Some of you, especially if you are not a dictator, probably loved 2011. Others of you, like me, might be looking back at it and thinking, “Meh.”

Either way, it’s time to move on. In this spirit, I’ve compiled a list of everything I can dream of and hope for in 2012.

1. That David Lee Roth will get the recognition, and feel the love, that has been eluding him for the past… well… um… 20 years. I’ve thought about starting a foundation (initially funded through Kickstarter) dedicated to honoring him, a man unafraid of fuzzy boots long before Uggs were ever invented. DLR is a showman and we should be glad every day that he came into our lives.

However, should the foundation not come to fruition because, say, it does not reach the $1.2 million mark on Kickstarter (this is the amount needed to not only pay my salary, as Executive Director, but those of my staff, provide us with lunch everyday and the plane tickets and accommodations we need around the world to do our DLR evangelizing), I vow to keep a bit of Diamond Dave glory going each month in 2012. Maybe you will even see evidence of it on this blog.

2. The Year of The Tiny Present. There should be more tiny presents in elaborate tiny packages presented to loved ones throughout the year. Tiny as in much, much smaller than a breadbox. Must fit into a shoe box but better if it fits into a box meant for Band-Aids. A tiny present is a wonder to behold and makes the receiver feel joyous. I will give some. Will you?

3. Awaken to the fact that fashion, like much of our lives, is invented. It’s all invented. Made up. Reading Vogue is really no different than reading a novel. This is not to say that one can’t enjoy Vogue but just to say that one could read Vogue, a book of short stories or a graphic novel, all to the somewhat same effect.

4. Enjoy tea. Shove over, coffee drinkers. I’m tired of being a second-class citizen. Recently, I saw a British TV commercial for McDonald’s. Once I got over my sadness that there are McDonald’s in Britain and that British people go to them, I was overjoyed to see that the man in the commercial came in from the rain and was greeted by a McDonald’s counter worker handing him a hot cup of tea. “Tea?” the clerk said. And the man looked grateful as he accepted the hot cup. Yes, I thought. YES!!!

I also came across this quote from Christopher Hitchens (R.I.P. in the gloriousness of nothingness, by the way):

“Next time you are in a Starbucks or its equivalent and want some tea, don’t be afraid to decline that hasty cup of hot water with added bag. It’s not what you asked for. Insist on seeing the tea put in first, and on making sure that the water is boiling. If there are murmurs or sighs from behind you, take the opportunity to spread the word. And try it at home, with loose tea and a strainer if you have the patience. Don’t trouble to thank me. Happy New Year.”

Well, that quote came from the essay “How To Make A Decent Cup of Tea,” a January 2011 article on Slate, and it is well-worth a read.

5. Celebrate old people. I’m tired of all these hipsters. Bring on the oldsters. In 2012, I will pay attention to the awesome old in people, places, clothing and culture and celebrate it. Go to bed early. Get up early. Wear that dress from 1975. But please don’t drive like an asshole.

6. My second action to accomplish point # 5 will be to read as many of  Erma Bombeck’s books as I can. I will begin with At Wit’s End, work my way through If Life Is A Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing In the Pits? and round the bend with When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It’s Time To Go Home. Never heard of Erma? She was an American humorist who wrote 15 books. You can learn more by visiting the online museum dedicated to her. And 2012 just happens to be a year in which they are holding the Erma Bombeck Writing Competition, which I will enter. I can write funny about life’s trials and tribulations. How about you?

7. Go dancing. I have a husband who does not enjoy dancing at all. I am OK with this. But I still wanna go dancing and look like the white, not-so-young-ish-anymore woman that I am out on the dance floor. I will not wear any of the bodysuits I owned in college but please tell me where the best 1990s dance party can be found in the Twin Cities.

8. Practice The Gambler’s Guide To Life: Know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away and know when to run.  I’m working on all of this and it’s like learning to ride a bike for the first time. We could all, most of us, work on this. If you’re at your limit on something, fold instead of continuing to bet. Or run, depending on how bad it is. If you’ve got a good thing going, hold onto it. Why can’t we get this right more often?

9. Shout into the wind. Just about everything in my life in 2011 seemed to be either in flux, half-finished or in a state of disrepair, like a baby doll missing its limbs. Oh well. That’s life. Keep going. It’s fine!

No, really, it is.

So, yeah, I’ll be finishing my novel about a bus tour of Europe in 1981 and I’ll be finishing off another draft of my screenplay and I’ll somehow, someday get a job and then I’ll write a funny play about being unemployed. And I’ll keep blogging. And I’ll keep trying to be a runner. For no good reason other than, that’s life.

