North Lakeland Discovery Center, Manitowish Waters, WI

A four-day weekend trip afforded me the opportunity to visit Manitowish Water's own North Lakeland Discovery Center (right off of Highway W). One of the big/bog/bug draws for the center is their hiking trails. They have a number of different and intersecting loops around a small lake, plus areas for events (weddings, parties, etc.), kayaking, a fitness course, cabins for campers... it's a legit nature center in my book.

I went out on a 3 mile loop and saw some great fall colors, but since mosquitoes are very attracted to me for some reason, I also wound up with a half dozen or so bug bites. I'll live. Here are some highlights of the trails and grounds:

CoV, Wayzata, MN

This place has been open for a few months as I write this, and though I wanted to check it out at face value, being a new spot, I'd also recently heard that a favorite bartender (see Sidebar below) from BLVD Kitchen is now employed at this spot. I also mistakenly presumed the people that own BLVD own CoV, but this seems to be wrong. CoV is part of the same brain that brought us all the Champps and Redstone locations. I will say, just walking up to the place, it's nothing like Champps (thank god!) and has a new feel that is fresher than Redstone. This is likely a very conscious decision as Wayzata is known to be on the ritzier side of local areas... whatever, I just like going to new places.

 The space is appropriately different than the former tenant, Sunsets. It is now a 210 seat restaurant with raw bar, drinking bar, and many many seats. It has a light and airy look (think New England shoreline), but to me also felt a bit crowded. I don't know if it's the table layout or the fact that they must have had 36 employees working on a Sunday around lunchtime. Now, the only part of the restaurant business I know is that of a patron, having never been a bartender, bar back, waiter, server, chef or cook... but quick math tells us they have 1 employee for every 5-8 guests. To me that means they have one person for every 1-2 tables. Is that efficient? No matter, to me it made the place feel very very busy with the hustle and bustle of all these servers, hostesses, and managers... to the point of detracting from the serene design and lake views.

I sat myself at the bar, had a Arnie Palmer and ordered, with advice of the bartender, the edamame and black bean cakes (think of a vegetarian crab cake). The cakes came out in speedy fashion and were very fresh, tasty and light. Not only that, but they might have been the cheapest dish on the menu at only $12. Of course, you can't think you'll find cheap food next to the lake in Wayzata, but they seem to have tacked $2-4 on each menu item, just for the view I suppose.

Will I go back? Yes. I would like to try other dishes, maybe sit at a table and see if all the hustle and bustle seems less so, and say hello to the bartender that I know. They also have an inviting-during-nice-weather patio, which should prove enjoyable during the warmer months.

Sidebar (pun intended): You may be asking, "Who has favorite bartenders?" Well, he's really the only bartender in all of the Twin Cities that seems to recognize people by sight,  including me, so by default he's my favorite bartender. He also has a great way with people, an interesting story when you get to talk to him, and an energy that fits social settings perfectly and makes people want to go back... all great qualities to have when trying to make your bar popular.

White Bear Lake, MN

With a normal thought process of trying to collect "firsts" during each year, I decided to head out to White Bear Lake (WBL) to meet a friend (who in this post will be called, "the woman"). I'd never been to WBL before and it sounded like a nice way to spend an almost-end-of-summer Thursday night. WBL is about 20 miles northeast of the Twin Cities. In rush hour traffic, it's not a fun drive and takes about an hour or so, but the good news is that by late evening, the commute trims down to 30-40 minutes.

I began solo, milling about the lake front before meeting up with the woman who'd invited me out. This seemed like as good a start as any in WBL...

...a unique pair of spots, one called Tally's Lakeside and one called C.G. Hooks. They provide dock support, boat rides, food, drinks, and ice cream to locals and visitors alike... sort of a jack-of-all-trades on WBL. They had a very BBQ-heavy menu with some really good looking options (if you like meat, smoked meat, BBQ'd meat, and bacon... who doesn't?). They had tons of kitsch and cold beer too. Right off the bat, I like the relaxed vibe of the lake, Tally's, and WBL as a whole.

Once the woman and I had met-up, we quickly decided to head out for a lakeside walk. The city has paths around much, but not all, of the lake. They were easy to access, and with my tour guide by my side, we set out. The path is not challenging, but gives great views of the lakeside homes and the lake itself. Here's a couple "house faces" I snapped along the way...

