The Hole-iest Season of All...

This could be you...

Potholes. You've gotta love 'em. Well, you've certainly got to something them, because like it or not, they're here to stay. From November through April, metropolitan Minnesota becomes infested with the treacherous horse-sized holes, and so we drive on: hitting bump after bump after coffee-spilling divot. A friend of mine told me yesterday that the potholes outside her Cedar-Riverside apartment are so bad, if anything bigger than a pickup truck drives over them, it wakes her up at night. Ridiculous. With all the freezing and thawing that has been going on lately, they're worse than ever. So what is to be done? Sure, you can call the Minneapolis 311 line and report a pothole, and they, more often than not, will come and fix it. However, fixes last anywhere from a day to a few weeks typically, and they cost the city money in the interim (they'll get re-paved come spring anyways) and then poof! they're back again!

Sooo what to do, what to do, what to do... my suggestion? Public transportation. Chances are, if you're in a bus or on the light-rail you're not as concerned with the alignment-shattering abysses. Then again, that suggestion may not be approved by my good friend in her pothole-adjacent apartment at night, because MAN does a bus make a racket when it drives over one of those puppies.

My other suggestion? Let them get so bad that they soon become a corporation's advertisement platform. Take Chicago, for example: last year, their potholes got so bad that KFC began filling them in to generate some goodwill and free PR. Brilliant? I think yes. By all means, let KFC fill in potholes as they simultaneously clog America's arteries with fried chicken, the metaphor is too awesome to pass up. Who knows, maybe 3M, Target, or Best Buy could follow Colonel Sanders' lead.... and also give me a new stereo system for giving them the idea. Until then, check out metrotransit.org. to find a bus/train near you.

-K

That's Right, I Can BAKE Suckas!

This Thanksgiving, despite the nation-wide pumpkin shortage and my step-father's tri-store search for canned pumpkin, we managed to gather all the ingredients for, dare I say it, the BEST PUMPKIN PIE EVER. Read on, young grasshoppers, for my family-wide thumbs up recipie that made my non-baking soul believe that exact measurements and oven temperatures can indeed be worth the effort.

The final product, held by yours truly, the lumberjack.

Shiver Cities Pumpkin Pie

(Adapted from a recipie by the Southern butter-lovin Paula Deen)

Ingredients

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

2 cups canned pumpkin, mashed

1 cup sugar (or a little less, for a tangier taste)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg plus 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten

1 cup half-and-half

1/2 stick melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 piece pre-made pie dough


Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.


Place 1 pie crust (made from Betty Crocker boxed pie crust, use the directions on the box) down into a  pie pan and press down along the bottom and all sides. Pinch and crimp the edges together to make a pretty pattern. Fit a piece of aluminum foil to cover the inside of the shell completely. Fill the shell up to the edges with pie weights or dried beans (about 2 pounds) and place it in the oven. (DO NOT TRY THIS WITHOUT THE ALUMINUM AND WEIGHTS, it will get puffy and shrunken) Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and pie weights.

For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined. Add the eggs mixed with the yolks, half-and-half, and melted butter, and beat until combined. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger, and beat until it looks mixed.
Pour the filling into the warm prepared pie crust and bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is set. Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature.

Ta-DA! I also made some really incredible Almond-Spice Whipped Cream to top the pie. It was very easy, simply get heavy whipping cream, whip with a wisk or hand mixer until fluffy peaks form, and then add a tablespoon (or more, to taste) of almond extract, some vanilla extract, and ground nutmeg and cinammon and mix again. The pie and whipped cream complimented each other perfectly!

The final result....

I hope everyone had as great of a Thanksgiving as I did!

-K

Franconia and Fluttery Fall Foliage: Alliteration Trip Up the St. Croix Valley

Fall is on crack this year. Not to rag on either Fall or anyone who is currently struggling with addiction problems, but REALLY? Why is Mid-November suddenly 60 degrees? Has something happened and somehow we are not Minnesota anymore? Oh wait... we ARE Minnesota.... thus the eff'ed-upness of our wonderful super-spaz weather. Hooray!

Well, since we are in Summer once again, I feel that today is a good day to reminisce about Fall. We had a beautiful two days of it a few weeks ago, and true to form, Kellen and I went wandering Northward, via the "super-stretch" of Fall-colors that line the St. Croix River.

Starting in Stillwater, we took a nice drive up Highway 95, stopping along the way to check out the awesome views of the River Just north of Stillwater.

Look! It's the New World! Let's go give the inhabitants some smallpox.

We kept driving north, on our way to my family home in North Branch, and on the highway just outside Franconia (TINY TOWN) we stumbled across one of Minnesota's most commonly overlooked gems, the Franconia Sculpture Park! IT. WAS. AWSOME. Their website is here if you'd like to learn more.

My favorite piece... built to look like the cable was pulling up an entire piece of earth.

Five!

Big lizard sees you...

Very Seuss-esque

Never been the same since that house fell on my sister... er... boyfriend...

The BEST thing about Franconia's Sculpture Park? It's free!

So get out and enjoy our second summer, because it's probably going to snow sometime soon!

-K