Author: Dustin Monke

Former newspaper editor. Now I market the best baked goods and donuts in America. But every once in a while, I write a cool story too.

Dickinson's wait for Wings ends

Bartenders at Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar cut lemons and limes shortly before opening at 11 a.m. Monday, the restaurant’s opening day in Dickinson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The wings are ready and the beer is flowing at Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar in Dickinson.

The long-awaited restaurant officially opened its doors Monday after a weekend training opening that packed its roughly 8,300 square foot facility in the West Ridge Development on Saturday night and whet the community’s appetite for the city’s first new national chain restaurant in more than a decade.

“We’re expecting this to be one of the busiest Buffalo Wild Wings in the franchise,” said Ken Herslip of Minot, who along with his family owns the Dickinson, Minot and Williston franchise locations.

Continue reading “Dickinson's wait for Wings ends”

Our watchful protector and not-so-silent guardian

Last week, I worked the afternoon and evening shift while my news editor, page designer and all-around nighttime showrunner April Baumgarten took a well-deserved vacation.

That meant I had to get into the habit of sleeping in, working until around 11 p.m. or later and staying awake into the early-morning hours — something that until early 2013 was entirely normal for me after spending the previous decade working in newspaper sports departments.

It sounds kinda fun, right? Sleep in and stay up late! Well, it wasn’t so bad when I was a single guy. Now, with a wife and dog at home waiting for me, it’s not so fun.

Continue reading “Our watchful protector and not-so-silent guardian”

‘REAL’ CHRISTMAS: Tradition, ‘the smell’ keep holiday shoppers coming back for live trees

John Kempenich and his daughter, Lexi, of Dickinson, check to see if the Christmas tree they picked out at the Dickinson State University Rodeo Club’s sale on Wednesday evening at the DSU Ag Building is the one they want.

For John Kempenich, it’s about tradition, family and, of course, the smell.

Kempenich spent several minutes Wednesday night at the Dickinson State University Agriculture Building carefully examining the fir trees lining the walls until he found one that caught his eye.

He fluffed the tree and inspected it some more. After seeking the advice of his daughters, who each performed the same meticulous study of the tree, the decision was made. The Kempenich family had found their Christmas tree.

They have been coming to DSU to pick out a Christmas tree sold as a fundraiser by the university’s rodeo club since before their 18-year-old daughter Lexi was born.

“It’s just one of them things that you like — that smell and the familiness of coming together and picking out a tree for the year,” Kempenich said as the smile on his face grew.
Continue reading “‘REAL’ CHRISTMAS: Tradition, ‘the smell’ keep holiday shoppers coming back for live trees”

You don’t need a plastic bag to cook a turkey

Every once in a while, there is advice that sounds good, but you just shouldn’t take it.

I ran into this situation on Thanksgiving when I decided to take the advice of others and use one of those plastic roaster bags in my straight-out-of-the-box roaster to help avoid cleaning up baked-in turkey juices.

It sounded like a great idea. We use similar bags all the time when cooking with a crock pot and they work like a dream. So, in an effort to avoid cleaning the contraption, I decided to use a roaster bag for the first time. We had picked up a couple for next to nothing about a week earlier and, like a fool, I assumed they worked just the same as my crock pot bags. You know, put them in the roaster, set the temperature, place the food in there, walk away and wait for that delicious smell of turkey to waft through the house.

But, because of my foolishness (or stupidity, depending on how you look at it), things didn’t go as planned.

Continue reading “You don’t need a plastic bag to cook a turkey”

Just another Black Friday: Stores take ‘all-hands-on-deck’ approach anticipating deal hunters

Rachelle Bliss, left, helps customer Janel Ladbury of Dickinson on Friday afternoon at Ace Hardware at the T-Rex Plaza.

Stores take ‘all-hands-on-deck’ approach anticipating deal hunters

Customers flooded Dickinson stores Thursday night and throughout the day Friday, hunting for deals and officially kicking off the holiday shopping season. Yet, store managers in a city known for having employee shortcomings said they were able to keep pace well, despite hectic instances. “This is our all-hands-on-deck thing,” Herbergers store manager Sarah Molnar said. “This is our year right here. So basically, we’re all here.”

Herbergers was the first retail store other than Walmart to open on Thanksgiving Day, starting its deals at 6 p.m. It stayed open through the night and, by 3 p.m. Friday, still had customers waiting in long lines at service counters waiting to pay for the deals they’d discovered.

Continue reading “Just another Black Friday: Stores take ‘all-hands-on-deck’ approach anticipating deal hunters”