Are We Are...all done? The Willis

Have you heard The Willis? "Bathtub, Lightbulb, Heartattack" fuggin RULZ.

From PlugInMusic: "The Willis emerged in December 2002 out of the monastic isolation of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and consists of longtime friends and periodic bandmates from, 'Congratulations on Your Decision to Become a Pilot,' and 'Cookie Bug,' just to name a few. The sound is pop inflected but resists sonic, tonal & rhythmic conventions with orchestral arrangements that don’t sacrifice the rock."

I received a note from frontman Steve McCabe this morning:

"hope all's well with you and the gang. we miss you rockers! we weren't totally sure what was up with the band for some time, as there was a movement afoot to salvage it without dean.... at this point, we've decided to stop for awhile, with the possibility of regrouping in the future. we're all great friends, and that won't change, so who knows... we'd probably consider doing an occasional show for the ultra-special occasion down the line, too.

love and rock,
s"

AWE NUTS!!!

There are awxum folks who will not/do not want to hear this news. We love The Willis! I have had hilarious and rokkin conversations about love for The Willis with: Brandi (taken at The Willis/Dallas Orbiter show at the Uptown), Binner (also taken at the Uptown show), Dallas Orbiter (my other favorite indie band), Crystal, Shanny, Paula...all of whom are fans. And I know there are tons more. I remember when The Willis played in MPLS with Dallas Orbiter at the Uptown. We danced. We screamed. I totally spazzed about Steve McCabe's guitar strings. I almost freaked my establishment that night. gerg twirled his drumstick during a pre-release tease of "Jetpack Dandies" and I swooned like a Scarlet Ohara, bryn and I screamed and jumped up and down, gerg's drum tipped over. We afterbarred at our house and someone ended up passing out on the studio floor.

Thanks for all those wild times, The Willis. The triple threat just won't be the same without you.

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Here's a link to a Milwauke Journal Sentinel story about The Willis.

A story about The Willis from the Advance Titan student newspaper at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. And another.

Click here to hear Missiles and see the video.

Some Dish: Town Talk Diner

Sunday morning landed us at Town Talk Diner with gerg's parents for brunch. There, I had an opportunity to briefly chat with Town Talk partner Aaron Johnson about the mention in the Pioneer Press. I offered smiles and congrats.

As many know, gerg and I have loved this place since it opened, and at points were fearful about its future, what with the never-ending construction on Lake Street, and the relatively new location for this kind of enterprise. On Sunday, Aaron informed us that they've had a wait list for 5 days, and we don't doubt it. It's been packed for several weeks now, and while we're a little bummed that we can't just walk in any ol' time and sit down to three bartenders chatting with us about our landscaping, we are thrilled to have Town Talk succeed in our neighborhood, and now look forward to it sticking around for a long time. The staff remains cheerful, even though they're busy, and they consistently greet us with familiarity and friendliness. Aaron always manages a "good to see you" and a handshake.

So, here's the quote from the Pioneer Press that had gerg and I smiling: "Town Talk Diner partners Tim Niver, Aaron Johnson and David Vlach are looking to open a spot somewhere near their restaurant on East Lake Street. It will be more casual and less pricey than Town Talk, 'with more emphasis on lunch and less on dinner,' says Niver. Now, all they have to do is work out a few details, like finding a spot and coming up with the money."

Then this news from the same piece had us wondering...."He [Thom Pham] bought the former Molly Quinn's on Lake Street and is talking to Town Talk Diner partners Tim Niver, David Vlach and Aaron Johnson about turning it into an Asian-fusion spot. No contract has been signed, but they're all on the same page. 'I love those guys,' says Pham, 'and would love if somehow we could work together.'"

Rumor has it, some signing will take place as soon as this week! Watch the news for word of the Town Talk trio and Thom Pham partnering up for what we hope will be another amazing eatery in our neighborhood. Or perhaps (in my dreamworld), in addition to a delicious partnership, the Town Talk trio will open a third establishment??

Also, keep your eyes peeled for Town Talk Diner appearances in GQ Magazine and on the Food Network!

