The Launching

Our magazine, The Midwest Argonaut, has finally launched! Please take a look and tell us what you think! It is absolutely free to download, and if you happen to get lucky, you might find one sitting around in public. If you're feeling generous, you can get your own copy for $6 (that's a $1.20 profit for us). 


View the issue here: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/771928

Cabin Trip

On Monday, some friends and I went up to Maddy's grandma's "cabin" (it's more like a lake house) for the week. We lived on our own there for five days. Most of our time was spent lazing around, hanging out in the lake, and exploring Detroit Lakes. I especially enjoyed cooking, binge watching Orange is the New Black, and kayaking. I made sure to take plenty of pictures along the way:

Sharon took this one

Lakeside Kitchen Adventures: Onion Buns, Spam, and More Caramelized Veggies

Ingredients:

• Onion buns, diced spam (I used original flavor), lettuce, sliced onions, sliced bell peppers, cream cheese, salt, sugar, garlic powder, chives

Directions:

1. Leave buns in the oven to warm up a bit.
2. Add cooking oil to a frying pan and wait for it to heat up.
3. Add sliced white onions to the pan and caramelize them by adding sugar, salt, and a bit of garlic powder. Wait for the onions to turn a light yellow/golden color while mixing it every now and then.
4. Add chives or whatever seasonings that float your boat. Keep mixing until it looks even.
5. Add bell peppers and mix vegetables evenly.
6. Take buns out of the oven.
7. Spread cream cheese on one or both buns.
8. Add the mixed spam, caramelized onions, and bell peppers on top of a bun.
9. Add pieces of lettuce.
10. Finish!

Lakeside Kitchen Adventures: Pancake and Eggs Breakfast

Ingredients:

• Pancake mix (or you can make homemade ones), milk, eggs, sliced white onions, sliced red peppers, chives, salad herb mix, sugar, salt, garlic powder, turkey 

Directions:

1. Mix eggs.
2. Caramelize onions, add bell peppers, then chives and salad herb mix (or whatever seasonings tickle your pickle)
3. Once vegetables are cooked, add pieces of turkey.
4. Pour the eggs in and make them scrambled eggs.*
5. All the meanwhile, make the pancakes. Pretty easy to do— mix the batter, cook it on a frying pan, stuff like that.
6. Set the table and bring out as many things that go well with pancakes that you can think of: peanut butter, jam, butter, maple syrup, cream cheese, you name it. And if you happen to have some sitting in the fridge or feel like making some, Hollandaise sauce is the bee's knees with omelettes!

*If you're cooking for a group and using a lot of eggs, like say, a dozen, don't be dumb like me and dump it all in the pan at the same time. Just don't do it.

Lakeside Kitchen Adventures: Eggs Benedict and Mixed Vegetables

Ingredients:

• Eggs, hollandaise sauce mix, sliced bread, bacon, sliced bell peppers, sliced onions, salt, sugar, garlic powder and chives

Directions: We ended up multitasking with three different pans on this one. 

      1. In one pan, poach the eggs. And if you fail like we did, sunnyside up is the bomb.com     

           too.

      2. In another pan, cook the bacon. Make sure you don't cook it too quickly, otherwise it'll 

          shrivel up in inconvenient ways.   

      3. And in the last pan, work on the veggies. Caramelize the onions by sprinkling sugar, 

          salt, and garlic powder on them (I usually do about 75% sugar, 15% salt, and 10% garlic 

          powder but as long as you don't screw up the balance it'll be okay). Wait to add bell 

          peppers until the onions are a delicious golden shade. Once the bell peppers are added, 

          mix the veggies for a minute or two. Feel free to add chives or cilantro or whatever it is 

          that rocks your boat.

      4. Make that toast.

      5. Once everything is all cooked— the eggs, the bacon, the veggies, the sauce, the toast— 

          set the table. Each item gets its own plate or bowl (or in our case, a pot). Everyone can 

          build their own breakfast and dig in as they please!

Lakeside Kitchen Adventures: Creamy Pesto, Caramelized Onions and Bell Peppers on Pasta

Ingredients: 

• Shell pasta, sliced white onions, sliced bell peppers, pesto, cream cheese, sugar, salt, garlic powder, olive oil, and chives

Directions: 

1. Cook the noodles. Dump that stuff in a pot of water. Make sure it gets all nice and soft. Once it's all good, use a strainer to empty the water out and put it in a bowl.
2. Make the sauce. You can grab a pesto mix from the grocery store or make your own. Both are pretty easy to do. We added a bit of cream cheese for some extra flavor. 
3. Cook the vegetables. Caramelize the onions by adding a mix of sugar, salt, and garlic powder. Make sure you're not too heavy on the garlic powder. Keep the onions in the pan until they're a nice golden color. After caramelizing is complete, add sliced bell peppers and chives to the mix. 
4. Mix everything together. Use a large bowl to mix the cooked noodles, sauce, and vegetables.

