It’s been wonderful to hear stories of Valentine’s Day celebrations big and small. Couples exchanging gifts of chocolate and flowers, friends honoring other single friends with joke gifts, and the time-honored tradition of a romantic dinner either at home or at a restaurant.

(credit: Crystal Grobe)

Although we initially had plans with friends, my husband and I now have a free evening at home and a kitchen full of cheese, crackers and chilled champagne. Since we couldn’t get a last minute reservation at the newly opened Eat Street Social, we’ll have to settle by making our own champagne cocktails spiked with Bittercube Bitters. Whether you’re eating in or dining out, try this fun take on champagne with your sweetheart and enjoy the evening.

Instructions are simple:

• Place a sugar cube in the bottom of a champagne flute
• Drop a couple drops of bitters onto the sugar cube (Cherry Bark Vanilla from Bittercube is amazing)
• Fill flute with champagne and enjoy. Repeat as necessary.

Crystal Grobe writes the Bite of Minnesota blog as well as Cafe Cyan.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — It wasn’t enough to cancel school, fire up the snow blower or create an agonizing drive home. But it finally snowed more than a trace in the Twin Cities.

We are still woefully below average this winter, but we will take anything at this point.

Valentine’s Day will be dry with highs popping up into the mid-30s.

A little sunshine should help melt away the fresh snow from the streets and driveways.

Another storm system will pass to the south on Wednesday night. I think we get grazed once again with a coating in the metro, and we can expect more snow in southern Minnesota.

Temperatures will stay above the average high of 29 degrees all week.

On Sunday, we heard that her autopsy was complete, but it was going to take several more weeks to get the toxicology results back. Why?

Rich in Brooklyn Center, John in Mounds View, Teri in Redwood Falls, and I wondered, is it a backlog at the lab or a technological limitation?

USA Today explained – it really is about the details of the technology.

During an autopsy, the coroner takes several fluid samples from the body: blood and urine samples are taken to find out if there are chemicals in the body. Just like during a drunken driving blood screen, they look for alcohol, barbiturates, amphetamines, opiates, and common prescriptions.

It takes a day to assign the samples, a day or two to run the test, then another day to interpret the results. These things can be somewhat sped up if the case is time-sensitive, but in the case of Whitney Houston, time is not an issue. There’s no foul play suspected.

That first screen doesn’t tell you how much of any of those drugs are in the system, just if there drugs in the system.

According to USA Today, “investigators take those initial results and then do a more precise test called ‘gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.’ That typically takes two to three days and shows concentrations of the chemicals.”

But in a high-profile case, doctors do multiple tests and re-tests. With Amy Winehouse, it was the same deal. CNN wrote about how complex things are when someone has multiple drugs in their system.

“Drugs could be present in very minute levels, in measurements like parts per million or parts per billion,” they explained, “it’s like “searching for five black marbles in a pile of 1 million white marbles.”

So it’s partially a workload issue and partially a technology issue. Having bad results sooner doesn’t do anyone any good, and that’s why law enforcement will often give a four to eight week timeline.

He is now at a medium security prison in Terre Haute, Ind. He has been moved twice already this week, first from the easy going prison camp in Duluth he has called home for the last year. Terre Haute however is not his final destination, it remains to be seen what is.

According to sources, Hecker has gotten into repeated trouble for abuse of phone privileges and has gotten caught more than once with smuggled cell phones. It is remarkable that despite Hecker’s dizzying descent from a life of unparalleled extravagance to being hauled off to jail, that the arrogance remains.

As he serves out the remainder of a 10 year fraud sentence, the investigation into his dealings by the bankruptcy trustee Randy Seaver continues. Seaver has suggested repeatedly in recent court filings that he believes that Hecker is continuing to hide assets. Hecker’s sentence of 10 years was far harsher than it would have been had he played by the Feds’ game and obeyed the rules.

Instead he flouted them as he apparently continues to do today. Perhaps these were the same traits that led him to do so well for so many years in business. But these are also the traits that made his fall and his continued descent all the more breathtaking and humiliating.

We had afternoon highs in the teens, it felt below zero with the wind and people were unrecognizable in all of their winter gear.

Saturday will be very similar to Friday. Expect a good deal of sunshine with highs in the metro climbing into the teens. It will feel colder with a stiff breeze from the northwest, so be sure to bundle up.

We will warm to the upper 20s on Sunday, and we are right back into the 30s next week.

When will it look like winter? We actually have a chance for snow Monday. We could see a few inches across southeastern Minnesota with a chance of a little less in the Twin Cities.

It doesn’t look like much, but anything is better than the trace we have picked up over the past 13 days.

It looks warm and dry for Valentine’s Day.

Saturday, you can see three of her award-winning short films as well as Ratcatcher, Ramsay’s first feature. My second favorite Ramsay film, Ratcatcher is a movie that plays heavily on contrast. Think: Scotland’s lovely, wet emerald grass vs. pyramids of black garbage bags; the hardships of a 12-year-old’s working class youth vs. the quirkiness of his daydreams. It’s wonderful.

