Star Tribune
Minnesota’s quirkiest condiment has a cult following….
When it comes to kicking off summer, cracking a tub of Top the Tater is as much a tradition for some Minnesotans as opening up the cabin, waxing the boat and firing up the BBQ grill. In recent years, the chive-and-onion sour cream dip has become the edible version of the trucker hat: a humble staple of small-town grandmas’ fridges, made hip by younger generations. suggesting mode
Minnesota’s quirkiest condiment — fans eat it on everything from potato chips to chili to tacos — is distributed only in the Upper Midwest. Which is why some obsessives ferry it across state lines.
After visiting family in Minnesota recently, Tina Fisher filled an extra suitcase with Top the Tater (and Milaca, Minn.–made Heggie’s Pizza) to bring back to Naples, Fla., where her family moved three years ago. Fisher grew up in Isanti, Minn., eating Top the Tater and later fed “giant tubs of it” to her five boys when they lived in nearby Center City.
This wasn’t the first time the Fishers have lugged Top the Tater to Florida. When the family’s adult sons drove down last Christmas, they filled a cooler. “I had a year’s worth of Top the Tater transported across the border,” Fisher said. “It’s a taste of Minnesota that you can’t get everywhere.”
Its scarcity is part of why Minnesota expats cite it among their most-missed foods. Versatility is also a big part of its appeal. While Top the Tater was initially intended, as its name suggests, to dollop on a baker, it now tops almost anything — and everything. “Old Dutch Triple [Pack] Ripple chips, veggie tray, put it on burgers, brats, hell, just put the tub of it on the table — let nature take its course,” one commenter wrote in the Minnesota sub-Reddit.
“It’s the Dr. Bronner’s of condiments,” another commenter explained, referencing the all-in-one soap. “It is its own food group in this state,” added a third.
Yet despite its cult following, Top the Tater remains under-the-radar — even in Minnesota — compared with Juicy Lucys, hot dish and other iconic regional fare.’
Star Tribune
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans clash with reported pro-Palestinian protesters at Ajax Europa League match
AMSTERDAM — Supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv clashed with apparent pro-Palestinian protesters before and after a Europa League soccer match between their team and Ajax outside the Dutch team’s home stadium in Amsterdam on Thursday night, media and officials said.
The clashes reportedly erupted despite a ban on a pro-Palestinian demonstration imposed by Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, who had feared that clashes would break out between protesters and supporters of the Israeli soccer club.
Details of the incidents remained unclear, but Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called his Dutch counterpart about them.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, also condemned the violence in a post on the social media platform X.
There were no immediate reports of arrests or injuries from the clashes outside the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam, the city’s main arena and Ajax’s home stadium. Ajax won the Europa League match 5-0 after leading 3-0 at halftime.
Star Tribune
Maple Grove remains undefeated with an exclamation point, routing Edina 35-0 in Class 6A high school football playoffs
Consider the question answered. Perhaps not officially, but as close as it gets.
The question: Can anyone beat Maple Grove? After the Crimson pummeled Edina 42-12 in Thursday’s Class 6A quarterfinal at Park Center, it appears the answer is no.
Edina seemed positioned to challenge the No. 1-ranked Crimson’s dominance, but Maple Grove took control of the game early.
The Crimson scored 21 first-half points on an 18-yard run by Charles Langama, a 29-yard pass from Kaden Harney to Oliver Walseth and a 1-yard run by Harney and led 21-0 at halftime.
Maple Grove cemented its victory with a pair of Bo Draheim touchdowns early in the third quarter. He followed a 1-yard scoring run with a 30-yard reception for a TD and a 35-0 lead.
Edina made the score a little more respectable in the fourth quarter with touchdowns by Chase Bjorgaard and Meyer Swinney.
Maple Grove improved to 11-0. Edina fell to 8-3.
”If we leave the conference room after a meeting and somebody leaves trash on the table, Susie’s the person to grab the trash and put it in the trash can,” said Chris LaCivita, who served as campaign co-chair along with Wiles.
Another of her three posts on X this year was in the closing days of the campaign, clapping back after billionaire Mark Cuban remarked that Trump didn’t have ”strong, intelligent women” in his orbit. After Wiles’ selection as White House chief of staff, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Trump backer, quipped on X that the president-elect had chosen a ”strong, intelligent woman” as his chief of staff.
She can control some of Trump’s worst impulses
Wiles was able to help control Trump’s worst impulses — not by chiding him or lecturing, but by earning his respect and showing him that he was better off when he followed her advice than flouted it. At one point late in the campaign, when Trump gave a widely criticized speech in Pennsylvania in which he strayed from his talking points and suggested he wouldn’t mind the media being shot, Wiles came out to stare at him silently.
Trump often referenced Wiles on the campaign trail, publicly praising her leadership of what he said he was often told was his ”best-run campaign.”
”She’s incredible. Incredible,” he said at a Milwaukee rally earlier this month.
Netanyahu sends 2 planes to Netherlands to bring out Israeli soccer fans after violence surrounding match in Amsterdam
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans clash with reported pro-Palestinian protesters at Ajax Europa League match
Naz Reid’s new mission is to help save lives
Netanyahu sends 2 planes to Netherlands to bring out Israeli soccer fans after violence surrounding match in Amsterdam
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans clash with reported pro-Palestinian protesters at Ajax Europa League match