The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Here at Secrets of the City and MNSpeak, we thrive on the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. We love to feast and be merry with our friends and families...and to exchange cool presents, which is often easier in theory than in practice - especially with all that merriment. But gifts happen, so we prepare! Think of this guide as your brainstorming jump-start: gift ideas, tips for fun shopping efficiencies (oh yeah), and thoughts on how to make your holiday season sparkle in a creative and original way.

jP American Bistro didn't open for dinner tonight. A sign on the door says "jP American Bistro will be closed the evening of September 30, 2008."

That's all I know for sure. If you know more than I do, please write me at iggers@rakemag.com, or post a comment.

Meanwhile, in other news, I have a couple of books to recommend:

In case you haven't heard, The Rake recently published a Guide Book to the Twin Cities. So far, we've sold a couple thousand copies, including a few to some of the Republican Convention delegates. Actually, we don't have any way of knowing that for sure, but we surmise that at least a couple of them might have seen it in the book stores and were getting tired of hotel food.