On Wednesday, you can see Morvern Callar, a movie about a young woman who finds her novelist boyfriend dead (by suicide) on Christmas Day. In an effort to recreate her life, she steals her late beau’s unpublished book and tries to sell it. The endeavor eventually takes her out of her supermarket job and south to Spain. Meanwhile she tells no one of her boyfriend’s death and she leaves the Christmas tree — with its schizophrenic blinking lights — up and on. Although a respectable film, Morvern Callar is the Ramsay film I liked least.

The movies I’ve mentioned so far are all gorgeous and brutal, and, at least for this American blogger, delightfully Scottish. However, none of the films (including Ratcatcher, which I liked quite a lot) as are brilliant as We Need to Talk About Kevin, which comes out Friday – Today! if you are reading this blog the day it alighted on the Internet.

Time to talk about Kevin. It plays at 7:30 p.m., and it’s a nightmare you shouldn’t miss.

What’s it about? Basically, it’s the story of a mother (played amazingly by Tilda Swinton) who gives birth to a beautiful boy named Kevin. But to his mother’s great misfortune, Kevin lacks a conscience; he’s a psychopath, a time bomb, a future teenage mass murderer who will make his mother’s private hell into a painfully public one.

The movie’s structure is artfully built around one act of carnage that I just can’t spoil. It’s something that would make headlines in any city, but it’s done such an archaic way that it’s almost humorous.

Kevin, as you might have guessed, is not easy to watch.

Devoid of compassion, Kevin is a constant torment to his mother, who is a successful, cosmopolitan woman, both intelligent and ambitious. But the constitution of her character quickly crumbles under the contempt of her son’s actions.

Examples of contempt can be seen in the following. Every time his mother says, “I love you,” Kevin flings back “Na na nana na na nana.” When she wallpapers a room for herself with exotic maps (her dreams, really), Kevin tells her the maps are stupid and, when she’s gone, takes a paint-filled squirt gun and desecrates her space. It gets worse. He refuses to use the toilet and will poop his pants (diapered 6-year-old devil that he is) as soon as she changes him. And as Kevin gets older, his ego and amusement at others’ suffering morphs into something truly gross. When he’s blessed with a little sister, Kevin ends up hiding her pet in the flip-switch-waiting jaws of the garbage disposal.

Thus begins the bloodbath. Visually, Kevin is drenched in red: tomatoes, red paint, blood, ruby-colored balloons and balls. The color is everywhere – lurching, popping, highlighting, burning. It’s almost oppressive, really. And the mother in our story is always trying to clean it up, despite the fact that the messes keep getting bigger and bigger. But what can she do?

She’s stuck. Raising a child – a psychopath, no less – is something she can’t handle at all, but she also can’t seek help. Kevin acts very nicely around his father and thus plays his parents against each other. If the mother leaves the family, she’s an outcast: miserable. If she tries to make Kevin normal: she’s miserable. And if she seeks outside help for her son, she has to admit to herself that something is horribly wrong with her life, perhaps even her parenting: and she’s miserable.

Speaking of misery, that word basically describes the movie’s tone. If you want to level some criticism against Kevin, you could say that it’s a bit one-track. However, I don’t think the movie would be as creepy or disturbing if it lightened things up – even if done so as a matter of contrast. Because when the credits roll, it’s that droning sense that sticks with you.

By now you might have an idea if Kevin is something you want to see on a Friday night. I’d have to recommend it just based on the fact that I could hardly control my unease while sitting through it. The strength of the film’s metaphors allows you to know what’s happening just based on intuition, making the movie into a sort of cinematic mystery game not totally based on chance or guessing.

Mike Augustyniak tells us it’s supposed to be uber-cold Friday, so why not consider, if only for a few hours, a nightmare that some mothers must face. If anything, the film might move you to talk (or at least think) about Kevin if you see him alight in your life.

Tickets to all of Ramsay’s movies are $8. You can also get into all of them for $15, which isn’t bad for three features and three sorts.

For more information on Ramsay, head over the Walker Art Center’s website.

Section tournaments are either already underway or just around the corner in girls hockey, boys hockey, wrestling, girls basketball and boys basketball. That also means the regular season is winding down for most teams and conference championships hang in the balance.

This is that special time of year where it’s fun and crazy to be a high school sports fan. There are plenty of good match-ups this weekend, and here are the four that we went with.

Girls Basketball: West Lutheran (18-2) at Maranatha Christian Academy (17-4)

The Minnesota Christian Athletic Association conference title is on the line Friday night as Maranatha Christian Academy, the No. 1-ranked team in Class A, hosts West Lutheran. Maranatha won last year’s Class A state title and has won 13 of its last 14. West Lutheran has won nine straight games since losing its only two of the season in early January. It’s our featured match-up for WCCO-TV’s High School Sports Rally.

One of West Lutheran’s two losses was an 83-65 decision to Maranatha earlier this season. The Maranatha Mustangs have four losses on the season, which came to Braham, Burnsville, Waconia and most recently Maple Grove.

Maranatha is led by post player Onye Osemenam, who averages 15.9 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. Madison Lee also adds more than 13 points per game and Alexis Long scores almost 12 per game. West Lutheran is led by Laura Kolander, who averages 16.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Megan Steffel also scores more than 12 points per game.

It should be a great battle between two solid teams. I’ll give the edge to Maranatha playing at home.

