Global Dining: Isanti Getaway January 16

AirBnb in Isanti

FRIDAY NIGHT
It was a cold a snowy night and made for an interesting drive up. We all made it in time to go to dinner at LEADER in Cambridge, MN for a 6:30pm reservation.

Apps!

BLACKENED STEAK TIPS (GF) | 15.75

Grilled asparagus, bernaise sauce

REDHEAD CREAMERY CHEESE CURDS | 13.25

House-made aioli DAYTON’S RIVER ROOM POPOVERS | two 4.25 / four 7.5
Maple butter But oops! The popovers were stale and not good. The waitress said only one person knows the recipe and someone else must have made them. <<shrug>>

Jennifer, Lisa, and Sharon all got the CANADIAN PERCH PLATE (GF) | 24.50

Bacon braised cabbage, roasted potatoes, cucumber salad

Wendy got the SWEDISH MEATBALLS | 25.25

Buttered mashers, Nordic gravy, lingonberry jam

Stacy got the LEADER POT ROAST | 24.75
Maple glazed carrots, buttered mashers, grilled sourdough

Chris got the AIRLINE CHICKEN BREAST (GF) | 20.25

Buttered mashers, glazed carrots

Pretty cool spot picked by Lisa. She had a story about a great chef in Mpls moving back home to Cambridge. >>> "... cutting-edge chef Erick Harcey ..."

Back to to pick our rooms and roomies. Wendy got this king size bed to herself. Much deserved after years of sleeping on so many couches in years previous!!

Butterscotch Schnapps & Bailey's in hot chocolate or over ice!

A beautiful fireplace!

We talked and talked and then Jennifer (and Wendy and Sharon) finally mustered the courage to share about our dear dear friend Jenny's rare and aggressive liver cancer diagnosis. A lot of tears, sadness, and questions but we know if anyone can beat this Jenny can. And we're all here to support and pray for her every step of the way. She had just gotten her port in that Friday with her first chemo/immunotherapy planned for Wednesday.

SATURDAY

Wendy made a tasty Eggs Benedict Casserole Fri night and then a yummy Hollandaise Sauce the next morning while it was in the oven. This is proof she can separate the yolks from the whites 🤣

~~ sitting around the breakfast table ~~

There isn't a lot to do in the area especially in the winter but we found a few places to grace with our presence - ha!

We stopped at a cute quilt shop that Chris had heard about:
Mamma Mo's
Jennifer and Lisa bought matching infinity scarves :)

These two looked gorgeous and warm in their Norwegian sweaters especially with the Christmas dazzle behind them!

Thunder Brother's Brewery to share a beer and a cider.

While Chris's car took a detour for a coffee, Jennifer's car grabbed a few things at Coborns and then detoured down Main Street cuz ... ya gotta! It is there we saw the Chrysler Garage we had read about on Trip Advisor. So we ran in for a quick look!! Photo Credit: Lisa

Next stop ...

Headed back to the AirBnB ...

A quick and frigid walk on Long Lake!

Happy 60th Birthday, Chris!!! 😃
Don't miss the Boonesfarm!! 🍷

Glogg compliments of Eric! On theme for these two!

DINNER Saturday night was wonderful!!!
Sadly we didn't get any pictures of Chris's refreshing appetizers: veggies, dip, and crackers with a jalapeno cream cheese ... what am I missing?

Stacy brought a salad with lemon maple dressing!

Lisa made the Chicken Wild Rice Soup at home and warmed it up for dinner!

Sharon came up with this bread board. ha!

And sadly we didn't get any pictures of Jennifer's wonderful flourless chocolate and peanut butter torte!

And no pics of our 2 rousing games of Blank Slate.
CHRIS was our WINNER!

SUNDAY MORNING

We had yogurt and Lisa's homemade granola for breakfast along with leftover egg bake and fruit.

Jennifer left us Sunday morning to play Paddle!

RECIPE

And isn't this a cool way to show our Minnesota notch?!

A few pictures Chris took before we left so we could remember what it looked like when we look back: