Minnesota - "The North Star State"

Minnesota is a state in the Midwestern United States. Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd state on May 11, 1858, created from the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and part of the Wisconsin Territory. Its name comes from the Dakota word for "clear blue water. Owing to its large number of lakes, the state is informally known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes." Its official motto is L'Étoile du Nord (French: Star of the North). Minnesota is the 12th largest in area and the 21st most populous of the U.S. States. Nearly 60 percent of its residents live in its largest city Minneapolis and the capital Saint Paul metropolitan area (known as the "Twin Cities"), the center of transportation, business, industry, education, and government and home to an internationally known arts community. The remainder of the state consists of western prairies now given over to intensive agriculture; deciduous forests in the southeast, now partially cleared, farmed and settled; and the less populated North Woods, used for mining, forestry, and recreation. Minnesota is known for its relatively mixed social and political orientations and its high rate of civic participation and voter turnout. Until European settlement, Minnesota was inhabited by the Dakota and Ojibwe/Anishinaabe. The large majority of the original European settlers immigrated from Scandinavia and Germany, and the state remains a center of Scandinavian American and German American culture. In recent decades, immigration from Asia, the Horn of Africa, and Latin America has expanded its demographic and cultural composition. Minnesota's standard of living index is among the highest in the United States, and the state is also among the best-educated and wealthiest in the nation. In continue to our journey of Eat at 50 States without leaving AZ, we decided to try to the famous dish in Minnesota. Minnesota is famous of its "hotdish" pronounced "Hoddish" and "Jucy Lucy". Though it was impossible to find a restaurant that serves hotdish, we decided to stick with Jucy Lucy. Hotdish is a casserole with creamy vegies topped with crispy tater tots. Its main ingredients are onions, ground beef, green beans, corn kernels, cream of mushroom soup and shredded potato nuggets. This dish is perfect for serving at large gatherings. Our third journey was to dine at "Cold Beers and Cheese Burger" a restaurant in Scottsdale, AZ that serve Jucy Lucy on Wednesday, April 8, 2015. This restaurant spell their Jucy with an "i". The correct spelling of Jucy Lucy - with our without the "i" is an ancillary dispute between the two Minneapolis bars (Matt's Bar and the 5-8 Club) that claim to have invented the dish. Finer points aside, the agree about the important stuff: A Jucy Lucy is a hamburger with molten cheese core that gushes out when you bite into the patty. Lacking the volcanic heat of its Minnesota-based dish, the Jucy Lucy served at Cold Beers and Cheeseburger isn't quite as likely to cause the third degree mouth burns. This dish is recommended to be cooked Medium. Minnesota is also famous for another dish named Lutefisk (Norwegian) or Lutfisk (Swedish) which is a traditional dish of some Nordic countries and also a no joke in Minnesota. It is made from aged stockfish (air-dried whitefish) or dried/salted whitefish and lye (lut). It is gelatinous in texture. Its name literally means "lye fish". There is no restaurant in Phoenix that serve this authentic dish, however, the local chapter of the Sons of Norway can accommodate those who craved Lutefisk! Stay tuned for our upcoming new journey to dine in another state without leaving Arizona.