Girl Detective

As soon as he got home from work, my husband G. Grod, 5yo Drake, 2.5yo Guppy and I piled in the car and headed west of Minneapolis to where G and I first lived when we moved here ten years ago, St. Louis Park. First, we went to Half Price Books, and found a huge pile of delightful books and dvds, all an extra 20% off. Then we went to Noodles and Company for supper (I love the Mushroom Stroganoff with Sriracha sauce), and Ben & Jerry’s for ice cream (I never get anything else besides Chocolate Therapy). We took a walk around part of Lake Calhoun, then headed home to get the boys ready for bed, during which Guppy peed in the potty for the second time, ever. Then G. and I watched an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer from Season 2, “The Dark Age.”

It was a wonderful evening.

In the short story “A Night at the Fair,” Fitzgerald described over eighty years ago what so many people still experience today at the Minnesota State Fair. I was surprised and delighted to find that much about the fair hasn’t changed.

The Magnificent Fair

The two cities were separated only by a thin well-bridged river; their tails curling over the banks met and mingled, and at the juncture, under the jealous eye of each, lay, every fall, the State Fair. Because of this advantageous position, and because of the agricultural eminence of the state, the fair was one of the most magnificent in America. There were immense exhibits of grain, livestock and farming machinery…a grand exhibition of fireworks…took place in the Grand Concourse every night.

Boys at the Fair

At the late afternoon of a hot September day two boys of fifteen, somewhat replete with food and pop, and fatigued by eight hours of constant motion, issued from the Penny Arcade.

Sensations of the Fair

The first lights of the evening were springing into pale existence; the afternoon crowd had thinned a little, and the lanes, empty of people, were heavy with the rich various smells of pop corn and peanuts, molasses and dust and cooking Wienerwurst and a not- unpleasant overtone of animals and hay. The Ferris wheel, pricked out now in lights, revolved leisurely through the dusk; a few empty cars of the roller coaster rattled overhead. The heat had blown off and there was the crisp stimulating excitement of Northern autumn in the air.

Night at the Fair

Once again the fair–but differing from the fair of the afternoon as a girl in the daytime differs from her radiant presentation of herself at night. The substance of the cardboard booths and plaster palaces was gone, the forms remained. Outlined in lights, these forms suggested things more mysterious and entrancing than themselves, and the people strolling along the network of little Broadways shared this quality, as their pale faces singly and in clusters broke the half darkness.

Yes, many things have changed. There are no aeroplanes, horse races or hoochie-coochie shows. And the wienerwurst has been replaced by the Pronto Pup (from Minnesota), the corn dog (an Iowa import), and the absolutely delicious pork-chop-on-a-stick. But the sights, the smells, and the fair as an event–all these abide.

5yo Drake and I enjoy different things at the fair. He wants to ride rides, watch rides, and eat cotton candy and caramel apples. I want to watch the chef demonstrations and food panels, visit the Fine Arts and Creative Activities buildings, eat a fish taco, drink minty lemonade and get a mocha frappe. Fortunately, there were a few things we agreed on and shared:

Fresh peach and pluot
Cedar Summit cups milk
Tom Thumb mini donuts
Lingonberry sno cone
Tater Tots on a stick
Wild rice hamburger
Roasted corn on the cob
1919 root beer
Nitro ice-cream cone

Next year I think we’ll go once as a family, and I’ll get a sitter so I can go by myself on MN Cooks Day.

I’m going to Minnesota Cooks day at the State Fair today. You?

Our little family of four went to the MN State Fair this morning, foregoing the double-wide stroller so we could park n ride. I found that the closest park n ride to us, Highcrest Park, isn’t ideal. The buses aren’t frequent to and from even though they’re listed as running every 15, they run less often. We’ve done better at the surface lots at the U of MN. They’re a bit farther to drive, but a much shorter bus ride, with much more frequent buses.

It’s very hard to keep the boys moving; they’re prone to stop and stare. While some might romanticize this–oh, look, they’re stopping to smell the “roses” of the fair!–it can be quite frustrating for G. Grod and me, who aren’t mesmerized by dirty water trickling into a drain, bumper cars, and watching the sky ride cars go ’round. These are ironic, too, in that 5yo Drake refused to visit supposedly kid-friendly things like the baby animal barn. The boys’ initially slow pace wound down as the morning wore on, but they LOVED the river raft ride, kidway rides and sky ride. We ate pork chop on a stick–LOVE!–french fries and a strawberry malt for breakfast. For lunch, a pronto pup, fried cheese curds, lefse with butter and brown sugar, jerk sausage on a stick, birch beer and a pickle pop, the latter of which was, not surprisingly, a mistake. And I was careless with my sunscreen–my nose is red.

I still haven’t been to fine arts building, or the little farm hands with Drake, and there are still some favorite foods I haven’t gotten too, like the mocha on a stick, corn, lingonberry ice cream, Sweet Martha’s cookies, and mini donuts. Plus the Nitro ice cream and handmade tater tots sound good.

Oh, so much food and so much to see. So not-enough money and time.

I returned to the fair last night for Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, who played live at the free bandshell. It was a great show with fabulous music and huge energy. They played again tonight, so I hope a lot of people got to see it tonight, too.

And I got corn fritters with honey butter and a root beer, to accompany the show.

What? It’s not Christmas? Well, maybe that’s the most wonderful time for you, but for me, it’s the Minnesota State Fair.

It’s opening day, and I’m going with the boys and our babysitter. I’m going to have to clean up my food plan from past years and be more conscious when I’m with the kids. (This year’s food map, here.)

Idea: 1. Big, strong food, e.g., wild rice dog or Sausage Sisters, 2. Snack food, e.g., cheese curds or french fries, 3. Treat, e.g., mini donuts or Sweet Martha cookies.

Why, yes, I _do_ have a talent for rationalization. I think it’s all those years studying and working in marketing.

Added later, post trip: I was brave and didn’t take the stroller for 5yo Drake and 2.5yo Guppy. We used the park-n-ride on 6th Street at the U of M. But as the boys got tired they got slower and fussier, so the trip to the parking lot felt endless. We ate a Twisted Sister from Sausage Sisters, a pickle on a Stick, Mouth Trap cheese curds, drank a green apple soda, had cider freezies and a lemonade for the road.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings are playing, for free!, at the bandshell tonight, so I may go back if G. Grod is up for putting the kids to bed. I think the fair trip will have sufficiently tired them out.

From Food Alliance Midwest:

A Farm to Table Tour
6th Annual Minnesota Cooks Event at State Fair

SAINT PAUL, Minn.– Food Alliance Certified growers, extraordinary Minnesota chefs, and hungry fair-goers will all come together on Tuesday, August 26th at the 6th annual Minnesota Cooks program at the State Fair. Minnesota Cooks is a unique event that celebrates the fabulous foods produced right here in Minnesota and educates consumers about the importance of supporting locally grown food and sustainable agriculture through discussions and demonstrations with area chefs, farmers, and celebrities. The program will begin at 8:30 AM with a special, first-time breakfast show and will continue with a show at the top of each hour from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM on the Minnesota Cooks Stage in Carousel Park, just west of the Grandstand Ramp.

The Minnesota Cooks event features 16 of Minnesota’s premier chefs who will present 45-minute demonstrations using ingredients supplied by sustainable Minnesota farms. During their presentations, chefs will interact with charismatic emcee Scott Pampuch, chef and owner of Corner Table Restaurant in Minneapolis, about their award-winning recipes and will engage in rich discussions about the sustainable philosophies they hold for their restaurants. During the last 10 minutes of each 45-minute demo, local celebrities as well as audience members will have the opportunity to sample the delicious dishes created. Between each show, Light of the Moon, an eclectic, bubbly string quartet from Saint Paul, will serenade the audience with their wide variety of songs, serving up blues, gospel, and bluegrass.

“The Great Minnesota Get-Together is the perfect venue for the Minnesota Cooks program because it brings farmers, consumers, and chefs together to showcase the great food we have to choose from right here in our state,” said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President. “With the growing energy costs and concerns, Minnesota Cooks also highlights ways you can use local resources to reduce those costs while also contributing to our local communities.”

Available for complimentary distribution at the event will be the beautiful and informative Minnesota Cooks 16-month calendar, produced by Renewing the Countryside. The calendar is packed with stunning photography and enticing recipes and will weave the meaningful stories characteristic of chef/grower relationships.

Participating chefs, many of who will be available for greetings and calendar signings during the event include:

Judi Barsness, Chez Jude, Grand Marais
Anna Christoforides, Gardens of Salonica, Minneapolis
JD Fratzke, The Strip Club, St. Paul
Jorge Guzman, Tejas Restaurant, Edina
Brian Hauke, Red Stag Supper Club, Minneapolis
Nathalie Johnson, Signature Cafe, Minneapolis
Jeff Klemetsrud, Savories Bistro, Stillwater
Donna Lovett, Marriott City Center, Minneapolis
Mike Phillips, The Craftsman, Minneapolis
Alex Roberts, Restaurant Alma, Minneapolis
JP Samuelson, jP American Bistro, Minneapolis
Nick Schneider, Cafe Brenda, Minneapolis
Tracy Singleton & Marshall Paulsen, Birchwood Cafe, Minneapolis
Carla Blumberg, Chester Creek Cafe, Duluth
Dick Trotter, Trotter’s Cafe, St. Paul
Lucia Watson, Lucia’s Restaurant, Minneapolis

Minnesota Cooks is sponsored in part by AURI and is co-presented by Minnesota Farmers Union, Food Alliance Midwest, and Renewing the Countryside.
For more information about Minnesota Cooks, please visit the website at www.minnesotacooks.org or contact Jill McLaughlin of Food Alliance Midwest at 651-209-3382 or e-mail info@minnesotacooks.org.

Minnesota Farmers Union (www.mfu.org) is a nonprofit membership-based organization
working to protect and enhance the economic interests and quality of life of family farmers and ranchers, as well as rural communities.

Food Alliance Midwest (www.foodalliance.org) is a nonprofit, third-party certification program for environmentally friendly and socially responsible agricultural practices, and is dedicated to promoting the expanded use of sustainable farming systems in the Midwest. Food Alliance Midwest, a joint project of Cooperative Development Services and the Land Stewardship Project, is an affiliate of Food Alliance, based in Portland, OR.

AURI (www.auri.org), created and supported by the Minnesota state legislature, is a unique and innovative nonprofit corporation working to enhance Minnesota’s economy through the development of new uses and new markets for the state’s agricultural products.

Renewing the Countryside (www.renewingthecountryside.org) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide inspiration, ideas, and assistance to individuals and communities looking for sustainable ways to strengthen their rural communities and reduce poverty.

My friend lxbean is not shy about how she feels about our family living in Minneapolis these past ten years.

“Move back! Please move back to Philly! Come back!”

Her plea might have held more weight if I had not been stuck in a nearly 2-hour traffic jam on the Schuykill “Expressway” for a normally 30-minute drive earlier in the day. And had to pay nearly $20 to park downtown. And walked by one of Philly’s stinky, steaming, summer street vents. And driven across the chemical-fume bridge from the airport and by the giant junkyard and chemical fields that line the run-down section of 76 into the city. Plus, houses comparable to ours sell for about twice as much.

I’ve enjoyed our trip to Philly. I had a lovely jaunt to NYC, saw a great production of Romeo and Juliet, had some great meals, gelato and ice cream. But I like Minneapolis, and miss our friends and our walking lifestyle. I love Philly and the East Coast. But Minnesota suits us in so many ways that I think we’re there for good.

I scanned the board at the coffee shop, but didn’t see what I wanted. The woman at the register waited for my order.

“Can I get a depth charge?” I asked, not surprised when she furrowed her brow and wanted to know what it was.

