Update from Minnesota, Sunday 7/10/11

Other then some rain now and then....we've been having lovely weather.  No humidity and highs in the 70's.
We're feeling sorry for all of you in those hot weather places.  Sorry guys. Today we went to an art festival that was along the harbor at Grand Marais.  It was very nice...had live music too.  Then we stopped at Sven and Ollie's Pizza for lunch....very good.  Then we stopped off for our weekly grocery shopping....that's the bummer.  Groceries are at least 25% higher here.  I actually paid over $6 for a jar of Hellman's (Best Foods) Mayo that I would have normally got in Missouri for $3.99.  Cake mix is $2.50, a box of Raisin Bran $5.34.
I've just decided to close my eyes and get what we need and forget it.   

We've been settling into our duties at "the park".  I do a program about dolls made out of corn husks and other faceless dolls.  Dale does a program about blacksmiths and other tradesmen that would have  been here at the post during the late 1700's.  Everyone gets a turn to cook in the historical kitchen.  They have an outdoor oven or open hearth fireplace that we can use.  Dale grilled fish from the lake and pea soup on Friday.  The kitchen was pretty stinky after that so on Saturday it was my day to cook and I fixed cinnamon rolls.  They turned out wonderful and the kitchen smelled a whole lot better.  You fix the cinnamon rolls just like usual but to bake them I used a cast iron dutch oven.  You put coals under the pot...put the pan of rolls in the pot..put the lid on and put more coals on the top of the lid.  You keep adding coals for as long as you need to bake them.  Since I had 4 pans of rolls I had to repeat this process 4 times. The baking time alone took about 3 hours.  It was worth it though....I put a maple icing on them.  We can't serve the food to the visitors because being a historical kitchen it wouldn't meet health codes...no running water...you know.
So those employees that want them can eat at their own risk.   Now how bad can it be with REAL butter and REAL sugar. 

We're still enjoying ourselves.  Afterall we've got a million dollar view with a lake as far as the eye can see, a big blue sky, trees everywhere and gorgeous wildflowers.  Oh yea....we're lovin' it.