Things to do in the Twin Cities, week of 11/18

Things to do in the Twin Cities this week

      It's a quieter weekend as we slowly ready ourselves for the onslaught of holiday related merriment that comes next week but that doesn't mean there's not still some fun to be had!

Things to do for Families

Top pick: Macy's Santaland

 

      The holidays are nearly upon is and it's time to stop the denial that Christmas is on it's way and for the annual Macy's Santaland Display in Minneapolis to open this Saturday. You can start taking tours of Santaland starting at 9am on Saturday. After your tour Santa will be on hand for meet and greets, to listen to everything your kid plans on having you buy them and photos. Also in addition if you'd like to enjoy a buffet breakfast downtown, with a visit from Santa following you can do so for $19.95 an adult and $13.95 for children under 10. To make a reservation or for more details regarding the chow you can call 1-877-556-2297 and there's also a dinner option a few nights during the holiday season as well.

    Victorian Christmas in Stillwater at the Washington County Courthouse is this weekend only in Stillwater. This event combines a lot of local businesses in downtown Stillwater. At the courthouse itself you'll find local crafts and holiday gift items, live music, tea, tours of the historic jail, and Santa visits in the afternoon and all for $3 at the door. For the VIP treatment see the below Adult listing and leave the kids at home.

Things to do for Adults

 Top Pick: Victorian Preview Gala

     Leave the kiddos at home for this one. Held at the Stillwater Historic Courthouse Friday from 6:30pm until 9:00pm, The Victorian Christmas Preview Gala comes at a very decent price; $25 for pre-ordered tickets and $30 at the door. Walk booths of local holiday crafts and gifts while enjoying coffee, champagne, sparkling cider or Liftbridge Brewery beer. There will also be appetizers and desserts served while you shop in style and door prizes called out throughout the evening. Giftwrapping will also be offered by staff and volunteers. Now that's how you shop! 

       "Wit's" at the Fitzgerald Theatre with Jim Gaffigan and rapper, Busdriver is Thursday at 8:00pm. I'm mentioning this, even though it's sold out mostly because I really wanted to go and it sounds so amazing. Always the offchance a set of tickets will show up on stubhub I suppose, but this well reviewed comedic event hosted by MPR is well reviewed and should be a great show and when add onto it the unlikely combination of pasty white Jim Gaffigan and rapper Busdriver there's a high likelihood of a goodtime.


       "Big Gay Comedy Show" at Bryant Lake Bowl is Thursday, November 21st at 7:00pm. The title says it all, it's big and gay and a comedy show. It features some of the funniest gay and gay-friendly comics, no names but if you take their word for it at least it's not too much to spend; Tickets are just $10.

Things to do for Foodies

Top pick: Mill City Indoor Farmers Market

      Not only will you get a chance to peruse and shop some of the best produce from around the Twin Cities but some really great food options will be available from the likes of Chef Shack, Gorkha Palace and D'Amico & Sons. What's better than eating some food while you buy some food? There will also be arts and crafts and live music during the event. The Indoor Farmers Market will run Saturday 10am - 1pm all held within the comfy confines of the Mill City Museum.

     


     If you're free for dinner on Thursday, highly recommend The Wild Game Dinner being held at Tria in North Oaks. The meal consists four courses of wild game and wild wines and a dessert to cap the evening off.  Crawfish, duck, frogs and wild boar, oh my! The price for the meal is $65.


     I've mentioned this in prior posts but I'll reiterate here- give your Mom or Wife a break this Thanksgiving and check out the following list from OpenTable of restaurants open for the holiday here.

Things to do regarding the Arts

 Top Pick: A Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol

    "A Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol" from the folks at the Hennepin Trust Theatre is like A Christmas Carol, only it's not. Gunner Johnson from the previous play "Don't Hug Me" finds himself in a predicament when a trail of bad luck leads him to falling into a coma and conversing with Sven Yorgenson who plays the ghost of Christmas past, present and future all at once. The show opens Friday at 7:30pm. KQRS's Tom Bernard's take on it? "Go see it!"


    Minnesota Bluegrass Harvest Jam Acoustic Music Experience is going on downtown at the Marriott in Minneapolis. The event will feature live performances in various ballrooms, jam sessions, workshops, a band contest, and a variety of vendors. There will also be a dinner celebration and the tickets run from a $49 VIP ticket with dinner to completely free on Sunday admission, all depends when you go and what you want to do. I can almost guarantee the sightings of interesting facial hair will also be optimum.


