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Our 12 favorite dishes from local restaurants in 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 18:00:01 GMT

It’s that time of year when we scroll through our photos and recall just how lucky we are to have tasted so many delicious dishes by so many of the Twin Cities’ fabulous chefs.It’s never easy to choose our favorite bites of the year, but here are 12 that really stood out in 2023.Here’s to another tasty year, and if you haven’t been to any of these places, what are you waiting for? Maybe this list can serve as a to-do list of sorts for 2024.RELATED: 6 great drinks from Twin Cities restaurants in 2023Crispy Green Beans from Soul LaoEverything at Soul Lao, the new Sibley Plaza restaurant from the folks behind the food truck of the same name, is great. But the crispy green beans stood out in their simplicity: Green beans and snow peas, wok-fried with fermented soy sauce and garlic and tomatoes. The slightly sour earthiness of the sauce brings out a sweetness in the vegetables that’s just delightful. This, I think, is green beans and snow peas at their best.Green beans are shown with sev...

6 great drinks from Twin Cities restaurants in 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 18:00:01 GMT

Our Twin Cities culinary artisans don’t just reside in the kitchen — there are lots of great drink-makers here as well.Here are our six favorite drinks from 2023. Cheers!RELATED: Our 12 favorite dishes from local restaurants in 2023Cranberry negroni at Saint DinetteTart cranberries work really well with the classic negroni flavors here — and the holiday ingredient makes your drink just a little bit festive to boot. We love that it’s a little lighter and less astringent than a regular negroni, too. It’s just the thing to warm you up after the many outdoor events taking place in St. Paul this winter.The cranberry Negroni at Saint Dinette in St. Paul’s Lowertown. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)Saint Dinette: 261 E. Fifth St., St. Paul; 651-800-1415; saintdinette.com— J.F.Gimiwan at Makwa CoffeeWho said our favorite drinks need to be from a bar? Makwa Coffee in Roseville, owned by State Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, has quickly become an East Metro hotspot f...

Kelly McKinney: Are we as a nation ready for the next big threat? What Oct. 7 and the pandemic have taught us

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 18:00:01 GMT

NEW YORK — I was stunned by the early morning headline that appeared in my email. According to The New York Times, Israeli officials had known about Hamas’ plan for more than a year before it launched its Oct. 7 attacks.This could not be true. The Israel that I have come to know over the past 22 years is a beacon of vigilance, with a hard-bitten approach to threat protection that it has learned through decades of painful experience. And it has generously shared its expertise with our professionals in New York and around the world.Yet in this case instead of acting, Israeli military and intelligence dismissed this startling revelation as “aspirational.” In New York City, we call this “talking away the job,” and it is a sure sign that a healthy complacency has taken hold.Complacency comes in a variety of forms — misplaced hope, denial, faith, fatalism — but the results are always the same. It leaves you flat-footed in the face of fast-mo...

Vermont man arrested on drug sale warrant from NH

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 18:00:01 GMT

SHAFTSBURY, Vt. (NEWS10) -- A Bennington, Vermont man was arrested Wednesday on an active warrant out of New Hampshire for selling heroin, according to the Vermont State Police. Joshua Willette, 38, was arrested after troopers pulled him over in Shaftsbury. Get the latest news, weather, sports and more delivered right to your inbox! On Wednesday, around 11:28 a.m., troopers pulled over a car on US Route 7 in Shaftsbury. During the stop, police say the driver, identified as Willette, was found to have an extraditable warrant out of New Hampshire for heroin sales.Willette was arrested and was lodged at the Marble Valley Correctional Facility in place of $100,000 bail. He is scheduled for arrangement in Vermont Superior Court Bennington Criminal Division on Thursday.

Search efforts for missing St. Louis woman continue this morning, volunteers wanted

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 18:00:01 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- The search continues for a missing Marquisha Williams, despite her ex-boyfriend, Trenton Ivy, admitting to murder in police custody, police say. The missing 29-year-old St. Louis mother of four is feared dead after her ex-boyfriend was charged with her murder on Wednesday.“We don’t have her yet. That’s the most critical point; we don’t have her back yet,”  Williams’ stepfather, Terrence Chavis said. “When we get her back, we’ll stop. Until then, we won’t stop.”Search efforts continue Thursday morning, starting at 9 a.m. Williams’ family is asking anyone who wants to help to meet them at 9 a.m. Thursday at Mount Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, located at 1600 Belt Avenue in St. Louis. The family also plans to meet there at the same time on Friday and search until around 5 p.m. on both days.They advise people to dress for the cold weather. They’re also asking volunteers to bring flashlights, tools to help clear debris and drones to fly over areas search crews can’t acce...

