I went to an event at the Minnesota State Capitol today. (It is the first time I have been in the Capitol since I was sworn in as a member of the bar way back in 1984 and maybe I am remembering that incorrectly!) The event today was "Eyes Wide Open" an exhibit and a ceremony that presents a memorial to those who have been killed, injured, or otherwise adversely affected ...
After church yesterday, I came home and got the book I am currently reading, (Norman Mailer's novel based on Adolf Hitler's childhood, The Castle in the Forest) and walked down the Wabasha Street stairs and went to lunch at Boca Chica's. I was too late to take in their Sunday buffet, unfortunately, but I had a super lunch. (half of which I brought home and will eat for lunch today!)
I ...
I have written before about sites within the Blair Arcade at Selby and Western in St. Paul, but I hadn't been all the way down to the end of the block to Fabulous Ferns in over 10 years so I didn't mention it before I made a point of going there for lunch so I could update my own memory about it. I did that about a week or so ...
I was in my old "stompin' grounds" this morning. I went up to Bandana Square which is off Energy Park Drive close to where I lived years ago with my family while I attended Hamline Law School. Bandana Square was just being developed at that time in the early 80's if I remember correctly.
It is an entire complex of historic buildings that were originally part of a passenger rail service. ...
If you have been following my blog at all, you must know by now that I live on the Westside of St. Paul and that in the winter time, I don't venture all that far from home! I don't like being cold or driving in bad weather, (Now you are probably wondering, "Why is she living in St. Paul, then?!" The answer is a long story!) so in the winter ...
Believe it or not, there's a neighborhood in St. Paul, which runs a block or two both north and south of University close to the Capital, called Frogtown. I am not sure how it got the name Frogtown (I think it has something to do with French settlers being its initial inhabitants, but I will have to "Google" that.)
The neighborhood has numerous restaurants and all kinds of things to see ...
When they were going to open their coffee shop on Cesar Chavez Street a couple of years ago, The Blue Cat Cafe owners brain-stormed for a good name. They came up with a great one, I think-easy, catchy, helpful to Spanish-speakers as they are learning English.
Apparently, the name makes it very easy to buy the owners presents, as well. They say they had never realized how many depictions, in how many varieties ...
Believe it or not Grumpy Steve's Coffee Shops are a chain! Okay, well there are two of them at least. One is in Stillwater and I have never been there, although I understand it plays second chair to a cave the same way that St. Paul's Grumpy Steve's plays second chair to the Wabasha Street Caves. (See prior post.)
When I visited Grumpy Steve's at the bottom of the Wabasha Street ...
On Wabasha Street just off Cesar Chavez, there is a brand new bakery, coffee, soup and sandwich shop. Owned by Robert Dubuc, The Artisan, opened about 3 weeks ago. In a great location with plenty of parking, the bakery is open most days, including weekends, usually until 6 o'clock.
Mr. Dubuc explained to me the names he has given the bakery-Artisan, because he forms all his loaves by hand and baking ...
I live on the westside of St. Paul, on the Mississippi River bluffs right above the Wabasha Street Caves (prior post). Less than a block from my apartment is the 150+ steps stairway down the bluff appropriately named "Wabasha Street Stairway."
On nice days, and actually on not-so-nice days, I love to walk over to the stairway and look out over the streets and across the River to downtown St. Paul. ...
