My running season is about over for the year. Not due to motivation – weather and lack of daylight.
I love getting up early, have a cup of coffee, and be out there to start running the minute I can see well enough what I’m stepping on; then enjoying the sunrise as the day brightens.
In summer, it’s easy to get 6 miles, breakfast, and a shower all in and still make it to work on time easily. These days, it’s just dark, and getting worse.
So I’m reduced to running a few more times on weekends only. One of my a favorite places is a nearby trail, but it’s next to a good-sized woods. And that means deer hunting.
Last weekend, I got spooked at the thought of essentially running through the woods with hunters around. Didn’t want to be the next headline: “Runner shot by hunter.”
Instead, I opted for a wide open route where I could see and be seen. It still was eerie hearing shots being fired in the distance, but at least I knew they weren’t directed at me.
Mouth-watering Omaha Steaks
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Recipes: tailgating treat
Had a flashback to a few years ago: during a college football game broadcast, they did a short feature on people tailgating and what they were cooking.
I can’t remember exactly what one guy was making but it went something like this: Spread cream cheese on a tortilla shell, then add cooked bulk sausage and mozarella cheese. Fold over and grill.
Tried this at home lately and it is very good. Of course, you can also modify it by adding onions, peppers, or anything you like.
You don’t have to be tailgating to enjoy it – works well in the kitchen also for a supper or brunch. Pretty simple and easy, and tastes great!
I can’t remember exactly what one guy was making but it went something like this: Spread cream cheese on a tortilla shell, then add cooked bulk sausage and mozarella cheese. Fold over and grill.
Tried this at home lately and it is very good. Of course, you can also modify it by adding onions, peppers, or anything you like.
You don’t have to be tailgating to enjoy it – works well in the kitchen also for a supper or brunch. Pretty simple and easy, and tastes great!
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Christmas shopping: part 2 of how-many-times-will-take?
This time started at JC Penney in Ridgedale where we got three items, only one off a Christmas list. Make sure to watch the ads and take your coupons along – Penney’s is back to inflated prices with discounts since the fair-and-square realistic pricing fizzled out.
Then our annual Best Buy stop to knock two things off the lists. I’ve had excellent service experience at Best Buy, especially when we need info or have questions about something. But if you want to just browse and be left alone, don’t go to Best Buy – you’ll be like a deer wandering through a woods full of hunters.
Went over to our favorite second-hand place, Unique Thrift Store in New Hope, off Winnetka just north of Rockford Road. Got one more non-Christmas thing.
Then found the closest Batteries Plus to get a battery for a calculator that was almost as old as the clerk. Great service again – he quickly found not only the correct battery for me but was able to tell me I needed two of them. I was much, much happier when finally getting the microscopic screws out to open the calculator and find that yes, indeed, it took two batteries.
That was enough for the day so on the spur of the moment, we picked up a Papa Murphy’s bacon cheeseburger pizza and headed home. Does that happen to anyone else? The stretched out shopping, I mean – not the pizza.
Then our annual Best Buy stop to knock two things off the lists. I’ve had excellent service experience at Best Buy, especially when we need info or have questions about something. But if you want to just browse and be left alone, don’t go to Best Buy – you’ll be like a deer wandering through a woods full of hunters.
Went over to our favorite second-hand place, Unique Thrift Store in New Hope, off Winnetka just north of Rockford Road. Got one more non-Christmas thing.
Then found the closest Batteries Plus to get a battery for a calculator that was almost as old as the clerk. Great service again – he quickly found not only the correct battery for me but was able to tell me I needed two of them. I was much, much happier when finally getting the microscopic screws out to open the calculator and find that yes, indeed, it took two batteries.
That was enough for the day so on the spur of the moment, we picked up a Papa Murphy’s bacon cheeseburger pizza and headed home. Does that happen to anyone else? The stretched out shopping, I mean – not the pizza.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Books: mountain climbing and K2
To the Summit (and beyond)
After traveling to Colorado last year and realizing I couldn’t bring the mountains home with me, I did the next best thing and dug into books about mountains.
The first couple I found were pretty much travel guides to Colorado. Then I came across Joseph Poindexter’s “To the Summit,” an overview of 50 of the world’s most notable mountains with all kinds of beautiful photos, significant history notes, and interesting facts or stories about each one.
That set me off on a mental expedition to K2 through several other books (plus a couple fictional movies as well). Instead of finding out more about the Rocky Mountains, I ended up geographically on the other side of the world in the Himalayas – in fact, Denver and K2 are at nearly opposite points on the earth.
I didn’t read the books in order because I didn’t find discover them in order, but here’s a list in the chronological sequence I would recommend (and someday will repeat).
