Looking down at the low-to-the-ground powertakeoff on a seemingly out-of-place tractor, parked just down the way from Ziggy’s music club, as I walked down the street. Could this be the Farm Aid concert all over again?
Trailing behind it was a trailer that could have housed a pony such as a Shetland but not a full horse, as not even this occurrence with its need that I will show you below has such horsepower. But it was adorned with logos of dozens of sponsors, but for what cause.
The potent plague that is Parkinson’s. As it is seen not necessarily from here to eternity, but from here to a far coast, as there are victims everywhere, more and moreso.
To summarize. The tractor was being taken on a trek from a start in the lower Midwest, to the upper Midwest, then all the way westward across several states.

— And what, there’s even more such need afoot? You know a benefit is for a worthy cause when it gets the Dweebs to play for a full four hours. Springsteen style length. Even more than the local tribute band for The Boss.
Larry Larson is battling stage 4 brain cancer that Mayo was not able to fix, although he’s been back and forth after an initial surgery, and there will be a fundraising event to help him live out his days as best he can, on May 25 at Big Guys BBQ Roadhouse, just up the road from here. As there will still be a long road for Larry and even moreso his family.
The longtime legendary show band that like many has only gotten better and rockier with time plays from 7-11 p.m. And if you think you are worthy to be an opening act — and hey I am not worthy so will not grace you with my presence, unfortunately, only bow down to others who are killer — there is karaoke from 5-7 p.m. And plenty of BBQ dishes, five by my count, during and after. Raffles too.
These days it seems to be a truism, does it not, that as times get tougher for just about everyone, more and more the financial brunt for families hit with a sudden need comes down to such benefits, and we’re not talking just a brunch. You can see the writing on the wall by looking at the changing pace on just about any bulletin board, at places like nightclubs and what have you. And we have come to need them all.

And so many of the backstories just tug all the way back at your heartstrings. And one seems to top the previous one, as more announcements are crammed into the limited room on the spongy, squared spaces. Larson, for example, recently retired and also then married the love of his life, Erin. And now they face this. Relatedly, news of the first benefit of doubtlessly many for slain deputy Kaitie Leising, she only 29, has just trickled past this desktop.

In all cases, about these losses that speak for themselves, enuf said. —

Bringing back in the tractor, it isn’t that big in size, but it packs a big punch. Medically. Emotionally. Physically. Actually, both of these things do.

This bright green tractor is no partially broken-down old Farmall H. It would have to trek on until Washington, D.C. or the state on the other end of the country? (Help out in a corn field along the way?)

Hey, the Parkinson’s it strives to battle can be a real pain. (Imagine if you are a farmer?) People are only now realizing just how painful.
So says Ozzy and so many other rock stars who now have it, at an advanced age. There must be some common theme in their genetics.
But someone has to drive those things like tractors cross-country. Like over-the-road truckers. (What other kind is there?) So pay them more than a historical farmer’s wage.
The hiring wars have come and gone and evolved, and the way they were fought changing as conditions changed, although how much may be a matter of degree. But right now, hirings are on again.
At Brick’s Pizza, they need a dishwasher. Since they have their completely own take on pizza pie, this is a position requiring special skill, (or would that be the chef and/or cook). Other places have the help wanted sign placed for a whole host of other job descriptions. Some of these ads are shown on legs and on placards, some quite small, out on the sidewalk, or taking up a meager part of a glass door. But they are big enough to list in full phrases all kinds of work that needs doing. Shown in type with 72 point letters?