“A cup of coffee with a shot in it.”

“Oh,” she smiled. “We call that a red eye. Where are you from?”

Minnesota, I told her. She placed my order, then had another question.

“What do you call it when it has TWO shots in it?”

“A double depth charge. What about you?”

She laughed. “A _black_ eye.”

Vive la difference.

If you enjoyed the viral dance video, “Where in the Hell is Matt?” you’ll probably enjoy this new video featuring the same vocalist, Palbasha Siddique. If you still haven’t watched Matt dancing, please do so immediately. MinnPost’s Michael Metzgar sums it up well:

The “Matt” video features American video game designer Matt Harding doing a goofy little dance in spectacular settings around the world, often accompanied by the indigenous people of the 42 countries he visited. It struck a chord somehow, linking the world in silly, unabashed happiness. (emphasis mine)

I first found the Matt video through a link on a national news site. So I was pretty surprised to find that the vocalist for Matt’s video lives IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD. She’s visiting family in Bangladesh right now, competing in an American-Idol-esque competition.

The popularity of the Matt video spurred her to make “Maa”, about longing for home, with her band, Melange. The song is similar to, and the video reminiscent, of Matt’s. It’s set in and around downtown Minneapolis, so it has a lot of pleasant associations for me. In one shot, you can see the building G. Grod and I lived in when 4yo Drake was born.

Along with many NE Minneapolis residents, we are frequent flyers at Punch Pizza on Hennepin. During the summer especially, I long for an ice-cream finish to the Neapolitan-style pizza and salad. I was delighted to discover that Kramarczuk’s across the street carries a few flavors of Izzy’s ice cream. Izzy’s owners learned their trade in Italy, so their ice cream is very much in the tradition of gelato, and much better than the supposedly authentic but actually gummy and kinda yucky gelato at the coffee shop near Punch. Thus it’s a good match for Punch pizza, though perhaps incongruous at the Eastern European sausage shop. The ice cream is vegetarian, though, as are the many international candies and treats.

Punch has a blog, and recently addressed the hot topic of how best to enjoy their pizza at home.

Full disclosure: Jeff is a friend of mine, and his blog Velcrometer inspired me to start my own in 2002. I’m going to say positive things about A TV Guide to Life no matter what. Fortunately, Jeff made that pretty easy by writing a clever, funny, entertaining book.

Reality check: A TV Guide to Life will not change yours. It is not profound and deep. It contrasts life on TV and so-called real life. It had chapters with titles from TV theme songs, divided into several shorter subtopics. It’s eminently readable in short bursts–in other words, to follow a heavy read, for a distracted parent, at a boring job, or even in the bathroom.

We all know how to do CPR from watching TV, right? Except that in CPR classes, they claim that doctors and lifeguards always get it wrong on TV. They do it with their hands out in front of them rhythmically pressing on the victim’s sternum lightly enough to not even get out of breath. But then the Red Cross tells you that you have to have your arms straight down under you, resting the weight of your entire upper body on the victim’s chest and using only the heel of your hands, while you fling the force of your head and shoulders into the victim’s chest cavity with each compression. Which sounds really painful for the victim, not to mention tiring for you. And then they tell you not to actually do that to your classmates upon whom you’re practicing, and when you ask why it’s done differently on TV, they say it’s because if you do it correctly, you’ll break the person’s ribs. And this is the right way to do it?

Jeff’s encyclopedic knowledge of TV is both impressive and frightening. I didn’t watch half of the shows he mentioned. But I’d _heard_ of almost all of them, and was familiar with enough of them to enjoy the anecdotes even if I’d not watched a show.

If you’re a fan of 24 (which Jeff knows well since he is the Television without Pity recapper for that show), there’s lots to love. Ditto for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Law and Order(s), Dr. Who, Lost, hospital shows, cop shows, sci-fi shows and many more.

Buy this book; Jeff is a good guy with a cool wife and a cute kid. Read it now. Because if you don’t, it won’t be nearly as easy to recall recent developments on the shows you love once the new season starts in the fall.

