Shakin' in the Sixties

I had a busy weekend! I got together with a couple of college roommates, went out with friends, went to Hmong Village and Shuang Hur Oriental Market with my mom, and saw Ides of March with Aly.

Erin, Kayla and I went out to Mortimer's in Uptown after a delicious dinner at Wilde Roast Cafe.

At Wild Bill's with Brooke and Lisa.

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Lisa, Matt, Travis and Brad at Wild Bill's.

Lumpy dog! Angel has been sick the past few days so she went to the vet and got subcutaneous fluid injections.

On Saturday, Mom took me to Hmong Village in Dayton's Bluff. I've been reading reviews on Yelp to find a good description, and here are a few that seemed most accurate to me:

"Other cities have Chinatown, Little Italy, Japantown but we've got Hmong Village."

"Walking in reminded me of my old storage unit building.  There are a bunch of garage-like stalls with a variety of vendors.  One end of the building is filled with food vendors serving various asian dishes.  The other end is a produce market.  In between are small shops selling anything from DVDs to clothing." 

Hmong Village is located at Johnson Parkway and Phalen Boulevard.

Various unmarked and unidentifiable spices, herbs, and sticks for sale in the produce market.

Lychee

Hmong DVD's for sale.

You could buy darn near everything at the market!

Hand made Hmong dresses.

Cooked pork and duck for sale by the food vendors.

Our papaya salad was made right before our eyes.

Papaya salad.

Hmong meatballs: dense like Swedish meatballs, but served cold. Would have been much better served hot!

Tri-Color.

Tri-color is a drink made with colorful jellies and coconut milk. My favorite by far!

I enjoyed Hmong Village so much because I felt like a tourist. I had no idea such a rich cultural experience was just twenty minutes away from my house!

Next, Mom and I went to Shuang Hur Oriental Market. Again, it was another place I felt like a tourist. The market had everything including: beef tongue, blue crab, tripe, chicken feet, pig ears, octopus, squid, fish, and a whole duck!

Live Blue Crab

Mini Octopi... or was it squid???

Whole duck.

Coconut, mango, and coffee flavor Swiss Rolls. Certainly nothing like the Little Debbies I grew up with!

And last but not least, I saw Ides of March with Aly. We both enjoyed the movie and our catch-up drink at Flame afterwards.