It was the weekend before Valentine’s Day that the snow finally and fully disappeared from the evergreen branches outside my apartment, where it had been laying thicker than a bird’s nest since slamming us the prior weekend.
It had caked my head as well on Wednesday, when I was caught outside for more than just a couple of blocks.
I’d looked at the forecast and saw a prediction that temperatures would be near 50 degrees as a high, and since I’d been doing laundry and all my jeans were still damp, I donned of all things a pair of shorts for my walk as the sun was dipping.
The jaunt proved daunting, and the weather doomed my bare legs.

— If you want a quick fix, as in sharing a glance or even a hello, with your fave player, things could be getting either more or less difficult. We’ll make a quick call involving Kirill. He now has bought a residence, not holed up in an intentional way in a flat, and his English skills are getting better at even a far greater current rate than that of hat tricks — and that’s saying something. So talking a bit of hockey, hey how ’bout the Penguins who are found on ice also, would be easier. But uhm no, he’s been said to be dating someone, seen together with a Russian model, though likely not in St. Paul. And where did some Wild players go for the NHL all-star break? Not too many stayed in the Twin Cities or its (wide-ranging) vicinity, unless braving the cold for a day or two if so compelled. But Toronto? And there could be Replacements, from the partly closed and small circuit of cool local clubs, where people can get to know people in our small burgs, as this is Minneapolis, etc.
To wit, AP or as he is called AD, can do more than rush the football to record-setting levels, as with the Vikings. He even hit a home run in a Texas, his first home base although he wanders, celebrity contest around the time of the Super Bowl, so he’s still got it and that is from the killer workout routine that comes with such ADHD abilities, as I cited. He too just can’t stay away from the game(s). But in Vegas, where most things stay, he was seen being stumbly after the Super Bowl and after a night of partying, to build my case for those who have an unceasing desire to mingle with their fans …
And Zach Parise, too, has said he will call it a night after his fall to Colorado and thus retire, to get back to the home stomping grounds …
And where do stories come from? A two-woman hockey site called BarSides, I think, cited that some info came from being at local dinner with someone who was in the know, close to the situation/team. And another site also has a root word that beckons of bars … where as Blondie said, the people meet. Over shock, or punk rock? —

But even Saturday morning, I saw a gent who must have spent a similar time in the laundry room, as he was walking down the main drag in also, shorts that did not reach down to his knees. This was again, a couple of blocks to the north of the main business area, where The Bees Knees boutique had been selling Valentine’s Day goods earlier in the week. Saw the same shorts when the temps were in the single digits, on Sunday night.
Come that midweek, as mid-afternoon turned to later-afternoon, weather had still be mild. But when the time arrived to be having dinner with your Valentine, the wind and snow had arrived, seemingly out of nowhere.
So went I’d made my entire headway while heading north, and went to wipe off and got to the bathroom mirror, I saw my whole forehead and sideburns and sweatshirt were caked in wet snow, almost to the point of obscuring facial features. I wondered what my lady-friends must have thought when they saw me walk in. I must say I felt conspicuous as I sat at the bar counter and quaffed by beer. When I had walked along, I felt very often a click of my heals as ice throlled up to hit my ankles, now bare.
I recall thinking that during an earlier in the Month-Of-Love windstorm, that same ride on that “Nordeaster” had again come into play, as a sign for a neighboring business, called in part the Northwestern, again dropped to the ground temporarily. It was a victim of the weather rollercoaster for a second time in the past year. And still today, the wind wafts on.
Valentine’s Day-less this time around, I had gone out for a drink by myself. That made me of course a definite minority. But many of those duos, and the occasional trio, were people of the same sex, and they did not look to be getting intimate enough to be gay. So if dateless, go out with a same-sex bud, apparently.
Over in New Richmond, where it seemed the weather was far worse than in Hudson, the young waitress at the local club was well dressed for the holiday occasion, although she was on duty, with the same bright color on both her blouse and pants, hair ribbon and earrings, fingernails and belt. Off of that pattern, though, by wearing off-white shoes the color of my legs. She was appreciative of me complementing her on her pinkness, and spun around cutely and bopped away after thanking me.
I also got thanks from the bartender, a longtime friend of mine, to whom I handed a card that was kind of cheesy, about a supposed “party RSVP” that I dubbed Really Special Voluptuous Person.
The day before, at that place that says love if you are too short on cash for the flower store, WalMart, men were out doing what men do right after work on Feb. 14. If a bit harried and in a hurry.
Don’t they have it in this aisle anymore? I heard this said, or said it myself, at least four times.
I swear it was right here! Did they move all the stuff like it again? From last year?
Look closer, a wise man said to other shoppers, some a bit frazzled.
There were many different versions, and what the end result would be, of “the same old story, all over again. You turn a lover into just another friend …”
It kept coming up, in different store places, Where They Might Have Had Blue Light Specials. But not Lite beer with a similar-color label.
A little girl said to her dad, who looked incredulous, “I know just what mom knows she wants.” They were in the candy aisle, edging toward God know’s what …
A tot and her father in next main aisle over, had much the same conversation.
Then came a heavy-set black woman looking for … what for her man, followed by I much say a much hotter black-haired one also searching, who said she couldn’t find what she was looking for either, and then wandered down toward the checkout counters, then back toward me, then back away again for a few feet .. and then found her candy of choice, a dozen small pieces in a sack.
A last lady also looking, on the far end of the store, said and lingered on the subject that she was running out of time, but apparently not people to talk to.

Rounds of roses are wonderful — and the color chosen will tell what your luck might be even prior to St. Patrick’s Day — but we all love nachos, ask the more current insignia, and you don’t need to order a dozen, as per Hallmark’s usual protocol.
One local venue has on a sign that glorifies it, in part with an ode to The Stones and their regarded rendering, one of dozens, of big-lips-and-tongue-stuck-out. Bawdy with big brawn, on this coming day that celebrates beauty. Thus the Agave Kitchen makes nachos for newlyweds and others, and adds tacos that are advertised as having a prime ingredient going beyond fish, as in calamari, or earlier salmon. Without having to first consult the prime rate.
Then this revelation, as I resolve now, after NYE, to make this recommendation, to make reservations for you and her without any reservation or any resignation or remorse, to engage in downtown Brickstyle Pizza. This stated on their sign on Super Bowl Sunday, perhaps less of a date night, so make your reservations here, before halftime comes, (OK I made up that last part.) But even now, just call them …

