Food trucks step up in tornado relief
May 24, 2011
As if I didn’t already adore my local food trucks for their amazing culinary delights, today, in the aftermath of yesterday’s tornados in the Twins Cities, one of which tore through the Camden neighborhood in north Minneapolis, several of the mobile kitchens went up to the area to aid in relief food dispensation. I admire them even more. It doesn’t matter that it was mostly hot dogs and bottled water donated by grocery stores. None of them hesitated in committing to the effort.
A photographer named Tony Webster has a gallery on Flickr of shots from around the neighborhood (one of which I linked to above). There wasn’t utter obliteration as in Joplin, Missouri, but the damage was still pretty devastating.
We had had almost two inches of rain in the previous 36 hours so the ground was saturated. A lot of the damage was caused by entire trees being uprooted and falling over onto structures, rather than simply snapping and not expanding their footprint too much. I’ve seen photos of entire blocks of trees just toppled over on their sides. It weird and sad. And, of course, plenty of roofs were torn off also. That’s odd, too, to see into homes like you were the Jolly Green Giant who just pulled them off to see what’s inside.
Fortunately, unlike in Joplin, there have been “only” two related deaths so far.
If you’d like to donate to a local relief organization, GiveMN.com has a fund. I contributed what I could.
Smack Shack. At one point there was an impromptu prayer session in front of the truck.
World Street Kitchen. The comfort of a hot meal, however simple.
Chef Shack. A worker refuels.
Photos by Tony Webster, Smack Shack, World Street Kitchen, Chef Shack
The day in bike ride: August 29, 2010, with bonus errands
September 1, 2010
My new big thing is the Chef Shack food truck. It’s two chef gals who make amazing culinary delights. They usually post the menu on Facebook, and Saturday morning they also posted a photo of the charcuterie plate that they had on offer at the Kingfield Market in south Minneapolis.
photos © Chef Shack
I didn’t get myself going quickly enough to get down there by the 1:00 end time, so I instead went to the Uptown Market where they also were (I think they have three vehicles—two trucks and one trailer), figuring I’d get it there instead. The round trip to Uptown is about 8 miles; on the way home I jogged down to the store to pick up some necessary items and that added another couple miles.
Photo1: entering the Hiawatha commuter trail.
Photo 2: heading southish on the Hiawatha commuter trail to meet the Midtown Greenway.
Photo 3: heading west on the Midtown Greenway at 11th Avenue.
Photo 4: Midtown Greenway at 4th Avenue. Thanks for the heads-up, sign.
Photo 5: Bryant Avenue South and 29th Street. I lived in this apartment building for 11 years. Three blocks along 29th are where the Uptown Market is on Sundays.
Photos 6: The market, looking west.
Photo 8: Waiting for my order. It turned out that they didn’t have the charcuterie plate here, so I ordered the bison burger instead.
Photo 9: Bison burger with pepperjack cheese and chips. Dining on the curb in the shade. It was quite hot but not too humid so it was just barely tolerable for the exertion of the bike ride.
Photo 10: One of the many gardens along the Greenway, at Harriet Avenue South.
Photo 11: Heading back east along the Greenway. Access ramp at Park Avenue South.
Photo 12: The Greenway jogs north across 28th Street to cross the busy Hiawatha Avenue/Highway 55.
Photo 13: Target. Errand stop number one.
Photo 14: Cub Foods. Errand stop number two.
Photo 15: Cheese!
Photo 16: All items procured. I think this will work.
Photo 17: Approaching the weirdo intersection of Minnehaha, Franklin, and Cedar Avenues.
Photo 18: 20th Avenue, just about to cross Interstate 94. The home stretch.
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