Morning of the fair: SPC vendors

Heather from Bright Lights Little City sets up her lamps made from cocktail umbrellas. One of my personal favorites and a crowd favorite as well. Unfortunately all these photos are from setup, so you don't see the shoppers or even the totally constructed displays. Just take what you see here and multiply the coolness by at least two to get an idea of what it was like on the day of the Craftstravaganza.

Jason was one of many first-time vendors at our fair, and his glass resin bowls were another popular item. He told us that he spent all winter making them and had no idea how they would sell, so I think he was happy with the turnout. They were really quite pretty. We saw lots of people walking around the building with one of his bowls in their hands. If I'd been in the Christmas shopping mindset I think I would have purchased at least one.

Chris and Isara from Polaire construct a rack. Actually, looks like Isara's doing most of the work here, and she showed up the night before to decorate the table as well. I didn't even get a chance to really look at their table during the show because I was rushing around so much, which is my biggest regret of the day. One of my coworkers said she knows these two, but I didn't see her at the show, although my boss and three of my other colleagues did attend! Lisa brought her son and he bought a copy of my Bob the Golfer comic book, so I have a new fan!

This is Jenny Gehlhar setting up a nice vertically-oriented booth space, which were purportedly the most popular. She was spacing out those pillows near the end of the day because she was selling out so fast. That is what we like to see in the craft fair business. Jen also publishes the local punk zine Atomic and plays in a band, so she is basically one of the coolest girls I have ever met.

The 7two7 Glass booth was another favorite, although we were nervous all day about one of the racks getting knocked over! Jenna bought a cute glass barette from here. A more limited assortment of 7two7 products is displayed at Quince on Grand Ave, but it was awesome to see all of this in one place. I wish I'd had more time to see it all.

Faythe Levine from Flying Fish and the Indie Craft Documentary! We bought something from her too, but she was mostly there to film interviews for her documentary. It was a lot more fun than the live TV interview, and I hope they find something that is worth using in the movie. We will be looking forward to seeing it when it is complete! Faythe was super nice and I wanted more time to talk with her, but we might make another trip down to visit her in Milwaukee at the new location of her craft store, Paper Boat.

The Pursecution booth was right next to the empty booth that was next to ours. We had a very diverse group of both vendors and shoppers, which gives me a good feeling, plus it's just plain awesome to see more tattooed folks around. Some of our more elderly attendees did not enjoy the show very much, but they did list "people-watching" as their favorite part. The people are really what it's all about.

Here's some stuff from Nate's Custom Sewing. He has pillows for sale at Quince too. I also liked the flat art but, once again, I didn't really have time to enjoy it. I was really glad that we were able to get (comparatively speaking) so many male vendors at a craft fair.

Here's one last vendor booth, but I can't tell which one! Looking back at the photos I realize there were some tables I never gave more than a glance to the whole day--there was just so much to see and so much going on. I haven't even covered everything, so I'll try to wrap up tomorrow with the band photos and any vendor tables I've got left. What a weekend! It's going to be Thursday before I can talk about how I spent my Sunday.

The giant St. Paul Craftstravaganza post w/ pictures

Two Cities Two Wheels style, here is a photo tour of the St. Paul Craftstravaganza (SPC). I'm glad we got some pictures, because I was so busy this weekend that I missed a lot of it.

On Friday afternoon, Jenna and I started measuring and taping the booth spaces and sorting tables and chairs for the vendors. Vendors began drifting in for setup around 4:30 and stayed till 7:30. The building still looks pretty bare at this point, but you can see our own table semi-set-up in the foreground, and vendors and friends milling around in back.

Here's the same aisle the next morning (I think?), just about ready for the show. We greeted each vendor as they came in, if we saw them in time, and by 8:30 every vendor had arrived at the building. After people had their own stuff set up, they went around to other peoples' booths to shop. I planned to do my purchasing during this time, but I was already quite busy assisting. Mostly I felt compelled to run around and ask vendors if they needed help with anything, which was probably not necessary.

The show started at 9:00 AM sharp. Andy Lambert carted away the free Peace Coffee, the Roe Family Singers played, and the shoppers began trickling in. Before we opened the doors, I purchased this pre-selected shirt from Nate at Withremote, just across the aisle from our booth. A bargain at $10, and still available via his online store. I was stylin'. This is how I looked during our interview on WCCO TV news at 10:00.

We don't have photos of the interview with me and Jenna, but you can see us for a limited time on the WCCO site, supposedly, though I can't find it. Here's Maya Nishikawa interviewing vendor Tara Burns. I hear they also showed Aisha Celia spinning yarn and buttonmaking at the Crabby Sisters booth.

I wasn't sure if a workshop at 9:00 would attract enough participants, but the Yarnery's learn to knit class was probably the best-attended one all day. Jenny Harada's workshop on making stuffed animals looked like lots of fun too!

We gave away lots of free stuff during the day. Here's one of our swag tables before it was decimated by 2,000 attendees! It's too bad we don't have any crowd shots, most of these photos were taken before the fair or right after it started. Foot traffic was actually fairly steady throughout the day, and it was a big building, so I don't think the vendors realized we had over 1,700 shoppers plus family friends volunteers media etc. I don't want Blogger to freak out, so I'm going to post this now and follow up in the next one with photos of vendor booths and our bands. What a great--but exhausting--weekend.

Craft around the corner

First of all: THE CRAFTSTRAVAGANZA IS THIS WEEKEND! July 8! 9-4! Don't miss it or you are a sucker, and nobody wants to hang out with a sucker. I'm sorry but that's just the way it is.

Today's post is the third and final installment on my personal choice vendors. Also for the third and final time, I want to point out that this is not an exhaustive list! I'm more excited than anything to meet all of our vendors (most for the first time) and see their crafts in person, and we do love them all equally. Some are just more equal than others. Look at our vendor page and pick out your own favorites!

Pursecution: A not insignificant number of vendors will be selling purses/bags/clutches/etc. at the show, and I will not be buying any (I can't say the same for my wife). Jackee Strom has two things going for her that, in my mind, set her apart. Awesome name? check. Purses made with epoxy-coated wood and board games? double check!

Another category in which we are well-stocked and I am overall uninterested is jewelry. As with the bags, Jenna picked most of our jewelry vendors and I deferred to her judgment when determining the relative merits of similar artists. But there was one jeweler who really caught my eye with her sterling silver/stained glass pendants. When I saw her work, I knew that Fiery Lion Designs had to be a vendor in the Craftstravaganza.

I learned to knit last winter, and it may have been a short-lived craze, but I'm still psyched about local crafter Aisha Celia's handspun yarns. You can see her etsy shop by clicking on the link, but it's closed down in preparation for our fair!

Just one more and then I'm out of here. Aisha's our only spinner, and our only blower is Vicki Olson of 7two7 glass. Depending on how you measure these things, she may be the true winner of our long-distance vendor prize, as she was born in England before traveling to Minnesota (via California) just for the Craftstravaganza. Note that you can also buy some of her work at Quince on Grand Ave. Besides the obligitory jewelry, Vicki also uses glass to create picture frames, vases, coasters, bowls, and barrettes. What I like the best are her spin-colored wall clocks.

Okay! I've got to go get ready for the fair. And what about you? Have you got your wallet filled with cash, your ears ready for rocking out, and your optimal route planned? I'll see you at the SPC!

