Archies 2007

Seems like a tradition worth keeping, so we'll see how many I can come up with.  Warning - you may notice a theme.

• Change - not the coins, but the existential state
• Creative Kidstuff - taking all the guesswork out of those nephew/niece gifts
• Caribou and Dunn Brothers coffee - all the warm fuzzy of local, all the convenience of chains
• Remember the Milk and Mint - let the internet organize for you
• The Heights Theatre - cool and nearby, double ++
• Basements and garages - hmm, let's put that box somewhere and forget it for 3 months
• Ice chippers - to allow us to get into the garage in question
• The Q50 - maybe not "essential" downloads but at least "fun"
• IKEA - yes you can furnish your house from one store, if you're handy with an allen wrench
• Very Short List - a daily email that is actually quick and useful
• Facebook goes nuclear - is it still wasting time if you're doing it with friends?
• Finally having a frickin DVR - I know I'm shallow
• Ax Man Surplus stores - I probably laughed more here than anywhere in months
• The Electric Fetus - terrible name, great record store
• Gmail adds IMAP -  I find I like free things that work incredibly well
• Neighbors who bring you pies and cookies
• Hound Dog Pet Hotel - we'd never had to use a kennel before, but it turned out great
• Soul Jazz and Numero Group Records - awesomely consistent, consistently awesome
• Google Reader - finally RSS really is simple
• Turner Classic Movies - yeah, still
• Onion AV Club - yeah, still
• Surdyk's Liquor and Cheese Shop - yeah, distilled... oh and great wine/beer/food selection too
• Columbia Sportswear - winter schminter
• Neighborhood restaurants - of which there are plenty in MSP
• Being the old guy - I'm taking classes where the average age is probably 10 years below me, so I get to be the wise and weird one, and oh how I can fill that role
• Magazines like the New Yorker, the Atlantic, Harper's, Dwell, Readymade, and Good - pretty much why my "books read" list hovers around zero (and I'm scared that one day I will accept those free issues of The Economist I keep getting offered and I'll never go outside again) 
• The "In Rainbows" experiment - I'm always glad when success doesn't diminish nerve, but enhances it; oh yeah and the music was good too
• Fond farewells - and anticipated reunions

Moving: The Scorecard

For anyone keeping track, we have made the move to Minneapolis from Austin. Hopefully the fun part starts now, as the last week or so have been filled with a few hassles:

- packing and cleaning, as everyone knows, are among the least enjoyable tasks of life - next time I'm just buying matches and lighter fluid
- though they did pretty well, driving for two days with 3 dogs behind the seat of a pickup is not something I can recommend across the board - and staying with them in a hotel room is a firm NO
- trying to sell and buy a house in the midst of a weird mortgage loan crisis would also not have been my preference

On the non-gripy side, it's nice to be in a place where an August day doesn't automatically mean "hotter than the sun." And we have been eating quite well since hitting town - Pierre's Bistro, Broder's Pasta Bar, and the numerous coffee shops (no, like everywhere) have eased some of the jangle. Oh, and the State Fair is on. I think I will save a stick from some of the food on a stick and then put my mini donuts on the stick and then eat the mini donuts on a stick.

The Foie Gras Wars

I guess blogs are the place to put thoughts that don't have any better outlet, so here goes.  There's a moron criminal in Austin vandalizing restaurants that serve foie gras or veal, and then putting the pictures on a web site, even.  I'm a meat eater, and have had foie gras maybe 6 times in my life, and sorry spray painters, but it really is that good.  

We're also friends of the owners/chefs at Aquarelle, one of the targets of this "activist," and to treat independent high-end French restauranteurs like the worst sponsors of animal cruelty, in a city filled with the usual KFCs, McDonald's, Taco Bells, etc. is so wrongheaded I don't quite know where to begin.  I'll leave it to folks like Anthony Bourdain and Michael Pollan to give a fuller history of the dish and its cultural background, but news flash - ridding the city or country of foie gras would barely be a drop in the ocean of animal production, or end the worst of any cruel practices. 

