Chao’s Family Was In Town – West St. Paul, MN

I was lucky enough to have my family come up from Illinois for a visit this weekend!!! It was a pretty laid back weekend, but we got to do some fun things. I was worried about how mobile they would be since my mom just had surgery on her rotator cuff and my sister just had a wisdom tooth out. On top of this, my neice has a 7 week old baby and her fiance, Porky, with her, so I wasn't sure how much sight seeing we'd be doing. But they did great! My family is a bunch of troopers!

Saturday, D.Rough’s mom, LunchLady, came over to meet part of the family and hung out for a bit after breakfast. I don't think they scared each other away, so that's REALLY good!! Then we headed to Ikea so my sister, Notmomsfavorite, could do some shopping. Luckily, her daughter, Froggy, talked her out of everything she wanted so she managed to spend less than $20 – which somehow is less than I spent and I didn’t even plan to go there.

We headed over to the Mall of America after that, since my family is pretty serious about shopping. We grabbed some lunch first at Tony Roma’s and it was then that I had realized I hadn’t started a batch of food in the crock pot that I needed to make for Bad Movie Night. D.Rough and I raced to the house to make food and told them we’d pick them up in a few hours.

It all worked out well and we were able to make everything we needed. Plus we got home early enough that Porky and I could play some Big Buck Hunter in the basement on the Wii, using the 12 foot projector screen. Bad Movie Night went fairly smoothly, although one of the movies didn’t go over as well with this audience. The first movie, “The Swedish Bikini Team in… Never Say Never Mind” was a spoof on a James Bond film. Sadly, there is a severe lack of bikinis in this film. The second movie, “Bikini Bloodbath,” was made to be a bad movie, which is why it didn’t go as well for this crowd. It’s pretty campy and has lots of fake blood and poor acting. People didn’t think the characters in the movie were dying fast enough to keep it entertaining. My back-up film, Piranha, went really well, though. Those that stayed were treated with a plethora of painful computer-generated graphics and copious T&A, despite the star-studded cast.

EJens had brought a couple half gallons of rootbeer flavored milk (yes, you read the right) for us to try. He seemed like a kid in the candy store he was so excited about it. It was hilarious to see him like this. Plus, the milk was quite tasty. Much better than I had expected. I haven’t even seen it before in stores, so I’m not sure what Chinese black market back alley deal he found this in, but it was made by Kemp’s, so it’s got to be available SOMEWHERE. Bring it to your next fancy gathering, like you would a bottle of nice wine. You’ll be the hit of the party!

The following morning, D.Rough and I took my mom and sister to the St. Paul Farmer’s Market. We picked up all kinds of things like fresh veggies, salsa, garlic, (I got a donut), and probably more stuff I forgot about. We swung by Target on the way home to get some grilling supplies and also some of these pina colada marshmallows D.Rough got my mom hooked on. They’re like pineapple marshmallows rolled in coconut. Very weird, but interesting. We got back and grilled out some brats and corn on the cob for lunch.

My niece and her fiancé hadn’t seen much of Minneapolis nor St. Paul, so we drove them around town and showed them some local hot spots and finally ended up at Café Latte for some delicious cheesecake.

All in all, it was a pretty fantastic weekend. It made me miss my super fun sister, PalmMapper, from Michigan, but I’ll see her soon.

And as a bonus, my family stopped at the Floyd Bear in Floyd, Iowa, on the way home and took a photo for me. It’s a long standing tradition that HotGirlsBrother and I started a few years back to stop and take a photo there (while looking for Templeton Rye). We’ve now got other people doing it and sending us photos. Hoooray!!!

Food Truck Festival – Shakopee, MN

I had no idea what to expect from this alleged Food Truck Festival being held at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, but I knew Eli’s Donut Burgers was going to be there. That was pretty much all I needed to know – I’m a huge fan. I knew what Canterbury Park was – it’s a horse racing venue – but I didn’t know I’d have to pay admission to the park to get access to the food trucks. I assumed they’d be out in the parking lot or at the entrance or something. Fortunately, it was only $5 to get into Canterbury Park – which you’d think they’d post in the advertisement, but didn’t happen. You’d also think Canterbury Park would post admission prices somewhere so you could see how much it is before you get up to the ticket window to ask. But I’d already driven almost 45 minutes to get to the event – it would be a bigger waste of time and money to turn around and go home with an empty stomach.