I feel like this house's awning makes a good "mustache"

On the leg out, we walked ~1.75 miles in a relatively short time and at a relatively brisk pace. It was a hot, humid night, so this added even more to the "exercise" we were earning. As we turned around to go back, we decided to walk through downtown. We wound up down a short between-buildings alley to find Big Wood Brewery. I was happy to head down into this local basement brewery and sit for a spell. By this point, I was damp with sweat from walking in the hot humid air and needed a break. Big Wood seemed and literally felt pretty cool, but only four gulps into my procured custom wheat beer did the woman mention that she wasn't feeling well and it would probably be best if we got moving. What can you say to a lady in distress but, "Ok"? So, I did. We got out of there and wound our way back to our starting point of the docks.

She was feeling better by this time and we decided to get some ice cream (also part of C.G. Hooks offerings), sit on the boat slips that fill up this end of the lake, and dip our feet in. And we did just that...

"sittin' on the dock of the bay..."

...as we sat, we finished our ice cream and talked about how nice a quick dip in the lake could feel after a long, hot walk, on this stormy summer night, now lit with the waxing gibbous moon and stars. And you maybe wondering, "Why are you just talking about taking a dip, why not do it?!"

Well, the common sense response was three fold:
1. We had no swim suits
2. We were on the boat docks, not a public swimming beach or landing
3. Even if we went in, we had no way of drying off afterwards and still had to drive home
And it could be four-fold if you listen to your mothers:
4. We had not waited an hour after eating our ice cream to go swimming

However, I think much more common, common sense took hold over the next 30-45 minutes of general chit-chat and discussion (which was not all about the swim potential literally in front of us). In essence, the MN summer is a very short season, and despite the somewhat minor issues listed above, swimming in the summer, in a local lake, with one other person, plus an added element of danger or incarceration, is just plain ole fun.

By about 9pm, the woman went in. Mind you, this isn't as scandalous as it could have been as she was mostly clothed. She jumped in in her maxi skirt and camisole top. I still hadn't convinced myself at this point, and I also thought being a "lookout" on the dry dock might be a wise decision. It turned out to be so, and I was also able to help pull her out of the water and back onto the dock once she'd had enough (maybe 15 minutes of lake time). Once out, she had to begin the process of wringing out as much of the water as she could and start to warm up. So, we sat and talked a bit more.

Of course, once she was out, I began to see this as a challenge to my manhood. How could I let her go in and but remain dry myself? I finally broke down and said to her, "The only reason I want to go in now is because you already did." She laughed. Then I started taking off my clothes. Again, this was not a full Monty as I kept my boxers on. Who needs a swimming and public indecency fine?

Once down to my skivvies, I slipped from the dock into the water. Boy oh boy, I have no real way to tell how cold all bodies of water are in MN. This lake was not as cold as Lake Superior late summer, but it was not as refreshing as I'd hoped, it was downright cold. I tread water in hopes of my body becoming accustomed to the cold (read, going numb), but it didn't seem to help. Then, a good-sized sailboat began coming back into the slip near me. So, I decided I'd better get out and start drying off before the drive home. I was able to sit on the dock and let the boat pass us, with them seemingly none-the-wiser about our late-night water pursuits.

Once out, it was clear the cooling but humid September summer air wasn't going to keep me warm or dry me off that fast. We had to get dressed and get moving. Faced with the prospect of driving home in wet boxers with jeans, I decided I needed to 86 the boxers right there and just commando home in my jeans. She was nice enough to turn around and block the rest of the dock view, while I mooned the whole lake. Boy oh boy, did the dry clothes feel good and start to bring up my body temp.

We walked coyly past the boat crew that had come in and made our way to our dry, warm cars. Not a bad way to meet a new someone, a new someplace, and a new some lake.

WBL, C.G. Hooks, Tally's Dockside, Big Wood - I will be back!

Peppermint Twist, Delano, MN

Time for a quick look at a local haunt in Delano, the Peppermint Twist. This is the place you go for burgers, fries and shakes. It also comes with a good dose of nostalgia on accounta the drive-up, call-in box that you just don't see much anymore.

I have to say, the burger I had was pretty major (with great bacon slices), but the shake seems to be where they really shine. This shake eats like a meal, in a good way. But, I made the rookie mistake of ordering before the local I was with ordered and just got the homemade butterscotch shake... which you'd think is great (and it was), but then my friend saddled up to the window and ordered a chocolate-raspberry. Dang it! If I'd known I could combine two flavors I would have done a chocolate-mint combo. Ah well, next time.

A really good potato-wedge-type French fry

Looks a little beat up, but that just because the ingredients over-power the bun a bit

Three of the newest(ish) cellphones you've not tried.

