I love coming home to the Twin Cities! For a city in the Midwest, Minneapolis / St. Paul and surrounding suburbs pack a punch of culture and diversity. Not what you would expect in the middle of the dairy belt.
I spent December roaming around the cities looking for Christmas presents at the Mall of America and Galleria. Thrifty finds at Hunt and Gather and the Shops in Hopkins- what a blast! We saw a very campy Cinderella at The Children’s theater company, a wonderful hockey game, checked out some subtitle FREE movies, ate a burrito at Chipotle, Chicken salad at Chili’s, 2 for 20 $ at Applebees, Egg Foo Young at Fongs and UMBRIA SUPREMIO at Umbria Gourmet Pizza.
We took a road trip looking for Pinnekjøtt and ended up at Ingebretsen’s. You can’t tell from their web site but over half of their store is a butcher shop / deli specializing in Scandinavian meats and other delicacies. Lutefisk and picked herring are big sellers this time of year but we also ran into a man who was trying to appease a Danish exchange student with liver pate.
No surprise that January will bring lots of low cal cooking and maybe even some exercise! Yikes!
Wishing anyone who stumbles over this page a wonderful new year! Hope yours is filled with good things!
Sincerely
Kimberly
Now that Christmas is over and a new year is right around the corner, I would like to try some new recipes.
I have been eyeing my Silver Spoon cookbook in the same way Julie Powell eyeballed Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Committing to blog about my attempts at perfecting Italian cuisine is not happening.
Others have tried , others have failed. Just look at Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes, the entire storyline was copied off the far superior Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence. A true travesty!
Something French is ALWAYS better than something Italian. It’s a fact.
Brigitte Bardot |
vs |
Sofia Loren |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape |
vs |
Chianti |
Boeuf à la bourguignonne |
vs |
Risotto |
Jacques Chirac |
vs |
Silvio Berlusconi |
The French Riviera |
vs |
The Italian Riviera |
I could go on, but my arguments are getting thin. Point is that French is cooler than Italian, except food. I would gladly swap my fois gras for a Tuscan beans or snails for pizza. Not to mention Tiramisu and Gelato – do the French even make a decent dessert?
Italy is a foodies paradise even though it is falling apart and smells weird.
In 2010 I vow to try a lot of the recipes from Silver Spoon, share these with my friends and sometimes write about it. Trying a “Powell” is not my style, but I loved the movie!
Here are some other things from Very Good Taste’s list of the omnivore’s hundred, I should try:
_____________________
Here’s what I want you to do:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.
The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake
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There are definitely things on this list that I will never eat. I have an additional rule that I will not eat anything that could smell, see or taste in its previous form and that rules out Norwegian smalehove since eating the eye is the high point of this meal.
I love Hockey! Maybe it’s because I’m from Minnesota with all our wonderful frozen lakes or that I have some deep seated hostility that I need an outlet for? Maybe its both, but I love Hockey. I love the quick pace and the sound of the puck on the ice. I love the danger of maybe getting a flying puck in the forehead. I love the slamming into the glass and most of all I love the chance of a fight.
We caught the Wild vs Avalanche game last night and even though the Wild took a hit, it was a great game! 18 000 spectators at the Xcel Energy Center a wonderful atmosphere with the red and green Wild jerseys decorating the arena for Christmas.
My husband, a very civilized man, admitted somewhat timidly that he too wanted to see a fight and then looked at me a bit strict, like I had broken a commandment. I had to clarify that -yes I wanted to see a little blood on the ice BUT that the blood should come from maybe a broken nose or lost tooth and definitely not a cracked skull! That seemed to ease his conscience a bit as we booed the referee who broke up the fight. But the best was the kid behind us who screamed with deep felt emotion “Let them fight! It’s Christmas!”.
We spent last weekend wandering around the Christmas market in Dusseldorf and watching the World Cup FIS Ski Cross-Country sponsored by Allrounder . The 1.5 kilometer sprint takes place on imported snow down along the Rhine.
We found a bunch of Norwegians waving flags and cheering for the Norwegian men andwere lucky enough to meet a group with some inside information. That made following the race even more fun! Of the six finalists 4 were Norwegian and it was a very exciting race with the Norwegians coming in second and third place.
-
- These Santa’s pooped out in the middle of the race.
After the professionals were done and the medals awarded , it was time for the Santa race. Santa’s of all ages competed for the privilege of sitting in the VIP lodge for the next days events. The cutest little boy was still on his warm up round when the other Santa’s were heading for the finish line. Some of the Santa’s had given up entirely and were just photographing the others coming down the hill.
This is a great winter treat – we are doing this again next year!
It's our frosty dam!
