Saint Where?
6
Jun2
Jun2
While Saint Paul, MN might not be one of everybody’s top destinations, it might start creeping up that list if things continue like they are. Something must have got into the water supply and caused people to open a frenzy of great new restaurants and shops.
There’s Grand Old Day tomorrow, which isn’t really part of my list, but it did force me to go do some Grand Ave shopping today - avoiding the pure chaos tomorrow.
I hit Northern Brewer and picked up a Cream Ale kit to brew this weekend. Northern Brewer is a nationally reknowned home brew shop that is primarily mail order, but if you live in St. Paul you are lucky enough to be able to pick up your supplies in person.
I then went down to the new St. Paul Cheese shop - run by the France 44 folks. As far as I know this is St. Paul’s first Cheese shop and the staff was great. I tried about 10 different cheeses and walked out with my by the slice selection of a few great cheeses. The Montenebro, a ripe full bodied goat cheese I hadn’t ever tried, is now one of my new favorites. To round out my cheese buying, I walked next door to the Breadsmith to pick up some cheese delivery vessels. This is a killer combo of locally owned and operated shops.
There are lots of other places that recently have been springing up that make staying in St. Paul to eat worth it:
- The Cheeky Monkey Deli - I have raved about this place already – house cured and smoked meats, fresh baked breads, awesome sandwiches on Selby.
- Brasa – some of the best rotisserie anywhere is opening on Grand Ave.
- Barrio – Minneapolis’ tequila bar and taqueria is opening a second spot in Lowertown.
- The new Mississippi Market is opening next month and will hopefully continue to roast their own sandwich meats.
- The Blue Door, Flat Earth Brewery – I could go on and on.
The list is only new stuff, I could go on about some of the ol’ standbys, but need to go eat more of my cheeses.
Blu-Ray or HD DVD – doesn’t matter…
15
Mar1
Mar1
With the official end to the format war and Blu-Ray looking like the winner I started thinking about why it doesn’t matter.
The interweb is full of proclamations claiming Sony’s Blu-Ray format is the future of our mind-numbing in home entertainment.
I just don’t see it. See my review of some of the popular download services.
The number of people with High Definition TVs is still not that high and the number of people with Blu-Ray DVD players is even closer to rock bottom. (I know my parents make at least 1 consumer in the world).Not to say it isn’t an enjoyable setup to have, but the fact remains most people just down have the moolah or the interest in this kind of equipment.
While the format war is over, and Blu-Ray marches on, I think by the time the average household catches up Broadband access and bandwidth will have reached acceptable numbers to provide every household with High Definition movies without a player at all, but instead in a file format that can be played from cheap Media Centers, TIVO and Extenders (or Apple TV if you fell for that.)
Xbox live, and others, already provide downloads of HD content to be watched on users TVs. I think the number of these users will grow a lot faster then people looking to use a more physical format like Blu-Ray or the now obsolete HD DVD.
The format war will have moved on to file formats and hopefully we can all agree on an open portable format and by that time the Movie industry will have let go of its grip on obsolete licensing strategies.
Let’s have some crab legs while we wait for this whole thing to sort itself out!
The dirty tricks of food photographers ||| Photocritic blog
9
Mar0
Mar0
Photocritic.org has a fantastic overview of just how c0mplicated and bizarre the world of Food Photography really is. From the obvious use of a blow torch for caramelizing and creating a seared effect to the more bizarre Motor oil used in place of syrup or this technical definition of the use of cardboard.
Sturdy cardboard squares, used to make little raw (except for the blow-torched edges) ground beef-patty-platforms (with the help of the toothpicks) to keep the fatty patties from mooshing the frilly lettuce.
For the full story check out:
The dirty tricks of food photographers ||| Photocritic blog
In the meantime be sure to keep the motor oil out of the fridge, just in case.
Hmmm… Food
9
Mar1
Mar1
A while back I had been taking pictures of food I had cooked. Unfortunately, the hardest part of ‘home food photography’ is the fact that your food gets cold/old and usually the photographs were of whatever I was to eat for dinner. So, I haven’t taken any in a while – but in the process of updating http://10gallonhat.net I am adding these back. There are a couple that I think really turned out well. I think the two Blueberry, Ginger and White Chocolate chunk cookies turned out really well. Take a peek at the oldies but goodies below… or maybe they are new to you – either way – enjoy!
Sausage Rabbits
8
Mar0
Mar0
Always looking for ways to keep lunch interesting I came across a great blog… The photographs are artistically done and the ideas are great as well. The ideas seem to be mainly aimed at keeping kids interested in lunch – so maybe I’m just a big kid.
The site is called “Lunch in a box : Building a better bento”.
Lunch in a box is full of great ideas and tips for lunching success… but I have to admit what really drove to write this was the Sausage Rabbits.
My own mom was responsible for some of the greatest school lunches.. but I don’t remember ever having sausage in the shape of animals it may be made from… nice!
Ain’t Finger Lickin’ like no Chicken!
21
Nov0
Nov0
The greatest ode to Thanksgiving.. GOBBLE GOBBLE, MOTHERF**KER!
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60 grams of fat for breakfast!!! Hello Diabetes…
15
Oct0
Oct0
First, the grand opening of a new McDonald’s down the street from my house drew inexplicable crowds and caused a traffic jam – the food is still the same crap! And now this?!!
All I can say is what the F*CK is wrong with people. I love food and I love gorging myself on food, especially a good breakfast. Don’t get me wrong. The real issue here is this not good and it is not even really food. It is sodium and non-descript varieties of fat wrapped in a sub-par tortilla. If you want to eat 1000 calories of eggs, bacon and cheese, etc all wrapped up in a tortilla… Get up an hour earlier and start cooking!! At least that way you know what you are eating and it will actually taste good.
If you can explain to me why you need a portable “Big Country Breakfast” then move over Al Gore – there is a new Nobel Peace prize candidate in town. Just a bit annoyed by this, if you can’t tell.
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