Remember when I told you about the ten foods I dream about?
Now it’s time for the ten drinks I dream about!
(Forgive me for ending those sentences in a preposition.
“The ten drinks about which I dream” just doesn’t have the same flow.)
I find that beverages are an integral part of your dining
experience. Some people can eat their meals without anything to wash it down. I
am not one of those people.
And that could be why I’ve imbibed some truly great
beverages in my time. Here I present my
ten favorite beverages from a few of my very favorite locations.
BROOKINGS
frozen hot chocolate
at the Summer Arts Festival
You’ve heard plenty from me about the Brookings Summer Arts
Festival, so I’ll keep it quick. I go there as much for the people watching and
the food as I do for the actual art, and I can’t leave without having had (at
least one) frozen hot chocolate. The place that makes them also specializes in
kuchen, but I only have eyes for frozen hot chocolate. They blend it all up
with ice and milk, and it’s everything you could hope for. And it pairs
perfectly with cheese curds.
 |
| See the straws? There's frozen hot chocolate nearby. |
MORRIS
iced chai at the
Common Cup
During my final year at UMM, I worked at the local coffee
shop: the Common Cup. It was a great job for a number of reasons, not least of
which is that we were allowed a free meal and drink while we were working. My
shift was usually 6am – 10 am, so my meal of choice was breakfast. I was due in
class by 1020, so I’d make myself a breakfast sandwich (egg, bacon, and cheese
on a croissant) and an iced chai. While working at the Common Cup, I had not
yet learned to enjoy espresso drinks, so chai it was. I don’t know how I
started on the iced chai, but the Common Cup used Oregon Chai. You can find it
in some grocery stores: it’s a purple and yellow carton, and it’s fantastic.
NEW ORLEANS
hurricanes at Pat O’Briens
It should come as no surprise to you that New Orleans boasts
three of my favorite beverages. All three are iconic, but only two are potent
potables. The hurricane is a deep red drink that comes in a gigantic plastic
cup. It’s got some cherries and oranges floating about, and it’s so tasty that
you don’t realize that it’s pretty much all alcohol. James and I have made
hurricanes for two years’ worth of Mardi Gras dinner parties, and they’ve been
just delicious. One year, we ran out of ice, so we simply ran outside and
scooped some fresh snow into our glasses. Thus the Minnesota Hurricane was
born.
hand grenades at
Tropical Isle
Hand grenades are a lot like Hurricanes in that they taste
so good and are almost entirely alcohol. Hand grenades even come in a gimmicky
plastic glass that is shaped like a hand grenade at the bottom. Hand grenades
come in two options: with or without ice. Without ice is twice the price.
 |
| Don't worry. I didn't drink both of them. |
café au lait at Café
du Monde
My absolute favorite New Orleans beverage does indeed come
from the French Quarter, but unlike the others, you don’t need to show your ID
to get it. While I am not much of a coffee drinker, I love the café au lait at
Café du Monde. It’s one part coffee to one part steamed milk, plus a dash of
chicory. You can order café au lait up north, but it’s missing that essential
chicory flavor. James and I got café au lait every morning when we were on our
New Orleans honeymoon, and nothing starts your day off better than piping hot
café au lait and a fresh batch of beignets.
CANCUN
mojitos on the beach
at El Cid
My family took a vacation to Cancun in January 2013, and let
me tell you, that place is heaven on earth. White sandy beaches, shimmery blue
water, gorgeous blooming flowers, the whole shebang. Plus, it helped that it
was the absolute dead of winter back home, and a tropical vacation was just the
cure. This was also six months before James’s and my wedding, and it was the
sweet spot right before wedding stress and accompanying drama began to hit.
Cancun was the calm before the storm, and I remember it so fondly. Cancun was
the first place I’d ever had a mojito, and if heaven exists, I think it’s a
Mexican beach where I have a mojito in hand. Or a swim-up bar. I’ve ordered
mojitos since then, but none of them are ever as delicious as the mojitos in
Mexico. James makes mojitos with mint from our garden, and they come close –
but our lawn in Luverne is somehow less scenic than a white sandy beach in Cancun.