I just loved the frosty morning we had yesterday. Getting ready to head home for Christmas and not much time to write. Mostly I am just thinking about what to see and do in my hometown of Mpls, and of course what to get everyone for Christmas. I have exhausted the patience of my family for cute gifts from Norway like Dale sweaters and Nisse.
I think I am going to wait and see if I think these traditional German things are still cute in a year. This incense burning smoking men is nicely made but …
I took photography in High School with a borrowed single lens reflex camera. Yeah, I thought I was pretty cool – hanging out in the dark room and pondering exposure times. But unfortunately my skill level was pretty average and my budding photography hobby ended there.
In 2001, a renewed interest in photography was spurred in action. We got our first digital camera, a Kodak with 2 megapixels that weighed 1/2 kilo! That year we vacationed in Tuscany and Provence and I photographed everything! To get the most pictures on the memory card I reduced the quality and rendered all the pictures unusable. Ouch!
Hubby got a digital SLR camera for his 40 th because he was also a closet shutter bug. I am hoping that we both can improve the quality of the enormous amounts of photos we take in the course of a year.
I subscribed to dPs and get weekly tips for improving my shots. My first project is to pick a theme and photograph everything that meets the specified criteria for a month. My theme is a color, specifically the color orange. Maybe because I picked orange counter-tops for our laundry room or because its fall but orange is the nr. 1 color of fun for me right now and I have been snap happy for everything in the hue between 0 – 50.
In captivity, people do weird things. My thing this month is taking pictures of orange things and trying to make them interesting. I will be loading pictures as they are taken.
Our wonderful neighbors / landlords were at the door with a gift. I was not aware that this was a tradition in Germany. It is not normal in Norway but I have seen this tradition in some circles in the US but not in the great state of Minnesota where I come from.
“Bread so you’ll never go hungry, wine so you’ll never be thirsty, salt to ensure your good luck.”
or
Bread! That this house may never know hunger
Salt! That life may always have flavor
Wine! That joy and prosperity may reign forever!*
My wonderful neighbor tipped me off that today is St. Martins Day or Martini day as she called. So naturally, I got out my jigger and was shaking and not stirring but alas that is not the custom.
No, St. Martins day is like Halloween and St. Lucias day combined. Little children wander around their neighborhoods with lanterns sings songs and reciting poems in exchange for sweets, preferably chocolates. We have acquired a respectable amount of goodies and are now waiting to see if this is enough.
St. Martins update: We have had 3 groups of “performers”. The little angel from across the street with her best friend (age 6) both carried lanterns and sang, mom played and important roll as a back up singer. Two girls around 8 years with funny hats and lanterns, singing a different song. And right before 8 pm there was a knock at the door and 2 boys in their early teens wearing what I would call Halloween masks and carrying the same cute lanterns were singing another song that I suspect was some kind of hip hop song.
Everyone got chocolate but as a curse of my upbringing I over-shopped and we have way too much left. The basket is on it way to work with hubby tomorrow!
Heres the lyrics for the song the little girls sang.
| Ich geh mit meiner Laterne | I Go with My Lantern |
| Ich geh’ mit meiner Laterne | I go with my lantern |
| Und meine Laterne mit mir. | And my lantern goes with me. |
| Dort oben leuchten die Sterne, | Up above the stars are shining, |
| Hier unten, da leuchten wir. | Down here we’re shining. |
| Der Hahn, der kräht, die Katz miaut. | The rooster, he crows; the cat meows. |
| Rabimmel, rabammel, rabum. | Rabimmel, rabammel, rabum. |
| Der Hahn, der kräht, die Katz miaut. | The rooster, he crows; the cat meows. |
| Rabimmel, rabammel, rabum. | Rabimmel, rabammel, rabum. |
Lyrics are from http://german.about.com
The Local and English net-based newspaper in Germany has more info about St. Martins Day click here.
New flea market finds at Nordseehalle in Emden. This time we were a bit earlier so we got a much better parking space.
Tupperware was again a hot item for us. Some old and some new but tupperware never really goes out of date. Some of it goes out of production – I am pretty sure the rolling pin and pastry sheet are “old school” . The rolling pin is an empty tube that you can fill with hot or cold depending on what you want to do with the dough. I am looking forward to filling it up with ice while rolling out sugar cookies!
The wooden specked rooster and hen is an all time favorite with me! I have some prints at home with the speckled foul from a market in l’isle sur la sorgue and these reminded me of them.
The pile of fabric contains some treasures that are destined for haugesund to be transformed just like magic. Today’s flea market damages are around 95 Euros, mostly because a wet eyed woman convinced me that I should compensate her for her poor vision. The cost of her embroidered picture actually increased while she explained that she had to use a magnifying glass to complete it.
OK, I’m a sucker for a good story.