Illustration celebration

I bought Jenna a Communication Arts subscription for Christmas, and it's safe to say I'm enjoying it at least as much as she is. Last week, my favorite issue arrived in the mail: the Illustration Annual! With my greasy grilled cheese held at a safe distance in my right hand, I eagerly paged through the magazine with my left, spotting great work from some illustrators I've heard of, and some that I haven't. For this post, I'm going all Drawn on ya and posting a few of my favorites.

Yuko Shimizu (work shown at left/above) is a name I'd swear I'd heard before, but nothing in her online portfolio really rang any bells, although it did cement my position as a fan of her work. A little rugged, a little raw, a little OMG NSFW!!

Marcos Chin (you know, the guy who did the Lavalife ads?) had some lovely art in the magazine, but I didn't find anything I liked nearly as much on his website. Here it is anyway! Get some of your new stuff on the online please, Mr. Chin.

Everyone is crazy about Gary Baseman. I like his work alright, I even went to see the man at Ox-Op earlier this year, but I just can't catch the fever. It's just as well, since my wife hates his style, so it's not like I'd be able to decorate our home with Baseman paraphernalia anyway! For some reason whenever I think of Baseman I also think of Jeff Soto, and that's a dude I could get on board with. But he wasn't in Communication Arts, and we'd be here all night if I started free-associating all the artists I like. So back to the issue at hand.

My favorite illustration of all is a half-page image of HMS Victory done by an artist named Kako. I had to dig a bit, but I managed to find it online! It is here, and now also featured on my desktop background.

When I first read about I am 8-bit, it sounded like pretty much the best idea ever. Art based on vintage video games, you say? It's about time, I say. Google around and you'll be sure to round up more images; I couldn't go to the show, but I heard about it on Wired and this Duck Hunter/Thompson mashup by Tim Tomkinson was one of my favorite pieces. Let's enjoy it with me.

I hope you don't asplode

Happy Fourth of July! Remember kids, fireworks kill four people in the US every year. This is almost as many people as are killed by bunk beds (five). Sleep tight!

Actually, I'd like to see a professional sparkler handler in action. What would they do differently? I like to draw my name in the air, maybe I could get some pointers on my technique.

BREAKING NEWS: Live TV coverage of the St. Paul Craftstravaganza is a possibility! More details as they come in to SPC HQ.

UPDATE: Maya Nishikawa from WCCO TV news will be filming live at the fair on Saturday morning. Together with the Indie Craft Documentary crew, that makes a lot of media attention for our show!

The Men of Craftstravaganza

Perhaps the surest sign that this is no ordinary old-lady craft fair is the fact that several of our vendors are, in fact, males. Whereas traditional "ducks in bonnets" style craftwork may be less appealing to men, the kind of art we looked for could be more or less appreciated by both genders. I counted, and out of 67 booth spaces, at least 12 include one or more dudes (some tables are shared by multiple vendors). That's like eighteen percent! Here are a few of my personal top picks.

It all starts with John Carlson, who is also the President of the Board at the Sibley Bike Depot. He paints Ukranian eggs, but there's not much online yet. Jaak assists with our scrapping operations at the shop, and keeps some choice parts for his sculpture work. He also makes some unique jewelry that I think could go over at the show. Finally, there's Nate's Custom Sewing, who made a custom saddle and grips for John's vintage 3-speed! The craft world and the bike world are both very small.

Lonny Unitus I must have mentioned before. He designs gig posters and I commissioned him to make our crazy giant-style poster for the show. We've been getting compliments on his work from lots of people already, so I think I made a good choice on that one. Withremote is Nate Nolting, another designer who makes band posters but also sells art prints, stickers and t-shirts. I am totally going to buy one of these shirts on July 8.

I am going to cut myself off after drawl graphic, even though that's less than half the talented guys who'll be at the Craftstravaganza. There are actually two guys in this studio (Chris and Adam (plus a girl, Lindsay)) and I like them both, but I'm partial to Adam's big cartoony style. Cool it, man. No, you cool it.

I wouldn't be so egoistical as to mention my own work again, oh no. Especially since I already posted about it twice.

Sunday morning cat blogging

We don't have a cat. This little buddy just showed up on our doorstep t'other day and meowed for food, so I brought him some of Lola's kibble, and he gobbled it up. The poor thing is bony and dirty and had no collar, so we assume he's a stray. I named him Euclid.

I'd like to keep him, but Jenna is advocating for a trip to the no-kill shelter. Money doesn't flow as fast and loose as it used to before the mortgage, and besides, we don't know that Lola would react favorably to another animal in the house. She's very jealous! I spent the morning giving Euclid some loving attention with a brush, and another serving of dog food. He devoured the food, but didn't care for the water. After a while, I went back inside the house and let him go his own way.

If he turns up again, is there anyone who'd like to adopt an adorable and very affectionate cat? He's got claws and I assume he's not spayed or neutered. I'm also only assuming he's a he, since I'm not a cat sexing expert or nothing. Won't you help a poor kitty from the streets?

Bob the Golfer

"Bob the Golfer" is a comic I drew that was printed in my high school and college newspapers. I refined my style significantly during the many years I drew the strip, and eventually moved it online. After shipping between various free hosting services, I finally bit the bullet and registered the (now defunct) bobthegolfer.net. By that time, I had standardized the size of the comic and moved to a full-color format. My output was three strips a week.

It ran online for a very short time (less than a year), but was critically acclaimed, with such webcomics luminaries as Tycho Brahe, Scott Kurtz, and R. Stevens conferring their blessings on the strip. I drew most of my best comics during that period, which ended with my trip to Japan. When I returned home, I drew a few more and then realized that I was done. Now, for the Craftstravaganza I designed and printed an ultra-limited run of FIVE hand-numbered comic booklets.

They're small, but they're high-quality prints and more than half the book is in full color. The cover image is a brand-new illustration made just for the book, and the strip on the back is appearing in color for the first time! Get 'em while they're hot!

Indiginous mushrooms of Marshall Ave

Coprinus comatus (Shaggy Mane)

I thought these little guys might make a tasty butter-sauteed snack, but this warning from Michael Kuo made me think twice.

Suddenly appearing in people's lawns--in troops or lines or rings--this mushroom is well known and relatively easily recognized. It is a well known and good edible, but probably not one for beginners, since it can bear a superficial resemblance to several poisonous mushrooms...and one should avoid any specimens growing on well traveled roadsides.

As a rank amateur who harvested these shrooms a foot away from our busy street, I'm handily disqualified from attempting to eat anything at this point. Thanks, MushroomExpert.com!

Visiting vendors from faraway lands

Of course we love all our vendors equally, but since this is my personal blog I'm going to highlight a few that I'm personally most excited to meet. Most of our artists are local, but a few brave souls are trekking across the country to attend this first-time, unproven, unknown event. This post is dedicated to those crafters who are coming from away to sell you handmade treasures on July 8.

First up, Jenny Harada. Early in the planning process, I decided it would be awesome to host workshops so that attendees could actually learn some craft skills of their own. I contacted Plush Rush to see if anyone there wanted to run a stuffed animal class, and Jenny volunteered! I was already a big fan of her creatures, so I was stoked to sign her up as both a workshop teacher and a vendor.

Also hailing from Ohio Detroit are the lovely ladies (and gentleman) of Tekkat, who sure know how to stage a photo. That page is the only functional one on their site at the moment, but they should have tons of great clothing items for sale at the Craftstravaganza.

