Swedish Mystery -- Girl With a Dragon Tattoo

I tend to steer clear of the books that everyone raves about. Every once in a while I give in to the "this is SUCH a good book" pressure. Usually, though, I'm disappointed. Whatever the current "SUCH a good book" is, it's been so gushed about that it has little hope of meeting expectations.

But I'm eating my words on this one.

I've been avoiding The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson for well over a year. However, I just finished reading it. The American paperback version is 590 pages and I read the thing in three days. I was obsessed.

Plus it's labeled a "mystery," another type of book I usually steer clear. Well, not anymore. At least not when it comes to this author.

Larsson penned three books in this mystery series and started a forth. Unfortunately, he died of a heart attack in 2004 before finishing that last one.

The books have been translated and translated and translated. The third book hasn't yet been released in the States although it's due out this year. I can already tell you that I'll be lining up to get my hands on it.

So what's the story? The main character, Mikael Blomkvist, is a financial journalist who has just lost a case in court. He was found guilty of libel for an article he wrote about one of Sweden's biggest businessmen. After the verdict, Blomkvist is in need of some serious R&R. He also needs to get out of Stockholm and away from its media coverage.

That's when a retired CEO from one of the country's wealthiest families contacts him. He invites Blomkvist to live on his family's island compound for a year. He wants Blomkvst to ghost write his autobiography and to do something else...40 years ago, the ex-CEO's niece disappeared. No one has every been able to solve the mystery of what happened to her and he's desperate to have an answer. So desperate that he's willing to pay a convicted journalist to take on the matter.

Vikings and Tet -- A Strange Combo

What a strange weekend it was! First of all -- the Vikings. I actually watched the game. Out of one eye while reading a book, but still, it is an extremely rare occurrence for me to show any sort of an interest in football. Too bad they blew it. Hubby's moans of dismay were so loud that he scared the dogs off the couch!

But that was Sunday. On Saturday we were all wrapped up in a completely different sort of affair. We spent the day attending Tet celebrations. Tet is the Vietnamese version of Chinese New Year.

This year, Chinese New Year is on Feb 14. Why the Vietnamese Community of Minnesota decided to hold it's Tet festival three weeks early is a mystery to me.

Nonetheless, we ended up spending a good portion of our day attending the festivities. And why not? There were dancing dragons, singers, bubble tea and more! Even a beauty pageant!

Haiti Outreach -- Minnesota Nonprofit

A couple years back I interviewed a local couple who had gone on several mission trips to Haiti. While there, they helped build homes and dig fresh water wells.

They traveled with a nonprofit organization called Haiti Outreach, which in the course of writing the article, I learned was headquartered in my neck of the woods.

Since then, I've run into several people who are involved with the organization in some way. They've attended a silent auction for the group or a benefit dinner.

Haiti Outreach spends a lot of its resources on digging wells. In the course of my budget and global travels, I've seen some pretty sorry drinking water situations. Because of this, I know how much a new well can mean to a community in need. And because of this, I've kept tabs on Haiti Outreach since learning of its existence practically right down the street from my house.

Luckily, Haiti Outreach didn't suffer any personnel losses in the recent earthquake there. Most of their missions are in the countryside, far away from Port au Prince.

However, they've posted a couple updates on their web site and mentioned yet another logistical nightmare I hadn't yet thought about.

The Haiti Outreach members in Haiti right now, have been loading up their large trucks and trying to deliver water to those in need, and they've hired another truck to do the same. But...they are running out of diesel.

If you're in the Twin Cities and you're seeking a local connection to Haiti, check out Haiti Outreach. The organization, which is a registered 501c3, is taking donations through its web site.

Or...if you have a soft spot for chocolate and wine -- and who doesn't? -- consider attending the Wine and Chocolate Tasting on February 12.

Kiva is More than I Thought

Several months ago, a friend gave me a present. She gave me a $25 credit with a nonprofit organization called Kiva.

I'd heard of Kiva and knew it was an organization that specialized in micro finance. It gave small loans to everyday people in developing countries so they could pursue their small business ideas.

I wasn't too sure how the whole thing worked, however, so I was excited to give it a whirl.

It was kind of like an online dating service. You can choose a region of the world or country that you're interested in and a bunch of profiles pop up. Each profile tells the story of an individual or small group, what he/she/they want to do, and how much money they need to do it.

You decide who you want to support and your money will go toward completing that person's goal. Once enough people have agreed to support them, then they get their loan.

I picked a group of women in Vietnam who were trying to get a small livestock operation started. They needed money to buy their first few chickens, pigs and cattle.

I felt good about the process and it was fun to have a say in who got my money, but what I didn't realize is that I would get my money back!

A few days ago, I got an email from Kiva telling me that my loan had been repaid and I once again had a $25 credit to dool out to someone else.

Too cool! I hadn't expected that my money would come back. It makes sense. It was a loan, after all, and a loan is supposed to be repaid. But I hadn't expected that the money would come back to me, that I would get to use it again. I guess I thought it would go back to Kiva, to the organization, for administrative costs or something.

I've just finished "shopping" for my second Kiva loan. This time I chose a 60-ish man and his wife in Paraguay who are trying to renovate the front room of their house and turn it into a laundry service.