I feel fortunate that everyone working at the park seemed to be really nice and helpful. I had already asked someone where the food trucks were and she told me they’re all inside. Then, the lady at the ticket window gave me a small program so I’d know what was going on with the horse racing when I got inside. I still didn’t, but at least she was nice. When I got inside, I roamed around and tried to find where the food trucks were located. It took me far longer than it should have, but I’d never been here before. However, on the way, I got to see a couple of horses close up, which was kind of cool. I've got lots of relatives with horses, but it's been a long time since I've been around said horses. They parade the horses in front of the people so the kids can see them and so the serious betters can get a good look at the horses. That part was kind of fun.
I looked in the program to see if I could figure out how to place some sort of bet. Seriously, there is no way a person could figure this out from reading the program. If I have any advice for the Canterbury Park people, it is to dumb the program down even further, or provide some sort of personal assistant to help newbies out. I’m a multiple-degreed professional and I was absolutely confused by the information in the program. I was there and totally would have thrown some money on a couple of horses, but couldn’t figure any of it out.

I finally found the food trucks, out extremely close to the track.

I already had a sort of game plan, based on which trucks I saw on the flyer. I headed to Eli’s first and WHOAAAA, the line was absolutely insane. The longest line out of any of the trucks. And not because they were slow or anything – they were cranking them out and people were loving them. That’s a really good sign. So I decided I’d get in a shorter line for something else and work my way back to Eli’s. I had wanted to try She Royal Deli food truck – based off the She Royal Coffee shop in Minneapolis. It has gotten good reviews and I love Ethiopian food (this food truck’s primary cuisine). It was difficult to decide since everything on this menu sounded fabulous. One of the workers came out and put some “sold out” stickers next to a few menu items, so I figured I should be quick about ordering. I finally decided on the Ethiopian Veggies – red lentils, cabbage & beets, served with rice and pita bread. I also needed a water since the sun was blazing hot and there wasn’t any shade anywhere unless you go inside.
The food is mostly ready, so it took less than a minute to get my food. It wasn’t exactly what I had hoped for, nor was it exactly what the menu said. I got the rice and the red lentils, but nothing looked like beets, and aside from the cabbage that was in the potatoes and carrots, there wasn’t a whole lot. I also didn’t get any pita bread (or injera, which is what I was hoping they’d have). Fortunately, it was pretty good, regardless. The rice is orange and yellow long grain rice and not only looked festive, but had a good flavor, as well. The lentils were really perfect, and I can’t speak highly enough of them. The carrots, potatoes, and cabbage were alright, as were the collard greens. Sometimes hot food on a hot day isn’t the greatest, but Ethiopian food doesn’t tend to be that heavy, when eaten in smaller quantities. She Royal is good and I’d go back here. I still prefer to eat Ethiopian food with my fingers, inside a restaurant, and with other people, off of a huge tray, with injera bread. But that’s more difficult from a truck.

This small area where the food truck festival was being held was packed with people. So once I got my food from She Royal, I immediately got into the line for Vellee Deli’s food truck. I’d eat my food while waiting to get the next round. I had heard of Vellee Deli and knew that they served kind of a hybrid Asian and Mexican fusion type of food. I didn’t realize even what they offered until I got a little closer. This truck has really interesting combinations of Mexican and Asian food, like Banh Mi sandwiches with pulled pork, cilantro and jalapenos; pork tacos with aioli, slaw, and house-made pickles; and Thai curry burritos. After the man working the window put another “sold out” sticker next to two things I thought about ordering, I finally decided on the Chicken Currito – the Thai curry burrito with lettuce, rice, and zing sauce. I also saw that you could order different spice levels, so I got a 2 out of the 3 “kicker” levels available.
The food took a bit to come out, but I simply people watched and tried to figure out the program for the horses, in case I wanted to do some gambling. Once it came out, I was pretty impressed. It was a substantial burrito. I dove right into it, mainly so I could take a photo of the inside. It was delicious. The curry was really bright and flavorful and had some zing. Yup, it had some zing. And it was growing. My lips were tingly within a couple of minutes, and by the time I got to the end of the burrito, my face was a little numb. It wasn’t tear-inducing kind of spice, but it was significant and very welcome. I’m glad I ordered it the level I did – it was just about perfect. And my face tingled for the next hour – seriously - not in a bad way, just in a brutal reminder that my spice threshold is still better than the typical Minnesotan’s. hahahaha. I am glad I still had my water from She Royal. The Vellee Deli is a place I’ll go back and try out a couple different things.