Winter! Fun times! For real!

On the advice of karaoke star, liz, this past Friday night, gerg and I headed to the SOO Visual Arts Center to check out "Pictures of People and Things I Take - Pictures of Taking Pictures of People" by Minneapolis-native Dan Monick. There was also an amazing collection of
KOZYNDAN prints by the LA husband-and-wife illustrator duo in the quaint Toomer gallery inside SOO. We ran into IIII there. "Well, fancy running into you here! Good day, sir!"

Monick's portraits were relatively captivating, although slightly unrevealing, to me. I didn't feel like I stumbled upon a secret as I gazed into the eyes of some dude sporting a Ramone's shirt. Although, the composition of the photographs was quality. The KOZYNDAN prints were spectacular - intricate and refined glimpses into some sort of delicate and mysterious world of colliding illustrations and animation. My favorite piece of the KOSYNDAN collection: The Bunnies Fall.



Wrapped up Friday evening with a night out at the Peacock Lounge at Erte Restaurant. It's a great establishment for fancy shoes and inspired conversation. The back bar resembles a mausoleum. The wall treatments can easily distract you from a good conversation with their lack of symmetry. Megs and I talked about genocide and the 112 Eatery. David and Dre were spirited and full of cheer, and we spoke of the winter carnival and cold sores. Jana resembled an exotic jewel with her red hair and sapphire blue satin blouse.

Saturday morning, we headed out to St Paul in the freezing cold for the Winter Carnival. I LOVED it.


We checked out the block ice carving competition and the snow sculpting competition. gerg even attempted his own artful expression. Nice art, gerg! Go here for our photos of the event. The giant snow slide looks appealing, but a little muddy. I hope to try it out next weekend with more snow.

Shivered our way home to meet up with gerg's parents. We were intrigued by Peacock Lounge to the extent that we stopped back for dinner at Erte on Saturday night with gerg's parents. gerg and his dad both enjoyed the Fillet Mignon and hunny bunny carrots with ginger butter. Moms enjoyed the star prairie rainbow trout. I had the give-or-take jumbalaya. The real treat was the sweat potato mashers with real maple syrup. My advice: eat one bowl per week for true happiness. If you're up for a classic supper club meal with a hint of sophistication, this place might be a good choice for you. A band called Rugged Road was playing a fusion of folk, bluegrass, celtic songs, which gerg's mom loved. What with the art district location, they had a collage art collection on display in the dining room. Later that night, I made my Martha's Zin Love for dessert.

323 13th Avenue N.E.
Minneapolis Mn 55413
(612) 623-4211

I was bumming Sunday afternoon about (among other things): the status of my book, (which has been in the design stage for much longer than I anticipated), the slow progress of my career as I finish up my grad degree, and the uncertainties surrounding gerg's health. Lots of sighs and a few tears. Sunday night marked my first visit to the Caterpillar Lounge for a farewell thingy for gerg's pal Ryan. Except, the party wasn't at the Caterpillar Lounge. So Dan, gerg, and I enjoyed a libation sans the party. Good luck in Oshkosh, Ryan!

And then gerg showed me something totally magical: It was about midnight when he pulled over at Minnehaha Falls. Snow floated lazily around our heads as we walked toward the falls. It was almost silent, the water scarcely was running. ICY BEAUTY! (photo by Jim Winstead)

Hometime

With gerg in recovery mode, we've been spending a lot of time "taking it easy" per his doctor's orders.

So we've been watching movies (Little Miss Sunshine, Spirited Away, Fearless Freaks), playing on the computer, and eating in.

Last night I made a carmelized onion and gorgonzola fritatta for dinner. gerg's hunger hasn't been excellent, and I know the smell of sauteed onions whets his appetite. The fritatta was tasty.

Then came dessert!!







My favorite part was dessert: I'm calling it the Martha's Zin Love. First, I baked some Sweet Martha's oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (you can buy the cookie dough at Lund's), topped the warm cookies with Dark Chocolate Zin ice cream from Izzy's, swirled some Potion #9 over the top from Legacy Chocolates, and sprinkled just a bit of chopped peanuts, butterscotch chips and flaked coconut over the top.

