From MB to ND to MN and Back

Alright, Folks! Who is ready to live vicariously through my shopping excursion in America? Hold on to your hats! This is a long one...

Last weekend, M. and I went off to Minneapolis as our final destination to do some shopping and taste some great food.

I gave you a little teaser in the last post of some 'must-have' ingredients and cook wear that I wanted to give a home to in my kitchen. Essentially, I wanted to take my time through Whole Foods and Trader Joe's and find funky and different spices or foods that we can't find in Winnipeg.

Well, this is what we came back with...

Turns out that after I took this picture and started putting away my new purchases, M. had already put away approximately 20% of our groceries. Yup, there was more. Eeeep!

Either way, I think you get the idea.

On my 'must buy' list was a second madeleine pan that I found for $10 and a mini tarts pan that I picked up from William and Sonoma for $24.99 (but with a 20% off  discount, so it was well worth it.) I also found a mini whoopie pie pan that was an impulse purchase from Bed Bath and Beyond in Grand Forks, N.D. for $10 marked down from $15. I also picked up a pack of 6 individual tartlett pans from there for $15. All in all, I found the prices were reasonable and my head is now swimming with new recipes (that most of the pans came with) that I am eager to try.

Here are some spices that I found at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. 

From right to left; unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar (Trader Joe's), Organic Balti Curry, Organic Ras el hanout seasoning, aged Apple Cider Vinegar, and cocoa, sugar and chili seasonings (Whole Foods),  Himalayan pink sea salt (The Gourmet Chef), Taco seasoning (Trader Joe's) and finally, Avocado Oil from Whole Foods. Funny thing about the oil is that this 500ml container cost us $10.99 USD, so we bought two thinking it was a good price. After all, the exact container sells for $16.99 at Vic's Fruit Market. Sure enough, the day after we returned we hit Costco in Winnipeg and saw, for the first time, avocado oil. 1L for $10.99 CDN. Speechless.

Some of these items were pricey but have you ever seen a cocoa, sugar and chili seasoning grinder that is perfect to top off cookies, bread, pudding and fudge in Winnipeg? NOPE! Well worth the $5. 

What about the food? Well...

The hot buffet from Whole Foods

Macaroni and cheese, sauteed broccoli, mashed potatoes, grilled zucchini, chili lime tofu and red quinoa.

Peach Iced Greed Tea for me and Rootbeer for M. 

We ended up staying at Sofitel through Hotwire. We were not disappointed. There was a French theme to the hotel so the local parisian cafe had these treats waiting for us every morning. 

 I gobbled down chocolate croissants. I didn't have a choice.

Also, in the lobby, they had some form of French baking and water flavoured with either cucumbers, oranges or lemons on a daily basis. One day, there were madeleines...

I grabbed these before we left for the day but I wish I grabbed 6 more packs... they were so fluffy and light. They really were incredible.

Here is a shot of the hotel lobby.

 When we were at the Mall of America, we unexpectedly stopped at Starbucks for lunch.

This is called the 'Protein' bistro box. For $3.99 USD we had half an apple, a handful of grapes, a couple slices of Wisconsin cheddar cheese, a raisin pita with honey peanut butter and a hard boiled egg. I washed it down with a grande peach iced green tea lemonade for another $3. I have seen these types of packs in Alberta but, man oh man, did this ever hit the spot. 

Some nutrition facts about our Protein Bistro Box as they call it, 380 calories, 19g of fat, 6g of saturated fat, 470mg of sodium (ouch), 19g of sugar and 13g of protein. Not bad! This kept me quite full until dinner. Wish we had these in Winnipeg. Perfect lunch. 

Onto dinner! I googled 'vegetarian friendly restaurant and Minneapolis' and the restaurant Barbette came up. The menu looked very appealing and so were the reviews. With confirmation of local brews that are served on tap, M. and I decided to try it out.

The decor for me felt like a European (French?) Bistro and the menu was heavy on the Italian classics with a twist. It was very cozy with some cool and interesting art hanging on the walls.

 We tried their cheese and fruit plate to start. We were served thinly sliced apples, strawberries, grapes, apricots that were soaked in honey and a spread out drop (yup that yellow strip next to the apple) of truffled honey. The cheese we received was a gruyere and a Wisconsin cheese but I can't remember what kind. Either way, it was all wonderful. It was a great start to our meal.

M. ordered the Zucchini and Summer Squash Parpadelle

I had the sweet corn risotto. This is the first time I have ever had risotto. I really want to find this recipe and make it every weekend if I could. If M. would have let me (and if we weren't in public) I would have licked my plate clean.

We finished off our meal with the seared banana and Nutella Panna Cotta. 

I would highly recommend this restaurant. You can check out their menu here. It's located in a very hipster type neighbourhood called Uptown and I made a note for the next time I am in town to explore this neighbourhood a little more. It reminded me quite a bit of Osborne Village. 

One of the last items on my "must buy" list was to pick up these two cookbooks:

and

I only found the French Market Cookbook at Barnes and Noble. I maybe saved close to $15 than buying it in Canada but I could have definitely purchased both of these for the same price I paid for one on Amazon. Ah well. It was good reading material for the drive down to Minneapolis! A post about this beautiful book with its glossy pages, alluring photographs and achievable recipes will follow soon.

My trip was wonderful and I hope we can go again next year to try out new restaurants and explore new gourmet food stores I discovered on this trip.