With all of the vendors putting up “sold out” stickers on menu items, it was pretty clear that this first year event was kind of uncharted waters for both Canterbury Park and also for the food vendors themselves. I don’t think they expected this whole thing to go as well as it did. People were in lines raving about food and talking to other people about things they ate and what they’d recommend. I talked to a couple of people and talked up Eli’s pretty well. The line sort of spoke for itself, and it also helped the people in the announcer’s booth at the horsetrack were talking about them as well.

Since people were talking about it, while I was eating my burrito, I got into the long line for Eli’s Donut Burger. I know I’ve raved about this place before, but this is longest line I’ve ever seen for this place any of the times I’ve gone here.Really, this was a long line. As it turns out, there are two different lines – one to order your food, and then one to wait in for your name to be called to get your food. We had to keep a constant vigil on who got into line, so people didn’t miss the ordering line. I think we did pretty well with this. I eventually made it up to the front of the line in a surprisingly short amount of time. In fact, I wasn’t even done with the burrito from Vellee Deli quite yet and felt like I had cheated on Eli’s when the owner recognized me from all of my previous trips and took my order. I commented that it looked like he was doing seriously good business. He was pretty thrilled with the turnout, even though I know he was super swamped with orders. He’s a great guy and I usually get to chat with him for a while, but the line wasn’t going to allow for that, so I tried to be all business and hurry it up. I got the usual Donut Burger with bacon and cheese and I also wanted to try the deep fried green beans, so I got an order of those as well.
I got back into the long second line – which was also moving quickly. Once I got closer to the front, he called out my name since the deep fried green beans were ready. I grabbed them and headed back into the line to snack. Before I started, I asked the people around me if they wanted to give them a shot. I figured these people would love a sampler while they were waiting for their food, plus it might drum up some additional business for the truck if I handed out some free samples. It wasn’t like I was going to starve if I gave away five or ten of these things. Fortunately, people were really impressed with them. The green beans were pretty darn good. They didn’t feel greasy, though they weren’t as hard and crispy as I’ve had before. They had great green bean flavor and the seasoned batter they were fried in was quite good. I honestly have no idea what the dipping sauce was, but it was odd – and I think good – jury is still out on that. I think most people who sampled mine were in favor of it, but I had to tell them I didn’t know what the sauce was when they asked me. It’s kind of a yogurty, tzatziki, ranch sauce thing, but it’s good.
I didn’t wait more than a minute or two longer for the donut burger itself. I was starting to get worried they were going to run out of things. The other shops were closing up since they literally had run out of food. I think Eli’s knew it was going to be a big deal and brought some reserves – which turned out to be a fantastic idea, since they were the last vendor selling food (as far as I could tell). The burger was absolutely delicious, as you’ve heard me rave about in the past. You’d really be surprised at how non-horrific the whole thing is, even though it sounds like a culinary monstrosity.

I never did figure out how to place a bet on a horse, but I did get in some major people watching. There are all kinds of people here at the horse track. I will point out that it tends to be a particularly conservative (politically) group. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many anti-Obama shirts in a crowd or bumper stickers in the parking lot than I’ve seen here. But demographic-wise, you’ll see fancy rich people all dressed in white with giant hats, you’ll see regular people in jeans and t-shirts, you’ll see people in cut-offs and black tank tops, and you’ll of course see a few really sad people losing every dime they have and sitting by themselves with an oxygen tank using some sort of failing system to determine which horse is going to allow them to win all their money back. It’s an interesting cross section of Midwest America, without a doubt. Here's a couple with some interesting western gear on. Hey Coach, she doesn't have any pockets on those extremely high-waisted tight jeans!