Saturday Boys Hockey: Totino-Grace (15-7) at Benilde-St. Margaret’s (16-6)

It should be a great battle between to high-quality hockey programs Saturday as Benilde-St. Margaret’s hosts Totino-Grace. The Eagles, ranked No. 6 in Class A, have won three straight and are coming off a big 7-4 win over No. 3-ranked Breck. The Red Knights are ranked No. 8 in Class 2A and are looking to finish the regular season strong. T.J. Roo leads Totino-Grace with 51 points, and Andy McDonald leads the Eagles with 24 goals. He had four in the win over Breck. Grant Besse leads Benilde with 67 points. Totino-Grace proved it can play with anybody in the state by beating Breck, and with the North Suburban Conference title on the line, I’ll pick them to surprise the Red Knights.

Boys Basketball: Lakeville North (18-1) at Eastview (19-0)

It might be the game of the night around the metro as No. 1-ranked Eastview hosts No. 3-ranked Lakeville North in a South Suburban Conference showdown. The Panthers only loss of the season came to Eastview in a six-point game. They are led by the trio of Brett Rasmussen (13.9 points per game, Tyler Flack (13.7 points per game) and Ryan Saarela (12.9 points per game). Eastview is led by post Joey King, one of the top players in the state, who averages almost 26 points per game. The Lightning have passed every test so far, and I’ll take them to top the Panthers.

Girls Basketball: Edina (19-2) at Hopkins (20-0)

It should be a great battle Friday night as undefeated and No. 1-ranked Hopkins hosts No. 3-ranked Edina in a Lake Conference match-up. The last time these two teams met this season, the Royals ran away with a 68-46 win over the Hornets. Edina, led by Katybeth Biewen’s 15.5 points per game, will be looking for revenge. Hopkins is led by Nia and Sydney Coffey, the daughters of former Gophers star Richard Coffey. They combine to average about 28 points per game. I’ll give Hopkins the advantage in this one.

Tune into WCCO-TV’s High School Sports Rally at 10:20 p.m. Friday as Mike Max, Frank Vascellaro and John Lauritsen will have all the action covered.

But last week, an exhibit about her life at times called Diana: A Celebration opened at the Mall of America.

It’s a thoughtfully curated exhibit detailing a number of aspects of Diana’s life—the glamour, the famous royal wedding, the even more famous royal divorce, the fame, the charity work.

The iconic items are all here: the wedding dress with its then-unheard-of 25-foot train, and the impeccably made shoes:

But there are also smaller details of her life that are perhaps more telling; a family movie of Diana as a child, dancing across the yard and being downright silly; a collection of small toy animals she kept with her throughout her life; school papers and childhood photo albums.

A scrawled draft of the Elton John-Bernie Taupin revision of “Candle in the Wind”, rewritten for Diana’s funeral. (Note: while the original is part of the estate, currently a facsimile is on display, as the original is undergoing archival work.)

One gallery is devoted to Diana’s work with charities and highlights her willingness to take risks—she was one of the first public figures to touch AIDS patients, and later took on causes involving leprosy and landmines.

But she will be long remembered for her fashion sense, and the gallery that seemed to draw the most excitement when I visited was the display of some of her clothes, along with several photos of her wearing them. This gallery has samples from every stage of Diana’s royal life, with the pieces from the early 80s looking dated, while the later, more sophisticated pieces looking as if they could be worn today.

Do you have to have been a big Diana fan to appreciate this exhibit? The friend who attended the exhibit with me was not, but found herself intrigued and entertained with several items, notably the childhood pieces, and said the clothing gallery itself was worth the price of admission.

Me? I was a Diana fan. I thought it was worth every penny.

The exhibit will be open through June 10.

What else is happening in our state? Be sure to check out the 10 p.m. Sunday night WCCO newscasts, where you can learn more in the weekly segment, Finding Minnesota.

Whether or not he would actually get there was another story. Now in four years with the Tommies, he’s put together a 43-7 record and won two straight MIAC championships. He’s turned a program around in four years and made it relevant not only in the MIAC, but all across the nation.

For the second straight year, Caruso was named the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year for Division III for his success on the field and dedication to the St. Thomas community off it. Caruso was in New Orleans in the first week of January to accept the award and attended the BCS National Championship game, where Alabama beat LSU.

Caruso and his team didn’t ultimately get to their goal of a national championship this year. The Tommies lost in the national semifinals to UW-Whitewater, which won its second straight national title this year. But the level the program got to this year, under Caruso’s leadership, can’t be denied.

St. Thomas won 13 straight games this year, and the 13 wins were the most in the history of the program. That streak included a 63-7 win over rival St. John’s, the most lopsided win they’ve ever had in the history of the rivalry. It’s also the most points the Tommies have ever scored against St. John’s in one game.

The Tommies landed five players on the All-America list at the end of the season: Linebacker Tony Danna, receiver Fritz Waldvogel, center Curtis James, running back Colin Tobin and offensive tackle Dan Chapman.

Caruso became the youngest head coach to win the award last year at 36. Now he’s the only coach to win it two years in a row. He’s also won the MIAC Coach of the Year Award two straight years. The Tommies finished this year ranked No. 4 in the nation and won consecutive conference titles for the first time since 1948-49. St. Thomas also went 10-0 during the regular season in consecutive years for the first time in the program’s history.

