doodledee

Hoffmaldo just called to report a Chris Richard sighting at the grand opening party for that fancy new steakhouse/sushi bar thing next to the Pantages Theater in Minneapolis.

Seeing the worst team in the NBA's 2nd round draft pick out on the town isn't really newsworthy, right? Well, what if I told you he was proudly sporting a Celtics jacket? Um, doodlenewsworthy!

There have a been a couple of reports in the media that the Twins stadium is over budget. Here's a blurb from Kare11:

The Minnesota Twins say their new $390 million ballpark is over budget by a "significant amount." Twins Sports president Jerry Bell says the team will increase its contribution to the ballpark rather than cut back on the plans.

And here comes the Sid Hartman take:

The headlines in Saturday's papers all raved about the signings of Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau to long- term contracts, and the Twins management should be complimented for those moves.

But I thought the bigger news was that the ballpark was coming in more than $20 million over budget and that the Pohlad family had agreed to come up with the money.

A couple of things struck me about this story. First, as someone who has been watching the progress from my office downtown, they seem to be moving really fast. They post schedules for road closures and stuff and a lot of it is being completed in half the expected time. But per the kare11 piece, the increase in cost is due to the price of materials, so maybe getting it done in half the time doesn't change anything. Like it's fixed bid or something. Except for the materials part. But yeah, that'd be a weird way to bid on something. Time and no materials? Materials and no time? Huh? Reminder: I know jack squat about the construction industry.

The second thing I'll point out is that both stories (especially Sid, obvs) seem to imply the Twins are 'stepping up'. Here's the part where I remind you that the stadium deal was written in such a way that the Twins are responsible for any overruns. So in this case that they're not so much 'stepping up' as they are 'doing what they're obligated to do'. (Just like will with Santana, right? Right?!) Maybe mention that next time?

Also this: A 5% overrun is 'significant'? Um, the last 10 NFL stadiums built averaged a 19% overrun. So yeah, 5% is ass kickingly great. Maybe mention that next time, too?

FD: Still super excited for outdoor baseball!!1!

New ballpark is over budget by 'significant amount' [kare11]
Twins making great moves on, off field [strib]

I just wrapped a 4-day Mr. Mom marathon that was so jam-packed with fun and excitement I'm thinking even the kids are probably glad that it's over. But I'm thinking they're also probably a little bummed. Because yeah, it was both fun and exciting. And most certainly jam packed. Wall to wall. Literally in some cases. (Best pillow fort ever? Some say yes.) Zoo trips and pizza parties and open gyms and look how much coffee daddy can drink and of course I want to dance to that song again (seriously, I do) and yeah it's cold, but we're going out because it puts hair on your chest. No, sorry, not instantly.

I only had two odd personal moments. The first was when I realized how many "I wonder if I can leave the kids in the car when I run into the [gas station/skate sharpening place/etc]?" type conversations I'd had with myself. It's a fun thought exercise, but um, yeah, never left them. The other was when I was cleaning up one evening after bedtime and it hit me that all I'd had for dinner that night was cookie dough and beer. The joys of fatherhood continue to surprise and delight.

When can we do it again?

I followed my own suggestion and went down to Lake Harriet for the kite festival on Saturday afternoon. It was outrageous. Kites everywhere. People everywhere. People flying kites everywhere. Then there was cocoa and ice fishing and music and skating and marshmallow roasting and some kite club nerds were flying these HUGE kites that were really really neat. Junior went nuts. So did everyone else. I'm for sure adding this to my "annual highlights" list.

And hey, remember that lame op/ed piece in the Strib last weekend? You know, the one where some dude with a Scandinavian sounding name connected the dots and concluded that because we have skyways downtown, it must mean that we never go outside and enjoy winter? I think his exact quote was that we "hunker down indoors, counting the days until spring." Well anyway, I thought of that piece while junior and I sat on the ice and watched the big blue kite.

Check out this awesome crumb cake I whipped-up this morning after hockey. It was pretty easy and it turned out great. Especially the crumbs. And that's good because let's be honest, crumbs are the whole point of a crumb cake. As usual, my secret ingredient was love. And butter. More butter than love, actually. So yeah, make sure you have extra butter on hand. Also: make sure you know that Germans refer to this cake as 'krummelkuchen', because it may or may not be outrageously fun to say that 1000 times while you make and eat your version. I'll let you decide. (Hint: it totally is.)

The recipe is below. It's from a magazine I read. That I won't name in an attempt to throw their internet 'take down' goonsquads off my track, thereby sparing all 3 of you from having to pay for a silly crumb cake recipe. And by "silly" I mean "full of butter and delicious".

Also: yes, that's my favorite kick ass Evla pottery coffee mug peeking into the picture. Both it and this crumb cake make me want to dance.