Top 5 things about the Food Truck Festival
1. Eli’s Donut Burger – pretty much always at the top of my list
2. Chicken Currito from Vellee Deli
3. People-watching at the horse track
4. Deep fried green beans from Eli’s
5. Ethiopian Veggies from She Royal – pretty darn good

Bottom 5 things
1. I wish I could have tried something at each of the food trucks
2. The uncertainty of the event led to all of the food vendors running out of EVERYTHING
3. Not exactly what I had expected from She Royal, but what I got was good (even though I didn’t get injera)
4. There could have been more information about paying to get into the food truck festival
5. I think if they do this even next year, there will be quite a few more trucks, which should shorten the waiting lines for the vendors there

Wok in the Park – St. Louis Park, MN

It had been a while since FireRetarded and I had gone out for lunch. I set up the necessary arrangements and suggested we go to Wok in the Park in St. Louis Park. As some background, Wok in the Park is located in the same space previously occupied by Thanh Do – one of my favorites which has now moved into a larger loction directly across the street. I was unsure what to expect, but I had high hopes going in.
We sat down and two very nice servers asked us if we wanted something to drink two different times. I think they got it straightened out after a bit. This place has a pretty good lunch deal going on. Pick a soup, pick an appetizer, and pick an entrée for $8.99. That sounded good, especially after I realized that all three of the choices I’d have to make were things I wanted to get anyway. I was really tempted by about ten things on the menu, including the Sassy Basil, the Sunrise Stirfry, Spring Zhing, Wok’s Cherry Own Curry, and Pho in the Park. When I buckled down, I got a bowl of Egg Drop Soup, a Summer Roll (like a fresh spring roll at other places), and (because I’m known as a metal guy in some circles) the Slayer Stir Fry.

The menus here are quite fun with their design and also have appetizing food descriptions.


The soup came out pretty quickly and even though I thought it was a smaller bowl than I expected, it was decent egg drop soup. It isn’t the snotty mega-eggy kind at a lot of cheap places. It was the kind with chicken broth, mostly-scrambled eggs, and a couple of scallions. The flavor was good and I liked that the egg was more cooked than a lot of places. Not a ground breaking soup, but it IS the style of egg drop soup I like, so hooooray for me! FireRetarded said his Hot and Sour Soup was really good, so he’ll be vouching for that.
The entrees and appetizers came out as we were finishing up our soups. The plates are trapezoidal, which is fun, especially when they set them down at a jaunty angle on your table. D.Rough actually has me looking at how things are presented now and I think she’d be impressed by this. The appetizer was separated by the bowl of dipping sauce and a thick line of white rice from the main entrée.

The Summer Roll was very generous sized and had three pieces of shrimp in it. There was also a bowl of hoisin sauce with peanuts on top to dip it in. The roll was very fresh and bright tasting, but was missing something. It took me a few bites to realize it was almost entirely filled with lettuce. I like lettuce just fine, but I’m used to cilantro, basil, some rice noodles, maybe cucumber and sprouts, maybe some carrots inside, and maybe some slices of pork (along with the shrimp inside). It was missing pretty much everything. It wasn’t bad or anything, just missing some things I’ve become accustomed to being in there.

I also got to try half of FireRetarded’s Egg Roll, which is more of the traditional fried version of an Asian roll. The outside wasn’t the usual wrap that I have seen – it was more flaky and bubbly, and ended up being really quite tasty and had a good texture. The insides were fairly standard and tasted pretty good (a little too much cinnamon for my taste, but then again, I’m not used to any cinnamon in my egg rolls). I’d say the Egg Rolls beat out the Summer Rolls in this case.

