Meesh Mix

I absolutely detest my cell phone… it was expensive, it takes forever to do anything on,  and I’m tethered to it for two years of my life.  It is an HTC Touch Pro (1st generation) running Windows Mobile 5.  I originally purchased it so that I could keep up with several email accounts, and remote in to work from anywhere when needed.  And with this expensive phone comes an expensive data plan…

Constantly nestled in my pocket right, next to the crappy phone, is my iPod Touch: sleek, fast, long battery life, and utterly connectionless most of the time when you want to use it.  (Unfortunately, we’re still many months away from even having a glimpse of an iPhone in Sioux Falls. )

But Today, this glorious day, I found this app for my phone: WM WiFi Router (www.wmwifirouter.com) .  This wonderful little application turns my cell phone into a WiFi hotspot, sharing my phone’s data plan in ad-hoc mode to my other devices: iPod, iPad, etc.  Granted, the speed ain’t fast, the security is only WEP, and the battery life of my phone disappears, but it’s worth it to have a usable device when on the road. 

I’m still in Trial mode, but I think I will soon be shelling out the 14 Euro to make it mine permanently.   There’s details about which phones and client devices it’s been tested with on their website.  Enjoy!

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Ever since the demise of ACME, I’ve been waiting for another worthy dance club to pop up in Sioux Falls.  We now have a new contender that opened in late June: “The Vault” is a dance club/lounge aimed towards the 20-30 somethings looking to have a fun night on the town. 

We got in shortly after opening on Friday night to check things out, before the crowds kicked in.  According to the marketing, they are pushing the nightclub as “high-class”, and thus all the waitstaff, bartenders, and bouncers are in slick-looking black dresses and suits.  I’m not sure yet whether there will be a dress code, but for now they did let us in with just a tees and jeans. 

[View with PicLens]

The club is definitely reminiscent of ACME with color-changing light walls, LED accent panels, and a modern dance floor lighting rig.  It kind of looks like a small version of MYTH in Minneapolis.  The audio was at a level where you could still communicate, if desired, and the room is surrounded with large LCD TVs showing the related music videos.  The few songs I heard while we were there were pop and alt. rock.   There are two large bar areas at each end of the room, and plenty of waitstaff.  At the back of the club, there is also a raised and somewhat secluded VIP section with group seating.   

I think they got the ambiance right if they are trying to attract a young, somewhat-affluent and not-too-rowdy crowd.  The thing that remains to be seen is whether the club will run into over-crowding and brawl problems like the two prior that failed in the same location.  The club is apparently a venture by the owner of Wiley’s tavern.  All-in-all, I am hopeful.  They seem to be on the right track with lighting, style, attitude and music.  Hope to see you there soon.

P.S. I apologize for the cell phone camera quality of the pictures, but it’s better than nothing.

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Mixed – 2604 South Louise, Across from Home Depot
www.mixedgogreen.com
I’m not really a survive-on-salad-only person, but I definitely know people who will enjoy this new Sioux Falls restaurant:  “Mixed” is a fast-food style place that lets you build salads to go or eat-in.  They give you tons of choices for type of lettuce, meats, veggies, and dressings.  They also do wraps and Panini sandwiches.  They are just getting started and had a few customer service hiccups initially, but I think once all the workers know the routine, it will become a hot spot for the local people looking for a fast and healthier  alternative to the McDonald’s bajillion calorie salads.   They are also using “green” products and recycling.

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I’ve always had a fascination with Frank Loyd Wright’s designs, and Fallingwater is one of those breathtaking ones that I would like to make a pilgrimage to see.   But that probably won’t be happening for a while, so for now maybe I’ll just get this LEGO version of it to show off in the living room.  I’d like to figure out how to light up the clear blocks with LEDs.

We found these while wandering around in downtown Sioux Falls.  There is a cute little children’s toy and book store on Phillips Ave called Child’s Play Toys.  Lots of nifty stuff you wish you’d had when you were little.

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I’m not, I swear.  It may be in my blood, but it’s not something I grew up with.  However, I did watch the “Food, Inc.” movie a couple weeks ago and it really did inspire me to start looking into getting local food.  My personal concern is roughly 80% about the impact that the never-ending supply of crappy processed food is having on our health, and only about 20% about the environmental impacts. 

So, we made a plan to go out and find the local farmer’s markets in town.  Once we started looking into it, we started finding plenty of opportunities for buying local and organic foods in Sioux Falls.  It makes sense: this state is serious about its agriculture, even if most farms now grow just corn, soybeans and animals for the big food conglomerates.   Still, they know their stuff and some still grow a big variety of fruits, veggies, plants, and animals to feed the growing crowd of “green” people in the Sioux Empire.

There are a few organized farmer’s markets that run during the summer and fall right in Sioux Falls, and a few more random trailer-based ones that pop up in various parking lots around town.   On Saturday July 3^rd, we set out to find some of the bigger ones and here are my reviews:

Falls Park Farmer’s Market – Open Saturdays 8 am – 1 pm
www.fallsparkfarmersmarket.com
This market is hosted just south of Fall’s Park in a nice permanent sun shelter (now all they need is some wind shelter).  It was smaller than we expected, but it had decent variety given how early it is in the growing season.   They sell plenty of picked veggies and flowers and even some potted herbs and veggie plants.  I picked out a few veggies that now I have to figure out how best to prepare….probably just go with some olive oil and garlic.  One thing that I was concerned about was how they would handle selling meat in that kind of environment, but the main meat vendor had that completely figured out:   He has a nice powered trailer filled with large storage freezers (like the kind you put in your garage).  Each freezer is labeled with a different type of meat and filled with solidly frozen vacuum-packed cuts of meat.  I picked up several grass-fed beef sirloin steaks and some hamburger.  They had just about anything else you could have wanted for meats, too… including the “naughty bits” for those of you who want to be like Anthony Bourdain.

Sioux Empire Farmer’s Market
www.siouxempirefarmersmarket.com
Tuesdays 3pm – 6pm – Kohl’s parking lot
Thursdays 3pm – 6pm – Shopko parking lot
Saturdays 9am – 1pm – 8th & Railroad Center
We went to the market at 8^th & Railroad but they were pretty well picked-over by the time we got there (about noon).  This market had more crafts and non-edible products than the other one, but a similar selection of plants & veggies.  They also had some nice and heavy handmade bread so I picked up a loaf of wheat sour-dough. 

The Co-op Natural Foods Store
33rd & Duluth – Open Friday 8-8, Saturday 8-6, Sunday 10-6
www.coopnaturalfoods.com
This is actually a small grocery store east off of Minnesota Ave.  Anyone can shop at the store, the co-op part just means that you can choose to become a part-owner and get a decent discount if you pay their annual fee (sort of like Sam’s Club).  The store focuses on locally grown/made foods and organic or healthy foods.  They have lots of the basics that you can buy in bulk, such as: rices, cereals, flours, grains, dried fruit, spices & teas.  Then they also have fresh food like produce & dairy.  Most of the isles are filled with everyday food replacements:  dinner mixes, canned food, chips & crackers, juices, and all sorts of not-as-bad-for-you sweets.  I will definitely go here routinely due to their big selection and more convenient hours.

Other ones
We also saw a small farmer’s market setup behind Sheels, and it’s always easy to find trucks with melons and sweet corn on the side of the road around here.   There’s a decent listing of markets and farms from around the area at www.localharvest.org.

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