I hope you’ll join me.

Happy New Year. See you, Erma Bombeck book in hand, in 2012.

Categories: Let's Do This!, Lists
1 Comment »

I was going to come out with Part IV of my Xciting Xmas Gift Guide but today I decided no, I will not. It’s every human for themselves when it comes to gift decisions and procurement at this stage of the game – there are so many gift guides, sales, promotions, stores, etc., that surely people can manage to find something.

When in doubt, make a donation in someone’s name to the Human Fund. Done and done.

So let’s talk about Family Feud instead.

The other night I was cycling through my limited TV channel options (no cable) and I saw Steve Harvey hosting Family Feud. They finally got around to a black host! He seems to do an OK job for a game show host, although he’s not off the Danger List yet because of his book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy and Commitment, which reduces women and men to easy cliches who all want, think, need the same things. Actually, I might make my book club read this.

The Family Feud moment I caught was Steve complaining about his wife scolding him for peeing on the toilet seat (clearly, in complaining about this, she was not thinking like a man). She admonished him with this rhyme:

“If you sprinkle while you tinkle, be a sweetie and lift the seatie.”

High hilarity, that. I think I saw that  on a dusty cross-stitch at a thrift store the other day.

But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. How many hosts has this show had? It seems like 20 but the actual answer is six. Let’s start at the beginning of the Family Feud timeline with the host I grew up with (and will forever judge all other hosts against): Richard Dawson.

The King: Richard Dawson, 1975-1985 & 1994-1995

Richard Dawson is a Brit with a melodious voice and the wearer of sweet haircuts that rivals those of early 00′s George Clooney. You may, if you are old(ish) or just really into TV, recall that he was on Hogan’s Heroes, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and a year of The New Dick Van Dyke Show.

Question: Could someone with the last name Van Dyke make it in showbiz today?

Why was Dawson the best host of the Feud? Because he always seemed tipsy, jonesing for a smoke and completely uninterested in who actually won the game, preferring instead to concentrate on his real hobby: kissing the female contestants. When I was a girl watching Family Feud, I tried to imagine what Richard would smell like when he came in for the smooch – cigarettes, expensive cologne and maybe a bit like pastrami on rye.

Here is a round-up of the best things about him:

1. He ran away from home to join the Merchant Marine.
2. His early stage name was Dickie Dawson.
3. His first marriage was to a British sex symbol, back when people still said things like “sex symbol.”
4. In 1967, Dawson released a psychedelic 45 record – just two songs – and then never released any more music.
5. At one point he was on a show called Masquerade Party that also featured Nipsey Russell. Do you know Nipsey? He’s rad.
6. His love of kissing the ladies on Family Feud earned him the nickname The Kissing Bandit. I don’t believe any lawsuits were ever filed against him. It was a simpler, less litigious, time.
7. “On Dawson’s first show (on Feud) upon his return (1994)  he received a 25-second standing ovation when he walked on set.” Seriously. They timed that shit.

Dark Legacy: Ray Combs, 1988-1994

Combs was a comedian who quit his job as a furniture salesperson in Ohio to move to Hollywood with his family and make it. He found work doing audience warm-ups for shows like The Golden Girls and Amen. He appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and got roles on sitcoms… he was a hard worker. Finally, he got the regular gig hosting the Family Feud reboot. However, by 1993 the rating for the show were on such a slide that the network decided to bring Dawson back in order to save the show and Combs was fired.

Can I just share with you this awesome anecdote about this?

“The taping of his final episode aired in first-run syndication on May 27, 1994. During the “Fast Money” bonus round, the five answers given by the second contestant each netted zero points. Ray joked, “You know, I’ve done this show for six years and this [is] the first time I had a person that actually got no points and I think it’s a damn fine way to go out. Thought I was a loser until you walked up here. You made me look like a man.” Then, instead of mingling with the two competing families at the end of the show, Combs walked off the set immediately after his sign-off.”

Here’s where it takes a dark turn: Combs never really recovered after the Feud. He had a car accident that messed up his spine, he had some comedy clubs that failed, he got divorced and he lost his house in Ohio. He became suicidal, was admitted to a psych ward for 72-hour observation but managed to kill himself by hanging himself in his closet with bed sheets.

Wow. Sorry for the downer. I’m going to take a short break.

