Aidee Douglas

I love Minnesota. I love Shakopee! Not the weather, but just the state. Shakopee and I have a very twisted relationship. Shakopee doesn’t slap me in the face, but it does freeze my ass, but I still love him. I used to think that with the global issues one day Minnesota was gonna get as hot as Florida. Now I know this is not going to happen. I lived in MN for around 4 months about three years ago. My brother and his family rescued me and shipped me to live with them. It was kind of like a rehab. Pretty awesome. I almost thought about moving there. But pretty much one day I froze and then my brother shipped me back to the south, and I thawed out on the way.

There are so many things about Minnesota that I love. The sexy man that pays the rent and I where there two weeks ago and I have to say it was full of wonder; the food, the company and the scene were like I want to stay and bring the 80 degree weather too.

We started right after we landed with the biggest state fair I have ever gone to. The fair offered all kinds of food; everything was fried, of course, it could not be any other way. Thanks to my nephews I tried more things than usual, like a fried snickers, little fried donuts, and the delicious fried pieces of mozzarella cheese. Everything there was fried and almost everything on a stick. A very interesting side of the fair it was the international fair within the fair. So you could pretty much find goods and foods from all over the world.

I usually don’t like fairs that have animals because it breaks my heart in little tiny pieces to see the sad look of the faces of the beautiful cows. But I’m a strong person and I always try not to let my emotions take over and think I can adjust to anything, if necessary.

For the same day in the afternoon my brother surprised us with reservations to one of the best restaurants I have ever eaten at in my life called Good Earth. It’s a vegetarian-friendly and delicious restaurant. We had a beautiful meal starting with some kind of crackers(seemed like baked tortillas to me) and whole wheat bread presented in a square wood cup with a delicious white bean hummus. I could have just had that as my meal. We had nachos as an appetizer; not the star of the night but pretty decent. Every meal was presented in such a beautiful way. I get excited again just to think about it. Every time the waitress put a plate in the table we all where saying a suttle, but consistent “uuuuuuuy – mira que rico”. I ordered the wok-seared seasonal vegetables and it had the perfect balance of flavor and textures.

Its not a surprise the Good Earth is one of the best restaurants I have ever experienced. Because they get their food from local farmers. I almost started kissing everybody when I found that out. This restaurant deserves to be nominated to the Grammies or Aidee’s awards or something like that. The  restaurant is part of Parasole Family of Restaurants. They own the best restaurants in town, I believe.

I can’t not mention Caribou Coffee when I talk about Minnesota. They are every where and of course they are because their headquarters are in Minneapolis. The reasons I love them so much it’s because they have kick ass coffee, their cups/marketing is awesome (I don’t need a book or to speak to anybody when I have a cup full of shit for me to read) and the cool feeling you get when you walk in to any of their stores. It feels like you are in the forest or something like that. I don’t drink coffee, but I can be very happy with a children’s hot dark chocolate drink. They even put chocolate chips and whipped cream on the top. Hell yea I was treated like a princess!

Minnesota also has unexpected Mexican parties. When I was living in MN my brother and my sister-in-law will take me to different Mexican parties. On this mini-vacation it was no different. I love them. They’re great. About a ton of Mexican families (one Chilenian family) got together in a house, in a room where they don’t fit, to eat and talk and sing and laugh and its great. They can start as early as lunch time and have no real finish. If they get tired of a house they go to the next house it’s offered. They get tired of the houses but never of each other. It’s always food in abundance. The teenagers come and go. And the children just run in circles. MN always has that for me and I love that.

And of course the thing I love the most about MN its my family. I hope one day they get tired of the cold weather and move close to me. The four of them are such a special people in my life and I love them all so very much.