Dwelling

October 11, 2018 By Karis Alex Leave a Comment

Guide to Eating in St. Paul + Minneapolis

I LOVE going out to eat. It’s totally all about the experience for me. So I’m always looking at the atmosphere to see the lighting and tables and art and all things cozy. Some of the time I’m being too picky and say, “Oh I could totally make this at home” or “this needs wayyyyy more spice.” And then sometimes I get FOMO cause there is a new restaurant in town and I haven’t tried it and everyone seems to be talking about it! My husband will remind me, “It’s ok to be regulars at a restaurant or coffee shop!” And so I have a little back pocket of my favorite places, and yes, of course there are so many more to add to this list BUT I’m going to share with you my highlight reel of places to eat and cafes to enjoy a cuppa 🙂

Best happy hour:

Red Cow- can’t beat their amazing wings (I order 1/2 Japanese sticky + buffalo bone in wings), tuna avocado crackers

W.A. Frost- ricotta cheese bruschetta + ribs Kyatchi- best prices on sushi!

World Street Kitchen- out of this world lettuce wraps

The Naughty Greek- get the family style gyro platter

Next on my list: Augustines, Jax Cafe, Kiku Bistro, Bardo

Most romantic:

Cafe Lurcat- go on a Sunday night and get their date night special + sit on their back patio and feel like you are in Italy

Spoon and Stable- the most amazing pot roast I’ve ever had

Bachelor Farmer- nordic style feel + all the cozy foods

Forepaugh’s- sit on the front patio or explore the beautiful, old house!

Next on my list: Italian Eatery, Mucci’s Italian, Martina, Terzo, Tenant, Grand Cafe

Best hidden gems:

Chimborazo- incredible food here!

PinKU Japanese Street Food- love their small plate options making it a great place for lunch

Next on my list: Kinhdo Restaurant, Karta Thai, Khao Hom Thai

Best breweries:

Sociable Cider Werks- habanero cucumber + other amazing seasonal beer

Fair State Brewery- the roselle sour

Baushaus Brew- great patio for large groups

Next on my list: Flat Earth Brew, Able Seedhouse & Brewery, Modist Brewing Company

Best brunch:

French Hen Cafe- order the Banh Mi Benedict + Flapjacks

Bellecour- the best cocktails and pastries (macaroons and chocolate almond croissant) + French toast

The Copper Hen- just the cutest inside the cafe

The Buttered Tin- classic, amazing breakfast

Alma Cafe- stay for the incredible pastries, mochas + cocktails

Colossal Cafe- can’t even with the sourdough pancakes, bacon + egg biscuit sandwich, and coffee is fantastic

The Lynhall- if you haven’t been here yet I don’t even know why. Sandwiches, burgers, pastries, oh my!

Next on my list- Holman’s Table, Cook Stp, Martina, Birchwood Cafe

Best coffee shops:

Salty Tart- cappuccinos are so good

Kopplins- always using organic espresso + milk

Northern Coffeeworks- my favorite cortado

Quixotic- their seasonal drinks are always on point

Dogwood- if you love a light roast espresso, then this is your place!

UP Coffee Roasters- fair trade organic coffee

Next on my list: Botany, Parallel, Fairgrounds Coffee and Tea

Fun vibe:

Psycho Suzi’s- right on the river plus you feel like you are in a jungle

HaiHai- love the lettuce wraps and all the fun decor inside

Young Joni- because pizza is never overrated and their back bar is fun for the winter!

Bar La Grasa- you need to order the crab toast!

Zen Box Izakaya- amazing Japanese food with such a fun atmosphere

It’s Greek To Me- I may be partial to this place (we had their food at our wedding!) but you feel transported to Greece when you are here and we order family style

Best view:

Red River Kitchen + Cityhouse- view right on the river + food truck and long picnic benches great for groups of people

4 bells- cool view of the city + great cocktails (food is ok)

The CoV Wayzata- beautiful view of the water + go at happy hour and order their fish tacos and shrimp (weekends are crayyyy busy!)

Best Tacos:

Al Centro Tacos NE- sit outside with barbacoa lamb tacos and a pitcher of margaritas

El Taco Riendo- located on Central Avenue (then stop by Fair State Brewery and check out their patio!)

Next on my list: Maya Cuisine

Best homestyle:

Revival- fried chicken Tennessee hot and Mac ‘n’ cheese

Best drinks:

Norseman Distillery- they have a great bonfire pit for the fall!

Tattersall Distillery- love their patio

Spoon and Stable- Yes, they get to be on here twice! their Cosmopolitan + Moscow Mule is always my favorite

What are some of YOUR favorites restaurants in the Twin Cities?