While we were licking our plates clean, I noted that Martha's Zin Love combines items from three great sweet-stations in the Twin Cities.

The house is relatively clean, we're caught up on mail, and gerg is recovering. That's progress from last week.

Looking forward to a visit from the Flanagans this weekend and the first day of the Winter Carnival! I hope to get out on Saturday catch some of the ice carving action.

Happy Anniversary to my Fav Radio Station

On Sunday, the recovering gerg and I slipped and slid our way through slush to Cedar St. in St. Paul to attend Minnesota Public Radio's (MPR's) 40th anniversary open house.

Free parking was offered at the ramp next door, so a brief elevator ride and jaunt through the slush ended at the lobby of the MPR Headquarters building.

We enjoyed a self-guided walking tour and a commemorative gingerbread cookie (pictured above). Copped a squat at the UBS Forum to listen to a brief love speech by Senator Amy Klobuchar; then midday host Gary Eichten interviewed MPR President Bill Kling. They talked about the history of MPR - where it started and why.

We stopped by 89.3 The Current's Founding Members' Wall to peep gerg's name, and it wasn't there!! JEERS!! He's got the vinyl and certificate to prove his status. What up wit dat?

We chatted briefly with Mark Wheat and the local show's Chris Roberts while gerg collected their autographs. I was anticipating Barb Abney and Mary Lucia too, but no luck!

Gerg pointed out the studio where Dallas Orbiter played awhile back. I had imagined the dj booths would be more like WKRP. MPR is tidy and modern...no record stacks or posters with planets...

I want to send a special shout out to The Current's Barb Abney and Steve Seel for playing my special request on Friday for gerg. We listened to The La's "Feelin" on the way home in honor of gerg's homecoming.

A different sort of adventure

Sometimes an angel's halo gets knocked all crooked-wise. It totally sukked when that happened at our house this week.

Gerg took a couple knocks this week. I'm glad to have him home again; he's healing surrounded by his own cuddle-y blankets and savoury homemade soup (instead of hospital food- EW!). Welcome home, gerg. Please stay for a long, long time.

I've got no restaurants to review this week - didn't visit any. No adventures out-on-the-town. Haven't really read anything about gadgets, Minneapolis, or other odd stuff. I've got a lot of love to give back to everyone who called, texted, visited, sent stuff, cared for Lakota, and offered love.

Highlights during a rather difficult week: Laura (gerg's nurse at Abbott Northwestern) was pleasant, kind, beautiful, and overall awesome - and the surgeons, docs, and staff were informative and friendly; I learned many new medical terms and organ functions - for instance, the spleen is important - who knew?; an AWESOME Timberwolves game on Friday night at the Target Center thanks to seville - bummer about the loss in double OT!; Saturday night's viewing of Stranger than Fiction with gerg's arm around me was bliss. Laughter is good medicine, especially a film about literature - we laughed, drank fruit punch, and noted the audience's audible fondness for Maggie Gyllenhaal's rant about government corruption and defense spending.

Know of any great NA concoctions? I'm looking to put Shirley Temples to shame.

Sometimes my hip ain't so hip!

Last week I had a pain in my hip...for about 2 days.















I wanted to make sure nothing was afoot, since I intended to go snowboarding on Saturday with gerg and Monica and Brad (my sis and her squeeze). Thursday landed me at my new clinic on Hiawatha in the hands of Phyllis Russel. We talked about my hip, and then I went in for x-rays. Much to my dismay, my hips are exactly normal (I was hoping she'd find robot parts). So, all seems to be well with my hip. The pain has subsided.

With a clean bill of health, we voyaged out into the frigid 1 degree weather to hit the slopes at Afton Alps.






We paid $35 per person for lift tickets, and then I scored a deal on a private lesson with a french dude who was kind and patient. I was successful with getting on the board and riding and totally successful at wiping out; I was not so successful when it came to learning how to turn and stop. The good news is that because it was so cold, I was wearing 5 layers of clothing, which padded my falls. The other good news is that gerg is HAWT on the slopes! He was dominating the black diamond slopes; I thought it was uber sexy (that's him on the top left).