The Caustic Clown: Louie Anderson, 1999-2002

We all know Louie. Well, we do here in Minnesota because he’s from Minneapolis and we cling to our few celebrities here pretty tightly. See, we’re funny! We’re talented! Home to Louie Anderson and don’t forget those Coen Bros.

Louie is a stand-up comedian who had some runs at shows of his own – an animated series for Fox and then The Louie Show for CBS, which aired 6 times. But kudos to Louie for portraying someone from Duluth on national TV.

What stands out about Louie’s tenure on the Feud is contentiousness. First, he beat out Dolly Parton for the position and I think we as a nation would have benefited from a Dolly Parton-hosted Family Feud, so thanks, Louie, for robbing us of this opportunity. Next, he asked Richard Dawson to come on the show for the first episode and kind of, lay hands on him, or crown him as the new king  but Dawson refused.

Well-played, Dawson.

Finally, Louie got the boot and was replaced by Home Improvement star Richard Karn (yeah, that other guy from Home Improvement). On his way out, Louie said the show would not last, could not possibly go on without him, for more than a season. It did, and of course it would, because that’s life, Louie. Everyone is replaceable.

That Guy From Home Improvement: Richard Karn, 2002-2006

Maybe the coolest thing about Richard Karn is that he found out about the casting call for Home Improvement while at traffic school for a ticket he received. This seems to be right up there with sitting at the soda fountain at the drug store and being discovered by an agent. We do like our Hollywood Lore, after all.

He was a guest star on the pilot episode of the show and then became a regular.

And that about sums up the coolness factor of Richard Karn. After he was replaced on Feud, he went on to host a game show called Bingo America.

I think our examination of Karn is complete.

J. Peterman 4-Evah: John O’Hurley, 2006-2010

No matter what crappy show John O’Hurley might show up on for the rest of his professional life, he gets a pass because he played J. Peterman on Seinfeld. For example, he could host Bingo America and be known as The Beloved Host of Bingo America. In fact, I can do better than that and give you a real-life example – he was on Dancing With the Stars but that shit rolls right off him, like hurling turds at a Teflon wall.

But what really gives this guy cred is his love of dogs. Dude loves dogs and hosts The National Dog Show on Thanksgiving every year.

Also, in 2001 he financed the relaunch of the real J. Peterman Company and became part owner. How much does that kick ass? Go take a look at their clothing  here and pick up something for that upcoming safari.

Pretender To the Throne: Steve Harvey, 2010-present

I tried to like Steve Harvey at one point in my life, specifically after seeing the movie The Original Kings of Comedy. He’s a stand-up comedian and he can command a stage, which is really what the Feud needs. It needs to be led, damn it!  But after reading the following, I can’t throw  my full weight behind Steve, although I’d rather wish him luck as the host of Family Feud than, say, U.S. Senator or even a science teacher.

From Wikipedia:

“On March 27, 2009, Harvey appeared on an episode of  The Tyra Show with Tyra Banks to promote his book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. During the course of the interview, Harvey advised that women should not date atheists, saying: ‘You sitting up there talking to a dude and he tells you he’s an atheist, you need to pack it up and go home. You talking to a person who don’t believe in God . . . what’s his moral barometer? Where’s it at? It’s nowhere.’

Later that year, on May 30, Harvey appeared on an episode of Larry King Live guest hosted by Joy Behar.  During that interview, Harvey reiterated his assertion that women should not date atheists, who he claimed have “no moral barometer.”  Harvey stated that he refuses to speak to anyone claiming to be an atheist, who he said are “idiot(s)”. Harvey went on to suggest that modern astrophysics and evolutionary biology are without merit.”

This is the kind of jack-assery that Richard Dawson would never have engaged in. Instead, he would have had a belt of whiskey, a smoke and asked the show’s producer if there were any foxes on the show that day.

Long Live The Family Feud King.

Categories: Icons, Stuff I Like, YES
No Comments »

Categories: General Weirdness, Super Sad Depressing Story
No Comments »

This is Part II of my examination of Mary Todd Lincoln in the First Ladies Cook! series. Part I focused on Lincoln and why he kicked ass as President. Now we move on to a closer examination of First Lady Mary Todd.

The biggest question that remains about Mary Todd is that of her sanity. Was she crazy? Depressed? Addicted to shopping? Or was she a devoted wife, truly in love with her husband, trying to make the best meal she could out of a shit sandwich?

All of the above.