— But back to when they were the football ‘aints and there were bags on the heads of the, what I think, fans bored to death as in the Crucifixion season coming, as yesterday was Ash Wednesday, see more gridiron-related goodies below … Yesterday was also V-Day, of course, and thus as well Saints Day, as per Saint Valentine, but not for All Saints in this day, as some can’t make a pass and thus pass the test in their passing yardage for more than a dozen as in roses yards. Drew Brees changed that — like my friend(s) as in Bree could have changed modeling — and considering that he made it such a breeze why could this have been done back before the heyday of Archie Manning took hold … But read below. —

So say it ain’t so, we could go back to when they were known as the ‘aints, as they have not won The Bowl for many years — after being gung-ho for a while midstream. Yes these are the New Orleans Saints, how apparently have a local fan … who tipped us off and tipped his hat, which he then lost after tipping a few, as it set outside the door of The Smilin’ Moose for a while, then got moved to sit atop a parking meter, and back. It made note of the fact that this football “club” was established in 1967, which I think of more as the era of another Super Bowl star, the Packers’ Bart Starr.
Then to cap it off …
So if you accept The Cup — not the Stanley version, as Paul of KISS also — you still can have more pizza-azza by going to the Village Inn, and taking in their Detroit-style pie form. Motor City matters, as per its mascot madman. I think the guy down the street might have been there, as he’s been waving from his pole a Lion’s flag, a team that’s had about as much recent success, prior to this season’s push through the playoffs, as the Saints. But Detroit is still not powerful enough to be called the ‘ions. Got consenants “covered.”
There was set on the side of a Detroit-like truck, a logo of a Bigfoot — who by the way is said to be seen in these parts, read about it here later — of my valentine, since he’s carrying a rose. You local lady said he sounds cool, might like to date him! Similarly, a heart-harkened insignia on another sign, for the Hudson Hot Air Affair, was seen even after its holding. Also offered were ‘ngrats to the state-bound Hudson Dance Team, as the other squads are ingrates? Backers were seen during the HHAA wandering the streets, bearing banners in support of their squad.
In an online ad, there is another scene, of a very leggy blonde woman in a very short skirt who is walking a latenight Saudi street alongside who else but an Arab Oil Shiek, who himself does not seem to have any lacking-clothing-restriction, as he’s really duded up. Check out the song Rock the Casbah, if you think it kosher, for how the two ends Clash.
I also as The Day nears, reference Cosmo and its covers, showing how to among other things fry it up in a pan in regard to bacon while doing it all … And speaking of such, also its message from its ilk to take an oath to “spend more time naked,” although we question the motivations for making such a suggestion, and the degree of value it has in the first place. We guess the line came from a (bit obsessed?) male associate editor. Abject abs as an object anyone?
As per this ad: Two “nuns” wearing skimpy Halloween attire while having hands folded and lips pursed, as this could be right on All Saints Day.
So the new perfect woman, as created by AI and now gracing our brains and putting pressure on our now young girls to look the same way. But what about the new best man? And per our newly annointed and token female, she still needs to be adorned with headgear, just not a hairpiece.
And that ad from a place called Lovesac, on pre-Presidents Day, not the V-Day that name would suggest. But I think Trump got some help from them. Biden abstains.
I also spied two second-story balcony “bears” kissing, above a bar. Like Romeo and Juliet? Beckoning Blue Oyster Cult. Could the pair be bi-polar? Up the block, at Bee’s Knees, you can see the biggest and best sign of them all, using 35 words to say why both she and you are special. Along with a mylar balloon that’s almost half as tall as she is. Nextdoor at another antique shop is — another Bigfoot — wearing a Stars War cap, to be like Chewbacca.

The best price is, of course, zero, as is zilch. Or as this is not zero tolerance, at least with the presence of zeros, (rather than the obligatory 99-cent ending two digits, or at least 49-cent, and that could be the alcohol proof of it also, with the proof in the $1.00 pudding.) So with that said, for me when I’m buying Bud Zero not in a 1.0 liter, or 30-pack, but a 12-pack, I’m looking for something between probably, $9.00 and $10.00. (And there are no 10 packs.) That last stat could play into whether you blow a 0.08 or a 0.10, and get a 10-year term or $10,000 fine.

— Zeros, that number(s) come(s) up again …
At our “group mailbox” of dozens to pick from, but only one your own, I saw a friend trying to access her end with her key. (That went badly one time, but that’s another multifaceted story for later.)
I entered the conversation with my usual bad joke. So did someone send you some money? Damn no, she said, minus the vulgarity, so zero dollars ahead? I don’t quite remember it for sure. Bills, such as like taxes … Lottery winnings? Don’t count your chickens until well after they are past egg stage, and laid to rest and on your BBQ’d or teriyaki’d plate, lemon-butter at Perkins might be cheaper. At this point she was still smiling, but edging way, although quite slowly. It could just be (wishful thinking as per my social-status graces?) because she uses a wheelchair.
But we agreed as one, they that are all those mailings, still end up in zeros, just depends on how many, and if metamorphically. Hopefully you still get at least 99 cents (it’s something), rather than zeros that gain you zilch, of such described. —

So leave it to Total Wine (as in a booze-warehouse-building and if an item exists they have it, with no zeros for inventory) in Milwaukee to change it up on me, put the zero in an odd place and charge $9.09. And at that price, under the ten-dollar-and-zero-cent barometer that’s the usual benchmark for determining sales tax, I still had a tax of $0.55, the same exact figure as in St. Croix County — with its $0.055 percent rate — for a set of cans costing $1.00 in total more.
This was bought at about 10:00:00, or that’s what the receipt tells me, for the store street address ending in two zeros, like their 12-pack price that I had yearned for.
This purchase was made on the morning of Christmas Eve, and I was told that if I’d wait a bit beyond 10 a.m., but not more than 10 hours, I could buy a gift bottle — for around the same price? — and have the recipient’s name engraved for zero dollars. Wouldn’t that make the bottle leak? The store was open on this holiday night not until 9:00 p.m. but rather 8:00 p.m., so 60 minutes more to gift shop elsewhere by its employees. On Christmas Day they’d be open a total of zero hours. Their flyer says, again, sleigh gift-giving. Is that how we create a red-nosed reindeer? But their employees would slay that thought after 8:00.
Down there in beer city, they have that ungodly higher sales tax rate for your brew, compared to pristine (even prissy?) St. Croix County. That is $0.01 more in tax for every $1.00, which becomes a turbo rate at $100 if you pay $10,000. Plus your typical tip of $1.00, and god forbid not $0.00, or meet in the middle at $0.50? And that $0.01 stat comes into play again when taking in the 99 brand of shot-in-a-small-bottle set of liquors — that’s meagerly nearing the $1.00 figure in both price and alcohol proof. So you will pay $.01 less than $1.00 for these.
Then the latest Total Wine coupon, which I even get up here in these parts unknown, offers $20.00 off wine or 10.0 percent off spirits (of a type under 100 proof I’m assuming) for 750.0 ml or larger. (Excludes also items priced higher than $0.01 less than $500.) One wine is named 90, I know not why.
I saw in a commercial a zany bit on zeros where two people, as in one couple, at a bar I’m guessing, quibbled over the $2.00 left, so $1.00 for each person, so again meet in the middle? And who takes care of the added tip of $0.40, if figured at 20 percent?
I also spied at again, $0.01 short of $1.00 for canned fruit at a local grocer, so you get fruit for your cocktail. With an expiration date of … what … practically zero in terms of time. Like 10-year-old fruitcake. OK, that may be stretching it.
In the far more than 100-year downtown, Brick’s Pizza, with longlasting ovens, for the last 1.0 months has celebrated being open for 1.0 years short of 20 years. (More coming on their new V-Day promotion. Zero chance you will miss it, if you act before time zero. Like at Green Mill also, as it will be ground zero before their new sign acometh, zoning in on specials galore.)
At bookends there are all those budding, with sales, Kwik Trip convenience stores, and their non-sale prices for bananas, onions and potatos that started at $0.01 short of 20 cents for one pound, back about 20 years ago, then amped up to such as 30 and 40 and now 50.
Lastly, referring back to the earlier post largely on Wild winger Zach Parise — and I will doubledown on it — he recently turned 1.0 years short of the big 40, and is embarking on his renewed career of 1.0 years short of 20 years. That’s one-half of his life. See more on that in a post below.
And to think I went through this total rehash with you — but I withheld the hash as it is way more than a zero-percenter, if you know what I mean — when you have zero time. But if you are active on the internet … And as such on X, or is it actually 0? XXs and OOs. So as you like it, or don’t, I’ll bet my last penny that when signing that former term, as your name on the sing-it list, that they do not have zero-tolerance for karaoke.
I’ll stop now. Zero chance.