Rest was required on Sunday cuz my bones were aching from all the killer wipe outs on Saturday. We grabbed some brunch at Town Talk Diner with Jon and Aimee and later in the evening watched Little Miss Sunshine, which had us laughing by the end.

Golden Globes on Monday night! Hooray!

Highlights:
Best Director - Motion Picture
Martin Scorsese
The Departed

Best Motion Picture - Drama
Babel
Brad Pitt is so hunky!!

Best Television Series - Drama
Grey's Anatomy

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Helen Mirren
The Queen
Helen talked about how the real winner should be the queen herself cuz she's such as interesting character.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
Forest Whitaker
The Last King Of Scotland,
Forest was totally overwhelmed...could barely string 3 words together during his acceptance. Slightly adorable for an up-and-coming.

America Ferrera's acceptance speech for Ugly Betty was the best! All the skinny actresses crying in the audience...Either they were proud, or jealous of the fact that they've been starving themselves for years in order to win an award.

3rd precinct crime bullshit

It's not often that we order pizza, or delivery of any kind, for that matter; we're more apt to call for carry out if we want to eat restaurant food at home. I think the last time we ordered pizza was when the basement flooded in October.

That doesn't change the fact that one of my favorite blogs in the whole entire world wide web is Pizzaman's Streets of Pizza. I was not happy when I read his most recent post about pizza delivery drivers getting held up in the 3rd Precinct in Minneapolis, cuz that's our neck of the non-woods.

This crime alert issued by the City of Minneapolis iterates: "Since December 12, there have been eight robberies of drivers delivering pizzas in the Third Precinct. In most cases, the drivers had made the delivery and were returning to their vehicles when the suspects approached. In some of the cases, suspects used a handgun; in others, suspects physically assaulted the victim. All these robberies occurred sometime between 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m."

The strib ran a story about the recent pizza crime wave; Lt. Mike Fossom made the following statement in the story: "Police believe the robbers watch the drivers leave their stores and follow them to the delivery address, Fossum said."

I found a map created on January 2, 2007 that gives us an accurate depiction of where these crimes are occurring. It looks like most of these crimes are occuring on the other side of Hiawatha (Camden, Phillips, Near North, Central, and Calhoun Isles); while they're not occurring in Longfellow, it's definitely a rise for concern for all of South Minneapolis.

Most of us know that crime rates are rising in Minneapolis. I'm not one to poo poo the statistics and claim something like, "Dude, crime hasn't increased, cops are just busting more people and more people are reporting stuff." That could account for a portion of the increase, but I believe the fact is that more pizza delivery drivers are being robbed in South Minneapolis.

At this point, I'll take the advice of the police and be a bit more vigilant, for the sake of Pizzaman and other pizza delivery drivers. The city's advice to residents:

- Watch for any suspicious activity such as strangers loitering in the street, outside your home or your neighbor’s home. If you order a pizza:

□ Turn on your outside lights.

□ Try to have exact change ready.

□ Take some extra time to make sure the delivery person returns to their vehicle safely. If you see someone approach the driver, call the driver back to the house or call 911 immediately.

□ Keep your doors locked at all times.

Another blog about the iPhone...add mine to the list

I am so stoked to hold Apple, Inc.'s new iPhone in my hand! Until then, I'm going to count my lucky stars (or something like that) for Ben Pieratt. He has created a papercraft replica for our use! Assembly required. Tape and scissors should be fine.

Watch for photos of me hitting the town with my model phone. I think I'll wrap it around a piece of cedar and laminate it, so it floats and makes my purse smell good.


For some reason, this project kind of reminds me of my Jem paperdolls. Truly, truly, truly outrageous!!

Who Doesn't Want to Go to the Moon??

I think most of us, at some point, have wanted to be an astronaut. Blasting into outerspace would be SO COOL.

Playing with boss, spaceage robots would be CRUCIAL.