The Slayer Stir Fry wasn’t as spicy as I had expected, but then again, it only had one little flame icon next to it, as opposed to a couple of other that had two and three next to them. That being said, I was really happy with the flavor of this dish. It stood up very well and was one of the better sauces I’ve had. The Slayer has a choice of meat (I got chicken), “exotic” mushrooms, fresh garlic, peapods, carrots, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and onions in a home-made garlic sauce. It was delicious.

From the looks and sounds of FireRetarded’s Pad Thai, it was really delicious. It had a TON of peanuts on the top of it and looked really awesome. I’d be hard pressed to get something aside from that next time I come here. And yes, I will come back here. They have a fun staff and a really fun menu. I don’t think they’re a high-falutin’ kind of place, but they are very professional. I think Wok in the Park is worth the drive to check out.

For those who care, Wok in the Park is “guided by principles of sustainability”, are 100% MSG-free, and are able to accommodate, Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-Free, and other dietary restrictions.

Top 5 things about Wok in the Park
1. Slayer Sir Fry
2. Pad Thai
3. Fried Egg Roll
4. Really fun and appetizing menu
5. Very nice and helpful staff

Bottom 5 things
1. Lack of ingredients in the Summer Roll
2. I wanted farrrr to many things on the menu
3. No Dew (only Coke products)
4. The parking lot is pretty small and serves the whole strip mall, so you may have to walk
5. The individually wrapped toothpicks have some SERIOUSLY overpowering and bitter mint flavor in them

www.wokintheparkrestaurant.com

Lay’s Texas Grilled BBQ Flavor Chips

I’m always on the lookout for random flavors of chips, and while in China, I picked up a bag of Lay’s Texas Grilled BBQ Flavor Chips/Crisps. I waited until the right people were around before I dug into this bag. I like it when other people get to enjoy horrific foods with me. Meat-flavored chips – how could that be bad? ...Wait, when did Texas become part of the People's Republic of China?....

HotGirlsBrother was over for some BBQ ribs and he actually had to remind me to bust these things out. I’m soooo embarrassed. I’m such a bad host to have forgotten I had these. I’m glad HE remembered.

These things sound far more impressive than they are. They look like standard Lay’s potato chips. Nothing fancy or different about them. And there isn’t any meat flavor at first. Once the chip is entirely gone from your mouth, THEN there’s a faint hint of meat flavor. Someone else suggested maybe they sprinkled these chips with beef bullion before they were completely cooled or before the grease had dried on them. This sounds 100% plausible. There was only a faint dusting of any seasoning on the top and I’m guessing it’s from some sort of beef dust. (I’m now mentally writing a screen play based on shady dealers sitting around in an alley talking about the street value of Beef Dust on the black market)

I’m not a fan of these particular chips. In fact, I’m not a huge fan of Lay’s potato chips in the first place, but I thought with the right awesome bizarre flavors, I might change my mind. Thankfully, I haven’t actually seen these in the US (not even at Asian grocery stores that I frequent), so don’t bother looking for them unless you’re in Asia.

Washington County Fair – Lake Elmo, MN

This trip to the fair was going to accomplish two awesome things. 1) Demolition Derby and 2) Eli’s Donut Burger.

1) Last year, a group of the Atomic Bombshells – one of the Minnesota Rollergirls home teams – and I drove down to Rochester to see Derby Dan compete in his first ever demolition derby. He and his lovely wife are Atomic Bombshell fans and had their car painted in Bombshell colors. He ended up winning his division last year. So this year, when we heard he was going to smash up another car at the Washington County Fair, we tried to get a bunch of us to go again. Sadly, we only got two actual roller girls, but a couple of other people went along to keep it fun.

The afternoon of this year’s event, Derby Dan and crew invited us over for grilling and painting. He let Boom and Bully paint Atomic Bombshell logos on the sides of the car he was about to destroy. Seriously, Derby Dan and his entire family are amazing people. We all schlepped down to the fair to stroll around and scream really loud.