And concerning nearby San Pedro Cafe, they are looking quite descriptively for “passionate” line cooks who make from scratch and who are looking to hone their culinary skills. Call or email or stop in.
These days you might carry out such applications via one of those annoying (unless you are looking for work) small square boxes with black and white squiggles, and even designing such boxes might get you six figures, I would think. I first noticed the newest big but small thing a few months ago on the side of a cab.
Or you could just go the old school way, with two words melded into one to display “arbysjobs,” complete with quirky consonant use mid-word. Reminds me of the “handle,” again an old school term, of one of my favorite music commentators, kirawasareactor. Can she get a handle on Handel? Or that former and now embattled politico hopeful in the Twin Cities, by the fitting name of Warsame.
And lastly, now that we are long gone with the hirings that creeped up near the $19 an hour range when there was a change in prez administrations, WalMart now has partially reverted, and for main and non-overnight shifts where they compensate you, I think, for not being able to take in live bands, to a mere rate of $15!
Here is another matter to wrestle with. Live wrestling back in Hudson, and not out at the old JR! Its downtown baby.
And for you techno phobes like me, this is in-person, not on pay per view. The guy at the counter confirmed that for me, and then glanced over and downward and nodded to the flyer of announcement, also seen all over town. I was angling my glance also, as to anecdote that mere PPV was indeed not on the card.
It was Thursday night in the Hop N Barrel parking lot, and the bout, or series of them, was on. Customers filled the expansive concrete and blacktopped floor and were evenly spaced out across it, including food trucks and the like. The ring itself, which I saw being erected earlier in the day as roadies were actually measuring with tape and such, the overall height of the ropes, was pushed back into a far corner — beyond the great big and high UHaul truck that had them housed and strung them.
So had one thought. There was not far to fall if you were thrown from north and east side, as there literally was brick wall there. On the west and south side, there was a farther fall and — again — a cement floor to smack.

What makes a song timeless? Give me some water, if I’m rocker Eddie Money, because I just shot a man on the Mexican border. Or might as well have.

If you’re Ozzy, that may be a shot in the dark.
There are refugees, (so many are children and we’ll walk you through that later), or could be called foreigners in some contexts, not only trying to cross over at Mexico, but Canada. And in all parts unknown surrounding the Ukraine. And all over Africa and its various enclave boundaries. And more. The context can even be framed by the old Statue of Liberty now crumbling with its stone-shown justice. Bring me — or at least have us tolerate — your tired, your hungry, your poor, your naked in need of clothing at least between photo shoots, your huddling masses waiting in desert areas for a possibly last cup or chalice of water and once getting past the more immediate need to be hydrated then resume their quest to be free, your most disenfranchised, your voting-rights robbed, your cell-phone-taken-back yet again as others come about by the parent company or corporation, etc. And the Title-shown need whether you call it 42, as today, or 142 or 242, is not going away.
What to make of it? Let’s go back 1,000 years, or make it 2,000 years. Or least when it thus was written and so should be done.
So OK, what did Jesus Christ have to say about — stereotypically — having over for dinner and maybe staying for breakfast the impoverished and reeking of dirt and more Mexican farmer with no teeth to eat with anyway? Be a good Christian family and live that scenario out.
Anyway, back to what Jesus said. (He was a man of complexity and you would not like him when he is righteously angry. And some things riled him more than others).
Leading the list was not to do to those little ones — of all ethnicities: And for he, or she, who would harm one of those children it would be better if a millstone were placed around their neck and they be cast into the sea. At least their boat got that far. And as has been written before on these pages, war always affects children worst. And the crux of this rant: Jesus was almost that irked when any of God’s people, especially the powerful and those with means it could be argued, hardened their heart and did not help out the foreigner in need, or being discriminated against.
OK, these days the situation with our and their borders — both sides of them — it has been wisely said by many different people the situation is messy and layered and complicated, and there are more than ten fingers to be pointed at possible culprits. To address such a situation it becomes all the more important to have words to live by, whether coming from the lips of Jesus, or Mohammad, or Buddah, or Ghandi, (OK maybe we’ll take a pass on Crowley). And not all such sages need to be religious figures, but I’ll take them over politicians. (There could be a referendum on paying more heed to the band of Baldwin brothers. But in my home state, Tammy Baldwin might have more merit, and common men and women. And from the mouths of babes).
Now my main thrust. Maybe we should Listen more to the Likes at Large of Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler, and their Ironman hero-villain. There is an Easter egg here to be found in this ultimate messianic anthem, of a slain savior who rises from the dead then returns to earth to finish his work.
Biblical themes run through it, and one of them stands out as being maybe a tale of these times. I do believe that early in the song, there is a reference to the parable of the good Samaritan: “Is he live or dead, has he thoughts within his head. We’ll just pass him there, why should we even care.” This stanza seems to be linking the critically injured man in the ditch, to the lack of aid given to a messiah who is put to death. Two remaining important events in our history. OUR history, whether we be religious or not, downtrodden and downgraded Samaritan or high-falutin pharisee.
Underscoring as far as justice is a just-seen a Metallica in-concert video played out in Moscow in 1991. What were rank-and-file Russians subjected to around that time by their government, at the very least lacking freedom?
The song was Creeping Death, the deliverer, and we’ll let the first line tell the tale: “Slaves, Hebrews born to serve …” THEY were then the foreigners. There are so many parallels here, only starting with faulty pharisees and pharaohs. The crowd was getting riled up, more by each chorus, hundreds of thousands of them, some of them standing under U.S. flags, and the words were not even as aggressive and brutal as the guitar, in-your-face demanding justice (for Hebrews and Huns alike) and nothing less, screaming for vengeance. The chant grew much more bold by the syllable, “die, die, by my hand, die, die first-born man …”
As I watched this crazy scene just as if there, one thought kept creeping into my mind, as there was so much that could be gained by these ideals but ironically, there was one suddenly underclass that (also) was excluded from this parade … the lines of military police standing with hands at their sides and trying to stay stoic with their gaze. What about them? What if this mosh pit turned into a mob? These men, invariably very young, sometimes were caught in the middle of warlike politics, so was their service completely conscentual, or contentious conscription?
These policemen had to have been scared to death! What if the fans would all gather in their whipped frenzy and march on THEIR capitol. No dozen tanks could have stopped the surge.
The power of music. Especially potent metal.