Each (except Messner’s) is as well written as a best-selling novel, but tells the dramatic stories of climbing and/or "failing" on the world’s second-highest and most brutal mountain. For mountain climbers, it's considered failure not to reach the summit, even only by a few hundred yards. I suppose, like losing the Super Bowl on a last-second field goal, it's recorded as a loss, but discounts all the success it took to get that close.
I also found that reading these books makes Minnesota winters much more tolerable – after picturing climbers stuck in a tent at 20,000 feet for several days to wait out a blizzard, it doesn’t seem so bad to walk from the office to a cold vehicle at 10-below.
• “The Last Man on the Mountain: the Death of an American Adventurer on K2” (Jennifer Jordan) – the 1939 American expedition led by Fritz Wiessner in which climber Dudley Wolfe died on the mountain; his remains were found by the author of this book 63 years later.
• “K2: The Savage Mountain” (Charles Houston and Bob Bates) – 1953 American expedition. Includes a harrowing incident in which while attempting to descend because of an ill and injured member of the party, six others slipped and fell but were saved by a heroic measure by one of the climbers.
• “In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods” (Galen Rowell) – the 1975 American expedition which didn’t come close to the summit. It’s still an insightful look into sport of climbing along with intriguing history of K2.
• “The Last Step: the American Ascent of K2” (Rick Ridgeway) – the 1978 American ascent, which was the first successful American expedition getting 4 climbers to the summit.
• “Addicted to Danger” (Jim Wickwire) – This book is about Wick’s career; he was one of the Americans who summitted in ‘79 and made it back, barely.
• “K2: Mountain of Mountains” (Reinhold Messner) Messner climbed K2 without oxygen. Maybe it’s a language barrier, but this one is tough to read.
After traveling to Colorado last year and realizing I couldn’t bring the mountains home with me, I did the next best thing and dug into books about mountains.
The first couple I found were pretty much travel guides to Colorado. Then I came across Joseph Poindexter’s “To the Summit,” an overview of 50 of the world’s most notable mountains with all kinds of beautiful photos, significant history notes, and interesting facts or stories about each one.
That set me off on a mental expedition to K2 through several other books (plus a couple fictional movies as well). Instead of finding out more about the Rocky Mountains, I ended up geographically on the other side of the world in the Himalayas – in fact, Denver and K2 are at nearly opposite points on the earth.
I didn’t read the books in order because I didn’t find discover them in order, but here’s a list in the chronological sequence I would recommend (and someday will repeat).
Each (except Messner’s) is as well written as a best-selling novel, but tells the dramatic stories of climbing and/or "failing" on the world’s second-highest and most brutal mountain. For mountain climbers, it's considered failure not to reach the summit, even only by a few hundred yards. I suppose, like losing the Super Bowl on a last-second field goal, it's recorded as a loss, but discounts all the success it took to get that close.
I also found that reading these books makes Minnesota winters much more tolerable – after picturing climbers stuck in a tent at 20,000 feet for several days to wait out a blizzard, it doesn’t seem so bad to walk from the office to a cold vehicle at 10-below.
• “The Last Man on the Mountain: the Death of an American Adventurer on K2” (Jennifer Jordan) – the 1939 American expedition led by Fritz Wiessner in which climber Dudley Wolfe died on the mountain; his remains were found by the author of this book 63 years later.
• “K2: The Savage Mountain” (Charles Houston and Bob Bates) – 1953 American expedition. Includes a harrowing incident in which while attempting to descend because of an ill and injured member of the party, six others slipped and fell but were saved by a heroic measure by one of the climbers.
• “In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods” (Galen Rowell) – the 1975 American expedition which didn’t come close to the summit. It’s still an insightful look into sport of climbing along with intriguing history of K2.
• “The Last Step: the American Ascent of K2” (Rick Ridgeway) – the 1978 American ascent, which was the first successful American expedition getting 4 climbers to the summit.
• “Addicted to Danger” (Jim Wickwire) – This book is about Wick’s career; he was one of the Americans who summitted in ‘79 and made it back, barely.
• “K2: Mountain of Mountains” (Reinhold Messner) Messner climbed K2 without oxygen. Maybe it’s a language barrier, but this one is tough to read.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Restaurant review: Smashburger, Plymouth MN
I was introduced to Smashburger on a trip to Colorado, and then was pleased to learn there are several locations here in the Twin Cities area.
Smashburger is like it sounds – fresh ground beef smashed on the grill, to the point that it extends beyond the bun on all sides. The menu includes several burger options, including one locally named. Here, it’s the Twin Cities burger. In Denver, it’s . . . take a guess.
The other great thing about Smashburger: make sure to order Smashfries, not regular fries. These are seasoned with rosemary, olive oil, and garlic.
