A few days ago I passed that "big birthday" milestone at which NO ONE can continue to deny being old. Karen is close behind, but somehow she has maintained a more youthful air about her as she savors her own dwindling days of 60-somethingness.
Many of my friends are older than I am. Most of them have figured out how to embrace (or at least accept) aging in ways that help me feel pretty good about all of this. Some of their secrets include getting off their butts and moving regularly, eating better, laughing, doing new things, valuing relationships with family and friends, actively seeking happiness, and finding a way every day to employ that oh so important concept of being grateful. Let me count the ways . . .
All of this brings me to the idea for this blog. Karen and I kicked around the idea of doing a "60 Fun Things at 60" blog but never got it going.
Teaching the grandkids the concept of multiplying the number of candles by 10.
Obviously, 70 is a much bigger number than 60, so waiting 10 years has not made it easier to come up with so many fun things. But we're going to give it a shot. And since our birthdays are only 9 days apart, we're going through this "being 70" year together and the "fun things" will mostly be shared experiences. We're in this together, and I can't imagine being on this adventure without her. So off we go!
Fun thing #1: Lunch at Owamni Restaurant in downtown Minneapolis
We finally made it to Owamni a couple of days ago after a much-too-long wait. Sean Sherman, long known around Minnesota as "The Sioux Chef" opened this James Beard Award winning "Best New Restaurant" in the summer of 2021. His cookbook had already won the 2018 James Beard award for "Best American Cookbook". Read more about Sean Sherman and Owamni in these links to an article in The New Yorker and also a piece by Minnesota Public Radio.
(Update on 4/15/23: Yet another national award, this one from TIME Magazine -- Owamni founder Sean Sherman among TIME's 100 Most Influential People !!!)
So, how was it? We both loved the place -- everything about it. The space, the view (overlooking the Mississippi River), the ambience, and the staff were all wonderful. The core philosophy behind Owamni it is to serve healthy, natural foods that would have been found in this part of the world prior to colonialism . . . and just as importantly, to prepare these foods in new ways and serve them with love and respect to indigenous people and to the Earth.
(Diagonally from lower left) Wild Rice, Bison Stew, Corn-fried Tepary Beans, Elk & Sweet Potato Corn Sandwich
(L) Corn Fried Terpary Beans, (R) Elk & Sweet Potato Corn Sandwich
The menu selections we tried were all fantastic. It was fun to see so many things on the menu that were unknown to us, and we asked our server to explain several of them to us. Who would have thought thattruly American cuisine could seem so foreign? Even then, you can't really picture many of the dishes until they arrive. My advice is to trust your server and trust this wonderful restaurant to serve you beautiful, healthy and delicious food. (See current menu here.)
Toward the end of the meal we we were looking for our server to come by so we could ask her to take our picture. We were both thinking the same thing, but Karen said it out loud, "This is the best meal I've ever had in a restaurant."
We will go back again and again. Sean Sherman, Dana Thompson and everyone who works here are doing everything right and deserve all the success and praise that has come to them.
Okay, so we have our first "fun thing at 70" in the books. Happy birthday to us!