First, let me say that I have fallen in love with the name Mary Todd. Yes, this was her first name and maiden name. So it’s not a name like Mary Louise or Anna Nicole or even Sue Ellen. But I have decided that, should I ever have a daughter, the name Mary Todd will be in the running. Think of a baby named Mary Todd! In a bonnet! Think of the serious toddler that baby would become, wearing wire frame glasses while sorting wooden blocks!

Mary Todd would never throw tantrums and she would, of course, have a fondness for carriage rides through the park.

I digress.

In reading the very brief description of Mary Todd Lincoln in the 1980s version of The First Ladies Cook Book (brought to you by Fritos in 1984) one gets the impression that she was:

1. A social misfit
2. Nervous (I know, imagine being nervous just because the country is being torn apart by war. Silly woman.)
3. A shopaholic
4. A shrew

The 1966 version of  The First Ladies Cookbook takes the position that, although Mary Todd brought “excellent qualifications” to the position, namely the “family background of a gentlewoman,” (I’m totally putting this on my resume) she screwed it all up by shopping too much. Then, after her husband was assassinated, she stayed in bed for five weeks while people plundered the White House of the swag she’d bought. The book says, “All the efforts Mrs. Lincoln had made to improve the White House turned to naught in the final tragedy.”

Do they mean the final tragedy of the President being assassinated or the final tragedy of the President being assassinated and looters taking the lace curtains? It’s not clear.

By the way, I mentioned this in Part I but I think it bears repeating before I go further with the craziness stuff. Mary and Abe suffered the death of their son, Willie, while in office. And before taking office they lost another son, Eddie, when he was about six. So let that set the stage for this equation.

2 dead children + Civil War + assassinated husband + country in turmoil = right to go lie down for awhile

Take your time, Mary Todd. That’s what I would have said. I would have said, “Listen, assholes are coming in here and  taking all the silver  and the plates and the chairs and stuff but, whatever, let’s have some tea and listen to some music. You go right ahead and cry or sleep or stare at the wall. Because in the end that’s just a bunch of stuff out there and, whether you protect it or not, someday someone is going to write a cookbook and claim that you loved scalloped oysters.”

After Abe’s death, Mary spiraled down under the weight of depression (there is some evidence to support the fact that she suffered from bipolar disorder throughout her life but everyone is so in love with historical figures having bipolar disorder that I take this with a heavy grain of 1865 salt) and she did some strange stuff once back in Illinois, including spending a lot of cash on stuff she would never use (standard operating procedure for Americans today), becoming confused at a boarding house and showing up in the dining room in her undies and trying to jump out a window to escape a nonexistent fire.

There was also something about plotting to murder her last living son, Robert, who eventually had her committed to an insane asylum for a few months. As you can imagine, that didn’t go over well with Mary Todd.  After she got out of the asylum, she spent roughly 4 years traveling Europe and living in France but returned to Illinois before her death in 1882.

If there is one thing people love, it’s a story with a hero and a villain. Abraham Lincoln was a hero. People claimed he suffered through his marriage to the unstable Mary Todd, trying to keep her on the right path, putting up with her hot temper, anxieties and bouts of depression. But there is equal evidence to support claims that it was truly a love match, although not always easy. They talked politics. They had their fun times.

Mary Todd was forced to play the villain (Hilary Clinton, anyone?). While in the White House, she was criticized for not being worldly enough, for being too worldly, for entertaining too much and for not entertaining enough. For being too plain and for being too fancy. For outfitting the White House in new things and for allowing them to be plundered (if you believe a 1966 cook book).

The one topic that never came up in all my research about Mary Todd was food. What did she like to eat? In the midst of the chaos that was her life in the White House, I wonder if the topic ever came up. I’m not sure why, but I would like to offer Mary Todd some lovely scones.

But that’s not one of the choices offered up by The First Ladies Cookbook. Nope. Without explanation, it gives us Fricasseed Chicken, Scalloped Oysters or Election Cake. I was particularly disappointed that there is no context given for the Election Cake. Was it served at the White House in celebration of one or both of Lincoln’s inaugurations?

Keep this recipe in mind for November 6th, 2012.

Election Cake

1 cup currants, soaked overnight in a tightly closed jar in 1/2 cup brandy
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup scalded milk
1 yeast cake
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup flour, unsifted
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 3/4 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon mace
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Whew. Got all that?