All the awards, honors and records are great, but what Caruso and the players really want is a national title. They saw first-hand against UW-Whitewater what it will take to get there.

(credit: Magnolia Pictures)

Pssst! Want to win your Oscar pool? Well, it often seems to come down to picking the right candidates in the short film categories.

Most people pick those winners blindly, typically picking the title that sounds the most like your average Oscar winner — metaphors and gerunds score highly on this scale.

Luckily for you, the Lagoon Theater and Shorts International will be presenting the ten movies nominated in the short animated film and short live action film categories this Friday, for one week only. So there’s no excuse to enter your pool uninformed.

Here’s my preview of all nominees and a few educated guesses as to which ones will win. But seriously, don’t take my word for it. See them for yourself.

(Note: The animated shorts program also features four extra “highly commended,” but not nominated, titles — Nullarbor, Amazonia, Skylight & Hybrid Union.)

——-

ANIMATED SHORTS

● Dimanche (Sunday) — One of two shorts produced by the National Film Board of Canada in this year’s competition, Dimanche is a wry, slightly cracked look at a boy trying to fight the tedium of Sunday trips to church and grandparents’ countryside homes. He takes to placing coins on train tracks. Nostalgic without being cloying.

● The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore — At 15 minutes, this is the blockbuster epic of this year’s grouping. With nods to Hurricane Katrina, The Wizard of Oz and Reading Rainbow, Lessmore is as arch and dandy as its Wes Anderson-ish title suggests. I thought it wore out its welcome by the time it reached its epilogue, but maybe the forthcoming iPad app will make it snap for me.

● La Luna (The Moon) — Pixar’s only nomination of the year, thanks to the utter critical failure of Cars 2, La Luna is a lovely storybook tale of a boy who joins his seafaring father and grandfather to see the family line of work in action. Stressing magical realism, La Luna stands alongside WALL-E and Up in Pixar’s warm, irony-free legacy.

● A Morning Stroll — But if irony is what you seek (and the voters who gave Logorama the trophy two years ago might be), than A Morning Stroll is your best bet this year. A simple chicken joke gets three versions — one set in the 1920s, one set in the current day, and one set in the future. The second and third sections are borderline strident, but the silent movie-ish beginning might resonate in this, the year of The Artist.

(credit: Magnolia Pictures)

● Wild Life — The other movie from the National Film Board of Canada, Wild Life shows the consequences of a British lad’s ill-prepared relocation to the hinterlands of Alberta. With delicate brushstroke-style images and a poetic, disjointed story approach, Wild Life feels the most fully-rounded of these five.

WILL WIN: La Luna, not just because it’s one of the best in this group, but also because some (read: not me) might say Pixar got “snubbed” in the animated feature category.

DESERVES TO WIN: Wild Life has the most evocative animation of the five, and also has the storyline most likely to appeal to adults regardless of their overall feelings about cartoons.

——-

(credit: Magnolia Pictures)

LIVE-ACTION SHORTS

● Pentacost – As one of my fellow movie buffs suggested, this has the feel of a British Advertisement Award winner, but not so much an Oscar winner. An altar boy named Damian (o rly?) screws up a service and his father punishes him by forbidding him to watch soccer for pretty much ever. But then he gets a second chance thanks to a very important visitor. Basically one long lead-up to its punchline.

(credit: Magnolia Pictures)

● Raju — It’s to Oscar voters’ credit that the live-action short category has often managed to avoid simply voting for the most socially conscious candidate, regardless of its formal level of quality. This year, though, the most obviously socially-minded nominee — about a German couple who try to adopt an Indian orphan only to find themselves trying not to invoke the phrase “First World Problems” — is also one of the most well-produced.

● The Shore — The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore of this category, in that it’s the most obviously expansive and well-funded. However, its excessive length (31 minutes) almost ends up working against it in that its story — about a childhood misunderstanding and a long-deferred reunion — feels somehow shortchanged and preemptive. Still, it’s got Ciaran Hinds, which in this category is some serious star wattage.

● Time Freak — A snarky, one-joke entry about an awkward young man who invents a time machine. It couldn’t be more obviously a student film, but you know what? The last few movies that have won in this category have also been snarky, one-joke shorts that feel like student films. It still feels a little out of its league in this company, but you stand warned that it could be a sleeper cell.

● Tuba Atlantic — This Norwegian short has already won the Student Academy Award (for whatever that might be worth), and that’s not the only thing going for it. A black humored tale of a craggy, sea-weathered man trying, in his last few days of life, to get in touch with his estranged brother on the other side of the pond is canny, with a perfect balance of slapstick and sentiment.

WILL WIN: Tuba Atlantic, which also stands to benefit from its placement at the tail end of the program. The punchline will send voters out on an undeniable high note.

DESERVES TO WIN: Tuba Atlantic. As a Norwegian, I’m admittedly biased, but see if the protagonist’s increasingly vicious ways to pick off those pesky seagulls don’t win you over.

If you don’t want to sign up on Facebook, you can go to their homepage to fill out a form to cash in on your free breakfast (for you and a few friends!)

The company is celebrating its 29th birthday and they want customers to download the coupon for their “Birthday Bash.”