Now NASA is making it even more difficult for me to become an astronaut! They're converting entirely to metrics!

I think we spent a total of 10 minutes learning and laughing at the metric system when I was a kid. "kilometers?! hahahaha! We use miles here, dude!" Now who's laughing? Not me. We all thought the US Customary Units would last forever...that the world would change and see things our way. Wrong.

New Year's Resolution #2: Get a grip on the metric system.

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PS - My first New Year's Resolution: Improve my posture.

These are a few of a pesactarian's favorite things....

Inspired by IIII and Rick Nelson, I decided to list my favorite 10 eats in the Twin Cities this year, from a pescatarian *wince* perspective. I'm a newcomer to Minneapolis, and I started eating fish (again) just over a year ago, so I've been going a little overboard with fish/seafood (especially scallops) in the Twin Cities. Don't pardon the pun.

(In no particular order)


Sweet Potato Risotto at Town Talk Diner: risotto prepared with sweet potato, swiss chard, aged jack cheese, pumpkin seeds, made with veggie stock, topped with pumkin seed oil.

Grilled Cape Neddick Sea Scallops at the Oceanaire: served in an american lobster sauce, with basmati rice pilaf and green beans amandine on the side, and baked alaska for dessert. Happy birthday to me!

The Yo-Yo Maki rolls at Origami: It's not on the menu, but it's blue fin. Omakase! with a tokkuri of Golden Haze (sake and Grand Marnier). This is my favorite sushi joint.

85% Chocolate Truffles from Legacy Chocolates: hand dipped truffles, all organic Venezuelan Criollo chocolate. This was food to Aztec warriors. Indulge.

Riverbend Farms Sunshine Squash Hand Pie from the Birchwood Cafe: squash prepared with roasted cipollini onion, aged goat cheese, watercress-apple salad served in a crust that is flakier than me.

Sea Scallop Appetizer at 112 Eatery: perfectly seared sea scallops served with oyster mushrooms. I almost cried with joy.

The Mimi Pizza at Punch: starts with a traditional neopolitan crust baked in a wood-fired oven; the crust is pulled out of the oven and then topped with fresh mozzarella, San Marzano tomatoes, basil, olive oil, garlic. with a glass of Stella Artois.

Tuna Tartar at Azia: chopped sushi-ahi "stung" with wasabi with a ginger martini.

Seared Scallops at Willie's Wine bar: started with a parmesean crisp served with arugula, roasted bell pepper, and oragano, etc.; then seared scallops served with pea puree, mushroom, tomato, pickled shallot, and parmesan. with a glass of Cuvee Anne Laure.

I had a spectacular Enchilada with Seafood and Pepian at Masa: it was a sea bass (with shrimp and crab) enchilada, topped with pipian sauce, sprinkled with pumpkin seeds. SO GOOD. There is a pic of it on their website when you open the page. See it?!?! So I called Michael at Masa to find out where my favorite enchilada went. "It's one of the originals," he said. Said I, "So you don't have it on the menu now? I'm devastated! It was SO good." "Nope," says he. Long story short, I've got the recipe!!! Lucky me!

Other meals of note:
-My first ever lobster dinner at McCormick and Schmick's Seafood
-The Capallini alla Caprese at Pazzaluna
-The french fries at Lurcat
-The Catfish Po'boy at Sea Salt
-A great piece of river trout at Lucia's

A kiss for gerg, for finding new places for us and for sharing these experiences with me. A big up yerself to IIII for many fabulous recommendations.

Food photos....what is it about them??

I enjoy taking photos of food. Sometimes extreme closeup photos of food.

Here's what I mean. These photos are a little strange. When I take them, I'm intrigued by the colors and textures of food. Afterwards, I think to myself that I'm kind of wierd.

MarkMartin cloving a ham









Lindt Lindor milk chocolate truffles









World's Largest Gingerbread house









broccoli Rabe with feta (from Ammos - NYC)








skrimps









broccoli, king crab legs, and brandy old fashioneds










So I saw a tag for this wesbite and went to it cuz I was curious about how 200 calories would be displayed. But my greatest thrill was all of the goofy food pics. LOVE EM!