These patios are killin’ it. Now live. But where does Megan Fox as a killer superhero reside? Temporarily and (mystically and mythically?) mixed and absent from The Agave.

“Brother will kill brother.” Tables will be stacked on tables, intertwining. And chairs across the land. Or at least the patios. “Something I don’t understand.”
Why, blood brothers and even twisted sisters, do these favorite spots of our watering holes ever have to close, although I concede the cold.
But in addition, has an era closed with the downgrading of that big Fox superhero with “S” photo, perched as my girl for well over a decade on the wings of the wound stairs of what had been the Twisted Grille? No, the tender Derek told me, it was just one of many memorabilia posters shelved for a while after a renovation that with cherry picker closed three or four parking spaces below for three or four weeks. Soon to rise as a captivating canine again, when there is space made on the walls among the many dozens of others. Someone tried to gain this image of goth, maybe, by theft and then bring it back. The server’s friend was also obsessed with the poster, so the wing man purchased another one as a gift. Collectively, there were scratches on paint and cracks on frame like those popping sounds being referenced in a music video as we speak, back in the day of vinyl not far back of when Megan reigned as a Transformer.
Though so enlightened, we take in at The Agave the White Room now there. That had black curtains — with a partial absence of chromos that also can be compelling, but remained within view (i.e. decorating dartboards and the walls they’re pushed up against) — and more tints. Its in the Bullpen. That upstairs cantina at the Agave Kitchen is now much brighter in look and tone and maybe tune, this new ivory tinge is way past Cream colored. But fellow bartender Allison said the color is so cool, except when you’re getting too chill with the lack of shadows, (as a buffer?), before accepting last call and heading into the night.
But to further de-digress, this and other patio-type places are now fully frontal functioning, but all the way to the back also, where they may be housing a dartboard or three. All but a few tiny tarps have been taken off the seating. Flowers are in bloom, and their garden boxes no longer topped by spurts of inch-high snow so you can view dirt, and even a few trees show color beyond buds in places. The most noteworthy such treatment is a wall of greenery that separates the south patio of Hop N Barrel and the north one of of Ziggy’s. These venues are among those getting it going first in 2023.
But as far as that, you can’t beat the new Bennett’s and its patio inside a patio — or better said, enclosed by four high walls going way up. Those walls of gold …
Make your tap tremendously tasty? A parked SUV-size van adds that they’ll clean up the beer both before and after you. Didn’t you think those glasses of brew came from somewhere, pouring forth after running through feet of plastic tubes and trying to avoid any forgotten filthiness. So there you have it, unfiltered.
Other patios are not ground level, which means some are enclosed, or at least partially. Not everyone knows, deep inside Mallory’s and down, not up to the very high rooftop reached with multiple sets of twin-stairs, there is a rather small Speakeasy with its fireplace in place, small bar in back and one fairly large room, dimly lit like the old way of the Agave. A commentator said that he was schooled by his son, who had worked there for months and knew well of what he spoke, having logged time up above but knew little of the Speakeasy. And I have only now noticed from a northern view, back windows could be seen surrounding a couch, and how the south end of their wall had plenty of lights on curved wires, and almost as many platforms that could be used as stop-offs, and one edged by a fire extinguishers and the like.
A likewise look at Champ’s in New Richmond makes it seem like a champ, with all the grooves and turns of boxlike machinery like turbines you can see — very like Pier 500 at its top — from ground level. But the Pier is the pinnacle of the nearby pier. With its broad umbrellas and its stones that form a long and high wall, the pieces so much bigger than you otherwise see. You can even spy the speckles from the street.
As far as the new seasonal completeness of its multi-faceted look with various amenities that include more than one set of stone, its Dick’s Bar. For sheer size, and the number of umbrellas if only down below, its the two-level Smilin Moose. For the urban-ish streetscape of an attractive three-story brick-based wall, to nod goes to San Pedro flowing into Pedro del Este.