Click here for details.

Then all you have to do is bring the coupon to any location until 2 p.m. today.

Enjoy!

Know of any other deals? Share them with other ‘Good Lifers’ in the comment section. You can also read more money-saving blog posts here and text WCCODEALS to 84816 for a ‘deals of the week’ reminder.

(credit: Paramount)

Alfred Hitchcock and James Stewart. Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. Woody Allen and Diane Keaton. Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune. John Ford and John Wayne.

There have been any number of great director-actor pairings throughout movie history. But none of these cinematic love affairs (such as they were) can hold a candle to the union of Josef Von Sternberg and fellow émigré Marlene Dietrich.

Dietrich and Von Sternberg’s incomparable six-year, seven-film stint making movies together resulted in some of the most opulently over-the-top melodramas in Hollywood history.

Their movies together are a “best of both worlds” proposition. They have all the visual poetry and Jazz Age abandon of the best 1920s silent films, as well as Von Sternberg’s eye for vertiginous set design.

And at the same time, they boast one of the first undeniably distinctive voices to grace the silver screen — nearly every Eurotrash movie that’s ever come out in the wake of Morocco, Shanghai Express and The Scarlet Empress owes some small debt to Dietrich’s, um, unique delivery.

Though Von Sternberg had three wives over the course of his life (not simultaneously), Dietrich was not one of them. Without meaning to cast any serious aspersions on the personal lives of either, one comes away from these films wondering if the one didn’t inform the other.

At the very least, Von Sternberg clearly poured so much of himself into these collaborations with Dietrich that it feels like you’re watching the consummation of their marriage, from 1930′s The Blue Angel, which set the tone with its tale of the ultimate temptress, all the way through 1935′s The Devil is a Woman, the title of which screams “postnuptial.”

The Trylon Microcinema in Minneapolis is presenting all of their movies together this month, and I can think of no more perfect way to treat your Valentine than to sit down together, watch Dietrich slip off her gorilla costume, don a blonde Afro wig and proceed into a disinterested rendition of “Hot Voodoo.”

At the very least, see the wedding sequence from Scarlet Empress with the one you love. If they’re still by your side after witnessing Von Sternberg’s hellish depiction of wedding bells and gauze, you’re probably in it for the long haul.

This visit took me by surprise. Joel Cam had this new place in mind after our live shots at the Capitol. We were going for coffee, but more important the donuts!

I know this is supposed to be a coffee blog, but in this blog the story is the donuts. First of all, only on rare occasion do I eat donuts. My lunch (which I eat at 8 a.m.) usually consists of a peanut butter sandwich, veggies and fruit, and of course a chocolate square or five. Boring yes, but healthy. I intended to only have the coffee. Well, that didn’t work out.

(credit: CBS)

Mojo Monkey is on West 7th near Randolph Avenue in St. Paul. It’s tucked in a series of shops in an old brick building, clearly identifiable by the cartoon photo of the monkey on the window. We stopped just before 7 a.m. and the windows were fogged over from all of the steam coming from the kitchen.

From there, it’s hard to remember much except for the overwhelming feeling I had when we looked at the cases of donuts. Yowsa! I was captivated by the chocolate-iced cake donut, but the more impressive, decadent looking donuts appeared to be more like dessert with a morning touch.

Joel Cam took photos of our favorites … mocha mousse-filled raised donut, maple icing covered long john with a strip of bacon, and s’mores donuts, with a giant marshmallow on top.

(credit: CBS)

Joel Cam says the mocha donut was the best tasting donut he ever had, until he tried the bacon one.

After seeing all of these delightfully donut-riffic pastries, I called the owner after to ask a few questions, and she has such a great story.

Lisa Clark is a single mom from Minnetonka, Minn. She told me the idea for Mojo Monkey came from her kids. She has three daughters, Dria, Bella, and Hanna, ages 22, 14, and 12. She says one of her girls would never eat cake for her birthday, and would only eat donuts.

Clark says it’s always been a challenge finding really good donuts in the Twin Cities, so she started making them. She and her daughters spent a lot of time in the kitchen over the course of three years, coming up with their own recipes, taste testing, and more taste testing before they opened up Mojo Monkey just four months ago. Clark tells me they have a couple of additional recipes they’re perfecting and plan to introduce them soon.

(credit: CBS)

In a time when the economy is still sputtering, it’s great to hear about an entrepreneur who is doing well. Clark said she’s been overwhelmed (in a good way) with how busy they’ve been. Lisa, we will be back! We brought a dozen donuts back to the newsroom, and they were devoured.

Help Joel Cam and I find a hidden gem in your neighborhood! Send us a tweet, a Facebook message or an email and tell us where to stop when we’re in your part of town. We want to hear your thoughts!

While I know the Super Bowl is over, I can’t help but share one more appetizer recipe; one that’s not going to leave you overstuffed. Plus, it’s good any time of the year.

I first made this smoked mozzarella flatbread pizza for book club years ago, and it’s been making appearances at parties ever since. The main ingredients are simple: lavash flatbread, smoked mozzarella, prosciutto, and arugula (I found all of the ingredients at Lunds).

It’s a delicious mix of ingredients offering salty, smoky, and peppery bites of flavor on a thin and crispy crust.