Having used many of these businesses in the course of my travels, I decided this sounded like a winning idea.

I'm excited to see how long it takes this couple to get their dream finished and their loan repaid so that I can give out a third loan!

SugarMade Toilet Paper

Let me just say straight up that I realize the subject of toilet paper makes for a strange blog post, but I am pursuing the topic nevertheless.

After all, this won't be the first time I venture into the bathroom realm. I did write two posts about contraptions that let women pee standing up and another about World Toilet Day.

So anyway...a couple of months ago, a friend and I went to a craft fair. All of the products at this fair were supposed to be made from recycled or repurposed goods. It was a "green" craft fair.

There were a couple of booths supporting local stores that sell only "green" household goods. It was at such a booth that we found SugarMade toilet paper.

I was immediately interested in the stuff. This toilet paper was made from crushed sugar cane, and as it says right on the label, is 83% tree free and 100% biodegradeable.

I guess I had sugar on the brain. See, I'd recently written an article about fair trade sugar, so the idea that crushed sugar cane fibers could be used to make toilet paper was intriguing. It seemed an extension of the article I'd just finished researching.

Instead of buying a roll for myself, however, I somehow convinced my friend that she needed to buy it. There were only two rolls left and she scooped them both up.

And wouldn't you know it? I got one of those rolls back as a Christmas present from her!

A couple of days ago, the regular TP ran out so I reached for the sugar cane roll. It's definitely just a 1-ply roll. There's nothing cushy about it. But it's not scratchy either, so all in all, it's not bad. I've definitely used worse.

Call me crazy, but there's just something about the idea of using sugar cane toilet paper that makes me happy. It's important to appreciate the little everyday things, right? Wait. Does that make my appreciation of the sugar cane toilet paper an example of wabi sabi?

Maybe not. But regardless, one of my favorite things about the SugarMade toilet paper is the bar code. Look, it's made out of sugar cane!

Kelly's Revenge Redux

In August 2008 I took a trip to San Diego. There, in a neighborhood liquor store, I came across a bottle of wine called Kelly's Revenge.

On that trip, I never got to taste Kelly's Revenge. When I got home, though, I searched online for information about the wine. I didn't find much. Except a slick corporate web site with little info.

I was hoping to learn where Kelly's Revenge was made. I'd never been to Australia and it seemed to me (and still does) that a trip to the Kelly's Revenge vineyard would be a great reason to go.

I also tried to find the wine in local liquor stores but nobody had even heard of it. All my attempts at finding revenge turned up dry. Sigh.

Recently, though, something happened that put me back on the trail. A friend went to San Diego, was in a liquor store, happened across a bottle of Kelly's Revenge, bought the bottle, and brought it back home for me.

Once again, I went online trying to find info. From a press release I learned that the wine is named after a notorious, 19th-century, Australian outlaw named Ned Kelly. After a stressful day, a glass of Kelly's Revenge is supposed to help you unwind. After all, the best revenge is living well.

And I also found an inappropriate web site. I guess, with a name like Kelly's Revenge, that's to be expected.

Oh well. Some things, I guess, are meant to remain a mystery. I may never know exactly where Kelly's Revenge comes from, but at least I now have a whole bottle to myself.

I think it's time to sign off and find my corkscrew.

Hell's Kitchen in Minneapolis

I was excited to meet a friend for lunch at Hell's Kitchen in downtown Minneapolis.

The restaurant, which has no relation to the TV show, has been a popular breakfast-lunch joint in the Twin Cities for a number of years. It outgrew it's initial digs about a year ago and relocated to a new spot.

I hadn't been to check out the new location so I was rarin' to go. Once I got there, however, this large chandelier gave me pause.

365 Days, 365 Points of View

There's always a lot of talk about resolutions this time of year. Here's one that's easy to follow: tune into this funky new blog: 3six5.

A couple of guys in Chicago came up with this idea -- get 365 different people to contribute to one blog. Each day, a different person gets to write the entry. Entries must be 365 words or shorter.

Posts must be timely and personal. Each post is like a tiny window into someone else's life and by the end of the year you'll have had a peek into hundreds of lives.

I've been keeping up with the posts so far. Since they are short, it's a quick daily read.

The editors are still seeking writers for the later half of the year. I sent in my name, but haven't heard back yet.

Photo from the 3six5 blog.

Yellow Underwear Rings in New Year

So I'm flipping through the paper on a lazy morning in this new year when I run across a tiny little article about yellow underwear.

All across Latin America, says the story, people believe they can influence their luck for the coming year depending on the color of underwear they are wearing.

Red underwear brings love. Yellow underwear brings wealth. Apparently, this year, the yellow underwear has been most popular, especially in Mexico City.

The whole idea behind this short little article sent me to Google. I just had to check this out, see if I could find any blogs or travel pictures to back this up. I found tons.

This blog, Year in Bolivia, posted a great photo of a market stall full of yellow underwear.

As 2010 kicks off, I couldn't help but think that all this yellow underwear business is at least bringing wealth to one segment of the population: the vendors!

Photo (c) Joe Boxer