Rob and I have been celebrating weekends together and exploring new restaurants in the Twin Cities by doing a little research and hitting up happy hour specials. I love happy hour.

Last Friday, we ventured to Stella's Fish Cafe & Prestige Oyster Bar, a fun place in Minneapolis with fabulous rooftop seating. There is a rooftop happy hour, but it's not available on Fridays. So we took advantage of the indoor happy hour that was going on and sat inside by a window, feasting on oysters, ribs, a spicy tuna roll, peel-and-eat shrimp, and a couple drinks each. They're serious about that two-for-one drink special, and Rob laughed at my surprise when, after ordering a glass of wine, the server brought me two, right then and there.

  

If you're ever in Minneapolis, you should definitely stop by Stella's! And you should tell me first so I can meet you there and have two more glasses of wine and another bucket of shrimp.

Stella's Fish Cafe & Prestige Oyster Bar

1400 West Lake Street

Minneapolis, MN 55408

Food 4/5

Service 2/5

Atmosphere (inside) 3/5

Prices & Specials 4/5

Paleo-Friendly 5/5

I hope you enjoy me sharing our restaurant adventures in Minneapolis and St. Paul with you! I'm hoping it will be a fun way to document all of our favorite places, while simultaneously encouraging our friends from home to come visit immediately.

I tried to fancy up some little pork loin cutlets the other day. I think it worked.

  

Ingredients:

Pork Loin 

(You can cut it yourself or get a package of cutlets from the grocery store.)

One large sprig of fresh rosemary

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Olive oil and grass-fed butter for frying

1. Heat a large pan with olive oil and butter.

2. Season one side of the pork cutlets with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

3. Place the pork into the pan with the seasoned side down.

4. Season the other side, flip them when the meat starts cooking around the edges and the underside is browned (about 3-5 minutes depending on the thickness of the cutlets).

5. Pour applesauce over the pork. Add rosemary. Let other side cook through (another 3-5 minutes).

6. Garnish with rosemary and serve with extra applesauce.

  

When Melissa and I were planning this weekend, we pretty much divided our time together by potential blog posts. Paleo recipes, personal style, makeup, and not-so-Paleo cocktails all made the list and were fit into our two-day schedule. So if you read her blog, you might see some duplications over the next week or so. So for now, let's start with pancakes. Because it's Monday, and I know how Mondays can be, and because sometimes you just need pancakes.

We used a variation of this recipe for the pancake batter, and before the pancakes went onto the griddle, we fried up some bacon to go in them, because why not, man? I still maintain the opinion that there's not much that can't be made better with at least a little bacon. And did you hear? Turns out banana, vanilla, cinnamon, and bacon are like, best friends.

Ingredients (makes 4-5 big pancakes):

• Two or three strips of bacon, cut in half
• Two bananas
• Three eggs
• Three tablespoons coconut flour
• One teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• Sprinkle of cinnamon, pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Space out strips of bacon onto the pan or griddle where you will make the pancakes. Fry them up!
2. Blend all pancake ingredients in a food processor or blender until completely smooth.
3.  When the bacon is done, spoon pancake batter on and around each strip and let cook for about eight minutes.
4.  Flip each pancake carefully and let the other side cook. Serve with maple syrup, if desired.

Rocky really wanted some.