Birthday Week

Not mine, you understand; that comes in another month. Nonetheless, this week was still packed with fun stuff to do, and all ostensibly birthday-related. Pretty thin excuse on my part to do for someone else's birthday a bunch of things which I also like, but it seemed to be well received, so... :)

Let's see, to start it was dinner at my favor... oops, I mean the birthday girl's favorite local restaurant,



complete with French cafe' music. Aww... how nice.



Later in the week, it was time to host some single college students for dinner again. A new academic year is officially launched with dinner! For my contribution, I converted rutabagas



to a suitable lower-carb starch dish (via an apricot glaze),



and farmers' market cucumbers to refrigerator pickles. Both went well with the pot roast, I think. Choice of blackberry sorbet (mine) and apple crisp (not mine) for dessert.



The next night, just to mix things up, dinner at a local biker bar.





followed by a show at the club next door.



We sat next to the merch table, where the warm-up acts



hawked their wares and schmoozed with fans.



And in fact, it was really one of the warm-up acts that I came to see: Kate Havnevik, an indie singer/songwriter type from Norway, who's been around a while. We chatted after her set and she asked for recommendations for venues when she comes back in November as part of her own tour. I definitely had a couple of ideas for her. :)



But while the headliner, Owl City, had the biggest following (and for good reason. They were great), the other opener, Unicorn Kid, had the most traffic at the merch table. All of 19 or so, from Scotland, he wore a ridiculous looking lion hat with ear flaps but made pretty powerful electronic music. Teenage girls swarmed the table, buying t-shirts that he autographed, and getting their picture taken with his arm around them, after which much giggling and shrieking ensued.

Great show all around, though. Even though the average age of the crowd was barely 20, it was really good music. I think we might be in one of those cultural periods like right after WWII where multiple generations can enjoy a lot of what's currently popular in music.



The next morning after church, a local custom was on the menu:

Booya!

It's not just an expression, apparently. It's a food item. And a fund-raiser. And tasty, besides. :)

I guess it falls under the category of "mystery meat" (or rather, stew). When they make it, they toss whatever they have on hand for meat and veggies into these enormous kettles,



slow-cook it overnight, dish it up and sell it until it's gone. People come with pots and buckets from home and fill them up. Crazy.



The name is a generations-long bastardization of "bouillon" from the days of French trappers, they tell me, and this is a fall tradition around here. Sort of like a Octoberfest chili feed for Norwegians.



Then, after filling up on booya, it was off to the Metrodome for the VIkings home opener!



For weeks around here it's been all things Favre.



They even have car washes promoting number 4.



And in the stadium, there were Favre jerseys in several different colors, so I didn't feel out of place in my green & gold version. The 49er fans in evidence were grateful to see another "foreign" color being worn. At least one drunken guy waiting in line in the bathroom said so. :)

And, my goodness, there are are lot of jerseys being worn just in general. I don't think I've seen so much nylon mesh in one place.



Nor so much purple, either. Gave the stadium a purple tinge.








It was weird. After so many years as a Packer fan, I felt like a paratrooper dropped behind enemy lines, where everyone wore different uniforms than mine, and spoke a different (fan) language.

They actually have a fight song. A pro team with a fight song!?!?
V-I-K-I-N-G-S! SKOL, VIKINGS, LET'S GO! Aww, it's so cute. It would be adorable if it wasn't so... high school. Or grade school. Or.. preschool, I guess.



When the Vikings score, fireworks come out of the goal posts, and people run around the stadium with flags.



Then they sing their silly song again.



Even the beer is different. Grain Belt Premium. Which they call "primo". And I have to say... it's good. :) Skol, Vikings!