Sweetie Pie Press is coming from Toronto. That is in Canada! This makes her our most international vendor, plus, she will be performing standup all weekend at Brave New Workshop, which is very admirable! She is the only one (I can think of right now) who is selling comics and zines, but there might be more. Also she will have "surprises" at her table, so you will just have to come to the fair to see what that is all about.

Heather Wells wins the prize for farthest vendor by coming to us all the way from North Attleboro, Massachusetts. Bright Lights Little City makes lamps out of cocktail umbrellas, and you really have to see that website to do them justice.

We have a few vendors coming from the Chicago/Milwaukee zone, which is great. I've sort of thought of them as local, especially when you compare that trip to one from Boston! I just want to tell you about one today, and that's the prodigious Faythe Levine. She manages the cute and fun Paper Boat Boutique, a retail shop for handmade goods in Milwaukee. She also organizes that city's alternative craft fair, Art vs. Craft. As such, I feel it was sort of a coup to have her come to our show, and we're delighted to have her. Not only will she be a vendor at the Craftstravaganza, she will also be filming footage for her latest project, the Indie Craft Documentary! And I thought we were busy...

On the importance of washing your fruit

Jenna plucked some ripe raspberries from our back yard bushes last night and instructed me to clean them. I ran some water on 'em and started tossing berries down my pie hole. After gorging myself for a few seconds, something got stuck back in the corner of my mouth. I tried tongueing it out, but whatever it was wouldn't budge, and it started to hurt. I stuck my finger into my throat and scraped out a little bee! I gave the rest of the raspberries a thorough rinsing after that.

Speaking of bees, remember when cars used to look awesome? (Photo is of a '71 Dodge Superbee, lest you question my transitional prowess.) Over 11,000 cars were registered in last weekend's Back to the 50's show, and one of them belonged to my father-in-law. He drives into the Cities every year, and he left home at 2:00 AM on Saturday to be among the first in line on Snelling Ave.

He always manages to get the same tree-shaded spot, so we like to sit with him for a few hours and grill burgers and drink beer. Sometimes we walk around the Fairgrounds to see what is going on. One of the vendors at this year's show was a working pinstriper by the name of Coop. And I thought, surely not THE Coop from LA, with the drawings of naked ladies (warning: naked ladies!). I knew he liked hot rods, but I didn't think he did striping. Sure enough, this Coop turned out to be Greg "Coop" Cooper from Lancaster, Ohio--but that didn't make it any less interesting to watch.

I interviewed myself

Mapaches and other forest creatures who would like to know more about the Daruma can read a Q&A on our SPC Crafter Showcase blog now. They look a lot better in this photo, but I really haven't gotten much work done on them in the past couple of days since I've been staying up late night after night to work on an Extra Secret Special Project that might be of interest to a handful of people that I know.

(once you're done reading my interview, you should go through the archives and see the rest--we have a fine group of vendors coming to this event and I'm mightily stoked to see them in person). I've been using the website and the SPC blog to promote the fair, and I'm talking it up on this blog too, of course. I try not to, but I can't--the Craftstravaganza is everything right now, and will be until it's over in less than two weeks.

So, I might spend every day between now and then talking about our vendors and why they're awesome. Be warned! After the fair maybe I'll really shut up about it finally. But probably not... I'm cramming months of preparation into a 7-hour event, so there's going to be a lot to unpack when it's done. But for now... vendor art!

I think I'm getting the hang of this MySpace thing

It still seems stupid, but it's helping to spread the word about our show. I've spent a few hours befriending local artists and crafty people who will hopefully enjoy the stuff we have to offer.

MySpace is kind of genius guerilla marketing. I'm not trying to sell you a product, I just want to be your friend! There's not much useful information on most peoples' pages but there's enough on some of them that statistics can be gathered and a market audience can be targeted for promotion. Authors are doing it now too. It takes some digging but if there's a niche for your product, you can find it.

It's more fun finding people for my own sake, though. The Craftstravaganza has gathered a burgeoning collection of friends that I might not have found except for this social networking experiment. Like John G, a stencil artist whose work I 'discovered' at the St. Paul Art Crawl without ever getting his name.

I was totally going to buy this painting, but it was like $300 or whatever.

BIOS ROM checksum error

Blowing my computer up has done wonders for my productivity, not to mention my blogging. The words got log-jammed and now they're pouring out. I only blog in the mornings after Jenna leaves for work or at night after she's gone to bed. I use her G5 which is wonderful and scary and I hate the tiny keyboard and I can't get used to this OS X interface even though I know it's supposed to be cool and all the kids are doing it.

When she's reading her bride forums I get kicked down to the basement and use the typewriter instead. The typewriter is for fiction and correspondence only. I wrote that short story over the weekend. It was very short (3 typewritten pages). It ended sooner than I thought. One of my characters turned out to be a real asshole. I thought he was going to play it cool, but he decided to make a scene, and then my main character hauled off and punched him in the jaw. It was a violent and sad tale.

I desire a digital camera of my own. Jenna's is too nice and I can't take it with me. I saw a pink moped today; it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

MPLSART's Art Forty Project

Forty-ounce bottles painted by local artists; full, chilled, and ready for drinking? Yes please! It's one of those ideas that I just wish I'd thought of first, but Robot Love has the local art connections to make it happen... maybe for next year's event we'll have our vendors illustrate alcoholic beverages.

There's a mixed beer and tequila concoction called Desperados that was sold in France in a limited series of illustrated bottles. It was a tough decision to leave my empties behind, because they were even prettier than the containers of wine that we drank on our Montparnasse apartment balcony. I don't even like tequila, but somehow that didn't stop me from loving this "tequila-flavored" beer. It tasted especially good in comparison to local favorite Kronenbourg, a forty that went unfinished in favor of other drinks.

Word on the streets is that Desperados is available in the US, but I've never seen it in Minnesota. Any local peeps got a lead?

Field Trip Tuesday

When I ordered posters for the St. Paul Craftstravaganza, I originally thought that 300 would be a good number. I settled for 150, but I worried, would that be enough? Now we've hung about a hundred, and we're struggling to find places for the rest.

I drove to Uptown and left posters and flyers at Intermedia Arts, ArtMaterials, Moxie, Frame It, Treehouse Records, Ink Lab, Alt Bikes & Boards, Bryant-Lake Bowl, TWO posters on the column outside the Wedge, flyers at Arise!, a poster at Penn Cycle, and big ups to whoever hung posters at Robot Love, St. Sabrina's and Uptown Tattoo, I dropped off flyers to keep them company, and hit Artscraps on my way back home.

Much love to Uptown, it's always a good trip. Of course I always forget my camera. Otherwise you might have been treated to a shot of the sexiest bike outfit ever that pulled together hotpants and torn fishnets. Or some nice graffiti, especially a piece behind Saint Sabrina's that might have been done by the same artist whose work is posted here. Instead here's the poster I swiped from Ink Lab and replaced with one of ours.

Craft attack: Daruma Army

We had an uncharacteristically productive weekend fixing plumbing painting the dining room getting fish postering for the SPC and then my car broke down on Sunday night and we were back and forth from the repair and rental places yesterday to get that sorted out. I talked to a reporter from the Star Tribune and she was very gracious but not optimistic about printing an article about the St. Paul Craftstravaganza on such short notice. I took the day off from work so I can drive to Uptown and hopefully hang the rest of our posters. I'll be dropping off stacks of flyers at places like Muddy Waters, Ink Lab, Robot Love, if they're open and I get there.