Plus, we don’t have a swim-up bar.
 |
| Or mojitos at a swim-up bar in Mexico. |
SPRING VALLEY
La Crescent at Four
Daughters Winery
I realized that going to wineries for fun is a typical
late-twenties married couple thing to do, but you know what? I’m fine with it,
because wineries are awesome. Four Daughters was the first truly good winery
that James and I visited, and we almost skipped it entirely. Four Daughters is
in southeastern Minnesota, and James and I just happened to drive by it on our
way to an ill-fated camping trip in Lanesboro. If you remember that story, it
rained the entire time while we were trying to tent camp, and everything
sucked. We didn’t go to Four Daughters on the way to camping because we wanted
to hurry up and get to our site so we could go river tubing: but river tubing
was canceled because of high waters, so never mind. On the way home from
Lanesboro, we drove by Four Daughters again. We were tired and wet and crabby,
so we briefly discussed going and decided we’d rather just go home. We actually
drove right past it… but then turned around. After all, how often were we going
to be on this side of the state? Turns out? We absolutely made the right
choice. Four Daughters is breathtakingly gorgeous, and we ordered the white
wine sampler. There wasn’t a single wine that I didn’t like, and we went home
with a bottle of white wine called La Crescent. It’s been more than a year since
we’ve been to that winery, and we still haven’t opened our bottle. It’s that
delicious, and you can’t get it around here. We’re saving it for a special
occasion, though I’m not sure what that special occasion is. Our two-year
anniversary, maybe? Yeah, let’s go with that.
HILL CITY
Lawrence Elk at
Prairie Berry Winery
Four Daughters opened our eyes to the possibility of local
wineries producing truly good wines. (The two wineries we’d been to before Four
Daughters boasted syrupy-sweet wines that we choked down and lied about how
good they were.) We took a trip to the Black Hills for our first anniversary,
and the Prairie Berry Winery was on our itinerary. I had heard that their
Lawrence Elk wine was more or less ambrosia, so I got that in my sampler.
Ambrosia indeed. It’s a chokecherry wine, and I think everybody I know who has
tried it has liked it. Even the non-wine drinkers. Prairie Berry has tons of
other fantastic wines: Blue Suede Shoes (blueberry and raspberry) is a
favorite, and I really like Gold Digger (pear) and Calamity Jane (red grape).
But Lawrence Elk clocks in as my all-time favorite wine. Plus, it’s called
Lawrence Elk, and that is awesome.
 |
| This is a sampler, but there's Lawrence Elk in there for sure. |
(A brief mention of another wonderful winery that didn’t
quite make the list: Carlos Creek in Alexandria. I loved their wine, namely
Wobegon White: a Riesling and my third favorite wine of all time. It’s part of
their Minnesota Nice series of wines, which also includes Hot Dish Red and You
Betcha Blush. You have to love a winery with a sense of humor.)
LUVERNE
Tanqueray and tonic
at the Sterling Café
You know how everyone has a default drink that they order at
a bar when they’re not sure what to order? Mine is a gin and tonic. It’s a
universal drink that bars are more or less guaranteed to have, and you don’t
have to try and explain it to anyone. And it’s hard to screw up. However, not all gin and tonics are
created equal. I learned this after years of just ordering a gin and tonic and
not specifying my gin brand. Let me tell you: it makes a HUGE difference. When
the Sterling Café opened in Luverne, James and I went there right away for
drinks. I was going to order a gin and tonic, and James suggested I order it
with Tanqueray gin. I did just that, and I was rewarded with the best gin and
tonic I’ve ever had. I’ve ordered Tanqueray and tonic at other bars, but so
far, the Sterling Café makes the best one.
ST PETER
cardamom latte at
River Rock Coffee
James and I drive to Minneapolis a LOT. His family lives
near the cities, and there’s so much to see and do there that we can neither
see nor do in Sioux Falls. We love Minneapolis, but we loathe the drive. One
day, we were driving through St Peter (roughly halfway there) when we decided
that we needed a break. We got out, stretched our legs, and walked into a
coffee shop for a much-needed pick-me-up. I saw that there was a cardamom latte
on the menu, and I was sold. I had learned to appreciate the wonders of
cardamom thanks to James’s mom Maria. She uses cardamom in her cinnamon rolls
and in this totally magical Finnish bread called nissoua. So was cardamom just
as good in coffee? You bet. Now, River Rock Coffee is a regular stop on our way
to Minneapolis, and that cardamom coffee makes our journey that much better.
-----