Locust Street well represents authentic historic Hudson, and the Hudson Flower Shop goes back enough decades to fit that decorated bill with its varied and colorful flora.
The business has been a power in flower sales — and you get that mantra by existing before television commercials — on Locust Street since 1946. Most fully mature trees don’t have that long a live span. Shelli Erck is the fifth owner of the store, and one of those here who also teach prominently how to decorate and design, and has been in this capacity with the shop for 28 years. That’s more than one-third of the store’s entire lengthy tenure.
She is taking the lead in putting out their product, and thus promotion, behind the effort called Love on Locust Street. There have been a few other times, over this one, using this same collaboration theme, and her store is the sales force behind the street’s take, with nine stores banding together almost back-to-back-to-back, for what band or such to get your significant other. Or for yourself. (Musically as a mega-concert, of bands? Or otherwise on The Street.)
They say, the nine stores all as one: “Love yourself!! Love someone special!! We have all your pampering needs whether you are pampering yourself or someone special …” Small hearts pasted over each one when you come in. With our without your significant other.

— And for such self-love, in a good way, there is the Arcana Apothecary a half-block down from my apartment building on Hudson’s Second Street that all Sunday (fitting?) afternoon will offer an event heavy on these topics, providing a light through products and their usage involving herbal baths and ritual salts, and my best loved, self-affirmation candles. Called a transformative alchemy. Sounds good to me, by and large, with what they’ve said. See their website for some added information and how to register, and also reference Droplets of Wellness below on this post, as you gotta love it and love you.
And the place nextdoor to me has at work here as a side hustle, so to speak, Sacred Iris Botanicals, and the middle name makes me think of the name of the Egyptian goddess.
And especially if you are a guy, you can (also) treat yourself to a $20 haircut at the called classic barber upstairs, (don’t know about the facial massage aspect and their is no Arcana arcade.) But still, pamper yourself, and thus take care better care of yourself, regardless of your gender. Like with my busy with jobs, plural, bartender friend who I just told on her most crammed-in day, to make sure and book in 20 minutes of downtime simply to veg-out and … just “be” thusly. —

Back to our main store, which also looks small from the street but it’s mighty inside! Way beside smaller plants. Its hard to disagree as some arrangements are the size of full bushes and feature all colors of the rainbow at once, with stems of varied thicknesses and turnings and styles. Vases are of all shapes and bendings, and the flora can spread out way to the side on many of them. Floral arrangements, as examples of what you can purchase, cover the walls up to the ceiling, with hanging plants everywhere, and they use the space to best extent to breathe beauty into all ends of the place. There is more than one aisle to stroll through, with flora-packed sub-aisles within aisles, featuring tiers and layers of counters as you go upward, and what you see changes up as you move — or also linger — and go along. The twinkling lights strung around the higher reaches add to the appeal. This particular use of space doesn’t even include the back areas that are large in size and give plenty of room for the designers to make their creations.
One of them that was being arranged as I talked to Erck had a beautifully artistic look, original in design with a combination of various greenery and deliciously understated bright flowers, that included a wide metal vase that was legitimate gold in color.
“We carry a large supply of fresh-cut flowers, restocking our cooler multiple times through the week. We also have a large selection of greeting cards, gifts, plants and containers,” Erck emphasized. “Our designers boast over 50 years of design experience and Shelli, the owner, is an instructor at The Institute of Floristry in Minneapolis, Minn. We have been designated the people’s favorite florist by St. Croix Valley magazine for the last five years. We take pride in creating a personal experience you can rave about. Our motto is that, We want to be your first choice for flowers in the St. Croix Valley.” I have dealt with the magazine as a writer, and their advice comes well recommended.
The shop feaures a big “cooler” separate area that has the warmth of many flowers, that you can venture into, with a varied greeting card selection alongside. And more and more …
Hudson Flower Shop has a poignant logo too, with a big H and flowery six-pedal design attached alongside.
One of many out of the photos online, shows an arrangement with close to a dozen of distinct types of flora.
The store has a synergy to a very longtime jewelry and diamond store in the same block, and such others including Knoke’s Chocolates, having been there since the year 2000. So there is a full Locust Street promotion that might interest anyone who sees red, in a good way, leading up to Valentine’s Day.
Check out the web site at www.hudsonflowershop.com. And give them a call and see what everyone is talking about, they suggest. People have done so for decades, since before the time phones were a thing. People in those days stopped by in-person. And they can today at Street No. 222.
And visit also, the eight other stores up and down the one main and virtually only block of Locust Street to see their varying kinds of merchandise, in many different categories. They are all part of the promotion that together mainfests the slogan Love On Locust Street. A common theme in all the stores is an extensive and varied inventory, that could be called eclectic, if an overused term. Their flyer lists the street numbers of all the venues in an upper corner, generally going up by only a numeral or two.
An inventory example, from Rose and Lavender: There are all those books, to make for dates that are truly blind, that have there covers closely covered and masked, but just naming first a genre and then three sub-genres — a mystery in itself. Next-shelf, way in the back past tons of other stuff, are big fluffy pillows and a wicker basket beneath, for variety.
These are the other stores, roughly in order: a’ la mode salonspas, Beloved Makers and Company, Post American eatery, BackRoom Vintage, Chapter2 Books, and Droplets of Wellness. As Locust Street shows its nine lives.