Here follows yet another requisite, relentlessly rambling, retro-ish Cinco de Mayo, and then Rodgers redo.

Wholly holstered as an NFL Aaron in TD mode QB metaphor.
What, none of the Modelo that a (non-native Wisconsin?) man ordered? No problemo?
Only Corona to give. Not Coors. Could he get? That’s a different field.
There was, per signage still shown at Dick’s Bar come later on that Sunday night, its max of a weekly Mex entree. Minus Tex? Riding next to me? But only on Thursday.
Cinco was on a Friday. So if you got there in time for the cook on Thursday eve … There was still 2.5 hours after midnight — hey this is a weekend you dummy so you got until 2:30 — not two minutes before. But by that time, all you could get was a frozen pizza, and that’s only if its unusually slow as it has been at times, as the kitchen has closed for the night.
But did he not speak the language, as it seemed and was said by the server, in true Yoda speak?
This solitary Mexican man had sipped, walked around back to the darts area, sipped then walked around again, then quitely quietly left. But the two bills tip was cool.
This branched off into a discussion of the AI, used for both letters and language, that the server said will kill off all writing such as this. (More of that breakdown in a later post).
So yet another one bites the dust, this time at our end of the state. Thus again, all here and there really look like Rodgers, with his deftly trimmed and tinted and Aaron’s-not-going Amish, State Farm and not-a-long-string beard. Who kinda, to back up here, looks like Jesus. Or Queen? Various members.
An all-in appeal?
Pitino was, it turns out. As another in a string, he’d accepted a college coaching gig at St. John’s University, introduced by a good father with a collar and telling the padre he was all-in with what the institution offered. I guess that will include every Sunday Mass.
But to a bit more recent draft and its asterisks. Such as the one alluding to “secondary compensation.” And the next time referenced, stretched out to a full seven words of description. Seventh inning stretch? For a futbal-to-celebrate-Cinco owner who it was read “would be out for a few weeks.” Do we even have to give that bit of info for the team’s owner too? Even if its of the St. Paul United Team that’s ranked as the 41st-highest-valued soccer squad in the world?
And to care for and nurture such fields? They are bigger in soccer. Even if its the money of US Bank and its proprietary field with their tallies … $48 million over the next year and $280 million over the next decade, Strib-stated. Too many concerts tearing up the grass? Or not enough to raise the dough for more grass seed and more? Need reunion tours?
Or even enough to just buy fluffy muffs for everyone’s ears, before their buds are aflower? That’s what was worn at Hudson Tap when there still was somewhat of cold, by a couple of women shooting pool, along with fingerless gloves. And more to the point, showing lots of bare midriff.
Fickle flaunted fluff?
But now such looks are everywhere. As at NFL in NY training camp gunslinger sightings, on the groupie-ish green-grass sidelines? Therefore, reference another almost omnipresent sports guru, productive traveling talker Scott Van Pelt as he may again hit the pop-up stadiums in virtually every state.
Then we spin off to other recent styles, still with weather permitting, but curiously only after Winter started ebbing. Set the stage with the Agave sign on May Day: Last chance for April specials.
The women at the mid-town corner qualified. They trended by wearing comfie boots that were sturdy and stout and also flashy, and one praised the other’s newfound functionality while she stepped over the street-curb on Main.
That was south of the Mason Jar shop, where it was mentioned, one woman to another, “there is no beer anymore.” Was there ever that kind of frothy stuff put into their jars?
Alas, to take this piece full-circle, but before Cinco, a salsa queen as her red sash proclaimed, sashayed this way in the very early afternoon. With killer also-brown boots-flats, but these had what looked like dozens of laces dripping down. Boot to the head for the functional.