Both the burgers and the fries tend to get a bit on the juicy/greasy side – enough that you’ll need to wash up afterward – but the flavors are still more than worth it.
There are also chicken sandwiches, which I haven’t tried yet, and probably won’t since I like the burgers too much.
Smashburger is a hybrid fast food – you order at the counter and get number; food is delivered to your table in a few minutes.
Smashburger is like it sounds – fresh ground beef smashed on the grill, to the point that it extends beyond the bun on all sides. The menu includes several burger options, including one locally named. Here, it’s the Twin Cities burger. In Denver, it’s . . . take a guess.
The other great thing about Smashburger: make sure to order Smashfries, not regular fries. These are seasoned with rosemary, olive oil, and garlic.
Both the burgers and the fries tend to get a bit on the juicy/greasy side – enough that you’ll need to wash up afterward – but the flavors are still more than worth it.
There are also chicken sandwiches, which I haven’t tried yet, and probably won’t since I like the burgers too much.
Smashburger is a hybrid fast food – you order at the counter and get number; food is delivered to your table in a few minutes.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Christmas shopping: part 1 of ?
Headed out on our first Christmas shopping effort of the season, which devolved into regular shopping. Actually, one store was playing “Sleigh Bells” so technically it was Christmas shopping.
For variety, we headed a different direction from our usual pattern, starting with lunch at Smashburger in Plymouth and then to Maple Grove and beyond. We went to the same stores as usual – Sam’s Club, Walmart, Kohls – but in a new location. This proved both interesting and confusing, as the store layouts were just different enough to make things hard to find.
My running has been curtailed by a sore hamstring and lack of daylight. Shopping was an opportunity for indoor hiking (more like aimless wandering).
At Sam’s, the game was avoiding the pushy salesperson who wanted to lower my cable bill. I did a long detour to avoid having a Third Encounter of the Close Kind.
Up I-94, we did a quick in-an-out at Cabela’s in Rogers for a special item the didn’t have. “Try online,” the clerk said. “There’s a lot more online than we can handle here.” I guess they need a bigger store.
Then it was on to the Albertville Outlet Mall, where we scored a couple nice shirts off the clearance rack at Old Navy. We continued to rack up reward points by presenting a plastic card to merchants down the line.
Best tip of the day: if you’re specifically looking for the Nike store at Albertville, it’s at the far west end of the complex, a good half-mile from entering the parking lot.
For variety, we headed a different direction from our usual pattern, starting with lunch at Smashburger in Plymouth and then to Maple Grove and beyond. We went to the same stores as usual – Sam’s Club, Walmart, Kohls – but in a new location. This proved both interesting and confusing, as the store layouts were just different enough to make things hard to find.
My running has been curtailed by a sore hamstring and lack of daylight. Shopping was an opportunity for indoor hiking (more like aimless wandering).
At Sam’s, the game was avoiding the pushy salesperson who wanted to lower my cable bill. I did a long detour to avoid having a Third Encounter of the Close Kind.
Up I-94, we did a quick in-an-out at Cabela’s in Rogers for a special item the didn’t have. “Try online,” the clerk said. “There’s a lot more online than we can handle here.” I guess they need a bigger store.
Then it was on to the Albertville Outlet Mall, where we scored a couple nice shirts off the clearance rack at Old Navy. We continued to rack up reward points by presenting a plastic card to merchants down the line.
Best tip of the day: if you’re specifically looking for the Nike store at Albertville, it’s at the far west end of the complex, a good half-mile from entering the parking lot.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Restaurant review: K-Bob Cafe, Princeton, MN
Barely sat down on a busy Saturday lunch rush and waitress was over with water and to take beverage orders. K-Bob Cafe in downtown Princeton has earned its spot as a popular local gathering place.
Had the Southwest Melt – a chicken breast with peppers and tasty southwest sauce – and a Breakfast Melt, a common sausage-egg-cheese combo but served on large deliciously grilled bread instead of a bun.
When out leisurely instead of having to get somewhere, we specifically like to frequent the local establishments instead of brand names.
Even though it sounds more like a radio station than a restaurant, K-Bob is worth a stop if you’re in the area – on the main drag, Rum River Drive, in Princeton.
Had the Southwest Melt – a chicken breast with peppers and tasty southwest sauce – and a Breakfast Melt, a common sausage-egg-cheese combo but served on large deliciously grilled bread instead of a bun.
When out leisurely instead of having to get somewhere, we specifically like to frequent the local establishments instead of brand names.
Even though it sounds more like a radio station than a restaurant, K-Bob is worth a stop if you’re in the area – on the main drag, Rum River Drive, in Princeton.
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