Camacho Watcho

I started the first few days of the New Year off with two events…a push up challenge and a Twin Cities fry crawl (aka: fry-day). It’s funny that these two events happened within days of each other given that their intentions are completely at odds. One is a physical challenge that requires discipline and training and the other is a physical challenge that requires complete indulgence and an iron stomach. And so it goes.

Push Up Challenge
The push up challenge was part of a training program that my friend Carly had heard about and recruited sixteen others to do with her. The program consists of an initial push-up test to determine your starting skill level and then six weeks of training with periodic tests to monitor your progress. The goal at the end of the training is to complete the challenge…one hundred good form push-ups…consecutively.

So, you’re probably wondering how the challenge went. I did complete one hundred push-ups consecutively, but only the first 50 were on my toes, the rest were a combination of knee push-ups and some back up on my toes. Fifty consecutive was a new record for me so I was very pleased…but even more than that, I was pleased with the brunch the followed after. We all climbed the stairs from the basement, arms too weak to even grip the banister, and ate a large brunch. I made a new breakfast casserole – sausage and leek – which my mom introduced me to on Christmas Day. It is a fantastic recipe – highly recommended (couple of recommended recipe changes: 1/2 the sausage, can use Monterrey jack instead of pepper jack).

Fry-Day

The conception of Fry-Day was born from the New Years resolution that Kyle and Carly made in 2008…no french fries. Another friend, The Freets, also gave up fries for the last four months of the year. Because of this, Kyle decided that we needed a monumental event to celebrate the eating of the fries in 2009. (I did not give up fries in 2008, but I was not going to miss a day of eating fries.) Similar to the event he does with some friends in the Spring (aka: Greatest Day Ever), where they bike to all the brew-pubs around the Twin Cities, they decided to bike to several places known for the fries to try them all. At this point you might be wondering about the weather. Yes, this is Minnesota. Yes, there was snow on the ground and freezing temperatures. And yes, it did snow/sleet during their adventures. But, no, none of these factors were going to ruin Fry-Day. (I took the easy way out and drove to the places to meet them…cheating? Yes. Do I regret cheating? No).

The day started out at the Longfellow grill, known for their sweet potato fries. Honestly, you just can’t beat these fries. Large wedges of sweet potatoes, fried until just crisp but still sweet and soft in the inside and served with chipotle mayonnaise. I could marry these fries.

The second stop was The Nook, where we ate their hand cut fries. Again, these are perfectly made, skins still on the potatoes, fried to a perfect crisp, and finished with plenty of seasonings. Alongside a Nook burger, I was in heaven.

The next stop (the last that I made with them) was to the Bulldog Lowertown in St. Paul. We sampled both their cajun fries and their cajun tater tots. Verdict? The fries were blah (which seems impossible…they look so tasty above!) but the tots were very tasty and spicy (note: I’ve also had their chipotle tots and their cheese tots…neither of those are recommended). I then left the bikers but they made their way to Maxwell’s in downtown Minneapolis. Maxwell’s serves tasty waffle fries with seasoned sour cream. Always a favorite of mine. All in all, Fry-Day was a success, some great fries eaten and a celebratory way to bring in 2009!

For more stories about Fry-Day from the bikers, you can read about it on The Deets and from Shek.

Tags: restaurants, twin cities

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at 12:08 pm and is filed under Entertainment, Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.