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It sounds just wrong, but chocolate connoisseurs know that less is more.
Like everything else in this country, chocolate truffles have been super-sized, and many consumers think that eating a $4 glob of butterfat is a gourmet experience.
But you don't need to eat a truffle the size of a baby's fist to be satisfied. In fact, you'll be more satisfied eating one small, high-quality piece. Europeans know this, and chocolatiers in this country are catching on, too.
As Will Rogers famously said, the trouble with land is they're not making any more of it.
In the north woods, land prices are rising as the population swells and people look for places to build vacation and retirement homes. Wall Street investment bankers are demanding timber companies convert their vast land holdings into profit. And as cheap wood pulp from abroad depresses their revenues, it's hard for the companies to say no.
"It's the perfect storm," says Ron Nargang, director of the Nature Conservancy's Minnesota chapter.
In this chilly region, smart men are on to Victoria's Secret.
Shopping at the mall, they breeze right by the silk nighties, the gold bracelets, the dainty perfumes. Because what Victoria secretly wants for Christmas are SmartWool undies, a goose-down parka and moosehide mukluks.
When I was a newcomer to Minnesota, my boyfriend was a smart man. Our first Christmas, he gave me a bulky down parka that made me look like the Michelin man. The second Christmas, he gave me a big sheepskin hat that made me look like a Cossack. The third Christmas, he gave me chunky mukluks that made me look like an Inuit.