b*spoke blog

On Friday I had a date with Laura. We went to Lucia’s in Uptown. Have you been? If you are a foodie, a locavore, a gourmand, or just someone who has an appreciation for great eats, you might want to head there. Lucia’s has this neighborhood cafe vibe, and their sidewalk dining guests usually include a dog or two tied to a table leg (to whom the servers will feed their famous peanut butter puppy treats). Lucia’s features a changing weekly menu that is inspired by the freshest, high quality local foods available. Laura and I each had the Farmer’s Salad, which was loaded with spring greens, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, carrots, and roast chicken, all topped with a homemade green goddess dressing. Yum, yum.

After lunch, we headed to Lake Harriet, where we rented Laura a kayak (I brought the little blue boat) and set off across the lake on our adventure. We admittedly didn’t get very far, preferring instead to bob amidst the sail boats and soak in the bliss of a Friday afternoon spent on the water in each others company. A few hours with my dear Laura, and I realized again the extent to which I adore this girl.

When the storm clouds rolled in, we left the lake and headed for Crema Cafe, which is home to Sonny’s Ice Cream. Now, I like to consider myself a bit of a homemade ice cream connoisseur. I mean, is there any better hobby than taste-testing your way through all the local ice cream parlors?? I think not. Some of my favorite local ice-creameries include Adele’s, Sebastian Joe’s, Grand Ole Creamery, Fat Lorenzo’s (for the best gelato in the twin cities!), and now Crema Cafe. I have yet to try Izzy’s or Pumphouse, both of which I’ve heard rave reviews of. Anyways, all of that to say, I am picky with my ice cream. It has to be really, really good to get me excited. When we walked into Crema, we were the only ones in the place, which meant that we could take our sweet time deciding on flavors. We tasted several in an effort to nail down our choices. Honorary mentions included the rhubarb sorbet and the olive oil ice cream, but our final picks were pineapple mango sorbet and pecan praline for Laura, and pure vanilla bean and mint chocolate chip for me. The $7 price tag for one cone was a little steep, but let’s be honest–every ten cent lick was definitely worth it.

And that was that. A wonderful date with my darling Laura, which I hope to repeat (in some variation) very soon. More details from the weekend and other exciting stuff coming soon! Happy Monday dears…