I'm working also on my crafts for the fair: Weebles repainted as Daruma. You can see a batch in various stages of completion here, plus their big brother who is made from an Easter candy package and jangles! I'm using the same design for all of them, but each one has its own personality. The completed Daruma will all have the mouths and gold kanji like he does. I'm going to have about 30 when I'm done, which should look respectable on our vendor table next to Jenna's cards/beads display and possibly... some copies of The Best of Bob the Golfer?

I am writing a story for you

Well the craft fair is coming up and I'm busy organizing and painting my crafts and my computer exploded but you don't want to hear excuses about not blogging. I posted on the BikePed blog about the 24-hour feature film challenge that's happening tonight/tomorrow. I thought about participating for about five minutes, but I decided not to do it because

a) I just found out about it
b) I don't have a video camera
c) I don't know anyone who'd be able to film it with me last-minute,

and plus what do I know about filmmaking and I didn't feel like going out to Minneapolis with the t-storm looming. I would have been destroyed, as it turns out, so good call on my part. But I liked the idea of the challenge and I thought one thing I could do was a personal 24-hour short story challenge. I haven't done any noteworthy writing in a while (not even blogging which is just stream of consciousness simple especially after a few cans of Black Label) so with my computer on the fritz I unpacked my Smith-Corona and loaded up the paper and started clacking away at those keys. The U still sticks but it works okay. One page down and no stopping till I've told a story to my satisfaction. I stumbled on novels because they're meant to be so long and I type through the action too quickly since my prose is fast and danger. For a short story, this works. Fisticuffs are about to ensue! I'll let you know how it goes.

We have issues to get off our chests

That's right, we have seven boxes of free BUST magazines for Craftstravaganza attendees to take home on July 8. We also have a load of Altar magazines and Radio K stickers. What else is going to be free at the SPC? Well, let's see... live music, facepainting, workshops... oh, and admission! It's all free, people!

We got the beaut

Grand Old Day is an annual event in our neighborhood that is happening this weekend. Their website is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, but the funniest one is on their main page, where they claim that "Monies colleted [sic] at the event go towards ... avenue beatification." Can an Ave. become a Saint? Maybe if it performs some miracles this year, then next year's revenue will go toward canonization! I guess it could be worse. "Saint Grand Avenue" would still be substantially less unwieldy than "Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard."

Science boy

Owning a home means, to me, that I now have a "home base" for learning about science and nature! Will Wright's upcoming game Spore has reignited my interest in natural sciences, from cellular biology on up to astronomy. As I get older, I'm learning that the stuff I thought was cool when I was a kid is still awesome. I've always had a fondness for those misunderstood and unappreciated creatures, the bugs. I found this little fellow lurking beneath a decorative pond that I've left partially unfinished for a couple of weeks now. Before he scuttled away, I got a good look at him and ran inside to consult What's That Bug? dot com. There, I learned that he is "a Sow Bug Killer, Dysdera crocota. They are one of the few predators that will eat sow bugs which have an unleasant taste." What a useful spider!

A Very British Weekend! The Lake Pepin 3-Speed Tour

The tour was a hoot. We did about 80 miles in two days and it sounds like a lot when you put it that way, but we biked slowly and stopped often. I got out of the weekend with nothing worse than a sore butt, although my dad felt a bit worse than that. Anyway, it was meant to be for fun, and we had our fun. Weather was superb; we got sprinkled a bit, but otherwise it was beautiful and sunny with a generous tailwind. Lots of big birds around there. I rode a '72 Raleigh Superbe, truly a deluxe model 3-speed bicycle. There was one other gentleman in attendance with the same bike in a '74 model, and they were really similar. Out of the other 47 people, there was an impressive array of different manufacturers and weird modifications for a vintage bike geek to drool over.


Here's my dad in proper "gentleman cyclist" period attire, before heading off on the route. We drove in to Red Wing, Minnesota to mass up and spent an hour or so admiring each other's bikes and making introductions. I recognized Matt from Two Cities Two Wheels but I didn't let on that I knew his secret identity. There's a photo of me having a good time in knickers here. Local bike industry legend Ron Storm was there, and hardcore Joanne who did the whole loop in a skirt and high heels. One participant was on an orange single-speed Bridgestone XO-1, which technically isn't a 3-speed at all, but still a very cool bike. Anyway, after announcements and giveaways, the group saddled up and crossed the bridge into Wisconsin, where we began our loop of Lake Pepin (a fat part of the Mississippi River). On Saturday we biked down the WI side and then crossed back into Wabasha, Minnesota for the night.


There was a strong showing from the Sibley Bike Depot contingent. Pictured here are President of the Board John Carlson and super-volunteer Terry Hanson. John was riding his nice Armstrong with custom leather seat & grips (done by Craftstravaganza vendor Nate of Nate's Custom Sewing!), and Terry rocked a homebrewed 3-speed monster with 700cc wheels. His bike required some moderate repairs later on, and I made some adjustments to my seat height, but otherwise it was a remarkably trouble-free weekend considering the age and condition of some of these worthy steeds. Volunteer Karl did blow out one of his skinny racing tires on a rough descent, but otherwise we coasted through the weekend with nary a breakdown.


The theme of the ride is, "we have all day to arrive at our destination so let's not spoil it by showing up early." Frequent rests were the order of the day. Besides historical markers and scenic overlooks, we made stops for drinks and treats at some cozy little places. I especially recommend the Smiling Pelican Bakery in Maiden Rock, WI. I ate a slice of Balinese Vanilla Bean Cheesecake and washed it down with Sprecher's root beer. That's energy food! The Wabasha Cycling Club feted us with free dinner on Saturday night, served with--what else?--English Ale. The lumpy motel mattress didn't do much to alleviate my saddle sores, but anything felt good compared to my vintage Brooks saddle. Maybe if I ride it throughout the year, it will be soft and broken-in in time for 3-Speed Tour 2007.


The second day was a bit more grueling than the first, but another rule of the Tour is "no complaining," so we maintained a stiff upper lip. I don't know if I'll really make it out to next year's ride, but it was a tremendous experience that reminded me how much fun it can be just to ride a bike. It's a lesson I forget easily, but I remember quickly every time I get back in the saddle. Hooray for cycling!

spring fever/cleaning

I haven't missed posting here that much, but my wife told me to update last night, and I always do what she says. To recap, we bought a house, I started a new job, and the Craftstravaganza is less than two months away. The past couple of weeks, we've been getting settled in our home. We have cable again, thus the blogging. Out-of-doors, there's a lovely garden that we are muddling with.

At the Depot, my new old 3-speed Raleigh is being repaired with the help of shop manager "downtown" Dave Blessing. It's a gorgeous bike with a dynohub on front, Sturmey-Archer '72 on rear, Brooks saddle, the works. I'll post photos for the vintage bike geeks when it's done. If all goes as planned, I will be riding this worthy steed at the Lake Pepin 3-Speed Tour with my dad next weekend.

I guess that's what I am most excited about right now. The usual rash of weddings this summer, baby stuff, &c... I should point out for the sake of my tomodachi in Japan that there's new Spore footage from E3, so bideo o mite kudasai. Domo. (update: long video featuring Robin Williams)

The big announcement

You might have guessed by now. There are maybe only three events worthy of such fanfare: a baby, a house, and a Craftstravaganza. We're already doing a Craftstravaganza, so that's clearly not it. And, as my astute friend Aaron J surmised, "you don't have to wait till Thursday to close on a baby, so i'm guessing it's a house." He guessed correctly.