Smoked Mozzarella Flatbread Pizza
Adapted from Rachael Ray Get Togethers
(serves 4)

1 tbsp olive oil
2-4 pieces of lavash flatbread, enough to cover 2-13×17 baking sheets
3/4 lb. smoked mozzarella, diced into small cubes
1/2 lb. prosciutto
Freshly ground black pepper
4 large handfuls of arugula

Brush lavash flatbread with olive oil and place oil side down on a 13×17 baking sheet. Sprinkle with smoked mozzarella and bake for 7 to 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and lavash is crispy, but not burnt.

Remove from oven and transfer to a serving platter. Tear prosciutto into thin strips and drape on top of the melted cheese. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and arugula. Cut into squares with a knife or pizza cutter and serve.

We started the work week with beautiful sunshine and a high of 46 degrees in the Twin Cities.

It felt more like November (or March if you think ahead) than early February. This week we will have two little chunks of Arctic air coming our way. We will not take a direct hit, but rather a glancing blow from these air masses.

Tuesday will feature a below average high of 24 degrees with more sunshine as the day passes. We warm again Wednesday and Thursday follows with another Arctic front passing late Thursday night.

Don’t hold your breath for any snow. The patterns look fairly dry for the next several days.

In 2010, more than two million people in this state voted in the general election. Is a caucus really democratic? What if you have to work, have an infant, a cold or a car problem? What if you don’t have a babysitter, an errand that has to be done or your power goes off?

Life happens at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays. Most people simply don’t have the time or resources to make it to caucuses. So why does Minnesota, which consistently has the highest voter turnout in the nation have a caucus, not a primary?

Well according to Professor Steven Schier of Carleton College, it’s because party leaders like it that way. The 60,000 that will turn out on Tuesday are the ones whose email addresses and phone number can be taken down. They are the ones who can be counted on to door knock, lit drop and make phone calls.

And so the parties nail down their hard core supporters, but what about the rest of the voters who want their voices heard, but are not hard core enough or able to spend three hours on a Tuesday debating Presidential politics?

They are all left behind, their voices unheard in this critical election year. That is something Minnesota, as a state, needs to question.

We are nearly 20 inches below average here in the Twin Cities this winter.  So expect a dry weekend with highs well above the average of 26 degrees.

It will be a foggy start in western Minnesota with a little sunshine possible later in the day.  Highs will be in the upper 30s.  Sunday will be sunnier with highs possibly cracking into the low 40s.

The next best shot of snow appears to be one week from Sunday.  Of course a lot can (and probably will) change by then.  Have a great weekend.

Every game is getting a little more important, every meet that much more crucial. Teams are trying to win conference championships in the home stretch, and playoff seedings are on the line.

It’s the month before “March Madness,” but that seems to come a little earlier every year. There are plenty of big match-ups around the state that we’re keeping an eye on, and here are four that stuck out to us.

Boys Basketball: Benilde-St. Margaret’s (16-1) at Spring Lake Park (16-1)

It should be a fantastic game Friday night as the two best teams in Class 3A square off in a North Suburban Conference showdown. Neither Benilde-St. Margaret’s or Spring Lake Park have lost a conference match-up yet (both are 8-0), and this game likely determines the front-runner in the home stretch of that race. It’s also our featured game for WCCO-TV’s High School Sports Rally.

The Red Knights, ranked No. 1 in 3A, have won 15 straight games. Sanjay Lumpkin, a Division I recruit, leads four players who average double figures in scoring with 19.8 points per game. Isaiah Zierden, another Division I recruit, averages 19.2 points per game for Benilde.

The Panthers, ranked No. 2 in 3A, are not to be overlooked. They’ve won 12 straight games since losing to Eastview, the top team in the state. The Panthers can score in bunches, and they’re led by two players who average more than 20 points per game. At 26.2 points per game, Sean Scott is one of the top scorers in the metro. Bryce Williams also averages 20.2 points per game.

It’s the only regular season meeting between the two teams this year, and things don’t get any easier for Benilde. The Red Knights travel to No. 5-ranked DeLaSalle on Tuesday.

Neither team made the state tournament last season, but both could be favorites if they get there this year. It’ll be a high-octane, up tempo game, and I’ll take Benilde-St. Margaret’s in a close one tonight.

Boys Basketball: Hopkins (16-1) at Wayzata (16-0)

Hopkins travels to Wayzata Friday night in a battle of Lake Conference teams who are ranked in the top five in the state. The No. 2-ranked Royals have only lost to Benilde-St. Margarets, while the Trojans are a perfect 16-0 but enter their toughest stretch of the season with three ranked opponents ahead. Zach Robertson leads Wayzata at 19.3 points per game. Zach Stahl leads a Hopkins lineup that features four players who average double figures as he scores nearly 20 points per game. The Royals are battle tested, and I’ll give them the edge to hand Wayzata its first loss of the season.

