There are certain foods that are often associated with fall, like apples, pumpkin pie, and butternut squash. But there's something missing from that list—pears from the Northwest!

As I mentioned in my post about 5 reasons pears are the perfect fruit for fall, pears are a tasty pairing for fall flavors like roasted squash and maple. As part of that post, I developed a recipe for a Roasted Squash and Pear Salad with Maple Vinaigrette.

As a Twin Cities-based blogger and food writer, there is one question that I hate more than any other: "What's your favorite restaurant?" Immediately, my mind goes blank and I forget everywhere I've ever eaten. I stammer out the first thing that pops into my head (usually it's W.A. Frost & Company). My questioner inevitably looks disappointed, no doubt hoping for some sort of impassioned discourse on the merits of an offbeat farm-to-table...

Before I started planning my recent trip to North Dakota, I knew absolutely nothing about Bismarck besides its role as the state capital—including how to spell the city's name.

At a recent work event in Minneapolis, someone asked me what I had been up to over the summer. "I've been traveling a lot," I said. "I've been doing some press trips—one through Wisconsin, one in Iowa, and I'm going to North Dakota next week." A colleague sitting next to me rolled his eyes. "Wow," he said sarcastically. "You're really hitting the highlights."

A perk of my job as a freelance writer is that I often get to check out restaurants before they open to the public. Sometimes it's pretty informal—I take some photos of the space, interview the owners, and maybe get to sample some food—and other times, there's a structured media preview event. In order to write my post for City Pages about Keg and Case, the food hall in St. Paul that opened in September 2018...