Days 18 & 19: Chaska

These guys really enjoyed each other!

In other posts I’ve written about the failed attempts to catch a major league baseball game on this trip. This is because I was only thinking about the iconic baseball teams or fancy new stadiums. The day before we left Chicago I remembered that Minnesota has the Twins. Not only that, but they were playing a home game while we in town against the Rangers. For those of you unaware, I met Don Wakamatsu, the bench coach for the Texas Rangers, this past year and we're exploring ways that I can assist with some of his non-profit food and nutrition programs for inner-city children when he retires in a few years. Don has the warmest heart and has been very generous. When the Rangers played the As in Oakland he invited us on the field for batting practice and bought our family tickets to sit in players section at the stadium. He is aware (and jealous) of the trip that Adler and I are taking so I sent him a text asking if we could come to Saturday’s game. And that’s how are plans were made for Saturday. It was a boy’s day. Larry, Brooks, Adler, Connor, Penn and myself drove to downtown Minneapolis to watch the Twins and Rangers play. The game was fantastic with lots of hits and runs but the visiting Rangers pulled out a 9-6 win. Don told me after the game that the ninth inning rally by the Twins was a little close for comfort. The boys got to experience pizza, peanuts and cracker jack. They had a great time chatting with each other during the whole game.

"Golden Glove" outside Target Field

We returned to Karen and Larry's so that Adler could work some more on his Legos and then we enjoyed a Walleye Pike dinner with fish that Larry had caught the week before. It was delicious. Adler was pretty tired from the day’s baseball game so he retired to bed early and then we stayed up talking about all things late into the night accompanied by a couple of bottles of tequila.

On Sunday we accompanied Brooks and the boys to the Chaska Community Center to go ice skating. Because, what better place to ice skate than Minnesota? Adler and I entered the wrong door of the community center and walked almost its entire length where we saw a swimming pool, water park, basketball courts, gym, racquetball courts before ending up at the hockey rink. Everything was indoor and in immaculate condition. Adler had only ice skated once before at the downtown Walnut Creek rink last winter. In his first experience he relied entirely on the plastic “shopping carts” that you push around for balance. There were none of those to be found in Minnesota. He’d just need to learn to skate the old-fashioned way. By the end of the 90 minute free skate period he was able to make baby steps across the rink and didn’t want to leave. He was liking Minnesota more each day. Though to be fair, it wasn’t January. I'm not sure his opinion would be the same in the middle of winter.

Connor and Adler

Later that night the three older boys were at Meredith’s house with a babysitter while the adults and Tate drove to Wayzata for a dinner at a new French bistro called Bellecourre. The chef, Gavin Kaysen, has another restaurant in downtown Minneapolis called Spoon and Stable that has been wildly successful. This new restaurant which opened only a few months ago already is one of the hardest reservations to nab. The interior of the restaurant was beautiful and the dining room was staffed with an army of employees. I knew that it was going to be a good meal.

The menu reads so well that it’s difficult deciding what to order. Everything is classic French bistro food with a refined touch. Larry started the table off with a shared slice of a duck pate appetizer served with blackberry mostarda and grilled levain (they have their own bakery too). Its texture was lucious and so creamy that you could only faintly taste the liver. From there I ordered a frisee salad with poached egg. There were small pieces of double-thick cut bacon in the four corners of the plate and some pickled mustard seeds. The dish was really good but so rich that the vinaigrette could have used some more vinegar. For an entree I ordered a small portion of the sweet corn agnolotti which didn’t taste anything like corn but did have some chanterelle mushrooms in the broth (Thomas Keller's version is better). I also ordered a side of broccoli roti which was supposed to have a lemon and garlic dressing but it wasn’t that memorable. But the crispy fingerling potatoes with espelette mayonnaise may be one of the things I’d like to have for a final meal. The potatoes were par-boiled and then probably smashed with the bottom of a pan and deep fried with herbs until crispy. It’s a twist on pomme frites but so much better. Everyone else had exceptional meals and Karen even ordered an adult root beer float with Cognac. It was a fitting meal to end a much needed three day rest in Chaska before initiating the final third of the trip that would take us further west and eventually back home...