First there was Favre and now this.
The ghost of Curly Lambeau is rolling over in his grave. He never would have forsaken The Pack.
At least Aaron Rodgers did not go Purple, so on goes their plight to purge at that position.
But now past his career’s apex, the Big Apple awaits. And the former Green Bay QB is going to take as much of a bite out of it as he can. And he has been at large. Before officially donning the green of the Jets and the green it will bring his bank account. He has said he’ll be at half — a majority? — of the New York practices, at least for football, come training camp. Take that to mean a mere 51 percent. Half-staff as other adventures beckon. (Ask actress Alba, who was not fully known by a compadre while at courtside. A cornerback not the quarterback).

— The mind boggles with this latest sandwich eight-item-entry into the warm-weather market. See it in Picks of the Week.

And we are more in sync with Cinco de Mayo, sort of, even though as the Mexican population in the U.S. keeps increasing — and a buddy of mine and I just had a silly discussion on the new and milder-skinned minority — rank-and-file American foodies and drinkers more and more are steering away from this independence holiday.
But this is what you need to know if you do celebrate, then worry about the siesta later since it is a Saturday that follows. When even the most standard Mex-made-out-to-be drinks usually go for more than just $3, you can get that real good stuff on special on Cinco for that price at the Wild Badger in New Richmond, in an atmosphere that is more club than just standard pub.
But no definitive word on the local presence of mole poblana, the actually definitive max-out Mex, based on the history of the Battle of Pueblo, where Mexicans gained their freedom from a country that gets dissed again, that being France, (but not from American borders).
Turns out, forego tacos and margaritas, actually Mexicans on this holiday mash in ingredients such as sweet bread, a walnut-based cream sauce, pomegranite seeds, a chocolate blend with chilis, and even something I’d not heard of called papalo herbs.
And that mole poblano, it is baked with corn leaves and banana husks, (oops, I got those two greens transposed). —

