Lady Gaga & The Dead Sea Scrolls

Last weekend, I (Chilly) enjoyed a weekend away from husband and child in the exotic destination of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Only four and a half hours away, I spent the weekend with Dana and Michael. (mother & sister - in-laws). Our main purpose of going to St. Paul was for the Lady Gaga concert - which was - AWESOME.

A delicious meal of tapas was enjoyed Saturday night at Solera (a tapas bar and lounge) in downtown Minneapolis. Tapas may just be the perfect food. A little bit of this, a little bit of that and the food constantly keeps coming. Solera's white sangria is perfect for the summer and their white asparagus covered in romesco sauce is very satisfying.

Sunday was a busy day of shopping that started out with a diner brunch at Town Talk Diner in the Uptown area of Minneapolis. I enjoyed the "fried egg sandwich" which was two fried eggs, avocado, cheddar, ham, bacon and tomato on Texas toast. VERY TASTY. And the fries were served with garlic aioli - always a winner. My sandwich was accompanied by the Town Talk Jameson Ginger - homemade ginger beer and whiskey - two things that I love. Needless to say, Town Talk Diner gets two thumbs up. If ever in the Minneapolis area, this is a great place for yummy comfort food. Town Talk Diner may also sound familiar as it was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network.

2707 1/2 East Lake St.
Minneapolis, MN 55406





Sunday night I got to meet-up with an old sorority sister for dinner at Wakame. This sushi and Asian bistro is also located in Uptown. We devoured three of their signature rolls, the crazy monkey roll: salmon, avocado and cream cheese rolled, battered and deep fried, then topped with spicy mayo sauce and eel sauce, the crazy tuna roll: spicy tuna, cucumber, and crunchy bits inside, black peppered tuna and avocado outside, finished with wasabi mayo sauce and the hot and spicy girl roll: spicy tuna, spicy yellowtail, and crunchy bits, topped with spicy salmon & crunchy bits, drizzled with spicy mayo sauce.

If you couldn't tell, this was a very heavy food-gorging weekend! We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express- Downtown St.Paul again which is across the street from the Xcel Engery Center - where the concert was being held. It was the perfect location - for the concert - but a $30 cab ride to downtown Minneapolis. Since Brian and I stayed there in July for the Bruner/Eylands wedding, I was familiar with the area and the hotel bar/restaurant - The Liffey. It's a fun Irish Pub with a roof-esqe dining area. All the food was good, but especially notable were the reuben rolls. The reuben roll is all the insides of a Reuben sandwich (one of my favorites) but rolled into an egg roll. Perfect for an appetizer! The Liffey's signature drink is also a favorite: the Big Ginger: ginger ale, Jameson whiskey, lemon and lime. VERY REFRESHING! You can also opt for a "skinny ginger" which is made with diet ginger ale.

Monday during the day, the three of us visited the Science Museum of Minnesota (about 10 steps from the hotel!) to see the "Dead Sea Scrolls" exhibit. The scrolls were found in 1946 in caves along the Dead Sea. The scrolls are over 2000 years old and are the oldest written record of the Bible. Some of the scrolls were found in jars while other scrolls were just found in a pile. (cave 11). Some archaeologists think that the caves may have been used as a hiding place and that maybe in the case of Cave 11, the Jews were running from persecution and that's why the scrolls were stored there haphazardly. Others believe that the caves may have been a library since there were many copies of certain texts. The exhibit was interesting and discussed the lifestyles of the people who lived around the Dead Sea. The story of how the scrolls were found was displayed and the adventure the scrolls took when found in 1946. Scrolls were sold to antiquity dealers around the world before their true worth was known by the academic world. There was even a classified ad shown in the exhibit were the scrolls were advertised as "a good graduation present for the academic scholar". The last room - where all the good stuff always is - showcased five different fragments of the scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls finished up with the St. John's Illuminated Bible exhibit. A beautiful piece of art that is still being worked on. We caught the IMAX movie, Arabia, before entering the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was very interesting, juxtaposing the Muslim faith with Judaism and then Christianity all in one exhibit.

image from deadseascrolls.mediaprivacy.org

MONDAY NIGHT! THE LADY GAGA CONCERT!! After a day of religion at the museum we were ready for the concert. It was fabulous. Our VIP General Admission passes got us a reusable Lady Gaga bag (how green) filled with a Monster Ball tour beach towel, Lady Gaga sunglasses, and a lanyard. The passes also allowed us onto the arena floor 30 mins. earlier than everyone else. Those 30 minutes made all the difference - as we ended up being  FRONT ROW DEAD CENTER!

this is what front row is like

Unfortunately, I didn't bring my real camera, so all my pictures are from my craptastic cell phone camera. The show started at 7 with a DJ playing 80's and 90's rock. She was blah. Then Semi Precious Weapons took the stage. I had never heard of them so I didn't know what to expect - but they were ROCKIN'. A rock bad with a very flamboyant lead singer - they really pumped the crowd up for Lady Gaga. They've been with Lady Gaga since 2006.  We bought their CD; You Love You, got them signed and took a picture with them. We also got their shirt which is emblazoned with the first lyric from their song "Semi Precious Weapons"; "I can't pay my rent, but I'm fucking gorgeous". (Like button here, for Semi Precious Weapons).

image from punchingkitty.com

Lady Gaga's concert was more like a Broadway show with lots of set changes and an actual plot/storyline to the concert. Lady Gaga and friends are trying to get to the Monster Ball and have to overcome a broken-down car, a subway, and a monster along the "glitter-road". Her costumes, like the sets, were extremely elaborate much like the attire she's photographed in all the time. The dancing and choreography was good and she actually SINGS. She's very talented. She played the piano and interacted with the crowd. Although there were lots of people at the concert and the Xcel Center is huge, it still felt very intimate. Her message was very empowering; no matter who or what you are, love yourself and be yourself. Her charity of choice is also very commendable - at each concert - Virgin Mobile and Lady Gaga will match donations up to $25,000 (per show) from fans to help homeless transgender, bi-sexual, gay, lesbian teens. She sang a song that she's working on for her new album and of course songs from The Fame and The Fame Monster. She closed the show with Bad Romance. SOOOO GOOD. If you get the chance, it's worth the money.

These pictures are a testament to just how close we are to the stage bc my cell phone camera is REALLY bad.

All in all, a fantastic weekend with Dana and Michael and Lady Gaga!