You know a chilly but smokin’ and scarfed penguin in this, the land and ice and snow and Coldies, will mean fun that just keeps on ballooning!
That’s the theme mascot, of sorts, for the 2024 Hudson Hot Air Affair, and the multitude of music and tasting has been described in my previous posts but there is even more frivolity that will not fizzle in this, its 35th year of bringing the heat to the air. Newer much warmer weather, and mild wind in western Wisconsin, will likely mean hot air balloons indeed go up. There are burner-borne launches — following up on a space day of moon and Mars at the Hudson Public Library — slated for Saturday and Sunday morning at 7:35 a.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. Add to that a 7 p.m. torchlight parade on Friday, and a moonglow/field of fire at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. Winds are forecast to be below the 10 mph threshold for launch, especially Sunday. Just don’t quite know about smoosh-boarding. (The named activities all are at the school grounds at EP Rock Elementary on the hill, except for the downtown parade.)
This music-heavy Affair even features a piano-theme balloon among its dozens, be it plinky or pounding like Tim Grady on the Grand, every early evening this weekend at Ziggy’s Live Music Bar and Restaurant. Other music rocks the whole town also. Penguin mascots love to mingle and dance — and even sample drinks that forget those fishy gars, are far beyond sea water — just not with killer whales, as that scares the wool-scarfed, feathered and flippered ones.
In a newer related event, also in the chilly water, the Hudson Rotary Club goes beyond its killer annual car raffle and jumps in the lake early-afternoon with a St. Croix River Dunk of polar style, at the Lakefront Park beach on Saturday from 1-3 p.m.

— Did I call this polar pizzazz chilly? As the time of this writing update, just before 10 a.m. after a night of checking out the sights and sounds of The Affair, it was hovering around freezing and expected to get several degrees warmer around the slosh-around-in-the-lakefront-or-is-it-a-river time. So they might get even more than their originally expected 200 water jumpers, per my pals at the Hudson Star-Observer, and thus make more than the $100K goal for charity! Great news for all but polar bears. So this event doesn’t have to be a bear for those who are timid, hey even up here in the Great Northwoods And Waters some of us have our limits, (as in Boundaries in our Waters), as per this the sixth annual, actually, event that streams. And in the HSO submitted photo, showing that being-in-costume lives beyond the Friday night torchlight parade, there was a man who looked like a combo of a bear and rocker Jack Black, as this is a HHAA music weekend, and a very much taller likeness of Will Ferrell. And such guys do indeed dress up, be that good or bad, or in-between.
(For occasional updates on the Hudson Hot Air Affair happenings, “shortly” after they occur or are ongoing, see this website’s Notes From The Beat department, listed alongside.) —

To wit, to steel yourself, at the sponsoring dance venues and various others: There will be the Sippin’ With The Hotties Beverage Crawl, with special prices on unique alcoholic and non-alcoholic creations, and you can start but not end with launch-timed bloodies.
All through the three-day event weekend, there’s this connected offering — giving a chance to sip without slippin’ on any newly formed ice — starting with the downtown and then broadening out across the greater Hudson area. Here are the participants: (Vote for your favorite for a chance to win a $50 Gift Certificate.) Visit these participating Hudson restaurants and bars all weekend long: Bennett’s Chop & Railhouse, Big Guys BBQ Roadhouse, Black Rooster Bistro, Buddy’s Bakery, Dick’s Bar & Grill, Grand Fête, Keys Café Bakery & Bar, Lucky Guys Distillery, Post American Eatery, Smokey Treats BBQ, The Cellars Wines & Spirits/Tonka Vodka and Ziggy’s Live Music, Bar & Restaurant.
To lead off the many examples, you may be beholden to the Hotchata drink with rum at Bennett’s, adding peppermint bark (or is it dark), with the first letter partly obscured by a mug handle, as shown on the sign on the wall — actually front window — that says it all. Such overt promotion will get you places not earlier seen with HudsonWiNightlife. There are three other deliciously “creamy” new signs in the area, that “milk” the theme of are you looking for a sign to do or buy something like such a specialty drink, and then the message in front of you that you see, suggested along the sidewalk, is just that sign. “You don’t need no astrology … or ticket to fly with me …” Listen to Ozzy expound, as he knows, having crossed through Hudson many times while touring with OzzFest.
Anyway, over at Ziggy’s, there is a special hawked on the bottom corner of their monthly lineup, on a marquee of bands that may or may not have to do with this not type of Affair, although that event is prompted by a similar and related sign in the upper corner of the same bulletin board. Thus pumped is the Voodoo Ranger Juicy Haze IPA. Given the music theme, at this club and the ballooning extravaganza as a whole, reigning with Purple Haze would also fit, and Sinatra and Godsmack and Jimi again, and Night Ranger also weighs in.
Since just before the new year turned, bartender Joe’s White Russian has been a resolution, and you can buy it with Cutwater Vodka, bringing it up to 13 percent alcohol by volume, and a coffee cream liquor. (Disclaimer: There is no official word on whether the last two drinks have been creations that go specifically along with the Hot Air Affair offering, but they show examples of what you can find and weigh in on. Check out much more, such as mulled wine decked out in a thin bottle with flower at Urban Olive and Vine, and play on with pizzazz as this weekend plays out.)