As this is His indeed Coming Out Party, like we have never seen, and an Aaron party it has been. Taking The City That Never Sleeps to another level. Taking in more than one sporting event a night? And if overtime is needed, so much the better. There will still be a last call after that last period. But there would be no (early eliminated) Bucks, although he (now) has the bucks to splurge for an Adrian Peterson-style get-together with a hundred or two of his closest friends. And even in downtown Hudson, the relatively frequent sightings of Rodgers lookalikes has picked up, although some have a grayer (in takes) and longer beard if taking in, what, a ZZ Top tribute band in town? And that guy over at Hudson Tap was also in this vein, throwing out a John Wick take on it.
Back at the start of all this lengthy rearrangement, and you could say it goes back as far as grunge, (just kidding), there was the signing of a first key wideout as part of the messiah series, so you’ve got The Jets Lazard in what could be compared to The Jesus Lizard. The bard references an old alt band.
Of course that was only the start of such signings, of all considered Rodgers friendly. Linemen too. Backs of all kinds, half and full but no quarter, playing all kinds of positions. And a new QB coach? A full one-quarter of the players in the NFL were considered to be brought in, (again just kidding), as when you are in football as long as Rodgers you entail an elaborate entourage. So many having played with Rodgers and could be part of a Super Bowl run, which was not thought a possibility a few weeks, or months, ago. About the only one still holding out is The Waterboy as in Adam Sandler (just kidding a third time).
After the third day, the groundhog saw his black shadow. Oh wait, that was the much more cerebral signal-caller coming out of His First Darkness Retreat, (and give him kudos for coming out with that action in a largely non-thinking society). And Jets flew overhead. Being piloted by Rodgers himself? But no, as even Aaron cannot fly more than one at once. But he had reached a state of enlightenment after being in close consultation with … himself. Now Jet City Man. Just watch out for (hibernating) Bears in that cave. As we waited for his decision for what seemed a whole (post)season.
But methinks during his retreat, Rodgers could not have read the Jets playbook to see if playing into his future was long passes, not easy screens, because after all … he was in darkness.
Just contemplate the meaning of life. And rich football players in it. Talk about living in a cave.
But back in Titletown, the replacement QB in Love got a contract extension, show him some love as Jordan, but not as Rivers, as in Philip.
But the extension is only for one year — and the Green Bay brass has said they won’t expect Jordan Love and his style of play to be another Aaron — so maybe they think Rodgers might indeed play a Favre and come back?
However, recently, the Jets have declined their option with some players at other positions, but not as vital, although indeed bulky.
But for now, as in last night, Randall Cobb comes clinging back, too.
What goes around comes around, like a hook and go.

The people at Table 65 Bistro, nearly smack dab in the heart of New Richmond, want you to know that in addition to hundreds of menu choices, they’ve found it best to offer breakfast beyond the basics too.
This not your typical coffee klatch. Although it’s served in a cozy and relaxed atmosphere, like you would expect, all in their venue that still has lots of room to sit, tucked away just off the main drag.
Thus the most important meal of the day, and served up as so, does not necessarily mean the ones occurring later in the day, although they have those too.
So this is the backbeat to the Bistro. It also caters to the night owls taking in the nightlife several blocks to the south who also become early-risers. (Because they have so many entrees in their bistro menu, in sheer numbers they utilize way more than the second and fourth beats of a backbeat. You also get everything between. Thus I’m drumming up this way to double your dining pleasure, by not missing a beet, as they have them sliced too.) And it’s not far from the New Richmond music and other entertainment zone. So if you’re from, say, the Twin Cities, and lodging overnight, you might want come for the music and stay for breakfast. Or eggs over easy for any other reason. Or lunch and brunch or dinner?
So treat your taste buds to a better breakfast, with lots of savory ingredients that go well beyond, and more of them in total on a single entree. For example, come dinner, you can even have portabella mushrooms with sliced beets, and all the rest of the fixins, as shown abundantly in the all-in omelet.
For those who just want to have a short-order pick-me-up for breakfast, maybe after getting up following a music-filled previous night, or just to complement their other dishes, there are sides available for between $1.75 and $4. And maybe they pair well alongside the maple compote for just $5, so you get to partake in a warmed apple, with raisin, craisin, walnut and all-out pure maple syrup.
Also, the breakfast panini wrap adds more bacon to the Italian sausage, mushroom, egg, spicy aioli and provolone cheese; the avocado BLT for breakfast gives bacon, as in Utecht’s brand, lettuce, over-easy egg, tomato and garlic aioli; Bourbon Street morning wrap boasts in addition andouille sausage, creole sauce and queso; another wrap also piles on ham, Swiss cheese, spinach to accompany balsamic glaze with tomato. The incorporation of sourdough, steak (on two different sides) and onion also is offered.

