Category: Minneapolis

Sunday, 25 January 2009

First Crack 115. Chad Gillard on Aebleskivers

by Garrick van Buren Comments Off on First Crack 115. Chad Gillard on Aebleskivers

Chad Gillard lives a few houses down from me – and little did I know that his side project is making and selling tasty, tasty Danish apple treats under the Aunt Else’s Organic Aebleskiver brand (Aunt Elsies on Twitter)

It started with a goal so many Minnesotans have: sell food at the Minnesota State Fair.

While he’s still on his way to reaching that goal, we cover the conflicting aebleskiver recipes and the local food producers he’s met while selling at farmers markets and town festivals.

[35 min].

Wednesday, 31 December 2008

Friday, 19 December 2008

The Roastery and Kopplin’s Offering Coffee Subscriptions

by Garrick van Buren Comments Off on The Roastery and Kopplin’s Offering Coffee Subscriptions

If you’re still looking for something delicious to give the fanatic coffee drinker in your life – I’m super excited to share that both Jeremy Raths, of The Roastery, and Andrew Kopplin, of Kopplin’s Coffee, are offering coffee subscriptions.

The Roastery Regulars subscription, is $144, delivers 1 pound of coffee to your door every other week for 26 weeks (yes, 2 lbs /mn for 6 months + a bonus pound).

Kopplin’s Coffee of the Month Club subscription ($180) offers 1/2 lb. per month for 12 months of some of the most amazing coffees you’ve (I’ve) ever tasted. I’ve been ‘beta tasting’ Kopplin’s subscription this year and I’ve been blown away month after month (I’ve even recorded a few of my tastings). The only downside – it’s only a 1/2 lb. per month. 🙂

In both cases, I’d recommend picking up a good press pot or a Chemex, your regular drip coffee maker probably isn’t up to the task.

Saturday, 11 October 2008

First Crack 111. Patricia Cumbie’s ‘Where People Like Us Live’

by Garrick van Buren Comments Off on First Crack 111. Patricia Cumbie’s ‘Where People Like Us Live’

From the unpublished First Crack archives, I bring you a conversation I recorded in July 2007 with Minneapolis novelist, Patricia Crumbie on her then – yet to be published – young adult novel, Where People Like Us Live.

As you can tell from the links above, her book is now available. 🙂

In our conversation, we cover the book itself – a pretty tough topic that makes me uncomfortable, and how a course at the Loft Literary Center helped her change and polish the book to help it find a publisher.

[9 min].

Sunday, 3 August 2008

Wednesday, 16 July 2008

Wednesday, 25 June 2008

Jon Gordon’s Twin Cities Coffee WiFi Google Map Started

by Garrick van Buren 10 Comments on Jon Gordon’s Twin Cities Coffee WiFi Google Map Started

Jon Gordon‘s going to be in the Twin Cities for a while and he thought it’d be fun to review the local selection of independent coffee + wifi shops.

As part of that effort, I’ve started a Google Map for listing and pin-pointing these places. There’s also a handful of invites floating around to for those that want to help.

Want one?


View Larger Map

Update 07 July 2008
I just cracked open a PBWiki for this project: http://twincities-coffee-wifi.pbwiki.com/

Thursday, 29 May 2008

I’m Covering Nat’l Conf. for MEdia Reform 2008

by Garrick van Buren Comments Off on I’m Covering Nat’l Conf. for MEdia Reform 2008

The 2008 National Conference for Media Reform will be held here in Minneapolis a weekend from now June 6-8.

I’m excited to have a press pass to the conference.

These 3 sessions that jumped out to me immediately:

These look interesting as well:

Tuesday, 22 January 2008

Wednesday, 26 December 2007

A Christmas to Remember

by Garrick van Buren 1 Comment on A Christmas to Remember

I just finished shoveling the last couple inches of the light, fluffly snow that’s been steadily falling this past week. A perfect end to the best Christmas I’ve had in two decades.

Some highlights:

  • Having my immediate family all in the same room at the same time on Christmas day. This in itself made the day. To my mom, dad, sister, and Bob: Thank you for making the drive, for spending the time, for being together on Christmas. Let’s not wait 15 years to do it again.
  • Teknikal Diffikulties Advent Calendar Day 22: Happy Solstice[mp3]. While each piece of Cayenne’s Advent Calendar is enjoyable, this installment felt so perfect and comforting I stopped shoveling to appreciate the significance of the shortest day of the year.
  • Taking a day-long break from 5 months of heavy programming (in addition to podcasts, email, and the internet as a whole).
  • Jeremy’s fantastic home-made butternut squash ravioli on Christmas Eve dinner
  • Cooper making a bee line for the simple wooden train under the tree on Christmas Day.
  • Assembling Cooper’s new trike.
  • Cracking open a Wake-n-Bake Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout from Athens, GA’s Terrapin Beer Co. last night after the day was done. A tasty, frothy brew, paired well with 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream. Thanks Pat.
  • Only a single holiday-related dramatic incident that sorted itself out quite neatly once the moment passed.
  • As I write this, Cooper is sitting in the tallest snow bank in the yard. Content as can be.
  • The entryway shelf overflowing with holiday greetings, cards, photos, and letters.
  • Me: “Cooper, What does Christmas mean?”
    C: “Um…People come over.”