We in the Twin Cities and neighboring Minnesconsin area have seen pro players and musicians who undoubtably have gotten tight with their fan base, and especially some individual fans, to the point it underscores what they do on the field or rink or court or stage and effects in some way their business decisions, such as to go on the free agent market, or at which big city’s venues to choose to perform. After all, that formed fan base awaits, and both sides of it I believe stay longing for the act to continue. There is no intermission from such connection.
Even though this hyper-fandom — spun closely across from an arena, as is seen here like perhaps nowhere else — has always been around, these days such is more, as social media and just the general climate of faster and faster video-game-style pace ups the ante to stay in touch after away games, or become very antsy. Even if traded, which is unlikely with these popular ones, or cut or contract bought out. (Such situations seemingly have been seen here, in some years more recent than others, and the case is made below.)
There is always the regional relationship-making, aided by the fact that certain markets like ours are smaller and more compact in size (see down below), and that some clubs always hop with some talent and charm more frequently and people know just where to find each other, like a musician on a somewhat-small as to be closed circuit, but not to them. Regional can grow beyond regional, and then a bit of travel comes into play if keeping a budding relationship going. To see Brewers or Bucks or Blackhawks? But going beyond might be obsessive. Or …
There are times when cruising a select handful of after-game venues, grabbing maybe a quick and small beer and quaffing it at one, and then crossing sidewalk to another, especially if the places are close enough together for it — and that’s not in many cities and forget in those of any size — this subculture takes on an often night-life of its own. These super-fans have game on most every game night, and book it up-front into their maybe crammed schedules, so it reigns after their successful workday is done. And thus there is karma and beyond that rains and its increased psyche creeps into the brain.
So St. Paul ups the ante with its pro hockey team, The Wild, as an arena a couple of decades ago replaced the beloved North Stars and was crammed into a few city blocks to be built, where there was barely room. And additional sports (read hockey) bars would follow in construction, and buildings were revamped, basically in a clump, taking up not much more space than the Minnesota Wild’s arena ice and its seats.
I know of what I speak, although at this time am choosing not to speak too much.
This thing of The Fan and The Man can be a good one, not like checking a player in the back, or grabbing a facemask, not just jersey. It’s just the normal interaction that ramps up when one is a star player, and the other a fan, and a connection forms quickly, like at a meet-and-greet with the quick but soon to get more intertwined chit-chat over an autograph. Then where to go with that new and budding bond after all the names are signed — on books or even on babes — and the event is done? And the teams and bands played with often change, especially in the 2000s? And the new teams they go to, could be influenced by if they already know some people there, although that’s not something you often here about.

We love them here!
As I wrote earlier, they are our people, in the Twin Cities. And their fans drive them, like a rush to the end zone, or to put the puck in the goal.
That’s where the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul and the as-pertinent surrounding area are, to use an overused term, unique as far as their layout. The many hockey bars are, some more than others, within a few blocks — an easy walk, not much more distance than for a standard ice skating rink. Even the Center itself is not surrounded by plenty of parking lots and such — the only big ramp is flanking to the other side — and what stone-base is there is concise in the form of a triangle, you even if a player are right there to go ahead and mingle. And not even hardly any busy intersections to cross, and few expanses of concrete, and few other businesses to venture past but such bars, and those that do exist are tiny. The locker rooms themselves are not far.
Even Minneapolis, not a huge city, pales by comparison, concerning its pro teams and the distances to walk, no matter which stadium. Might be better to be northwesternly Medina. Perhaps with Radar Love playing.
And the Twin Cities as a whole, even with its few suburbs, is not nearly as huge as most metropolitan areas, and when you venture beyond those select suburbs there still is much farmland and large-lot sizes, so not too much population density. And no big lakes, but for one or maybe two, and mountains do not break it up. City and suburb lines are not stretched out much by rivers, as at this point the Mississippi one has gotten very narrow, and the same is the case for the only other consideration, the diminuative Minnesota waterway. So per capita, it’s more likely you know someone prominent, or went to the same high school, and there’s a greater chance they might be from your hometown. And still mingle later. Even as stardom rises beyond the regional. And their new world tour has to fit in a Twin Cities date, this time more likely Minneapolis, so you’ll have to hit the road across-city if a hockey buff.
(A beautiful black-haired Hudson bartender friend, as tall as a pro skater, though way too young to have much money saved up, was like many in saying she went to one Wild game and was addicted, flashing her eyes at those flashing lights, and getting season tickets like so many from even in Wisconsin to become one of these minions, without working at Valley Faire, only a regular night shift at a popular club, so again we must consider the constraints of tight schedules.)
To further this geography lesson, when I was at one of MY haunts … across the way just south of the freeway in Hudson, I saw an older film clip that would seem to back up my premise. In black-and-white it showed a team that had just gotten a big win and a designated person, and this seemed to be pre-planned in case the outcome of the game was right, immediately called a prime place — it looked to be one where many tables were placed together and a large number served family style but drinks too — for late-night dinner reservations that seemed to go far beyond just members of the ballclub. Numerous men and glamorous women were shown sitting down to dine as staff rushed to fulfill this newly received order.

Take for a fact, Zach …
So we must take into account the fact that star winger Zach Parise, of Minnesota Wild fame, ended up being with the New York Islanders for two vagabond seasons, then came back to live in the Twin Cities and did not look back to rejoin his new squad. He did not officially retire, but he was by no means playing either, although the window was eagerly left open for him and his NEW fans, whom based on his St. Paul experience of many years I can assume were legion.
Parise, who still has the itch to play, got back into a training regime late last year, then ramped it up, but still was not coming back, in full form, to the NHL. It was like he was torn, between two worlds, related but separate, and was holding out from having to choose just one. The sports pundits said he’d likely let us know by Thanksgiving, but then even Christmas passed …
So it was not a big surprise when Parise spent the summer without saying if he’d retire or not, then chose not to attend training camp, and even sat out the season opener — all while deliberating a possible return from his home near Minneapolis. He was said to be feeling a strong need to spend family time, as with his twins and not the team, and to do so stay back in Minnesota. Yes, but I think there was even more to it, as far as things to do and people to see around the arena. And if he would re-sign with someone in 2024, he’d have until the March deadline, then could participate in the playoffs, so use as much time as viable … But before I further retell, I must back up more.
This seems to mirror the situation of star Viking running back Adrian Peterson, who left Minnesota, at least officially, and although aging tried to play for other NFL teams, with moderate success. Prior to that, he was known to have flown between 140 and 200 people, by published reports, to key games he was playing. He was known to be a people person in every sense of the word and intimate in his relationships, and like Parise was very popular and outgoing to all he would see. Parise in particular is said to be the ultimate guy you would want in the locker room as a teammate. These are the kind of people who would seem to have difficulty bidding goodbye to their mates, of any type.

