Kathleen Lordbock Keller Williams Realty Brainerd Lakes

He's baaaccckkkk. That is right -Elvis was here in Brainerd - singing and strutting his stuff and was last seen at the Bethany Good Samaritan Care Center entertaining the residents and staff members. Elvis on most days can be found working as an engineer for School District #181 on the South Campus. Once a year, you can catch him in the act at the Miss Brainerd Lakes pageant held in the Tornstrom auditorium in Brainerd.

Bill Musel, a.k.a. Elvis, moved to the Brainerd area about 16 years ago and began his side career with the Up North Family Theater that was located in the Brainerd Armory. Now Bill can be found performing in plays at the Central Lakes College and enjoys doing the Elvis impersonations for fun. He also likes making people laugh and tries very hard to get a smile on the residents' faces.

Keep your eyes open for someone that looks kind of like Elvis - wearing a gold lame cape, sunglasses and lots of sparkles - it could be Bill or it could be Elvis.

~Elvis has left the building~

photo by hawaii-Flickr

photo by edit felix

Winning the New Club state championship sponsored by the Minnesota Curling Association was a team from the Brainerd Lakes Curling Association The event was at Curl Mesabi in Eveleth and ran at the same time as the women's and men's state curling championships . With the advent of the New Club Division - curling clubs that were founded in the last 10 years are now able to compete in a state championship competition.

Home ice for the Brainerd Lakes Curling Association is the Hallet Center in Crosby. If you want to watch they are curling there most Saturday nights. Having gone to Bemidji State College - I have spent a little time on the ice myself and encourage anyone interested to check out curling. For more information about area curling, visit www.brainerdcurling.org. Anyone interested in trying curling or playing in a league may call Tom Jones (927-5686) or Kim Deiss (825-0043).

On Saturday , February 2, 2008 the Miss Nisswa pageant will be held at the Lutheran Church of the Cross in Nisswa. Tickets are $5 at the door and include and cake and punch reception in the church immediately after the pageant. A good time to catch up with the latest locals neighborhood news. If you have been mostly inside due to the extremely cold Minnesota temperatures of late, this pageant and our balmy 25 degrees should warm you up.

Scholarships totals have been raised to $5,300 with the newly crowned Miss Nisswa receiving a $2000 Scholarship and many gifts. The Nisswa Princess will receive a respectable $1400 and the Second Princess will receive $1100. $300 goes to Miss Congeniality and all contestants receive gifts and well as the Little Miss participants.

Contestants for Miss Nisswa 2008 are Sarah Avenson, Nicole Cain, Chelsey Collette, Sonya Hills, Cierra Johnson, Heather Meier, Sammy Mraz, Mary Petersen, Katrina Ritter and Savannah Thomsen. Eighteen photo by sunnybrook100

second graders are dancing in the non-competitive Little Miss Nisswa

pageant that same evening.

The pageant starts at 7 pm.

Here is what we are having at the Lordbock house for supper tonight. With a warm up in temperatures today bringing us from -50 to 20 above - I'm working again and looking for something that makes it appear that I have been in the kitchen cooking all day, when I have not.

This is quite tasty and does not take very long to prepare. I would classify this recipe in the comfort food range with the meat and potatoes being a sure winner with most people.

I am serving this over mashed potatoes, with a hot vegetable, muffins and a spinach salad.

Salisbury Steak

1 egg

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

1/2 cup tomato juice

1 onion, minced

1 pound ground beef

1 envelope Mushroom gravy mix

1 cup half and half

small can of drained mushrooms

add water as needed

dash of ground pepper ( I used coarse)

dash of Kosher salt ( you can use regular)

dried parsley

Combine egg, bread crumbs, tomato juice and onions; add ground beef. Shape into oblong patties, brown in a skillet until done. Add gravy mix and 1/2 and 1/2 (additional water if needed ). pepper , salt, parsley, mushrooms and stir until smooth. Cover and simmer 10 minutes.

photo by mullenkedheim

photo by Tim Farris Photographer - Flickr

This is your chance to take an improv workshop with the Second City improvisational comedy troupe from Chicago. They will be performing "One Nation Under Blog" January 24th at the Central Lakes College and then conducting two improv workshops. The first is 7-9 PM on January 23 and the second one is 1-3 PM January 24th. Both of these will be held at the Central Lakes College in Brainerd, Minnesota.

The fee for one workshop is $75 or if you want to take both: $125. The registration deadline is January 20th. Students must be 16 or older to sign up and enrollment is limited to 15 students per session. The workshops will cover scene-building, basic improvisation techniques, characterization, and other tools of the comedic style of acting. These will be fast paced and very hands on - giving all participants a very good idea of how the improv world works If you would like more information or if you want to sign up for this experience, contact the CLC theatre director Patrick Spradlin at 855-8255 or email at pspradlin@clcmn.edu.