    Born Yesterday at the Guthrie opens this weekend. The play follows the life and times of a corrupt businessman, Harry Brock who moves to D.C. and attempts to get ahead in society with his chorus-girl sidekick, Billie Dawn. However Billie is no debutant and hijinks thus arise while attempting to turn her into a socialite, too bad she didn't have Richard Gere on her side. Tickets run from $35 to $53 depending on when you go and where you sit.

Top Unusual Activities

Top Pick: Mansfeld Manor Gallery

     Mansfeld Manor: Peculiar Color Illustrations and Sculptures in Fetted Wool at Gallery 360 opens this Saturday with an opening reception from 7pm until 10pm. The Event is odd, but very interesting all at once. These felted creations made from wool and dyed fibers are hauntingly strange and revolve around strange, fanciful and morbid tales. Think of the mice from Dinner for Schmucks, meets Wallace and Gromit, meets Tim Burton.

 

    


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LiftBridge Brewery Commander Release Party

       Saturday was a pretty miserable day, weather-wise. I wasn't completely sure whether this event was going to be outside or inside so I dressed up a bit overkill, as it turned out but hey, always be prepared!

      Arriving the brewery little after 3:30pm we were there only minutes after the doors opened. Upon entry you received a wristband and a glass to keep, which resulted in Todd running back to the car to deposit said glassware with a "Please dear, would you mind?" While there were a few benches and port-a-potties outside for overflow the majority of the event was mercifully inside and out of the downpour. 

     We received one free token with ticket and we all decided upon the party's namesake, Commander to begin with. I had no expectations. being a novice with barleywine. From the first sniff you can just feel the alcohol burn your nostrils which should have been a hint to me about the 12.5% ABV strength but instead I took a big gulp and quickly realized, as our group's designated driver I would not be having much more. The taste was definitely different, you got a hint of the bourbon from the barrels the barleywine had aged in. It was for sure, an experience. After a few sips I decided it was too dangerous to the chagrin of my friends and switched to the IPA, Hopdish to sip which I thoroughly enjoyed without feeling irresponsible.

     The brewery was fairly packed, but wasn't overly crowded. There was a booth to buy more tokens and another to use the tokens for beer purchase. There were a few different live bands playing throughout the evening. The theme, if there was one was moustaches which was evident in the moustache facepainting booth, moustache stickers on the tables and the moustache contest towards the end of the evening. I'm definitely a little over the hype of this bizarre moustache trend that you see everywhere these days but it wasn't over the top in this particular instance and it at least centered around some real men (save the one drunk girl who got up with stickers) who had grown some serious facial hair.  

       The music was really quite good, enjoyed immensely Thrift Store Sonata with their unique bluegrass sound and their violinist was incredibly talented. We did have to backup a bit though to hear each other talk as the sound reverberating off the brewery walls was quite loud. I had to hand it to the bands though as they played throughout the evening.

       One of the highlights was definitely the Nebuchadnezzar bottle, a 15L bottle of the Commander that was then opened and freely poured for all who lined up. This bottle didn't seem to have an end, it was nearly 40 minutes before the entire contents were emptied into the last waiting glass.

     We stayed for almost 5 hours and left with about an hour or so left to go in the event. It was a good time and I think my group enjoyed themselves quite a bit. I also was a bit surprised that with the high alcohol content there wasn't more crazy, debauchery. The crowd appeared to be very well behaved, although we did leave before the end so maybe we missed some of that. All in all, a good Saturday evening at the brewery with some friends!

    I'm going to mention this as a side note, although I really don't have to but I've noticed my iPhone has been taking really blurry pictures lately. It's a 4s that I've beat unmercifully on and I had just figured it was the fault of being dropped so many times. I pulled off the seriously battered cover, which has a corner missing I should mention to tinker with it. It was at some point trying to polish up the camera lens that a corner of a piece of plastic pulled away from the back of my phone and it was then I realized... I've had the plastic protector on the whole time. So... word to the wise, make sure you remove this piece and definitely make sure you don't have your friends witness you do it when it's been about a year on.