I wasn't going to say anything until it was final, but then my wife announced it via her online methods, so I had to go ahead and say something as well. We were worried of looking foolish if something should fall through, and we almost did lose our financing at the last minute, which was scary. Luckily, everything worked out in the end. After signing about a million things we walked out of our closing this morning with a tiny key that's worth more than my life. Now who wants to help us move?

First bat of spring

All the signs are out, it's time for change. A major announcement will be revealed on Thursday, so if you've hung on this long, you might as well check back again in two days.

The St. Paul Art Crawl was good times. The weather was freakishly hot. I went with my parents to the Bike Depot so we could pick up my dad's repaired 3-speed for the Lake Pepin tour in a month. Two of our Craftstravaganza vendors were in the building: John Carlson and "Abstracts by" Jaak. We coasted down to lowertown and did the walking tour of a couple more buildings before heading home.

It's wonderful there are so many artists around, but how would I ever hear about them if it wasn't for events like these? It's really a small world though. I was meeting a girl about a bike for sale today and she used to be neighbors with the previous Treasurer at the Bike Depot.

See how we are?

We got some photos from the championship RollerGirls bout last weekend, but none of them turned out very well. That's not the big news anyway.

I got a new job. That's right, three years after graduating from college... I finally found a job that's somewhat related to my major. I'm going to be the office manager for a small medical research firm. The pay is not stellar, but the benefits are okay, and the best part is that I only have to work four 8-hour days each week. Or is the best part that I get my own office? Or that we'll have health insurance again? Anyway, it's a good thing. And it's in St. Paul, which means we'll be sticking around this area after all. And I'm okay with that.

So I guess this makes me an uncle?

My niece was born some time yesterday evening. I'm not a girl so I don't know the exact time or measurements, but at least after a few repetitions I can remember her name: Nadia something. Right, honey?

Tags:

• life

Showcase

Hey! Look! It's the St. Paul Craftstravaganza Crafter Showcase! See, it's because I'm working on things like this that I'm not posting on my blog anymore. I should have one of those up daily for about a month or so. Go check them out please.

The job that ate my brain

Durrr.
Here's a sneak preview of Craftstravaganza vendors for both my hardcore fans who're still looking for something to kill a few minutes on Friday afternoon. I took a half day to finish that. Ha!

VENDOR PAGE

Whoop de doo!

Renaissance

Of course I'm excited to ride bike again. The air is getting warmer and the days are getting brighter longer and the noise of the birds and grass buds popping out from below the dead brown thatch of last year's crop all reminds me of great journeys and itching to get in the saddle. But did you know that I hardly even rode a bike after learning how when I was a kid and getting into the big crash that scraped the skin of my right kneecap leaving me with a shiny purple scar that I'll carry the rest of my life, until I borrowed my dad's Peugeot to tool around campus and locked it up one day and forgot about it? (My sin against the bicycle world). On days when I believe in karma I wonder what the bicycle underneath me might have in store for revenge because it knows. Every flat tire and skipped chain is payback for leaving that beautiful old frame to rust and die. I didn't appreciate it then but I understand now.

I didn't ride for most of winter--they say there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad gear, well--I didn't have the gear I needed, and now I don't have the body for it anymore either I'm tired and weak and lazy just like this time last year emerging from my law school applications haze and wondering what's next?

Of course I'm excited to ride bike again. I'm sure I will, any day now. . . .

Tags:

• bicycles

Always ask for the job

Just a quick question, then I have to go back in my box.

One piece of advice for job interviews I've found is, "always ask for the job." A guest speaker in my Entrepreneur class once said that if an applicant asked him for the job at an interview, he would hire that person on the spot. So I always try to ask for the job at the end of my interviews.

The problem is, I've never found an actual explanation of how to ask for the job without coming across as either needy or arrogant. If I say, "please give me the job," then I sound pathetic. But if I just demand, "give me the job," then I'm a cock. There's got to be a proper way to phrase this request, since so many have recommended it, but I've racked my brain and can't figure out how it's supposed to go. Any advice?

Blog break

I may be embarking on a temporary hiatus from posting here due to general craziness in other, more important areas of my life. Thanks. You might want to throw this on your feeds or what it is you do these days. I'll be back sometime.

Got lost in the rideup to the plungedown

I awoke at precisely 6:00 AM, one minute before my alarm was due to sound off. I hate when I do this. This seemingly preternatural awareness only suggests that I was more restless and un-asleep than I already felt. I can't relax at night. My dreams are too real and rational. At least when the alarm wakes me up, I feel like I've squeezed out every minute of possible sleep from the morning. After a week of all this, I think I can chalk it down as a symptom of stress.

The 40-60 minute bus ride to/from work is the most relaxing part of my day. No responsibilities and no pressures and nothing I can possibly do except to lose myself in a book. I read novels at a fantastic pace this way. If I had leftover motivation then I might could even write one... but the transit is a phase of re-creation... plug me into the busline while my batteries recharge...

I ought to be even busier on this weekend. It'll be a relief to board that city bus again Monday morning and deposit me in somnolent corporate office land where my mind can zone out and rest. TGIF?

Tags:

• life
• work

Happy White Day!

Last night I brought home a bouquet of jade roses to give my wife for White Day. White Day is a terrific Japanese holiday that we men should really lobby for here in America. Valentine Day in Japan is when women give chocolate to men. Then, one month later, the men give gifts in return.

It is a brilliant setup for many reasons, but primarily because it serves as a one month reminder and extension of time to prepare a gift (it is especially ironic that I can forget about Valentine's Day since February 14 is, in fact, my birthday). So next time you forget to do anything on February 14, you can tell your significant other: "of course I didn't forget about Valentine's Day, honey! I am one month early for White Day!"

Tags:

• travel

Stardust @ home

Yesterday's setback aside, the recent encroachment of nice weather has started me thinking again about the world outside my heated house. I'm looking forward to more gardening this year, mushroom hunting in the spring, and summer weekends at The Lake.

Late last autumn I also renewed my interest in Astronomy: constellation spotting, star waching, phases of the moon, and what have you. So I was excited to discover Stardust@home, a hands-on way to participate in an unprecedented project.

Basically, we've retrieved the FIRST EVER samples of interstellar dust particles from the Stardust spacecraft. The problem is that the impacts are so tiny, "it would take more than twenty years of continuous scanning" for scientists to locate them all. So, they are calling on volunteers to assist with the effort by using an online "virtual microscope" to scan through the images online.

There's more information at their website. You don't have to commit to anything as a volunteer, so I figure it's worth a shot. And if you are a serious Astronomy geek, this should entice you to sign up: "the discoverer of an interstellar dust particle will appear as a co-author on any scientific paper by the Stardust@home collaboration announcing the discovery of the particle." Wow! I can just see it now, my own little Sui Generis particle. That would make a good story for the grandkids.

Snow emergency

Some folks thought Spring was on its way when we had temps in the 50s the other day, but I trekked to my bus stop through a bonafide blizzard this morning. Brutal winds and piled-up snow made biking practically impossible, and not much better for motor vehicles. We took on a load of passengers from the bus before ours, which was stuck. Then our bus got stuck. Luckily, by then, the other bus had un-stuck itself and pulled up alongside our bus. I trudged back over to that bus and rode the rest of the way to work.

