From pastries to cheese, a 13-course New Nordic tasting menu to McDonald's, here are my favorite things I ate in Finland.

Finland is a coastal country, and the southwestern region is home to the world's largest archipelago by number of islands (approximately 40,000). One of the best ways to experience this part of Finland is the Small Archipelago Trail, which can be explored by bike, car, or mass transit.

When I moved to the Twin Cities, a scoop of raspberry chocolate chip ice cream was what convinced me to stick around. Since then, I've become an ice cream connoisseur, scouting out the best frozen treats in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the suburbs. If I'm going to treat myself, it has to be the good stuff: premium, housemade ice cream with natural ingredients and interesting flavors.

Whether you want to savor the all-too-brief Minnesota summer or are trying to reduce your COVID risk, patio season is here. Here's a roundup of my favorite restaurant patios in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Mike and I spend our weekends running in opposite directions (literally in my case: seven miles on Saturday and three miles on Sunday). After one too many weekends when the only significant chunk of time we spent together was grocery shopping, we realized that we needed to prioritize time with each other. So we instituted a standing coffee date on Sunday mornings.

Santa Fe's most popular nickname is "The City Different." It's a reference to the New Mexico city's distinctive architectural style: starting in 1912, city officials recommended (and later mandated)...