2) Since we had gotten there early, we decided to walk around the fair. I also might have let Boom’s son (SonOvaBoom)(or SOB for short) know that the guy selling Donut Burgers would be here. He, of course, wanted to try one. I was probably more excited than I should have been, but I had already had one, so I knew exactly what I was in for. I knew from the second I got out of the car that today was going to be a good day. It may have had something to do with the fact that I saw a special needer with a TRIPLE DREAM CATCHER walking out the gate of the fair. Apparently, NOTHING gets past this guy in his sleep. All dreams are caught in an intricate web of string and feathers. Amazing. I will also tell you that I hunted high and low for a TDC (tripledreamcatcher) in the craft barns, the vendor booths, and the midway carnie games. I never found one. He must have gotten the last one!
We found Eli’s Donut Burger food truck towards the back of the place and I strolled right up. Boom thought it was sad that the owner recognized me by sight. But he’s a good guy and chatted us up while our food cooked. And yes, I did get it with cheese and bacon. I also saw him put on a serious layer of donut glaze right before he handed them to us. I gave the first one to SOB so he wouldn’t have to wait. His eyes lit up like he just got a pony on xmas morning. Another satisfied customer. Mine came out pretty shortly after that and I dove right in. These things were even better than I remember. I don’t think I can wait that long in between eating these things now. We chatted with the owner while people walked past and we tried to drum up some additional business for him. I’m not sure if it worked, but I had another amazing Donut Burger, so I know *I* was happy.

We headed back to the demolition derby when I realized I didn’t think I could make it through the day without some cookie dough – yes, I saw there was a cookie dough booth and tried to summon will power. I made it about 100 feet from the gate of the demolition derby before I caved and ran back to get some. It was cookie dough on a stick that you could get dipped. I had mine dipped in a serious layer of white chocolate and got sprinkles all over it. That’s what I’m talking about. It was pretty good. It wasn’t mom’s cookie dough or anything, but it was good. The white chocolate helped the flavor and the sprinkles made me look creepy. I think it was a win all around.

Once we got back into the demolition derby, we were informed that we needed to be trophy girls again, like we did last year. I love being a trophy girl. I’m thinking about putting it on my resume now that I’ve done it twice. We went back and checked out the finished paint job on Dan’s demo car (a Buick regal), and then went and stood behind the announcer’s booth to watch the first couple of heats. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a demolition derby before, but there’s a lot of smoke and mud. EVERYWHERE. People fought to get front row seats with their lawn chairs. I kept thinking maybe this year’s was different than last years because I remember a significant amount of mud clods flying into the crowd. These people were hosed, for sure. Sure enough. Within 30 seconds of the green flag, people were scrambling out of their seats and were covered in all kinds of mud. Absolutely hilarious white trash fun. You have to experience it at least once.
Derby Dan didn’t finish in the cash this year, but he did manage to blow two tires, shredding one of them and losing entirely the other one. It was awesome. Then, after the race, he drove off into the pits like nothing was wrong, even though he was literally driving on his rims. And cutting an awesome double groove in the dirt. We went back and high-fived, because smashing up cars is serious high-five business. Everyone has a good time at these events, I’m thinking.


All in all, it was a fantastic night in Lake Elmo. I’m not sure if I’ll be back next year to this fair or not. But if either Derby Dan or Eli’s Donut Burgers will be there, so will I.

St. Paul Saint vs. Winnipeg Goldeyes – St. Paul, MN

HB and TheDoctor sent out a message saying the St. Paul Saints (The Twin Cities minor league ball club) were trying to set a world record for the most high-fives and everyone should consider going. I have been talking about going to a Saints game for a few years now and thought this might be enough of a reason to get me to go see them as any. Remember, I’m not a baseball fan, but I love stadium food.
I found a cheap parking spot ($4) and met TheDoctor, HB, EJens, MegaColon, Jorenby, and some guy near the entrance. Tickets are pretty cheap, but w still opted for the cheapest seats. Right Field Outfield. I think they were $11. We had to move people out of our way when we sat down, but then we immediately got up and went to go get food and drinks. I didn’t really pay too much attention on the way in to what the concession stands had, but I knew I was sitting right behind the Gyro Shack. That sounded perfect for me.