Crumb Cake

For the crumbs
1/3 c sugar
1/3 c dark brown sugar
3/4 t cinnamon
pinch salt
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and warm
1 3/4 c cake flour

1. Mix everything but flour together with wisk.
2. Add flour and stir with spatula until it's doughy.
3. Set it aside.

For the cake
1 1/4 c cake flour
1/2 c sugar
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, soft and cool, cut into 6 pieces
1 egg plus one yolk
1 t vanilla
1/3 c buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Line 8 inch square pan with parchment and spray it with cooking spary.
3. Put all dry stuff into mixer bowl.
4. With mixer running on low, add butter one piece at a time.
5. When it looks like moist crumbs, kick the mixer up to medium high add all the wet.
6. Mix for another minute or so until it's light and fluffy.
7. Dump into cake pan. Spread it around evenly with spatula.
8. Using your fingers, break the topping into little large pea sized flavor bombs and sprinkle them onto cake. Note: I said 'sprinkle', not 'smash them into cake'.
9. Bake for 35 - 40 min or until toothpick test passes.
10. Rest for 30 minutes.
11. Blast with powdered sugar before serving if that's your style.

You're welcome.

Checked out the Wolves/Mavs today as part of some Holiday 3-pack that Hoffmaldo assures me will get us into the Boston game when they come to town in February. He better be right.

Here's me in full rube mode with Crunch.

And here's some quick bullet style takes:

• Pregame atmosphere: flat. Find our seats, not bad, realize I should have brought the laptop to liveblog the whole game. Next time. Or not.
• Player announcements: awkward. It's a matinee game, the arena is maybe a third full, and we've got 4 wins this season. I'm no tastemaker, but at what point does the darkened arena and pumped up music and Crunch on a ladder with a huge 'noise' sign and American Gladiator style pyro effects all become just a bit silly? The answer: about 14 losses ago. Ok, make it 20. The collective embarrassment was palpable.
• Tipoff. Oh, look, it's already 14-4. That was fast. General atmosphere in arena: flat. It's Rookie Day. Lots of features on the scoreboard about the new kids. Some good, some humiliating. For everyone. Meanwhile, the cotton candy vendor dude is showing more hustle than most of the Wolves.
• Breaking news: Dirk Nowitzki can play basketball.
• Lots of debate about Wittman's coaching. Is he rotating the right way, what should he be doing, who should he be playing. JoePa full of opinions. Quality banter ensues. This debate lasts maybe 16 minutes and is more inspired than anything I will see on the floor for the remainder of the afternoon.
• Halftime show was these quick change magic act you've heard so much about. I've watched the video on youtube and my mind is still blown. Great stuff.
• Second half. Arena dead quiet. At one point a phone rang down on the scorer's table and I could hear it clear as day. I am not making this up. It was just that quiet. I could have yelled something "funny" to Trenton Hassell down on the Mavs bench and he would have heard me no problem. But as usual, the words didn't come. Sorry, T.
• Malt cup snack break. $3. I was going to get a pretzel, but I wanted cheese, and cheese was $1 more. So pretzel with cheese was going to be like $4.50. Which is a bigger joke than Antoine Walker's pick and roll defense. So malt cup it is.
• Final buzzer. Mercy buzzer. Either way, it buzzed.

[Starting a new occasional feature - Doodle Hall of Fame (doodleHoF) lunches. Buckle up.]

Today we feature one of my longtime favorite lunches: Kramarczuk's timeless classic "huge bowl of sauerkraut with polish sausage in it".

What: It's pretty much what you'd expect. A nicely sized bowl crammed to overflowing with sauerkraut and chunks of Kramarczuk's homemade polish sausage. A lady with an Eastern European accent ladles it up out of a soup pot down next to the borscht and goulash. It's steamy and warm and seasoned to perfection and the sausages snap and ooze and you'll grab a napkin and wipe your mouth after each bite. Then you'll shake your head in amazement, because you never would have guessed that eating a giant bowl of sauerkraut would be this ridiculously great.

Where: The restaurant / cafeteria at Kramarczuk's on Hennepin, right over the Grain Belt bridge from downtown. They have a small parking lot on the north side of the building.

Tips: First, make sure you've got a good beverage supply. I'd recommend going fountain soda so you can get tons of refills. Don't get the wrong idea, it's not killer salty or anything, but come on, it's sauerkraut and sausage. Duh. Next, make sure you pick up a couple of slices of complimentary bread over by where you get your silverware. A lot of people miss it and/or assume it's just some random loaf of bread sitting out for display purposes. It's not. It's for actual eating purposes. Third, and this is a personal preference thing, but I grab a little cup of brown mustard for dunking my polish in. I find it adds a little something awesome to the dish.

Else: After you finish, be sure to swing thru the butcher shop area and grab a few to-go goodies. Like maybe a couple more feet of polish. Have a look:

Hello lovelies!

Now go forth and lunch.

[Note: the lunch picture above shows an extra half sausage on the plate. This extra sausage is not included in the polish bowl. Unless you bring your kid and he only wants half of the sausage you got for him. (Yet another joy of fatherhood.) For a picture with less extra sausage and more parsley garnish, browse the Kramarczuk's website.]

Am I the only one out there feeling like this holiday break is the longest break ever? Seriously, I feel like I've been on break for a month. And who knows, maybe it has been, it's not like I spent a lot of time checking the calendar. I didn't even realize it was New Years Eve yesterday until like noon. Think that's absurd? Yeah, so do I. And you know what else is absurd? All the other stuff I labeled 'absurd' during this never ending holiday break. Here's a sampling:

There were many more to be sure, each more trivial than the last. And in a prior life, I'm thinking each of those bullets would have gotten its own special bloggy treatment. You're welcome.