A good crowd at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.
This year (2005) we kicked off our holiday season with a cooking demonstration and Cuban cookbook signing at one of the premier shopping destinations in the United States: the Mall of America. On November 19 we did a presentation to show how anyone can add a little Latin touch to their own holiday celebrations.
The Musibays -- Raúl and his wife Esther -- and the entire Castillo family flew up to Minneapolis from Miami on Thursday night. When he got off of the plane, Raúl was in for a real treat: the first snow he had seen in 18 years! Glenn told Raúl he better enjoy the snow while it lasted. Raúl made a few snowballs and threw them at Glenn and Jorge. By noon the next day, all the snow had melted and Glenn and Jorge were very thankful.
Friday was a free day, well sort of. In the morning we made two complete renditions of camarones con arroz from our first Cuban cookbook. We knew from experience that our TV time would be short, so we decided to come prepared with complete dishes and everything prepped for our on-air presentations.
On Friday afternoon, Glenn took everyone for a whirlwind tour of the Twin Cities. Friday night our party of 10 ate at Tiburon Bistro in downtown Minneapolis. The food was good, the atmosphere was great, and the conversation was even better.
Friday morning everybody was up by 6:00 am, getting dressed, loading up the car, and heading over to the studios of KARE 11 television in Golden Valley where we were expected at 7:30.
Fortunately we had scouted out the studios on Friday, so we didn't waste any time wandering around completely lost as we have on numerous occasions.
We make an appearance at LegoLand.
We were surprised to find the studios apparently deserted at this early hour. Jorge got a guard to let us in and we ran into KARE 11's Bobby Jensen in the hallway. Jensen is the gardening guru at the station and he was very friendly.
As usual, Jorge can't resist the impulse to break into song. Raúl and Glenn wait patiently until he finishes his big number...
Jorge gets down to business and decorates the paella.
Photo by Gregg Larson, Eagan MN
KARE 11 News Saturday is shot in a large open studio. We were set up in the corner where we immediately started cooking. We had a few "teasers" during the show -- where they would occasionally cut to us cooking and show our Cuban cookbook -- so we had to be on our toes. It was pretty easy to know when our spots were coming up. The station uses robotic cameras that move independently, roaming all over the floor of the studio, seemingly at will. Whenever one of the large cameras started lumbering toward us, we knew our next spot was coming soon.
One of the co-hosts, Eric Perkins, interviewed us during our 5 1/2 minute spot. He has a great sense of humor and we did have a little fun with him, although we're typically not our best at that hour of the morning.
After the show it was off to the Byerly's grocery store in Eagan to buy ingredients for our paella. As we pulled into the lot, Raúl said "wouldn't it be funny if someone sees us here and recognizes us from the show?"
Signing books for Mall of America management.
Since the show had just ended about 20 minutes earlier, this seemed highly unlikely. Sure enough, we hadn't even made it through the door when a lady in the parking lot asked us, "hey, aren't you the guys who were on TV this morning -- the ones with the Cuban cookbook?"
Back at the Lindgren house we made a complete paella to bring to the Mall -- everything but the seafood. The idea was to cut down on our presentation time on stage.
At 2:00 o'clock we loaded up the rental van and drove over to the Mall of America in Bloomington. The best part of the deal was that we got to park in the VIP lot underneath the mall.
It looks like Raúl and Glenn are conducting a séance!
From there we were ushered into the green room, where we signed some books for Mall of America management and admired the huge photos of famous people that lined the walls -- everyone from Avril Lavigne to Tyler Florence. We tried to reserve a space for our own huge photo, but they kind of frowned on our attempts to pry the Emeril Lagasse photo off of the wall.
Our demonstration and Cuban cookbook signing were in the rotunda -- the Mall's biggest venue. We were a little afraid that no one would show up. This was our first appearance in the Twin Cities, so we really didn't know what to expect.
We filled the seats and even had several people watching from the balconies. It was nice to see so many people come out; we always enjoy meeting our fans!
One glitch at the Mall: Local regulations prohibit passing out samples, and samples are usually the highlight of our presentations! (Kind of a reward for sitting through our presentation.)
Raúl posing in front of the Wall of Fame in the Green Room at the Mall of America.
We had arranged for Glenn's sister Diane to take the finished paella and bring it home with her. Otherwise it would have gone to waste.
Not only did she take the paella, she took all of the salad and several tostones too. She had a great feast with her friends and neighbors in Forest Lake.
The ironic thing was that we found it impossible to get into any restaurants at the Mall with our party of 10 and the Cuban cookbook authors ended up eating a very pedestrian meal in the food court!
Our paella as it looked on the table at Glenn's sister Diane's house.
Raúl and Esther had never seen the Mall of America. While the kids did the rides at Camp Snoopy, we did a short tour. Raúl, who hates to shop, didn't last long, which was OK because we were all dead tired.
Our Sunday of Fun in Stillwater, Minnesota
It's hard to believe, but they actually grow grapes and make wine in Minnesota.
A lonesome stranger on the streets of Stillwater.
Raúl and Esther with the famous Stillwater lift bridge in the background.
Jorge couldn't resist riding this dangerous bucking bronco.
A Lindgren tradition: when we take visitors to Stillwater we always get a picture of them in front of this Wrigley's Spearmint Gum sign.
Raúl on ice! Taken at Aamodt's Apple Orchard.
"KARE 11 News Saturday" on KARE 11 TV Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. Live on November 19, 2005.
Mall of America Cooking Demonstration and Cuban Cookbook Signing November 19, 2005
Life in the fast lane: Three Guys and one stovetop!
Photo by Gregg Larson, Eagan MN