May 16, 2018 By Karis Alex 2 Comments

Kauai adventure

Kauai hadn’t been on our list of places to visit. But when we saw photos this past January, we thought this is the island to go to! We knew a few of our friends had gone and the pictures looked stunning.

This trip felt like our second honeymoon and to be honest, was probably even better!! We were so excited to explore the whole island, putting lots of miles on the Jeep! Everywhere we went, I found myself snapping photos on my iPhone, videoing roads of canopy trees, and awing at the deep green forest of Kauai. We will never forget this trip!

Kilauea Lighthouse Kalihiwai beach

We might have forgotten to put on sunscreen!

We booked our flights through airline miles and started planning the trip just a few months before hand. If you are looking at booking an Airbnb, I’d definitely plan in advance as places are gone quickly on the island. We ended up staying at the Marriott resort (which we loved) and got a great discount through a friend.

Our view from the hotel room at the Marriott in Lihue. We would definitely stay here again We enjoyed margaritas and fish tacos at the restaurant Dukes next to the hotel. Plus, the pool and jacuzzi have a beautiful view of the ocean so just a prime spot all in all.

We came to Kauai the week after the flooding in the North happened. Due to all the rain, many of the hikes were closed, including the Na Pali coast. The only way to view it was from a plane or boat. We chose both!

Our boat tour included snorkeling, however, the waves were super rough this day and it was unsafe to swim. We still saw some incredible views of the coast and enjoyed our afternoon ride on the water.

Kauai has waterfalls EVERYWHERE. It’s absolutely gorgeous so don’t miss out hiking these! Many of the areas do not have specific signs on where the hike is because it’s all at your own risk. We found that most of the “paths” were doable, just pretty muddy from the rain. It’s way easier just to to take off your shoes:)

Wailua Falls (see photo from above further into the post)

We loved our air tour over the island! The best part was getting to see the Na Pali coast from the sky. We were curious about the doors off helicopter tour, but it was little pricey for us this time!

Wailua Falls

Waimea Canyon

One of my favorite things to do when in a new city is visit ALL the coffee shops, which we totally almost did 🙂 I was not very impressed by the Kauai coffee roasters (probably because I like my coffee super strong) but we really enjoyed all the artisan coffee shops and tried out their espresso. I’m always either ordering espresso over ice with milk, cappuccino or cortado!

—Driving around the island—

North (Hanalei)
- Kilaluea lighthouse & town
- Queens bath
- Kaupea beach
- Hideaways beach (next to St. Regis)
- Kalihiwai beach
- Anini beach
Where we ate
- Kalalea Juice Hale-yummy acai bowl
- Makana Terrace at the St. Regis- go for sunset drinks & sushi!
- Harvest market- another yummy acai bowl
- Federico’s Hanalei- Kosta ordered a seafood burrito
- Trilogy-amazing Inteligentsia espresso
  - next time: Pat’s Taco Truck, Chicken in a Barrel, Sushi Girl, Hanalei Bread Co. & Coffee, Bar Acuda (higher end tapas)
East (Lihue, Kapaa)
- Wailua Falls-hike to the bottom
  - next time: Opaeka Falls, Waimea river kayak
Where we ate
- NOM Kauai-the best chicken & waffles and yummy burgers!
- Hukilau Lanai-our fancy night out (first time trying Filet Mignon & the mixed grill was incredible!)
- Kauai Juice Co.-great kombucha on top & save your bottle for a discount on future purchases
- Dukes-this restaurant was at our hotel so it was perfectly convenient, also amazing view of the water and great Taco Tuesday + happy hour!
- HaCoffee bar- this coffee shop is close to the airport and has good iced espresso!
- Java Kai-can’t miss this coffee shop in Kapaa! If the line is long then head to the back bar and order your coffee! I loved the almond cortado and also came back for an iced espresso with cream. Enjoy your coffee by the beach or take a walk in town while doing some shopping!
  - next time: Fish Express (right by the airport), Porky’s Cart, Tiki Tacos, Cafe Portofino (fancier), The Spot (go for acai bowls), Small Town Coffee Co. and Lapperts Ice-cream
South (Poipu)
- Poipu Beach
- Kauai tree tunnels (gorgeous quick drive!)
- Shipwreck beach
- Maha’ulepu Coastal Trail
  - next time: Kekaha Beach Park, Polihale State Park
Where we ate
- DaCrack-ordered pork tacos
- Kalaheo Coffee Co. & Cafe-great breakfast spot
- Little Fish Coffee-my favorite acai bowl and the cutest town!
- Aloha Roastery-fancy artisan coffee in a beautiful setting
  - next time: Beach House Restaurant (go at sunset), The Eating House 1849, Koloa Fish Market (poke bowls), Makai Sushi (local favorite) and Loco Coco Save Ice (fresh fruit syrups!)
West (Waimea)
- Waimea Canyon Hike
  - next time: Kokee State Park and Pihea Trail
  - Eats: Island Taco and Ishihara Market for poke

We received this restaurant recommendation from a friend and I’d highly recommend it. I would totally go back. Fancy night out at the Hukilau Lanai restaurant (probably the best meal we had on the island!!)