HB beat me in line to the counter and ordered one for TheDoctor. I heard the guy say he liked the regular better than the spicy. I also heard him say it was like a spicy creamy feta, which sounded good to me. I ordered a spicy gyro, which was only $5. Sounded like a deal to me. I also went to the main concession stand and got a Mike’s Hard Lime-ade and some cheese curds. That’s baseball food, right?
The gyro wasn’t the best I’ve ever had. I guess I should have known having not actually seen the spinning pole meat in the shack. But it wasn’t so much the meat as it was the sauce. I should have gotten the regular sauce. The creamy feta was pretty awful. Fortunately, the cheese curds were absolutely awesome and made up for it. Then to bring it all back down, the Mike Lime-ade tasted a bit too much like Windex for my taste. I wasn’t impressed.

So I got a lemonade instead. That made all the difference in the world.


The game was just ok. It wasn’t action packed or anything. However, one of the players hit the “Outback Steakhouse” sign in the outfield when he got a homerun and blew out a couple thousand dollars worth of neon from the sign. It will henceforth be known as the “Ack Steakhouse”.
They have randomly put the aaaaaahwesome fan of the game on a tiny loft on the right field wall where he sits all by himself (and apparently checks his cell phone during the entire game). I’m not sure what the benefit of this is, but I guess if you want to sit on a 2’x2’ platform in the middle of a billboard for a few hours, this might be your cup of tea.

We all got bored and left after about the 5th inning. It was a close game, but our section was already clearing out and the mosquitoes were coming out. But I did get this almost religious photo of TheDoctor and HB hig-fiving during the game. (I might actually frame this and put it on my wall.) Sadly, we never found out if we set the world record, but either way, it was fun to high-five with reckless abandon.
I’m glad I went, but I have decided I only need one such Saints game per year. There’s lots of things in between innings that are entertaining, but for my money, I’d prefer to play, “How many 3rd graders can you take in a fight”. This was our topic of conversation for much of the night. Jorenby claims he could take 40 at once, even if they had one stun gun and one baseball bat. Anyone willing to loan us their 3rd grader to test this theory?....

Garlough Park Disc Golf Course - West St. Paul, MN

I realized I lived less than a mile from two different courses AFTER I moved into my new house - I PROMISE, D.Rough (wink wink). I knew about the SERIOUS one (Kaposia), but I only recently found out about Garlough Park. And I didn’t realize just how close I really am to it. I found out it was a nine-hole course, which generally means it isn’t much to talk about. But sometimes, that can be a misconception.

Since our Saturday morning disc golf crew was already over in my neck of the woods playing Kaposia, I suggested we have a final nine holes at Garlough. This way, I wouldn’t make them drive across the Twin Cities to play a crappy nine-hole course and have them regret the gas money they spent. They were all game for it, so we drove over to Garlough after I handed out a serious ass-whoopin’ at Kaposia.

We struggled to find the first tee, but we did end up walking the trails throughout the park looking for a basket. We did find this odd and creepy bench system filled with painted heads around a campfire sort of thing. Maybe this is some sort of story telling circle or children’s witches coven or something. Thankfully, the course isn’t anywhere near this creepshow place.

We found the first tee, and saw a pretty serious uphill shot with some trees to contend with. Not a bad start. Then a couple more holes that seemed drive-able, but you actually had to hit a line to get to the basket. Nicely done. Then a dog leg. Then another elevation shot. Then a tunnel and left shot from the tee. Then an ace run. Wow, an actual well-thought out 9-hole disc golf course.
It wasn’t grueling or really hugely challenging, but it was at least fun to play. It isn’t anything you’re going to need 18 discs in your bag to play, but it definitely isn’t a one-disc course (as my friend Bubba likes to claim at super easy courses). I think players who have more than a year or two under their belt are going to shoot under par here, but it’s also nice enough to bring out new players to and not have them get too discouraged.

I was wrong about all 9-hole courses being too easy and boring. This one was a welcome change of pace that I look forward to walking to from my house for the next 20 years.

www.playdg.com/courses/?s=MN&c=garlough