LoveFeast Table

Houndstooth Boutique in Savage, Minnesota was one of the businesses that put a little swag in our bags at BlogLove!!  During the week while Kristin was visiting we ran down to Houndstooth and interviewed Amber, the owner to see what is going to be in fashion for this fall!  Amber is really knowledgeable and will know just the right look for you!!  So peek through your BlogLove swag bag and find her business card and visit Houndstooth to use your store credit special for BlogLove Minnesota attendees!

And, here’s a look at this fall’s fabulous fashion:

What trends do you like this fall?

One of things we like to do here at LoveFeast Table is to bring together people to share stories, experiences, and conversation.  We like to meet people along our journey and hear their story.  And, if it happens to be around the subject of food or drink, all the better!

On my flight to visit Kristin last week I happened to share some conversation across our drop-down tray-tables with a gentleman in my row named Don.  After some small talk, Don offered some explanation about his second mini-bottle of wine.  Instinctively, I asked, “Are you collecting the bottles?”  As a matter of fact he was!  I inquired why.  “For limoncello,” Don replied.  Don had my full attention.

You see Kristin and I, together with our husbands, fell in love with limoncello on our trip to Italy.

Specifically, our limoncello love began at our limoncello table in a charming little restaurant on the side of a hill run by a chef and his wife, in Florance.

This picture is a little out of focus.  But, so was that night….especially after the limoncello.  But, let me tell you it was like a dream eating in this garden.  The chef and his wife oversaw our table and brought us out small glasses of homemade limoncello.

Limoncello then became part of our story.  We have even themed our summer with it!

But, I digress…meet Don.

Don, like myself, is also from Minneapolis and he is famous for his limoncello that he gives as gifts in small little bottles to his friends and family.  That is why he needed to drink the wine on our flight!!  For the bottles, wink!wink!  Don was kind enough to give me his recipe for me to share on LoveFeast Table.

The Don’s Limoncello

11/2 liters Vodka  (Don uses the Kirkland brand from Cosco because it is the same as the Grey Goose brand for less money!)

20 Lemons (Finely zest the lemons ever so lightly over a plate with a micro-plane avoiding the white inside of the lemon.  Don gets organic lemons reasonably priced at Trader Joe’s.  If he uses regular lemons he cleans them with hot water and water purification tablets from Mexico.)

Fill a jug with rubber gasket on top with the vodka and lemon zest and shake.  Put in a dark corner.  The zest will turn white in 8-10 days.

Filter through a colander.  Don has been using a french press lately and it worked really well for him.

Add simple syrup.  Simple syrup is 1 part water to 2 parts sugar.  For this mixture Don used 21/2 cups of water and about 5 cups of sugar.  Refrigerate this mixture before you add to the lemon/vodka mixture because if it is warm it will cloud the mixture.  Put the limoncello in the freezer.  It shouldn’t freeze if it has enough vodka in it.

It is ready to drink.  Don says you can add a touch of 7-Up to it for a little “zip”.

Thank you so much, Don for sharing your travels and your recipe with us!!

Sometimes, Minnesota seems like a barren tundra of cold to me…and then one day, more than a few months ago I was walking through a mall parking lot and I came across this and my hope was restored.

Only in America would you find a car like this! -specifically cold northern America.

Oh, my lands, only in the Land of 10,000 Lakes – a project for the long winter!

And, quite possibly only in Minnesota!! -because we need to amuse ourselves during the white outs!

What a thrill to discover it was covered in plates! -’cause this a food blog, after-all!

Plates with kitchen wisdom….

and honest truths!

Plates with messages, I took personally.

During my photo snapping guess who eventually came around?

This is Jan, the owner of this car!!  She has a passion for collecting and searching for the mystery in society’s bi-products! And, she works in schools!  And because this is a foodie blog I couldn’t resist asking Jan what Minneapolis restaurants she recommends and they are: The Craftsman, 112 Eatery, & La Belle Vie.

Jan is also the proud owner of the Cork Truck and participates in something called the Art Shanty Project.  This is something some Minnesotan’s do in January even when the current temperature is zero degrees Fahrenheit, like today or less.  (Ever hear of the phrase “cold snap”–it’s a Minnesota thing, and I’m pretty sure it’s a form of brain damage.)  The Art Shanty Project is a temporary artist community built on frozen Medicine Lake, west of Minneapolis because in the middle of the winter some people here begin to ask “What can you do with a lake in January when you can’t swim in it?“  Here is a closer look into that sort of “cold snap” outcome– a video of some of the artists’ thoughts and explanations of this event from a previous year…watch this.  Now you can see what really goes on here in Minnesota…and you can see if I complain a little, it’s just a form of survival and a way of moving my mouth to create some body heat.

According to the website it looks like Jan is going to be there this year in the Art Car Taxi Shanty, so I’m going to try and drag my Suburbia Man and kids there to follow up with Jan and remind them that where we live is really really cool…. I mean, cold.  And, to let them see really really cool art…. I mean, cold art.  Here is what I think a very real look at what happens to the northern Minnesota brain in the middle of the winter -again, it is just a logical guess that this project took place…during a very long gray winter.

Saturday January 16, 2010 is the opening day of this year’s Art Shanty Project.  It’s going to be cold..again, just a logical guess… but, “it’s something to do in January” if you want to “get out and play“.  And, I heard there might be food?  Want to join me?  Comments, conclusions, questions, & expressions of outrage…feel free to share!