— There are also a bevy of beverages, both nonalcoholic and also non-virgin, and desserts of all types and this is why they also call themselves a gelato cafe. As in last night’s special on their sign: Dessert cocktail, three squares. —

Later, the Thai peanut veggie wrap, for only $9, teams sauteéd zucchini, sweet peppers, pineapple, asparagus, shredded carrot, brown rice, cilantro and their spicy Thai peanut sauce.
For going Orleans, there is Bourbon Street fritatta with eggs, queso, sweet peppers and andouille sausage baked in a bed of zucchini noodles with a side of spicy etouffee.
Upping the ante is the Very Veggie Frittata sporting asparagus, carrot, sweet peppers, onion, much mushroom and parmesan baked in that bed of zucchini noodles. The Italian-style sausage fritatta finds mozzarella, sweet peppers and onion baked in a bed of zucchini noodles, as well.
As for omelets, going back to breakfast, there is queso, sautéed crimini mushrooms, red peppers and Chihuahua cheese. The avocado bacon omelet brings in tomato, and the Greek shrimp some feta, black olives, spinach, fresh tomatoes and garlic, and for $12 the ham, onion and provolone, and likewise the crispy hashbrowns, Italian sausage, bacon, mushrooms, Chihuahua cheese and spicy aioli. It can also be avocado or garlic spiced.
And there’s the all-in omelet, and Phoebe’s Toast Toppers with options that include both Feta and goat cheese, and red pepper with the egg. Two entrees each provide goat cheese and — what’s called the Oh Yeah! — portabella for breakfast that’s sauteed, along with that treatment for onion, peppers and spinach, and ham topped with semi-soft egg and provolone.
Then layer onto The Portland, for $14, sautéed portabella and peppers with brown rice, spinach, asparagus, onions and all the rest. The Traditional French toast pours on two pieces of cranberry wild rice. With the pancakes, with local syrup, add chocolate chips or blueberries.
When it comes to the bistro filet steak, typically eight ounces, add two eggs with a side of chimmi churri.
Sharon’s French Toast finds three slices offered.
As far as uptown entrees, the bistro fillet medallions are also served with Thai chimmi churri, seasonal veggies, and baked mashed potato with cheese. You can add, count ’em, five garlic buttered shrimp. Camille’s chicken tenders with baked mashed potato with cheese have lots of sauce choices including raspberry chipotle.
The mushroom marsala risotto with lemon chicken, speaks for itself, but there’s more. Its chicken picata with lemon zest served over creamy mushroom marsala risotto. Grilled ahi tuna (it can be seared to medium rare, if that’s your style) is also given such treatment.
You can also toast to roasted red pepper asparagus. Incorporated into entrees is creamy basil pesto, with fresh seasoned tomato. All these are served with baguette.
And hark forth jambalaya! This time of year. Shrimp, chicken, and andoullle sausage, etouffee (a trinity of green peppers, onions, and celery), simmered with creole spices and served over brown rice with pita. Spicy!
As such, there is a Thai entrée for a mere $11. Amazing, they say! Mango, sweet peppers, asparagus, and zucchini tossed in their Thai chimmi churn with brown rice. There’s also an alternative with rice noodles topped by cabbage, crushed peanuts and cilantro.
The Robust Betty gets its name from steak medallions and three shrimp. Add veggie hash and mushrooms caramelized with pit barbeque sauce topped with fresh jalapeño, and more. Cauliflower risoto blends in a special bleu cheese sauce to what’s garden grown.
Here’s how we roll. Noodles cannelloni is $12 and is pasta rolled with ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, chicken and Italian sausage, and your choice of red, rosa or alfredo sauce. You can get a version with butternut squash and more sauces.
Deck some steak out with crimini mushrooms, asparagus, red and yellow peppers, and parmesan cheese. Zoodles too. And use of raspberry chipotle.
Again the sides rule the game. Cheesy baked AND mashed potatoes, root veggies, mixed greens and fresh fruit are available for between $2 and $4.
More and bigger salads have artichoke hearts, talatel (GF) and live tapanade, wasabi, tamari ginger sauce and pickled ginger (both of those). And they’ve got their I65 creamy parm, so you don’t have to hit the road for it.
Both soy and ginger grace your broccoli Bowl. And consider that Cuban chicken has sweet pickles, and the hummus has parmesan.
The New Yorker feels like you are right in the Big Apple. And some dishes add apple also. Dried cranberries and sugared walnuts, anyone?
To top off the Greek burger, you can add gyro. Your street taco can come in a box, and conjured up are camarones (i.e. six split shrimp) and at times ciabatta.
There are also plenty of beverages, nonalcoholic and also non-virgin, and desserts of all types and this is why they also call themselves a gelato bar, and we’ll deal with those in later post.