*** The Minnesconsin theme, now elaborated, and the ways the tightly taut geographical landscape allows atypical fan-star interaction, carries eastward to Green Bay, which at one time under 100,000 is even smaller in size then St. Paul. (Star Super Bowl lineman Fuzzy Thurston, after retirement, chose to field a fantastic local sports restaurant and bar that was known for his personal appearances as a post-Packer as well as its full quarter heads of lettuce salad, which I once ate in whole, then found it challenging to consume the equally bountiful entree. In the Twin Cities other old players have followed suit with such places, and they always seem to be linemen.) With even more surrounding farm fields nearby to Lambeau, almost right off the city limits. As an example, the Metal God himself, singer Rob Halford of Judas Priest, has chosen later in life to live here or at least in one of its, again, very few suburbs. In a farmhouse? Get to know those (Whiskey Woman?) neighbors, who might have seen him do such songs in-concert early-on, while Living After Midnight, before his full beard but in full Harley gear from a hundred miles south in Milwaukee. If such a Door County farmhouse is a really older one that’s long fallen into disarray (and then rehabbed I hope) this might be more Black Sabbath-esqe, in this the Badger State. Like the cover art on their first album.
Even Prince, a regional musical legend who rose far beyond that, kept close to the Twin Cities throughout his long career, and enough people got to know him that everyone had a Prince story or two in their hip pocket. He started here and largely stayed here, as his professional base, rather then focus solely on the scenes on either coast. Too many local ties to take care of.
For many such players and to varying degrees — based on scans of social media, and not-often-seen smiling photos of they with their fans, and news accounts — a picture is painted of them having social lifestyles that would be open to not being just tied to the house. Nothing wrong with that, or having such eagerness. Games let out well before 10 p.m. Some have shown a bit of hesitation to officially, though eventually, tie the knot in their relationships. Nothing wrong with that, either.
So, when you know one superstar well, it usually does not stop there. You may get to know, like with your fave bartender, their friends and family and co-workers and pets, and pretty soon you know more than a dozen people, many in a way a bit beyond being acquaintences, and possibly taking in a couple of the opposing squad’s players. And sports stars tend to hang out with other sports stars, and musicians with other players, so more there, even moreso in what also helps form a growing network, crossing the reason for celebrity. Fandom becomes more than fickle, and the connections formed just take over. And multiply.
Although its obvious that the emotional bond is what gets these things going, at times those who are sought out most, by each other as its mutual, are those with a similar physical look. Usually found in the facial features, chiseled chin and oh those eyes, as they are the windows to the soul.

We go to CO
But not necessarily OCD. So here we finally go with some news. Parise just broke free from living Minnesota, (and/or The Big Apple), at least for a few months and at least on game days, and signed a late-season deal for the rest of the year with the hated titans of Colorado, who are trying for an elusive second Stanley Cup in three years, the one thing that Parise’s soon-Hall of Fame career has not garnered.
One of the first photos trolled out by Colorado, over the weekend, showed him with a bit of a goatee and scruffy sideburns, so cool but alone in the pix, as he has been a very high-profile and unusually sought-after free agent for months. More so than you would think with an aging star, despite the goals he has to score more goals. There is that absolute sheer sense of presence that he has — like I’m guessing have some of the fans with whom I’m guessing such players know — and that takes these things and those abilities to another level.
Such stars have a sense of charisma, as can he shown after the (one-legged-standing) fist pumps after scoring a run or touchdown or goal, since that further enables these pristine and profound capabilities, with their fans or coaches, or other players or the media. If very tall like some, taking it all in while leaning backward against the wall of a locker room, or box seat, or bunch of concert-goers, or raft of roadies, there exist even more possibilities.
When there is more time off from the rink or field, there is more time available at the rim of the bar, or other social places to gather, for those on both sides of the equation. Who choose to feed off of it. Some leagues have newer rules that allow certain days off from competition, and there are also all-star breaks mandated as well, when the potential time to mingle hikes. And when players are off of playing because of injury for a week or two or even three, there is even more opportunity. After all, yes, you indeed sit with the team during the game, but there is no time that needs to be taken for dressing into playing gear, or later showering and changing out of pads and back into street clothes. So away you can go, if chosen, more quickly to meet up with fans, even if for just a passing moment, as they try to catch your eye as they roam and gain at least a wink.
Methinks that despite a language barrier and the fact he at first, at least, stayed tied to his new apartment, new Wild star Kirill Kaprizov took such a new opportunity when he had a couple of rather long injuries. That would have allowed him to showcase both the newfound English skills he was learning and his babyface Conan O’Brien-like looks. A leading music video reactor and singer is also a doppelganger.

Next-level-friends
But when does interacting with fandom hit a higher level? Yes, venue proximity and scope of the layout is a big issue, but … This goes back to some people indeed being people-people. And then given an opportunity to boot …
I will present a possible greatest-case scenario. First, we consider a woman who is among the most verified psychic minds who has been studied, to the point that she went completely the other direction and became a bit of a recluse to avoid such attention. She could tell you with amazing accuracy what card from a deck was being held up, and learned how to move some other small, circular objects with the just power of her thought. Could be useful in another game, say checkers. So what, you might say? Consider that she formed super-strong bonds with certain people, to the point of virtually being “one” with some, a same ability as was reported by others in her family. Synergy beyond being like Tom Brady with his receivers.
And that she has the same surname, which is not a common one, as a luminary from the Twin Cities sports scene, to the degree that you might wonder if there exists a family-line linkage involving some such abilities. That pervades into close-knit relationships with other people, so much so they need occasional attention??
This woman established a very close relationship with a guy friend, and after wartime duty they communicated regularly by letter — this was before most people had phones and they lived far apart, in different cities.
To summarize details for the sake of peoples’ privacy, she fell very ill one night and woke from her sleep shocked with a particular set of symptoms, and right away sought out the help of her mother. She found out soon afterward that the guy friend, during that same night, died from a similar cause, and she had felt it in her own body.
Where there is such linkage, there can be a need to reconnect with some people fairly often, as with seeking out fave fans. Are you getting my drift?
Such people and yes players often are very high energy, like few these days are not afraid to get physical and down and dirty, have a great work ethic, and these charisms combine onto a crazy training and practicing regime. All the people mentioned in this post check-out with that description. So they may come back from injury in record time, like Adrian acting like a little kid with his awesome training activities after his ACL, I think it was, acted up. The degree of such activities is already well documented.
What, on Kirill being too soft? And not deflecting with his own physical play the cheap body checks he often gets as a superstar? Hey, I think he’ll be fine, because after all, he is a Russian … with all the grit that comes with that.

Broten too …
In coming near a close, and case in point, we go back to a now-retired, North Star hockey player who lives near Hudson in Wisconsin, Neil Broten. As we here are indeed a bedroom community, and there is a coziness as far as being central that’s much like the Xcel Energy Center, and the way things are close in proximity, even with nightspots being in the same block, not a ways to walk. And Broten for years has been known to be very social, regularly, and almost to a fault. As a mutual friend said a number of years ago, we both have our various people with whom we are very close, but it’s moreso with Broten, “he’s wired differently.”
Is there more info that I am holding back, to be stated at the appropriate time? Of course. Much more. But for a later occasion …

Around the time that the millennium turned, a local candy and chocolate, nut and ice cream and more store opted to open, at that peak moment, and quickly become iconic in downtown Hudson — historic its such streetscapes and landmarks itself — with their hundreds of item options.
You can trust Knoke’s many trophy truffles, reviewers say, and maybe purchase with a glint in your eye some jolly “ginger” varieties. And you can even get gourmet popcorn, gelato and sorbet and more.

