Krik's Picks

In October, I traveled to Des Moines to attend the World Food Prize activities. My company, Land O’Lakes , helped sponsor a panel discussion on women in agriculture in the developing world. (Click here to read about the panel. Click here to view a video of an African woman who formed a dairy cooperative to help her family and her village succeed as dairy farmers.) My trip to Des Moines was one problem after the other. It’s only a four hour drive from the office. But when I checked airfares, there actually was a pretty favorable fare available, so I decided to fly. However, when I went to the gate at the time to board the plane, all the passengers and I learned that our plane had a mechanical problem. They didn’t have a spare part in Minneapolis. So they had to fly in a different plane from Detroit. So the four-hour drive that I was avoiding turned into a five-hour delay at the airport. When it became evident that I was not going to arrive in Des Moines in time for our group dinn...

There must be something between me and fast food and Clear Lake , Iowa . I’ve written before that I’m not a big fan of fast food, nor a frequent consumer of it. In fact, I haven’t eaten at a fast food joint since spring of 2007. But a strange thing happened a couple of weeks ago. I was driving home from a meeting in Ames , Iowa . It was around 1 p.m., and I was feeling a little hungry. The next stop was on the freeway was Clear Lake . I decided to stop at the Wendy’s restaurant for a quick lunch. The last time I ate fast food was at an Arby’s in Clear Lake . Now, here’s the freaky thing. Earlier this year, the same company that owns Wendy’s bought Arby’s. Whoa! What are the odds? I even ignored my own advice. In my posting from my visit to Arby’s in Clear Lake , I suggested taking an extra few minutes to drive into town and eat at a real café. I totally ignored my own advice and swung into the Wendy’s off the freeway. So I had a BBQ Flavor-Dipped Chicken Sandwich valu...

By Guest Blogger Patty Miller When I was a student at Iowa State University in Ames , Aunt Maude’s was THE place to go for a special dinner – especially if the parents were paying. With its funky, Victorian charm, fabulous strawberry daiquiris (made with fresh berries) and well-prepared classic American fare like London broil and au gratin potatoes, Aunt Maude’s kept us coming back for more than 30 years. So you can imagine our dismay when my college roommates and I made a pilgrimage to ISU in late July only to learn that Aunt Maude’s was closed for remodeling. Where would we eat? Ames is definitely not a hotbed of haute cuisine. More like hot dogs. The person at Aunt Maude’s who took our call must have sensed our disappointment and recommend Maude’s “sister” restaurant, a slightly more casual bistro called The Café. First we had to find the place, which is located in a re-creation of a Midwestern downtown about 10 blocks north of Ames ’ real downtown. T...

I don’t eat at fast food restaurants very often, probably no more than five times a year. I usually find that it’s almost as easy and almost as quick to stop in at a café or casual restaurant and sit down to a quick meal as it is to swing through a fast food place. On the rare occasion when I do eat at a fast food place, it’s almost always when I’m traveling – like on a short layover at an airport. When I do eat fast food, I have to admit, my decision where to eat and what to eat usually is driven by some kind of ad or promotion. Examples: I ate at a Quiznos at the Denver airport because I wanted to see if a toasted sub really was better. I thought it was. It’s been a really long time since I’ve eaten a fast food burger, maybe two or three years. The last time I remember eating one, Burger King had a promotion for three slices of natural cheese on the burger – cheddar, Swiss, and provolone. I always support serving natural cheese instead of processed cheese. But in t...

If you’re driving by Clear Lake around lunch time, skip the fast food joints at the I-35 intersections. Drive into town; it’ll only take you an extra five minutes. You’ll find a local café or a deli where you can get a sandwich and a cup of soup and a slice of homemade pie. I grew up in southern Minnesota , about 40 miles from Clear Lake . When my mom and dad were young, they used to go to dances at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake . Buddy Holly , Ritchie Valens, and “The Big Bopper” died when their plane crashed while trying to take off in a snow storm after playing a show at the Surf. That was early in the morning of February 3, 1959. I was 7 years old.