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We ate at Rainbow Chinese on Friday night. I'm not a huge fan of Chinese food, but as far as Chinese goes, this is the place to go in Minneapolis. The big bowl noodle soup is a treat. There's a certain uniqueness about the food they serve that sets this place apart from common Chinese joints. One of the patrons sounded like the Beauregard: the custodian from the Muppet Show.

2739 NICOLLET AVENUE,
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55408
(612) 870-7084

After our Chinese dinner and some DVD Trivial Pursuit at Reed and Sarah's, gerg and I headed out for a long walk around 2am. We walked the bike path along the train bridge in Seward, and came 'round at the Anne Sullivan School parking lot. From a distance, gerg spotted a man on his knees in the parking lot. We couldn't make out exactly what the haps were, so we walked around the building to catch a closer look. Alone, on his knees, palms toward the sky, the man was praying - in the dark Anne Sullivan parking lot at 3am. I heard him say, "oh God" as we passed. So many stories sparked in my imagination that I could scarce fall asleep when we snuggled in for the night.

I also want to add that gerg made a mouthwatering, artery defying, alfredo sauce on Sunday night that was practically ecstacy. He added sauteed portobellos to the sauce and served a tangy tomato insalata on the side. I was busy photographing the new blooms on my forcing narcissus and noting their amazing fragrance. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw gerg add a stick of butter and a container of cream to the saucepan, among other ingredients. I thought to myself "that's gonna be NAUGHTY! and TASTY!"

The Future of Fine Dining in MPLS

gerg and I had a long conversation while we walked Lakota last night based on Andrew Zimmern's blog about fine dining in Minneapolis. We wonder where fine dining is headed in this city.

Will service and marketing need to improve to compete with a increase in creative neighborhood joints? Are people cooking at home more due to influences from the Food Network and the internet? Do we really WANT fine dining restaurants or do we just say we do?

Another point for us was how to define fine dining. We haven't developed a good definition. It's not just the food, the price, the view, the service. It's a combination of a bunch of stuff, and I haven't googled a good definition yet.

These kind of questions started (for us) with Seth Bixby Daugherty leaving Cosmos - followed up by Levain closing and wondering about Steve Brown's future in the Twin Cities. I became kind of attached to Steve Brown watching him at Iron Fork...something about those chartruese crocs and the way he cooked with such creativity and precision impressed me. Also, he won, which was likewise impressive.

Steve will be joining Andrew on Chowhounds on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 10am to discuss the future of fine dining in Minneapolis. Tune in to 100.3 fm to catch the conversation.

To be, or not to be....a Pescetarian

On Wednesday night, I enjoyed an anniversary dinner with my boo. He's dreamy - Sarah agrees. Happy anniversary, boo!





We hit up an italian joint called Al Vento in our Longfellow neighborhood. We were greeted by a PYT - maybe 18 years old, and promptly seated at a charming table near the front of the restaurant. We discussed Dara Moskowitz over dinner and some of her latest reviews. Sam, the waiter, eavesdropped and made a comment about how he was gonna meet her someday. We smiled. I love how she writes even if I don't always agree with what she writes.

The menu was mouthwatering. We selected the house red wine and a sampling of bruschettas - tomato basil,
caponata, duo olive tepenade, and artichoke walnut. Each was very tasty, especially the artichoke walnut. We followed that with golden beat salad with fennel vinaigrette and warm goat cheese. Beet lovers, such as myself, are thrilled with all the new beet salads hitting menus around here! It took awhile, but I finally selected a lovely plate of fettucinni with clams and shrimp and garlic and herbs for dinner. The sauce was to die for. I wanted to eat it with a spoon. The little clams were a delight! gerg opted for the Bucatini all' amatriciana with tomato and pancetta. I took a small nibble of a bucatini noodle, having never even heard of it, and I liked the bite of one of the tube-like noodles - a unique texture, still al dente, for sure. The ragu on gerg's pasta was hearty and chock full of tangy tomato and pancetta chunks. He liked it.