To the scalded milk add 1 tablespoon sugar; cool. Dissolve the crumbled yeast in warm water and add to the milk. Add the unsifted flour and beat until well blended. Let rise in warm place until it has doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Cream butter and sugar until very light. Drain brandy from currants. Place sifted flour, salt, mace and cinnamon in sifter. Add egg to creamed mixture and beat until light. Stir in lemon rind and juice. Add yeast mixture and beat thoroughly. Add currants, retaining the brandy for later. Sift in flour, add brandy, beat well.

Take  a break for a snort of brandy.

Place in tube pan or 9×5 loaf pan that has been well-greased. Cover with a cloth and place in a warm place away from draft. Allow to rise until double in bulk. This mixture rises very slowly and may take 4-6 hours to double in bulk.

I hope you didn’t start this recipe on November 6th. More like November 4th.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes. Cool in pan briefly. Turn out on rack, allow to cool further. Then brush with lemon or orange glaze.

Yeah, yeah, here’s the recipe for the glaze.

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup lemon or orange juice

Mix the sugar and the juice. Beat well. Spread thin on top of cake. Let it drizzle down the sides. Yeah, that’s it. Lookin’ good.

Categories: Cooking, First Ladies Cook, Icons
No Comments »

This one is for the foodies out there. To some extent, each one of us is, by necessity, a food lover. We love to stay alive, after all. Some of us are more low-key about our quest for enjoyable sustenance than others but most of us at least have an opinion about what we shove in our maws. So, although this list is aimed at the foodie in your life, there are ideas here for everyone. But maybe especially for those who get really excited by thick-cut, organic bacon and French macarons.

Nordic Ware Bakeware

Is your foodie also a bakie? Then get them a Minnesota-made cake pan in an unusual shape from Nordic Ware! Here I’ve highlighted my personal fave – the Platinum Fairytale Cottage Bundt Pan. The description online says, “Reminiscent of Hansel and Gretel’s cottage, this pan creates magical cakes sprinkled with powdered sugar or decorated.” Of course the holidays come  to mind when you look at the pan but you could have fun with this all year long, decorating it and even adding little figures to it if you happen to have a lot of time on your hands and no other hobbies.

Here are some decorating ideas:

• Abandoned cottage overrun by raccoons.
• Star Wars Cantina
• Spooky house owned by woman on block suspected to be a witch.
• Expensive weight loss clinic in Palm Springs
• Mansion where the latest season of The Bachelor is shooting.

But if a cottage just isn’t right for your bakie, get them an old-fashioned bundt cake pan. Or a popover tray. Or a pan in the shape of a snowman or a gift. They’ve got it all, people!

Here in the Twin Cities we are incredibly lucky because we can go to the Nordic Ware Factory Store. They sell the full line of their cookware and bakeware at this store, in addition to irregular and discontinued items. You can, of course, find Nordic Ware at many cooking stores, Target (some items – I believe they are selling a ginger bread house pan for Xmas) and, of course, online.

Something Pickled

You can pickle just about anything. You can pickle eggs. You can pickle grapes, apples, onion, carrots, etc. And foodies in 2011/2012, pride themselves on loving pickled food. Of course, the best thing for foodie street cred is to pickle food stuffs oneself and then bring them out when guests are over.

“Pickled beets from my garden, anyone?” the foodie says. “Goes great with a cold microbrew.”

But the time for pickling homegrown veggies is behind us, at least in Minnesota. So what you need to do is turn to the people of northeastern Wisconsin, specifically Long Lake Specialty Foods (not to be confused with Long Lake, Minnesota). This is the company that prides itself on being your “hard to find” pickled food resource.

From the Long Lake Specialty Foods website:

Order with confidence, we use your information only for filling your order.  Credit card information is purged from the system daily. We replace any product damaged in transit at no charge to the customer and guarantee the quality of the products we sell…

Long Lake Foods  is a purveyor of our many fine Long Lake Brand Products which include: Pickled Eggs, Red Hots Pickled Eggs, Pickled Pork Hocks, Pickled Pigs Feet, Spicy Smoked Pickled Sausage, Hot & Spicy Pickled Sausage, Hot Pickled Sausage, Hot Cajun Pickled Eggs, Hot Cajun Pickled Sausage. We also sell select pickled products from the Porkie Company, Bayview Packing and Forest Floor Foods.

After reading that, how could you not order some  Hot Pickled Eggs? Or Pickled Pigs Feet? Hell, they even have pickled gizzards and pickled Polish sausage. A 26-count jar of the sausage is $23 and will last most of the winter, I imagine, unless you take it out to the ice fishing shanty to share with the gang.

While on their site, check out the Pickled Food News, a round-up of articles about what’s happening in the world of pickling.