Boys Hockey (Saturday): Minnetonka (17-3) at Edina (17-3)

Braemar Ice Arena should be a packed house Saturday night as No. 5-ranked Edina hosts No. 2-ranked Minnetonka in a Lake Conference showdown. The Hornets have won nine out of their past 10 games, including a 3-2 win over Minnetonka back on Jan. 19. Edina is led by Connor Hurley’s 40 points and Dylan Malmquist’s 19 goals. The Skippers are led by Vinni Lettieri’s 51 points and Max Coatta’s 21 goals. If you go to the game, look for hockey legend Lou Nanne in the crowd. He has three grandsons who will be playing: Letierri for Minnetonka and Louie and Tyler Nanne for Edina. I’ll give the Hornets the edge playing at home.

Wrestling: Albert Lea at Adrian

One of the top wrestling teams in the state will be in southwestern Minnesota Friday night as Adrian hosts a triangular. The Albert Lea Tigers are traditionally one of the powerhouses in wrestling, and this year is no exception. They’re ranked fifth in the state, and Adrian is ranked No. 6 in Class 3A. Albert Lea features six top-10 wrestlers out of 13 weight classes, and they’re strong in the lighter weights, led by top ranked Trevor Westerlund at 106 pounds. Adrian has two ranked wrestlers, but their whole team is consistently solid up and down the lineup. Nate Lynn leads the team with a No. 1 ranking at 138 pounds. I’ll give Albert Lea the edge, but it should be one of several good matches at the meet.

Tune into High School Sports Rally at 10:20 p.m. Friday as Mike Max, Frank Vascellaro and John Lauritsen will have all the action covered.

We’ve talked about using what you have for decorations — or even combing through your local dollar store for inexpensive football-themed accessories and prizes. (See: “Throw A Not-Super-Expensive Bowl Party”).

We tossed around the idea of buying generic or even throwing a potluck party. (See: “3 Steps To A Cheaper Super Bowl Party”).

And we’ve rallied around the idea of making group meals on the cheap. (See: “Recipes To Feed A Group Under $10″). This one isn’t bad for big families for everyday use, too.

Basically, we’ve tried to maximize your game day experience and minimize the price of it. To help you remember our favorite tips, just think of the phrase BIG GAME.

Buy generic.

Invent new ways to use what you have.

Get guests to bring a beverage.

Go to a dollar store.

Always buy bulk.

Make time to cut coupons.

Enjoy yourself!

Know of any other deals? Share them with other ‘Good Lifers’ in the comment section. You can also read more money-saving blog posts here and text WCCODEALS to 84816 for a ‘deals of the week’ reminder.

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — We have been melting away our snow with temperatures well above average. The wind is quite light, and that allows the low-level moisture to hang around in the form of fog.

There is a dense fog advisory in play for many Minnesota counties until 10 a.m. Thursday. Visibility could be under one-fourth-mile in many areas. Bottom line — be careful.

There could be some slick spots in areas that drop below freezing.

I do believe our favorite furry Phil sees his shadow in Pennsylvania in the early hours, which would indicate six more weeks of winter.

Wait a minute — have we had winter yet?

Highs will stay well above average, and we stay dry for quite some time.

I had, however, seen Pina before. Where, on stage? No, in movie – Pedro Almodóvar’s “Talk to Her.”

What I saw of her in that movie I never forgot. She – at least I think it was her – performed “Café Muller” as Almodóvar’s leading man wept in the audience. The sentimental Spanish gentleman in that film is moved to tears by the dance, which goes like this:

Pina (scarecrow skinny, loose dress, eyes closed) runs across a stage filled with randomly-placed chairs, each of which is knocked over by a man running before the dancer. The crack and tumble of the assaulted chairs produces a startling soundtrack over which Pina, imprisoned in a fit of emotional pain, scurries, seizes and swoons.

This is no “Dirty Dancing,” and the documentary makes this pretty clear. The emotions and ideas depicted in Pina’s dances (and those of her students) are either explosive and strange or subtle and quirky in a just-so-slightly-grinning way.

“Pina” starts with a such a grin. You are in a 3D theater – the movie is in 3D, I suppose, to simulate a theatrical experience – and a lone dancer takes the stage performing a ditty in which she expresses each of the seasons with a single movement. (Incidentally, the one for winter – a close-fisted shiver with the hands shaking under the chin – is familiar to any Minnesotan). The lone dancer is then accompanied by a procession of dancers doing the same ditty. This procession, full of personalities you get to know, weaves about the 3D stage and the narrative of the documentary.

After this seasonal introduction the movie goes straight to spring with an epic – outstanding, awesome, brutal – dance set to Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.” As soon as I saw this, the movie had me hooked. The way Pina has women dance in this makes the primal drums in your blood begin to thump. Imagine the fairer sex clapping their fore arms together with all the energy and defiance of mammalian nature as grains from the sand-covered stage turn to mud in their glistening sweat. It’s lovely, really. The dance makes you reconsider the metaphor of woman as flower.

Speaking of structure, the documentary is divided between big dances, such as the “Rite” and “Café Muller,” and little dances. These little ones are performed in small groups or individually by the people with whom Pina worked. They pepper “Pina” with personality and they lend the movie a way for you know the great choreographer mostly through her work.

The result of this structure is that you see Pina’s genius in movement and how it affected those who were close to her. In this way, the documentary is really a love letter to Pina written in the language of dance.

As you might expect, some parts of that letter are stronger than others. Luckily, some dances are cool and some are funny – such as the one where a woman dances on her tippy-toes before a smokestack with slices of veal stuffed into her ballet slippers.