After all that, I was only a half-hour late. The office was pretty quiet when I arrived. I'm sure that lots of people are not going to make it to work today at all... like my wife.

Note this is the AFTER photo when hours of shoveling had been done in the alley. Our neighbor's van was stuck directly behind her car for the greater part of the morning. Besides that, the streets in our neighborhood traditionally don't get plowed until two or three days after a major storm. No point in pulling out of the alley just to get marooned on the street, I told her.

Say shh.....

Funny how the busier my life gets, the quieter my blog becomes. Even Wednesday's wine post was written mostly in advance. If you've been following along then you know that this is the big week for craft fair work. Applications dumped on us earlier in the week and we're still sorting through them to select our vendors for this year. It's a fun, but time-consuming, process and we're ready to be done with it! Of course, the hard part comes early next week when we make our selections, create the acceptance packets and send out all the mailings.

I'm hating my current job about as much as I hated my last one, so the ol' job hunt is back in full swing. I lasted about three or four months, which is pretty good considering I'm doing all the tedious crap work that nobody else wants to do. There's only so long any human being can endure this sort of brainless tedium. I've reached my tolerance point.

Back to the Craftstravaganza: something shocking happened yesterday, and I have to share it with you. I contacted a well-known Twin Cities charity organization with the offer of free space at our show to accept donations and hand out literature to potentially thousands of shoppers. They shot us down cold. I'm not naming any names, but my wife and I will not be donating any of our money to this organization in the future. Here was my wife's response when I told her about it:

J: I can't believe that. They're REJECTING our donations? Tell that to the hungry people!

SG: They've really been spoiling the poor people lately, with all that food and warm clothing.

Tags:

• craftstravaganza
• work
• life

OMG NASA LMAO!!!!!!!1

"The orbits of teh two asteroids are also different."

WBW #19: When in Rhône

The focus for March's Wine Blogging Wednesday is grape varietals from France's Rhone Region. Lucky me, I just happened to have a couple of appropriate bottles laying around. I jumped in on last month's WBW because it was easy: I didn't have to go anywhere or reveal my relatively low knowledge of wine with inadequate tasting notes. I'm participating in this month's event because of the former and in defiance of the latter. Ready? Let's begin!

I thought immediately of my bottle of "Goats do Roam," a white blend from South Africa using Rhone varietals. Too obvious? Yeah, but I couldn't resist. Another blogger actually wrote about this wine for January's "wacky names" WBW. They describe it as light bodied and had difficulty identifying particular flavors. I wonder if we drank the same wine. My wife, no wine connoisseur, declared a definite scent of apricots. The most striking feature was an up-front taste of grapefruity tartness, which is a good thing in my book, but your mileage may vary.

I began to wonder, though, was this taste intentional? Do many Rhone whites share this feature? Hell if I know! (According to the Basic Juice review, it's "[n]othing like a white Côtes du Rhone" but I can only take their word for it). With a professional review, you'd have the benefit of a wine expert telling you what it's supposed to taste like. I personally have no basis of comparison, so I can only tell you what it did taste like. Hey, you get what you pay for.

A bottle of Goats do Roam might cost $10-15 depending on where you buy it. I grabbed two bottles on the recommendation of Dr. Vino (he reviews the red on the second page here), and I'll try this wine again.

Tags:

• wine

Taking a break from all your worries

Lately I don't feel like going to help out at the Depot, but there's probably no better pick-me-up after a long Monday at the office. Yesterday we sold a bike, lock & rack to a customer who was enthusiastic about supporting local shops, and that made me feel good to be there. Wilbur came in with some home-brewed IPA and that made me feel really good to be there (thanks again Wilbur--I thought it was better than Bell's Two Hearted).

It's just like riding a bike; sometimes I don't feel like doing it, but I'm invariably happier after a ride. Some weeks I want to stay home from volunteer night at the Sibley Bike Depot, but I'm always glad I came.

(cross-posted at Sibley Bike)

Tags:

• bicycles
• beer

My brain is dying.

This job is killing my motivation and my creativity. It was fun while it lasted, but now it's officially played out. I'm ticked at the company where I'm worked and I'm ticked at the temp place since they can't get me a new job while I'm still working this one. A plague o' both your houses.

Craftstravaganza buttons

Ooh shiny. A special treat came in the mail today along with the applications. Our one-inch buttons for the Craftstravaganza have arrived!

Remember that applications must be postmarked by Monday and if we pick you as a vendor, you'll be getting one of these beauties along with your acceptance packet. What more do you need?

The only other way to get them is going to be at the Craftstravaganza, so mark your calendars for July 8. Everybody loves buttons.

Busy bee

Phew! I just typed out a resume that includes my volunteer work and planning a Craftstravaganza on top of my paying jobs. I can't believe I'm doing all of this at once! At least the craft fair is coming along smoothly. Applications are pouring in now and we expect to see the floodgates open over the next week since entries must be postmarked by Monday.

Meantime, both my wife and I are job-hunting and looking for a new place to live. We're attending a first-time home buyer's seminar tomorrow, so that could be educational, or else a complete waste of time. I plan to bring a book in case it turns out to be the latter and there's no polite way to make our escape.

At the bike shop, it's just one adventure after another. I probably shouldn't say anything more about that, except if you wanted to drop some cash on bike stuff... now is the time. That would really help us out. Thanks.

Tags:

• craftstravaganza

Cross Country Chaga

A few days ago, I was watching the Olympic cross-country ski race and my wife asked me what it's like to go skiing. She can't ski, skate, snowboard or play video games for very long because of a weird congenital disease that weakened her wrists and ankles. I told her that it's hard work and kind of boring and I didn't really enjoy it. I don't like downhill skiing either, by the way. Winter sports in general, not my thing; skiing is the worst of the lot. Sledding I'm okay with.

So anyway come to find out that my friend at the Minnesota Mycological Society is leading a Chaga foray using cross country skis to get around. I would totally do this. Only problem, it's just out of Duluth. There's only one thing in winter I hate doing more than outside sports, and that's long drives.

Luckily, I don't even have to leave my house to play with mushrooms thanks to this Flash thingie, as they describe it, "A Mushroom perspective on John Conway's Game of Life." Mushrooms and math, what's not to love? Have fun, NERDS!

Straight outta St. Paul

I live in St. Paul, although you might look at my hot spots map and wonder (as I did), "why?" In fact, we had good reasons for moving here but no convincing argument to stay. What brought us to St. Paul is low rent in a Victorian home with a big yard, but I'm thinking Minneapolis for when we actually buy our own home.

In the meantime, we're here and I'm defensive about my city. "Hey, St. Paul can be cool," I say. That's part of the reason why we wanted to throw the Craftstravaganza within the city limits, to show that good things can happen to our city. Plus we've got the Sibley Bike Depot, my favorite Japanese Restaurant, Rollergirls bouts at the X, the farmer's market... I could go on.

But compared to Minneapolis? St. Paul's a dead city. Thus the joke about the first "discovery" of St. Paul by a Minneapolitan: he immediately got bored and went home. Still, I believe in St. Paul and I know there are gems yet to be discovered. So tell me. What are your favorites in the capital city?

On blog fiction

I started writing my fictional blog today. Of course, for the experiment to work, I can't tell anybody how to find it, but I can talk about it. Turns out blogs are a good format for fiction after all. A talented blog writer will post about the highlights of her day, interesting events, or pressing matters on her mind. In the same way, a good novel sticks to the story, moving from plot point to plot point, not getting mired in the minutiae of daily life.

