When I was in high school, I used to go to the Market Building in downtown Roanoke and have pho for lunch. It was delicious and I loved it. Then, the building closed for renovations and new restaurants took the place of old restaurants and I went like four years without a bowl of pho.

But then, a few months ago, my friends Daci and Rachel and I got together for a little girls night at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (we're wild, I know) and decided that we absolutely needed Vietnamese food. After sitting down and awkwardly leaving what ended up being a chain restaurant, we found ourselves at Quang, which is where we wanted to be all along, because it is also where the bowls of soup are enormous, the spring rolls are heavenly, and the menu is packed full of gluten-free options.

My life is once again complete.

I have seriously not stopped thinking about it since I went with my girlfriends in April, so Rob and I finally had a chance to go over the weekend. We ordered the shrimp and pork spring rolls, I had a bubble tea, and we each got a bowl of Pho Tai (#505 on the menu). It was awesome.

Quang

2719 Nicollet Avenue

Minneapolis, MN 55408

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Food 5/5

Service 4/5

Atmosphere 3/5

Prices & Specials 5/5

Paleo-Friendly 4/5

This is one of those recipes that isn't actually a recipe, you just make it one lazy Sunday and love it so much that you write it down to remind yourself to make it again. Because I have this little hand-held spiral vegetable slicer, these sweet potato fries were a bit on the thin side and almost would have made a better topping on a salad or something instead of an actual side dish, but man are they delicious. Garnished with some fresh cilantro and some Sriracha mayo, they make for a fresh and easy afternoon snack.

Ingredients:

• One or two sweet potatoes (long and thin ones, so you can spiralize them)
• Several tablespoons of olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

• Two tablespoons mayonnaise
• One tablespoon Sriracha (more if you like it spicier)
• A small handful of fresh cilantro for garnish

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut your sweet potato(es) with the spiral slicer and drizzle olive oil over them. Mix well.
3. Season with salt and pepper before baking at 400 for 15-20 minutes.
4. While they cook, combine mayo and hot sauce in a small dish for dipping.
5. Serve sweet potato fries hot, garnished with fresh cilantro.

One of my favorite parts of summertime and living around here are the weekend markets. Minneapolis and St. Paul are chock full of awesome farmers markets, but one of my favorites is definitely Mill City Farmers Market. It's located in such an awesome part of Minneapolis, right on the river, and offers some really awesome breakfast and coffee as well as vegetables, fruit, meat, eggs, honey, and other farmers market goods.

My friend Daci and I went last weekend and walked around a few times, checking everything out before deciding on breakfast tacos (she) and a goat cheese + veggie omelet (I). We got our food and sat facing the river, and then we were off to make the rounds again, this time buying some herbs, rhubarb, honey, lilacs, and stopping for a treat on our way out. It's such a fun place to spend a Saturday morning.

Mill City Farmers Market

704 S 2nd Street

Minneapolis, MN 55415

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Food 4/5

Service 5/5

Atmosphere 5/5

Prices & Specials 3/5

Paleo-Friendly 5/5