Taken together the dances are impressive in the vaguest sense. That is to say: they hint strongly at big feelings. As for myself, I saw things that looked like the joy of trust, the straight jacket of an unhealthy relationship, and the fun in the flick of a finger snap.

See “Pina” if you, like me, don’t know too much about modern dance besides what you see on TV talent shows. It’s a remarkable experience – visually foreign but emotionally familiar.

“Pina” is mostly in German. It’s screening at the Walker Art Center on Fed. 1.

Since I’m hosting a Super Bowl party where melty gooey cheese is mandatory, I’m doing a few things to make sure I don’t feel too guilty about indulging. Increased cardio workouts both this week and next are crucial along with starting my day with a healthy breakfast. Luckily I discovered just the thing to enjoy each morning: Caramelized Banana Oatmeal.

I made a big batch of steel cut oats over the weekend and divided it up into containers for easy access each morning. These oats can be topped with any fruit or nut combination, but if you’re a banana fan, you must try this delicious breakfast!

Caramelized Banana Oatmeal
(serves 6)

1 ½ cups steel cut oats
6 cups water
½ tsp sea salt

Bananas:
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp sugar
6 firm bananas, peeled
2 tbsp brandy
1 tsp orange zest

Combine oats, salt, and water in a medium saucepan and bring water to boiling. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for about 45 minutes or until oats are thick and most of the liquid is absorbed. Stir occasionally as to prevent oats from sticking to the bottom.

Meanwhile, slice 6 firm bananas diagonally lengthwise. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add butter. Once melted, stir in sugar and add bananas, tossing gently to coat. Add brandy (rum or orange juice also work well), toss again, and remove from pan. Top oatmeal with caramelized bananas and garnish each serving with orange zest.

Prep recruits can make their verbal commitments official when they sign their letter of intent to attend college and play on scholarship. In the past, it hasn’t been a big day for Gopher fans to celebrate. Not even Tim Brewster, a known recruiter, had huge success recruiting for the Minnesota program even with a brand new stadium.

Jerry Kill has been around for a little more than a year, and he’s already got that trend changing. Out of the top 11 seniors in the 2012 recruiting class, nine are headed to play for the Gophers. As many as 28 players could sign letters of intent Wednesday between incoming freshman and junior college transfers.

Kill got verbal commitments fairly early in his tenure from Jonah Pirsig of Blue Earth and Isaac Hayes of St. Thomas Academy, two standout offensive linemen.

Phillip Nelson, arguably the top quarterback in the state, is expected to sign with the Gophers on Wednesday. But his biggest prize yet came last Thursday, when Hopkins star receiver Andre McDonald announced he was coming to the Gophers to play football. McDonald originally committed to Minnesota, then de-committed and said he was headed for Vanderbilt, but that changed when a receivers coach there took a job in Illinois.

Right now, the only locks in the class are Nelson, Pirsig and Hayes as all are currently enrolled in the spring semester at Minnesota and will be at spring football camp.

Among the other top local recruits that are expected to sign with the Gophers on Wednesday are Lakeville South quarterback Mitch Leidner, Blaine’s Duke Anyanwu, Waconia’s Max Williams, Edina’s Nick Rallis and Wayzata’s Ben Leuer.

Recruiting services have ranked Minnesota’s 2012 class 12th in the conference. While that sounds disappointing, we must remember that Kill said his rebuilding project won’t be finished overnight, it’s a four to five-year plan. Kill will also land some junior college transfers to fill voids where younger players aren’t immediately ready.

The bottom line is that several of Minnesota’s top high school seniors had plenty of opportunity to play for other schools, but chose to stay home. Kill has delivered what Brewster could not: A sense of stability and honesty. That goes a long way for an athlete when it comes to their college decision.

In his introductory news conference as the Gopher football coach, Kill said he needs to close the state borders and win the local recruiting battle. I’d say 10 out of the 12 best in the state isn’t a bad start. Now we just need to practice patience, something that Gopher fans have been doing for far too many years.

For years sitting in those blue seats and having a January Dome Dog was the perfect preview to the upcoming season.

Now it’s a nostalgic walk down dimly lit concourses and fake grass. It couldn’t get any better.

The Vikings need to find a different site for their new digs. Kicking off a Twins season anywhere but the Dome just wouldn’t feel right.

Check it out at the New York Times online.

The nickname cuts both ways. Fans love the bombast, take no prisoners approach.

While Gingrich’s barracuda-like style of disemboweling opposing candidates may have fans, it also has some Republicans nervous. Bob Dole is the latest prominent Republican to urge voters to support Mitt Romney.

Does ‘Nuclear Newt’ have the temperament to be President? Does the nation want ‘Nuclear Newt’s’ finger on the proverbial nuclear button? The conventional wisdom, born out in most polls, is that Mitt Romney would fare much better against President Obama in a general election.

How Obama would fare versus Gingrich in a debate is also a question mark. Gingrich’s candidacy has risen not just on rhetoric, but on capturing the anger and frustration of many voters. The anger is headed our way. Minnesota voters can decide whether Gingrich, nuclear or not, is their candidate the night of Feb. 7, caucus night.