As an aside, I missed On Beauty for this month's book club. I tried reserving it from my library but there were too many holds on it, so a week ago I requested the large print edition. It only just came yesterday. I finished the first three chapters (about 100 pages in my copy of the book) and it reminded me of The Corrections, another book that I did not enjoy. Since the book club unanimously hated On Beauty, I'm glad to see I won't be missing anything by quitting while I'm ahead.

So! My secret fictional blog. It should be good practice for developing novel-writing skills. I'm making up friends, events, and places of course. Most challenging of all is writing a first-person narrator who is not me, which is a skill I desperately need to learn since currently all my male characters are thinly-veiled clones of myself. Leave aside for now the fact that all my female leads are independent, tattooed, anarcho-hipster-punk cyclists. I don't need to change that, because it's awesome.

Tags:

• writing
• books

I love giving stuff away!

J and I started our spring cleaning early this year by junking some small furniture and clothes and paper trash, and reorganizing our kitchen. Ah, so much better. The owner of the house installed a new oven in our kitchen that works and it's a nice white color that inspires cleanliness instead of the old black antique. It's starting to feel good to be in our house again. It's the best rental I've ever lived in. I can only imagine the joy of owning our walls so we can paint and hang and decorate. I love this stuff. Before-and-after photos of interior design are like porn. I'm honestly not gay, though.

Tags:

• life

Oh, the places you'll go!

Yes, this is how I spent my morning:

It's a map of places in the Twin Cities where I like to go or want to check out. Sort of a to-do atlas. It's color coded! More or less.

Green: food marts & restaurants
Red: wine, beer & liquor stores
Brown: brewpubs, wine bars, coffee shops, breweries
Black: tattoos & music
Yellow: bikes
White: church/charity, other groups
Blue: art & other

Technology has failed me again!

I bought the parts for my new computer on NewEgg. They're a pretty good site with nice prices and fast shipping. The best feature they offer is user reviews, and they've got a large enough customer base that most products have a representative variety of opinions.

I went cheap as possible but I bought quality parts, with the exception of my case. I mean, it's just a plastic shell... not worth breaking the bank on, right? Except the case includes one crucial part: the power supply. And this particular case had a few reviews warning about the power supply breaking down. "Pssh," I thought, "what are the chances?" And it worked just fine... for about a month. Suddenly last week, I tried to turn it on and nothing happened. Sure enough, the power supply was fried.

Luckily everything else looks okay and my local geek squad (little brother) is installing a new supply for me. No such trouble with the typewriter. In fact, the sticky "u" key seems to have un-stuck with use and rarely gives me trouble any more. I miss having a computer, but I told my brother there's no hurry. As long as I get it back before Spore comes out.

On the Wagon

I like to drink alcohol. For those of you who are new here, it's the truth, drinking is a hobby of mine. I like drinking anything really--before I turned 21 I went through phases with pop, tea, juice, what have you--but with alcohol (and wine in particular) I have become a bona fide enthusiast. This enjoyment goes beyond the actual imbibing, of course, and extends to researching, collecting, visiting vineyards & wineries, &c.

But it all comes back down to the crux of the matter: actually drinking the stuff. Just between you and me, internet, this is my favorite part. As much I enjoy turning over bottles in pleasant wine shops, learning new information online, and writing in my little wine journal, none of that really compares to the pleasure of a good glass of booze (wine, beer, rum or otherwise).

So I drink a lot. Not a lot a lot, but enough that sometimes I wonder whether I'm in danger of developing addiction (this fear is founded solely on a family history with alcoholism and not any behavior on my part). So sometimes, I stop. I quit drinking for a week or two. I figure that if this is a problem, then my drinking is a problem. It has never been a problem. But it is kind of lame, since I like drinking, and it sucks to stop doing something that I like. At least my self-imposed prohibition allows me to focus on my other hobbies: I finally started work on my second sock!

Tags:

• booze

Nail biting

My wife and I have a sizeable amount of money sunk into the St. Paul Craftstravaganza, an event for which the vendor applications are due in less than two weeks. We need around fifty vendors to support our basic marketing budget, but we're hoping to host around seventy in total. We're doing well, since we have received some applications and I didn't think we'd see any until around now. Still, it's impossible to tell how many we will get in our mailbox between now and the cutoff date. I admit it, I'm nervous.

Once this part is out of the way, the rest of the planning is cake. Sure, in a few months I'll start to worry about drawing a crowd of shoppers to the event but at least by then I'll know we have an event to attract people to. It's all up in the air right now.

Realistically? Yes, I think we will be fine. We've done a ton of marketing online and on the streets to let artists know what we're up to. I'm optimistic. I know logically that there's nothing to fear. But just between you and me? I'm a bit of a wreck. It's like waiting for law school acceptance letters all over again. And we all know how that turned out. (I can't believe I was still waiting to hear back from schools last August...worst mistake of my life!)

Tags:

• craftstravaganza

No winter shall abate this spring’s increase.

I love relaxing reading on the bus ride to work while the sun rises and someone else does the hard work of driving for me. I love how the coffee on my tongue makes original Pringles taste like barbeque chips. I love watching trains roll overhead and wondering where the graffiti was drawn, and what the weather was like there, and how long it will last till it's erased and a new artist steps up to decorate the blank slate. I love the anticipation of hot tea, hot chocolate, hot baths during my walk home--an anticipation that is often more pleasant than the thing itself. I love the way Lola (my Pug) freaks out and runs up to greet me when I get home. I love the cozy feeling of stepping into warm slippers. I love cuddling with my wife.

I'm actually fed up with winter in Minnesota, and I hate this cold. But who wants to read about that?

Tags:

• life

LOL search query that found my site

i wanna go home. I dont wanna be in this school anymore.

I like to imagine that it is a broken law student who got here this way, but as the grammar suggests, it was actually a student, from Marist High School in Chicago. Does your teacher know what you're doing during school time, young man/lady? Whoever you are, I hope I helped you get through your day while you viewed my blog for zero seconds. With that, I'm out for the week! Peace!

Eat Me Twin Cities

(in which Sui Generis recommends restaurants in Minneapolis & St. Paul)

Coming off nearly a week of nothing but wine posts, I needed something to boost me out of the rut. Luckily, Nathan handed me a line! In the comments, he requests my suggestions for good food close to here. I'm not the best person to ask, for three reasons. A limited budget means I'd rather cook for myself at home; I always make a point to eat out while traveling, but otherwise do it rarely; and my wife and I don't agree on food which makes us even less likely to try new restaurants. Of course, you should read the Surly Vegan for occasional restaurant reviews from a vegan POV, but since you asked me...

• Sakura: I've mentioned before how they are the only restaurant in Minnesota to serve my favorite drink (Calpis), although it's on the secret menu and you have to request it. They also make the best vegetarian gyoza, ever. A bit pricey but a good place to bring our out-of-town friends.
• I haven't been in a while but I enjoyed Pizza Luce the last time we ate there, at the Uptown location. My wife and I sat outside for lunch and then made out in the car. The first time I visited a Pizza Luce, it was the Warehouse District location. A man asked for our leftovers as soon as we stepped outside and then my dinner companions went to Sex World.
• My favorite sub is a Jimmy John's #6 but that might be partially due to pleasant memories from my first visit to this establishment, which was during Spring Break (woo!) 2003.
  