The food at Al Vento? Robust. Full of flavor, not dominated by garlic. Moderately priced, lit for romance, I believe this little corner joint will stick around, like Broder's. Very neighborhoody. Very bistro-like. We toasted several times. Sam, our waiter, crawled under our table to fix a brazen wobble while I eavesdropped on a visiting med student from California who refused to stop talking about anything pertaining to himself.


Al Vento
5001 34-th Ave. S,
Minneapolis, MN, 55417
(612) 724-3009







Now to the heart of the matter and a topic of our dinner conversation last night. Frequently, people refer to me as a vegetarian. I'm not a vegetarian. I had been a vegetarian (not a vegan) awhile back, but missed fish and seafood too much, so I dropped anchor, and grabbed the first prawn in sight. So technically, I'm a pesco-vegetarian, or a pescetarian. In other words, I don't eat birds or mammals, but I'll gladly rip open a lobster carcass to remove tender bits and dip them in butter. Not that any of this really matters in the scheme of things, but I don't like the idea of being called a vegetarian, because I'm not one. So, when I correct people, I've said a variety of different crap, such as "No, I eat fish and seafood;" "Actually, I'm not a vegertarian cuz I love sushi;" "I'm a pescatarian." Here's the rub; I loathe the word 'pescatarian.' When I think of some asshole rambling about being a 'pescatarian,' I want to punch myself in the face.

So that's my dilema. I loathe the word that describes me. I don't want to refer to myself as a 'pescatarian' when I correct those who call me a vegetarian (you'd be surprised how often that happens). While some of you might argue that the easiest solution would be to start eating other meats, I say "Screw that. I don't want to." The facts: I don't like consuming mammals and birds. I love chowing on fish. Even while gerg was revelling in a ho-made NY strip topped with gorgonzola, I opted for the garlicy green beans and roasted potatoes and peppers on Tuesday night.

we couldn't come up with a better word than pescatarian. We're working on it though. And that word is gonna be SO COOL. I just know it. We're open to friendly suggestions.

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Oh, and in case you were wondering about Christmas and NYE, they were both amazing!
Christmas was all about visiting friends and family in Wisconsin. Highlights: ham dinner at my sis's house (no, I didn't eat any), making music and eating fruitcake at my parents', gigantic crab legs and playing dominoes with gerg's family, dinner at WCG and drinks at Peabodies in Oshkosh.

NYE was a blast. Two preparties, then bussed it to Temple to hear ack play rekkids. Then a secret afterparty involving djs and a boozey concoction. Highlights: a Packer victory!, champagne, a fun bus ride involving "Down by the Bay," ack's killer set, and a wikked dance party at 215.

As if I need another reason to eat!!

A new Greek restaurant just moved into our neighborhood about a month ago.

It's called Calypso - Greek Fusion Cuisine. Nestled between Midori's Floating World Cafe and El Nuevo Rodeo. We stopped there for a late lunch this past weekend.

I spoke with Adam Johnson, who seemed excited about opening a new business in our area. He served up our late lunch with a bunch of information about each dish. Also, they have Dr. Pepper, which rulz.

I ordered a classic Greek lentil soup for my lunch. It was earthy and warm with just a few veggies added for texture and flavor, with a twist of lemon on top. Gerg sampled a "fusion" dish - Mediterranean quesadillas. Of course, we split the Calypso Sampler - Hummus, Baba Ganouj, Falafel and Dolmathes served with tahini and feta cheese. The tahini and rice dolmathes were my favorites. gerg liked the hummus.

And in case you think the name for the restaurant is strange, check yourself. Calypso was a gorgeous nymph in Greek mythology. She made an appearance in Homer's Odyssey.















Calypso
3009 27th Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55406
(612) 724-8071

Johnson asked me to avoid the website since they want to update it, but I wanted to at least share the menu. THE MENU ON THE WEBSITE ISN'T COMPLETE. They have a dinner menu as well, offering seafood, lamb, chicken, vegetarian, etc. Veggie heads will love this place. Rest assured, the site will be updated. Wanna go? Johnson gave me some coupons. Hit me up.