— Also see the two posts below this one for other within-miles-or-mere-minutes ideas on delicious ways to locally dine.
Or just read on for the rest of this post, to get the rest of the story on great chocolates, ice cream and nuts from Hudson. —

Place an order, sweet, to take delivery of these or other goodies via Doordash, or do take-out, or if you wish to dine in at Knoke’s, there are two tables positioned by the large front windows, making up the entire front facade of the building and showing the historic layered and tiered streetscape. Across the way by the door, you can see a multi-colored and pink painting of an ice cream cone as tall as a person.
Large plastic and mouthed jars, some round and some rising higher, are setting on the numerous shelves and counters placed in the midst of a huge room and they number in the hundreds, filled with candy of all colors, sizes and shapes, and various nuts.
The longtime spacious store at first sported a great brick, vintage storefront, and now it has a more modern construction and contemporary look on Locust Street. The appearences of the food and home guru Martha Stewart, multiple times, and other such lumenaries, have been well documented, both locally and regionally. With multiple photos taken and reams of copy written and published.
By the percentages, when quantifying their raspberry truffles and such candies, the individual flavorings are arranged with more than just dividing the ingredients into mere thirds, rather being much more specific in their numberings that total one hundred. There is honey-ginger, for example, and 23 other truffles, as well as more treats regularly added. Their handcrafted truffles are made fresh weekly, at their special production facility, with flavors from old favorites to the newest creations!
Many delicious creams, caramels, nuts and mints make up their other assorted chocolate offerings, they say. Thirty-two or more of them, adding for example, more than one kind of cashew cup, and also mint smoothie.
Featured products include: Knoke’s Caramel Popcorn, from $10, given a 5.0 star rating; Assorted Caramels, from $7.95, 3.7 star rating; and Sugar Free Assorted Chocolates, $9.
There are many specialty sales, seasonal chocolates and tasting events.
And get your shipment on time! Orders are processed and shipped between 3-5 business days (January-October). Plan for an increased processing time (7-10 business days) during the months of November-December, but you won’t have to worry about that for several months. Also, and you gotta love this whole lotta attention to detail, they say to please note that extreme heat will delay order processing. But you can still get your ice cream in the cold, just like a cute older couple the other day who dropped their gloves to eat a chocolate version.

We’ll let them tell it from here:
History of Knoke’s.
“Just two blocks from the St. Croix River in downtown Hudson, Wisconsin, Knoke’s Chocolates & Nuts sits ideally located to draw in passing locals and tourists alike. Since 2000, this locally owned and operated business has called Locust Street home, where its handcrafted confections are made daily, and with love.”
On owner Dave Knoke. Our “why” and purpose.
“Dave’s reason for building his company can’t simply be boiled down to just work ethic; he loves serving the people of Hudson. From the very first time he made someone smile with his chocolates, he was hooked. ‘Instant gratification,’ he calls it. Dave believes in the importance of an owner’s presence in his shop.” If he’s able, he will be available recommending flavors.
“Dave is originally from Lancaster, Wisconsin. He was raised on a cattle farm, an experience to which he credits his work ethic. While the idea of opening a chocolate shop wasn’t something he would describe as a lifelong dream, Dave recalls noticing the similarities between farming livestock and making chocolate. Both require hard work. For 23 years, Knoke’s has stood as a place for family and friends to enjoy sweet treats together.
“In addition to chocolate and candy, the shop offers a fine selection of house-roasted nuts, gourmet popcorn, ice cream, gelato & sorbet, and gift boxes that range from humble to extravagant.” And economical.
You can follow on Instagram at Knoke’s Chocolates and Nuts.

Winter can be wonderful for winning over your taste buds.
As in the Taste of the Hot Air Affair, tantalizing for your tongue with many types of food, which is one of a whirl of kickoff events to the annual Hudson winter ballooning extravaganza, to be held on Saturday evening, Jan. 27.
Enjoy many spirits, cheese, wine, beer samplings and sweets at this, a stellar by-product of the entire early-February affair — as event sponsors and event partners of The Hudson Hot Air Affair have offerings that include distillery, vineyard wine and craft beer products, and also candy, nut, cookie, bakery, ice cream and creamery items — and also eat an Italian buffet meal while at the tasting event. Hey, as far as that buffet meal, we come from a community where there are the old Italians and their ethnic-based eats of North Hudson, and such eateries, so we know such stuff.
The tasting event is sponsored by the Hudson Lions Club and the venue holding it is the White Eagle Golf Club, so there may be white sauce amidst the white snow for the winter ballooning and its various winter-oriented accompanying events. The golf club is just north, a bit into the Great White North, of Hudson itself at — theme here? — 316 White Eagle Trail.
There are also wine-pull fundraisers — you don’t see that every day — and a silent auction and live auction.
Music is provided by the beautiful Jenny DeLoux, who you can turn to for various vocal-based tunes you can even see in numerous varieties longtime on YubeTube that are jazzy and hair-tossing, or operatic and classical, and symphonic and orchestral, and include love songs. Her voice has been called “strong yet subtle.” The Hot Air Affair’s title theme in this, its 35th year, is Rockin’ With The Coldies, so this treatment is fitting.
Tickets are $50 per person, for the tasting event that runs from 6-9:30 p.m. See HudsonHotAirAffair.com for tickets and details.

— Also on Jan. 27, it’s the annual one block fun run or is it walk, as now is clarified. Aside, or just behind, those quick and quirky llama mascots, with spit or some sprite in their step. But they weren’t fast enough to book this into their schedules a bit earlier in January, which is more typical. While their Lakefront Park site has melted, for charity, creating a likely un-ice — but damp, so don’t slip, if you’ve had those couple of Bloody Mary’s that usually preceed the trek, since after all, you don’t have the hoofs of llamas — dike road. The run/walk/stroll occurs at high noon, so even an aging Clint Eastwood might be able to hobble through it. But he rides horses not llamas. However, Clint could be in like Flint, since he is used to much-more-vast desert expanses, even though if you continue down the dike road past the event’s turnaround point, you go about a half-mile.
On Jan. 30 is a high school trivia night at Hudson Tap, and they ask you to bet on it. Or get it on. Or get in on it. Or all three. Taking this quiz starts at 6 p.m., just enough time after the school day to hit the library first and bone up on your facts. —

In undoing some past and unrelated doings, there were a pair that expired on Dec. 31, but then still were touted, at least in the following day or two.
There is a rotating electronic ad on a Hudson Tap bathroom wall — eye-high in front of the guy’s urinal — that listed a discount expiring on New Year’s Eve, but the offer still was up on New Year’s Day, hours after saying goodbye to the old year, or maybe a bit beyond that time. So nothing changes, apparently, on New Year’s Day.
The same time pattern was seen on the sandwich board for the Sub House, hawking its December dill-based special, in both pickle and seasoning.
Now there follows a promoted “resolution buster” creation, maybe not prompted by the lemon pepper, but rather the hearty beer cheese sauce, to put to rest what you vowed during that champagne toast at the very beginning of the month.
The half-year before, two seasons back, there was on such a sign an ad on special(s) that had teamed hot peppers, sauerkraut, BBQ sauce, pineapple and more, such as meat and cheese. Hot on the tip of your tongue in a more-and-more these days, heated summer. North Hudson Pepperfest also will please, come August.
So, when going Italian, smolder your taste buds instead, during the winter, at the Taste of the Hot Air Affair.