Filet mignon with the most incredible gravy sauce. Melt in your mouth like butter.

I can’t even tell you all the names of the fish but wow so flaky and the coconut sauce was perfection.

Lava chocolate cake and Lappert’s ice-cream capped off the night.

Even when it was rainy & cloudy, it was a beautiful walk along the beach!

We went off roading a few times (lots of trails around!) and fully took advantage of driving as close to the water as we could get. Actually, there are beaches that you can drive on further west that we didn’t get to!

So we went to a Luau. And it was very Luau-y but ya gotta do it when you are in Hawaii and the experience was worth it! We saw some peacocks, walked around the beautiful gardens, ate a lot of yummy teriyaki beef and enjoyed the beautiful dancing.

ACAI BOWLS. Just really couldn’t get enough of these. Like I think I had 4 in 7 days. And they were just sooooooo good!

Most of our time was spent beach hopping. Meaning, driving to a beach, walking around, taking lots of photos, and enjoying the sun. The water was truly so beautiful, but most of the places weren’t safe to swim in from the flooding. We still loved exploring and discovering the beauty of Kauai!

Alright, our last night was spent watching the sunset from the St. Regis in Princeville at the Makana Terrace. Yes, the drinks and apps are pricier, but guys, the view here is just stunnnnnnning. Spend the afternoon in the town Kilauea (make a stop at my favorite coffee shop Trilogy!) and then come to the Makana Terrace and hour before sunset (you’ll want a good spot on the balcony!)

All in all, I would definitely go back to Kauai. The best part is renting a car and just driving around the island, stopping at different food trucks a long the way, walking through towns and enjoying the beaches!

October 26, 2017 By Karis Alex Leave a Comment

Highlights from Italy

I remember waking up from my “nap” at 11:30pm. Yes, I have a tendency to tell my husband, “I’m just resting real quick,” or “I promise I’ll stay awake for the show!” More often than not, I’m the early to bed buster and I don’t know if I’ll ever change! Well, anyhow, I woke up to Kosta in the checkout for airline tickets to Rome. Ok, so we had talked about wanting to go on a trip somewhere, most likely Europe, and our search started by seeing where the cheapest cities were to fly into. He found a crazy deal and we decided right then that we’d just go! We were so excited to drive around Italy and then make our way over to Greece via another charter flight. I will say that the trip was a little rough because I got sick, but I kept my spirits high knowing that I’d be back someday to visit again. It put a damper on being more “adventurous” since I wasn’t up to a lot of things. However, we still had such a fun time traveling and being together in Europe for two weeks.

Here we are at the top of Florence’s Duomo.The beautiful view of Florence.The most quaint home we stayed at in Florence called “Valdirose.”We knew we would fly into Rome, and from there we could drive anywhere we wanted! I was so excited for the road trip because the thought of driving around Italy, through the mountains, just brought me so much joy. I knew that would be one of my favorite parts. And sure enough Kosta found a beautiful area called Lake Garda with five villages surrounding it. This truly was such a peaceful and restful time for me because it was the least amount of walking I did 🙂 That is normally not me, but due to the circumstances, I was happy driving around the whole lake and stopping at the different towns to sit along the water.

We took a gondola up the mountain and had these incredible views of the Italian alps.The view from our balcony in our room!My favorite place we visited was the island of Burano, about a 30 minute boat ride from Venice. It was a gorgeous town that reminded me of a fairy tale Disneyland set. I loved how colorful all the homes were and how bright and cheery everything around me felt. I could have spent the whole day wandering around the tiny streets and crossing over the small bridges. Wouldn’t you love to wake up in a neighborhood like this?

We stopped at the island of Murano, famous for their glass-blowing techniques. It really made me have a completely different perspective on the intricacies of this work of art! Aren’t the blue, ocean deep colors just mesmerizing?

Our time in Venice was spent wandering around the streets, enjoying gelato, pesto pasta and all the espresso. We enjoyed taking a ferry to a few different islands around.

We loved the views from St. Mark’s Bell Tower at golden hour! Dinner in Venice along the river! Our last day was spent in Rome and we really enjoyed it seeing the Colosseum at night! We went to an incredible restaurant with amazing service in the town of Trastevere.