B.T. McElrath - Salty Dog Chocolate Bar

ericaaaaa: “THIS. IS. MY. NEW. FAVORITE. THING.”

YES! I’m not usually one to be emphatic about chocolate, but it’s seriously that good. And, made in MPLS!

“Please forgive us.”

Here it is — the video I made with Ariel for MNKINO #6: “FOOD.” The quote above is what Ariel had to say before we screened it last Tuesday.

Making this video prompted a lot of questions and uncertainties for me — enough that I was practically ready to bail at one point (glad I didn’t). Perhaps it’s worth noting that Ariel is a vegatarian and I’m not. One of the first mistakes I made was assuming that if a vegetarian seems OK with going through with this, then I must be too.

So under what circumstances is it acceptable to boil a lobster alive? Can one prove that, although symbolically more difficult than most other ways of killing animals for food, boiling a living creature is actually any worse? Are the ethical considerations of this act changed when one is filming it? What if it never gets eaten (it’s still in my freezer)?

I won’t bother you with any more of my moral hand-wringing, especially since much of it is covered in the David Foster Wallace essay we mention at the beginning of the video.

But I do have one question for you: know any decent recipes for frozen lobster?

Update: Upon re-reading this post, it strikes me as a little melodramatic. Despite my moral quandrifying, I’m happy with how it turned out and glad we did it!

Aw, come on guys — obviously you’d have to create the universe before you preheat the oven.

(via essbee:The Daily What)

Keith Davis Young (also on Flickr).

(via Triangle Triangle)

I, for one, would love to attend a tumblr meetup Matt’s — mainly because I almost never make it to the home of the “original” Jucy Lucy, and would love to have an excuse. Then to Dusty’s?

stuffaboutminneapolis:

Dusty’s Bar, Minneapolis by Tim Kiser

The fallout continues from my Jucy Lucy post. You must understand that the southside was a strange and mysterious place to me with their “two burgers with cheese in the middle”. I mean, my uncle was a bartender here and I ate the Dago sandwiches until they came out of my ears. I haven’t gone to Matt’s yet to correct my lack of Jucy Lucy appreciation, although Andy emailed me not that long ago about getting together there.
Maybe some good can come out of this and we can set up a Minneapolis tumblr Jucy Lucy meetup at Matt’s in the near future. Event planning is not my strong point *cough* Colin *cough*, but if people want to reblog or email me (stuffaboutminneapolis@gmail) maybe we can work something out. The first question would be do we have it before or after the holidays? And so it begins….

"Research has shown that if you eat super broccoli or any other cruciferous super vegetable everyday, you can control insects with your mind."

“Super Super Foods”

"Insurers will quickly figure out that every case of Type 2 diabetes they can prevent adds $400,000 to their bottom line. Suddenly, every can of soda or Happy Meal or chicken nugget on a school lunch menu will look like a threat to future profits."

Michael Pollan, Big Food vs. Big Insurance

(dang … I had this one all queued up and then ericaaaaa scooped me)

State Fair Coverage: Feed Bag Edition
Last night I went to the Minnesota State Fair for the first time in five years*. This is what I ate:

• Deep-fried cheese curds
• Pronto pup
• Roasted corn-on-the-cob
• Deep-fried cannolis
• “Australian” fried potatoes with ranch and cheese sauce
• Deep-fried mac & cheese
• Fry Dog (hot dog covered in “french fry” and deep fried on a stick)

Needless to say, I’m feeling a bit heavier today.

* I’m not counting working at the MPR booth last year, in which I was basically a cashier the whole time and didn’t really see (or eat) anything.

wbsc:

Check out Heavy Table’s excellent coverage of Thursday night’s 100-Course Meal! Includes some great photos and a complete list of each course, with ratings.

Sitting through 101 courses, however small, has a curious effect on the diner. Each individual component — even if it’s as ordinary as a dollop of yogurt or a piece of spinach — is tasted on its own merits, discussed, evaluated, considered. The 101-Course Meal was, as the organizers explained, really a deconstruction of a 7-course meal; assemble the various components, and you might see something resembling a traditional (if lavish) dinner..