I flatter myself to think I have complicated thoughts on eating meat, though they are probably just rationalizations like everything else.  Yes, humans have reached the point where we could nourish ourselves with a manmade vitamin paste, but does that mean we have to?  We could also all wear featureless beige robes, and drink only water, and live inside pure white cubes, and we could survive.  But would we be "living"?  Eating different food is fun, and human beings have been eating animal meat from as soon as they learned how.

And yeah, when it gets down to it, I do believe humans are superior to other animals (find me a duck with a blog, dammit!) and thus the whole "food chain" idea makes sense to me.  If an advanced alien race shows up feeling peckish, and they can outwit us, then fair enough.  For now we got the #1 slot.  In the US, we have the luxury to debate our food sources and the morality of a ear of corn's energy consumption and whatnot, so it seems the idea of "food=waking up again tomorrow" has gotten lost inside a number of distracting side issues.

My ideal would be that animals are treated respectfully while alive, killed quickly when the time comes (the idea of "humane" killing doesn't quite compute for me), and then cooked up tasty.  I'd also like the humans who work on farms raising animals and growing and picking fruits and vegetables, or in the processing plants, or in the food stores and restaurants, to be given greater consideration than their products.  If it takes a battle over a small luxury like foie gras to spark a wider discussion of how we currently feed ourselves, then maybe it is a worthwhile sacrifice.  But so far I suspect the "Vegangstar" has provoked many more people to try foie gras for the first time than swear it off.

By The Bay

Just back from a week in the San Francisco area, my first trip there. No one needs me to explain the appeal of the place (especially during record July heat elsewhere), but I figured I'd at least pass along a few cool tidbits we found. Oh, and check out some more of our pics on Flickr.

Kensington Park Hotel - right off Union Square, good rates, comfy room, and extremely friendly and helpful staff. A wild stab from the internet that paid off big.

Juni Teppan and Sushi - I'm no sushi expert, but after a long time driving around looking for a parking place, we ended up here at random and were pleasantly surprised by the food and attentive service. Though we must have looked scared or something, as the waitress continually reassured us that we would like the raw fish. Uh, yeah, I know that much...

Conservatory of Flowers - all of Golden Gate Park was impressive, but this is a clear highlight.

Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market - this is where we wished we had brought 11 more suitcases, or a portable kitchen. Added to the already-awesome group of foodie stores in the Ferry Building Marketplace, the variety of food and other goodies available here was truly remarkable. I guess I'm more used to farmer's markets where pretty much everyone is growing the same few things, but this is California, son. A few stalls to plug: Juniper Ridge wild herb products, Rancho Gordo heirloom beans, Bariani olive oils.

Le Colonial - one of our front desk man's recommendations, Le Colonial features tasty Vietnamese cuisine, French-colonial style. They have a groovy patio too.

The Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar - gotta get your tiki on, though the drinks were far more interesting than the food. Maybe if they also served the drumsticks in a fake coconut...

Cafe Claude - another gem just a few blocks from the hotel, French goodness tucked down its own little alley. Hmm, seems like this reminds me of somewhere else.

We also made it up into the Russian River area for a couple days, though clearly that's not enough time to make a dent in the Sonoma and Napa valley offerings. But we do what we can.

Greystone Restaurant - the public face of the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, so the quality of the food was no big surprise. But I did appreciate the steps taken to reduce the intimidation factor - wine sampling flights, "temptation" menus, and a staff that anticipates many questions.

Russian River Resort - we actually stayed at The Woods down the street, but had a couple dinners here, and found a pleasing combination of comfort and sophistication. Apparently they were flooded out last year, so that explains the new, sharp-looking dining rooms. And don't worry, they are all straight-friendly.

So if you're in the area, check these out - tell them I sent you, and then just play along when they pretend like they don't know who I am.