1. Master Cheesemakers of Wisconsin
As anyone who’s ever stopped at an I-94 gas station east of the St. Croix can tell you, there are plenty of books written about Wisconsin cheese. But nobody has ever undertaken the task of profiling every master cheesemaker in the state, as does The Master Cheesemakers of Wisconsin (University of Wisconsin Press) by James Norton and Becca Dilley (founders of the local foodie Web site HeavyTable.com). Cheese is still the star of this picturesque 200-page paperback, but it’s the good people who have for generations made their living from curd who account for the book’s pulse. In other words, it’s the kind of loving tribute that’s long overdue for one of the world’s culinary treasures. Because Wisconsin cheese is certainly that.

2. Wadi vs. Morimoto
Fans of Saffron in downtown Minneapolis—which is pretty much everyone who’s ever eaten at the glorious Moroccan/fusion restaurant—will want to tune into the Food Network on January 24, when Sameh Wadi, chef and heir to the Holy Land empire, will square off against Masaharu Morimoto on Iron Chef. Don’t have cable? Just go down to Saffron, order the kofta meatballs and declare yourself the winner.

3. Re-issued Lifter Puller
If you were of legal drinking age and living in Minneapolis during the Clinton administration, Lifter Puller was your favorite band. You loved their weird, neo-New Wave anthems. You loved front man Craig Finn’s weary, sex- and drug-laced lyrics, and how he delivered them in either a nasal monotone or a cacophonous blast that sounded exactly like somebody throwing up and yelling at the same time. And then your favorite band broke up, Finn formed the Hold Steady (which, frankly, you’ve always viewed as a poor man’s Lifter Puller) and you’ve been in mourning ever since. But it’s cheer-up time, Buck-o, because mega-distributor The Orchard just reissued Lifter Puller’s long-out-of-print discography. OK, it’s no reunion show at First Avenue, but it’s the next best thing.

4. The Sno Wovel
In case you didn’t catch it from the clever name, it’s a wheeled snow shovel. The ancient design makes this contraption look like it belongs half-buried in a wheat field somewhere, but in fact it’s an ergonomic, Popular Mechanics-approved back-saver that’ll clean your sidewalk faster than anything this side of a plow. Plus, let’s be honest, it just looks hilarious. Get yours from The Lake Shop in Burnsville by calling 877.778.5253 or visiting thelakeshop.com.

5. Celebrity Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky wasn’t the most radical figure in turn-of-the-century Russia (he was preparing for his law school finals when the Bloody Sunday massacre went down), but musically he was every bit the rebel. Take his 1913 ballet, The Rite of Spring, which nearly caused riots at its Paris premiere, or his 1940 arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner, which landed him in a Boston jail cell. This month the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra will join musical forces to bring the hot and sassy sounds of the Russian master to the winter-worn Twin Cities. In addition to The Rite of Spring and the naughty version of our national anthem, the four-concert series includes Firebird, Stravinsky’s earliest ballet; and Pulcinella, a ballet for which the composer collaborated with Pablo Picasso.