If you don’t want to order your pickled items, you can shop around at some foodie stores in the Twin Cities. I saw some interesting pickled items at The Produce Exchange, located within Midtown Global Market, in Minneapolis. You might also try any of the food co-ops, cooking stores like Cooks of Crocus Hill or a specialty store like The Golden Fig in St. Paul.

Cooking Classes… Er… Experiences

It’s all about experiences now, right? Foodies love to eat but they also, many times, love to spend hours shopping for ingredients and cooking.  But sometimes their repertoire can get stale. Like, how many times can you eat your foodie friend’s paella that she learned how to cook while studying in Barcelona without being super bored? Right. So what you need to do is buy your foodie some lessons in how to make something new. It’s for everyone’s benefit.

In the Twin Cities, Cooks of Crocus Hill and Kitchen Window dominate the cooking lesson scene and they work hard to offer interesting classes in beautiful facilities. You can learn how to have a holiday fondue party or the fundamentals of pizza at Kitchen Window. Or, tackle Croissants 101 or a Sushi Crash Course at Cooks of Crocus Hill.

Maybe you don’t have that much cash to drop on cooking classes for your foodie. Don’t despair. That’s what Community Ed is for. Minneapolis offers an array of Continuing Education classes for adults and I make a point of perusing the cooking classes each time a new brochure comes out (the new one won’t be out until after the holidays but you can always get out your paper, crayons and scissors and create one of those awkward but touching “IOU” coupons for your foodie).

How about a class on how to make Pad Thai? They could learn how to decorate cakes or how to make Indian appetizers. And the best thing about community ed classes is that they are relatively inexpensive, making it possible for you to join your foodie for the class and bond over your shared love of Rugelach, which you can eat for dessert after you chomp down a few pickled eggs from Long Lake Specialty Foods.

Food Field Trip

Do you know how long the winters are in Minnesota? They are very long. They are so long that you can wear out a pair of gloves in one season. They are so long that, when you see it snowing at the beginning of April, you have to quietly tell your spouse to hide the knives in the kitchen so you don’t do yourself bodily harm.

So sometimes one needs to break up the monotony with an outing that’s not, “Let’s go outside and shovel. Again.” or, “Let’s go to the gas station so I can get some more windshield wiper fluid.”

What about a food field trip? Sometimes I like to wander the aisles someplace and discover food products I never knew existed (I’m not hard to entertain). So pick an interesting place filled with food (or alcohol) and take your foodie there as a belated holiday gift. The deal is that you agree to buy them some food or drink that looks interesting that they’ve never tried before as part of the fun.  You might even assemble a meal.

Here are my suggestions for places to go, in no semblance of any order:

Midtown Global Market
Seward Co-op or The Wedge
Byerly’s on Park Center Blvd. in St. Louis Park (seriously – a food sanctuary so hushed and well-stocked it seems as if there should be a chapel somewhere in there, where one can slip away to thank the Food Gods for creating such a place and giving it carpeting, to boot.)
United Noodles in Minneapolis
Kramarczuk’s (mostly known as a restaurant but they have a store, too.)
Ingebretsen’s on East Lake in Minneapolis
Bill’s Imported Foods on West Lake in Minneapolis (Greek food… OLIVES!)
Surdyk’s in Northeast Minneapolis (not only for outstanding selection of wine and booze but for their deli full of imported cheese, chocolate and other items, including delicious sandwiches they make for you to take away somewhere and scarf down. You can check their daily deli offerings here.)
The Four Firkins in St. Louis Park (for that craft beer fanatic in your life)

The Odds And The Ends

You can always default to kitchen utensils and gear. I can tell you that the precision, German-made pizza cutter I bought many years ago has never disappointed me. And does your foodie have a Microplane? This tool changed my entire attitude towards grating Parmesan. How about some fancy, pink salt harvested from the sea? What about an ice cream maker and The Perfect Scoop, the ultimate ice cream recipe book, written by pastry chef, blogger and author David Lebovitz?

How about making it possible for your foodie to take his or her act on the road? These shatterproof but fashionable wine glasses by GoVino are perfect for the foodie who wants to go see that movie in the park this summer and share a bottle of Malbec with friends or one who prefers to sit on a blanket at the Lake Harriet Rose Garden enjoying wine and some pickled pork bits in peace.

When all else fails, try to track down the 1966 version of The First Ladies Cook Book.

Categories: Xciting Xmas Gift Guide 2011
1 Comment »