Hey, I'm now on Metroblogging Minneapolis

I'm now posting what I find interesting about this city to the Minneapolis Metroblog. Don't miss that nifty badge on the sidebar! --->

BTW, Bombay has a blog too on the metblog network - Metroblogging Mumbai

TBIF!

Thank the Brit's, it's Friday again! My favourite downtown haunt with my favourite companion in the pic. It's a noisy joint on Fridays and the weekend, but does it matter after you're a couple down? I had always known of the Americans' love for the brit accent; their love for brit-style pubbing is a delight for me.

And here I am tottering out of the blasted pub:

Minneapolis...

...a city in the making




and waiting...

My horse-drawn carriage

How should it make one feel to be the only one on the platform waiting for the train, and then to be the only one riding the train? Makes me feel like a king.

Go ahead, get a royal experience.



And then,

OK.

MGM: The Phoenix of Midtown Minneapolis

Someplace Africa, the resident village community gathers around a melting pot with a healthy fire underneath. On weekends and on days of celebration, nearby villages are sent out invitations to break bread together. An important aspect of this custom is to revere the melting pot before any cooking begins, as the pot more than the food is seen to be the lifesource of this North African tribe.

So how is this all connected to Mpls? Well, no connections really, except I'm trying to draw a far out parallel with the Midtown Global Market, which is reviving a once notorious Minneapolis neighborhood - the Midtown and some parts of Chicago Ave and Lake St. in particular.



The MGM brings the kitchens of the world under one airconditioned roof. Greek, Carib, Tibetan, Chinese, Mexican (of course), and even Nepalese, which generally doesn't make an appearance as frequently as some others (and is there any such thing as authentic Nepalese?).

Arts, crafts, jewelry are the main pieces of attraction here, hemmed in by good world cuisine, all under the watchful eyes of Shiva-Parvati.



Located centrally in a complex that houses the Metro Transit Center, a major hotel, and a big hospital, the MGM makes it easy for lots of Minneapolitans to include it on their weekend to-dos. And they're doing it!

For its food or for music, the MGM is providing nourishment to an area that had long been written off. If in Mpls, this is a highly recommended visit.

This is boat country

The boats are out in the Midwest. Weekends see hordes pulling out of cities with boat trailers hitched to their SUVs. The North Shore is a popular destination, but with 11,842 (!) lakes in Minnesota and the scenic byway, there is never any dearth of good boating sites.

Sometime soon, I should be able to post a video of an SUV speeding with a boat trailer.

Pic of boats parked at Lake Harriet, Mpls.

Watch baseball, eat dog

If you've gotta do the baseball routine, do it the American way. Eat chilli dogs.

Here I am chomping away on my dog, barely finding my way through the press of 40,000 people - some surreptitiously rooting for the Cubs, most others rooting for the home team, Twins. The local folks did get their money's worth watching the home team win that's in the middle of a purple patch this season. The win almost brought the Metrodome roof down at the end of the game.

Oh, BTW, I also did "The Wave".

Taste...The Trash

The proof of the pudding is in its eating. Except, all eating activities have come to a close here. But it's proof enough that Taste of Minnesota 2006 - an annual food and music event that lasts five days and concludes on the evening of Fourth of July - was a sellout.

This was one of the very few times I wished I had a better camera. I work with an inexpensive Taiwan make (where else?!), and in the last two years it has helped me capture some wonderful sights and oddities in India and some around the world. But late evenings without flash are a no no with my baby.

Anyway, this post isn't about my hardy camera. I think this image has the power to unite the world. Serious. One, because this was shot in America - and so the rest follow - and two, where in the world would people overlook an event being sponsored by a major brewer?

At the Taste, I expected to see and taste food from the real 'heartland', but events such as these are usually overrun by everyday fast food and pubs.

Found this to-the-brim trashcan at the St. Paul riverfront, the venue for 'Taste...'

Advertising - the Midwestern way

The 'Cream of Wheat' brand of grain products developed paintings as their signature advertising style in their heyday. Here's a couple on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Thirsty pet? Go to the Ole Creamery

A dash of good ole philanthropy on Grand Avenue, St. Paul.

They forgot to pick up the trash

One heck of an officer, this. Actually it all comes together...he drank from a big bottle of rum, a few gulps of water in the middle, and one large whole chicken meal. When he was done, he dumped the whole motherload under his house. And look, they found it. Now on display at Fort Snelling.

