Land of 10,000 Snacks

When we were in the Twin Cities, one of my favorite brother-sister duos (Matt and Laura, which is not to say that their sibling, Claire, is not also delightful, just that she wasn't in town) made generous gifts to me of assorted local snack foods. I must apologize for the delay in getting up a responsive blog post. But, at last, I have tried them all!

If only I didn't like these snacks so much; I could have called this blog post, "Minne-so-so," which seems pretty clever to me right now (I wouldn't say I'm blogging drunk, but I also wouldn't say I'm coming from a place of total sobriety). But how could I not enjoy the following?!

1. Pearson's Salted Nut Roll. I am so into salt with chocolate. Nothing tastes better after two white Russians and a big glass of water. This is like if peanuts that had only ever been to the zoo went to the CIRCUS!




2. Old Dutch Ketchup Potato Chips. Sweet. That's a description, not an interjection. Sweet and slightly tangy, the bag announces they are "Delivered fresh from the heart of the Upper Midwest." These are perfect for early evenings when you're just home from work and not looking forward to making dinner. The flavor isn't complex enough, so you're required to chase them with real food, but they're interesting enough to tide you over those minutes you need to sit on the couch and just recharge.

3. B.T. McElrath Chile Limon Chocolate Bar. Light on the limon, the chocolate has a rich, cocoa flavor and the spice builds with each bite. The citrus peeks through after a few. It can't make me Mayan, but it can make me miss Mexico.



*sigh*

4. Pearson's Milk Chocolate Bun with Caramel and Roasted Peanuts. Sticky in a delightful way, the Bun grabs hold and doesn't let go. Want to chew something over? Try one of these. Thick with caramel, it's a fistful of yum without being totally tooth-threatening.

5. Pearson's Nut Goodie (Original flavor). The Nut Goodie is a lot like the Bun, with chocolate and peanuts encasing flavor, but somehow the chocolate in the Goodie tastes like it is of a higher quality. The tan filling must be maple, which I don't always enjoy in sweets (beyond syrup), but it isn't bad. I can see why this would be a classic -- especially for maple fans.

6. Pearson's Milk Chocolate Bun with Vanilla and Roasted Peanuts. I don't know why, but I was suspicious of this one. I expected it to be heavy-handed on the vanilla. I also didn't see how it could compare to the caramel variety. But it is pleasing, filled with a subtle, though sweet, vanilla mash.

------

Mmmmmminnesota! Thanks, Matt (and Jessica) and Laura! I hope you don't mind if I come visit again sooner, rather than later. The Twin Cities taste sweet to me.

One more thing about St. Paul...

I haven't finished talking about my trip to St. Paul, MN until I've mentioned our trip to get ice cream at Izzy's. It was, in a word, splendiferous.




Izzy's was packed with people patiently waiting in a line that wrapped up and then back down the length of the store. The regulars seemed to know that the ice cream would be worth their patience. And it looked like every local had brought 2 or more family members visiting from out of town.

In the photo above, you can see the circular ice cream signs that announced the night's available flavors. I could have happily chosen almost any one of them. There was incredible, tempting variety.




My nephew, who couldn't read the signs, announced that he wanted vanilla. "Vanilla!" he yelled every time his mom asked him if he was sure he didn't want her to read the list of flavors available. So she casually worked into conversation with the rest of us that it was too bad her son didn't want to know the flavors, as she was pretty sure he'd like to try the cotton candy ice cream. Wouldn't you know it -- someone happened to overhear that comment. That someone immediately changed his order from, "Vanilla!" to shockingly blue cotton candy ice cream (with a malted milk ball on top). And that someone ended up with a bright blue cotton candy face.





I had salted caramel ice cream. For my "Izzy" (that's the name they've given to the mini scoop on top of most of the adult-sized cones and cups), I tried their Norwegian chai flavor. Both managed to taste warm, despite being cold ice cream. They were rich and impressive flavors. Splendiferous.




As a bonus, we got to peek into a side room. There, on the wall, were hints of other flavors to come on other days. If I lived in St. Paul I would be stalking this place with a list of these names, trying to collect them all. Yum.

Photo Essay: At the Vietnamese French Bakery

So many croissants! This isn't quite half the case of flavors available.



Raspberry Croissant!



Coconut Croissant!



Young coconut water. My 3 1/2 year old nephew is fond of this beverage. Not bad at all.



Wobbly coconut chunks at the bottom of the coconut water -- to be fished out and eaten using the fork that comes with the bottle.

This place looks like nothing special from the outside (it's in a converted fast food restaurant building on University), but the pastries were fresh, flaky and flavorful. I recommend it. I only wish I'd thought to check if they could make me a Vietnamese coffee.

SSI: Saint Paul

(SSI = Snack Scene Investigator)

The snack packaging you left in the parking lot (in St. Paul, MN) tells me so much about you. First off, you're a litterer...

Produce Envy in St. Paul

The downtown St. Paul, MN farmers' market is outstanding. I had the privilege to visit it last weekend and found that it certainly rivals any of the NYC markets in most respects (though it could be open more often throughout the week). The produce was fresh, local, beautiful and plentiful. Imagine this: the goods were affordable. Many could be called downright inexpensive. What a concept.

To make matters more alluring, this market also happens to feature more snacking options in the way of already prepared food and drinks than any of my regular fresh-produce-providing haunts.

Of course, one can always snack on what one has bought:




but there were also stalls with ready-to-eat grilled corn, bagels, sausages, lemonade, pastries, bread, and this man selling egg rolls, summer rolls, and fried rice:







We also picked up some kettle corn. I'd never eaten it fresh from the kettle before. It was delicious, still warm, and had just the right balance between salty and sweet.





It wasn't all about the market, though. While cooking and eating in St. Paul, we visited three different grocery stores, including a food co-op (Mississippi Market). It was so refreshing to have space to shop and aisle after aisle of product. There were some imperfections -- no buttermilk or dried apples, Cub Foods? -- but it was still a lovely experience.



On our last day in town, Anna and I picked up some intriguing beverages at the Cub Foods (in their "Ethnic Foods" aisle). The iced coffee (above) was a little thin, but it pepped me up just as my 3 1/2 year old nephew was wearing me down.




I enjoyed the chocolate Milo drink, too, though technically I bought it for Dan (naturally, as it has a soccer player on the can). It was not unlike Yoo-Hoo.

Anna and I also made this recipe for apple cupcakes with cinnamon-marshmallow frosting. A. found it in the latest issue of Eating Well magazine.

They were moist, sweet, and perfect for dessert an evening party with friends. I would certainly make the cupcakes again, though I don't know how easy it would be to find powdered egg whites in NYC. We used Zestar apples from the farmers' market, which were amazing -- tart and fresh.

I'm going to have to get Jessica's recipe for her chocolate zucchini cake, too, which was the other standout dessert of that night. It was so rich and moist it was almost a giant brownie.

I am lucky to have such delicious friends and family members living in such edible cities. If only I had the luxury of being able to plan more travel around my cravings for company and comestibles.