Their address is 729 N. Knowles Ave. and the phone is (715) 246-7657.

The fun and funky 4-20 female knew all that a good clerk should. And she could even poke fun at her industry. Her store had sold out of CBD-infused drinks, as a hurricane had hit their supply center ceiling down south. And this was April 20, so she added that they’d been highly busy all day. No rest for the wicked.
She said this with an expression showing equal doses of exasperation and exhaustion.
So standing only hookah-length away, I made the first joke, between us, to avoid any interloping vape interludes. Maybe the workers were high enough to reach ceiling level and beyond. So they can fix it fast. (See this post’s last paragraph for the commonality). Or maybe not.
Then she threw it back my way: Maybe they didn’t even know that which was missing.
They might, or might not, if Colorado workers. Like my former neighbor who, one of two, took the pandemic as a chance to move there and work at, one of many … pot farms. But their book-keeping at times went up in smoke, so to speak. I’ll let you, dear reader, finish the joke. OK, I will. Were their problems stemming from quality control? Or was it done too often, stoners doing overtime.

— Is gray, as in Wolves, the new black as far as sports-bar jersey color? Or green yields to a bit orange or red? This crew, and not the Brew Crew, might leave you black and blue if you diss their metro team(s). Just where was this Wild vigil of many colors?  To get the answer, visit the department Where Did You See It. —

Another thing that required right timing, just today on cell phone, tell me my slightly stoner buddy where you are parked alongside the park, lakefront side, taking in the new, majorly flooded street scenes.
Stationed north, or south, up or down along the watermark? Not sure? His pix would tell.
Thus, I’ll take you back to a couple of decades ago, the last time the waters hit this level. Each year I’d check them as they rose, and contribute a couple of paragraphs to newspapers such as the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, or even the Milwaukee Journal (that was the paper’s name back in the day before they merged with the Sentinel in the same city) as part of their coverage package. And when waiting for the water to rise even more, when the coming rain would soon make for a big finish, I hung with a college J student who was clerking at what was then going by the name More 4, as the waters lapped at its back docks and doors. The only grocery store in the downtown, it was open 24 hours.
I got a great photo of a women wearing a slim off-shoulder pink blouse taking her dog down to the rising edge of the river, now reaching to a level where the dike road was close to under-water, as some people in the background still wandered and gawked. And a park bench in the foreground had liquid lapping up to its top rail.
That photo never ran, space reasons. But it told the story in many forms. I still have an old print of the image, gotten at the local pharmacy chain, since that was back in a day before digital pix.
And I don’t have to paint you a picture, all the cool clubs in Stillwater’s waterfront are edging up to their barstools underwater. Keeps away the rowdy types, as this is indeed Minnesota side, that Stillwater has become known for?
And in Hudson, the fittingly named Pier 500 is no longer local, as it was dislodged by floodwaters from its perch a block from the St. Croix River and then was floated down to the Mississippi as far as a Des Moines lock and dam. (Just kidding).
Up a few blocks and bars, was a video was being taken (for recordkeeping, and/or insurance adjusting?) of one of the wind-and-rain-damaged lots and cars. (No power trucks). Or doing a selfie. As he soon was joined by another videographer. No wait, they’re just playing on their social media devices at length. Frogger, joined by mallards, in the wet-grass side lane? At least they no longer have to worry about slabs of slushy ice falling from eaves — sometimes from more than one spot in a doorway.
A sign along the way was describing what they could do for your cable. Install it? Fix it? As it is likely down recently. But the need for such repair work soon would fade, and that sign since went poof. Replaced by this one: Suns out, solar panels in! We now have sun-powered Flix Busses.