Great pizza in numerous styles also, but Green Mill right now is indeed going green and beyond with a special staying-fit menu of seven dishes, and that number is symbolic of perfection, to add to their many food options. And these entrees can — and virtually always do — have a perfect ten number of ingredients. Or even as many as 15. And still manage to stay healthy, using lighter ingredients such as cavatappi (multiple times) and even making the ranch dressing smokin’ in style. And bunches of bruschetta.

The Green Mill Eating Fit! menu features healthier alternatives, just in time for keeping your New Year resolutions, but it’s only here for a limited span, so get in shape by way of Green Mill and their greens and much more quite fast. This menu is available through Feb. 18. So have you kept your weeks-old resolutions, maybe with Green Mill’s help, through then? And dropped a few pounds too? Fit can be fun and fantastically tasty. Ask The Mill, as they’ve been through that drill …

— Did we mention garlic? The ways it’s served up at Green Mill include as straight-up, in rounds, buttered and/or mayo, and cream sauce that can be seasoned, including as “hurricane.” See some of this on their occasional, cool and also can-be-fiery specialty burger special with fries or fruit for $9.99, and these are stacked much higher than the fist of a big guy with a hearty appetite, or via their $5 quick satisfaction survey to get discounted grub, and maybe woven into their special homemade dough in take-and-bake (see below.) —

So many of the fit pastas you can tie into, can be served gluten friendly by swapping out a main ingredient of the dish for gluten-free penne noodles, for just $2.99. That’s like for three bites of a typical cheeseburger! But they really change up and vary their components, especially on this special menu.
Thus, try the gluten-free Sausage Bruschetta Cavatappi with Italian as the sausage, roasted tomato bruschetta, spinach, and cavatappi tossed in a garlic cream sauce. It’s topped with fresh basil and parmesan for $16.99, weighing in at only 490 calories.
Another such Cavatappi, the Grilled Parmesan Chicken, uses cavatappi noodles, garlic, spinach, and tomato bruschetta sautéed in an Italian herb sauce. And topped with zesty tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, and fresh basil.
The BBQ Grilled Chicken Bowl tosses in so many veggies such as cabbage, spinach, and brown rice quinoa. Topped with corn, tomatoes, red and green onions, black beans, bacon, roasted jalapeños, cilantro, BBQ sauce, and smokey ranch dressing. Only $15.99.
Also take your Chicken in an Asparagus Stir Fry Bowl, adding again cabbage, red bell peppers, celery, and onions tossed in a sesame stir fry sauce atop a bed of brown rice quinoa. Topped with roasted jalapeños, cilantro, green onions, and fried noodles. You can substitute shrimp for a couple of bucks.
Italian Sausage Goddess Pizza makes the crust extra thin with spinach, portobello mushrooms, onions, tomato bruschetta, garlic, and mozzarella. Spicy sausage, parmesan, and green goddess dressing are piled on and the price drops to $14.99. It’s at 80 calories per slice, and has eight slices.
In the Meatball & Roasted Bruschetta Fettuccine, the meatballs are crumbled a bit, there’s the garlic again, and spinach, roasted tomato bruschetta, and fettuccine tossed in a zesty Italian tomato cream sauce. Topped with parmesan.
The Chicken Stir Fry Salad throws in romaine and uses marinated meat, broccoli, water chestnuts, pea pods, red peppers, red onions, mushrooms, and roasted cashews, in teriyaki sauce. Topped with fried noodles for $15.99. You can substitute shrimp too.
Why do they call it Gluten Friendly? The following is Green Millapedia. The indicated items are termed gluten-free, but because of using high-gluten flour in their kitchen, there is a (small) chance of cross-contamination on menu items.

This restaurant and bar establishment caters to many people with more upscale nightlife and dining tastes and for example, you are likely to encounter international business travelers staying at nearby motels, and also the group of local regulars with much similar resumes that lay claim to the south side of the big circular bar, most all of whom can engage you in some fascinating conversation. At Green Mill, it can be anything from Kashmir, or Hong Kong, to the Green Bay Packers, and one of their globe-trotting patrons has combined all those ends of things. And oh, this is more than drinks, as their food is award-winning, with the pizza and its creative takes voted best in Minnesota and the surrounding area for several years running. But those drinks … Just for starters, there are long happy hours twice a weekday and beer on a month where you can get a draft for three bucks or just a bit more.
(For a rerun on my breakdown of pitcher price versus buckets of beer, as it concerns Green Mill, see the Blasts From The Past department. And the post below.)

Take advantage of these takeout and delivery specials — with a new one offered every day of the week, and there’s an ongoing seven-day special — when calling a favorite location, such as Hudson. (Add an order of Cheese Bread for $5.) Sorry, but you can’t eat it in. Valid at participating Green Mill locations. You can choose between their well-known Classic Thin, Old World, and Pescara crusts only, as Green Mill gives you all kinds of different takes on pizza thickness.
On Mondays, a large one-topping pizza for just $11.99; Tuesdays, any of their numerous two pastas for $26.99, or any specialty pizzas for $17.99; Wednesdays, their large pizzas, two toppings this time, $14.99; Thursdays, two-medium, two-topping pizzas, at another great price.
Then Friday and Saturday, feed the whole family with a massive meal deal, $37.99, with two large, two topping pizzas and an order of garlic cheese bread.
On Sunday, fork over just $14.99 for a large, one-topping deep-dish pizza. Everyday, for just ten bucks more, get a large, two-topping pizza and an order of wings.
Enjoy lunch, the staff suggests, as they wait to serve you. Then get back to your day. They trust you will be back.
For slices, a choice of pepperoni, sausage or veggie combo for $4.99; such a slice along with a side salad for $8.99; add a second salad to that for two dollars more; and soup of the day in a bowl for $7.49.
Go big with a pizza party that includes a large, 2-topping pizza and an order of award-winning wings, available for takeout and delivery only and around for a limited time for a special $24.99 pricing, and an order of cheese bread for $5.