasn't so excited about hearing.  I have a growth.  I have to have it removed.  I have to make other decisions.  The last thing I wanted to die around me was an object that had nurtured my global voyeurism.

I am going to be fine.  So many of my friends have survived so many forms of cancer, it's become an expected thing to go through it.  As I told one of my friends, "death has kissed both of my cheeks and forehead, it has yet to kiss my mouth."

As many of you, who have taken the time to read my blog, by now realize that I like to use everything around me to tell a story.  Sometimes it's in a very old parable sort of way.  Sometimes, you get the point right away and sometimes, I just let you figure it out for yourself.

Truth, will, for most of our lives, be debated as absolute knowledge.  It's never that way because life is always changing.  We one were babes who couldn't walk.  One day we could run for miles and never tire.  Nothing is wholly one thing or another forever.

I am enjoying my culinary life.  I am taking pictures.  I am making wonderful food and I am writing again.

This blog was special, because it was my note behind to let friends and family and whoever else was interested, that I was OK.  I am horrible with talking on the phone.  Always have been.  I wanted them to know what I was seeing and learning along the way and that I loved them very much without ever having to say the words.

This is going to be my only public confession of my struggle, because I don't want to talk about it.  We all die, but a friend of mine said to me, dying is easy.  Not everyone really lives.
This is what I am taking with me, my heart and my memories.  I have already had an intense life and it's going to be that way until I die.  It's too easy to love sadness.

I recently received a ring, with my birthstone,  the inscription simply says "Life goes on with you or without you."  Life is life, and for many, it's not really a full comprehension of what it really means to get this experience of actually being.

I cannot afford to be negative.  I remind myself of a very important fact.  Without death, there is no life.  It would be merely, existence.  That is why everything will always change.  So even if I win or lose this battle, it really doesn't matter.  It's inevitable.  Death is coming because we all live.  We aren't merely existing.

One of my favorite lines is, "The darkness doesn't last forever."

To be able to do what you love with complete enjoyment is a rare and treasured gift.   Perhaps that is a horrible way to end this piece, but when you start trying to think of a profound thought to finish with, it just comes out forced and preachy.  We all go through something.  Big things, little things like paper cuts on our hearts.  It's the little things we ignore, that we shouldn't.  They set the tone for our life.