• For Thai food the prize goes to King and I even though I only went there once and I ordered the food too spicy. I've been aching for another taste of their mock dock ever since.
  
• During our honeymoon I meant to take J to Cafe Brenda. But they were closed, so instead we went to Harvey's Bar & Grill across the street. Minneapolis' Finest were having lunch at Harvey's that day and again when we came back. Cops know where the good food is. Harvey's serves an incredible grilled cheese and a good grilled veggie sandwich too.
• French Meadow Bakery: This planned honeymoon stop was actually open, and it's difficult to resist a visit whenever we're in the area, even if it's just for a scone and some water. The egg salad sandwich on hemp bread is tasty.
• I have to admit that I'm crazy about the broccoli cheese soup at Panera Bread. Now served daily! Strict vegetarians take note, however: the bastards cook it in a "chicken base (chicken meat including natural chicken juices)". I choose to ignore this fact and instead focus on smearing delicious soup all over myself.
  
• Best vegetarian restaurant that no longer exists: Mud Pie.
  
• Finally, I hear the Hard Times Cafe is good and they're at the top of my list for restaurants to check out next. If only I can talk J into making the trip!

Tags:

• vegetarian
• travel

Some thoughts on a wine tasting

(After today I will probably stop talking about wine for a while, so stay with me--it feels like I've practically got a wine blog at this point.) I used my Christmas money this year to buy the most expensive wine I have ever purchased, a bottle of Argyle Reserve Pinot Noir 2003. Saturday night at our friends' place seemed an ideal occasion to uncork it--except that to my surprise, it was sealed by a screwcap instead! I was robbed of the fun of popping a cork, but both enclosures have their advantages and I was not put off in any way by the discovery.

The wine certainly spoke for itself. I thought I detected some chocolate and indeed, it paired very well with home-baked brownies! Clearly, it was a good wine. But I won't be drinking it again any time soon. To my unrefined palate, I'm not convinced it was worth the price. At our budget I'd rather have decent wines every other week than an excellent wine every other month. (And there are some very decent wines available at bargain prices... I refer you once more to the invaluable Dr. Vino.)

As a counterpoint to the Pinot Noir, we opened an extravagantly foul bottle of '95 Merlot that was dumped down the drain after one sip. Chalk it up as a learning experience: now we know what wine tastes like when it goes bad. Remember kids, it's basically only reds that improve with age and even then it's only premium wine, stored properly, that will be worth saving. Don't even try aging that bottle of Yellowtail Shiraz. It's good if you drink it now, but in a few years it'll turn to shite.

Tags:

• wine

Cedar Creek Winery Vidal

Say hello to the Sui Generis February Wine of the Month, Cedar Creek's Vidal. It's the one on the left of the photo, absolutely encrusted in awards. We tasted it on the cellar tour and I was very impressed. I looked it up in my Oxford Companion to Wine, for reassurance that I was not being misinformed, and verified that Vidal is a real grape. In fact, its hardy nature makes it well-suited to the climate in Wisconsin and it is used for making ice wines in Canada. Somewhat ironic, then, that their grapes are actually grown in New York and then shipped to Wisconsin for production.

Cedar Creek may not grow the grapes, but winemaker Philippe Coquard certainly knows how to use the grapes to make a top-drawer white wine. Back in New York, he was named "Winemaker of the Year!" I first heard of this winery when I drank their Settlement Gold, a slightly effervescent dessert wine that tasted of tropical fruit. We were so impressed with it that we made a three hour round trip to visit the winery and see what else they had to offer!

The Vidal dials down the sweetness of the Settlement Gold and increases the sophistication, making it a great semi-dry table wine. I couldn't identify any of the tastes ("pears and apricots" claims the website), but I did know that there were a lot of crisp, citrusy flavors dancing in my mouth and the overall effect was delicious. At $8.50 a bottle, it's an excellent value... if you can find it. A shining example of what can be done with an unusal grape in an unexpected place. Visit the winery if it's at all possible, but otherwise this wine is worth a little effort to track down.

Tags:

• wine
• photos

Milwaukee weekend con't.

After the Milwaukee trip, we returned to Appleton for dinner at Koreana, preceded by Japanese tap beer: we tried both Sapporo and Kirin Ichiban for comparison. Turns out they're pretty similar. I had the Bi Bim Bahb. I was hungry and ate happily but it wasn't fantastic. Our edamame appetizer was tasty, though. Their sushi is supposed to be superb.

We retired to chez Swaagman for the evening. I finally got to watch some Tivo'd episodes of Miami Ink. That got us men jamming about tattoo plans and the women shaking their heads and condemning us. Most of my skin will stay blank and colorless for the rest of my days but I'd invest in a lot more tattoos if I had anything to say about it. As my wife has informed me, however, I have no say in the matter. Get your tattoos before you get married, that's my advice.

Tags:

• beer
• tattoos

The best sandwich in Milwaukee

Riverwest Cooperative's Tempeh Reuben

Tags:

• photos
• vegetarian

Milwaukee Weekend

This weekend we left Minnesota to visit our friends and tour the "secret city" of magical Milwaukee, WI. Our first stop was Cedar Creek Winery in Cedarburg. Most of the information that was covered on the winery tour was old shoe to me, but I learned some new things about tartrates and enjoyed the tasting. After the cellar tasting, we headed upstairs to try the rest of their wines. The reds were sub-par, but they make some great sweet white wine, which I'll write about soon in my post for wine of the month.

Appetites whetted with a bellyful of wine, we drove into Milwaukee for lunch at Riverwest Co-op. J ordered a veggie burger, our friends had a black bean burrito, and I got the excellent Tempeh Reuben. The drive from St. Paul to Milwaukee was worth it for this sandwich alone. You can see here the front of the co-op where they sell stuff presumably made by local artists. We stuck a Craftstravaganza flyer up in the window and left some handbills.

We made a quick stop at the Art-o-Mat and then hit our last stop, Paper Boat Boutique. Paper Boat sells independent art and craft work and is co-owned by Kim Kisiolek and Faythe Levine, who also organize the Art vs. Craft show. Kim was in the store so we got to meet her and talk about the Craftstravaganza. She was very nice and let us leave more flyers in the shop. Thanks, Kim! I hope you can make it to the Craftstravaganza!

Tags:

• travel
• wine
• art
• craftstravaganza
• photos
• vegetarian

Happy Meat Day!

Oh, those Japanese and their wacky holidays! What will they come up with next!

Yesterday was February 9th, and since the numbers 2 and 9 can be read niku (which means "meat" in Japanese), butcher shops across Japan have decided to label the day as Meat Day, a special day to celebrate meat in all its many forms.

Actually, meat in Japan was pretty gross. I'm not talking about Kobe beef or anything, because I couldn't afford fancy stuff. I mean what my host mom cooked and what I got in restaurants. McDonalds was okay, but real meat was generally off-putting. I remember excessively fatty, chewy pork--in fact, I was working over a wad of this when I decided to become a vegetarian. Still, the rest of you, enjoy your meat! An animal died just so you can eat, aren't you glad that we're towards the top of the food chain?

rock rock rock

Hey local bikey and party people, what are some good bands that would maybe like to be background music to an arts event? They can't be too rockin' since people will be shoppin' like 10 feet away from the stage and need to be able to hear each other. But I do want some good music all up in there. Obviously, I don't get out much, so I throw myself at your mercy to enlighten me. Suggestions??

Tags:

• craftstravaganza