The Cinnamon Metro Show - Ep 2

Interview with an American Have-not

Meet Carrie. Having survived family abuse, a violent separation, and racial taunts for having married a "black man", she nonchalantly asks passersby for food, money, clothing, smokes - whatever - to get over her homelessness sometime soon.

Rude awakening to the Great American Dream?
Listen to Carrie - homeless but hopeful

Theme - "Three Away From Zero"Written & Performed by:Derek R. Audette - (C) MMV(Creative Commons)

Murderapolis

America may be the free world, but the things that mean the most to common citizens come at a hefty price. Wonder if this is why Minneapolis came to be called Murderapolis a few years ago!



Read about Mpls of the infamous 90s here.

It's the Free World

I'd be joking if I said that America was a cheap place to live in. But look - here's evidence - there are times when 'free' loves company.



Shot of the hundreds of home sale, rent, and job ad boxes that line the streets of all major cities in America. This one was taken downtown Minneapolis.

Mpls doesn't need any more heat

We're still a good 4-5 months away from scenes of people pressing that button frantically. Right now, the Twin Cities are sizzling, the grass is dying, the skin is burning, and sunblock is flowing.

It's becoming difficult to walk around during the day (and sometimes even evenings) looking for the bizarre and the ordinary on the streets of the Cities. Here's hoping their parched throats get their moisture back quickly.

Let their be cool.

Play on, sidewalk

Our man here has been playing for the love of music, the need for money, and the taste of good food for ten years on the streets of downtown St. Paul. Watch and hear him drum as we speak.



A bad jam on the roads is perhaps good news for our streetside entertainer. Yes, traffic does come to a standstill on big, broad roads here. And of course, people do honk their horns in America!

An exploding smorgasbord of history

Yearly, America goes spasming into its glorious past on the Fourth of July. Fort Snelling in St. Paul, MN, is as good a place as any to catch vignettes of military life in the early 19th century on this very day. Here's a glimpse:



Costumed soldiers reconstruct life at the barracks at Fort Snelling, unmindful of strange looking aliens who randomly pop flashbulbs:



The soldiers work their guns in answer to the aliens popping flashbulbs:



Come evening on the Fourth, and my appetite for history gives way to the more mundane, more here-and-now desires...food. A short walk down Wabasha St. over the Mississippi leads to the Taste of Minnesota, a food and music fest, that lasts five days to conclude on July 4 every year.



And of course, no July 4 video is complete without footage of the pyrotechnics. So here I am at the St. Paul riverfront aiming skyward - the last few moments of my day out on the Fourth:

Cart shopping

This Walmart shopping cart, when photographed, lay abandoned by the side of an interstate. The closest Walmart was easily a couple of miles off. So it got me thinking...

1. Walmart has this super customer convenience program that allows them to haul their purchases anywhere within a five-mile radius. This one was well within.

2. Perhaps these carts come fitted with RFID tags that helps the smart retailer herd them back at the end of yet another big discount day.

3. Maybe, Walmart just got shoplifted...one more time.

Plane Deal

Another board that hangs near the cafeteria and water cooler at work? No way. Look close - amid the clutter of boats, motorbikes, townhomes, and furniture ads, there's a 1955, $35K Cessna on sale here!

The owner claims to have gotten tired of jetting around, and prefers to "puddle-jump". Wow! I prefer to puddle-jump too, terrestrially speaking, but for entirely different reason$$$$. Same view, different angles.

So that's what you do for a living now

Remember him? Caught Mr. Gorbachev endorsing the walleye at The Tavern on Grand, St. Paul. Back in 1990 when the Soviet leader visited the MN capital, The Tavern... served him their best walleyes, the state fish (!). And more than a decade later, they put him up on their wall.

Mikhail, I'm a more recent customer and let me tell you The Tavern... still does a good job with their walleyes.

The Cinnamon Metro Show - Ep 1

France have the heart, Italy had the luck

Glockenspiel, a German-American pub on the way to St. Paul, was packed to the rafters with a Sunday crowd gathered to watch Italy play France in the 2006 Soccer World Cup final.

David Davis, who loves his soccer and his beer, talks about France's chances in a pre-match interview here. Dave seems quite a regular at Glockenspiel, waving and nodding to everyone around and correctly identifying my entree off the menu with one glance!

Listen to Dave talk about his French hope

Theme - "Three Away From Zero"Written & Performed by:Derek R. Audette - (C) MMV(Creative Commons)