2025 Minnesota Renaissance Festival

Minnesota Renaissance Festival 2025 Hipster Hack Food Review
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As I said last year I LOVE a costume party and while the Minnesota Renaissance Festival may frustrate some that it has become more of a cosplay convention for anything fantasy or even just nerdy instead of a sole celebration of the Renaissance era, I personally love it. You never know what you’re going to see. One second you’re looking at someone in period costume, the next second you’re looking at someone dressed up like Where’s Waldo, Batman or Bermuda Merlin from “Sword in the Stone” (true story haha).

You can check out my review from last year for some other foods I really like that are still available, but I did a really good job this year of trying new foods!
Pro: I liked everything enough.
Con: I missed out on the soup in a bread bowl, but there was also no way I was eating hot soup in today’s heat.

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2024 Minnesota Renaissance Festival

Minnesota Renaissance Festival 2024 Hipster Hack Food Review
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I love a theme party and the Minnesota Renaissance Festival is the biggest costume party of the year! The theme is “renaissance” but within 5 minutes of being inside the gates you’ll see that the dress code isn’t universal; medieval, vikings, cottage core, witches, Zelda, Lord of the Rings characters, Dr. Who, Mario Kart, you name it – the gangs all here!

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National Food Truck Day | Twin Cities Top 5

Minnesota Food Trucks Hipster Hack Blog
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When I previously lived in Northeast, Minneapolis Food Trucks were a standard diet staple as we bopped around from brewery to brewery. Food trucks are my absolute favorite way to eat, because I can easily graze and try one item from each place.

I recently became a Twin Cities Hummingbird and was asked to share my favorite Food Trucks in honor of the holiday so below I’m going to share my favorite 5 food trucks*

*I am making a very conscious effort to only pick food trucks and not include food stands, so if you want my list of ultimate “fair” foods you can check out any of my previous blogs.

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National Grilled Cheese Day | Twin Cities Top 5

National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day Hipster Hack Minnesota
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Cheese and sandwiches are two of my favorite foods so of course I’m obsessed with National Grilled Cheese Day. I’ll admit that lately my favorite grilled cheese sandwiches are made by my husband (his are honestly ELITE), but for those of you without a live in home chef who understands that there is really never enough cheese 😂 I thought I’d share my top 5 🧀 over the years in the Twin Cities!

And as an added bonus, you can scroll to the bottom for the Distastefully Tommy recipe 🎉

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National Espresso Martini Day | Twin Cities Top 5

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I have made absolutely ZERO secret about my love of an espresso martini so when my friend (and co-espresso martini adventurer) messaged me that today, March 15th was National Espresso Day I was obviously PUMPED.

I’m going to do a quick and dirty Top 5 of my favorite ones around the cities for those who want to celebrate with me!

P.S. I like an ACTUAL espresso martini and not the fake chocolate type so if you like sweet and not bitter you won’t like these haha

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Mara Restaurant and Bar | Minneapolis, MN

Mara Mediterranean Restaurant Minneapolis
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Chef Gavin Kaysen is a personal hero of husband’s so ever since Mara Restaurant and Bar opened he’s been talking about going. However, because of all the things we had to do for our wedding in October it unfortunately kept getting pushed to the backburner so when I decided to plan a special experience for him over the holidays, reservations at Mara were the obvious choice. He was thrilled and his excitement didn’t even damper when the day of the reservations came and Minnesota was in the middle of a blizzard warning that he had to drive through haha.

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Osaka Sushi + Hibachi | Woodbury Minnesota

Osaka Seafood and Steakhouse Woodbury Hibachi Restaurant
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I have this unexplained anxiety about hibachi restaurants. I think it’s mostly due to the performance pressure of having food thrown into the air that you’re supposed to catch in your mouth and the social pressure of participating in having sake squirted directly into your mouth WITHOUT letting it stain your clothes…my refusal to go to hibachi has not gone over well with boyfriend so after a year of stubborn refusal I finally agreed, much to boyfriend’s outward jubilation, to visit Osaka Seafood & Steakhouse for date night.

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