A light dusting brings a winter wonderland, but no major hassles

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 18:00:01 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- It’s snowing but not really sticking. Thanks to temperatures that have been at or above freezing, even overnight, and the warm ground, our slow-moving storm has been more of a mood snow than a big problem. There have been a few communities west of metro St. Louis, Wentzville and Cuba, for example, that have seen a bit more accumulation, but most of the region just has that frosted mini-wheat look to it.  On Thursday, snow will taper off towards sunrise. The skies will stay cloudy. It was breezy today, with highs near 40. Tonight, another band of light snow will wrap around our storm and drop south into St. Louis.  It’s a little colder, so we will likely see minor slushy accumulations on grassy surfaces, car tops, and back decks, maybe up to 1 inch. Overnight temperatures are once again expected to stay just above freezing, so roads will likely stay wet.  Snow may mix with rain before ending late Friday morning. Cloudy skies tomorrow afternoon, highs in the upp...

Ask Amy: Cheating might be disguised as a sex addiction

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 18:00:01 GMT

Dear Amy: I’m a man in my 30s. I’d gone on a couple of dates with “Stan” before he left for a four-month trip. We had sex both times. He was sweet, romantic, and we got along well.When he got back, we started dating again and he said he didn’t want to have sex for a while because he believed he was a sex addict.He started going to 12-step meetings. His rules about sex kept changing — first it was no sex for 90 days, then he changed that to some sex acts were OK, but not others.About three weeks in, we had a really lovely, romantic overnight date and he left to meet a friend for coffee. The next day he told me they had sex.Since we hadn’t agreed to be exclusive, I overlooked it.A month later, I had to fly to my hometown because my dad, who had dementia, had stopped eating and drinking. He was taken off fluids but hung on for nearly three weeks before he died. I was away for a month and was at the nursing home 12 hours a day. It was devastating.Halfway through, Stan called to co...

Local DC-area pizza chain recognized by Italian critics

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 18:00:01 GMT

toggle audio on and off change volume download audio WTOP's Matt Kaufax reports on how a local pizza shop was recognized by an Italian-based critics group as one of world’s most “excellent Pizzerias.” $(function () { $('.wtop-audio-container .fa-play').on('click', function(){ var audio_filename = $('div.wtop-audio-file').data("mp3-url"); if( typeof gtag === "function" ){ gtag('event', 'post_audio', { 'play': audio_filename, 'permalink': window.location.href }); } }); }); Pupatella, a pizza restaurant with multiple locat...

Flag football catching on and will be featured at the 2028 LA Games, maybe even with NFL players

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 18:00:01 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Imagine Tyreek Hill catching passes again from Patrick Mahomes. Not in a Super Bowl, either, but with a gold medal on the line for Team USA.Anything’s about to become possible after flag football was elevated to Olympic status. The non-contact sport was added to the program for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Miami’s Hill and Kansas City’s Mahomes are among the NFL players who’ve shown an interest in possibly wearing the red, white and blue in the Olympics.Flag football is a sport many may have grown up playing in the backyard or at recess in elementary school or in gym class or through leagues. In this version of American football, everyone is eligible to catch a pass on offense. And on defense, ending up with a flag is a good thing (it’s how you stop a player). The NFL has jumped on board, too, adding flag football to the league’s Pro Bowl activities. What are the rules?The standard style of the game is five-on-five with no linemen...

Mexico QB Diana Flores leads the charge as women’s flag football makes gains internationally

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 18:00:01 GMT

Diana Flores has starred in a Super Bowl halftime ad, signed a deal with Under Armour, and even coached girls at a clinic in Morocco.Mexico’s flag football quarterback did not see this coming.“For a Mexican girl who fell in love with a very American sport at the age of 8, I never imagined that all of this could even be a possibility for me,” she said.The possibilities — for Flores and other young women around the world — now also include the Los Angeles Games in 2028 since flag football has been added to the Olympic program.When it comes to gold medals, the women’s side seems better positioned to crack American dominance as NFL fans pencil in Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill for a U.S. dream team in Los Angeles.Mexico routed the United States 39-6 in the women’s final of the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, though quarterback Vanita Krouch and the Americans gained some revenge in July with a 26-21 win over Mexico for gold in the Americas tournament of the In...