saturday 12.26.09

immediate family christmas dinner. a wonderful evening, with good food drink and people. out at ocean aire in minneapolis. having an impossibly long dinner (is this what they do in europe) with ma pa bro and sis. drinks, appetizers, wine, dinner, drinks, dessert, coffee. we retired back to the house and treated my parents to all 600 or so pictures from our trip. what a fantastic night!


-bkh

friday 12.25.09

christmas day! spent the snowy day at aunt mona and uncle mike’s place in chaska. back home, using the pa’s espresso machine to fire myself up a shot to go in the espresso martini he doesn’t know he’s making me yet. but i am sure it will be delicious. i drink and eat so well at home.


-bkh

thursday 12.24.09

christmas eve! i love christmas eve! with the anderson (my ma) side of the fam. in my family room, with uncle tim cheering a cheer of christmas happiness and wine. booting up my computer to show the fam some key picture from me and the bro’s trip overseas.


-bkh

saturday 11.28.09

at bunky’s café with the fam. i eat so deliciously when they’re in town. waiting for the waitress to take our delicious order. meg is a bit impatient with…well, waiting in general. and with my dad. he can be a bit of a teaser. meg playfully mid-whack over dad’s head with the menu. what a feisty little gal.


-bkh

friday 11.27.09

the family is in town! mom dad and meg (sans ryan) in from minneapolis for the thanksgiving weekend! we spent the early evening in the hotel sipping on chocolate wine before going to barriques for a wine tasting. at dinner at la brioche on the westish side of town. it came highly recommended by fred. we were happy customers. taking a peak at the beer list (oh too sleepy for more wine) as mom’s listening to meg tell a story of some sort.


-bkh

thursday 09.17.09

back on solid ground. back in maple grove at the home i spent the better half of high school in. sitting out on the patio with my pa and sis – ma and bro are on the other side. drinking some drinks and talking some talks. since meg has not yet fled to her bedroom to sing and dance, i can only suppose we are talking about her birthday (which isn't until february, but that doesn't matter to her) or corbin bleu, and she is not yet bored with us.


-bkh

monday 08.17.09

dinner out on the deck with the fam. the bro and the sis dishing up and digging in. grilled scallops and corn on the cob. a 'perfect summer dinner' as my brother said. indeed! and a perfect summer evening of conversation. always circling back to make fun of my dad in some way. he is such a sport.


-bkh

sunday 08.16.09

driving out in the country. just finished up a wine tasting out at a newerish vineyard in delano. the folks tried it out a few weeks back, and wanted ryan and i to experience it. so the five hanson family members piled in the car and had some vino. apparently the midwest is not the place to grow grapes for red wine. but the white wine was mighty tasty. went from wine at the vineyard to wine at biaggi's in maple grove. too much wine! too much wine!

-bkh

saturday 08.15.09

hanging out at my parents’ house with some of my ma's side of the fam. all the brothers, sister, and their fams came for a summer cook-out and conversation. the only absent ones were ryan and cousin jeff. both in duluth being awful and boring. the anderson side is always a bit rowdy. having good chats here about how weird i am for being a vegetarian. i suppose that happens when one uncle is a butcher, and another uncle raises cattle. what threw me was my fourteen year old cousin - 'so, you don't eat meat, but you eat fish. that's weird.' thanks cassidy.


-bkh

saturday 07.11.09

at a new zealand wine tasting. brought the fam to the barriques on monroe street for some vino before the booze cruise on lake mendota. zach met the hansons and shared trivia about nz and their wine. such as – did you know a gooseberry is a kiwi fruit? to which my mom asked – so, what does that mean for gooseberry falls in minnesota? excellent question.


-bkh

friday 07.10.09

the family’s in town! mom dad and sister meg in madison for the weekend. started off the jam-packed weekend with a tailgate at the duck pond with jen, jason, and jen’s mom. watched the madison mallards take on the alexandria beetles or whatever. don’t ask me who won – i never know. we headed out a bit early to catch some music at la fete on the east side.


-bkh

friday 06.19.09

having a drink with my pa on the porch. ma is to the right. chocolate martini & wine kind of night as the scallops and asparagus cook. though, when is it not at a chocolate martini & wine kind of night at the hanson household? i certainly miss this porch and this moment when i return to madison. nothing beats the porch deck backyard my parents have built, and the times we have there.


-bkh

sunday 05.24.09

ok, so i was actually sleeping again at 7:30 (c’mon - drinking wine full time is a tiring life) but forgot. so, after i woke we played some backgammon over wine in the lobby (everyone’s drinking wine in the lobby!) and then headed out to see some live music at an italian restaurant. we each enjoyed a cocktail – which is frustratingly difficult to come by in napa – me a martini mom a nuts & berries while taking in the music. the place was busy busy; many people told us memorial day weekend brought quite the flood of tourists to the valley. and this place was no exception.


-bkh

friday 05.22.09

walking off the first day of tasting, looking for something to eat (do they serve anything other than wine in napa?) we managed to fit in four vineyards and a tasting the hotel lobby the first day. not too bad for a first timer, eh? back wandering the same street in dt napa as the previous eve.


-bkh

thursday 05.21.09

in napa! my ma and i met up in california for a memorial day weekend trip of wine tasting. we were greeted with open arms offering virtually bottomless glasses of wine. before checking in the hotel we stopped by a tasting room in downtown napa, only to be told of a street fair going on just two blocks up. we were interested. and what a perfect way to enter napa. we spent the evening wandering the street fair with our wine, checking out the farmers market, eating an italian dinner, and shopping the local main street.


-bkh

sunday 04.12.09

happy birthday, ryan :)

post-easter martinis with the folks at home. my mom looking lovely. clearly, drinks in the living room is a very common scene in the hanson household when either of the away siblings are back home. and something i truly cherish. the latter half of the evening was spent in uptown with the incredibly talented jonathan delehanty, a fellow former-laxer relocated to the cities.


-bkh

saturday 04.11.09

having martinis and appetizers with my parents in the living room at their home back in the cities. please note that my mom was sipping on a chocolate martini, too. they are not both mine. though, they were both delicious. i get drinks at home made by my dad like no other.


-bkh

monday 03.02.09

'and this old corduroy coat is not keeping me dry...'

the bro and i headed to milwaukee (his first time there!) for the joshua radin show at the pabst theater. after meeting marissa at alterra for tea and mochas, and marques at bravo for vino and italian, ryan and i made it just in time to see jesse harris and meiko open. the show was the main reason ryan made it to the great cheese state. and it certainly was a good reason. i wasn't a big joshua radin fan pre-show, but he put on a good (though heartfelt, it was slightly wimpy) show. i was really sold on him as an artist when i heard he was the only one to play at ellen and portia's wedding.


-bkh

sunday 03.01.09

having dinner with my brother at bahn thai in the willy street neighborhood. i showed him the climbing gym on the east side, and then we spent some time on williamson st. at the co-op, and the weary. he lit up at the idea of thai, and i had never tried thai food. i can't believe, yet again, that i lived so close to such a great place yet spent no time there. the food was phenomenal, and will supply me with lunches for a few days (which always brings me such joy).


-bkh

saturday 02.28.09

'you're still limited by laws and language and its' flaws...'

ryan joined my mom dad and sister in madison. all the way from duluth! the four of us (minus meg who was having a 'high school musical' marathon with jen) enjoyed a drink at le tigre - my dad's favorite place in madison. mom and i met dad and ryan at the classy joint after yoga class. we headed right over to the east side after a drink to meet up with meg for dinner.


-bkh