The Muddy Moose

We stumbled upon The Muddy Moose at a roadstop on our way to Detroit Lakes, MN. We weren’t expecting much more than an average sandwich joint, but I was delightfully surprised when I took the first bite of my beautiful turkey sandwich. I was so impressed that at the end of the day I was still craving some more. I would foshizz recommend this place to anybody.

Rock the Garden 2014

I went to Rock the Garden for the first time ever yesterday. I was definitely not disappointed— the day was filled with fun and misadventure. We only had the time and money to go on the first day, but it was perfectly alright because it was a great show nonetheless.

We left home at around 10 am, got to Maddy's grandma's house and dropped our stuff off there. Then we proceeded to the Mall of America, left our car there, and hopped on a bus. It was an unbelievable struggle finding the Sears parking lot to leave our car at because of all the construction, and it was our first time navigating the public transportation system of the Cities. The bus dropped us off at 77th St. and Lyndale Ave. and we soon realized that we missed our next bus. We got some Chipotle to ease the waiting anxiety. Unfortunately, we missed our bus again when we realized we were on the wrong side of the street. Maddy made eye contact with the driver and he apathetically waved as he drove off without us. 

After a half hour wait, we finally got on the right bus. We were a bit worn out and slightly bitter about our situation, but we progressively got more excited as more and more festival-goers hopped aboard. 

When we got off the bus, we followed the experienced and local festival-goers and got to the entrance. Maddy and I had the pleasure of standing in front of a group of two friendly bro-like guys giving out high fives. We ended up giving out high fives with them, but only for a brief period of time. The doors eventually opened and with surprising speed, entered the festival grounds. And on a side note, we registered to vote.

There was an awesome, energetic vibe as we scoped out the place. It was a great deal of fun and relaxation. The lineup was as follows: Lizzo, Jeremy Messersmith, Best Coast, Matt & Kim, and De La Soul. Lizzo had on a gorgeous outfit and had great stage presence. Jeremy Messersmith did a beautiful cover of Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball. Best Coast was super cool and Californian-like as I expected. Matt & Kim surprised the bejeezus out of me with their awesome performance (Matt referred to "The great American poet Robert Kelly, otherwise known as R. Kelly" and Kim twerked on the hands of the crowd). De La Soul was hilarious and chill, and it felt great watching a legendary group. I thoroughly enjoyed every single performance and was sad when it was over. 

The beautiful Bethany Cosentino, front woman of Best Coast, rocking it out on the mega screen.

Getting home was weird. To sum it all up, Maddy and I were offered 7 bucks to "rock 'n' roll" with a creepy guy outside of a bar and we took a wrong turn on the highway and ended up behind a dark warehouse. Needless to say, we were greatly relieved when we got back to Maddy's grandma's house. 

Once we got back, we stuffed our faces with magical swiss cheese, crackers, and ice cream. We went through my music library and sang Adele until 3:30 in the morning. It was fun.

The next morning we woke up sort of late. We were hungry so we decided to navigate ourselves to a good looking restaurant in St. Paul. We ended up going to Shish Café, right on the Macalester campus. Maddy had Belgian waffles and I had crabcakes eggs Benedict. 4.5 stars for this great joint. It was really good and I was nearly in a food coma by the time I finished.

Maddy's Belgian Waffles

My order of delicious crabcakes eggs benedict

Overall, my Rock the Garden experience was bombtastic. I learned many things that night and had lots of fun, even though the struggle was so real. 

The Taco Truck

Behold: one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Perhaps one of the most amazing joints in the entire Western hemisphere, this taco truck is a diamond in the rough. You wouldn’t expect such amazing delicacies to be served behind the car wash by Cub Foods, but alas, it’s true. Going for an order of Moreno steak tacos will be the best 8 bucks you have ever spent in your life, I guarantee it. Next time you get the chance to visit, make sure you eat slowly. Enjoy it while it lasts, and allow the splash of rich flavors to dance ever-so-delicately upon your tongue— you will be in tears by the time you get to the last taco. 

Rosy Retrospection

After an ever-so-grueling shift at the public library, I was delighted to find the sky painted with rosy shades. Chad and I took the elevator to the rooftop of the parking ramp and quietly soaked in the zen. Om...

The First Day of Summer - Valleyfair Amusement Park

Alvin and Prescott go on the RipCord, a combination of hang gliding and skydiving, for the first time.

THE RIDE

On a bright Wednesday morning, the gang assembled at my house, one by one. A buzz of excitement filled the air as we reflected in unison the fact that we had finished high school. Today was our first day of summer, and we were going to spend it at an amusement park. At around 9am we split up into two groups and departed for Valleyfair. Group 1 was chauffeured by yours truly, while Group 2 was taken hostage by the one and only Prescott Atkinson, our local Alabamian. Despite the construction and unpredictable merging of lanes, as well as jams caused by slow vehicles, things were going as planned. All seemed well as we drove along Highway 52, until our group got broken up-- we had taken different GPS routes. Alvin Faisal, my copilot, managed to pick out the strangest route ever, which included super sharp turns and a one lane bridge (those exist?). But rest assured, Group 1 managed to keep its cool by jamming to a mixed CD that I created, titled GET HYPE!!! Everything worked out in the end-- even though we took the longer and weirder (scenic, according to Alvin) route, we still got there before Group 2. Apparently Prescott took the wrong turn and almost killed them a few times. Although they are still in denial, our victory is evidenced by the fact that they were behind us in line at the parking lot gates.

THE VISIT

Once we walked through the entrance gates, there was the customary question of “Where do we go first?” It was unanimously decided that we start at the Steel Venom, everybody’s favorite single twist impulse coaster with a U-shaped steel tubular track. There was an aura of nervousness as we hopped on board the very first ride of the day. The first ride is always more queasy-looking than usual. After the ride was finished, though, the ice had broken and we were ready for more thrill-seeking adventures. 

Alvin and Prescott were so thrilled that they signed up to go on the RipCord, which is basically a combination of skydiving and hang-gliding. Riders experience an 18-story free-fall with the rip of a cord. As the two were being pulled up by the machine, we distinctly heard Alvin shout “I REGRET MY DECISION!” They screamed with the utmost passion at the first drop. After that, they were fine and made Superman poses as they swung back and forth. Everyone applauded them once they got back to land.

The rest of the day consisted of a steady flow of thrill and relaxation. The lines were surprisingly short and we didn’t have too many problems with sticking together. After going on the Renegade the first time, we took a lunch break. Most of us went to Coasters Diner. We watched episodes of The Rascals while eating overpriced burgers, as delicious as they were. Ally Kann bought a 6-something-dollar milkshake. What would Vincent Vega have said about that? Maddy wins an honorable mention here, as she calmly accepted the fact that her order got misplaced. Shout out to our waitress, who somehow looked like a mix of Frankie (Maddy’s foreign exchange student) and Laura Cook (this girl we know), and was also very helpful. 

The gang (minus Alvin) takes a picture with Snoopy. From left to right: Dalena, me, Simbo, Ally, Maddy, Wil, Prescott, Lisa, and Sharon

After lunch we circled around the park and went on all the thrill rides. Another anecdote worth mentioning is our experience on Thunder Canyon, one of those rides where up to 6 people sit in a tubular raft and go through a river of sorts and sometimes you get soaked and sometimes you don’t. I had the pleasure of riding with Sharon Chen, who was a varsity swimmer on the Mayo High School Girls Swim team. With that in mind, she was screaming hysterically most of the time, trying to not get wet. We have footage of her screaming, and it is solid gold. Somehow, Simbo Pra and I managed to get soaked. My entire back and right side was drenched, as well as my shoes, socks, and rear end. After we got off, Simbo and I spent quite a bit of time wringing our socks and clothing. By the end of it all, my hands smelled like my feet. Ally stayed completely dry the whole entire time. Later on in the day we went again, hoping that Sharon and Ally would get wet, but they never did.

THE RIDE BACK

At around 6:30pm, we stopped for some Caribou and then left the park. I put in my SUMMERY THINGS mixed CD and we proceeded with a relaxing ride back home. Most of the time I was just hoping that Prescott would get a speeding ticket. We got back home a little before 8pm. Once we were finished with our trip, we congratulated each other on a day well spent. I had the feeling that this summer was going to be great-- alas, the turning up has just started.