Mickey’s Diner, originally uploaded by timbu.

I’ve wanted to eat at the St. Paul landmark, Mickey’s Diner, since 1988, before I ever moved to Minnesota. Today was my lucky day.

The kids and I sat at the counter and had a complete diner experience. I had a very nice Mulligan Stew and they had pancakes in the shape of a well known mouse with agressive trademark lawyers.

Coconut Cupcakes, originally uploaded by timbu.

I really need some pointers on how to properly frost things.

The recipe for these coconut cupcakes is from 52 cupcakes, again.

BTW, the recipe as originally posted was missing the salt portion of the recipe. It looks like it has been fixed now.

Como Conservatory, originally uploaded by timbu.

Elise and I went to the Como Conservatory yesterday. This is one of the best family bargains in the Twin Cities. For a small suggested donation, ($2 for adults, $1 for children) you can check out a very nice conservatory with knowledgeable staff and a really nice zoo.

I was alone in a sea of women with children in tow.

The banana bread bandit confessed.

For the record the banana bread was delicious.

Banana Bread Mystery, originally uploaded by timbu.

This banana bread was left on my keyboard this morning.

I’ve interrogated the usual suspects and either one of them is dissembling or I have not yet determined who the culprit is.

Please contact me if you know where this came from.

I have quite a few paper back books I’ve bought over the years. I need to get rid of some of them since I don’t have nearly enough shelf space to house them. In addition, there are plenty of books I own that I just don’t feel the need to read again. I’m only too happy to get them into the hands of someone who will enjoy them.

I’ve tried paperback exchange stores in the past. They seem to work on a store credit scheme, where I get a percentage of the cover price applied towards the next book I buy. That’s reasonable but the one in my neighborhood doesn’t have the best selection and is open very odd hours. In the end, it seemed like the book ended up being worth exactly 1/2 of a different used book. In my mind one used book (in reasonable condition) is worth one used book, although I’m willing to pay a small transaction fee.

I once tried to sell a few items on Amazon, but I was competing with people selling 49¢ copies. It was hardly worth the bother.

So I mentioned this to my scrabble playing & prolific reader pal, Jennie. She looked around, rejected one site and came back with a solid recommendation for paperbackbookswap.com. I figured I’ve got nothing to lose, I’ll try it. Within 12 hours someone is shipping me two books, “Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass” by Isak Dinesen & “Angels & Demons” by Dan Brown. Coincidentally two people want books that I listed, so I’ll be shipping those out tomorrow. They even give you a label to print out so that it’s super easy to ship.

So what does this cost? Each person involved pays their own shipping, which is about $1.59. The web site indicates that they want to start charging a membership fee in the future to be part of the exchange, but right now it doesn’t cost anything. Every book you send allows you to get one book. In addition when you sign up listing 9 books gives you three credits right away.

If you join and list 9 books, I get a credit. So join up and try it. List me or better yet, Jennie, as having referred you.

The Tiger Rising

by Kate Dicamillo

I read ‘The Tiger Rising’, by Kate DiCamillo a few months back. If you liked the novel, “Because of Winn-Dixie”, you’ll probably like this book. It is a children’s book that deals with topics like bullying, death, and grief without succumbing to cliche, preciousness or preachiness.

According to Esquire, there are 59 Things a Man Should Never Do Past 30

After perusing the list, there are a few I’ve been known to do.

3. Rank his friends in order of best, second best, and so on.
It’s all fine until people start comparing notes.

10. Skip
It has to be warm and sunny but I’ve done it. There are no known photos.

19 Give shout-outs.
I think I once gave a shout out to my peeps on the blog, iirc. I have no plans for future shout outs.

25. Request extra sprinkles.
I’m not ashamed of this one.

39. Whine.
Isn’t this going to be an Olympic sport someday? I’m in training.

54. Read The Fountainhead.
I might have been 29, 30 tops.

[Link Courtesy of Dave's Picks]

The Graduate, originally uploaded by timbu.

There are two things in life that always make me feel better.

• Taking a long walk.
• Reading a book.

This weekend I got to do both when I turned the water on at Uncle R’s cabin.

The paperback books at the cabin are mostly books left behind on airplanes, collected by R. during his tenure with Northwest. Given the collection method you can imagine that there is a huge selection of trashy novels from the 70′s and early 80′s. For instance we have multiple copies of “Airport” & “Coffee, Tea or Me”.

This weekend I finished “The Graduate”, by Charles Webb and made a start on “The Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison.

I liked “The Graduate”. The movie version is such a cultural icon, it was hard to not imagine the main characters as being played by anyone other than Dustin Hoffman & Anne Bancroft.

Loved this parody entitled, “The Lonely Planet Guide To My Apartment” from a recent New Yorker. I need to write one for people brave enough to come to my house or office.

Since my birthday is coming up, the appropos quote is this one.