From the New York Times, “A Drink in Search of a Frosty Mug” (link from The Morning News)

Originally, root beers were more like herbal teas, bitter infusions of roots, vines, herbs and spices, including sarsaparilla, sassafras and licorice. Nowadays, the basic components include anise, wintergreen and vanilla, with the addition, perhaps, of flavors like ginger, cloves and mint.

Out of 25 brands (strangely not named), Sprecher of Wisconsin took the top slot. Sprecher is one of my favorites, along with 1919, made here in Minnesota.

Minnesota is home to many famous writers, many of whom aren’t even on that list, like Kate DiCamillo, Faith Sullivan, and Alison McGhee. Minnesota is also home to many great comics writers and illustrators, as this article at MinnPost notes.

I figure it’s the tough winter that makes a happy home for artists.

May and June mark several personal anniversaries:

10 years ago: I moved to Minnesota and met friends Big Brain and Blogenheimer, and the future Mrs. Blogeheimer.
8 years ago, I began practicing yoga. Still can’t do a headstand or crow pose–8 years of humility.
6 years ago I started blogging, after my friend M. Giant told me about his blog, Velcrometer.
4 years ago, I resigned from my job to stay home with my son Drake, who’ll be 5yo in August.

All good things.

Minnesota Governor Pawlenty vetoed the Safe Baby Products & Deca Flame retardant bills yesterday.

I try not to think what they coat those flame-retardent kid pajamas with. I mostly buy the snug fitting ones for Drake and Guppy. My mom and sister call them “sausage suits”; they are, indeed, snug.

Seriously, how can he veto something called Safe Baby Products and sleep at night?

Former City Pages food critic Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl now writes for Minnesota Monthly. She had a great article on fish in the April issue. At current rates, most fished species will be extinct by 2048, and many fish contain unhealthy levels of toxic mercury. She uncovers a handful of fish, both wild and farmed, for guilt-free fish eating. Here’s a recap.

Local Stars:

Star Prairie trout from Wisconsin
Live tilapia from central Minnesota
Lake herring from Lake Superior

The Good Gulf:

Domestic catfish from southeast US
Crayfish from Louisiana and Oregon
Mussels Clams and Oysters from US and Canada
Domestic Crabs from US

Glamour Fish:

Wild Halibut and Salmon from Alaska and Pacific Northwest
Striped Bass from Atlantic Coast
Arctic Char from Iceland, Canada, Scandinavia
Barramundi, an Australian species farmed in the US

Jarred and Canned:

Lake herring caviar from MN
Domestic caviar
Sardines
Anchovies
Wild Alaskan salmon
Kippers
Herring

As for tuna, she recommends canned light and dolphin safe as the best bet for lower mercury.

From a friend, via Clean Water Action

Minnesotans, please give Governor Pawlenty’s office a quick call and let him know you want him to support the SAFE BABY PRODUCTS legislation. His number is: 651-296-3391.

It has safely made it out of conference committee with the phthalates language intact. Unfortunately, the Bis-Phenol A language was removed as a compromise. We expect the legislation to be on the Governor’s desk by Thursday or Friday. The American Chemistry Council has been lobbying hard so we are concerned the Governor may oppose all or some of the bill — so your support really matters.

You can simply say, “Please ask Governor Pawlenty to support the Safe Baby Products Bill for the well-being of Minnesota’s children. Thank you for your consideration.”

Edward G. Robinson as a gangster? Yes. In a dual role as a sweet romantic? And yet The Whole Town’s Talking makes it work. The zippy dialogue with Jean Arthur and the dark/ light contrasts made this a fun film to watch, even with its surprisingly dark, bitter undertone.

Next week is the last of Take-Up’s Sweet Escapism series at the Parkway, with You Can’t Take it With You.

Now at the Parkway is Touch of Evil (if you haven’t seen it, you must, if only for the opening tracking shot.) and next is Planet of the Apes, which I’ve never seen.