If I heard someone say, "Anyone that's a phone junkie or tech junkie, please raise your hand." My hand would shoot straight up. My affliction (no, not the t-shirt brand) has become less and less severe as the years have gone on and my interest in this kind of tech has dwindled, but it's not gone.

Recently, I wanted to rid myself of the Apple iPhone 5S I'd been using and get back to Android. I'm not a fan of how the Apple and Android companies fight with each other by making the use of their competing apps a pain in the bum, at times. I already use much of the Google suite of products (Gmail/Contacts, Calendar, Keep, Blogger, etc.) and like that the Android interface can be more personalized by each user.

I traded in my iPhone into T-Mobile (ugh!) and have been ripping through cellphones the last month trying to get something I liked enough to stick with. Well, nothing has stuck just yet. I've tried three of 'em too...

LG G3:

Cursory Review: 

Way way way too friggin big. This almost-"phablet" basically requires the use of two hands or one very tired hand. Though it proved to be very, very fast, plus has some interesting features, it is just to big for myself (or most people?). Though the battery life was acceptable, I wound up taking the phone out of my back pocket for driving and other duties. It's just to big to be comfortable for too long. 

Back to T-Mobile I went... and they had no small to medium-sized Androids on offer, so I went to the interwebs to find something I might like, without breaking the bank.

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact:

Cursory Review:
Very acceptable phone, but a horrible customer experience with Sony USA. The phone's delivery was cursed from the get-go and the experiences with Sony went downhill from there. I did like most of the phone's features, fine battery life, but it was missing some key attributes that had me scratching my head, like group messaging. Group messages would not stay in the original group text message "bubble", but each message would reply back as an individual message. If I wanted to follow the string, I would have had to go in and out of individual user messages and try to piece the replies together. No thanks. With that and their shockingly poor, disparate customer service, I sent it back within two weeks. I'm not going to pay non-contract phone prices for something that isn't up to par and backed by competent service.

Blu Vivo IV:

Cursory Review:
Have you heard of this brand? I hadn't until I saw some of their basic phones popping up on Amazon. This seemed to be their top-of-the-line phone, so I thought I would give it a try... even though it had only lukewarm Amazon ratings. I should have listened.

Though it's main claim to fame seems to be it's incredibly thin case (see below) and a package that comes with a bunch of tailored accessories, all the reviews were right about poor battery life and a rinky-dink user interface. For whatever reason, this brand or this phone just doesn't have the graphic and interface polish that we've all (ok, some of us) come to expect from our cellphones. Again, print that return label and get her outta here.

And now, I'm getting by with a Motorola XT886 until the new Samsung Galaxy Alpha becomes available. This made-in-2012 Motorola is working alright. It's not going to turn any heads, but it's Android, small in stature, and has at least an 8 mega-pixel camera with flash (no joke, some new phones still don't have a flash, ahem, Nokia 635-Cortana).

The new Alpha is purported to be a full whiz factor Samsung Android phone, but in a small package. I hope it will be exactly what I have been waiting for.

It will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine (I think).

Avoli Osteria, Omaha, NE

In Omaha last weekend, on the last night, we decided to hit a (relatively) new, local, northern Italian spot in Dundee known as Avoli. The full name is Avoli Osteria Omaha. 

Boy, we the three of us super glad we finally got to eat here. It started off with a bang right out of the gate with our first three appetizers - 

A burrata with heirloom tomates: 

A special bruschetta of the day, "Pork with Peach Jam":

This was like the best of bruschetta, smoked ribs, and peaches all on a simple, two-bite-sized toast. We also added a big hunk of rosemary ciabatta to our list of apps, which happens to come from Le Quartier down the block (no pic of this, it went fast).

Then I ordered their made-in-house gnocchi with house sausage, heirloom tomatoes, rapini (broccolli rabe), basil, and pecorino Romano:

This was as good as all the rest of our items from the menu. What a nice night to end the weekend and start the week. At the end of our dinners, we decided to walk down the block to a great ice cream shop, instead of having something from Avoli's dessert menu - I think we knew we will be back.

Le Quartier, Omaha, NE (Omaha Farmers' Market @ Aksarben)

Man, oh, man. Forget the cronut. The cronut is last year...

...get this!!! It's a buttery, fresh croissant crossed with the famous New Orleans deep-fried beignet. This one was also ensconced in rich chocolate and filled with custard. Of course, not some donut chocolate coating, but a delicious, fresh, chocolate envelopment. And it's not some grocery store donut filling custard either. As you would expect from a French bakery, they use a classic pastry custard. It's so flippin' good! It is amazing. If you ever have the chance, get one. Heck, have one shipped to you.

Of course, this is not low-fat.